Orexi

We’ve been here for a couple of times with our friends and have enjoyed the pleasant experience each time. Very friendly staff, nice and warm environment, a very delicious food! All of our friends agree that their Octopus is the best appetizer and Galaktoboureko (warm dough wrapped around house made custard and topped with orange zest.) is the best dessert on the menu, but we all have different opinions about the main courses. My favorite entrée here is the Paidakia or grilled lamb — I had heard that Greeks are very good at seasoning and grilling lamb, and this tasty dish proved it right. The only drawback is their relatively pricey food for such small portions.

Orexi is a Greek restaurant located in the San Francisco outer suburb of West Portal. Located on the main street of West Portal, street parking is available but can be challenging as is common in the City.
It’s a pleasant neighborhood to walk in with wide sidewalks and numerous shops and restaurants. Orexi is easy to find with a large, easy to read sign and had Christmas lights and some decorations still in place that made it feel warm and inviting. The restaurant is a long and narrow one with many tables taking up most of the restaurant space all the way to the open kitchen in the back. Servers may have challenges with the narrow walkways, but patron seating is quite comfortable and I loved the solid wood table our Group sat at.
The menu has an extensive list of appetizers, main entrees, pizzas, side dishes and desserts. Everything is best for sharing so we ordered several appetizers and entrees to share. Our order:
— Platter of All Homemade Spreads — Four delicious spreads are served with warm housemade pita bread. I thought they were all delicious, but especially enjoyed the Melitzanosalata (cold eggplant) and the Taramosalata (carp roe). They all tasted fresh and the cold spreads with the warm pita bread is a great start.
— Psito Oktopodi — grilled octopus served sliced over a bed of arugula. It’s a small platter with much smaller pieces of sliced octopus than I’m used to served over the arugula. The octopus is tender with only a hint of chewiness, but larger pieces would have been appreciated so this didn’t seem so much an arugula salad.
— Garides sto fourno — the oven baked tiger prawn in a lightly spiced olive oil garlic sauce arrived at the table piping hot and with a wonderful aroma. They were topped with two pieces of lightly toasted crostini, but we used both the pita and the table bread to dip into the garlic olive oil sauce. The tiger prawns aren’t jumbo sized, but were plump and flavorful that matched well with the great sauce.
— Arnisia Plevrakia — I’ve always loved lamb at Greek restaurants so wasn’t afraid to order both a lamb appetizer and main entrée. I was glad I did. The lamb riblets were perfect. Small ribs of lamb perfect to share with an entire table and all with a perfect ratio of meat and fat that had been grilled perfectly. The seasoning with Orexi dressing and fresh oregano was perfect and we were licking the pieces of rib after all the meat was gone. Quite possibly, my favorite thing of the night.
— Paidakia — The grilled lamb chops were our first entrée and I’ve had it at many Greek restaurants. It was cooked medium rare as requested and served with hearty butternut squash and Greek potatoes. While the lamb chops were juicy and soft, the seasoning could have been stronger. More salt would have been perfect and I found the lamb riblets tastier, juicier, and more memorable mainly because of that ratio of fat/​meat and stronger seasoning.
— Moussaka — I love this dish and the baked dish with layers of eggplant and ground lamb and beef is always a comfort food. It comes out piping hot, and the savory lamb and beef mixes so well with the melting bechamel cheese on top. Everyone loved the large pieces of eggplants as well. Solid dish.
— Horta — Steamed seasonal greens dressed with EVOO and lemon. Simple.
— Baklava — standard Greek dessert. Served room temperature and the filo doug hard to put a fork into. The Greek syrup was a touch too sweet, but this isn’t uncommon.
— Galaktoboureko — Now this dish was special. Warm filo dough wrapped around house made custard and topped with orange zest. Soft, warm, and so delicious. The orange zest had a nice contrast in flavor and the dish wasn’t as sweet as the baklava. The vanilla ice cream served with chopped pistachios was just as special. Sounds so simple, but the pistachios and vanilla went together perfectly and the cold ice cream was perfect with the warm custard and filo dough. People were licking this plate afterwards.
Service: We had reservations and they are a must. We were seated immediately (even as two companions looked for parking) and we appreciated that as there isn’t much room to wait inside and it was cold and raining inside and much warmer inside. It’s quite busy with many people waiting to be seated and staff can get extremely busy, but dishes arrived at a nice, relaxed pace and although our water refills weren’t often and we weren’t asked for more bread or pita bread (I would have loved it) there was always enough food to keep us busy.
We had an enjoyable meal here. The food is familiar, with a few dishes particularly the lamb riblets and custard filo dough dessert that really hit the highest notes. Everything else is solid and while the place is busy, it feels authentic, comfortable, and relaxing. Orexi may not surpass Kokkari, Evvia, or Dio Deka, but those are high bars for comparison.
Orexi accepts credit cards, including Amex.

