Kirin Restaurant

Worst Chinese restaurant ever! Service was bad. We waited at least a half hour to place our order. In fact we had to wave a server down to take our order. Food came in a timely manner. Food was ok. We asked for containers to take our leftovers home. Servers weren’t friendly or polite. Definitely not a place I’ll recommend or return to.

Came here again for dim sum and it was delicious and so filling!!! One of my fave items was the shrimp dumplings (Har gow). It was super hot and fresh and the skin wasn’t dry/​thick like I’ve had at another dim sum restaurant on this island. Something that we tried that I hadn’t had before is the deep fried bacon-​wrapped shrimp and scallops. It’s an appetizer priced by the piece ($ 4.50)…a bit pricey but it was really amazing. Unfortunately we ate it too quickly to get a pic but I would recommend that you at least try it.
We also ordered the peking duck which was also good. I did get a pic of this :)
Lastly, we got one order of the juicy pork dumplings (Xiao long bao). That was just ok. I would recommend just sticking with the regular dim sum items rather than the XLB as it’s not really a specialty here.
This place definitely ranks on my top dim sum places on the island. As I stated in my previous review it is a little more pricey than the China town restaurants but I like that this restaurant is cleaner and the service is pretty good. Also, the décor of the restaurant gives it a little more charm than a regular restaurant you’d go to in China town.

Kirin Restaurant is old school, classy Chinese food. The service is professional and polite, and they usually have some nice mood music playing. Their dim sum is great – especially anything with shrimp. In general, they have amazing seafood. One of our favorite dishes there is the pan fried noodles with shrimp and veggies. Many people come here for birthday celebrations and bring their own wine. This is a great restaurant suitable for many needs, like business or casual lunches, family dinners, or dates. They do take reservations and have a parking lot, but it can get cramped during the busiest hours, so have some common sense about it.
Kirin is one of my family’s favorite restaurants in our neighborhood. Even if it wasn’t in the neighborhood, the food quality, atmosphere of the restaurant, and service would make it worth driving for.

Food was excellent but the service was really lacking and disorganized. Sad because I really enjoyed the food.

This was a fine example of classic Chinese food. Simple yet so tasty I especially loved the walnut shrimp and Peking duck. The staff was very friendly and even said goodbyes as joy left the restaurant

Kirin was recommended to us by a local, and it was great.
I always know I’m in for good Chinese food when I see all the tables filled with diners who are also Chinese. I brought my dad who came to visit for his birthday. We are biased to New York Chinese, and we thoroughly enjoyed Kirin! I would definitely return.
Honey walnut shrimp was the favorite at the table. The pan fried thin noodles were also great. I loved the crispy ends. Spring rolls were great. I want to come back for lunch for dim sum.
The vibe in here is like old school. We got a highchair for my son and it was cushioned with a metal tray attachment. He loved it so much he cried when we took him out! Friendly, smiling service, and full bellies.
Kirin!

Best authentic Chinese restaurant in town in my opinion. Was packed on Sunday night that we were there. Food is more HK style… Can’t miss if you are Chinese like myself and want some home cooking.

It’s been quite some time since we’ve come here. I was craving for some calamari and Kirin always made the best salt & pepper calamari… so here we were. As expected, they did not disappoint. On top of being flavorful, their calamari is really soft and tender. We arrived pretty late and noticed that they had a late night specials menu (offered after 9pm). We ordered a few things off of that menu, including Spiced Shoyu Duck, Spiced Shoyu Pork Intestines, Shanghai Stir-​fried Rice Cake, and Stir-​fried Shredded Beef w/​Jellyfish. The duck was overcooked and kinda rough. The intestines were okay, but portions were tiny. The rice cake was nothing special. Many other places that offer it make it better. The beef w/​jellyfish was decent, but is kinda on the bland side. Service was a kinda lacking also. We needed to keep waving the servers down to get help. We usually have better experiences here at Kirin. Will I come back? Probably. We still think their salt & pepper calamari is da bomb, and we still plan to try out a few more things on their late night menu.

Best authentic Chinese food in Hawaii. You won’t go to any other Chinese restaurant after eating at Kirin. Service is fast and staff is friendly. Prices are a bit on the high side but it is worth it. A great place to go if you want a relaxing late dinner. Definitely stop by for dim sum! It will be worth your time.

The best Chinese I’ve had in Honolulu. Great seafood dishes including lobster and the honey walnut shrimp is impeccable. The décor and service was also very solid. I haven’t been to many Chinese restaurants in Hawaii but on absolute scale, this place was rock solid.

The food taste good but the portion is really small. And the price is higher than the other Chinese restaurant. This was my first time here and last time.

Disappointed. The best was the pork stuffed egg plant and the sauce on the crab was good. I found most of the dishes not that tasty and the rice was mushy. I must grant that the food was not over cooked. Also very noisy the night I was there.

