The Greek Marina

We've eaten here once before, but it was too good to pass up. Plus, we were near the area.

Ambiance:
A quaint place, this restaurant has both inside and outside dining options. We elected to sit inside. Casual dining, and the ability to bring your own drinks, this place is a winner! (And there's no corkage fee)

Service:
Though it looked like the restaurant was short-staffed, they were really quick with our orders, and friendly all the while. All three of the wait-staff really hustled. (And there's no corkage fee)

Food:
We ordered calamari for our appetizer, and moussaka and the veggie plate for our entrees.

• Calamari: Though it was fried, the squid-to-batter ratio was better than the competition. Far more squid than batter. The dipping sauce had a more Greek feel. It looked like a creamy sauce with paprika on top.
• Moussaka: This entree was like a Greek version of shepherd's pie--ground beef, and eggplant, topped with béchamel cream. Whatever that is. In any case, it was good.
• Veggie Plate: The plate consisted of "grape leaves, falafel served with salad and pita Hummus, Baba Ghanouj" [link].
• Wine: We bought the wine from the Foodland across the way. It was Italian, and was an 85% Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Savignon, and 5% Merlot. It was good.

Value:
It was a little on the pricey side, so it's not in our budget to come here regularly. However, the food is delicious and a nice little splurge. Moderation is key.

Overall:
A great restaurant with delicious food. We'll definitely come here again if we're ever in the Hawaii Kai area.

Chinatown Series: Little Village Noodle House (Take Two)

We've already done a review on this restaurant, but since we enjoy it so much we decided to stop by again last night. Just a quick overview of the food this time. Everything else remained the same! See our previous review for the additional info.


Food:

• Lettuce Wrap: We tried to order a half-order, but unfortunately it's not allowed. We ended up getting 8 pieces of iceberg lettuce with a plate of filling (mostly meat, shiitake and other chopped up veggies) and plum sauce. The crispiness of the lettuce went well with the warm, salty filling.
• Lamb Stew Hot Pot: This was the surprise of the night. So delicious! Definitely one of our new favorites. The portion of lamb was quite generous and the meat itself was so tender that it fell of the bone. The broth was heavenly, rich with flavor. The vegetables, won bok, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and shiitake mushrooms, complemented the dish very nicely.
• Tofu w/Bamboo Fungus: Our favorite dish. We keep coming back to it every time. So good!
• Egg Fu Yong: For newbies, this dish is a good way to transition into eating Chinese food. Basically a large omelette with vegetables. Pretty good.

We're never disappointed with Little Village. Every experience is a positive one. No MSG, high-quality ingredients, dishes prepared with a skilled hand...absolutely nothing but praise for this wonderful restaurant!

Chinatown Series: Vietnam Cafe Pho Saigon

The promise of hot pot was an enticement for us to check this restaurant out. Once we arrived, however, the multitude of items intrigued us, and the hot pot was saved for another day. 


Ambiance:
The restaurant looked like a typical Chinese restaurant, but it looked like they added some Vietnamese flair. Not to mention the nearly completed self-serve frozen yogurt stand, complete with two flavors: durian and vanilla. Imagine a Chinese restaurant with a Yogurtland on the side.


Service:
It looked like it was just a mom and pop running the restaurant. Lucky for us, it wasn't crowded.


Food:
We ordered beef pho and (since they were out of duck) chicken rice soup.

• Beef Pho: It was like most other beef pho we've had. Nothing particularly unique stood out to us, though the portions were on the smaller side. If the weary traveler is famished, we recommend the large portion.
• Chicken Rice Soup: Another pretty standard dish, with not too much pizazz, though there were onion crisps! It had a real home-style vibe: simple and soothing.

Value:
For the amount of food, it was a reasonable deal. Though it was relatively cheap, the possibility of MSG may deter some from trying it.


Overall:
It was a good experience in the Chinatown saga, but because of the multitude of restaurants, we may not be back to this one for a while.

Chinatown Series: Brasserie Du Vin

Okay, so this restaurant was a bit of a splurge, but since we went to celebrate a birthday, it was worth it. It is located across the street from the Hawaii Theatre's box office, and reservations aren't required. Seating can be either indoors or out.

Ambiance:

A very open and breezy atmosphere (even indoors), this restaurant has the feel of a french restaurant. Long, but narrow. We decided to sit near the entrance to the courtyard. We sat on park benches.

Service:

The waiter we had did a good job at selling the wine--he knew the accents to the different wines we asked about, and did a thorough job of educating us. He had a nifty handheld device that connected to the network, and placed our orders that way. Cool for techies.

Food:

Cheese: we had four different types of cheese. Though the name escapes the mind at the moment, they were all delicious. We had cheese from goat, sheep, and cow. With the cheese, we also had two types of wine.

Wine: we had two different types of wine. One of the "new world" and one of the "old world." The new world wine came from Napa valley (I think), and was a Merlot. The old world wine came from Italy, and it was our favourite.

One of our entrees was a broiled salmon on bed of lentils and apple wood smoked bacon. It was delicious.

The other entree we had was roasted duck on a bed of lettuce, with a mandarin orange dressing. It was also delicious.

Value:

Now for the ugly, and we're going to be honest: the bill came out to around $100. However, for the right occasion, it's worth it. Our experience at Brasserie Du Vin was a special one and one that we'll remember for some time. Remember, moderation is key!

