Bev Brennan served the nation for 30 years before retiring as the senior enlisted woman in the entire U.S. Navy in 2000. Now she and the crew at the Barbers Point Bowling Center serve up snacks and meals for bowlers and nonbowlers alike.

Brennan and Linda Painter have owned the center since 2009, and also own a Subway across the street. Both are accomplished bowlers; Brennan won 18 Navy and seven all-Armed Forces championships. Painter was a college national champion at Michigan State, and in 1993 became the first woman in Hawaii to score a series of 800 or over. Her 803 was the state’s highest for a woman until Christine Kato bowled an 808 about a decade later.

Over the years Brennan and Painter have kept their connection to the sport, but also find themselves in charge of a restaurant that they insist be far more than an average snack bar.

I missed this spot in my review of bowling alley food last month — probably because Barbers Point closed down as a naval air station in 1999. Since the bowling alley is still open (to everyone, no base pass needed) and the snack bar is also alive and well, it was worth checking out.

Like all restaurants, The Prop Stop Snack Bar has had to make adjustments to guard against COVID-19, but that hasn’t slowed down a remake under its energetic new chef, Jocelyn Robello.

At first, it seemed like unfortunate timing, but Robello’s local- style menu with a distinctive personal touch has been a hit, Brennan says. Robello makes everything possible from scratch; she even whips her own cream, except when she’s really pressed for time.

Robello had just landed a job at Honolulu Country Club’s restaurant when the pandemic hit, and it was a case of last-in, first-out. Her luck turned around when Painter called her for an interview.

“We were looking for someone like her,” Brennan says. “She’s a firecracker. And she’s a team player. If she sees something that needs to be done, she just does it. It doesn’t have to be in the snack shop; you might see her taking someone’s temperature at the door.”

Robello’s work ethic comes from the same place as her passion for cooking, her childhood in Kaneohe. When not in school, she worked with her parents and siblings on a food truck that serviced Windward Community College on weekdays and Sandy Beach on weekends.

Regular customers Gwen Medeiros-Bjerke and Hakon Bjerke are retirees who live in Waianae. When asked what draws them to Barbers Point, the food or the bowling, they answer without hesitation: “Both.”

They do disagree on their favorite menu items: For Gwen, a local girl, it’s chicken wings and Portuguese bean soup. Hakon, a native of Norway, is partial to a good-old American cheeseburger.

“It doesn’t have to be fancy,” Robello says. “We like food simple out west.”

That doesn’t mean it should be boring, though. And it must be tasty. Also, in the Instagram age, food almost has to be pretty to draw interest. “People eat with their eyes,” Robello says.

Her tuna wonton appetizer scores on all counts … after adjusting the focus of eyes unfamiliar with that combination. Of course, it’s only as good as the tuna salad, and Robello’s has the perfect combination of fish and mayo. That wonton made me wish for a beer, and though there is no sit-down bar, they do sell alcohol.

So did her Sunday Football Bacon Wrap Hot Dog. It’s cool to say there is no such thing as too much bacon — but, really? Robello’s dog has just enough bacon that it doesn’t overpower the other elements, which include tomatoes and iceberg lettuce (my only complaint is that I’d like green relish and onions instead). When I guess mustard and mayo as ingredients of her secret sauce, she says, “Close, but no cigar.”

I also sampled a poke plate ­­— half raw ahi and half fried. Both were great, and again had me thinking the time must be beer:30.

Speaking of time, anytime is breakfast time at Prop Stop. That means you can get peach waffles at 8:30 p.m. if you want. The combination (which includes whipped cream) works, but don’t get it to go. It will get soggy.

The menu includes many other local favorites, like Korean chicken and loco moco. Don’t be surprised, however, to see variations like a kalua pork sandwich topped with coleslaw.

Robello likes to experiment, and she has an ability to correctly surmise how flavors might combine using just her imagination.

“I like to make people happy and leave them with a full tummy,” she says.

The Prop Stop is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily in the Barbers Point Bowling Center, 91-1259 Saratoga Ave.; 673-2696. Alcohol sales end at 9 p.m.; bowling ends at 11 p.m. Plate lunches run $7 to $11, sandwiches $2.25 to $7.50. For the complete menu, including catering: barberspointbowling.com.