Olympia Cafe ranks in top 10 percent in the world

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - A local restaurant recently received some global recognition.

Olympia Café was ranked in the top 10 percent of restaurant, worldwide, by a popular online travel company.

“I’ve been here for 33 years. I started back when Savannah started to grow, slowly. Everyone was telling me, ‘you chose the wrong city to come to,’ but I proved them all wrong. Savannah is a beautiful city and we did very well,” said Olympia Cafe owner Nick Pappas.

Of course, Pappas is proud of his restaurant, “we even had Tom Jones here once!”

In its 33 years Olympia Café has gotten plenty of attention from celebrities, “I think every movie star that comes to the city, they stop by and have dinner or lunch here,” Pappas said.

World travelers, “a guy was sitting here the other day, he was from Japan, and he said to me, ‘you know you’re famous in Japan?’ I said, ‘how am I famous in Japan?’ He showed me, I can’t read it but I said, ‘man, that’s unbelievable.’”

Even making it on the big screen in the movie, Devotion.

So needless to say, Pappa’s Greek restaurant is no stranger to getting recognition, or so you’d think.

“I didn’t expect that.”

Recently Olympia Café was honored by Tripadvisor ranking them in the top ten percent of restaurants in the entire world.

“It makes me feel like crying in a way.” Pappas said, “like, wow, ten percent worldwide. This is a big achievement, especially for a small city like Savannah. I mean, ten percent worldwide, can you imagine? This is a big world here and we get to be in the top ten percent, that’s amazing.”

An honor that ranks near the top for Pappas because it relies on customer reviews, a reflection of their hard work.

“Hospitality is number one, well, of course food is number one and hospitality number two, but they go hand in hand.”

It would seem they’ve been working hand in hand to pull them to the top.

While he may have never imagined getting this recognition, he never doubted he’d come out a winner when he bet on Savannah more than three decades ago.

“We had some rough times in the beginning, but everything worked out very well for us and we’re still here and we hope to be here for a while to serve the community and the world. I think they need us here in the city as much as we need them,” said Pappas.