Overall: 

A fun experience, but not for everyday. We'd come back for some cheese and wine, but maybe skip the entree next time.

Chinatown Series: Summer Frappe

Here begins our Chinatown series! Just so happens that we've been eating out a lot in Chinatown. Hope you enjoy our dining experiences as much as we did!

We were killing some time before Slow Friday in Chinatown and looking for a small snack to eat when we came across Summer Frappe. At first we were going to pass it by, but we're so glad we didn't!

Ambiance:

A small shop with barely enough room for two tables, Summer Frappe is not for the claustrophobic. However, the interior was cutely decorated and it was nice to see the fresh fruits used for the drinks on display.

Service:

The guy who made our drinks was friendly and personable. Our drinks and food were made in a timely manner. No complaints here!

Food:

• Mango and orange smoothie: Absolutely delicious and perfect on a summer afternoon. There were no powders used to make this drink. They use real fruits here and it makes a world of difference. Would drink this every day if possible. 
• Thai iced tea: Pretty good. They ran out of tapioca balls, so different bubbles were added. The bubbles were fruity and not a good taste match for the Thai iced tea. 
• Summer rolls: So good! Unlike many of the summer rolls we've had at other Vietnamese restaurants, these summer rolls were heavy on the lettuce and lighter on the noodles. Summer rolls are pretty much one of the most deeelicious foods on the planet anyway, but Summer Frappe makes them on a whole different level.

Value:

Our snack came out to a little over $10. A little pricey for drinks and summer rolls, but with the amount of fresh fruit used in the smoothie, it was worth every penny.

Overall:

A great place for healthy but delicious drinks made with real fruit. So good! If only it were located a little closer to home...

Ono Korean BBQ/Sushi

We stopped at Ono Korean BBQ/Sushi for a quick meal before seeing Fiddler on the Roof at Chaminade this weekend.

Ambiance:
A typical take-out style restaurant. Looks almost like a Yummy's BBQ on the inside. We were lucky, beating the crowd by a few minutes. 


Service:
Since this restaurant isn't a sit-down restaurant, there is not much to mention about the service. The food did take a bit longer to come out than we expected, but still didn't have to wait too long. The woman who prepared our food was pretty friendly. No complaints. 


Food:

• Udon, salmon and ahi nigiri combo: The nigiri was alright for the price, but the udon was very salty. 
• Spicy ahi don: Pretty standard, but what made this dish stand out was the fact that the ahi pieces were really big. The portion was also quite generous. Beware: this spicy ahi don has a lot more kick than the spicy ahi at Genki.

Value:
The bill came out to less than $20. Not bad. FYI: this place is cash only.


Overall:
Average. Nothing too stellar, but if you want to eat Korean food and sushi in the same restaurant, this is the place for you.

Kit N Kitchen

This weekend, we tried Kit N Kitchen, a small restaurant located near UH. There was an ad in the newspaper promoting their $20 four course meal. It sounded promising, so we decided to check it out.

Ambiance:
Looked as if they were trying very hard to look artsy, but ended up going a bit overboard. Otherwise, not too bad. (It seems that they buy their dishes from Walmart: our friend has the same water cups at his house).

Service:
The servers were very friendly, but friendliness doesn't serve you water. Just kidding...mostly. The service was haphazard at best. One of the waiters was new, so it was forgivable. We ended up spending two hours in the restaurant.

Food:
We started off with soup or salad:

• Milano Tomato Soup: a pretty standard tomato soup. Looked like it was made from fresh veggies. Also appreciated that they didn't try to go too fancy.
  
• Salad: A small salad with a ginger dressing. Came with daikon, corn, carrots and cucumber. The daikon added an interesting zing.

Next up, the appetizers:

• Escargot Wellington: basically, snails in puff pastry. Wasn't as buttery as other escargot, a welcome surprise. Other than that, pretty standard.
• Beef Chimichurri: thin slices of beef covered in LOTS of garlic. Very tender, cooked on the rare side.
• Garlic Basil Shrimp: standard, yet again. Two pieces of shrimp with a bit of pesto on it.

Entrees:

• Pepper Rack of Lamb: two very small pieces of lamb. To call it a rack would be a bit of an understatement. Came with a mound of rice and a disproportionate amount of sauce to meat. Sauce was overpowering to the lamb. Just ok. Tasted more like beef than lamb, and as if it were something made by a cafeteria. On the plus side, the cab sav made it wash down a bit easier.
  
• Pan-fried Basil Salmon: Alright. The salmon wasn't overdone, though it was on the drier side. Got this dish with noodles. Like the lamb, found the noodles to be a bit heavy on the sauce. Very rich. In addition, the side of mushrooms were a lot saltier than the rest of the dish. Chardonnay was alright.

Dessert:
Let's get this straight. We don't usually like to order dessert with our meals. But we ordered anyway since it was part of the deal.

• Sundae: a small scoop of ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
• Chocolate cake: tasted like a Costco cake.

Value:
A good promotion and for $20, lived up to expectations. A little on the generic side, but if we were going for something higher quality, we'd have to pay a lot more.

Overall:
Offering upper-end foods for a reasonable price. Caters well to the college crowd.