Fairwood Drive Inn

I’m solely basing this review on a take out that my mom got me.
Yesterday she and my aunty decided to eat there for lunch. Both if them had the phone, which they said were pretty good (which I would really question, by the looks of my salad) My mom was nice enough to get me a tofu salad for take out.
When I opened the salad, it was ALL cabbage and literally 5 pieces of tofu! …I literally got a cabbage salad!!! I don’t know about you, but when I order a salad, I expect some kind of lettuce with it. If I wanted that much cabbage, I could have ate it off a pupu platter — you know, where they use CABBAGE as a garnish! I ended up throwing it out. That was such a waste of money. Just by that and reading other reviews, I don’t think I would ever stop by and try anything else!

It’s my second time here. I can’t really remember my experience during my 1^st visit but I do remember wanting to come back again. And here I am.
We came in as a huge group of 28 people. They weren’t busy so we were seated right away. The place is very neat and the décor is very rare for a phở restaurant. I’m very impressed with decoration.
I wasn’t in the mood for phở so I had cold ginger chicken. Yes, it’s not Vietnamese but it’s what is wanted. It wasn’t on the menu but my sister said they do serve it. So that’s what I ordered with brown rice. Being a big group, we had the waitresses work really hard but they were very polite. When my order came, it wasn’t with brown rice. I told her I asked for brown rice. She said that if they change it to brown rice, it will take longer. Due to hunger, the thought of waiting for my food again made me just accept the white rice. (Will just have to run 5miles tonight.). I wasn’t happy with that. My food was pretty good. Will I have it again next time? Probably not. The soups for some of the phở was not hot. I tasted my nephew’s chicken steak skillet and it was really really good. Definitely getting that next time.
Though this happened, the great customer service they gave outweighed the error of my order. They were very attentive to our needs and very professional when dealing with the cold soup and the mixed up order. Large groups are never easy to give service too but I must commend the ladies for an awesome job tonight. I would definitely come again, maybe not in a big group.

This use to be one of the best places in Kaimuki for lunch or dinner. The employees are friendly and service fast. Recently ordered my favorite duck with noodles darn the duck was tough and the soup lacked taste. Decided to give it one more try and ordered kalbi the meat was tough and dry did not taste like kalbi instead old. Hopefully the owner will read the posts and improve the food sure would love to enjoy the great food they use to have.

Sometimes these guys can do good. I ordered he cold ginger chicken and the roast duck. It was very good, but also not the first time that I’ve ordered it. I’ve also ordered the Local Boy (so ono!) and a dish that I always love eating, Singapore Noodles.
The biggest problem I still have with the restaurant is their ability to be consistent. It’s hard to tell when I order something from them if it’ll be up to their past levels of quality. Possibly this depends on what you order. Simple things or common things are likely more consistent than items that are rarely ordered.
Overall, it’s a good place to grab some lunch. Another plus is there student discount.

There is a ton of food choices at Fairwood — I haven’t loved most of what I have tried… Except for their lup cheong fried rice! So tasty! Family favorite! I usually order it to take home and we make other stuff to go with it :)

My son and I just had dinner here. He had beef phở and imperial rolls. The soup was tasty as were the spring rolls. Quantity was good. I had the baked pork chop on fried rice with tomato sauce. It comes with a small salad and tomato vegetable soup. That was probably the best part of the meal. The pork chop was more like a pork cutlet. It was thin and had more fat than meat. The fried rice was basically rice that was fried with a few bits of egg white. The tomato sauce was like brown gravy with quarters of tomato baked with the pork chop. What a disappointment! They should be ashamed to serve that! I’ll probably go to the Fairwood counter side and eat there instead of at the phở sit down restaurant again! Sad!

I’ve been going to Fairwood back when they were still on Keeaumoku St and since I Had to drive through the area I had to stop by for my favorite honey garlic chicken. Ordered the lunch plate with the honey garlic chicken, char siu and beef broccoli. The food was just as I remember, so ono. My mom ordered the roast duck noodle in soup and loved it. I agree with other posters that we headed to the back because we wanted to relax and sit in the main dining room but were confused when our menu didn’t seem to have the plate lunch combos on it. Still our server politely grabbed us take out menus from Fairwood so that we could order from that.

Great value for great food! The New York Sizzling Steak was only around $ 12 and was great for the price. Service was very polite and staffed with nice folks. Seems like a family run business.

