Ready to rock and roll? Because the Big Fat Greek is now open. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting for this day. I tell ya, while next door at Tropicana or Baja Tacos I saw this place while under construction. Like all construction in Hawaii it took way too long and my patience wore thin. Seriously this place better be good otherwise I’ll be force to throw a shit bag at their door.

Inside The Fat Greek I found it to be petite, and inviting. You could tell they really put some thought into this place. They had the nice warm lighting, stone tile floors and the dark wood tables and trimmings to offset the cream yellow walls and dark ceilings for a more dramatic effect. I took this picture from the last table so basically what you see is all that there is to see inside. We actually wanted to sit outside but all the seating out there was taken. They really fixed the place up quite well outside. There was dimmer lights outside really gave it a romantic feel or just made you want to stay and talk for hours, which is what everyone outside was doing. We sat down at a table, ordered at the register and then sat back down and waited.

For appetizers we ordered Mussels, $5.00. You get five of them, so basically it cost a dollar for one if you want to break it down. It was cooked with their “special” sauce, ginger, capers, garlic, served with lemon and “special” Greek spices. I hate it when places use the word special to describe things. Special sauce? That’s way too vague and could mean anything. Special spices? What makes them so special? Nothing, they’re just spices, just say a mixture of spices or just tell me what spices they are. It’s like saying that kid is special and has special needs. He’s not special, he’s retarded and is mentally challenge and rides the short bus. Anyhow, the word special just scares me.

I really enjoyed these mussels. I usually put a little tabasco on them, but they had such good flavor that I didn’t want to ruin it. The capers were a nice touch and the garlic wasn’t over powering at all. I  assumed that the hot sauce on our main dish was for these mussels since they worked so perfectly together. This sauce (in the silver ramekin, upper right hand corner in the picture below) will blow your mind. It was the best mussel sauce I’ve ever had, hands down. Way better than tabasco.  It’s tangy and spicy so be prepared.

For our main entree we ordered Souvlaki. What you don’t know what souvlaki is? You poor, sheltered, unfortunate child. Souvlaki, well that’s um, Greek for uh, well this is what the menu says, “Chicken, lamb or fish marinated with lemon, olive oil, garlic, pepper and Greek oregano. Served with a side of pita bread, tzatziki sauce and salad,” $10.00. What you don’t know what tzatziki sauce is either? Well I can’t spend all day teaching common conventionally foods. I’ll be brief, it’s Greek and it’s sauce. Lets carry on.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know what Souvlaki is or tzatziki sauce for that matter, which is why I ordered it. Hell, if you guys want to know the truth, I can’t even say it. I don’t know how to pronounce this shit. The menu just made it sound really tantalizing and they didn’t use the word special to describe it. So when we got our Souvlaki, well we were a little disappointed to see that it was basically a gyro. A pretty skimpy gyro if you ask me. The whole bottom portion was practically meatless with the exception of a few pieces of meat and the thing was drowning in what I assumed to be tzatziki sauce. We didn’t think this would be similar to a gyro because a gyro was listed on the menu, right under Souvlaki for $7.00. And when it says it’s, “served with a side of pita bread,” well, we assumed it was served with a side of pita bread, not in a pita bread.

I swear on my life I didn’t tamper with this before I took a picture. By the way, we ordered lamb with it. Lamb is just the meat of choice when dealing with Greek or Indian food. Looking at my gyro drowning in sauce at first was bothersome. But the sauce was really good. It tasted light, cool, and creamy but not in a heavy way. The meat was tasty but was a little chewy and not tender enough. The salad was fresh and delicious.

Now if you want my advice, I think this place is worth a try. They tell you to bring your own alcohol right on the menu so do it and use them for their ambiance. The place is adorable and the food is not bad. Hell, if you come here for the mussels and hot sauce it would have been worth the trip. Now if you don’t give a rats ass about ambiance and your in it to save a buck, I can tell you better places to go. I have three in mind. There’s this place inside the International Market in Waikiki in the food court. I’ve never written a post on it and I don’t know the name but the gyros are fucking good and only about $5.00. The Greek Corner is a winner in my book. Ray and I got this ginormous combo plate for only $10.95. That’s .95 cents more than this place and you get so much more and the food is spectacular. There also Leo’s Taverna Express Healthy Greek Food. They give super large gyros that only cost $4.95 and again they were better than The Fat Greek. So if you guys get around to checking out any of these places, I’d love to know your thoughts.  Enjoy!

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The Fat Greek
3040 Waialae Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 734-0404