Cafe Illyria

Everything I get is always good. A little bit of a greasy spoon type style and great prices. If you are a regular downtown, it is a must– try.

Best damn breakfast ever. You must try the breakfast wrap. Soooooooooooooo good. For lunch please try the gyro.

There are many choices for lunch in the area, some are mediocre to good, but this place is really great. They do a steady lunch business for a reason, they have great food. Plenty of sandwich options to choose from, each packed with flavor. I had the Albanian Panini, which was exceptional. Each sandwich comes with a small bag of chips, next time i’ll upgrade to the fries or pasta salad, both of which looked fantastic. I’ll be back soon, thanks for a great lunch!

Great place to grab lunch downtown. If you love Feta Cheese, this place is for you as they put it on just about everything. They have several non-​traditional panini sandwiches that taste great! The Philly Cajun Reuben, and the Albanian Panini’s are must-try’s!
Don’t go between 12:00 and 12:30 PM, especially on a bright, sunny day. They get overwhelmed, and you will wait 30 – 40 minutes for your order. Go at an «off-​hour,» and you’ll get your order within 10 minutes.

Good food, good portions, good prices. Not quick though. If you’re on a layover from the greyhound station, it’s a quick walk, and you can make it, just specify so they can help you order something quick.

Zaim created a great little diner hidden away in shadows of downtown. The quaint immaculately clean little restaurant has a fairly large menu of incredibly low priced but high quality food. The cheeseburger was massive and cam with perfectly prepared fries. Will be back again.

Great place. Great service. Great price. That equals 5 stars. Had the club sub and it was hot and delicious.

My girlfriend and I came here on a cold weekday morning for breakfast. We walked about a mile to get here from where our car was getting serviced, and it was worth the walk! We got some nice hot chocolate drinks, and pancakes for her and bacon and eggs for me. It was delicious, nice big servings, and for a very reasonable amount of money. Overall very satisfied.
Also, the environment was wonderful. Very very clean and welcoming, nice and warm, cool décor (pictures of European monuments and such) and overall very nice place.
We will be back when we’re in the area :)

Great little place and beautiful hardworking personnel. My favorite lunch spot in the downtown.

Came here for lunch around 2. They seemed unprepared and like they were closing. They didn’t have half of the items on the menu we ordered. I got soup and a sandwich. The soup was definitely not homemade, it was watery and seemed like it had frozen vegetables in it. The place is cute and has a good location but lacked in food quality. I probably won’t come back.

I visited with relatives on a weekday afternoon in August. It was off-​peak hours and that most likely worked out in our favor. There is an adorable below-​ground brick-​enclosed patio outside that allows for outdoor seating. The seating inside is limited and feels cozy. The hardwood floors creak where and let you know there is a lot of history in that place. The service was really great. The staff was really helpful with all of our questions and even brought our food to our table for us. Now for the food! It was incredible! I had the chicken Parmesan panini and it was everything I expected and more! Everyone’s dish tasted and looked as we had hoped. We also couldn’t believe the amount of food we got for the small amount we paid.

Not a bad little find for a basement, whole-​in-​the-​wall lunch hub.
— Sandwiches are pretty average priced $ 5 – 9 (from what I remember)
— Super crowded during lunch; cramped seating
— Quick service
— Patio seating
— Friendly staff
— Deli style menu with a few authentic specialties*
*I tried their Albanian Panini and was very happy with how fresh and full of taste it was. Pretty much it was a gyro in the form of a Panini.
I’m curious to try other things on the menu. The Albanian Panini was good, but I think the reviews online oversold it. Not that I’m picky about fries, but they weren’t anything that special.
Definitely visit this place to try out some of the more Café Illyria-​signature sandwiches. I think you’ll be happy with a visit.

Nice little place and they have good breakfast as well. I brought my team here for our August breakfast team meeting and I personally love the atmosphere and the food especially.

Great lunch place downtown, walking distance from the library and Grant hospital. There are parking meters across the street that are actually available during lunch hours probably bc people who work downtown have other parking arrangements. Cute venue in the lower level of an old house complete w a fireplace. They have breakfast all day and large variety of sandwiches. I enjoyed my chicken quesadilla and my friend liked her chicken gyro. The average price for a sandwich and chips is 6 $.

I love this quant, little place! They serve breakfast and lunch and are opened until 3:00 weekdays. They now offer free delivery downtown before 11AM and after 1PM. I am so bummed because I would seriously make a special trip to eat here on the weekends. It’s super close to my job, but for years I didn’t try them. My lunch is usually after they close. I was definitely missing out big time!
All the dishes I’ve got from them were excellent. One of my co-​workers got the Philly sandwich, I got the chicken salad sandwich, and another got chicken bacon ranch. All dishes where amazing – it comes with chips. I upgraded to fries ($ 1.50 extra) and bought a soft drink. Their food is something I would be proud to eat and go with someone to lunch or breakfast.
I have tried their ranch bacon wrap, too. It is so succulent with ranch-​y, bacon-​y deliciousness. The only thing is I would prefer more bacon, which I believe they do for a nominal fee. It makes my mouth water just thinking about their food.
To sum it up, this will be my go to place for lunch from now! I haven’t had or seen something I don’t like here.
NB: 1) they do allow you to order ahead which it can be very busy during rushes. You can call ahead your order which I recommend if you’re in a rush for a lunch break.
2) You must go down stairs which could be a problem for people with disabilities.
3) They close at 3PM now (they used to be open until 3:30PM).
Thanks for the «Review of the day» (ROTD), Unilocal!
Edited: 4/​25/​2014-​changed time, and added note about ROTD.

Working downtown and reading all of the great reviews, I had to pop into this place for lunch.
Café Illyria’s ambiance is very nice. Sitting down from the street, you escape much of the traffic noise and, on nice days, you can take advantage of the patio seating. Service here is fantastic.
Being a first-​timer, I asked what was popular. Hands down, I was told the Albanian fit that bill. The Albanian is essentially a gyro panini. First bite flavor was phenomenal. After that, the tzatziki sauce/​feta cheese began to overwhelm the taste buds. Don’t get me wrong, the flavor was great, there just wasn’t enough meat on the sandwich to balance it out. In fact, the gyro meat consisted of just one layer of very thinly sliced meat. My colleague’s regular gyro was also great on flavor, but light on meat.
Illyria is a great economical option for lunch. The menu is interesting and I’ll definitely be back. Since, I can get out of Illyria for under $ 10 (i.e. very good prices), I will cut them some slack on the small meat portion. .. .next time, I’ll be sure to see if I can upcharge to some more meat.

Really happy to have found this near-​downtown lunch spot. I had the gyro-​panini thingy that everyone raves about, and it was fabulous. The gooey sauce, the buttered and grilled bread — it all worked together.
We sat on the patio which, despite being on State Street, is quiet and pleasant. It’s below street level, so you can kind of spy on the sidewalk without being obvious.
Prices are just right for lunch. Food is a touch slow, but worth the wait.

had to update the review. Went here for lunch, I got the salmon special for 8 $. It was really good. Good service. Price. There was no problem to find parking either.

Wonderful comfort food… I had the chicken salad melt and red potato salad. Nice clean dining area and nice people.

I stopped by Caffe Illyria while I was downtown for an event at the State house. I ordered the quesadilla special which came with fries. I got the chicken quesadilla, and it was really good! I love the fact that they put banana peppers inside. The fries were well seasoned and tasted fresh. I love the atmosphere of the whole place. This is definitely a great place to grab a quick lunch.