I had high hopes for this place… Would be great if it were good because the location is so convenient!
I’ve been there for a soda and a chat with a friend and it was fine. This time I thought I’d try the Chinese food. The counter girl said the cook is Chinese. I asked for a recommendation and she said the Minute Chicken cake noodle… so ok, that’s what I settled on…
So sad, I took it home and simple could NOT eat it. The noodles were soggy and the gravy was tasteless… I simply tossed the entire take out container.
Counter girl was nice and polite, but sorry, crossing this place off my list…

So like another post said this place is a little confusing. They do not have the same menu in the front as they do in the restaurant in back. We wanted to sit and be served so we made our way back. The back is the phở place but they also have other American dishes but oddly paired with spaghetti or French fries. I wanted phở and that was yummy and satisfying, however it kinda bummed us out we didn’t have the other plate lunch options we were hoping to try. The ambience was nice and the service was mediocre. I would come back and try the front restaurant but an easy pass on the back unless you want phở.

Service is good but got food poisoning from the fried rice. The chicken was old and they put head lettuce. Who put head lettuce in their fried rice and it was old and brown. I complained and all the manager/​owner could say was oh.
Will never go back here after I felt nauseas and sick to my stomach.
They also refused to refund me also.

Usually when we come we get ready great service but today we had dismal service. The girl was too busy flirting with her coworker to pay attention to our order. Funny thing is we’ve known the owner for a very long time. Our entire order was messed up and it’s been a long day. Between renovations and work we couldn’t wait to go to our favorite place. Yet here we are with the wrong order…

We were in the Kaimuki Shopping Center and decided to have lunch here. The Phở/​Chinese restaurant section was closed for renovation so we had the counter menu. Sad to say I was very under whelmed. We had the crispy cake noodle chicken plate. It was extremely salty. I am sure they use a ton of MSG. The noodles were drowning in salty brown sauce. We also had the honey garlic chicken plate. It did not come as the fried glazed chicken like at other places but it came heavily battered drizzled with sweet glaze. Where was the garlic? Where was the CHICKEN? It resembled cheap battered chicken MacNuggets. One star for the food, one star for the location. We will not be coming back-​Or at least to the counter section. I am kind of scared to try to sit down section when it opens.

Food– sucked! Ordered cake noodles and it was drowning in a dark brown gravy that looked unappetizing. It tasted horrible and was salty. That gravy looked like something that’s suppose to go on hamburger steak. But really I wouldn’t put that gravy on anything meant to be consumed. It was the worst food I’ve tasted in my whole life.
Daughter ordered orange chicken and it was salty and mushy .
Customer service– okay but sometimes they get the order wrong. I seen the cook put a bowl of what looked like ground pork or beef right on the floor. Heeelllooo! That turned me off big time. I will never go back there it’s a waste of money.

After driving past Fairwood Drive Inn on Waialae Ave. MANY times in the recent years, I finally worked up the curiosity to give it a try and I was not disappointed!
They have an awesome selection of plate lunches, traditional chinese dishes, huge variety of noodles and even the delicious fried noodle cakes. It seems like it used to be two restaurants in this one location, but as of my visit it seems like only Fairwood Drive Inn is open and the phở place adjacent has since closed. Being Chinese myself, I’m usually very skeptical about ordering Chinese food from a take out plate-​lunch-​esque place, but when I got my order of Satay Beef Chow Funn, it felt like I was sitting in a restaurant in Chinatown and it was absolutely delish! Portion size was also very generous, for under $ 10 I had enough noodles for me to split into two meals! They also have combination plates where you’ll get a little bit of everything for those who have a hard time choosing just one entrée. The good service was also typical of that in a take out joint, don’t expect to be waited on hand and food, but you will receive a «thank you» and a smile! LOTS of pictures and picture menus posted around the restaurant and on the glass windows outside so that you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you’re getting yourself into!
I definitely recommend checking out Fairwood Drive Inn when you’re looking for a take out meal that’s much more authentic than your usual Panda’s. :)

Cashier during daytime is rude. Doesn’t even say thanks. Cashier during late afternoon n evening is very nice. I will only come during late afternoon from now on.

Located in Kaimuki Shopping Center. If you’re facing the shopping center, it’s on the far right side. :)
Apparently this used to be a phở place, but they now changed to ramen. Bummer, since I really love Vietnamese style pork chops, but they stopped offering that. :(-1 star for that.
I did really love the roast duck & ginger chicken combo plate that I got. Portion size was really nice, and it was served on white rice with streamed greens that I loved. The roast duck was really moist, meaty, and had that nice fatty layer of skin that is sure to clog your arteries, but at least you’ll die happy. Ginger chicken was also super yummy and not at all dry (gross, who likes dry chicken?).

