Mitsu-Ken Okazu and Catering

Thank the garlic chicken gods for parking! This new location is so much better and easier to access. I will no longer feel discouraged to come to Mitsu-​Ken.
This little hole in the wall (literally — there is no seating) serves all your local favorites including amazing garlic chicken.
I love garlic. So so so much. And I love chicken. So garlic chicken is easily one of my most favorite foods on the planet.
When I think garlic chicken, I think of fried chicken with a garlicky glaze on top, and that’s exactly what’s going on here. The pieces are huge.
I ordered a garlic chicken bento this morning and could only eat 3 pieces of chicken and half a scoop of rice. Now I am ready to kanak. But at least I have lunch for later since the bento comes with 6 pieces!
My friends ordered the breakfast: deluxe combo, which has a little bit of everything and is amazing: 2 eggs your way, 3 piece garlic chicken, fried rice, 2 strip bacon, 3 piece Portuguese sausage. Certainly a breakfast for champions (and hungry people).
They are cash only so make sure you keep a 20 in your glove compartment for a garlic chicken emergency :)
Hail to the Mitsu-​Ken garlic chicken!

Every time I’m home I gotta visit Mitsu-​Ken. Omg. The garlic chicken is all you need to know. Oh wait. And the breakfast. I’m so hungry!!!
It’s not a place to sit and eat, so you place your order to go. My friend and I sat outside on the grass to eat ours and catch up.
The service is fast and it is best to get there before the lunch rush. We met at 10:30 and was perfect timing. I love you, Mitsu-​Ken and I wish I could have some garlic chicken RIGHT. NOW.

This place has some pretty Ono garlic chicken. Don’t ask me how the other food is because I don’t know. Probably taste good too because it looks good. The Musubis look good but problem is I’m hooked on the Garlic Chicken! I always order the mini because I ate the regular plate once and I was done for the day. The chicken was so good I ate the whole thing. The problem with that is I couldn’t move for the next few hours. The only gripe I have is I wished that had a place to eat.

I grew up eating at this place at its original location located on school street. I would grab the breakfast special with garlic chicken before I’d head up to school at Kamehameha schools. Whenever I’m in the area I’ll make a special stop to pick up a breakfast special, but usually without garlic chicken nowadays but it’s always nostalgic and brings back memories as a child!

They need to put when breakfast stops being served. I literally drove all the way from millilani to get a breakfast special and they stopped serving breakfast mind you I got there at 11. I tried calling to see if breakfast was still being served NO ANSWER and I even checked their Unilocal and their website. I’d rather go to Sugois anyways. Never again mitsuken, not to mention the people working here are so damn rude and act like they hate their jobs.

You have not had garlic chicken till you’ve had it here!
It’s a hike from Downtown area but definitely worth it! This little hole in the wall, cash only, mom & pop shop makes the best bento boxes! It is incredibly cheap for the amount of food you receive.
They close at 1pm, so come early!

Good food, cheap! That’s Mitsu-​Ken in a nut shell. Where else can you find delicious breakfast with garlic chicken for $ 6.50 with eggs your way, and did I mention garlic chicken? I’m not talking about a measly breakfast sandwich combo, I’m talking about a huge plate full of ono (delicious) food. Nestled in Kalihi, this place can be hidden in plain site. If you like breakfast here, you’ll love lunch! This is the kind if place I grew up with, where you stop by in the morning, create your own bento, and off you go to your school field trip. Unfortunately, what this did was make you only look forward to lunch. Go there, eat, and be happy!

Ok this was my second time coming here… last time I had their famous garlic chicken bento which I didn’t care for… it was too sweet for me. This time I was very surprised to see they had a wide selection of okazu style foods… made two plates… girls working there are very rushed and pushy. Not friendly at all… and I guess it’s because of the long line stressing them out but that’s no excuse… they should take some lessons from the girls that work at Matsumoto okazu.
Now every thing looked good but the tastes and flavors were lacking… very disappointed that the food was just ok.

I wanted to try this place for months, but everytime I got a chance to go, it was CLOSED. I honestly don’t know what the hype is about this place, SERVICE sucks! Food is a-​ok, garlic chicken, so so; and the rest of the food I ordered, bland, not tasty.
There is no charge/​debit card system there, so it’s cash only, another inconvenience.
Counterfolks need to smile, greet customers so that they will want to come back, not yell, not be so grouchy.
Unless service improves, I won’t be back at all, there are better places, like Nuuanu Okazuya or Gulick Deli up the street. At least at those places, you can use your debit card and the folks that service you, SMILE.

