CONTRIBUTED BY SUZY

Hearth_facade

My husband, two year old, and myself recently stopped by a gorgeous little coffee shop called The Hearth Cafe.  It’s located down the road from the Transit Cafe at the Sunabe Sea Wall.  It’s the very last building on the right before the road turns into a dirt road at the wall.  We parked on the wall but there are a good amount of parking spots to be found in the area.  The Hearth Cafe is a coffee house/cafe that serves a variety of wonderful items such as sandwiches, pasta, appetizers, deserts, coffee, and pretty much any alcoholic beverage you can think of.  We were surprised at the amount of liquor they had lining their small bar.  The seating is limited inside (consisting of 2 tables and a few stools at a bar) but they also have a bar area outside as well as an additional 2 tables.

We went on a chilly day and were immediately given blankets to keep us warm while we waited for our coffee.  We ordered caramel lattes (which were so much better than any Macchiato that I’ve ever had at a Starbucks), an avocado cream cheese spread with a baguette (which contained little chunks of fresh avocados, cream cheese, sesame seeds and a drizzle of sesame oil), and the house specialty Hearth Toast.  The Hearth Toast was a unique dessert.  It consisted of 3 pieces of white toast that had either maple syrup or honey (your choice) drizzled over them, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, fresh berries, and whipped cream.  I though to myself…”white toast???”, but it was delicious and we ate every bit of it up.  While we didn’t order an entree, we could smell a gorgeous garlicky pasta that another customer had ordered.  The menu also had a couple of intriguing sandwich choices that we’ll be sure to go back for and something called walnut bread which I can’t wait to try.  It’s a great little place.  I can’t remember exact prices, but it wasn’t expensive by any means.

Hours: Closed Wednesdays in winter months

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10: 00am- 10:00pm (last order 9:00 pm) 
Saturday and Sunday 9: 00am – 11:00am (last order 10:00 pm)

Phone: 098-926-0622

Address: 3-177 Miyagi, Chatan

Google maps Coordinates: 26.3329726938, 127.742846484

Directions from Kadena Gate 1:

Take a left outside gate 1 onto 58 and take an immediate right at your first light (this will be the road that takes you by Pizza Inn and GI Bill Pay).  Take this road all the way down to the Sunabe Sea Wall until the road dead ends at the wall.  Take a right at the wall and follow the road until the paved road turns into a dirt road.; take a right on the adjacent paved road and follow this road about a half a mile up past a playground on your left and a baseball field on your right.

Website: hearthcafe.ti-da.net/

31 COMMENTS

  1. Came here for lunch about a week ago. The service was slower than Amercians are used to, but still friendly and efficient. Was unsure of the menu, but took some chances and the food was VERY good! Did not try the coffee, but the juices and ginger ale were delicious. Had the “Mexican” dip with avocado, cream cheese, and salsa-food was fresh and bread was fresh and tasty. Also had a sandwich which came with a small coleslaw salad and broth soup. Also placed an order for mango French toast and it was rich but good.
    Perfect location to stroll the seawall after a meal. Would recommend 🙂

  2. Horrible service!!! My husband and I went there around 11:30. we asked if they still serve breakfast they said they can serve only 2 breakfast left. so I took one, my husband ordered chicken teriyaki bowl and we both ordered hot chocolate. we finally got our hot chocolate around 12:30. still haven’t got our meal yet. so we decided to take it to go because we had an appointment.
    they packed our meal and we left. I opened my breakfast meal as soon as we get to our car… I got so shocked.. I wish I can post picture of it… there’s cold pancake and cold butter on the top. cold bacon..cold sausage.. only scramble egg was little bit warm… I bet they were sit there for long…so why they took so long to serve it then?? we wasted our time..we should’ve went to coffee casa. we will never go back to Hearth Cafe again.

