It’s Pretty Dry in the Sahara

People say I have a dry sense of humor. After eating at Sahara Taste of the Middle East café, it’s drier than ever. And so are my taste buds.

Based on other online reviews, I was looking forward to dinner at this Rancho San Diego takeout place—especially since East County has a large Middle Eastern population and is known for fine cuisine at a number of Middle Eastern restaurants.

Unfortunately, things headed south almost immediately. We decided to eat at an outside table. But cigarette smoke from a nearby restaurant’s patio, passersby and even Sahara employees on break made it a rather unpleasant dining experience. So did the spotted silverware, which we sent back for cleaner utensils.

I ordered a combo plate ($9.95) of gyros meat and chicken plus hummus, rice and salad. The thinly sliced gyros looked gray and overcooked, and were the first of several dry items to cross my lips. The only thing I could taste on the meat was some random spices. The chicken chunks also were dry and only palatable dipped in the accompanying aioli sauce, itself a pale version of what should be a garlicky condiment. The yellow rice was pretty tasteless, the pita bread stale and the salad small enough to fit into a coffee cup. The hummus dip was just OK.

My companion had a wrap stuffed with falafel ($4.95), which should be crisp and crunchy, but instead was dry and mushy. Sadly, neither of us could finish our meals, so we hoped dessert would finally add some flavor. The server confirmed our guess that all the sweets in the refrigerated counter were commercially made. We tried a red velvet cupcake, which at $3.50 equals the price of high-end Sprinkles products but not the flavor. Real red velvet is made with buttermilk—we didn’t detect any in this smallish cupcake. But the cream cheese frosting was piled high and fairly tasty. We also had a piece of baklava ($.99) but, alas, it was so dry and stale-tasting that we exchanged it for another, which was barely better. It was served cold, which is not the way to enjoy most pastries.

Any restaurant can have a bad night, but great tastes and pleasant dining seemed to have deserted us at Sahara. Which is a shame because the prices are right (our total was $22.89) and Sahara is open daily from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.—perfect for when you need a late-night fix of gyros or falafel. If Sahara could just get things fixed in the kitchen, we’d head east and dine there regularly.