Baba Fresh

Terrible food. The yoghurt sauce tasted rancid and the meat was so gristly I literally fed it to my dog. I had high hopes for this spot since it’s so close to my house but this was my second time being let down so I will not be giving them any more chances.

Great flavor at moderate price! Primarily a take out with a limited menu, but does have a few tables for dining. Not much in the way of ambiance, but does have some interesting pictures on the walls.

The Chicken /​Beef hummus plate is enough for 2 meals or more and quite delicious. Wasn’t a huge fan of the other meat options, and no one ever seems to be sitting in, but for a ‘to-​go’ order this place rocks.

Horrible. Got sick. Pretty sure they served cat meat. Baba not-​so-​fresh.

I wanted to like this place. I really love great Mediterranean food, and this spot is 2 blocks from my house in the middle of the SW food desert. Sadly, the food was subpar. On a positive note, we got really good service which helped the overall experience a bit.

We ordered Dolma for appetizers and combination gyro for entrée. Service was fast and taste was delicious

I went there last night for take out. Baba fresh didn’t disappoint! Everyone in the family liked the meal.
The gyros were tasty, a large portion for $ 7.99. I had the lamb and thought it was great! Enjoyed the hummus and dolmas. If you need something different from everyday take out (like chinese, pizza) or need a gyros fix– this is your place!

I am confused about the 1-​star reviews. Perhaps the cook has changed. But first I guess I ought to say that this place wasn’t meant to be a restaurant. This shop sells wholesale hummus to Trader Joes and Costco, so if you’re expecting fine linens don’t come here.
I ordered a chicken gyro and it was STUFFED with tender moist chicken. My dad had a plate and loved every bite. The waiter gave us a free plate of hummus, tabouli and baba ganoush. The baklava was amazing and to top it off we got 2 free packages of hummus to go.
So yeah. It’s a family owned side restaurant and isn’t commercial in any way. Oh and the owner imports his lamb from New Zealand which is apparently the best.
Don’t have anything bad to say.

I’m not one to write bad reviews, but wow. The worst dining experience ever. The server was dirty and brought us food that made my wife and I physically sick. We only took one bite and explained to the owner the situation. Our food was cold, the pita bread was dry, and the taste was horrible. The main reason I’m writing this review is because after explaining this to the owner he said we were wrong and charged us full price for the food we took one bite of!!! Never again! If I could leave zero stars I would.

I never met a Gyro I didn’t like-​until today. Immediately upon opening my foil packet, a huge piece of fat is just kicking it. No biggie, I pulled it off. The rest of the lamb, just had a weird flavor, in big hunks. The tzatziki tasted ok, but I ended up pulling out all the meat, threw away half my gyro, and now I’m still hungry, with a gross taste in my mouth. Lesson learned.

Uninspired food. Mezza plate ($ 12) came with one small piece of cold pita bread — not enough to eat the hummus and baba. The fork was on the plate when the waiter delivered it, but it had slid into the food so the handle was coated in hummus.
I asked for 2 more pieces of «warm pita bread.» I got 2 more pieces of cold pita bread and was charge an extra $ 2. The food was not bad — it was just edible and overpriced. The waiter was nice by substituting a small green salad for the bulgar based salad normally served with the mezza plate.
I wish I had tried out the place across the street instead — The Hummus Stop. I see now the Unilocal reviews are much better for The Hummus Stop. I was hoping the more authentic named place would be a little gem. I was wrong.

We felt the owner & staff were friendly, and the falafel & baba were tasty, but prices were much too high, portions too small (2 falafel on a $ 12+ mezza plate?), and atmosphere sorely lacking (cold, untidy, could’ve used some background music).

FRESH?! ONLY IF BABA MEANS «NOT».
This was the most I’ve ever paid ($ 15 per plate) for such terrible food. The pita was worse than stale pita that can be found on any grocery market shelf, and was even handed to me in the bag from the company that made it, label and all.
The falafels were like hard dried up testicles that had been lopped off of some poor garbonzo bean cow. The entire meal which consisted of five different parts was all slopped together like it had already been consumed and this was what came out at the other end.
My husband’s lamb dish had more chunks of grizzle and fat than edible meat (although as a vegetarian it all looks the same to me). He’s not picky and will eat rice and meat from anywhere, but for the first time I had to listen to him complain through an entire meal.
In the actual restaurant there were a bunch of buckets stacked up against the wall, partially covered with sheets, which was highly suspect as I walked in to pick up our order. I could ignore whatever is in those buckets if the food had been half way decent and not such an incredible rip off.
STALE, DISGUSTING, AND EXTREMELY OVERPRICED ABOUT SUMS IT UP.

Don’t need to pile on with the other bad reviews… Bottom line, just pass. Head to World Market down the hill. My experience was not as bad as the others, and I wanted to give it a third star, but I couldn’t. I dropped in for lunch, ordered, read the reviews, got scared… but food wasn’t bad (crunchy rice though), just super weird inside.

The lamb gyro was delicious and creamy.
The Mezza Plate was also really delicious.
I had my husband order our food to go, and so far, everything we had was fulfilling.
One complaint though, the meat is really thick which is hard to chew. Maybe tendering the meat first would be awesome.
So, for those who have week teeth, avoid lamb gyro.
A must try!

