Maple Garden

This Chinese restaurant is good. There’s not many people, so it’s pretty quiet. I’d recommend either the Hong Kong style crispy noodles with seafood (which is what my family usually orders), the salt and pepper fish (it’s crispy and amazing), and the broccoli and beef (Chinese broccoli of course). The wait time for food is fast, and the waiters are great friendly people. I would definitely come back again.

Five stars. Excellent food and service.
Good deal. Lunch or dinner buffet.
Lots of food for reasonable price.
Buffet includes cup of hot sour soup.
Or can order off menu.
Recommend: fried chicken wings, steamed fish filet, ginger chicken, salt pepper shrimp
Above items are on buffet.
Owner Richard is very nice, friendly and hard working.
Look for discount coupon in newspaper. 10%
Better to come early. Limited parking.
Small parking lot. Street parking or first hawaiian bank
Been coming here for years.

My friend told me about there being a buffet here and I remember Maple Garden as being good previously in the 1996 – 2002 time period because during that time the manager where I worked would buy us lunch once or twice a month and he would come here a lot… there was this chicken that was unique because it was like little drumsticks with the bottom part of the meat on the bone cut away or pushed up or whatever was done so the bottom inch or so of the bone was bare… whatever that was called was really good… so I was hoping that was going to be there, but it wasn’t…the fried chicken pieces they did have was good especially when it was hot. I did try that honey ribs or whatever it was called… but it was very hard to chew… dry or overcooked or whatever… had to spit it out… so when I paid I mentioned it to the owner/cashier/manager…whoever he was and he said it was because of the sugar, when it sits it gets hard… so he said they try to make a very little at a time and you need to eat it right away or else it will get hard… not sure if I buy that explanation… I just know some reviews said that dish was good, but the day we went I couldn’t eat it… but there were a few choices that was decent.

Food here is very good. I tried the braised fried tofu with eggplant. I would rate it a solid A to A-​. Texture of eggplant is firm but soft once you bite into it. Tofu is not greasy or tough. Perfect soft texture that requires little chewing. I tried to cook eggplant myself but could never get it right. But here they have. I did not rate it a perfect A+ because the brown sauce is a little bit too sweet for me but still excellent.

The day after (2÷23÷2016) the bok choy disaster and having washed my dress, there are remaining stains. Lesson-​Chinese food doesn’t come out. I’ll be returning to the restaurant to address this.
— — — — — — —
Went to Maple Garden. After speaking with the working staff, I learned that the gal I spoke with calls the waiter Obama because he’s tall but she doesn’t know his real name. She asked if what I would like for them to do. «Obama» is part time and wasn’t working that night. This is what I proposed:
1) that «Obama» call me and take responsibility for what happened, and that he call me with a solution, not a «what you want me to do?» I loved this Ava Sky dress. Wore it special to the dinner. And, I understand that «Obama» could have been working here, his third job of the day, or stressing about school, or ill family, or bills, or had a bad day, and if you are in customer service you just don’t ignore the person you dumped food on. Man up.
2) that I speak to the manager who wasn’t there tonight.
I left my name and number.
— — — — — — — -
UPDATE:
The waiter did call me and apologized. He offered to clean my dress and pay for the bill and to compensate me if the dress is ruined, which would be determined after a cleaning. Good job.
I have not received a call from the manager yet. Maybe manager does not believe in representing his staff or he doesn’t know what happened. Auwe.

I had the pleasure of planning a xmas gift exchange dinner party here recently for our crew. I haven’t been here in forever so when our friend B suggested coming here, I was open to the idea. We got the back room (inside the restaurant) to ourselves. Dinner was great and we all had a good time. We had a 10 course dinner which was just perfect for us. Richard, the owner, was very gracious to accommodate my request to custom make our menu. Everyone enjoyed the food — even our most critical friend was pleasantly surprised with how good the food was! I’m already thinking of when we can have another party here. LOL Parking in the small lot is limited but there is also street parking and parking at FHB (be sure to tell them your stall number).

