The Mad Greek — Restaurant in Baker

My fiance and I planned to stop here during our road trip from Las Vegas to Northern California after seeing the episode of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives that featured this place. I'm constantly on the search for the best Gyro so I couldn't resist. If you were hoping for the atmosphere portrayed in the show, keep driving. The current state of the Mad Greek is a commercialized shell of what it used to be.

Menus are digitized and laid out across several TV screens, displaying their absurdly high prices. Staff barely interact with the customers long enough to make it feel like a respectable cafe. The decor that they advertised is run down and seems to be forgotten. All in all, it is a Greek fast food joint that won't leave a lasting food impression.

The biggest shock for my fiance was when he tried to order Shawarma and the employee said he "never heard of it". An older menu shown has Shawarma as a dish you can order, so it seems like the offerings have been paired down to the most popular for tourists rather than remaining true to the Mediterranean and Greek roots the restaurant originally opened with.

The biggest disappointment during my visit was biting into our Baklava that was forgotten by the employees when putting together our order. Rather than tasting pistachio, all I got was the flavor of oil. The baklava was very greasy, and cold, almost as if it was frozen. Not the flavors or temperature I was expecting.

The gyros and fries were great, and are what made the trip decent. Great portions of meat to the rest of the ingredients, and the fries are nice and crisp. However, one visit will be enough for me.

TLDR - Expensive, generic food without the allure that this...

Updating 2/16/22

And tonight we had the Onassis Burgers, omg those are the bomb! The fries were great too, so fluffy yet crispy. Thank you again! Also we had a fountain drink, rooter, it was amazing! Sometimes fountain drinks aren't so good, but it was excellent! Great job!

Thank you for the response from the owner! I know times are hard. Since we are sticking around for a week or so, we did go back for another try. Excellent! This time we got the large Greek salad with chicken gyro to share. What super big tasty salad it was! If you love a great salad it's a must. Plenty of red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and feta on crispy lettuce, spinach and cilantro. Came with a pepperoncini and a dolimede(stuffed grape leaf, yummy), kalamata olives, plenty of flavorful Greek vinaigrette, big lemon wedge and a super pita bread. Then the tasty chicken gyro meat on top. Definitely filled us both up and absolutely worth the $19.38+tip. I expect to be back during our stay to try some other items. The desserts and pastries look very tempting. Thank you!

2/14/22 It was ok. Because of the pandemic literally everything I had seen and wanted from the menu was unavailable. The lamb and beef gyro had good flavor, but the meat was quite dry and didn't get enough tzaziki to cover it. It's pretty expensive too, again I assume from the pandemic. Staff is friendly. Not bad, just not anything there, at least in these times, that I'd go back for. Masks are required...

Living most of my life in the Chicagoland area gyro and Italian beef places are abundant. We are driving along Interstate 15 in the middle of a desert and I see a sign, The Mad Greek Cafe. Really ?! When we exited off the highway, toward the town of Baker , I did not expect to find anything but an old boarded up restaurant that use to exist long ago before fast food chain restaurants came into existence. As we kept driving through Baker CA, I was almost certain this place did not exist anymore. As I said in another review, there is nothing wrong with fast food chain restaurants but to find something better to eat in the middle of nowhere is just good luck ! As we kept driving down a ways, on my right, there it stood like the Parthenon in ancient Greece. A spectacle of white statues on the perimeter of the restaurant. We walked in and it was order at the counter and they call your number when it’s ready service. The gyro meat was juicy and tasted just like the gyro meat of Greek town in Chicago. The zaziki sauce, red onions, tomatoes and lettuce were the perfect accompaniment to the flavorful tender gyro meat. The pita was so soft and fresh. I wish I could have tried the hummus but my gyro is probably enough calories for 2 days worth of food and I did not order it. Also, tasted my husbands home made strawberry shake, which was 10 out of 10. I couldn’t think of anything that would make it any better. This place is an oasis...