  3. My wife and I consider Hearth Cafe our favorite restaurant in the world.
    My wife cried the first time she ate their (no joke), and I ate their almost every day for 4 years.
    We want to make a trip back to Okinawa just to experience it again.
    Recommended menu items:
    Surfer’s Bowl,
    BLTC,
    Beni Emo fries
    Mango Smoothie (or hot mango tea),
    Hearth Toast dessert

    -Josh and Irma Jackson

  4. Hearth Cafe seems to have moved locations since this review was posted. It’s now directly on the seawall at the end of the street where you would normally turn right to get to the park or Gordie’s. It also looks really different from the photo above – it now has bead screens in the windows and has kind of an aloha vibe. We just went for brunch and had a mixed experience. My mixed berry pancake came out with all the berries frozen solid, and the pancake was tough and dry. It tasted like it came from a mix. I had to send it back to get some thawed berries. The coffee was weak, and there are stray cats wandering around inside. There are signs on all the tables saying “Please don’t feed the stray cats,” but I was turned off by their presence and wondering why they were there at all. Isn’t that a health code violation? The one upside beside the mellow decor was that my husband liked his BLT, but we won’t go back.

  5. I went to Gordies last night with high expectations, however, was let down in nearly every way. While the staff was friendly and somewhat prompt (they didn’t check up on us after the food was delivered), the experience over all was not great. The furniture is extremely old and uncomfortable. We sat in the back section where there was seating for 5 and you could feel the springs and the chairs were squeaky. Looks like a hodge podge of things they collected from PCS seasons.

    Overall the food was also disappointing (note: prices have gone up since the original review). The onion rings were to heavily breaded and greasy. The Caesar salad was decent, however, too heavy on the dressing. Some of the lettuce was soggy and dripping in it. The burgers were also greasy and full of cartilage. I could not finish my burger. This reminds me why I should just wait until America until I can expect a good burger. On a positive note, the fries were delish and we unexpectedly were also served a cup of onion soup.

    They did forget to serve one of my daughter’s meal completely, however, did take off the charge at the register when I brought it to their attention. Overall, I was definitely disappointed and I will not be going back for a second chance.

    • Jennifer, sadly, I think to save money, the meat that Gordies has been using is not up to the quality it was when the restaurant first became popular. I agree, it’s now grissly and there’s just no way to make up for that! It’s upsetting, however, not much we can do except make burgers at home or travel a bit further for a better quality burger.

  6. I am looking forward to trying Hearth Cafe and hoping it will become my new meeting place for coffee by the seawall. I used to frequent Coffee Casa. I still love their coffee (and I get it to go sometimes) but I do not love the fact that it has turned into the favorite hot spot for large groups of moms with multiple babies and toddlers on any given morning. They use up all the table space inside and the babies spend the entire time throwing spoons and food on the floor while the moms totally ignore them and go on with their conversations. Then they up and leave the mess for the employees to scrape up off the floor. I’m hoping Hearth Cafe is not like this.

  7. Just FYI. Hearth Cafe appears to have a new blog-style website with information about upcoming events at the restaurant: http://hearthcafe.ti-da.net/

    The hours posted there are Mon-Fri 10am-midnight (last order at 2300), Sat-Sun 0700-midnight (last order at 2300) for the Cafe. Everyday 1800-0200 (last order at 0100) for the second floor. No weekly holidays.

    Pets are allowed on the terrace.

  8. Oh my gosh Gordies burgers were so good, Im never eating a burger anywhere else again. Plus their onion rings were fantastic, too full to get a milk shake but I saw someone else’s and it looked really yummy. They are a little more on the pricey side but my hubby and I thought they were worth it, bonus though we dont have kids so we can afford the splurge.

  9. Tito, I feel the same about Gordie’s hamburgers. When we went, one of our burgers was ok but I guess they overcooked the other two and they were exactly as you described. It’s a cute place but if we’re going to eat burgers we just go to Chili’s, or better yet, throw a frozen Bubba Burger (the sweet onion kind) on the grill. Both cost a LOT less and they’re delicious every time!

  10. Everything is perfect about these burgers, except for one important item…the meat. It’s always WAY over cooked, and seems to be of low quality. i.e. sometimes you get little “chunks”! Change the meat, cook the patties 2 minutes less, and you would have the most grubbin’ burgers ever, but until then I can’t say I’ll be going back…well at least not for their burgers.

  11. Ha! my fam was at Hearth during the week and Maki (the woman who works there that you spoke of) gave us smoothies to taste – (ice cream shakes, really – vanilla ice cream blended with bananas and a dark chocolate bar…) I told her we’d taste test anything she wanted. Any time. Call us. We’ll come down. Can’t wait for breakfast, that coffee will be great in the morning with the hawaiian pancakes! OISHII DESU.