The food here was better than I thought that it would be. It was a little rough around the edges but still very good. I got here around 5:30pm to meet up with some Yeeps for a buffet dinner. We were seated at a table but no food was out yet. Slowly but surely, the entrees came out one by one to fill out the buffet line.
Some of the dishes I saw on the buffet line were, Chinese Chicken Salad, Cold Ginger Onion Chicken, Boneless Fried Chicken, Vegetable Chow Mein, Vegetarian Fried Rice, Black Bean Mussels, Vegetarian Chow Fun, Steamed Fish Fillet, Beef Broccoli, Salt & Pepper Shrimp, Kung Pao Chicken, Vegetarian Spring Roll, Deep Fried Won Ton, Tea Smoked Duck, Fried Chicken Wings, Hot Garlic Eggplant, Hot Bean Curd, Mixed Vegetable, Honey Sparerib, Jello, and Almond Tofu.
Obviously, I did not try everything, It was way too much food for me to try. I appreciate the great variety of dishes offered. Everything that I consumed was fresh. Here were the items that I had on my plate, from my favorite to least favorite.
— Fried Chicken Wings… I took one bite and I was in love. It was super crunchy on the outside and very moist on the inside. I have an affinity for all things crunchy.
— Cold Ginger Onion Chicken… The ginger onion oil blend was spot on and so tasty. It brought out the natural sweetness of the blanched chicken.
–Salt & Pepper Shrimp… Seafood is my all time favorite. I always hit that up first. The shrimp was seasoned nicely. However, a few of the shrimp were stuck to the shell.
–Honey Sparerib… It was a little on the tough side. The sweetness of the honey balanced out the saltiness of this entrée.
–Steamed Fish Fillet… It was smooth and tender. It didn’t really have taste except for the shoyu sauce that it was sitting in.
— Black Bean Mussels… The mussels were a decent size and flavored nicely with the black bean sauce.
–Vegetarian Spring Roll… The vegetables on the inside were sort of mushy and it was just an oily mess.
–Tea Smoked Duck… The biggest disappointment of the night. I love duck. It doesn’t matter if it’s Roasted, Peking, Broiled, Shoyu, Taro, etc. I saw the duck on the buffet line and couldn’t wait to try it. It turned out to be super dry and super salty. It wasn’t oily at all, which I guess is a good thing, but didn’t taste as good as roast duck.
I rounded out my meal with the Almond Tofu. I’m not a fan of Jello. The Almond Tofu was nice and firm. The chill from the tofu, along with the sweetness from the fruit cocktail, hit the spot. I just wished that they had chilled tapioca.

After reading my Unilocal buddies — Jo C., Terry H., Val D., Paul C., & Val Y., I was intrigued about going to Maple Garden, as it’s been like almost 20 years since I’ve eaten here last!
I remembered coming here in the mid to late 90’s, I could have swear this place did not have a buffet.
Back in the 90’s I remembered this place was serving a Northern Chinese fare (Hot/​Spicy Chinese food), and it was basically table service.
I guess a lot has changed in almost 20 years. The restaurant still looks the same, as the restaurant was clean & well kept. There is available parking in the private parking, but if it is crowded, you can also do the metered street parking, as there is a lot of available street parking.
For dinner the other night, we had a get together with a few Yeeps for a pre-​Thanksgiving get together. The buffet is what we ended to eating.
What can I say about the buffet?
Over all not bad the food! There was quite a large section of food items, unfortunately I did not get to sample all of the delicious items. I mostly stuck to the salads, & meat items.
That night I ate the Chinese chicken salad, duck, orange chicken, fried gau gee, honey glazed pork ribs (Noms!), mussels, fried chicken wings (Yay for fried chicken!), beef broccoli, & for dessert… of course the almond float.
My sweetie mostly stuck to the seafood items, and salad.
Overall, the food is pretty decent for a Chinese buffet. The food was quite tasty, and I must say the service was pretty attentive, as the waiter would quickly refill our tea when we had run out.
Will I be back if I’m craving for Chinese buffet food? I can I get a «Hell YES!»

