So to start off...this place was awesome! Im sure they lace the food with heavily addictive drugs, because it's been almost a week and Ive been craving their food every day since we went last Wednesday.
While still going through withdrawals, I will continue on with this damn blog...haha.
Accessibility: Kui covered this already, but basically gotta get lucky with the parking since the lot has about 10 stalls. Otherwise walk over from the mall or park on the street.
Ambience: Cute, very casual restaurant. Order at the counter from the hand-written menu on the wall, seat yourself inside or outside, and wait for your name to be called.
Everyone seated had their bottle of wine open and were in strangely good moods. Really awesome positive energy in there...must be the bottles of wine and the large amounts of crack :)
Food Appeal/Presentation: Everything looked great on the plate, but I was so hungry it really didn't matter. Wasnt fancy, looked like typical Greek entrees in Hawaii (I say this because ive only eaten Greek food in Hawaii, don't know how a falafel is traditionally plated. Lou, maybe you can help me out with this one).
Tastiness:
Hummus and pita bread...Definitely not enough of this as Kui had said. And they definitely loaded this particular one with extra crack. The hummus had lots of garlic yet wasn't bitter or too overwhelming. Also had a hint of either sesame oil or tahini (There was so little in there I couldn't tell whether it was oil or tahini) with olive oil poured over all of it.
Interesting thing i learned today from a true foodie and a real Greek person...yeah, that's you Lou, haha. That adding the tahini flavor/sauce is a Turkish thing rather than a Greek thing. So apparently this restaurant is a cross between Turkish and Greek....making the sign in the restaurant that reads "mostly all Greek" surprisingly appropriate.
Whether it was Turkish or Greek though, that was some killer hummus.
Falafel...I always get this whenever I go to a Greek restaurant, because it's usually one of the only vegetarian items on the menu. The fried balls in there are always basically the same at other places in Hawaii such as The Fat Greek and others, but the sauce at the Olive Tree made it stand out. After hearing about the Turkish vs Greek thing, this was obvioiusly a Turkish falafel rather than a Greek falafel (I think...) because of the sauce.
It was more like hummus with tahini in it rather than the usual tzaziki yogurt type of sauce, and made the pita stick together with the falafel balls and the lettuce from the salad. So good when you eat all of that together. Yum!! (Want more now...must be the drugs...)
Price/Expectation Ratio: Food was an average of $10 per entree which is a fair price...probably good because if it were any cheaper, Id be here everyday. The three of us shared the hummus appetizer which was a little small for 3 people because it was so good, and the falafel was the perfect size for me, although people with larger appetites may need to order dessert (yeah, twist your arm, right?)
On a side note...Olive Tree is BYOB with a $1 per person corkage fee, and the wine that Kui brought added to the whole awesomeness of this particular Wednesday. He found a bottle of dornfelder!! (type of German wine that's impossible to find, especially in Hawaii). Its a sweet red wine that's so ridiculous good...my favorite :)
Luckily we found another bottle of dornfelder that we'll have tomorrow at another BYOB restaurant (and you wonder how we pick these places...haha)
Thanks for reading...stay tuned for Bella Mia Pizzeria!
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