I really wanted to like this place, but sadly it wasn’t so. The restaurant itself looked cute and the staff seemed pleasant enough, but the atmosphere had a weird vibe to it. There were 30 or so buckets sitting against the wall (some covered with blankets), the bathroom was hard to function in as I didn’t want to touch anything with my hands, and during check out the gentleman behind the counter couldn’t find a pen for me to sign my receipt. We got our food to go and I was really hoping the meal would save the experience. Alas, it did not. The pitas cane from a store bought bag and utterly lacked freshness, the spinach, tomato, cucumber appetizer was pretty decent, but the lamb gyro tasted a little too funky for my liking. I’m glad to have tried this place, but I wish I had gone to the hummus stop instead.

This food was awful. Don’t know where some of these people were eating but it was definitely not here. Tool one bite of the obviously old falafel and had to spit it out. The food was disgusting and very overpriced as well as lackluster. I will never eat here again. I had to to go to Riyadhs the next day to get a redo.

Quirk. And lots of it…
First off, as I have mentioned in previous reviews, I love restaurants and other businesses where the owner is invested in making your feel at home and valued. I found Baba by way of a friend who took me there as he is a regular. I was greeted by the owner with a handshake and a heartfelt welcome. Smart man. I am old school when it comes to doing the business and a little specialness goes a long way in making regular customers.
The ambiance is bizarre but appreciated, I love the glass chandelier among some ethnic artifacts and cases of soda pop. It is situated in a pathetic little strip block mall thing and you would miss it if you weren’t looking to get your falafel on.
I have noticed mixed reviews and I will speak to that. I have been there about four times and I have found the fare good… fresh, well spiced, and a well appointed plate. My lamb experience was by way of take out and it was good. The falafel is good but I will say that falafel varies by different middle eastern cultures and in Portland, it seems more mushy and mealy. And that’s not a bad thing… I am just used to a different consistency and crunch.
The Turkish coffee is a great finish and when the owner was there, he read my grounds and that was delightful and appreciated as one of my favorite middle eastern restaurants in NYC used to do this…
For those not in the local know, Baba is the hummus and other foods that are sold locally at the better markets.
We finished our meal with a nice goodbye and handshake.

Do yourself a favor and don’t stop here. Whoever said in a previous review that it has a Kitchen Nightmares vibe is dead on. I failed to read the Unilocal reviews before I paid for my lamb gyro takeout. What prompted me to do so was noticing cob webs covered in dead bugs and dust bunnies occupying the entire corner of the window sill I sat next to. I then noticed the stacks of boxes covered with a sheet that another Unilocaler commented on. Last thing I noticed was that there was no sign of food cooking: no gyro spit with its yummy fat dripping down layers of meat. I guess it’s my own fault, I’m Greek myself, have eaten at MANY gyro places across the country, and should know by now if you don’t see the spit with the gyro meat on it, don’t get a gyro.
So I grab my gyro (suspiciously light in weight considering I just spent $ 7.99 for a gyro… JUST a gyro, no side salad or fries or anything else came with it), take it home, and discover the following:
*pita: thin and not able to stand up to all of the filling
*veggies: wilty lettuce and TONS of it. I’m one of those «extra lettuce, spinach, AND cucumbers» types if I ever go to a sandwich shop too. ¾ths of the entire pita was lettuce.
*gyro meat: they don’t use actual gyro meat but slices of lamb, tasted like leg. At first I was okay with this because I love roasted leg of lamb, but then I noticed after the first bite that it wasn’t seasoned AT ALL, was lukewarm, definitely was not roasted (no yummy caramelization), and probably reheated in a microwave. On top of that, there was hardly any in there, like maybe 2 oz I would guess. If there was more lamb I would maybe have given it two stars but the fact that I paid $ 8 for 2oz of lamb and a shit ton of lettuce is inexcusable.
*tzatziki: bland, watered down garbage. Worst I’ve ever had in my life.
So, be smarter than I and take your money elsewhere. I would’ve been happier if I would’ve just gone to McDonalds. Ugh, so gross, which is disappointing since I live so close. Even if the price were more appropriate (say $ 5), I still wouldn’t eat there again. I thought perhaps going back to try their Persian dinner entrées, but if they can’t even make a freaking gyro right then why bother? Money wasted. Lesson learned.

Definitely nothing fresh here. As my boyfriend said, «It has a very Kitchen Nightmares vibe to it». He wasn’t exaggerating. The food was disgusting, definitely not cooked upon ordering and was overpriced to boot.
You walk in and see some sort of office files stored along the walls half-​assed covered with some fabric. That should have been my first clue to leave, unfortunately I didn’t take the hint. There was one guy in the place, seating AND cooking (heating up in the microwave I assume) the food so even in the short time we were in there, they lost business because of people not being able to be seated or order. It also smells a little weird. He described it as «Nothing being cooked with a side of musty mop bucket» I considered it my second clue to leave, but I really wanted to give it a chance!
We both ordered chicken Gyros and had a falafel app — all hands down the worst I’ve ever had. Ate there about an hour ago and have been feeling sick ever since although it might be mental since it’s not as if anything was undercooked considering it was probably cooked a week ago and heated up again before it was served.
Never again and it’s a real shame because I love a good gyro and we live so close by!