Mussels and Fried Chicken and Prawns.. oh my!
For $ 17.95, a Chinese dinner buffet seems like a pretty good deal. When I saw the entrees, my heart was beating faster! Wow — steamed fish, cold ginger chicken, smoked tea duck with crispy skin, chow mein, mapo tofu, Hot and Sour Soup, kim chee, boneless chicken, fried rice, Chinese Chicken Salad, spring rolls, etc. So exciting!
Eleven of us gathered at Maple Garden on a Monday night. It was empty when we arrived at 5:30pm, opening time. In fact, the food was being placed in the warmers while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive. The television was on and kept certain people occupied with Monday Night Football.
The Honey Spare Ribs was the last to come out of the kitchen before we dug in. They were a bit hard and overdone as were the mussels. I understand that this is a buffet and food is made in bulk. The good things were the prawns (crunchy enough to eat the head, tail, and shells), the duck, the fish, and fried chicken wings. I also liked the kim chee, salad, jello and almond float. I didn’t try the Beef Broccoli because I was too full. I will get it next time!
Service was really good. Our water glasses and tea pot were constantly filled. Our used plates were taken away promptly. Extra napkins on the table came in handy. If you have a group of 20, you can use the private room. Parking in the lot was free. If it’s full, park at First Hawaiian Bank. I appreciated the air conditioning, convenient restroom, and appropriate decorations!
Our group had 10 percent off since some of us were HGEA members and showed our card. If you’d like this discount, ask one of us to go to dinner with you! I believe that the lunch buffet costs less, but doesn’t include duck. Not sure if the extra $ for duck is worth it, but oh — that smokey flavor and crispy skin… it was yummy!
Plus — the fried chicken wings! You’re welcome!

The owner is really nice and accommodating. This is one of the few Chinese restaurants my kids don’t mind going to since they are picky. Because our family is Chinese I think we’ve eaten at most restaurants on the island. Parking available at the restaurant or at the FHB parking lot down the road just tell the restaurant what stall you’re in.
They have a private room in the back for private parties and you can order ala Carte or get the buffet.
Our favorites are:
Chinamans hat which is good! It’s the dish that you slather on plum sauce first, roll it up like a burrito and grind! You can also order that vegetarian style without the pork.
String beans here is good but they do put pepper flakes in it so if you can’t rat spicy tell them no peppers.
Salt and pepper pork chops are good not to oily.
Fried chicken I know sounds weird to eat at chinese restaurant but I hot the buffet last night and they were tasty!
Honey spareribs are ono too and it’s part of the buffet.
They serve alcohol it’s a small selection of a few domestic and imported beer and a few types of wine but I’m happy to enjoy a drink when eating Chinese food.
The buffet is a good deal as they have a little of everything and it comes with jello and almond float for dessert which a hit with the kids! It also has seafood dishes like steamed fish, salt and pepper shrimp and black bean mussells.
I’ll continue to come here its small but the food is solid and they have parking.

The prices are cheap and they made our food pretty fast. We got take out. These are the dishes we tried:
Honey Walnut Shrimp
Pork with Bittermelon in a Black Bean Sauce
Kung Pao Chicken
Beef and Broccoli
Salt and Pepper Shrimp
the food was about $ 10 a plate. That is very reasonable. The Salt and Pepper Shrimp was made well. The Pork and Bittermelon was also pretty good. I would have liked more pork. I was not too impressed with the Honey Walnut Shrimp.
Overall the food is okay and is worth going if you are in the area.

The beef stew noodle is to die for. I ordered it very spicy once and whenever I order it they make it the same way. The owner remembers his customers and always greets me and asks me if I want the beef stew noodle with extra spice. The buffet is yummy and a great value.

It’s the first time I believe I’ve ever been here. I’m used to old school Chinese food in and around town. And really I don’t care to eat Chinese food.
Dar and I came here for a baby shower. We had the back room for a private party. Parking is somewhat limited and the AC was working overtime. Maybe it was because there quite a few of us.
The food was alright. I leaned that they were serving the exact same buffet up front. When I say exactly I mean exactly the same food in exactly the same layout. Even though red jello and almond pudding was in the same place.
Over all not that bad. Might try and bring the family to see how they like it. We were told they don’t use MSG. The teas was piping hot and the service was pretty good.
I understand it was a buffet but there was one elderly lady who couldn’t finish what was on her first plate. They wouldn’t give her a take out box.

