The Café On Lumpkin - Athens

Went for afternoon tea .was so excited to find a place that serves afternoon tea but was sorely disappointed. Scones were dry and hard and sandwiches just so so. The tea was fine but service pretty unfriendly. The tea was fine but food left much to be desired. I’d love to try again to see if that was just a bad day but too expensive to go snd be disappointed again. The scones tasted like they’d been baked then left in open air overnight. Ugh! I couldn’t even finish my scone and I love scones. Wish this place had worked out. If so I’d be there every week for afternoon tea.

This place was good. What we didn't like was the absence of a waitress after she brought our food, we needed our tea to be reheated, and the place felt cold and not cozy and inviting. The food was ok.

I want to preface this by saying that I very rarely write negative reviews of restaurants, but our experience at The Café on Lumpkin was bad enough to warrant a break from habit.Given the location and the quality of the venue, I would have expected a MUCH more impressive and enjoyable experience. This was diner-quality food with worse than fast-food franchise quality service, at mid-tier prices.Pros:The establishment is atmospheric, bright and cheerful. Parking was a bit difficult, but that isn’t really the restaurant’s fault. This could be a really awesome little local venue if they had decent food and quality service.Cons:Service: We arrived at 9:00 AM, placed our orders at the counter, and were seated rapidly. The place was not at all busy, but it still took half an hour for the six of us to receive our (very simple orders. No silverware was provided until we requested it, and there were no napkins, salt, pepper or other standard condiments at the table. The coffee probably would have been good if it were hotter than lukewarm. The water was obviously tap water, with no ice. Our server only came by once to refill drinks over the course of an hour. One of our side orders was missing, and when this was pointed out to the staff, they disappeared without a word – I assumed that they were leaving to address the problem, but that never happened, and we never received our missing side.Food: This was some of the most uninspired fare I’ve had. The bacon was pretty good, but everything else ranged from unimpressive (at best to very bad.My wife’s avocado toast had obviously been sitting out for quite a while: the avocado was brown. The egg was over-easy, per request, which was nice. (Unfortunately, my friend who ordered the breakfast sandwich, also ended up with an over-easy instead of over-medium egg, so maybe that 's just the way they prepare all their eggs. The toast was a small step up from Wonder Bread. Future diners, please know what to expect if you order this dish: expired avocado smeared on cheap bread, with a fried egg on top, and a shake of Everything Bagel seasoning.I had the lox and bagel sandwich, which I believe was created by someone who had read about the concept of lox and cream cheese on a bagel, but had never actually experienced it; that probably sounds like I’m being flippant or making a joke, but I’m quite serious. The “bagel” was more like a soft dinner roll with a hole cut in it. The lox was nearly flavorless (and honestly it seemed hardly brined . It was served with equally flavorless tomato slices and thick cuts of greasy, grilled red onion (which was both unexpected and jarring . The cook forgot the capers, but their inclusion wouldn’t have saved the meal.Final verdict: Unappetizing food and abysmal service*. Under normal circumstances, I would assume that this was just an off day for the restaurant, and I’d give them another chance, but after reading other reviews, our experience seems to be unfortunately common. I’d love to hear an explanation from management, but in the meantime, I can only say that there’s no way I’d eat here again.*Edit: I asked my wife to read over this to ensure I wasn 't being unfair in my assessment. She said that server wasn 't abysmal, since they weren 't rude or unpleasant: they just weren 't there. I suppose I can grant that absent is a step up from deliberately offensive.

This restaurant has charm, but a little pricey, especially if you’re not a fan of what you ordered. Specifically the lox bagel sandwich, WARNING DO NOT ORDER! I’ll say the bagel was fresh, but there was five pieces of lox, MAYO(why?)Not cream cheese, regular red onions, not pickled, two tiny slices of tomato and like 5 capers!!! Totally disgusting. I will never understand. My normal bagel place is under going renovations, so I’ll be making my own bagel and lox at home. Seems like they could use one extra person to take care of patrons. It’s far and few on drink refills…

Delightful! Friendly and courteous staff. Delicious goodies with an extensive selection of teas. Dining area could have been a tad prettier but all in all a special way to get together with friends.