The Fat Greek

Used to come here all the time, but this place has definitely gone down hill. The Greek fries seem like they were previously frozen, had very little flavor. The gyros had barely any meat & I found 2 hairs in my salad. Safe to say I won’t be back. Too bad because this used to be a good spot.

I hate to say this, but i feel like theres not that many GOOD greek/​mediterranean places on the island… The Fat Greek, however, is an exception.
I usually get the greek salad, their salads are really good and will usually fill you up.
–Fries: pretty good, especially all the garlic, but no one is gonna wanna kiss you after!
–Falafel: the most recent time i had the falafel i wasnt impressed and probably wont order it again.
–Calamari: only $ 6, so an inexpensive appetizer, but the taste is just so-​so.
–Papa Platter: The lamb is goooood! Comes with fries and a decent side salad. It runs about $ 20 but its worth splurging on this at least once.
It doesnt take long for the food to come out, all the ordering is done at the counter

I have never given any establishment a 1 Star rating on Unilocal,so you know that things must be bad. Quite honestly, I have absolutely no idea how they’re still in business — this place is a complete disaster. According to my previous review, the last time I came here was 9 months ago and at that time things were already on the decline. However, we came here on Saturday night with some friends before the UH Basketball game and I thought I would see if things had gotten better.
We arrived at 5 p.m. and a quick scan of the menu board revealed that half of the items on the menu were sold out, including the chicken souvlaki, which I always get (at this point I’m having mild inklings that maybe coming here was a mistake). Not a problem, I’m flexible so I decided to try their gyros and a side of fries.
Other things I observed while waiting for our food: (1) the air conditioning unit inside was leaking so they had a small tupperware container trying to catch the water but it was filled so it was overflowing onto the floor; (2) an older gentlemen that ordered the Greek salad came up to the counter to complain about the salad dressing — he said that in all the years he’s been coming to The Fat Greek it’s never tasted like that and that they might as well have just poured maple syrup all over it; and (3) the counter staff — while friendly, they are clearly very inexperienced and not super helpful.
Okay so in the midst of all of that chaos (and it was chaos because a huge group of people arrived), our food is ready. I’m starving at this point so I’m thinking anything is going to taste good to me… boy was I wrong. The fries were totally inedible as they were completely covered in some salt/​spice mix that was not good. The other customer was right — the salad dressing was way too sweet and otherwise had no taste. The gyros — now, I’m no Greek food expert but I thought the meat was supposed to be shaved thinly. All I will say is that I might as well have been eating a meat patty. The best thing about the meal was the pita bread, and that’s probably because they buy it and don’t make it themselves. All in all, probably the worst dining experience I’ve had.
The one positive thing is that at least they’re back to accepting credit cards.
The Fat Greek, I wish you guys the best of luck, I really do. I hope that you guys win a restaurant makeover on one of those shows like Restaurant Impossible, because you truly need one. As for me, I definitely won’t be back but luckily my new co-​worker is Greek and is an awesome cook and has promised to make me authentic Greek food whenever I want.

Warning. If you show up at 9:20pm (they close at 10) they do take out only! Ridiculous. If I was the owner I’d be upset that my employees are turning away business 40mins before we close.

We normally have a good experience at the Fat Greek, but at 9:00PM they were sold out of quite a few menu items and their Soda fountain was out of order. My wife and I were not greeted very well either the cashier seemed spaced out. We decided to leave and eat elsewhere.

Livingsocial had a deal for Fat Greek which was $ 15 for $ 29. Finally got to try this place out after passing by so many times. Unlike many restaurants, at the Fat Greek you order and pay at the same time. Then they give you a buzzer to tell you your foods ready.
I ordered the Greek fries, Gyro, and Shawarma. When we got our food, we weren’t able to tell the difference between the Gyro and the Shawarma.
Overall, I thought the Gyros at Punahou Carnival were way better and wouldn’t personally pay ~$ 30 to eat the the Fat Greek.

