We very much do enjoyed our experience and food while dining here. The Greek Stromboli and shrimp Alfredo were BOMB

We came here while staying for a long weekend on Lake Hartwell. My wife had the Zorba chicken and I had the Primavera, to which I added chicken. Both were excellent, though this was the first primavera I've ever had in a cream sauce, as opposed to a red sauce. It was very good. Service was attentive and quick. Italian food and Greek options. It doesn't look like much from outside, but inside gives a very good, quiet, and nice night out. read more

Downtown Cafe - Primavera, add chicken - Italian Near Me - Hartwell, Georgia

See all

I've been here for five times and this is better than just 3 1/2 stars, in my humble opinion. Especially good are the margaritas that are only $4.99 read more

Downtown Cafe - Italian Near Me - Hartwell, Georgia

The best food in hartwell for sure. Shrimp scampi is my absolute favorite, but you can't go wrong with anything else on the menu. Service is always top notch and fast. Olivia is our regular server and she is wonderful. Highly recommend read more

Downtown Cafe - Shrimp scampi - Italian Near Me - Hartwell, Georgia

Had the steak Stromboli, it was delicious, our waitress Olivia was very attentive and our food was out quickly, highly recommend !

Such a fun little place. The food was delicious, just come with a very empty stomach as the portion sizes are quite large.

The homemade pizzas are always so good and cheesy. I love their Zorba chicken salad & and wings for something a little different.

Very good food and kind efficient service! The bar side is very open and airy! We will be back.

Food was just ok. Eatable and that's about it. The rice was super dry and lacked in flavor. The lasagna was hard and the cheese wasn't melted properly. Aside from the food, the bathroom was a disgrace. Toilet flush barely worked and it was not clean inside. There was pee all over the stool. The staff was very hands off. Wish they would have been more engaging. read more

See all

Finally, I got to this place after 2.5 years living in this town. It was on the recommendation of my dining companion. Just walking in your nose is in for a treat! Very nice menu of Italian and Greek foods. I had the All Meat Stromboli. It was huge! Very tasty!! I will definitely be coming back to try some more items Our waiter was great. Very friendly and attentive. I definitely recommend this place. read more

Excellent option to taste a totally spectacular homemade meal. The Parmesan chicken had an incredible, totally natural flavor as made at home. My wife ordered for shrimp scampi with angel hair pasta that were excellent. The service was first class. Excellent option to taste a real Italian food. Next time I will try the Greek food. Excelente opcion para degustar una comida casera totalmente espectacular. El pollo a la parmesana tenia yn sabor increible totalmente natural como hecho en casa mi esposa pidio unos camarones scampi en pasta cabello de angel que estaban excelentes. El servicio estuvo de primera. Excelente opcion para degustar una verdadera comida italiana. La proxima vez le dare ell chance a degustar la comida Griega. read more

They usually have a very good pizza Tonight I ordered a pizza to go while waiting I was charged for a meat lovers with extra Italian Sausage After a very long time. I received a bell pepper and sausage pizza My bad I didn't look This is like the 3rd out 5 they have gotten horrible wrong. I'm done last time. It's a shame because overall they have good food. But can't keep wait staff or bartenders. I give !! read more

Downtown Cafe - Bell pepper and sausage not a meat lovers with extra sausage. - Italian Near Me - Hartwell, Georgia

Went for the pizza. It was a bad experience the entire time. We got there 30 minutes before close, and I asked the hostess if they were aiming to be out by 10 or if they just stop seating people then, and she said we were perfectly fine to come in. At first, I was pleased with the ambience, with the decor and Christmas music, but that's where it ended. We ordered an overpriced pizza ($21.99 for a pepperoni that had maybe 12 pepperonis on it) and the fried ravioli. The ravioli was not crispy at all, and had a thick breading on it (that was falling off). The pizza was thin crust even though I specifically said I wanted hand tossed and NOT thin crust. The pizza crust is flavorless and dry. The cheese was bland. After being unable to eat the pizza, I was just enjoying listening to the music, but then heard an employee loudly say "can you change the music? I'm going to kill myself" and then they changed the Christmas music to something else. They started turning off lights and cleaning all around us. We felt VERY unwelcome, which is WHY I asked the hostess when we first got there. All of these concerns were brought up to the manager but he only took off the charge for the pepperoni, and sided with the rude employee about the music. We left just after 10pm, which was their posted closing time. Thanks for ruining our only holiday outing. We won't be back. read more

Best Food, love the Lamb! Service is great as well. The ambiance of the restaurant is peaceful and very family-oriented place.