Went here on a Greek coworkers recommendation and I was pleasantly surprised.
The location was previously a round table pizza and now it’s been transformed to this contemporary and cozy, great looking Thursday date night type of restaurant.
Earlier reviews knock the service which are all worked out because service was great and super attentive. Our waitress was friendly and even Greek! I appreciated her authentic knowledge of the menu and cuisine and recommendations.
We started with the grilled octopus ($ 13) which was tender and had a nice charred flavor. The moussaka ($ 18) is like Greek lasagna, heartwarming Meditterranean soul food. My favorite dish of the night was the grilled lamb chops ($ 3X), good char, tender, good flavor. Not as good as a say a Kokkari or Evvia but then also not as expensive. Creamy and cheezy orzo pasta rounded off the meal. (
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Overall, for not having to drive all the way downtown it kinda felt like a downtown resto. Wasn’t expecting this out of West Portal.

Been back twice here and have enjoyed my dining experience, both food quality and service. My food recommendations are as follows: lamb riblets, lamb moussaka and their rotisserie chicken. There are more to try and I plan to go back and try the rest of the dishes in their menu.
As for customer service, the maitre d had a reservation oversight one night and she offered us choices of either having a glass of wine or appetizer, on the house, to make up for that mistake.
I highly recommend this restaurant.

Came here with the family for my dad’s birthday. We literally ordered every main dish they had, and their fish (halibut, salmon) was delicious. Although I did not try some of it myself, my dad was a bit upset at the lamb. He said it was slightly tough (and he likes to cook his lamb to a soft chewiness but still with substance). The service was very courteous and our waiter was polite and checked in on us frequently, but I remember that one of the couples at a table next to us left with impatience because their waitress was a bit slow. In regards to the non-​fish dishes, my taste buds have already been spoiled by a Meditteranean restaurant in Wisconsin. Overall, decent food (especially the fish), but I have had better, and quality of service seems to depend on the waiter or waitress.

I really like Orexi. I love their Moussaka, it’s so flavorful and with surprising spices like cinnamon. Their lamb riblets are very tender, and their house made custard dessert is tasty!

This place was AMAZING! Found it on a whim via Unilocal as a post-​graduation family dinner. They were available for our reservation on a Friday night, provided wonderful service, delicious food, and even a toast in honor of my special day. Thank you Orexi for making us feel like part of your delicious greek family on such an important day for me!

Food was good, but only one vegetarian option. Come on folks, it’s 2015 and you’re in San Francisco. If you are vegetarian, you’ll be able to eat here, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Great place. I had the whole fish special (which is actually not a special as we were told but often on the menu :)). My friend had the halibut. Both fish dishes were fresh and quite delicious.
The service, starting from the hostess, was soft and polite. There was a wait for the table and the hostess happily agreed to text us when the table was ready. This worked fine and we returned to have our space ready and waiting.
The woman serving us was friendly, informative and a joy to talk to. She had just returned from 3 months in western and eastern europe and had lovely stories to tell. Wish all restaurant employees could be as pleasant as this!
Highly recommended!