This place is going downhill and we won’t be back. We ordered Greek fries, chicken souvlaki and a gyro. We were served cold Greek french-​fries which we had to return. When the reheated fries were brought back, the fries were way over cooked. Then, we were told they were out of chicken souvlaki so they asked if they could serve us fish instead. Not what I wanted but I said okay. A few minutes later, they told us they had no gyro meat. They asked if they could serve us swarma instead. Again, we said ok. When the food eventually arrived, it was not good. The swarma was basically an undercooked hamburger served in a pita.
There are too many good restaurants in town to put up with this service.

Closed early and not even for a holiday. There is a problem every other time I go here. I witnessed an employee fight in the open kitchen before. And once they didn’t have my order that I made for take out. How are they still in business? The shwarma and gyros are the worst I’ve ever had in my life. That is why I usually get something different. Although, those are supposed to be cornerstone Mediterranean entrees. As a consumer I choose to stop accepting mediocrity; you should too.

In summary:
— My order was not ready or even a priority when I had called it in a day in advance.
— Offered to cancel my order instead of trying to make up for the lack of service.
— Cash only even though their own website says they accept credit cards.
— No compensation or discount for the trouble they had given me.
Read on if you want more details…
I had called a day in advanced to place my order as it was for Father’s Day dinner and assumed the place would be busy. The lady on the phone who took my order had checked with the manager and told me that it was not going to be a problem.
My pick-​up for the take-​out order was at 5:30pm. I get there on time and the place was pretty empty. There are a few customers eating and a couple of delivery guys waiting. I wait about 5 minutes to get to the front of the line and ask for my order. The cashier goes to the back and looks around. After not finding it, she asked one of the cooks where the order is. The cook yells back at her saying that he has the two delivery guys to take care of and my order will be taken care of later. The cashier comes back to me and apologizes. She even told me that she had reminded the cook about the order 30 minutes earlier. I asked how long it was going to take, and she couldn’t even give me a time. However, she offered to cancel the order. At this point, I should have just left but I was desperate. I felt it would have taken longer for me to find another place for take-​out especially since I told my father dinner was going to be at 6pm. I threw out some times for her…10 minutes? 15 minutes? She replied with maybe 30 minutes, and could give me a call before then if it was going to take longer.
I leave and run a couple of errands. 25 minutes have passed, and I decide to call just before I go back to pick-​up the order. They tell me that it’s ready, so my husband and I head over there. As I walk into the restaurant, I noticed a sign that says «cash only.» I freaked out because I only had cards on me and my order was over $ 100. Unilocal said that accepted credit cards. Even Fat Greek’s website said they accepted credit card. (Later, I read more reviews on Unilocal and found out that the «cash only» policy was a recent change. Something, I think they should have mentioned when they took my order.) I send my husband to get cash while I wait in line. It takes about 15 minutes for me to get to the front of the line. Then, the cashier tells me that my food is almost ready. (What? Didn’t they tell me on the phone it was ready?) About 5 minutes later, another lady comes by and tells me they ran out of one of the appetizers that I ordered. She offered a substitute which I took. Finally, everything is ready and the cashier starts ringing me up. After all that, I was surprised to hear the full price of my order. I had to ask the cashier if I was going to get some kind of compensation. No discount, but she did offer me some baklava which we turned down because my father can’t eat it due to his diabetes. Father’s Day dinner didn’t start until 6:30pm. Not only that, the meat was overcooked, dry, and salty.
So bottom line, my family and I are never supporting Fat Greek again.

Went here for the first time for dinner. Wanted to try to the Shawarma, but they were all out. We tried the Gyro combo with the Greek fries and Greek salad. The food came out really fast and I really enjoyed the gyro. It was delicious and I would definitely order it again.
The Greek fries were okay. The menu explained that the Greek fries were served in a bucket with parsley and garlic. However, our fries only had a little teaspoon of garlic on top and no sight of parsley. The Greek salad was also only okay. It had one olive and two slices of onion.
After eating out meal we decided to get baklava. It took them 30 minutes to get out baklava, and when we asked we saw that it was just sitting out. On top of that, the baklava was not worth the 30 minute wait at all.
Overall, I think this place has some kind of organization issue, I’m not too sure what it is. I’ve only been here one time and it seems like they run out of items really fast. They didn’t have Shawarma and while I was eating I heard the cashier said they ran of gyros. The people working were really friendly and I give them credit for that. However, I waited 30 minutes for the baklava, which was just sitting out waiting for them to bring it to us, hence the two stars.
I would come back again for the gyros and to try the Shawarma.

