Chinatown Express

Don’t do it, it’s a trap.
I had asked about one of the dishes and I could barely understand the woman through her accent. Instead I decided to go by the photo of the menu behind her. That too was a terrible choice. I had some soupy, noodley, porky, type dish (listed in photo). And quite frankly, it was terrible. The broth of soup had zero to no flavor, it was almost like water. The noodles were just that with slivers of lettuce tucked into it. And the pork, despite sitting in the watery soup was dry, dry, dry.
It was so bad that after bite one I debated on just throwing it all out and getting something I knew to be reliable. Instead with a guilty conscience, thinking of the unfortunate who did not have food nor money, I decided to finish it. It was not good. And still very much left me unsatisfied.

Don’t do it — the only thing decent …
–Garlic Choi sum
— Baked manapua (char siu)
— Roast pork. … its not great, decent
Stay away from all the starch … careful what time you buy (I’ve had a twangy batch 3pm before) Go white rice or Shanghai noodle is the safest …
Cash is king here
Don’t get suckered into the desserts here, junk … all around
I come here once in a great blue moon cuz literally the garlic choi sum is the only thing on the menu is gone right consistently

Bought 1 dozen rice cakes to bring interisland on Sunday afternoon and when my family tasted it that night, they said it tasted sour. Bought 3 pieces of rice cakes separately in a clear container. After opening the container, noticed there was a small, dead baby cockroach inside. Lost my appetite. Not coming back here again.

I thought this was gonna be like the Patty’s that I remember was located in the same spot, but I was disappointed. We got 3 choices the roast pork which was just ok, the skin wasn’t crunchy. Then we got the sweet and sour pork and orange chicken that tasted exactly the same and was mostly batter with bits of meat. The veggie fried rice was good. We also tried this taro mochi type thing which was not bad. With all the choices at Makai Market I regret not checking Unilocal first. Boo!

Cash only.
Basically this is tucked away in the corner of the Ala Moana food court. My grandma and aunt love their manapua (basically the Hawaiian word for Cha siu bao). I was craving some so we went and I felt my family just overhyped it all. It was just OK, but certainly cheap.
Oh but a nice surprise was their shui mai — it was gigantic! Lots of other dishes to try.
But given the competitiveness of the food court, I’m not sure you’d want to come here all the time.

They tried to charge me for things not served. Watch out… they are ripoff artist and talk stink about customers in cantonese

Of what I ordered, food wasn’t terribly bad, but I was expecting better. They were a little heavy on the seasoning and sauces. I was expecting more HK cafeteria quality than take-​out quality. Food is passable, depending on how hungry you are. Lots of stuff to choose from, though. From dumplings, to entrees, to prepared sweets.
They have a couple register areas, which I found confusing. Wasn’t sure whether it was different mini shops within that main area, or if they just designed it that way to separate the sections?
Staff is on the lower end of so-​so. Not very professional, very chatty with each other while customers are waiting for their attention. After paying, the lady actually told us to come back an hour later because it’s half price after 8PM. She said it like she was doing us a favor, but who would buy dinner, fill up, then come back out again? She also told us to not save the leftovers and come back for breakfast, so that we could have it fresh. But didn’t she just tell us to come back and buy end-​of-​day leftovers so we could buy it at a bargain? What were we gonna do with all the food? I guess we looked like suckers.

This place is either a hit or a miss depending on which entrée you’re choosing. The entrees that I had tonight were awesome. I can never pass up sweet and sour spareribs. I love that sweet with vinegary taste. I would say that theirs is better than most. The second entrée I got was the shoyu chicken. It was decent. The meat was moist and full of flavor. It looked more like oyster chicken than shoyu chicken. They sauce was thick and dark. I got the chow fun as my starch. It was perfect tonight. It was moist and wasn’t bland. Other times, when I had got it from here, it was dry.
They had a sign that said that if you purchase a 2 or 3 item plate, you get a free dessert. The cashier must have forgotten because I had to ask for it. It’s either that she forgot or they ran out. She gave me a fried shrimp nori roll, like the kind you get at a dim sum place. It was wrapped in cling wrap. I would hardly call the nori roll a dessert. It was free so I didn’t complain. I thanked her and went about my way.

Thought I had found someplace that I could eat relatively gluten free by ordering shrimp foo yong with no sauce. They have made me this order several times and I have had no complaints.
Until today!
Ordered shrimp foo yong again but when we sat down and opened the plate it looked like a shrimp stir fry with maybe one measly egg scrambled in. Like they forgot the EGGS!
The husband went back to fix it and they gave him the biggest headache ever trying to convince him that’s how it always comes out.
They tried to tell him that we have to order egg foo yong with shrimp for it to come out looking correctly.
Really?!? What is the difference?!?
It’s not even like they forgot the eggs… there was some egg in it so they knew it was supposed to have eggs.
Well…we are done with them. No more Chinatown express ala moana.
I have no problems at windward mall location.
Only one star because I have to in order for this review to post.

