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    Ethel's Old Corral

    4.1 (96 reviews)
    Open 11:00 am - 6:00 pm

    Ethel's Old Corral Photos

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    ETHEL'S OLD CORRAL ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Divey
    Casual
    Loud
    Live music

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    Recommended Reviews - Ethel's Old Corral

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    Front
    Jenna C.

    We've driven by this place so many times I can't count but have never stopped in to try it. Today was the day and we found out that the ownership just changed 7 months ago. The owners of the Knotty Pines another favorite diner of ours now owns it. This was exciting news to us. The place is western and had a fun chill vibe inside. They are redoing some of the chairs so there are some metal chairs temporarily but that is okay. We met the new owner and he's really nice. Friendly and helpful s out the menu. I order a Diet Coke and it tasted funny but they were quick to swap it out. We got the appetizer sampler with fried okra, fried zucchini, and fried jalapeño poppers and all of it was good. My husband got the pastrami and said it was good. I had a small bite and agreed. Probably our favorite thing. I got the deep pit tacos and was less impressed. They had an overwhelmingly burnt taste to the meat that overpowered all the other ingredients. I wouldn't get them again. I did get the peach cobbler to top off the meal and it was delicious. Overall, a great experience and we will go back to try more in the future.

    Excellent taco salad
    Darla A.

    Classic Bakersfield hang out. Service with a smile. Nice western decor including local music history photos. Outstanding food including lunch and dinner specials during the week. Hubby had the taco salad which he really liked. I had the patty melt with a salad (nice fresh crisp lettuce, tomato cheese, beets and tomatoes). Portion sizes and quality of food are great. Cold beer and drinks make for a day or night of fun

    Pastrami (I added the mustard)
    Dez D.

    so good!!!! Absolutely love this place. Had the mozzetta cheese sticks too and they were bomb! Highly recommend

    Welcome!!!

    Amazing Experience here at Ethel's Old Corral! Met the owner and his wife and the locals were friendly! I will be returning for sure!!!

    Ethel's Old Corral with new floors and a door leading to patio seating.
    Tina C.

    Hey there! I just wanted to share my recent visit to Ethel's Old Corral. My husband and I went there for a late lunch/early dinner after our eye doctor appointment. We had a fantastic time at this charming, old-fashioned, western-style cafe. The moment we stepped in, we were greeted warmly by the friendly hostess/waitress who led us to our table. We chose a cozy spot by the window with a great view of the Tall Indian that marks Ethyl's on Alfred Harold Hwy. The waitress handed us the menus and took our drink order right away. Our drinks were served quickly, and we placed our food order with her. I ordered the pastrami sandwich with fries for $15.00, while my husband ordered the deep-pit dinner priced at $15.00 also. While we waited for our food, we enjoyed the pop and country music playing on the jukebox. I couldn't help but notice how the new owners had significantly improved the place, including new floors and overall cleanliness. It was my first time back at Ethel's Old Corral since Ethel herself worked and owned the place. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the fantastic work of the new owner. (Check out the pictures!) Our food was served quickly and was piping hot. I have to say - Ethel's pastrami sandwich was one of the most delicious sandwiches that I've had in a long time! The meat was piled high, and the sandwich was perfectly juicy without being too greasy. And those crinkle-cut French fries were amazing! I don't know what the chef did to them, but they stayed hot throughout our meal. As my husband put it, "These fries are addictive!" I also had a taste of my husband's Deep pit meat, and let me tell you, it was smokey and tender! His dinner came with a roll and a cup of beans with cheese. I was so engrossed in eating my sandwich that I completely forgot to take a picture until I had already eaten half of it. Oops, my bad! Don't worry, I did take some photos of the cafe's interior. It's so charming and clean, you'll love it! Overall, Ethel's Old Corral was the perfect place to stop for a bite to eat. We had a great time, and we're definitely coming back for other meals. I highly recommend it!

    Deep pit samich
    Charlie S.

    I have driven past this place probably 100 times and never stopped to eat but today our family decided to go have lunch there and I'm glad we did. I know it's under new ownership so I can't compare. Anyway, It was a pretty cool place, they had a live band going with some country music. It was busy, but the waitresses were attentive. Our food came out in a timely manner, and everything was Great. We had a pretty good size party and they were very accommodating and arranging things so we could all sit together. That was a plus. Everyone liked their food. I had the cheese burger with fries. It was your standard burger but was good. Fries were great. Tried some of the deep pit my sis had and that was really good. We also got a sampler with green beans, zucchini, poppers and mozzarella sticks. All of them were great. We will defiantly go back as soon we can!

    Is this Ms. Ethel in her Prime?
    Gary I.

