Kim Chee III

I called my food in, and they usually got it done in 15 or so minutes. The service here is fast and polite. Lots of food (really good portions), so that’s more bang for your buck. Bbq chicken is good for filling your belly. Meat jun tastes okay. The amount of rice is good for me, but for a local dude they might want more rice. Make sure your Kim kook Soo is spicy, other wise there is no taste. Food here is a bit more on the salty side. Eat up peeps!

I was really hoping this would be my new fav Korean BBQ plate lunch place in town… However, disappointingly it’s not! This place had great Unilocal reviews… Which really got my hopes up, and sadly my dining experience was a disappointment. The food was definitely below average. I got the 2 choice combo, mandoo and meat jun plate. The food was definitely fried in old and overly used up oil… the food looked burned and extremely oily. On the bright side, I did admire that their mandoo was homemade and not frozen. I probably will not go back and will just stick with my all time favorite Korean BBQ, Soon’s in Salt Lake.

First time here and not the last. They have the best meat jun I have ever tasted, and the portions are big! The chicken katsu was good too… Nice small place and very friendly staff.

Huge portions, cheap, meat paradise!

Came for a late lunch around 1:45. Small (seating for about 12 – 15) but clean. Ordered meat Jun plate for $ 11.90. Very generous portion and excellent flavor. Ono!

So this place is amazing, why? First off, it is run by a sweet little family. If youre familiar with korean restaurants, you will understand why good customer service goes a long way… There is no language barrier with Monika, who happens to also be a super friendly and positive woman and her sweet moms cooking is just amazing; great team!!! I would eat at this restaurant every night if I could… They are really good about accommodating my requests for vegan meals with no msg!!! I highly recommend trying their seaweed soup with brown rice, vegan style… Huge portions and great prices; thank you umma for being like a second mom to me while Im craving korean food and veggies!!!

Great customer service. Super welcoming family environment. The Kim chee was perfectly fermented as not to lose its crunch. Then, I get this HUGE plate of delicious food for like $ 11.00! I will warn you, they mean it when they say spicy!

Be prepared for a lot of food. While I had better Kim chee and vegetables, the sauce for the meat jun was the best I’ve I’ve ever tasted. All the meats were delicious. Enough food for lunch to take home for dinner.

A small hole in the wall kind of place that you might easily dismiss, but it could become your go to place for delicious Korean food in East Honolulu if you take a chance and give it a shot. The place is run by a nice family who take care of their customers. It’s small and not fancy, but its clean and the prices are reasonable. Parking can be tricky as the parking lot in the back fills up fast and the metered stalls on King St. disappear quickly with all the activity in the park. So here’s what everybody wants to know… is the food any good? Forget about it! Unbelievable would be a huge understatement! The food, sauces, and radish are incredible! You won’t be disappointed, trust me.

We haven’t been here in years. Wanted to get some Korean food and tried something out of our norm. Had BBQ chicken, meat jun, bul go gi, and chicken katsu. BBQ chicken and bul go gi had a bit of over powering char taste not much taste to the meat, guess we are the type that may not care for that strong char taste… the chicken katsu and meat jun was good. Kim Chee was the known place before wonder if they changed the recipe for their meats? A bit disappointed. Portions are generous and it seems the battered items were much more tasty for sure.

Korean BBQ for a week! I’m not sick of it yet. My friends and I had no clue where we should eat. I suddenly thought of this place because I always pass by here to go to work. When we got there around 8ish it was getting busy. But we got a table for 4. Yay!
Looked at the menu and was craving tonkatsu again. So I ordered a 3 meat combo: tonkatsu, bbq pork and fish katsu. It came with a bowl of brown rice, bean sprouts and cabbage under the meat and side of kimchee veggies. Dang the portions were big. I shared it with my bf and we were soo full. The food was pretty good. I keep forgetting that Korean and Japanese style tonaktsu is different. I prefer the Japanese Tonkatsu. The fish jun was good. The bbq pork was kind of oily and fatty.
It’s a great places for cheap eats. Big portion and good pricing for food. Quality ain’t too bad. It’s a plus for me when they get brown rice!!! YAYYY! The owner is very nice too.

I’ll make this short and sweet. MEAT JUN IS THE BEST! Really soft and moist.
As far as food this place is really good. The only thing really is that its really small and theres not alot of seating. But by being so small is were the quality of the food really shines through.