The flavors of the dishes here are not as noteworthy as the flavors of the dishes at its rival restaurant on Jackson Street.
APPS
+ Psito Oktopodi –Octopus grilled, served over arugula, dressed with orexi dressing: Pieces of grilled octopus lacked smoky, robust flavor. Overall, unmemorable.
+ Arnisia Plevrakia –lamb riblets grilled, finished with orexi dressing: With this cut of meat, you’re supposed to encounter rich flavor, but not in this case. The meat was really tough, but if it were cooked differently, it could have been tender.
ENTREES
+ Moussaka– Traditional baked dish with layers of eggplant and ground lamb and beef, topped with béchamel– Not bad if you’re into casserole. Simple, overwhelmingly meaty dish with abundant flavor.
+ Fish of the Day, Branzino– This was grilled and de-​boned to perfection. Definitelty the highlight of our dinner here. If you have the opportunity to order this, order it. Mouthwateringly moist and delicious.
Ultimately, I was more intrigued by the glowing ambiance. No complaints about the service here, just disappointed in the underwhelming dishes.
Verdict: Do not perceive this place as a substitute, as you’ll spend nearly as much as you would at the rival resturant for subpar flavors – drive to Jackson Street and don’t look back.

I’m not totally sure that we are not getting special treatment. So take this with a grain of salt.
The 5 star food is just the icing on the cake to the amazing environment and the «treat you like family» service. I’d visit this place every time I come to the Bay Area if I ever moved away. I don’t think I ever will, but if I do…
Love love love this restaurant.

4.5 stars. Best Greek food I’ve had in the Bay Area so far. I had the grilled octopus salad and lemon soup. Both were perfect. The wifey had a fish dish with mushrooms and some other carb. It’s too bad there aren’t more Greek spots in SF. Definitely going to be back with my parents to try more. Keeping it short because I want to do this place justice after my 2^nd trip.

Although my personal experience at Orexi was not good, I didn’t want to give the restaurant a bad rating based on my meal as I really feel that I simply ordered the wrong dish as a main course, so I can’t justifiably give the the restaurant a bad rating as my sides were all very good and it looked like everyone who ordered other main courses were all very pleased with their meals, so I added two stars to my rating to be fair.
I ordered the moussaka which was just way too rich for my liking. I ordered moussaka because I hadn’t been to a greek restaurant since I was a teenager and from what I remembered, I always had the moussaka and grape leaves and I remember a very different type of moussaka that was closer to lasagna and I remember loving it. Lasagna is my very favorite dish and I thought that I would order the moussaka and would really enjoy my meal but as soon as it arrived at the table, I could see that it was something different from what I was expecting and as soon as I took my first bite I knew immediately that I didn’t like it! I didn’t like the flavor and I didn’t like the consistency of it, extremely rich; and there was A LOT of it too! I just ordered the wrong thing that night but I am actually looking forward to trying this restaurant again some time.

The food here is equal to Kokari if not better. Everyone that gave it a bad review knows nothing of good food. I’ve been here before and was equally satisfied.
The negative review people must be Turkish and dislike Greek food or have some personal reason to dislike it.
We had no reservation and we had a 6 month old baby with us. The service was excellent and the bus boy offered wash the toy the baby dropped. They were very accommodating.
I had the baked cheese appetizer and it was better then Kokari’s version. We had the flat bread and it was decadent. We also had the special heirloom tomato with feta and it was mouth watering. I had the special, wild boar loin. It wasn’t gamey instead very tender with a light balsamic vinaigrette sauce that made the meat melt in your month accompanied with mashed potatoes like I’ve never had before and the were delicious. My brother had the lamb chops and they were so good we used are hands to eat off the bones.

Pricing for pita sampler is ridiculous. $ 18?! Too much.
The octopus appetizer was mediocre. The flavors of the dressing with arugula that accompanied the octopus was good but their was about only 2oz of it for the appetizer. Not worth it. The custard roll dessert was the best dessert, they ran out of baklava, don’t order the katafi (shredded phyllo) it wasn’t cooked though and the phyllo shreds inside were kinda raw. Fries were boring: low quality McDonald’s fries with feta on too (if you’ve been to Opa!, their fries are better).
If you come here, come fire the roasted deboned whole fish. I’d come back for that!!! Venue nice and airy. Service was ok. The bus boys kept trying to take plates that still had food on them (if you wanted to us to eat quick to end our dinner early, you were out of luck).

