Posts

Happy Garden Inc

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Cost: Low! Selection/Variety: 4 Quality: 3 Temperature: 3 Service: 3 Overall Rating: 7 Size: small - maybe 40 seats. It's dumplings are not the hottest, but they are cheap, plentiful, large, and often unusual. The shu mai are enormous.  There is a spicy shu mai, the first I have seen, and they and the regular ones are huge.  The selection can be surprising, the rice noodle casings are unusually thick. A relatively tiny place, often without the standards, but you can always ask and they will make them for you. Huge, Spicy Shu Mai Har Gow Huge Shu Mai Bitter Melon Lots of pink Good Tofu Skin

Nice Day Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Dim Summary:  Nice Day Chinese Seafood Restaurant 1425 Liliha St, Honolulu, HI 96817 (808) 524-1628 https://goo.gl/maps/kUqk9DRFfQmgqMTW9 Selection/Variety: 4 Quality: 3 Temperature: 4 Service: 3 Overall Rating: 6 Size: large - maybe 150+ seats? Comments: Up off Liliha in Kalihi, not the most sparkling cleanest place, but the dim sum is decent and has a high capacity for Sunday dim sum, more white people than some other places. The loh ba go was fried in a traveling cart with perceptibly rancid oil on one occasion. Has a very good selection of baked buns for take-away. 

Ginger and Garlic

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Dim Summary:  Ginger And Garlic 1138 Smith St, Honolulu, HI 96817 (808) 537-3883 https://goo.gl/maps/UxECqZfEDJGZhBBy8 Selection/Variety: 3 Quality: 4 Temperature: 4 Service: 3 (indifferent) Overall Rating: 6 Size: medium - 60 seats  Comments: Clean, neglectful service, some unusual dim sum, not wildly enjoyable. Mostly long tables with community seating. A wide variety of sweet baked pastries, if you go for that kinna thing. This was interesting: a kind of rice ball in a skin:

New Canton House

Dim Summary: New Canton House 162 N Hotel St, Honolulu, HI 96817 (808) 521-3788 https://goo.gl/maps/WYHrFay11XPyvpT38 Selection/Variety: 4 Quality: 4 Temperature: 4 Service: 3 Overall Rating: 7 Size: small - around 50 seats Comments: Cheap! While not large or having a huge variety, a steamer of standard dumplings here rings in at $2.80, a full dollar less than most establishments. Service is spotty, and getting the attention of service can be a challenge. Again, don’t be afraid to send a scout up front to have staff uncover a lot of bamboo steamers and point at what you want delivered, same to ring out your check. 

Mei Sum

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Dim Summary: Mei Sum Mei Sum Dim Sum 1170 Nuuanu Ave, Honolulu, HI 96817 (808) 531-3268 https://goo.gl/maps/Hk5RfWktBUiAWuHU6 Selection/Variety: 4 Quality: 5 Temperature: 5 Service: 4 Overall Rating: 9 Size: medium - maybe 60 seats Comments: My current favorite dim sum house, Mei Sum is a solid place in terms of overall basic quality and scrumptiousness. Best are the scallop dumplings, and their shumai and har gow are reliably excellent; don’t be afraid to roll up on the front counter to close your check or have a look at what they have in the front steam table. Good loh ba go! Less wild selection that some of the other shops.

The Dim Summary

Welcome to the Dim Sum-mary for Oahu! We endeavor to review dim sum, poké, and other cheap-eats establishments in Honolulu, Hawaii. We rate on a basis if 1 (low) to 5 (high) in the following categories: Selection/Variety:  Does the establishment have a wide variety of dumplings (or poké) ready to serve, or will they get them to you in under 10 minutes? Or are they chronically out of things on their menu? Quality: Is the pork well-ground? Are there bits of bone or shrimp shells? Is the seafood fresh and does it smell good? Is it well-salted and/or seasoned?? Temperature: Are the dumplings hot and not over or under-cooked? Service: Is the service prompt, effective, attentive, is the English reasonably understood, and can you get a new round or check in a reasonable amount of time? Overall Rating:  This one is a bit different, a rating on a scale of 1-10 encompassing the ratings above, as well as an attempt to capture the overall feel of the place as a restaurant, includin