I’ve been to almost all Chinese restaurants in Honolulu, and I’d have to say this one is my favorite. It’s a little bit on the higher end, I only know of a few more expensive Chinese restaurants on the Island. Here’s what I like about the restaurant:
1) The food is great. One of the dishes was a little salty, but my friends didn’t think so. I’m a little more sensitive to salt than others.
2) The service here is great, the waitresses are very nice. I read some reviews saying that the service was rude, which may be, but not the ones that served me.
3) The restaurant is clean. Im a germaphobe, and I can’t stand chinese restaurants that are dirty. This is not an issue here.

Definitely recommend this place when your going out to eat with a large party that way you can enjoy their assortment of good food. Very popular place for Japanese tourists as well and some of the servers can speak japanese. One thing I noticed is that they’re really great sales people so make sure you don’t let them control what you want to eat. Service is great but they’re great at persuading you to order more. Definitely a place worth trying. Love everything here

Came here tonight for my birthday as I wanted some Chinese seafood; never been here before but Chinese speaking co-​workers have been suggesting this place for some time now (for special occasions) so thought it the perfect time to do it. Now the place isn’t the best looking of establishments, it’s not the belle of the ball compared to let’s say how Jade Dynasty at the mall looks, however, Kirin is outstanding in their food and service. Like others have said, Kirin’s service mimics those of high end Chinese Restaurants I’ve been to in CA, Philippines and Hong Kong. They are the first restaurant in HI that I’ve experienced this with. What makes it different? When you’re ordering crab you wet towels and hot tea finger bowls and they change out your plates… or at least give you that opportunity to. I was at a super high end Chinese restaurant in the Philippines and we had a server in between almost all of us at a table of 20 and even if we put a smear of soy sauce on the plate, the server immediately changed it out with a clean plate… with of course sterling silver everything, hot towels, individual ginger ale and martinelli’s glass liter bottles. So I do appreciate Kirin’s attempt at this service. Here’s what we ordered:
–Dungeness Crab Taishan style: really fresh crab and the sauce was a bit of meal in itself as you could put it over rice and be done with it! I think I’ll try the more «dry» crab next time as this is very saucy… very good tho!
–Steamed Uhu: Very good, extremely fresh; not too salty and just enough flavor to keep you wanting to take another bite and spoon the sauce all over.
–Pan Fried House Style noodles: I am a «hong kong style» or as they say in the islands, «pan fried» noodle connoisseur and I really enjoyed their preparation of this dish. My picky son ate majority of this dish, actually he hogs up all the crispy portions.
–Peking Duck with pancake: YUM! Had to be my favorite, I think they roast it then fry their duck because all of it was that type crispy. Again, my son who has tried peking duck at many different chinese restaurants usually doesn’t like it (he’ll take one bite and pass) but lil’ man devoured it here. I really liked this dish here, it was a very mild but flavorful duck.
–Gai lan (chinese broccoli) stir fried in garlic: typical, not too flavored, actually I couldn’t taste any garlic. lol. Most chinese spots who prepare this you can see the garlic and taste it. This not so much, but it was very fresh and crunchy, which is nice. And they serve it with fried pork strips? That was different. Vegans beware!
Overall, Service was good when we first got there and it wasn’t that busy, however as it got busier, we started to be forgotten about. However they were quick when we needed something or flagged someone down. Funny story, so we’re waiting at any empty table for like 10 mins. Our food was packed up and there’s nothing happening. My husband supposedly was trying to be secret and asked the kitchen to do a birthday thing for me. but again, sitting there for a long while I’m saying, «can we get our bill and go?». My husband is trying to be slick and so when the waiter comes by he just says, «I think we were waiting for something.» The waiter straight up says, «Oh you all waiting for the birthday dessert right? I’ll get it…» That was birthday surprise fail. lol. The good thing about it is that they just stick a candle into whatever you ask for and they don’t sing to you.
I would definitely come back to try some other things here and just stick with the seafood as it seems that’s what they do best. Why waste your time on lemon chicken here ya know?

Great Dim-​Sum and very enjoyable…

I came to kirin few times now and their food flavor consistence. they are good food. i like to eat from here because they have dim sum and regular food at same time. they don’t walk with the cart like other location do and they make it when you order it.
Some of the dim sum items take a while and it comes out when you finish eating because they steam it fresh.
i like this place but it does get little pricey compare to other Chinese restaurant.
i only come here when my friends want to come. i like big portion when it comes to chinese food.

