Best Chinese Restaurant in Honolulu Chinatown?

[wcheuk]

Please offer your suggestions. My wife and I are staying in Waikiki for two nights in May. We are going back to Alan Wong's but want to hit up Chinatown for the other night.

[KaimukiMan]

I suggest you consider doing chinatown some afternoon and having lunch rather than dinner. With the open markets, lei stands, galleries. and other stores open only during the day it is a much more interesting place before 5pm. Frankly, it is not someplace I would send the average tourist on a typical weeknight. If you happen to be there for "First Friday" (the first Friday evening of every month), its a different story, but then the restaurants are packed.

In any case my recommendation would be Little Village Noodle House, one of the best Chinese restaurants in Honolulu. if not that, then Legends in the Cultural Plaza. Legends also has a restaurant in Waikiki.

Other considerations would be Royal Garden in the Ala Moana Hotel, Happy Days in Kaimuki, and Hee Hing in Kapahulu. Unlike many cities, good Chinese food is found outside Chinatown in Honolulu.

[Clinton]

As KaimukiMan advised, Chinatown is best visited during the daylight hours. There are actually several good spots to eat there but the more favorable thing to have is dim sum at either Legends or places on Maunakea Street near King. Note that Legends closes at 2PM but opens up later for dinner. Happy Gardens in Kaimuki would be my choice for good local Chinese cuisine at reasonable prices. The food and service are excellent and parking is convenient in the back public lot. They also serve OK dim sum at lunch but not as good as Legends.

[howesit]

If you are sensitive to MSG, be aware that Hawaii is a place where you will still find MSG in the food of many restaurants, so it's always a good thing to ask about. Two places popular with locals and ilocated n Mo'ili'ili which is very convenient to Waikiki are:
OnOn, located on the corner of McCully & Young Street;
Maple Garden, located on Isenberg St.

OnOn - Corner of McCully & Young Street. If you are sensitive to MSG

[honu2]

I suggest a dim sum lunch at one of these restaurants in Chinatown: Legends, in the Chinese Cultural Plaza; Mei Sun at the corner of Pauahi and Smith Streets and Good Luck Cafe, at the corner of Maunakea and Beretania St.

All three serve dim sum from carts so you can just point to what looks interesting to you.

[wcheuk]

Thank you for the suggestions and tips regarding Chinatown. I am familiar with a majority of dim sum offerings so it sounds like this would be the best thing to do instead of dinner.

[kc72]

How would you say dim sum on Oahu compares to dim sum in other places (Bay Area, LA, etc) or any other places you've had dim sum in terms of quality and price?

[curiousgeo]

In my opinion the better dim sum places in Honolulu, like Legend and Royal Garden rate a solid B quality wise. This is compared to the best places in Vancouver, BC or the South Bay area such as Millbrae or Daly City. Happy Days, Hee Hing and Mei Sum would rate a grade lower than that, maybe a C or C+. Totally agree with the Little Village Noodle House recommendation in Chinatown for a meal.

[kc72]

Thanks for your ratings -- how about price-wise?

[honu2]

I don't think Honolulu has anything comparable to the best dim sum places in Vancouver or in the San Gabriel valley. Legends and Royal Gardens are expensive, comparable in price and quality to Yank Sing in San Francisco. Mei Sun and Happy Day are medium range in price in my opinion, but are good value. Good Luck cafe is a find, in that the prices are very reasonable for the quality. My aunt and I had 4 kinds (leaf wrapped mochi rice; shrimp dumplings; chive dumplings, fish fllet and fake crab wrapped in bean curd) on Saturday and the price was $10. Chinese is the main language spoken; no tourists and just a sprinkling of other locals.

[kc72]

wow... Yank Sing prices?

I'll add Good Luck Cafe, Happy Day and Mei Sum to my list of restaurants. Chinese won't be a problem for me as long as its Cantonese. Is it true Mei Sum serves dim sum until the evenings?

Any other non-dim sum recs for me?

[KaimukiMan]

Mei Sum only has cart service till around 2, but you can order off the menu after that.

I pretty much agree with all the various comments above, now I have to go find Good Luck Cafe. Honu2, where is it located?

[honu2]

Diamond head-makai corner of the Chinese Cultural Plaza, on the corner of Beretania and Maunakea. Can't miss the red lanterns on the outside.

Joyful Gardens in Kaneohe is also good, by the way.

[Cousin Anna]

Will have to try GOOD LUCK CAFE and get back to this thread. Recently went to Joyful Gardens in Kaneohe, some dishes good, had shrimp/veggies, house crispy noodles, taro basket. NO to custard, baked egg cream and steamed egg cream, the filling was disappointing. The chinese chicken salad was cabbage with thin thousand island dressing. I am used to chinese chicken salad with white vinegar dressing and iceberg lettuce and wonton strips with lots of shredded chicken.

[MRMoggie]

Our favorite chinese chicken salad on the Windward side is at Pah Ke's in Kaneoehe...dressing is made with orange juice, ginger and a touch of peanut butter to thicken. Delicious.

Thanks for the steer to Good Luck Cafe -- will have to try it next time in Honolulu.

We would also recommend lunch (had best results at Legends) over dinner. Have enjoyed Little Village for dinner.

[honu2]

Actually in my view the best salad at Pah Ke's is his spinach salad, with Kau orange segments and candied walnuts and a no-fat dressing. (Like the desserts, which are more Halekulani than Chinatown Chinese --think soy panne cotta -- his salads are very creative.)

[MRMoggie]

<<Like the desserts, which are more Halekulani than Chinatown Chinese --think soy panne cotta -- his salads are very creative.)>>

Funny you should mention that.....