REVIEW OF PREVIOUS DINING EXPERIENCE, LUNCH NOVEMBER 3^rd, 2015:
Price/​Value **** (Four Stars)
–I paid roughly $ 15 for a three-​choice combination plate; this included rice, three selections of banchan, BBQ Chicken, Chicken Katsu, and Meat Jun. The portions were good-​sized, but I just wish there was more rice in the plate.
Staff ***** (Five Stars)
–The cashier that took my order was very polite, patient, and pleasant. She did not rush me while I looked over the menu to decide what I wanted to eat for lunch. She confirmed my order before sending it back to the kitchen, and advised me that the wait would be about 10 to 15 minutes for the food.
Food Quality ** (Two Stars)
–As I mentioned in the Price/​Value section of this review, the amount of rice included in my plate lunch was nowhere near substantial. In addition to this, the BBQ chicken was decidedly salty; perhaps the kitchen staff had brined the chicken thighs, seasoned with salt, then grilled the meat. The meat jun was very tasty, moist, tender, and well seasoned and came with a very nice accompanying sauce for dipping. The chicken katsu was on the overdone side, though the meat was still juicy; the surrounding crust was a dark brown, with tiny bits of burnt black particles speckling the chicken. This was unappealing and left a bitter taste in my mouth as well. This could have been given some leeway, had I been provided with katsu sauce to mask the burnt taste. Whether or not the dish is usually served with katsu sauce ordinarily, it would have been a welcome accompaniment to my meal.
Overall *** (Three Stars)
–Although I was disappointed with the food, the staff was very welcoming and pleasant. I will likely return to try different items and update this review.

Kimchee III located next to stadium park, across of Ross and on king street! The only reason why I minus a star is because parking. I want to point out that parking is hard to find here. The first time I came we couldn’t park on king street, the cop came up to us and told us why (I forget) but they do have a small parking in the back which is always crowded as well, if not I hope your down for a walk lol. They are very nice, they gave us free water while we waiting for take out (it was slow). And talked story.
Food: We are SUPER obsessed with the Chicken katsu here. We’ve been regulars for a long time, since high school days where he’d only order chicken katsu and rice on the side lol! The lady still remembers him which is cool because she knows his order and it’s always the same.
The chicken katsu is fresh, Crispy and the breading taste so Ono words can’t explain. The sauce! Oh my don’t get me started, I’ve never tasted katsu sauce better.
I decided to get the spicy chicken, this was my first time getting that, and I was not disappointed! It was very tasty! And super spicy lol! I’m used to getting Korean spicy bbq chicken, but it’s always a bulgogi type, where its sweet spicy, but not super spicy. Still good though.

I’m lazy. I like the meat jun at Yummy. The Kaheka Yummy is only slightly further away from my house than Kim Chee III, but I didn’t feel like going the extra ½ mile.
Nice small place and I received a friendly greeting. Not always the case at Korean places. There was a little small talk and they seemed to recognize I was a new face at their restaurant. Nice of them to notice. My order for a meat jun plate to go took less than ten minutes to fill.
I got home and thought they had made a error with my order because there was chicken katsu on the top. I realized it was a small piece they had put on extra to be nice. The meat jun was enormous. Also, the rice was good and had obviously been made recently. Too many plate lunch places make rice in the morning and let leave it in the warming rice cooker all day.
So why only three stars? The meat jun was oily compared with Yummy. While the sauce was great, the meat jun wasn’t significantly tasting than Gina’s or Mama Woos. The vegetable and kim chee portions were smaller than Mama Woos, Gina’s or Yummy. For me, that is half the fun of Korean BBQ.
This is a meat eaters Korean place with more meat that Mama Woos or Yummy. A good value if that is what you want. I’ll be back to try other things on the menu but the next time I want meat jun, I’ll take a few extra minutes to go to Kaheka.

Food was bad.
Waitress was nice.

I ordered a small pan of BBQ meat for a recent party that I attended. The small pan is $ 42.00 it was good quality meat and very good. Lots of people inquired where I got it from. Parking was on the street right in front of the restaurant. The lady at the front was really nice and friendly. I’ve been going to this place for years they have really good Korean food and I’ll be back!

After hearing about how great the meat juhn was here, had to go check it out. Had the mini meat juhn plate and mandoo soup.
The meat juhn was a bit on the greasy side for my taste. The meat was okay quality and slightly marinated but the true rock star was the dipping sauce.
As for the mandoo soup, they put some pieces of grilled beef in there which gave the soup a smoky quality that I didn’t care for. The mandoo themselves were pretty decent.
Oh and the 2 complimentary banchan (side dishes) were horrible. The dried garlic stems were not fresh and the cabbage kimchee was so bad I had to spit it out.
Not worth a visit back for me.