Dear Maple Garden,
Again.
After watching a documentary on General Tso’s chicken, the husband and I set out to find some of this taste sensation we had never, uh, tasted.
It was strangely elusive. You are one of only a tiny handful of restaurants that offers it.
So on one fine Tuesday evening our family paid a visit, and even though your lot was jam packed there were only a few other tables of people. Do you have a mafia in the back? A secret room with mahjong and slot machines? Or twenty workers in the kitchen? That was a lot of cars. A little peculiar, but we parked at the bank and did not die by walking.
Anyhow.
We intended to just order from the menu as I had not enjoyed your lunch buffet four years ago, but after perusing the dinner buffet I HAD TO HAVE IT.
And lo and behold, it was awesome. Unlimited ginger chicken and sauce, sweet and tangy eggplant, crisp fried chicken, and a multitude of other delights PLUS my favorite almond tofu. I ate my dessert with my meal because I am an adult and I do what I want. So good. Completely worth the price. The price that I would quote here but I don’t remember what it was. I want to say $ 17 but that’s just a guess. Whatever it was, when I left I thought WORTH IT.
Your service was also excellent! Cheery waiters that joked around and answered our questions and made the evening quite happy indeed.
The only thing I did not like was the Hot and Sour soup as it tasted a bit like black pepper water, but not a big deal. I just ate more almond tofu instead because, in my world, that makes sense.
So thank you for a wonderful dinner! We will be back. I am glad we wandered in again.
Sincerely,
Angela

Decided to go to Maple Garden with the assumption they offered a buffet style dinner. My wife and I arrived around 4 pm. The placed looked closed, no one inside as we stood in the entry way for about 5 minutes before someone walked out from behind. We almost turned away but I am so glad we didn’t. Although the buffet wasn’t ready yet, we ordered our food from the menu, it came out really fast and super hot. Service was great, and food was awesome. I definitely recommend this place to anyone staying in the Waikiki area and craving for Chinese food.

I’ve been to both restaurants of Maple Garden and Yen King when they were separate businesses. Each establishment was unique in their food and I’ll admit the food was tasty. However, this was my first time to come here since they «merged» together.
I came here for dinner just last night with some club members. It was our first time to choose this place — — actually I was the one who suggested and pressured our club to come here. With the repeated hesitation of one of the board members I still strongly suggested this venue and with consensus, I’m glad we did so.
When we dined here the place was PACKED so I strongly suggest you to make reservations. There is a private dining room and a small bar for you to order drinks. TSING TAO beer sure really hits the spot when chowing down on Chinese food!
We opted for their dinner buffet and they had a decent selection. Here is what I sampled:
Hot and Sour Soup (³⁄₅)
It was made in bulk and flavor was okay with a semi-​generic taste. Didn’t have much substance (bamboo shoots, black fungus, pork, green onions and tofu) in the soup.
Cold Ginger Chicken (⁵⁄₅)
They used a WHOLE chicken and chopped it up. I personally prefer the white meat so I was a happy camper. The green onion & ginger sauce was vibrant green and very flavorful.
Sweet and Sour Spareribs (²⁄₅)
It looked very good but flavor-​wise, fell flat. It tasted like boiled spareribs with a light glaze of sauce on it. I don’t like to waste food but I didn’t finish what I took.
Mussels with Black Bean Sauce (³⁄₅)
I initially skipped this but when several dining mates commented how good it was I tried a couple. It was okay but nothing to write home about. I can make better black bean sauce.
Fried Chicken Wings (⁵⁄₅)
I now know why Unilocalers raved about this. It was executed very well. Not greasy and utilized plump chicken wings. Seasoning may have been on the light side but glad it wasn’t doused with salt.
Stir-​Fried Eggplant (¹⁄₅)
Probably the worst dish of the evening. It had no flavor and texture was firm for cooked eggplant. Using dark soy sauce for coloring is great but very deceiving as you expect to have flavor!
Pepper-​Salt Shrimp (⁵⁄₅)
The best dish of the night. Many members RAVED about the shrimp and although some complained about not wanting to peel the shells, they were soft so you could eat them. Deep-​fried until perfection with great seasoning.
Honey Spareribs (⁴⁄₅)
Many Unilocalers also raved about this dish and it was good but maybe a little too hard. It sure wasn’t tender but more like Chinese-​style baked BBQ pork ribs. Perhaps too chewy for me.
Steamed Fish Fillet (⁵⁄₅)
It was cooked until perfection. Very soft and seasoned right. Sometimes if it’s overpowering you lose the taste of the fish. Would have been better had the fish fillets topped with julienne green onion, ginger and Chinese parsley.
The buffet line also offered Chinese chicken salad, fried noodles, chow fun, stir-​fried veggies, beef broccoli, crispy gau gee, spring rolls and white rice but I passed on them. For complimentary dessert in the buffet line had strawberry jello and almond float with fruit cocktail. They were okay, tasted very generic.
Service was very good. Servers were very attentive in taking our drink and food orders. I also witnessed the staff monitor the buffet line to see which entrees needed replacement.
Do NOT expect anything from décor. The place seemed dingy and could sure use a facelift.
They have their own private parking lot but because this place is rocking, street parking and parking at First Hawaiian Bank after hours are other options.
Overall, a great value for a dinner buffet. Definitely worth coming back to again.