Whoever recommended Orexi to me, we need to talk. Not in a «we’re through» sort of way, just in the «tell me again why you like this place so much» kind of way. Because, after eating here with Vicky L., Cherylynn N., and friends, I’m honestly having trouble drawing any positives from the experience. Save for the company, of course.
With a reservation for six at 7:15, things were immediately off to a shaky start when we weren’t seated until 7:45. While that might fall more on the diners ahead of us, it still negated the point of making a reservation in the first place. Since we were all feeling rather hungry at this point, we all decided to share several of the starters in addition to our individual entrees.
– HOUSEMADE SPREADS PLATTER — Tzatziki (Cucumber Yogurt), Taramosalata (Cod Roe), Melitzanosalata (Eggplant), Tyrokafteri (Cheese)…$ 18
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Not bad, but not very notable either. The Taramosalata and Tyrokafteri were both flavorful and the only ones worth trying, as the other two were pretty «meh» for me. The bigger knock was being charged for the extra pita bread (only because our server offered it like it was free).
– ARNISIA PLEVRAKIA — Grilled Lamb Riblets finished with Orexi Dressing…$ 12
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Our server assured us there’d be «six or seven», knowing we wanted one for everyone, yet it came with only five. Too much to throw on one more? Or, you know, get the count right? Then again, it’s not like these were amazing. The flavor wasn’t awful, but the riblet was tough and dry.
– PSITO OKTOPODI — Grilled Octopus served over Arugula with Orexi Dressing…$ 13
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There may not have been any «fatal flaws», but this was remarkably mediocre. The dish looked okay, but the pieces were tiny and varied between chewy and burnt. Can’t say it tasted bad though… since it didn’t taste like anything at all.
– GARIDES STO FOURNO — Oven Baked Tiger Prawns in a Lightly Spiced Olive Oil & Garlic Sauce…$ 13
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Potentially our best starter, but purely by default. The shrimp was okay, I guess — plump and meaty, though chewy and not very juicy. Still, I did like the touch of spice and balance that the olive oil and garlic sauce had.
– PAIDAKIA — Grilled Lamb Chops served with Asparagus & Greek Potatoes… A.Q. ($ 33)
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While it wasn’t «to perfection», the seasoning wasn’t bad. However, not only were all three of our table’s orders overcooked («medium well» instead of «medium rare»), but the chops were barely larger than a macaron. For the money, you’re better off getting a whole meal/​rack at Garden Club in SSF or paying $ 10 more for much better at Kokkari/​Evvia.
– KATAIFI — Chopped Almonds rolled in Shredded Filo Dough, topped with Greek Syrup…$ 7
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In short? I left 80% of it on the plate. I thought it’d be crispy, but the «dough», which was like vermicelli noodles, was mealy and bland. Well, except for all of the ridiculously sweet syrup it soaked up. Even the raspberries were unappetizing (flimsy and mushy). Never again.
As disappointing as the food was (two stars), service was even worse. We weren’t expecting world class quality, but something friendlier than a curt, «So you wanna hear our specials?» to start our meal would have been nice. That, plus less eye rolls, less attitude, and more tact/​refinement in the way she spoke to us, especially when she threw her arms up in disbelief to her manager (within view of our table) when we noted the disproportionate sizes of the baklavas we ordered. Then again, who cares when you know your tip is fixed, right?
If my rating and review sound a bit harsh, feel free to check out Cherylynn N. and Vicky L.‘s reviews for even more details about our group’s experience with our server. I can tolerate sub-​par food and high prices, but I can’t forgive bad/​rude service. For that reason, one star seems well deserved, which means something since I don’t hand out many of them.