This has been my go to breakfast spot for years. Forget the pancakes, eggs benedict, and scones. We are talking fried rice, eggs, bacon, and garlic chicken.
These guys were one of the first to create the affordable breakfast at their original location selling $ 1.99 breakfast for fried rice, bacon and eggs. Price has gone up since then but still affordable for the quick meal. Need more food, I suggest the garlic chicken: get the breakfast combo (about $ 6.50). Plates are large with a hefty serving of fried rice. If eating for two get the combo and a side order of garlic chicken and everyone’s more than filled and happy.
I mainly go for the garlic chicken. Fried rice is okay nothing special, but it is tasty.
They open early which is a huge plus for days I’m up early or staying out late.
This is not a sit down restaurant, it’s a grab and go. Tons of parking with their move to King Street. Very easy access in and out of the parking lot and when driving towards both directions.
Sometimes there can be a wait due to high traffic of people. But on normal days I don’t wait more than a couple minutes. Plus you can talk to others waiting.
Parking — 5
Food — 4 (simple but good)
Staff — 5 (quick, friendly and efficient)

Been a regular at Mitsuken since I was in middle school. Since they moved to the new location, The quality was the same but the prices went up. It was okay but my recent visit, I thought everything just went downhill.
Quality: Got my regular Mitsuken Garlic Chicken Bento and side order (tempura) early yesterday morning. First, it’s morning and expected the quality of the garlic chicken to be crispy, fresh, and moist. However, the sauce wasn’t as sweet as it once was supposed to be and it tasted only hints of little bit garlic and more shoyu. Next, the chicken tasted cold and jerky. It’s like the chicken might have been cooked earlier or was reheated from yesterday or something. But it wasn’t fresh. The sauce the chicken was dipped in was semi hot which probably covered up the coldness of the chicken meat inside. Last, the side orders (okayazus) tasted cold. Yes, at the old location, they are usually pre made and cold. But moving to a new location, they should’ve have bought something to keep their food warm and compensate the higher cost they charging now to their customers.
Overall, best to come in the morning for shorter wait but the quality for its food and price …(disappointed). It would’ve been one star but two stars for the food/​service quality from its previous location on school street.

This place has been a local establishment for as far back as I can remember. Now under new ownership at a new location, it’s much easier to get their famous garlic chicken and cheap breakfast specials. If you come in the morning, especially on weekends, expect to wait quite a while outside of the door. Their ordering system is a bit outdated. You still have to line up along the entrance, go in place your order, go back outside, and wait for your number to be called.
I usually just order the breakfast combo. It’s pretty cheap and comes with fried rice, two eggs (scrambled or easy over), and three pieces of garlic chicken. The other food from the window is good too. They have typical things like corned beef hash patties, musubi, tempura, hamburger patties, and hot dogs.
I don’t really like the fried rice that the combo comes with, because lately it’s been on the mushy side. I did notice a slight change in the garlic chicken since they moved. The chicken isn’t as juicy and has less of that super-​diabetes-​inducing sauce that regulars came to expect., but then again a convicted sex offender was one of the previous owners and maybe we don’t actually want any of that sauce.

As many Unilocalers mentioned,
We/​I love love this location!
Its so much better than the last location,
& the main reason! Parking!
Also, the old location is so tiny & run down.
I’m glad they moved!
The new location is much cleaner, nicer, & more spacious!
I try to come here when I am either off or in the area.
As I am sharing the deluxe breakfast plate with my daughter,
I told her–
at one point in my life, I was addicted to Mitsu-​Ken.
I had to go once a week, (This was 15 years ago, when I worked part time)
Great memories of Mitsuken!
& today’s memories is event greater! sharing food from Mitsuken.
I know my daughter really enjoyed the food! Its actually her 1^st time!
& I’m so glad that I took her here today!
I got to Mitsuken at 8:30 & there were 2 ahead of me.
My opinion, this is a good time to go, after we left.
It got more busy, the line started!
Everything looked so good, the okazuya, the musubi (s)
We opt for the breakfast plate and bento.
I remember the mini-​bento was 3.75 back in the days when I was addicted to Mitsuken & the breakfast plate was under 3.00. Good o’ days!
The mini-​bento, 5.00– reasonable.
yes! just as I remember, garlic chicken is still winnahs!
with hot dog, egg, & furikake rice. (sure brings back memories)
The deluxe breakfast, 6.00 comes with fried rice, your choice of eggs, bacon & sausage. This is enough for me & my daughter. Its huge portion!
Only thing: please accept credit cards! I have to make sure I have cash on hand before stopping here.
I can’t wait to be back! It is going to be soon!

Surprisingly disappointed. I’ve been a fan of Mitsuken for many years because of their amazing one of a kind delicious garlic chicken but this time, it was just alright. I miss the School Street location! There was just something about walking up to that hole-​in-​the-​wall spot on school street and ordering from the window that just made it seem low-​key and local. The new location is in a busy plaza and there was a long line waiting for me when I arrived. Ugh… The prices are still amazing and you get a bunch of food for the price. Get there early and get their breakfast price/​discount. It seems like they changed their recipe for garlic chicken because it just tasted different and wasn’t as amazing as I remember.