    Good ole Ethel of the Old Corral may have come from somewhere in Texas, maybe Big Spring. This may be the quintessential symbol of the Bakersfield of old when Big Oil & Country Western were king.  It borders near the huge, expansive, dystopian oil fields of the Standard Oil Corporation where pumps & derricks can be seen in a desolate landscape where many trees stand like sun bleached dead skeletons.  "Don't Tread on Me" flag waves high as well as a culturally appropriated giant Native American statue of a people whose lives were killed & lands stolen away. So it seems that the very sentiment of not tolerating being treaded on goes out the window if you're the one doing the treading.   Big crowd, many in casual, country-western garb gathered around the bar. The stygian interior contrasts against the harsh sunlight outside so it's like a cave accentuated with nasal Country Western sing'in. You can save yourself from having to drive all the way to the Permian Basin.   Buffalo Burger double patty is the best buffalo burger since the time I ate one at the Catalina Island Airport arriving on a friend's Cesna years ago.  Nice aged, gamey blood minerality, beefiness. Seems flavoured with a sort of Lawry's seasoning spice salt & black pepper.  Cooked perfectly between medium rare & medium so the reddish pink interior & slightly charred meat is moist with a pleasant chaw.  Condiments included sweet sour pickles, sharp greenish yellow Peperoncini, purple onion, tomato, green lettuce.  I ordered ripe, creamy avocado & lightly smokey strips of salty, porky bacon. Buffalo burger made in heaven via Bakersfield.  Side of french fries are thin, house cut skin on. Fried to a nice crispness for the most part, but Benji's Belgian fries still reign in Bako.  The amiable waitress suggested Lagunitas IPA. Loads of bitter hops, sweet, heavy body Good acidity, treacle, brown sugar toastiness that could handle the buffalo.  If you're hankering for a great buffalo burger and Country Western music, Ethel's Old Corral can't be beat.  Big outdoor patio in the back as well as indoor table seating.   I may not always agree with Ms. Ethel's Weltanshauung. However, 4 stars for food only.

    Laura G.

    Food is very well made and the servers are friendly and attentive. The restaurant has a traditional old western/country diner ambiance, making a fun local pit stop.

    several trucks parked in a parking lot
    Jeremy C.

    I really liked this joint! Out in the middle of nowhere and you get the feeling your pulling up to a scene from "No Country for Old Men" and getting ready for a gun fight. The food was really good. I had two orders of the deep-pit tacos which come with hard shells. They have two tacos for each order. I was with a few others who really enjoyed their food. They had a fire going in the fireplace. It is a cash only place but they have an ATM inside.

    Freedom!

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    30 days ago

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    9 months ago

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    7 months ago

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    8 months ago

    Love this place. Friendly bartenders, great service and reasonably priced drinks. Highly recommended.

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    5 months ago

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    4 years ago

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    1 year ago

    Fun place for a Sunday burger and beer. Feels like your in Texas or somewhere midwest.

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    2 years ago

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    9 months ago

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    7 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

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    2 years ago

    Great time and good vibe. This place is old school which I like. Now the service was excellent a nice home town vibe with good people.

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    6 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Terrible. Too many people are not enough staff, and the staff that is here doesn't care.

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    3 years ago

    Excellent food and service! Our waitress did a wonderful job and accommodated our desires. I loved the authentic setting.

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    3 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Went in and the owner or manager was freaking out on a young server. Will not be coming back. Disgusting and dissapointing

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    6 years ago

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    Page 1 of 3

    Ask the Community - Ethel's Old Corral

    Review Highlights - Ethel's Old Corral

    My 10 year old son ordered the cup of chili and we split an order of deep pit tacos.

    Mentioned in 7 reviews

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    Tiki-Ko - Inside decor - Tiki-Ko

    Tiki-Ko

    4.5(284 reviews)
    4.5 mi
    $$

    Nobody plans to spend an evening in Bakersfield. You pass through it on the way to somewhere else…read more-- Mammoth, the Sequoias, the long flat grind up the 99 to Sacramento -- and if you stop at all, it's for gas or a bathroom or because your BMW's brakes have decided, somewhere around the Grapevine, that they'd rather not. Thank you, Weatherford BMW of Berkeley, for the near-death experience and, inadvertently, for one of the best nights out I've had in years. Stranded and waiting on repairs, we checked into The Padre, the only hotel in Bakersfield that feels like someone with a subscription to Dwell had a hand in it, and set out walking through a downtown that time has treated with more kindness than reputation suggests. There's a Woolworth's luncheonette still hanging on. There are old brick facades and wide sidewalks and the particular quiet of a Central Valley evening when the heat finally breaks. And then, on 18th Street, there is Tiki-Ko, and suddenly you are no longer in Bakersfield at all. You are, instead, inside someone's magnificent obsession. Tiki-Ko is a proper tiki bar -- not a tiki-themed cocktail lounge, not a place that bought some bamboo at a craft store and called it atmosphere, but a genuine, committed, floor-to-ceiling shrine to mid-century Polynesian fantasy. The carvings are real. The lighting is correct -- which is to say, barely there. The mugs are serious. There are pufferfish lamps and carved totems and the whole glorious taxonomy of tiki ephemera, accented here and there with a skate-culture edge that keeps it from feeling like a museum. It's reverent without being precious. The drinks are the real thing. Mai Tais built with actual orgeat. Zombies that earn the name. The bartenders make them with the kind of care and enthusiasm that tells you this isn't a gig -- it's a calling. They want you to be here. They want to talk about rum. They want you to try the Painkiller. In a city that most Angelenos regard as a punch line, somebody built a world-class cocktail bar and filled it with joy, and the regulars clearly know it. You will not plan a trip to Bakersfield. But if you find yourself there -- by mechanical failure, by accident, by the peculiar mercy of a bad brake job -- walk downtown. Find the tiki bar. Order a second round. Stay longer than you intended. Bakersfield has been underestimated, and Tiki-Ko is the proof.

    Visited The Sinking Ship with friends and enjoyed ourselves very much. The drinks were good and the…read moreatmosphere was really cool. It was a fun evening in a laid back environment, the bartenders were nice and the lady clearing tables was pleasant. The only thing I, personally, didn't enjoy was the weird ambient soundscapes. A little music would have been nice, rather than the creaking ship noises and ghostly wailing.

    Photos
    Tiki-Ko - Interior booth

    Interior booth

    Tiki-Ko - Sunken Ship

    Sunken Ship

    Tiki-Ko - Interior. bar area

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    Interior. bar area

    Ethel's Old Corral - tradamerican - Updated May 2026

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