I’ve said this before, men are like restaurants. A good one is hard to find.
In my book:
Kokkari = Channing Tatum
Orexi = Ron Jeremy
To compare the two is an insult.
Kokkari and Orexi may have a similar menu and prices but the quality, execution, and service is not even remotely in the same ballpark. After further inspection, I realized that more than half of the 5 star reviews were written by people with no profile pics and/​or less than 10 reviews. They were smart enough to write a handful of reviews around the same time so the Unilocal algorithm wouldn’t filter their review.
Vicky L, Mike L, and I had Orexi bookmarked so we decided to go for a group dinner. What a BIG mistake that was…
After waiting nearly 30 minutes past our reservations, our waitress (who’s apparently the owner’s daughter) abruptly walks to our table and asks with an attitude: «SO you wanna hear the specials [or not]?»
WTF is this – Denny’s?!
And this is how our night progressed…
(1) We had 6 people in our party and told our waitress we wanted to make sure there was one piece per a person for the apps (if not, we would order doubles). For the lamb riblets, she said there were 6 – 7, but definitely more than 5. When they arrived, there were 5. Same thing happened with the shrimp app.
The only thing you need to know about the food was how disappointingly bland, overcooked, and chewy everything was (pics are deceiving aren’t they?). You can’t just drown things in olive oil, sprinkle oregano, throw a lemon wedge on the side, and call it «Greek» food.
*Tzatziki (cucumber yogurt), Taramosalata (carp roe), Melitzanosalata (eggplant), & Tyrokafteri (cheese) w/​pita bread ($ 18):
*Arnisia plevrakia: Lamb riblets w/​Orexi dressing ($ 12):
*Garides sto fourno: Tiger prawns w/​olive oil, garlic sauce ($ 13):
*Psito oktopodi: Grilled octopus w/​arugula, olive oil ($ 13):
*Paidakia: Grilled Lamb Chops w/​potatoes & asparagus ($ 33):
*Kataifi: Shredded fillo dough, chopped almonds, Greek syrup ($ 7):

(2) We were running low on pita bread when our waitress asked, «Do you want more pita?» When we got our bill, we found out that she charged us $ 3.50 for extra pita. WTH.
(3) Throughout the 2.75 hours we were at Orexi, our waitress pretty much ignored us. When we asked for something, she took a long time. 15 minutes to get a beer? I could of went to the corner store and back.
(4) We were done with our entrees for 10 minutes when I asked our waitress for to-​go boxes. She said, she would tell the busboy. 10 minutes later and no boxes so I asked the busboy myself (he’s the ONLY nice person there). We received our to-​go boxes within 2 minutes.
(5) After boxing our food, our waitress curtly asks, «SO, you want dessert menus?»
OK, here we go again…
Me: «I would like the Kataifi… can I add a scoop of vanilla ice cream please?»
Her: «Uhhh no one has ordered it like THAT before.»
Me: «Ok…well, I just enjoy texture contrasts so is that possible?»
Her: «Well, we would have to charge you extra.»
Me: «That’s fine.»
Her: «I’ll need to check to see if this is possible»
Who would of thought «a la mode» would be such a ridiculous request.
OH, and it gets better…
Our waitress brought two baklavas for my gfs. One was significantly smaller than the other. Think McD’s plain burger vs. double big mac.
Friend: «Excuse me, is there any reason why one baklava is smaller than the other?»
Her: «I’m not the chef – I’m not the one cutting it».
Friend: «I know but I just want to pay accordingly.»
(It was a $ 7 triangle half the size of a toddler’s palm.)
Her w/​a big attitude: «Well, what do you want me to do about it – bring YOU a new one?»
*Grabs plate, ROLLS HER EYES IN FRONT OF US, and angrily storms off*
Our table watched as she stomps to the back, hands the plate to the owner AND throws both hands in the air while saying something. Shame on the owner for allowing her to throw a tantrum just because she’s the «daughter of the owner».
The owner then returns with another baklava and hands it to my friend without apologizing.
I’ve worked in retail for 4+ years in college and yes, customers can be jerks. A customer once threw a shoe at me because she misplaced her receipt for a return (she was stepping on it). Did I throw a hissy fit? No.
Our waitress was by the far the worst I’ve encountered in over two years: unprofessional, terrible attitude, and zero lack of urgency. We were more than patient with her the entire night through the phuck ups, poorly executed, overpriced food, and painfully slow service. To have to pay 18% auto-​gratuity ($ 430 bill) to be treated like a$$holes is unacceptable.
Our waitress should find another profession NOT involving human interaction.
Honey, here’s a link for «Jobs for People Who Hate People»:

My friends and I picked this place because it is one of the few places around West Portal that we haven’t tried yet.
We ordered the Moussaka, Patates tiganites (greek fries), Octopus Salad, and Arnisia plevrakia (lamb riblets).
The moussaka was delicious. The eggplant, meat, and cheese were layered very well. I was able to get a little bit of everything in each bite.
The Patates tiganites (greek fries) were good. They were very crispy and seasoned with salt. Basically, they tasted like higher quality McDonalds fries.
The Octopus Salad was definitely our favorite! The colorful mix of the octopus, the onions, and the tomatoes stood out in bed of the arugula, and it was very aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The octopus was soft and tender, and not chewy at all. The tomatoes and the dressing were sweet in tasting, which balanced the bitterness of the arugula very well. The raw onions also added a crunchy texture to the salad.
Lastly, the Arnisia plevrakia (lamb riblets) were tasty. It was cooked really well and most of the meat slipped off the bone. The lamb had an obvious aroma to it, and the lemon was able to better balance the flavor.
I would definitely come back to try more of their dishes and their large selection of wine!

We started with the pita and four spreads appetizer
The spreads were very good and the pita was amazingly good, made in house. The portion was small for $ 18
We shared the octopus salad and the organic house salad. Both were good but oily
Two of us had roast chicken, which was very tender and flavorful, maybe a little over cooked. Sides were roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts can be excellent but these were barely ok and there were like 7 halves of Brussels sprouts on my plate that were mainly stems
DH had Bronzino and he cleaned his plate. My friend had lamb chops and they were excellent
The guys split Greek cheesecake for dessert
Food is good to very good.

several choices let me break down what we had and what I would order again.
New to greek food so, my comparison is Daphne greek food which would be a chain of greek type food and let me tell you Daphne’s not good greek food. haha
here are some of the things we sampled
Appetizers
Garides tis skaras — Tiger prawns grilled over open fire served with Orexi Dressing, spicy, oily, you can see peppered seed in the oil 5 pieces in total definitely must try
Arnisia plevrakia — Lamb riblets grilled, finished with Orexi dressing, lemon wedge provided with lamb riblets, juicy, small, flavorful, slightly gamy but also a must try
Entrees
Moussaka — Traditional baked dish with layers of eggplant and ground lamb and beef, topped with bechamel, this dish reminded me of lasagna, the ground lamb meat was not gamy, flavored well, slightly salty kinda like tomato based ground beef the eggplant was the bottom layer and the cheese was top layer in all not my favorite but I do recommend you try it
Kota tis souvlas — Our house specialty: organic free-​range rotisserie chicken served with Greek potatoes, tender, juicy, even the breast piece was juicy, flavored very well, this is not your costco chicken folks this is your rotisserie that you wish costco made!!!
Paidakia — Lamb chops grilled, seasoned to perfection, served with Greek potatoes, lamb chops made to your preference (rare, medium, well) I think I should have gotten this item medium rare, having it well kinda sucked out all the juice that medium rare would have, I do recommend this dish, the flavor was delicious portion wise 3 pieces decent for sharing for 3 people if you order several other things, request the lamb chops medium rare or medium for maximum juices
Desserts
Baklava — Chopped walnuts layered in filled dough, finished with Greek syrup, I have had my share of Baklava at different places all serve it in small portion cuts, this spots cut is fairly huge enough for 2 – 3 people to sample
food **** everything was good
service **** very helpful staff
price $$$
ambiance **** small, quaint, high ceilings, definitely spot for dates, 2 people any larger group seems to be difficult for seating