Love the food, atmosphere, and service. Have my favorites on the menu and never disappoints.

This was our first time coming here and we were blown away. The food was delicious and the wine selection was everything we like. They had one of my favorite Sauv Blancs (Starborough) and Chardonnays (J Vineyards), as well as my wife's top Moscato (Mirassou). My father in law doesn't like Italian much but there was so much for even him to choose from. Definitely a new go to in Hartwell. read more

Downtown Cafe - Great wine selection with something for everyone. - Italian Near Me - Hartwell, Georgia

See all

Great Food and the staff is very very polite each time we eat in are get take out they have never messed up our

I went to the bar and ordered 3 Gyro's and 1 order of fries. It seems the Downtown Cafe does not know what a Gyro is because when I got to my car to check the order, In the bag was a styrofoam container with fries (pretty good but cold) and a small styrofoam container with a pile of just meat in it, no Pita, no sauce, just a pile of meat. I went back in and questioned it and was told I needed to order the Gyro platter to get a pita with the meat. Hmmm. So here you go Downtown Cafe, the following is the definition of Gyro on ALL dictionaries. gy·ro2 | yērō | noun (plural gyros) North American an item of food made with slices of spiced meat cooked on a spit, served with salad in pita bread. The food was fine when it was right, but no one even took the time to apologize. Very sad, very disappointing. read more

All I can say is, get the angel hair pasta with the garlic butter sauce! We always sit at the bar with Olivia and she's super sweet, and our food always comes out pretty quickly too. Great service! Also, Love the new digs since they remodeled. read more

Always good food/service. Will be back. Love their pizza, gyros, salads. Family run business. Good hospitality.

While vacationing at Lake Hartwell we stopped at the Downtown Cafe for dinner which is located in the charming downtown area. The service and ambiance were very nice. There was a variety of people : families, dinner dates and what appeared to be workers on lunch break. Everyone was very nice and the atmosphere was casual. Wife and I decided to get Italian food which was an excellent choice. We will be back next time visiting Lake Hartwell. read more

The food is bland and just awful. The restaurant is to dark to hardly read the menu. The only positive thing I can say about this place is they have an amazing wait staff but that's the only thing good about this place. read more

This is Hartwell's best if you are looking for Italian. Or Greek. On Depot street where everything is happening. Aa

So went for dinner, the prices on Yelp are not correct, prices have increased by $2-$3 depending on what you choose. Small glass of beer is $5. After we looked at the menu decided to order pizza but at that time we were told no pizza tonight, oven broke. We ordered a Greek salad & two all-meat calzones. The salad was small considering, mostly lettuce, thin slice of tomato, two olives, two very small peppers, not much for $9. The calzones were small, flat, had very little tiny chopped meat and little cheese. Paying cash with tip came to $64.00. Very disappointing food, amount of food, quality of food and will not return, cannot recommend since it does appear this restaurant is interested in making a lot of money off its customers with very little in return. read more

Have been there several times and it is always great. Staff is very friendly, service is great and food is awesome.

