The Greek Islands Restaurant – Omaha Nebraska

We searched for a restaurant to satisfy our need for dinner after our exploration of the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge and the town of Blair Nebraska.  We decided to stop at a Greek restaurant that was well rated on both Yelp and TripAdvisor.

The backstory for Laurie and me is that we’ve been looking for a good Greek meal ever since we moved to East Tennessee from Chicago back in mid-2009.  Quality ethnic food is hard to find where we live and our trips to other towns in the southeastern USA haven’t yielded the Greek food that we so enjoyed in Chicago. 

So…we were hopeful as we drove south from Blair toward our dining destination.

The exterior of Greek Islands in Omaha is simple…except for the sign with the USA and Greek flags prominently displayed along with the restaurant’s name…

Bill and George Sgourakis were born in Greece.  The family was poor enough that they couldn’t even visit the Greek Islands.  The brothers immigrated to Omaha in 1966.  They worked in a meat packing plant in South Omaha until they’d saved enough money that they could open a restaurant.  Greek Islands has been open since 1983… That is amazing longevity for any restaurant!

The dining area in Greek Islands is open and the tables are well spaced.  They have a full bar…and they are stocked with Grecian wines.  Greek murals and mirrors, as well as sconces topped with wine bottles, provide the interior décor.

Our server was very patient with the 6 of us… As none of us had eaten Greek cuisine in quite a long time, we ordered a lot of food.  Sadly, we also were a bit overeager…diving into the two appetizers pictured above before remembering to take photos. 

The first photo shows what was left of the ‘Feta Sticks’, lightly breaded Feta cheese served with homemade tomato basil sauce. ($10.50) The second picture features Skordalia dip (a garlic potato mash up), with fried zucchini. ($11.49)

It was all good and it was quickly consumed!

I think that we ordered 3 orders of “Flaming Saganaki”. ($9.50 each) This imported Greek cheese is cooked to a golden brown and it was served flaming at our table.

When we next visit The Greek Islands, we will want to order a couple different appetizers, and there are many choices.  Laurie and I are thinking that the pan fried ‘kalamari’, the grilled ‘octopothi’ and the Tiropita…a Greek cheese pie wrapped in phyllo.

As you may notice, only 3 entrees are shown in this post.  I stayed with the Greek entrees only for the purposes of this post and one of the meals shown was ordered by more than just one person.

The entrée shown above is the Greek Chicken Gyro. ($9.99) Marinated chicken breasts are grilled and sliced, then topped with onions, tomatoes and Tzatziki sauce.  The gyros were sided by some very tasty Greek Potatoes and that side salad with olives, artichoke leaves, feta cheese and Greek Island’s homemade house dressing. ($4.50 for both) Sorry about the half eaten piece of fried feta cheese… I haven’t learned the function that removes unwanted objects from photos.

As for myself, I went ‘all in’ and ordered the Chicken Riganato, a half chicken with all white meat.  That meant that I was served both chicken breasts and the wings… This wasn’t a small chicken so it was a real platter of poultry! ($17.25) The chicken was baked with lemon, olive oil and oregano and it did come with an order of those Greek potatoes.  It was excellent!  I do admit that I took a complete half chicken breast and some potatoes back to David and Amy’s home as leftovers…

The next time we visit The Greek Islands, I think that I’d order the Marithes (Smelt seasoned and breaded, then pan-fried with olive oil, lemon and oregano, then served with Skordalia dip.  Laurie and I both love Skordalia as well as Tzatziki sauce.

It was a tough decision, ordering the baked Greek style chicken instead of the Gyro Platter.  But I knew that Laurie would never be able to finish a gyro platter by herself and I’d have plenty of chances for gyro meat.  This is a combination of lamb and beef with spices, stacked and roasted on a vertical spit and then thinly sliced. 

I convinced her to order the Gyro Platter ($10.49) instead of the Gyro Sandwich. ($8.75) The sandwich version is topped with onions, tomatoes and Tzatziki sauce and it’s served on pita bread.  The platter is a larger version plus it includes feta cheese and olives.

As you might have guessed, we were too full to order one of the several Greek desserts on the menu.  Maybe next time!

All of us were really happy with the service and the food at The Greek Islands.  On the way out, I noticed that one of the brothers was sitting at a table with his contemporaries near the door.  I stopped and told him that it was the best Greek food that I’d had in the last 14 years! 

I ran across a listing of the Yelp’s top 100 restaurants in the entire USA from 2022.  Greek Island was number 96, a major accomplishment when you consider how many restaurants are listed/rated in Yelp! 

The Greek Islands Restaurant is located at 3821 Center Street in Omaha Nebraska.  Phone: 402-346-1528.  Their website can be found at Greek Islands Restaurant (greekislandsomaha.com).

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave