Greek Marina - Greek Food in a Casual Setting at Koko Marina
Hawaii Diner Staff
July 2004

We weren't planning on a working lunch Saturday afternoon when I spotted the Greek Marina cafe whilst zipping down Kalanianaole Highway en route to another destination. A quick response by my dining partner (and capable driver!) resulted in braking, signalling and finding a parking spot so we could check this place out.

The bright white interior with blue ocean motifs and a lovely photo mural of Oia's (a village on Santorini) famous blue-domed church overlooking the Aegean Sea made for a pleasant setting. There is also plenty of outdoor seating and a number of patrons seated there were wearing wetsuits and other bathing attire.

The place was very busy at 2pm on Saturday and the staff was hustling to keep up. They did a good job especially considering the place has been open less than 2 weeks. The kitchen was keeping pace producing a steady flow of food but by 3pm they were out of some items. I suspect they didn't anticipate quite so many customers.

We ordered the Tzatziki* (4.95); Spanakopita (2.95); Tabbouleh Salad (4.95); Lamb Gyro with Fries (7.95); Lamb Souvlaki (10.95) and Greek Rice Pudding (3.95). The tabbouleh was one of the items they ran out of but we did manage to get a photo from one of the last orders.

The Spanakopita was the first dish out and it was served with a mini-Greek salad of lettuce, tomato and Feta cheese. The spinach filling was good and the filo dough very nicely browned and flaky. A nice aspect of Greek food is the number of choices available for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike some cuisines, these dishes are an integral part of Greek food and don't need to be reworked to be suitable. Next out was the Tzatziki served with a quartered pita. I love this condiment/dip and this was an excellent version. The cool refreshing bite of yogurt with grated cucumber, garlic and lemon makes this so good it is hard not to slather it on everything else.

The menu offers the traditional lamb & beef meat or chicken Gyros for 5.95 for the sandwich or with a salad or fries for 7.95. I had the regular gyro with fries which turned out to be homemade and served with a garlic-mayo dip sprinkled with paprika. The gyro was in the famous Kronos gyro wrapper and was quite tasty especially with all of the fresh lettuce, tomato and onions and more tzatziki!

My dining partner ordered the Lamb Souvlaki and it came with rice, salad, pita and Tzatziki. You can have chicken, lamb, shrimp or a combo plate of souvlaki. (I won't go into a lengthy discussion of the merits of serving souvlaki in this fashion but refer you to this rather humorous article written by someone much more knowledgeable on the matter than myself!) The lamb was a bit dry and the next time we will ask that they cook the meat to medium. The salad was a Greek salad and the rice was surprisingly good.

Items we will try the next time around include the Moussaka (11.95), that wonderful Greek casserole of eggplant and beef in a bechamel sauce and the Appetizer Platter (4.95 per person, available for 3 or more persons) which offers Tabbouleh, Dolmades (savory rice and tomato filling wrapped in grape leaves), Hommus, Baba Ghanouj and Falafel.

*All spelling of dishes is as on the menu.

Greek Marina
Koko Marina Center
7192 Kalanianaole Hwy
Hawaii Kai
396-8441
Lunch Mon-Sat 11am until 3pm
Dinner Daily 5pm until 9pm; Fri and Sat until 10pm