329 Bar & Grill · Downtown Hartwell

Where to Eat Near Lake Hartwell

Lake Hartwell is bigger than most people picture. The Army Corps of Engineers, who built it and still run it, put it at nearly 56,000 acres of water with 962 miles of shoreline, and they count more than 12 million visits a year. It is a beautiful place to spend a day. It is also a lot of shoreline with very few kitchens on it, so when the boat is back on the trailer and everybody is starving, you are driving somewhere.

For a lot of folks that somewhere is downtown Hartwell. We are 329 Bar & Grill, on the square at 126 W Franklin St, and this is the plain version of what to know before you head this way.

When We Are Open

Read this part first, because our hours are shorter than a lake day is long.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we are open 4:00pm to 8:30pm. Friday and Saturday, 4:00pm to 9:00pm. We are closed Sunday and Monday.

We are a dinner house. There is no lunch and no brunch, so at noon we are not your answer. And if your weekend on the water winds down Sunday afternoon, we are closed that day. Better you read it here than find it out standing at our door.

The kitchen shuts down a little before the posted close, so leave yourself some room. Walking in at the very end of the night is tight for a steak.

What We Actually Serve

Omar is the chef and one of the owners, and he cuts every steak himself, in our kitchen, on our own saw. That is the short reason people make the drive.

The two people order most are the 12oz Black Angus Ribeye and O’s Filet. There is also The Cowboy, a 22oz bone-in ribeye, though it is not on every night, so ask.

The seafood is the part that catches people off guard. Pecan Crusted Rainbow Trout. Honey Lime Glazed Salmon. Louisiana Fish & Shrimp. There are scratch pastas too, including Cajun Pastalaya, and a Chicken Parmesan that comes in a parmesan cream instead of red sauce, which is not what anybody expects and is exactly how we want it.

Our menu describes the Baby Back Ribs as slow cooked fall off the bone ribs fit for a King, and nobody has asked us to tone that down. Fire Grilled Pork Chops. Florentine Artichoke Dip to start. Salted Caramel Cheesecake to finish, with the caramel drizzled on the plate.

The sauces are made here. Nothing comes out of a jar. There are actual chefs in this kitchen, tasting and critiquing, making sure the food is the star of the show.

All eleven sections of it are on our menu page if you want a look before you leave the dock.

Two Rooms, One Address

There is a dining room and there is a bar side. The dining room is for everybody, families included. The bar side is 21 and up.

It is a full bar with craft cocktails, and it is a different kind of evening than the dining room, out of the same kitchen. If that is what you came for, the bar page shows you the room.

What Happens On A Weeknight

Most of our weekly specials land Tuesday through Thursday, which is the quiet stretch on the lake anyway.

Martini Tuesdays: any Martini made with Svedka Vodka is $9, and Tuesday also carries half off appetizers with any alcohol beverage. Wednesday is Pasta & Pour, and the one to know about is the Parmesan Crusted Shrimp Pasta. Thursday is the Shrimp Boil, and Ladies Night the same evening.

If you are on the water for a week rather than a weekend, the middle of the week is a good time to come see us.

Feeding A Full Lake House

Two ways we handle a crowd.

The first is ordering ahead. Our ordering page takes takeout orders, which is the move when there are nine people at a rental house and nobody wants to cook or change clothes.

The second is catering. We cater across Hartwell and the surrounding area, and we do private events in the lounge. Tell us what you are planning, a family weekend, a birthday, a group that will not fit at one table, and we will tell you straight whether we can do it. The inquiry form is on our home page.

Who Runs This Place

We opened on the square in September of 2022. It is a family business. Karen owns it and Omar runs the kitchen, and they are married, so this place is theirs in every sense of it.

That matters more than it sounds like it does. The owner is in the building and the chef is on the saw, so if something is wrong at your table you can tell one of them directly and it gets fixed that night.

We also do gift certificates, which people pick up more often than you would think for a lake house they are borrowing from somebody.

How To Find Us

126 W Franklin St, Hartwell, GA 30643, right downtown on the square. Which means no driving to Anderson or Athens for a real dinner.

The phone is (706) 805-5934.

One more thing people always ask. The name is not an address and it is not a highway. March 29 is Omar’s birthday.

So when you are done on the water and you want to sit down, get something cold, and eat something somebody actually cooked, come see us. Special food, for special people!