It’s Greek to Me!

Located in Hawaii Kai’s Koko Marina Center, Greek Marina Restaurant offers locals and tourists alike both authentic Greek cuisine and a scenic view of Honolulu’s picturesque Koko Marina water-front. The ambience of the restaurant contributes to its uniqueness — with Greek music in the background, customers can enjoy either indoor or outdoor seating and a variety of menu items, ranging from fresh, innovative salads to savory entrees and Greek delicacies.

“This restaurant is different from others because of its location and the food (we serve),” says Nasser Rizk, who co-owns the eatery with Tarek Guirguis. “We opened seven years ago and this is our only location on the island.”

With a menu boasting of innovative Greek cuisine, Greek Marina offers its customers an array of flavorful dishes. The Gyros ($12.95 for lunch, $14.95 for dinner), a blend of thinly sliced lamb and lean roasted beef served with pita and salad, continues to be one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. The Lamb Shank ($15.95) is a dinner specialty, as the lamb is basted in the oven and served with salad, Greek-styled rice and pita. Moussaka ($13.95 for lunch, $15.95 for dinner), a dish consisting of layered eggplant and ground meat topped with savory spices and bechamel cream (a white sauce), also is a customer favorite, as is the Mixed Vegetable Plate ($15.95 for lunch, $16.95 for dinner).

“The Mixed Vegetable Plate comes with Greek salad, hummus (a mixture of fresh garlic, lemon, garbanzo beans and tahini, or a sesame seed paste), pita, Baba Ghanouj and Falafel,” says Rizk.

Baba Ghanouj ($7.95 for lunch and dinner), Falafel ($6.95 for lunch, $7.95 for dinner) and Hummus ($6.95 for lunch, $7.95 for dinner) — items that often accompany entrees on the restaurant’s menu — are also popular appetizers.

“Baba Ghanouj is like eggplant (mixed with lemon, garlic, cumin and tahini), and Falafel is fried beans — garbanzo beans — mixed with vegetables and fried in vegetable oil,” explains Rizk.

For dessert, Greek Marina offers three options to its customers — Rice Pudding, Baklava and Basbosa (all desserts $3.95 for lunch and $4.95 for dinner), which Rizk likens to coconut cake.

“The Baklava is the most popular (dessert), but everything is made from scratch in our restaurant,” Rizk notes. “There’s no canned food over here!”

At Greek Marina, lunch prices range from $6.95 to $12.95, while dinner prices range from $14.95 to $18.95. The eatery also features weekend specials, providing customers with dishes that are not on the regular lunch and dinner menus.

“One of our weekend specials is a baked chicken, served with rice and salad,” Rizk says. “Our other special is a mixed seafood dish; it’s fried calamari, calamari steak, shrimp and fish, served with rice and salad.”

Greek Marina tends to be the busiest during dinner and on the weekends, according to Rizk. The restaurant offers takeout options for its customers, but the takeout menu varies slightly from the dine-in menu.

“The takeout menu is our lunch menu,” Rizk explains. “It’s a little different; the dine-in menu includes more items.”

The lunch menu differs from the dinner menu, as it includes an assortment of sandwiches — including Gyros Chicken, Fish and Falafel (all $6.95; $9.95 with salad or fries) — while the dinner menu provides additional entrees, such as Lamb Rack ($18.95), which is boiled Athenian-style to the customer’s temperature preference and served with salad, pita and rice, and the restaurant’s fresh fish of the day ($16.95).

Greek Marina also provides catering services for its customers. The catering menu includes some of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, such as Spanokopita ($35 for 12 pieces, $70 for 24 pieces), Souvlaki Lamb and Souvlaki Chicken ($40 for 20 pieces, $80 for 40 pieces) and Gyros ($50 for three pounds, $100 for six pounds).

“We will sit down with you (our customers) and discuss what you want for catering,” Rizk confirms. “We have catering menus available online.”

Greek Marina