Cafe Athena

I purchased a gift card here as a present and inadvertently threw it in the trash I stopped in the next day to purchase a new one and the staff was super helpful and they were able to void the old card and refund the amount… was not expecting they would do that as it was my fault. Excellent customer service and we will be back again to dine!

Nice sit down Mediterranean restaurant in PB there are others in the area but they’re take out or more casual. I’ve been here three times because a friend LOVES their avgolemeno soup — it’s not my thing but was good when I tried his. The food tastes good but the gyros (my go to dish) are hit or miss on if they’re dry. Once your order is taken and your food arrives it’s a long time before staff returns to check on you or refill drinks. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be bugged didn’t my entire meal but I also don’t like having to flag someone down for more water when several employees have walked by and looked right at my glass. The staff is nice though and accommodating when you do stop them.

I went with a group for lunch and the food was delicious. They did a greek-​jewish menu for us. The appetizers were good Hummus and Spanakopitas, then I ordered Keftedes as the main dish, those were meat balls with vegetables very good. The service was friendly even though we were a big group.

Fantastic Greek cuisine with super friendly staff. We had Rebecca who was extremely professional who had a painful wrist sprain. For appetizers we had calamari and mezedaki which was very authentic. The tzatziki was homemade and reminded me of mykronos and toronto’s Danforth Ave. Very pleasant staff and great service.

I JUST found this place– what a gem! I found it on Unilocal when I wanted to pick up a healthy dinner and lunch for the next day. I was expecting it to be a fast food-​type Greek restaurant, which it is not (although they do deliver and are very fast with to-​go orders). It’s a pretty casual little spot, with fantastic food. The selection was much broader than just greek salads and gyros, there were interesting salads and dips/​spreads I’d never heard of (but turn out to be traditional Greek foods). I ordered the tatziki, spanaki lemonato, an olympic salad and a gyros plate. It was SO much food and absolutely delicious! I’ll definitely go back. The spanaki lemonato was my favorite part of the meal– I love spinach, and this was perfect. Very garlicy, a little lemony, and no hint of oil (although I’m sure some was used in cooking).

Tried this new place out with my bestie yesterday and it was AMAZING! Their food is delicious, and service was GREAT! The restaurant has been open for 25 years. The environment is very clean, modern, and homey. I loved this place and definitely will be going back soon. It is one of Pacific beach’s hidden gems! Try it out, I promise it won’t let you down.

What’s not to love? This is true, authentic Greek food. The flavors are so good, the meat is tender and the service is wonderful. The gyro meat is the best I have ever had. It’s thick, tender, and full of flavor. Their plates are large and can be shared! The hummus is fresh! It’s nothing like what you buy in the store. It’s smooth, thick and extremely flavorful. If you like Greek food this is a must try!

Great Greek, at least one of the better one’s in San Diego.
i’d truly recommend the Greek salad with Lamb.
their Lentil soup is by far the best in town.
will definitely go again and again.

I’ve been a long time client of Café Athena for my catering needs. They are excellent. Food always comes fresh and delicious. I’ve had many gyros from different Mediterranean joints but theirs seems to be the best. It’s juicy and tender and just seasoned well. The herbs don’t overpower the meat. Sometime I would buy 5 lbs of gyros and it will last for a week and it still tastes great. Just heat it up in one of your countertop ovens and you’re good to go.
I love their salad. The feta cheese they use is always fresh. Is also love their tabouli and baklava.
One thing that I can recommend to the chef is to make their chicken souvlaki a little bit juicier. It tends to be on the dry side every time I have it. Maybe using chicken thighs can make it juicer. Otherwise I would have given them 5 stars.
Lastly, if you frequently cater with them, which I highly recommend, they give you a $ 50 gift certificate every time you’ve accumulated $ 1200 in catering orders.

Excellent food. Moussaka was delicious and the chicken couscous dish was awesome!
They also do a decent Greek salad if my memory serves me. Local gem.

I hate to leave negative or even non-​positive reviews, but when you’re paying this much money, I feel it’s only fair to warn people about negative experiences. Just to be clear, this is my first order from this restaurant, so hopefully this isn’t normal.
To make this semi short, when the food was delivered it wasn’t even warm. The falafel was not fresh at all, and there was definite leakage all over inside our bag. The restaurant requires a 15% tip + $ 2.00 delivery fee in order to have food delivered, so I would hope for at least a hot bag or something to keep the food warm. The veggies and hummus didn’t taste fresh at all, and the overall flavor of the food was «okay». In conclusion, I have ordered Mediterranean food many times, and I feel I can make a fair judgement on this cuisine. I am sure that the in house service would be better, but this review is based on my only experience with the business.

I have lived in SD for 6 years about a ½ mile from this place and just barely ate there last week! I am kicking myself that it took me so long to find this gem! The food was amazing, the service was spectacular!
I ordered the spanakopita, Greek Salad, and the Chicken Kabob plate. It was all delicious. The spanakopita was one of the best I’ve ever had. The Greek Salad was simply amazing, topped with fresh balls of feta cheese, and the Chicken Kabob plate could not have been any better.
Highly recommend this place if you want exceptional service and freshly made Greek food!

