Cafe Athena

Café Athena was amazing. I had a half chicken and my husband had chicken couscous. We ordered a side of Taziki and hummus and everything was absolutely fantastic. It was hard to pick what I wanted because the menu all looked delicious. I can't wait to come back and try more. The staff is a tentative, and my waitress was super friendly and sweet .

We brought a small party here for Greek Easter. Cafe Athena is a nicely appointed, pleasantly decorated restaurant in the corner of a large shopping center. The hostess was very friendly, she seated us immediately. Our waitress was cheerful, knew the menu, and was completely on top of our order. Kudos to the way Athena uses "Bus people" to help get the food out quickly.The food was excellent. Portions were plentiful, and everything on the menu was well priced. There was a lot to like at here, and very little to not like...So, why didn't I give five stars? The menu is a bit odd...Athena seems to blend Greek, Turkish, Moroccan, and Middle Eastern with a bit of abandon, so you either have to know the menu well, or be OK with a mish-mash of cuisines. Personally, I was looking for some of the dishes to be more straight forward--But, no major quibble. Cafe Athena is a nice, lively place. A great value, great service. Recommended.

EatsKEFTEDESPAPOUTSAKIABOUREKIAGyro Meat - SideAs food snobs who have been to Greece a few times - we had VERY big expectations and Cafe Athena exceeded them! This is probably our favorite Greek spot in San Diego nowI'd recommend everything we ordered. We still don't know what was our favorite Definitely get some Bourekia for the table. We didn't try these in Greece and were amazed at how fun they were!Can't wait to try more of their menu.

Food was outstanding. Avgolomono soup, some of the best I've had. The fried potatoes were cooked and seasoned to perfection. And the Chicken souvlaki was also about the best I've had. I don't know how they got the chicken so perfectly seasoned and tender. Service left a bit to be desired. I was seated promptly by an ultra-friendly hostess. On business travel, dining alone, I was seated at a high top in the vicinity of the bar. This apparently to the displeasure of the bartender. I sat for about 15 minutes before ordering. I saw the hostess telling the bartender to serve me, and I did not see a happy look on his face. In the end, the the food was great and the quantities met expectations.

Beautiful place!!!! I'd come back just for the look of this place. We ordered the lamb wraps (I'm not sure the name on the menu) but they were amazing omg!! The server was soooo nice. She accommodated us as we walked in only 30min before closing and answered all our questions.

Will not be ordering from here again as my $20 + salad contained what appears to be artificial eyelash in it or some large plastic thing. I have ordered from here in the past because I really like the lemon soup but this really grossed me out.

Highly recommend Cafe Athena if you're in the area! Good vibes and delicious food in beautiful San Diego :)

The food was good and the ambience was pleasant. We were greeted warmly and our server gave us excellent service.My husband ordered the eggplant lasagna and it was really good

Yum! This place has been in business since 1990. It was one of our #1 faves in the early 2000s, & then we started going to Apollonia, which was closer to us. But that place is closed - and we miss Athena! Besides: they take reservations now. So we returned tonight very happily.The place has been totally renovated inside. We sat outside & were the only table. They *don't* have heat lamps so keep that in mind if you're going on a cold night. But tonight it was very comfy even with no lamps. The have some pretty lights strung up too.Much of the menu is the same as in the old days, though now they have cocktails and have eliminated some of the old dishes. (No more taramosalata, sniff sniff). But they still have my FAVE spanaki lemonato, which is the cravable thing that always brought me here & which they don't have anywhere else. Cold sauteed spinach with lemon and garlic. PERFECTION. The hummus was lemony but also very good.I also got the IMAM BAYALDI, another of their classic vegetarian dishes that you can't get anywhere else in town - stewed eggplant with tomatoes, raisins and nuts, served with rice. Delicious & very healthy.I love that they have wines by the glass for under $10 - that's disappeared from a lot of menus in San Diego. But I went for a cocktail. $14 for the Athena, which was VERY tasty: vodka, St Germain, lime, cucumber. Served up. Delicious! (they just got confused at first, because they have a pizza called "The Athena" in addition to the cocktail called The Athena. But when a pizza showed up to my table unexpectedly, we cleared it up and I got my drink!) Anyway, we had a great time. Service was friendly. They have some funky planters on both sides of the door which was very pretty. As long as we don't come during weeknight rush hour, when getting off at Garnet can be nuts, we'll be back!! Glad the food is just as delicious and now with more drink choices. And easy parking here in this strip mall/shopping center parking lot.

Shout out to my waitress, Gabriella im asking for you guys to give her a raise, I could list so many stuff about the place, one is that they have the most best food.I had nice and long conversations with Gabriella, and let me tell you, the decorations of the place are top tier, I love the color scheme and the exterior are beatiful.I also like the use of the greek gods and goddesses in the Menu, and you guys take very good care of your plants, and the architecture is so cool, in one corner of the café there is like inverted stairs that I personally think should be a trend in houses or restaurants.also another thing is how clean the place is, the table I was sitting at had such good tables, and there are even more things about this place that would be to long to list, in respect, Sincerely, a satisfied customer.