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This section is dedicated to reviewing those restaurants found in food courts inside mall's or other shopping areas.  These restaurants do not have a free standing building, but are located inside a much larger facility, the facility often having several choices of cuisine.

Daphne's Greek Cafe
There is a new Daphne's in the Lakewood Town Center off the 605 freeway at Carson St. in Southern California.

 

 

Daphne's Greek Cafe 25362 Crenshaw Blvd 

Torrance, CA 

(310) 534-8383 

 

Daphne's Greek Cafe 3901 Inglewood Ave # 101 

Redondo Beach, CA 

(310) 676-9165 

 

Daphne's Greek Cafe 26611 Aliso Creek Rd # C 

Aliso Viejo, CA 

(949) 831-5004 

 

Daphne's Greek Cafe 12955 El Camino Real 

San Diego, CA 

(858) 792-8599 

 

Daphne's Greek Cafe 13479 Poway Rd 

Poway, CA 

(858) 679-8898 

 

Daphne's Greek To Go 5500 Campanile Dr 

San Diego, CA 

(619) 286-0097 

 

 

Daphne's makes a real effort at serving up good, restaurant quality food in a food court.  I haven't been to all of the restaurants, so I don't know if some are free standing buildings or not.  Their prices are good for the quality of food and they make some interesting stuff like Fire Feta dip, feta cheese with some cayenne (I think) and other seasonings to make it good and spicy.  Besides the Fire Feta they have everything else you'd want: Souvlakia, Gyros, Combination Plates, etc.  Free drink refills are a plus.


Greek Island Mykanos
2222 Michelson Dr #210, Irvine, CA 92612 - 949.852.1883 - cross street is Bixby

Located in a food court with several other types of cuisine, Greek Island Mykanos serves Greek food  (including the obligatory American Gyro) and non-traditional Greek food like Falafel.  Decent prices for Orange County California and the quality of food.  Their Greek salad with chicken breast, for example, is a whole white meat chicken breast trimmed of all the fat and then flame broiled with feta, olives, lettuce, onion, etc.  Their tzatziki is a bit runny and their food often prepared in a non-traditional manner but with a nice result.  The combination plates are served with rice and a couscous-like side dish, showing the wider range of Mediterranean food available at Greek Island Mykanos.


Gyro King
488 Birch Street #E, Newport Beach, CA 92660 - 949.752.4976 - cross street is Von Karmen

Located in a large dull building dedicated to a huge food court with all types of food (from Chinese, Mexican, burgers to Cajun) Gyro King is a fast stop for a great Gyro with French fries and a soda.  The price is right (sorry can't remember specifically) and you can ask for free soda refills.  I haven't tried anything else because I always end up getting the American Gyro (as opposed to the traditional pork or chicken Gyro served in Greece, I'm referring to the meat/lamb Gyro found here in the US).


Greek Islands Cuisine
2540 Main Street, Suite M, Irvine, CA 92614 - 949.474.1976 - cross street is Von Karmen

My expectations, when trying a new Greek fast food place, are set a little lower than when I try a Greek restaurant with its own building.  My reasoning is that with such a small place, how much food can you actually store/prepare/cook etc.  Greek Islands Cuisine was a pleasant surprise.  They don't have a huge diversity of food, but what they do prepare is excellent.  Their basic foods are: the gyro, chicken "cotopolo", souvlakia, keftedes, domades, moussaka, spanakopita and paidakia "lamb chop".  The souvlakia can be beef, chicken, lamb or shrimp.   Greek Islands Cuisine has taken this basic set of food, added as a side either french fries or rice and a greek salad or hummus & taboule with pita, and put it into every possible combination to create their menu.  The key point here, however, is that everything is fresh and very well prepared.  Besides fresh food, the portions are more than adequte and you'll leave happy.  I had a huge American Gyro with a side Greek salad, (lettuce, feta, olives, tomates and a peppercini) and a large drink for under 5 dollars.  Their baklava is .93 cents bringing it, after tax, to 1 dollar even - smart pricing.  Their Gyro plate with rice or fries and a salad is $4.75.  Their most expensive dish is the lamb chop, served with rice, hummus and taboule for $6.95.   You can get two souvlakia of beef, chicken or lamb with rice and a salad for $4.35 or with rice, hummus & taboule for $5.75.  They have combination keftedes & chicken cotopolo plate with rice and salad for $4.35 or with hummus & taboule for 5.35.  My only complaint is that there isn't enough parking.  The food court Greek Islands Cuisine is lcoated in is in a strip center (Main Plaza) off Main Street that becomes a zoo around lunch time.  Schedule your lunch so that you are there in an off hour.  Street access is difficult, there is a center divider that limits your entry and exit to right turns while heading south on main.  PS - don't trust the directions you get from any online source, for some reason their address comes back as being off Skypark - it isn't. The restaurant is lcoated between Von Karmen and Jamboree.