I really don’t know why there aren’t too many reviews, this place is so good! It is pretty pricey and small portions, but if you family style it-you’ll get a great a variety of everything. Between 5 people, we ordered the kalbi, meat jun and bbq beef. The kalbi was so sweet and marinated to perfect but for 4 pieces its around $ 30 so a little pricey. The meat jun was perfect! and bbq beef was super flavorful. They have 3 locations so you don’t have to travel too far. but the meats are soooo good, will probably go back just for that :)

Per husband’s birthday request.
Which is his favs: Meat Jun!
It’s off to Kim Chee we go!
Actually walked, (only 5 mins away)
I got 2 lunch special.
Meat jun & BBQ chicken. (one make it spicy for 1.00 more)
I’m just amazed by such huge portions!
3 piece of chicken! Wow!
We enjoyed our dinner + we had lots of leftover.
My hubby said, he can’t wait for tomorrow to eat the rest.
FYI: they close @ 8:30 pm, not 8:00.
A perfect way to start the weekend!

My family has been going to Kim Chee III for the last 30+ years! It used to be located across McKinley High School. This restaurant has always offered high quality dishes, much better than the fast food Korean plate lunch places (i.e., Peppas, Yummys).
The Galbi Plate is ~$ 28, and it comes with 3 – 4 large pieces of the hand-​sliced kalbi ribs and bone. Yes, it is a bit more expensive, but you get the premium cut of kalbi ribs instead of the LA style kalbi (the strip of ribs with three bones). The dish comes with rice, panchan (Kimchee, turnip kimchee, bean sprouts, marinated seaweed). This used to be my favorite dish, but the marinade was a bit salty. Perhaps it was an off day of marinade? Grade: B
BBQ Combination Plate: ~$ 16 gets you one piece of quality kalbi, a piece of bulgo gi (very thick sliced meat), and two pieces of chicken thighs. Served with white or brown rice and the panchans. Grade: B+
Mini Galbi Plate is $ 18. You get two large pieces of the hand-​sliced kalbi ribs and bone. Served with rice and panchan. Grade: B
I give extra kudos to the husband and wife owners who run and manage this place. They work really hard to provide a good dining experience. I thought it was cute that the lady who owned the restaurant closed the front door because she noticed that my mother was cold. That is great customer service.
I noticed that many customers were return customers who the owners knew by name. They have quite a following!
Food Grade: B
Service Grade: B+
Worth the Money Grade: B
Overall Impression Grade: B

I was craving some meat today, as I was planning a hard session at the gym tonight.
When I met up with my friend today, I told him — «Yo, I gotta have me some MEAT! Lots of it too!»
So off we went to one of my favorite Korean hole in the wall places — Kim Chee III.
I’ve been coming to this place for years… even when they use to be across the street from the McKinley High School area (now it has become a Longs Drug Store).
Well today, my bad experience about eating here is not about the food… but about the service!!!
This new location is very small, in fact, I wanna say this new location is only a fraction of the size of the original restaurant.
Well, as I had placed my order for some Meat Jun, I told the lady that I wanted my order with brown rice. When I got my order… it came with white rice.
You know, everyone makes mistakes… but when a person makes a mistake, they should at least acknowledge it, then correct it.
But what really stunned me was the way she address the problem.
When I had politely pointed out that they made a mistake on my order, the lady told me -«It’s there already… too late!» And I’m thinking «WTH???»
So I ended up just eating my meat & vegetables… only after I had consumed all my meat & vegetables… another lady came out of the kitchen to offer me the brown rice. But I told her I had finished eating already, so there is no point in offering my brown rice now. Gurrrrrrrr! Lol!
Oh, well… I will still come back here, because I really like their BBQ meats… and will probably tolerate the bad service, but don’t expect a good tip from me! Lol!

Almost a year later after their previous location closed, our meat jun cravings have FINALLY been satisfied. The meat jun Gods have answered our prayers. *Amen*
We were beyond thrilled when we found out that our most favorite meat jun restaurant reopened and only a few blocks away. The owners didn’t intend on reopening, but after semi-​retiring for 6 months, they got bored and wanted to open a smaller location. Thank goodness for boredom!
Their meat jun is our family’s favorite. You can’t go wrong with a ginormous serving of meat breaded ever so beautifully and light. Outstanding flavor and the most ridiculously delish meat jun sauce. The perfect marriage of meat and dipping sauce. The plate size is larger than a basketball which majority of it is meat jun taking over the plate. no joke and only $ 10.90. Soooo good! Share if you dare.
There’s a small parking lot in back, street parking in front or if that’s all taken, park at Ross across the street for a fast one.
Welcome back Kimchee III ~ we missed you! Our bellies did too!