I’ve been going to this place since I started college around the corner. Never was I satisfied by their service. The reason why I keep going there was because of friends wanting to try that place or just like the atmosphere of it. However, it is a nice place. Recently, they move a lot of their comfortable chairs to downgraded chairs by half their restaurant. Why? I have no idea. But that really made their place un attracting.
It is always the same waiter, no matter what time of day you come. Very unpatient and unappreciated lady. Always rush our orders even when we can’t decided what we want. Always to come and see if where done. Like hello! No one else is here or hardly here, why would you want people to just get out. She gives a facial expression where she just want us to get out. And you can sense it in her body mechanisms as well as her face.
Speaking of that, out of the 3 years I’ve been here. They ridiculously CHARGE for DINE-​IN! Who does that!!! Extremely unnesscary, if only I knew that. I would of never had come here with friends that day! So we had one check because she thought that we were paying together. So it was $ 1.00 extra on the whole bill. But then we ask for separated check and guess what! Each and everyone of us pay a extra $ 1.00 for dine-​in. So instead of paying $ 1.00 we pay $ 3.00 extra! I couldn’t believe it. Wells she just lost 5 customers and many more when I tell others about this ripe off place!

This review is for what was previously Phở 27, but is now Fairwood Ramen. My boyfriend and I were sad to see the phở section close as it’s a convenient location from my house, but we thought we’d give the ramen a try for dinner since the sign says it’s 10% off this weekend. I’m glad we tried it, but we probably won’t be back any time soon.
The Good:
–Fast and friendly service
–Clean
–Lots of choices
–Big portions
The Bad:
–Vegetable Ramen’s broth lacked flavor
–Braised Beef Ramen had chunks of tough meat
–Gyoza fell apart
Overall, I’d love it here if the broth had more flavor. But for now I’ll drive a little further to get something tastier for the same price.

Out of all the times I come here I guess I’ll decide to write a review today!
The owner has been my moms good friend for a long time, she’s Super super nice! very friendly and is a really hard worker.
Now depending on what side you eat on (fairwood or phở 27) you’ll get different people waiting on you, this time we decided to sit in, so we went to phở 27.
It took a while for us to be seated (even though there was no one waiting). Finally when we got seated, the waitress got our water and menus and put it on the table. I noticed another couple waiting to be seated and she seated them very quickly, a few minutes of looking through the menu we decided what we want. So of course we just sit there waiting for her to come bAck. Instead she goes over the couple that came AFTER us and takes there order first! Not only after she takes there order she walks away again and doesn’t notice us till we flag her down.
Our food came out pretty quick though so it wasn’t much of an issue but it did bother me that she totally forgot about us in the beginning.
Food– I had the 2 choice meat phở size Large, and it was huge! For only $ 9.95 you can’t go wrong with that. My husband had the generals chicken and specifically asked that it be made mild, and he LOVED it!
Side note– I didn’t get the honey garlic chicken this time, but that’s myFAV! It’s a must try! :)

Just a bit confusing. Is it two separate businesses? One business divided into two? Uh, it’s Phở in the front. It’s Phở in the back.
Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m getting older by the minute and I just want to eat and check out the Phở. But, best I can tell Fairwood is in the front and Phở 27 is in the back.
Classy Décor: Front has an ordering window plus a few tables and chairs. Back, through the doorway, is a classy sit-​down restaurant with waitress service. See the pics. I liked it. Most Phở joints are generic hole in the wall sort of spaces. This is nice.
Food: Now a days I always go for the Vegetable Phở. I also tried the fresh non-​fried spring rolls and a special sour drink. Yup! I forgot the name of the drink. Told you I’m getting older! It’s on a card on the table and not on the menu. It’s really good but it may make you forget. I do remember the fresh tofu spring rolls. 4 stars! The Phở, I remember it well. Since I’m going around trying different veggie Phở bowls, I’d rate this as a solid 3. It’s good and I can recommend it and I would have it again.
Service: One waitress and one cook. Food comes out fairly quickly. Seemed to work well.
Parking: Lots of free parking in the shopping center lot. There are two levels of parking.
Three stars means «A-​OK». This is the rating based on comparing it to other many Oahu Phở shops. Clearly a much nicer than average place. But, I’d rather have great flavor and taste. Phở 27 is 4 to 5 Stars in décor. 3 Stars for the food that I tried. This place is worth a try.