This place gets some mixed reviews. We checked it out for the first time the other night becasue I wanted some Chinese food. The place was pretty slow, so we got seated immediately. Parking would be a little rough if they were busy, but there were a couple of spots open so we got lucky.
Both my girlfriend and I decided to go with the buffet so we could try all kinds of stuff. One of the things I noted in some comments was that the buffet seemed low on stuff, then I noticed they would add a little more every time it ran out, which kept the food fresh. When I went up, they had run out of beef broccoli, the guy asked if I wanted some, I said yes, he made a fresh batch and brought it to my table then added some to the pan on the buffet. That is WAY better than mushy brown broccoli.
Overall the food was ok. I would give the place a 3 on food alone, but the service was great and they deserve a bump for that. I would def go back.

This was a great restaurant to eat at. I am going to say that I have tried most of the food items as well as other items. I have to say that when I walked into the establishment, I was wondering how the food was to my liking and it actually turned out to be not bad and for the food was portion sized and I have to admit that I was very full from trying the their version of the Crispy Won Ton and it’s pretty good and I am glad to see what kinds of other good food selections that they had, which was the boneless fried chicken, steamed jasmine rice as well as the beef broccoli and the honey spare ribs, which tasted like char siu meat. I am glad I got to see the private room area, which was a little small but it was good for the other things like magic shows and parties. I am going to return to this establishment for another get together again soon

Five stars for their crack fried chicken! I was a non believer. But… I’ve repented and next time I have a few bucks to spare I’m gonna get a tattoo of a chicken wing from Maple Garden on my… wherever.
Or maybe I should just spend it on fried chicken! Ha!
But I digress. If you haven’t had the fried chicken, too bad. I’ve put a boundary curse on the place so that only those who have gone before can go there. Just kidding.
Yes, if you like crispy, juicy wings and drummettes, this is the place. Seasoned just right, a bit on the pricey side but it will make your eyes roll back into your head.
And you know us locals… we love those smaller dark meat pieces that we have to gnaw on to get every last morsel. And if you get this stuff from Maple Garden, work you will!

We had an early Father’s Day dinner here last night for 10 adults and 6 children. We easily fit inside one of their private rooms. It was nice that there was one main table and two smaller ones so the kids had their own table to play and eat.
We worked with the restaurant and came up with our own 9 course meal so that there was something for everyone. We started with their famous fried chicken. It was super crispy and very delicious. Perfect for kids and those that are not into hard core Chinese food. We also had crab, roast duck with buns, shrimp, mu shu pork, fish and tofu in ginger sauce, Chinese broccoli, beef chow mein, sweet and sour spare ribs and for dessert, black sesame mochi balls in ginger soup.
My daughter doesn’t like many vegetables so to enable her we make special requests like asking the cook to make an order of fried rice with no veggies, just rice and egg. Maple Garden was great and accommodated this lame request. But the veggieless fried rice turned out really good!
They have their own parking lot and service was great. Will definitely be back when the mood hits for authentic Chinese food.