Olive Tree Cafe
My wife Desdemona’s cousin, Adrastos, is visiting us here in Oahu for a couple of weeks and we were all in the mood for Greek food.
Hawaii isn’t exactly swimming in Greek restaurants, but one that is always consistently good is Olive Tree Cafe. Since it was Friday night, we knew it would be pretty crowded.
Forgive me as I did not take a picture of the front, I was waaaay too excited about the idea of eating that I totally forgot to take pictures of the front. They are located at 4614 Kilauea Ave in Kahala and their phone number is 808-737-0303. If you know where Kahala mall is, head towards the McDonalds in the Maikai/Diamond Head corner of the mall, they have a small parking lot that is always full and there is street parking nearby that sometimes can be a challenge as well.
Olive Tree is a very casual place. There are a bunch of small tables inside the small restaurant, some tables outside, and then a counter with a small kitchen where they prepare all the food. There are no reservations, no liquor license (bring your own alcohol!), and you walk up to the counter, order your food from the hand written menu on the wall, and then try and find an empty table where you wait until they call your name. When they call your name, you head up, pay, and pick up your food.
One other thing you should note is that their bathroom is a common area bathroom with other nearby shops, and you need to grab a key from near the counter to use it. It is not an especially nice bathroom, so try to avoid it if possible.
Despite the lack of sophistication, the place is almost always packed with people. A big portion of the clientelle look yuppie-ish and while eating, there are usually people loitering nearby hoping to scoop up an empty table. Next door to the restaurant is a small liquor store (I believe it may be owned by the same people) and it stocks a nice selection of Greek wines as well as other wines for those of you who didn’t buy alcohol before heading there.
We were lucky enough to find street parking! Their menu is pretty limited but what they make, they make pretty well. They usually feature a special of the day as well, the night we went they had moussaka.
The line was around 6 people deep and there were no open tables, but the line moved quickly and we ordered three appetizers and our entrees at the counter. I didn’t pay attention too much to the prices, but I think the appetizers were around $7 each and the entrees we ordered were around $10-$13 each. For the type of service, Olive Tree isn’t dirt cheap, but the food is interesting and tasty enough that I think it is always worth it. As we walked outside to look for an open table, as if by magic, a larger round table off to the side opened up. We quickly scooped it up, don’t you love days when things just work out like that??
After like 5 minutes or so, they called our name and I went up to the counter and picked up our appetizers. As I got out my wallet to pay, they said pay when I pick up the entrees. Pretty interesting that they trust people like that to not eat their appetizers and then dissapear!
Feta Cheese, Olives, and Pita Bread. The feta cheese was perfect, not too powerful yet distinct, and the olives were nice. I love this kind of food!
Tarama Salata - A Greek style caviar spread with pita bread. This was a refreshing dish and matched the pita and olive oil nicely.
Hummus with olive oil and pita bread. Very garlicky so make sure everyone you're with eats it!
All three appetizers showing their stuff..work it, work it
As we ate our appetizers and drank our wine (I also had a beer), we sat there and truly enjoyed our meal. It was one of those meals where you eat and just think “you know, it doesn’t get much better than this.” I’m not saying that Olive Tree is the best Greek food ever, but for some reason, this night, it was exactly what the three of us wanted and it definitely hit the spot.
As we were finishing up the appetizers, they called our name to pick up the entrees. We all ordered Souvlaki so all our dishes look the same, but we each ordered a different meat.
Lamb Souvlaki - lamb with yogurt sauce (tzaziki sauce) in a pita bread with a side salad
Chicken Souvlaki (I opened it up to show the generous tzaziki sauce)
Fresh Fish Souvlaki
The entrees were delicious. You might notice that the entrees at Olive Tree are not especially big, but with the appetizers the meal was perfect. We decided to split a dessert at the end of the meal, they had baklava.
Baklava - layers of phyllo dough with ground pistachios and honey
Overall our experience at Olive Tree was fantastic. I highly recommend this place, but just be prepared for the casualness of the place and the fact that it does get very crowded at times.
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Higher prices and lack of seating are the biggest reasons we don’t come here more often, and as for Big Fat Greek, the lack of parking is really what keeps us far far away (but the food is so cheap and good!) Luckily there is a third and final noteworthy Greek restaurant which solves all of those problems. Expect that review sometime in the new year!