Sooooo I ordered the manicotti. The manicotti I'm used to getting growing up in NY, was rolled pasta filled with meat & ricotta cheese. What I got today was 2 pieces of flat pasta one on the bottom, cheese, then another flat pasta on the top, topped with cheese. Maybe the cooks need to be trained better or maybe they didnt feel like rolling the pasta & stuffing it with cheese. Either way I am disappointed & will make my own from now on. Will no be returning. This place used to be my go to place when I felt like Italian & didn't want to drive far. read more

Downtown Cafe - This is suppose to be manicotti!? - Italian Near Me - Hartwell, Georgia

Cute place downtown with reasonable pricing amazing service and good food. The day we went the Italian items seems much more authentic than the Greek fare. Greek salad with lettuce? Not so authentic but the Gyro meat was good. Best Mediterranean restaurant in Hartwell! read more

Small but clean and lovely restaurant in downtown Hartwell. Friendly staff and nice menu options with fair prices, including lunch specials.

Consistently good food! This is our Friday night date place each week. Reasonable prices and wonderful servers.

This restaurant was a huge disappointment, worst lasagna I have ever had, I mean the worst! The place needs a complete overhaul especially with some of the restaurants coming to downtown hartwell. Snapped a pic of the mens room to give you an idea of the cleanliness. read more

Downtown Cafe - Mens Restroom - Italian Near Me - Hartwell, Georgia

The newly renovated dining room is open and nicely decorated! The Tuscan ravioli is superb! Stella is a great bartender and friendly and it's all excellent. I'd highly recommend this place and is an icon in Hartwell! I'll be back (in your best Schwarzenegger voice). read more

Pizza was amazing and the service was perfect. Even though it was a busy lunchtime and we were the only customers outside.

It's been several years since we have eaten here and I'm glad we finally came back. I had the Zorba chicken which was served on a bed of rice. The chicken was well seasoned and juicy. My husband enjoyed his lasagna. The chicken tenders my son had were a good sized portion and he said they were good. The server was attentive and helpful. The place was very busy but we got our meals pretty quickly. I will look forward to coming back. read more

See all

Ambiance is nice. Good Service. Greek/American mix with decent pizza and a few proprietary appetizers. Loved the Greek Fries.

Came in from out of town Called in and picked it up. We had Mediterranean pizza. It was excellent but it says it has pesto but I did not notice any. Also had lasagna It was very good. Seemed nice and clean inside. Very Italian feeling atmosphere. Definitely would return I wish it wasn't COVID time. Waitresses I saw were wearing mask :) read more

An eclectic aesthetic with a cross between Marilyn Monroe, vintage Italian, and a Greek flair. I've been pleased with every meal I've ordered. Warm, inviting, and friendly. Definitely recommend stopping in! read more

I brought my Aunt to eat here. She had the Stromboli and i had the gyro wrap. She loved her!!! My gyro was amazing. The sauce was so good. It came with fries. I wasn't a fan of the thick fries but that's just me...my Aunt loved them. We had a wonderful waitress who was learning and we had no problem her learning with us. We will be back soon for dinner because i love the lasagne. read more

We really like this place. The Chicken (and mushroom) Zorba is excellent. It was well spiced and the rice pilaf under it was good. The sampler meat platter is also good. Everything is spiced as you'd expect. The tzatziki sauce is just right - not too heavy/thick. The warm-up salads have always been good (e.g. no wilting lettuce). The service is friendly and efficient and the atmosphere is excellent, taking full advantage of the bricks and exposed beams. It was also affordable. We first came on our anniversary despite handful of negative reviews. I'm glad we did. This place is a definite keeper. read more

The meat was tasty. The pita bread was a little bit soggy. French fries were frozen. Mask nor gloves were not worn by the staff. There was no social distancing at all. read more

Downtown Cafe - Gyro Wrap with Fries Lunch special. - Italian Near Me - Hartwell, Georgia

Great local option in downtown Hartwell. Dimmly lit italian/greek vibe inside with a small bar tucked away on one side of the restaurant. Best pizza in town in my opinion. I always get a large Mediterranean. Greek inspired platters with pita bread are also solid options along with a wide variety of pastas and a few salads. I wouldn't come here for the subs though as you could probably find better subs and sandwiches at the brewery one street over or several other restaurants around town. Avoid their philly cheesesteak if you're craving a traditional philly, or even just expect a decent sandwich, because it's not. read more