    Oh – and I don’t like making milkshakes enough I don’t think; I’d mark them up too much for the effort!

  12. Stopped by both Gordies and Hearth Cafe last week. Both were great. The Hearth Cafe lady was so darn nice. She asked us if we could do her a favor and eat her FREE pancakes and then let her know if they were good or not. She’s going to start breakfast service, I think next week (I’ll have to go back to check on the times.) And YES her pancakes were darn good! With syrup and that yummy fresh whipped cream that they do so well here on the side. If I lived closer, I’d def. stop there for breakfast. Lunch was good too though. I had the pork bowl and my friends both had the BLT which they said was great. I’d wanted to try the hot chocolate, but it was such a gorgeous warm day that it just wasn’t happening!

  13. Lucky for us the kids get hungry early so we’re usually ahead of the crowd for lunch or dinner. We got to Gordie’s shortly after they opened on Saturday and by the time we settled down and got our food the place started to get packed.

    Aviva, are you taking up a collection for a milkshake maker? Count me in too! Or better yet you could open up your own business next door selling milkshakes and smoothies! 😉

  14. Ah the curses of posting something yummy up here and then having it get all crowded! 🙂 I ran into Julia, Kim & Lan who were all headed there, and after meeting some friends at the park, we decided we wanted to go too. Alas there was NO ROOM! So yeah, going at an off time might be wise. Or a weekday!

    I’ve decided it’d have to be a multiple-milkshake-maker – everyone in there would order them, probably more than the beer I think! That poor couple would be exhausted, if they aren’t already.

    I am seriously considering ordering
    the Waring PDM104 Drink Mixer in Chili Red to match their nice new postcards; the cup holds 28 oz. Heck, if they don’t want it, I’ll keep it! I figure free milkshakes for a year for those who donated it!

  15. OK, so three of us here at oki hai went TWICE over the weekend. Those burgers are crazy good and we apparently needed more then just 1 FIX. My one criticism is that they are a two person, 1 grill kitchen so if its crowded the wait for your food can be an HOUR. My wiggly 2 yr old and I will be doing takeout to Dolphin Park more I think. Still so worth it though!

  16. I’m so glad you all like it! My husband went back again on Sat with our 2 yr old and a friend and said the place was packed with Americans and he too noticed the Okinawa Hai cards! And, the milkshake maker is a fabulous idea Aviva! We’ll chip in on it with you guys if you want:)!

  17. Diddo to the above comments. Just got back. FABULOUS! I say on par with In ‘n Out. But have to add my absolute awe of the BUNS!!! Fluffy, squishy, yummy hamburger bun. Wonderful. My husband said it best with, “It’s a good thing we don’t live right down here.” Took me a minute to figure out he meant that then we’d get fat eating too many Gordie’s!

    BTW, if coming from Kadena straight to Gordies, you can turn right at the Pizza Inn light as mentioned, then turn right at the second light. Their street is a couple blocks down, you’ll see a sign on the left hand corner. Turn left and it’s there on the left. They told us to park just after the restaurant next to the fence (after drink machines).

    Oh, and kuddos to whoever already left a stack of Okinawa Hai business cards! 🙂

  18. Our family of 5 ate at gordies today; it was AWESOME! Everyone was very happy and left with full tummies.

    Thanks for your post about Gordies! I wouldn’t have noticed the place and would have really been missing out!

  19. Love both of these places, very very local for me. Hearth’s sandwiches and pastas are fantastic, the walnut bread is definitely worth going back for. I’ve never had a bad bit of food or drink there. Gordies is fantastic – I’ve caught them playing movies on the outdoor screen over the summer too! (“Cocktail” – with Japanese subtitles) I agree, the onion rings are some of the best I’ve ever eaten and the prices are perfect. The only thing my hubby & I want to bring there is a blender and some ice cream – Gordies would be complete with milkshakes. In my humble opinion. Maybe we’ll gift them with an old-fashioned milkshake maker this year!

  20. My husband, boys and I went to Hearth on Christmas night! I had THE best hot chocolate that I have EVER had in my entire life. I felt like I was in a movie. Hot cocoa could ONLY be this good in a movie, I thought. Anyway, we too sat on the porch wrapped in their blankets and the food was so good. I think all of us will remember it as favorite Christmas memory.