Went here recently for a private party, in their enclosed private room, and I must say that «Yay! I’m a fan.»
Their corkage fee is extremely reasonable at $ 2/​person. We went to town on some of the best wines (thanks to Mark Shishido, Wine Director at Alan Wong’s) and beers. This is definitely a plus!
FOOD:
We started off with a delicious and warming…
[[ «Supreme Broth,”]] that consisted of imitation shark fin, abalone, fish maw, dried scallop, crab meat, and Virginia Ham — very tasty way to start off our night, and off set the several glasses of wine that had been had.
[[ Peking Duck ]] — we had this as an appetizer, served on traditional Chinese bao buns with plum sauce and scallions. This was delicious, and the duck wasn’t too overwhelming or oily, but perfectly cooked, being tender and juicy.
[[ Cold Ginger Chicken ]] — a local favorite influenced by the Chinese. This was just as I expected, the nice cold boiled chicken, cut into pieces, served with a savory ginger-​garlic-​scallion sauce on the side. I’ve always enjoyed eating this, and Kirin didn’t disappoint.
[[ Fried Pork Ribs with Sweet & Sour Sauce ]] — one of the waitresses recommended this over the phone, and it was excellent. It was served hot, with a slight crisp on the exterior. The rich pork flavors were nicely contrasted by the tang in the sweet and sour sauce. Finger lickin’ good!
[[ Heart of Choi Sum with Premium Oyster Sauce ]] — nothing out of the ordinary, and served as expected. It was nice to have some kind of vegetable on the side though, I must say.
[[ Thin Rice Noodle, Singapore Style ]] — this was served with pork and shrimp in a curry powder base. This was my least favorite of the night, and judging by the to-​go box at the end, others seemed to share the same sentiment. It was too curried, and didn’t match the rest of our dishes rotating around the lazy susan. I think the curry overpowered the shrimp and bbq pork that was in the dish.
[[ Dungenness Crab ]] — the star of the night! This must be ordered ‘Taishan Style’ which comes with a special house sauce made up of the crab guts, black bean, minced pork, and egg. It’s a thick, stew-​like sauce that is poured over the crab, and honestly, I could eat the sauce straight out of the bowl — no accompaniments, and I’d still be happy! It goes great on top of rice, too.
Overall, the service is better than what you’d expect from a Chinese restaurant, but it’s still better not to go with high expectations.
Go for the food, go with a lot of friends, the more the merrier — and it’s easier to get a taste of each dish with a larger group.
I’m impressed at how the restaurant (over 50 years old) has maintained its food quality, and the bathroom is cleaner than most new restaurants I know! Definitely a plus.

This was a very good Chinese Dinner. We went here since my foodie friend Kim recommended the crab that was not on the menu. So, I was quite curious and wanted to try it.
We ordered the Salt and Pepper Crab with Coconut. This was a very unique dish. I never had or thought or pairing crab with coconut. And it worked. The Dungeness Crab was cooked perfectly. It was embedded with pieces of garlic, salt, black pepper, hot peppers, and coconut. This dish was divine.
Next we had Stuffed Eggplant in Black Bean sauce. The eggplant was stuffed with generous portions of shrimp. The black bean sauce was very flavorful and did not overpower the eggplant of the shrimp. This dish was a nice contrast to sweet and spicy flavors of the crab.
Finally, we had the Crispy Chicken with Special House Sauce. When you dip the crispy chicken into the house sauce, then dip it into hot chili sauce, the mix is great. It is salty, tart, and spicy. What more can I ask for?
Overall I really enjoyed this meal. I will go back again.

In honor of Chinese New Year, I’ll continue with what is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in town.
My family and I have been coming to Kirin for years. Memories of Chinaman’s Hat (a must order btw) will forever remind me of home. Embrace that medley of vegetables and pork, smeared with oyster sauce, wrapped in thin pancakes and rolled up like a Chinese burrito. MY FAVORITE! Kirin also makes the best string beans with minced pork (siguwei dao Idk the spelling sryyyy), one of my favorite Chinese dishes. You also can’t go wrong with any noodle dish here, as well as kau yook with taro (pork belly). Pretty much anything you order here will be decent, the only thing is that it can be a little pricey. You get what you pay for though!
What’s great is that you can indeed pre-​order & make special requests. I remember one time my grandma ordered a special soup made with fish maw (swim bladder) and it required 24 hours prep prior (Idk something about the soup having to simmer/​soak the melon until it becomes super soft???) but they executed it amazingly. The service here is probably the best I’ve ever received at a Chinese restaurant.
We have also celebrated special occasions here and it is nice to get a private room! Although… one time we had a really big party and instead of having a private room we had to take up the tables in the back.
Their dim sum is also excellent. If I recall correctly it’s not the standard order from the carts– you have to order off a menu instead, but at least you are guaranteed that it is fresh and hot.
Thank goodness they expanded their parking lot. It used to be just that small one in front and it was just chaotic as it was shared with the apartment next to the restaurant.
Happy year of the Snake especially to all my fellow snakes out there! ^_​_​^