Gema's Cafe — Restaurant in Beatty

Gema's a quaint cafe located in the heart of Beatty with a menu offering of breakfast, lunch and dinner. We found our way here for breakfast as there are limited options in town and their menu and reviews looked like something that we could enjoy prior to starting our hiking adventure in Death Valley.

Staff greeted and sat us promptly, took our drink order and we looked over the menu. My husband decided on the Egg Benedict that came with a side of fruit. I chose the Bacon and Cheese Omelet with cottage cheese and sourdough toast that was just what I needed to start my day yummyy!! I want to share about this beautiful side of fruit (and please check out the picture) it was actually more like a Fruit Plate with banana, pineapple, jicama, tangelo, and melon absolutely delicious!!

So why 4-stars...staff had a visitor inside the SMALL dining area that they along with the cook proceded to make a few loud speaker cell phone calls during our dining experience that seemed to be of a personal nature. Mind you normally I don't mind what someone does or doesn't do on their phone - especially a business. But when there is ambient music, and they are talking so loudly that the small space has now become everyone's business it rather takes away from the diners peaceful experience.

Overall food was yummy, service good, ambience ehhh...would I go back, sure...I have a feeling that this was an off day and not something that the speaker phone thingy doesn't happen often. I mean look at that fruit plate - did I...

As readers will no-doubt be aware, there are few options for breakfast in dear lil' Beatty. When I went on New Year's Day 2020, there were even fewer with Mel's Diner being closed. Having passed by Gema's numerous times on my way to Death Valley, it was time for a stop-in to fuel up for the day's adventures.

David, the owner and host, was warm and welcoming. When we inquired, he spoke proud of his family-run restaurant and the surrounding town. He gave us ample insight into sights&sites to see, ghost towns and museums to explore, travel time estimates, and more. The hospitality displayed, on a holiday no less, was an exceptional and pleasant surprise in this whisper-quiet town most just cruise through. We followed his advice later in the day and enjoyed much of the area's history we might not have seen otherwise. His conversation and maps alone were a great value.

But, to the food! Aside from the soda dispenser in the dining area, Gema's feels like you're at home, or rather visiting someone's home, and you're being treated to quality, low-cost home cooking. I had egg enchilada (with just enough heat for an intolerant whiteboy to appreciate, and incredible sauce sopped up with homefries from my companion's dish) and bottomless coffee, and, for dessert, a killer flan. I'm not ordinarily a flan fan, so I like to get it to see just how well a place does their thing. Gema's does their thing expertly. Good flavor, better texture. A nice plate to share.

Stop in for real people...

This place is terrible and WAY overpriced for the garbage they dish out. I called in for a pickup order today and it took them 40 MINUTES to make my order after they told me on the phone it would only be about 10 minutes. Now my order was just 4 cold turkey sandwiches and a nacho supreme, there is no way this should have taken longer than 10-15 minutes max. First lets get to the turkey sandwiches , they SUCKED BIGTIME, the croissant was old, stale and hard, the turkey was slimy and I am surprised I didn't get sick from the bite I took from it, the lettuce and tomato were just ordinary iceberg lettuce and tomato, nothing good or bad about those parts. The sides with the sandwiches were odd, you either got old runny cottage cheese or a fruit cup as your only two choices. Second is the so called nacho supreme, it should be called nacho inferior as they are the worst nachos I have ever tasted. They used store bought round nachos, cheese whiz instead of real cheese, for the chicken they used what looked like canned chicken that was shredded, they must have made this first because by the time the order was done the nacho chip were a limp soggy mess. I ended up throwing both of these piles of garbage into their parking lot dumpster. The owner, cooks and waitresses must be idiots to serve this crap and not expect a bad review. There isn't a lot to pick from in Beatty, but the Subway or Denny's are tenfold better than...