Love their food here and I have been going here for years– lunch or dinner. I also love that they’re close by my work so I can easily order for pick-​up.
I always get their Calamari for an appetizer. They are lightly seasoned and perfectly fried. I always order either their Gyro plate or Gyro wrap and the meat they give is always plentiful. I have also had their Chicken Souvlaki wrap and that is equally good, however, to me when you have Greek food, you gotta order Gyros.
I highly recommend this place.
But then again, it’s just my opinion.

Went out for dinner with my mom on a Tuesday night. Loved having the option of sitting outside but it was a little weird having people walk through the seating area from other businesses in the complex. The food was absolutely terrific. The chicken couscous had a deliciously spicy sauce on the braised chicken with zucchini and carrots while the greek salad had an equal balance of greek olives, cucumbers, onions, lettuce, and feta cheese (I asked for no tomato, not a fan of the texture). My mother had the Moussaka and loved it. Both came in large enough portions that we had food to take home.
My only real sticking point was that our server had us waiting for our check to be picked up at the end of the meal so we ended up having to go inside to find someone. When you are done with your meal, have the leftovers wrapped up read to do, and have to wait on the server to pick up the bill… you start getting restless

I came here trying to recreate a meal from my favorite Greek restaurant in Queens — Taverna Kyclades — the absolute mecca of Greek Seafood. I shouldn’t have bothered.
The saganaki is good, a little oily if anything. Our waitress didn’t seem too thrilled to yell OPA! when she lit the cheese on fire, though. The keftedes were decent. I was really excited to get the Sea Bass and was under the impression that I would be getting a decent amount of flame broiled fish. What I received was the smallest portion of horribly over-​salted, over-​cooked fish, some really delicious artichoke hearts, and the biggest portion of rice pilaf I have ever seen on a plate. How does this dish cost $ 22.99? It was so salty and was basically inedible.
I was very disappointed in my order and I’m not sure I will be coming back to try Café Athena again unless I want something super basic like a Gyro.

Wonderful Greek food! Loved the restaurant & the interior décor makes you feel like you took a short trip to Greece. It’s a little pricey but I guess you’re paying for the experience.
I’d be back to try their salads.

Came here again as I was in town on MDW… had the Shrimp Scorpio… OMG! Amazing… wish I could eat here more often. We also ordered the Moussaka and washed it down with some Hellas! Really good!

I was never a big fan of Greek food until studying abroad in Europe and taking a trip to Athens and a nearby isle. After an amazing experience at a local restaurant, I became obsessed with tzatziki (I had never had it before! *gasp*), kabobs and everything Greek! Where had this been all my life? Unfortunately, having such an amazing experience left a longing in my heart when I tried most American Greek restaurants after that. A lot of the time the food was bland, overly fried, or just made wrong. Luckily that is not the case with Café Athena.
Located towards the back of a shopping center, Café Athena is a blink and you miss it kind of place. Walking inside the view doesn’t change much, with tiled floors and scattered wooden tables. Luckily what it lacks in atmosphere it more than makes up for in the quality and flavor of the food served.
We ordered appetizers of tzatziki and spanakopita. The tzatziki was spot on and I inhaled it. Spanakopita was new to me but triangles of flaky filo filled with a blend of spinach, onion, feta cheese, onion, eggs and basil? Sold. Very flavorful! (And great to dip in tzatziki). For the main course I ordered a chicken kabob. I wasn’t sure about this because it seemed like a slightly generic choice, but I was really craving one. And boy did they deliver. The chicken was moist, über tender and marinated perfectly, with hints of garlic and oregano. The accompanying onion, red bell pepper, mushroom and zucchini were char-​broiled and cooked to the perfect consistency. Briami (marinated vegetables), rice pilaf and more tzatziki (score!) rounded out my plate.
I left super full and smiling. We were supposed to get frozen yogurt after but I had gorged way too much, I just couldn’t help myself. Café Athena is a hidden gem in Pacific Beach and some of the best Greek food in San Diego. If you love Greek food, this place is a must.

I have always been a big fan of good Greek food, and I was very pleased with my visit at this Greek eatery. I came in during lunch, hoping they had some sort of lunch specials, but they only offer the regular menu during lunch. That being said, I still ordered the Chicken Soulvaki on pita and a cup of house made lentil soup.
The lentil soup was hearty, just the way I liked it, and they sure did not hold back on the quantity of the tender lentils and the generous size of the cup the soup came in. The lentils were terrific and tender, and the soup was well seasoned and came with some tender carrots and celery. The soup cost $ 3.79.
The chicken soulvaki was great and came with a very good size able amount of chicken kabob. The chicken was not only tender and juicy, but it also came with a great crispy char, that just added to the overall great flavor and texture of the chicken. The pita bread was moist and warm and the tomatoes and onions were freshly cut. The Tzatziki was great, and it was easy not to hold back smothering the pita sandwich with it.
There was one individual on the floor that day, but he handle the lunch rush quite well. He was friendly and checked on me several times to make sure I was good and for refillings of my iced tea.

Mediterranean/​greek food lovers rejoice. I grew up with traditional greek dishes and am familiar with home style cooking. Furthermore the inside provides that home dining feeling. A home style dining theme to set a casual mode for you and your party. Café Athena has a great variety of dishes for meat and mon-​meat lovers.
Be sure to get Saganaki!!! OPA!!!