Terrible manapua & pork hash. Pork hashmust have been sitting for a Long long time, it fell apart when i tried to pick it up. Shrimp dumpling even worse, wrapper separated from filling & shrimp smelled like the Ala wai canal. Do not eat here unless you want food poisoning.

This place is nasty bro. The device is super shitty & they take forever making your orders and getting them out! The iced coffee I had too tasted like ass! This place is a no for me I would never eat again. Plus all the food is leftovers

Watch out when you come here. 1^st time, I paid with a $ 50 bill, but she gave me change like I paid with a $ 10. And wasn’t overly apologetic when I corrected her.
Today, my husband paid for his dim sum and a bubble drink. You have to go to the other counter to pick up your bubble drink, and the guy tried to get him to pay over there… Again!
Beyond the shady accounting, the food isn’t great. The pork hash is decent. Manapua is all bread. Bubble drinks are gross. The blended coffee drink was watery.

Since each time there’s water baptism at New Hope Oahu, I figured that I would totally get manapuas to share with everyone. I really appreciate the promotional special that they have. I really like the deal where you buy a dozen manapuas and get a bag free. I’m very glad that I can at least pick up a dozen and be able to share it with everyone so that way they can enjoy the manapuas and have a good time eating. I really like this promotional offer at this restaurant and it is a good deal to offer so that I can get the free bag and enjoy the manapuas. I am very glad that this offer was still there and I remember the last deal that they had was buy 5 and get one free and I wish they can do it again and be able to get at least half of the manapuas so there will not be left overs. Thanks for having this deal

Plenty noodle and rice selections which is great. Temperature of food should be hotter for the plate to be more appetizing.
I like how they offer the side for dim sum options, but prices seem higher than other Chinese place I’ve been to. I recognized they offer guava/​strawberry & ube malasadas which is a good sweet addition. The malasadas were much better than Leonards bakery but not comparable to Kamehameha bakery which is the ultimate best!!!

I will never eat here again. I got a free malasada with my lunch, there was a roach baked into it. Enough said!

Before this place came in it was PATTI’S CHINESE KITCHEN here. Now it’s Chinatown Express. The foods ok. They don’t give as much as Patties use to. It was overflowing back than! They have free dessert with 2 or 3 choice meal :(:(it’s 1 Poi donut from Kam bakery wrapped in plastic wrap! Probably sitting there all day! with all the desserts around that place I thought for sure I would get one of those. NOT! ok, & not to mention the service… IT STINKS! The Girls don’t smile, they don’t care what the hell you order. They just want you to move on. Friendly… IT don’t think so! I don’t like this place!!!

Decided to get a snack to share at the mall. We got the vegetable chow mien. The flavor was great plus we tried adding some mustard sauce to them and it’s better than I thought it would taste. The mustard really adds a nice layer of flavor. The texture of the noodles was perfect, not too chewy but not too soft. The lady working really filled up that small container and she was really nice. It had a nice mix of carrots, cabbage, and green onion.
The almond cookies are really good too.

Never again!
–They have a yellow food placard
— I ordered minute chicken cake noodle and waited 15 minutes for it
— when it finally came out, it was wet soup noodles with barely cooked chicken on top!
I didn’t want to chance getting food poisoning and had to throw it away!
Wasted 15 minutes and $ 9.50!
Don’t eat here, don’t let the prices fool you! It’s not worth getting sick over!

We usually get our Chinese food from chinatown, but sometimes it isn’t always convenient to go there because of parking, time of day, etc. Since Chinatown Express is in the Makai Market food court (Ala Moana shopping center), it makes it a pretty convenient place to get your Chinese food fix.
Their menu and offerings are pretty diverse. You can get a quick snack (manapua, dim sum), or dessert (tea cookie, almond cookie, tapioca), or plate lunch or, like we did today, a couple dishes/​entrees (roast duck, chow fun, etc.) for a birthday lunch.
Prices and flavors are OK.

I keep getting tricked by this place’s end-​of-​the-​night prices! 50% off everything! With the outrageous prices at the food court these days, I am always drawn to this place with the hopes I can keep my mediocre meals at a reasonable price.
The workers are fast-​talking and always in a rush. I want to say it’s «Chinese-​style,» so I honestly don’t mind the poor service. Be prepared for their fast pace and their open frustration if you don’t pull out your wallet fast enough at the register.
The first time I went, I ordered har gao and it was super mushy inside. The shrimp inside was partially pasty. Very, very gross.
The second time I went, there was this weird blue netting in my shumai. Perhaps hair netting or netting from whatever was used to hold vegetables? I was so disgusted that I threw my meal out.
The third time, there was this nasty yellow goo on my jiaozi and their rice cake had a super sour taste to it. Again, another meal wasted.
I don’t know why I keep forgetting that this place is horrible and that cheap food isn’t cheap at all if you end up throwing most of it away anyway. I think they may be a prime candidate for a DOH inspection, though. Unilocalers steer clear!