My boyfriend and I were close and decided to stop and try this place. We heard great reviews about it.
The place is clean and cute.
We both ordered gyros. The lamb was a little dry.
I like the fact that this place is BYOB! It was a little early for me to start drinking.
The salad was ok, there was a bit of a sweet taste to the dressing that wasn’t my favorite.
This place was ok, but nothing extra special.

Went yesterday, had the falafel, was delicious. Pooped too much. Minus one star.
Honestly though, if youre from a city where greek diners are as abundant as starbucks, you will like the style of this place. Huge portions and the food tastes authentic. Great for work lunch, lots of outdoor seating, the staff is nice.

Went here this past Tuesday for dinner, and it was pretty sad. Not only were they sold out of gyros, but they were out of shawarma, as well as babaganoush. Basically, the only meat they had in stock that day was lamb and chicken. The guy manning the counter was like, «we didn’t go grocery shopping today.» No $h!t. Seriously?! How do you run your business? It gets better. It gets better! The dude then proceeded to try and sell their most expensive menu item to us, the lamb something or the other. Wtf? Uh… no, not happening.
Since they were out of all the things I wanted to order, I ended up getting their falafel. It was blah — falafel was meh, pita was dry and gross, tzatziki sauce was bland, and the onions they threw in there were flavorless. My friends ordered the hummus plate as starters, and that was also quite sad — hummus had zero flavor. A couple of my friends orders their chicken souvlaki (?), and that was also lackluster. The food was subpar. The blah food coupled with the fact that they were out of so many main staples made it easy for us to decide to never eat there again. It’s sad, because the Big Fat Greek kiosk at the Ala Moana shopping center food court is actually really good! Oh well. :sigh:
On a positive note, it is a byob establishment and their hot sauce is decent.
I’d say go to Shaloha (across the street) for your Greek/​Mediterranean food fix.

Visited on sunday morning at 11 am. Looked like I was the first in that day. I saw the special which was the falafel with tuna. Then they told me it was falafel with canned tuna… eek. so this reminded me of my last visit and the Costco chicken special.
Wanted iced tea but the fountain was running clear water. The last time their soda fountain was out of order for weeks if not more than a month so I didnt even bother to let them know. Saw the plaques on the wall best of hawaii 2012. Looks like this place needs to improve more to get back to the top. Then as I was sitting in the dining room, I noticed that the AC wasnt on but they had the back door near the kitchen and facing the stream open. Halfway through my lunch I noticed that I was getting bitten on my legs by mosquitos hanging out under the tables.

Strike 1: It’s 11:10am and they aren’t even open yet. The staff in the restaurant just glared at us when they opened the gate, no greeting… nothing. Agree with others, staff is RUDE! Pretty much everything we ordered the cashier had to check with the cooks if the item was available… really? Do you have fries today is a question for the cooks… gahhh! I could barely hear what the cashier was saying, he’s so soft spoken.
Atmosphere: cute little place, sat outside because those were the only tables/​seating that could accommodate 3+ people. Pretty clean, they washed the floors down with bleach, seemed to have cleaned the tables, wasn’t dirty or dusty. Sitting outside you will encounter a lot of traffic noise and the bus stop being right outside the restaurant.
At this time of day it did get pretty busy… people come here for a reason, on with my review.
BYOB!
Parking: very minimal, if you can’t park in their parking lot, because they do share with other businesses, you can always park across the street at City Mill. Not sure if you have to pay.
Food: Don’t ask the cashier (if it’s the young guy) to recommend anything because he said he doesn’t eat there, especially doesn’t eat meat.
Definitely NOT a place for children/​kids unless they eat greek food. I feel some things are a little overpriced for what we received.
Our order:
Hummus $ 6.50-enjoyed it… not enough pita for the 2 huge dallops of hummus though. They do offer side items for an additional charge so you can order more bread if need.
Garlic Fries $ 4.50-didn’t have that garlic taste I was hoping for. Fries weren’t salted. Chopped garlic just thrown on some hot fries doesn’t make it Garlic Fries.
Regular Fries $ 4.50-there was nothing else to offer our 4 year old :(
Gyro-​comes with a salad YUM! Really liked this, would definitely order it again! The salad was fresh, crisp and the dressing was good.
Shawarma-​comes with a salad. The only difference between this sandwich & a gyro is that it has onions, different spices. It was a little overcooked, too dry for my liking and husband’s but still had great flavor.
The pita bread is NOT authentic, it comes from a store bought bag, but they prepared it very well.
Drinks-​the fountain machine was out of service, but they do offer some juice, lemonade in dispensers lined up on the counter.
Would we be back… probably! We just know what to expect next time.

Ate at this location tonight, ideally for a relaxing dinner with my friends. This place is worse than I remembered; seemed better a few years ago than it does now. Appetizers were good but my main course was rather… Eh.
Pros:
* The staff was very friendly and listened to any concerns you had.
* They apologized politely for anything they may have forgotten because this place does get pretty busy.
* The wait time for your order is pretty quick and they use a buzzer system to notify you when your order is ready.
* I ordered mussels and they were delicious. My friends ordered hummus and pita, definitely a great choice too.
Cons:
* The parking for this restaurant is definitely not great. There is a pay parking lot across the street but it’s rather expensive and inconvenient.
* Their payment policy has changed, not sure when, but they no longer accept credit or debit cards. Cash or personal checks only.
* I ordered a gyro and this time, it was rather over cooked and chewy. The sauce tastes different than it did before and not in a very good way.
* Being a rather open aired restaurant, sometimes bugs cannot be help… But my and friends and I deemed it was a good time to leave when a large roach flew by our table and landed on the wall next to us. Note: we were eating inside…
* This place can get very humid because they run ceiling fans that seem to just circulate hot air from the kitchen.

I love the Fat Greek!
Amazing food and cute outdoor seating.
My top faves the Greek salad with chicken and the spicy sausage and cheese platter!
Reasonable paid parking across the street below city mill.

I went here for lunch with a gf of mine because I bought a Living Social deal. I ordered the Shawarma and my friend ordered the Gyro. We ordered the Spanakopita and garlic fries appetizers. The garlic fries were pretty tasty! It was very garlicky too so def make sure you pop a mint or chew some gum after your meal! This place is located right on corner of St. Louis heights drive and Waialae Ave. The parking lot can get quite packed because it’s shared with other restaurants and businesses. This is a very casual dine in type spot where you place your order with the cashier first. Food here is tasty and they make it fresh and are pretty quick with the orders.

As others have noted, this spot used to be better. Had some consistently good Souvlaki /​Gyros here before, but the last two times I’ve gone it’s been sub-​par.
The cash only thing is annoying, and not a big deal but have had some snooty and unfriendly counter service the past two visits.
Gambled on the ‘Royal Platter’ last time. Meant for 2 people; $ 42 after tax. It was decent enough, but 60−70% of the plate was cheapie french fries and an uninspired iceberg lettuce salad, with way too much raw onion. Just too much filler really, and seems weird to get a pile of pre-​frozen french fries at a mediterranean joint.
The shrimp was good, and lamb chops really good, albeit heavy on the salt.
Think that may have been my last visit to this establishment. Will make the effort to get a table at the Olive Tree next time I’m craving some greek flavors.

The Fat Greek is an open air, self-​serve casual restaurant. They have a daily special as well as pasta and some other dishes not on the permanent menu, so be sure to check the posted Specials.
We tried the Falafel Combo and Lamb Souvlaki Combo – falafel/​lamb in a pita, with side salad, basket of garlic fries, and fountain drink. The quantity of falafel/​lamb is in the skimpy side. The Falafel is just 3 medium sized falafels and they were dry, like cotton mouth dry, and there wasn’t enough sauce to save it. The Lamb is small chunks of lamb, soggy from the juices running out of the meat, and also lacked sufficient sauce. The pita bread is just store bought pita, and was too much bread for the small amount of fillings. The salad is fine, a typical Greek salad with olives, feta, tomatoes and onion. The garlic fries were also fine, though they weren’t straight from the fryer and were only barely warm when we got them.
It’s BYOB, nice for sitting with a group of friends to catch up on a cool night, but if you’re all about the food, I would go elsewhere.