After all the hype of the «famous garlic chicken», I went there to order a breakfast bento.
On paper it looked good. Two scoops fried rice, egg, Portuguese sausage, bacon and garlic chicken.
Then you get your plate and it’s all obviously made in bulk, probably hours before. The bacon was paper thin, Portuguese sausage dried out and garlic chicken cold.
I don’t see the hype in this place.
Parking is bad, their ordering system is just horrible (they scream your order as you wait outside), and the food is mediocre.
If you’re looking for a good okazuya, gulick is your best bet in Kalihi, or Kabuki in Pearl City. If you’re looking for good garlic chicken 49ers has way better chicken.

If there was one place that I frequented most on my last trip to Honolulu, it was Mitsu-​Ken for its tasty and relatively cheap bentos!
I am not big on fried foods in general so when I am willing to break away from my healthy eating ways for something, then I really mean it when I say it is GOOD. Located in between the airport and Waikiki, the place was the ideal spot for grabbing some food landing AND if you want that last taste of Hawaii before you head back home.
When you get to the lot, you will see that there is plenty of parking. The difficult part, however, is the pretty long line it takes to get inside and figuring out what it is you want. It seems like the peak hours are during the weekdays in the morning where people come over during the work days to get their breakfast/​lunch. The line does go out the door but the service is pretty fast and it felt like they do expect you to know what to order so be prepared and don’t hold up the line!
Here is what I ordered:
Mitsu-​Ken Bento — A great cheap and tasty bento combination! Although there are a bunch of great little items like the seasoned spam and bulgogi type beef, the main star has got to be the garlic chicken. With each bite, you get the crunch of the crispy warm batter with the nice sweet garlic sauce. As mentioned, they do have a few other items to help you get full over a helping of white rice. I just wished there was more of that garlic chicken!
Breakfast combination — Another great cheap and tasty bento combination but made for breakfast! The garlic chicken was (AGAIN!) the main star. Loved it even for breakfast: D. The other items eggs and bacon are perfect for breakfast. TIP: be prepared to tell them how you want your eggs! What was also different was the type of rice that they used. It tasted more like a fried rice — flavored with soy sauce and pieces of veggies and spam. I would say that this meal is a little more salty mainly because of the rice, but I still enjoyed it overall.
Note that this place is not your typical restaurant with seats. It is meant for ordering and taking the food to go. The place only takes cash too so be prepared for that as well. As mentioned earlier, the service is fast and efficient so they expect their customers to know what they want. If anything, just say garlic chicken: D.
Overall, I would say that Mitsu-​Ken is great and affordable fare with their garlic chicken being the true star of any meal!

Mitsu-​Ken is cheap, convenient, and delicious! The store is in a bright yellow building that has a mural with whales on the back. If you’re headed east from downtown Honolulu, it’s pretty easy to spot the «restaurant,» as it’s just off the freeway. The restaurant is pretty close to the airport, so I’d recommend picking up bentos for long flights out of town (or home)!
This isn’t a conventional restaurant; don’t expect seats, waiter service, or the like. Rather, you should expect to line up to place your order, collect your food after being called, and take your food elsewhere (or, in our case, the car). Both times we visited Mitsu-​Ken, we came around 9:30AM and the line moved pretty quickly, probably because we were between breakfast and lunch. On separate occasions, we ordered the Mitsu-​Ken Bento and the Breakfast Combination, which are described below:
Mitsu-​Ken Bento — The bento has egg, spam, hot dog, garlic chicken, and beef over a heaping bed of rice sprinkled with furikake. I didn’t eat the hot dog but everything else was delicious. The egg was remiscient of tamagoyaki, but less sweet. The spam was nicely marinated/​flavored and was surprisingly not too salty. The beef had a nice sweet sauce that went together nicely with the rice. And, the garlic chicken was awesome. It wasn’t particularly heavy, garlicky, or gristle-​y, which made it very tasty.
Breakfast Combination — The breakfast combination consists of two sunnyside up eggs, several pieces of bacon, and three pieces of garlic chicken over a bed of fried rice. The rice wasn’t overly dry; it still retained its stickiness. It had a few bits of spam (?) mixed in. It’s hard to go wrong with eggs and bacon, and these were no exception. The bacon was, admittedly, not as crispy as I would have liked, but the garlic chicken rounded out the meal with a bit of crunch.
Be advised that this restaurant is cash only. There are banks in the same plaza, but those ATMs may not be ideal if you’re trying to avoid the ATM fee. Plenty of parking.

This place has the best garlic chicken. They used to be on School St. with no parking. I’m loving this new location because parking is abundant. However, the lines are still long. Every time that I’ve been here, there has been at least 10 people ahead of me in line.
How this place works is that you line up outside the door. Then, they’ll call you into the store place your order, when they’re ready for you. You place your order, pay the cashier and she’ll give you a number. You go back outside the store and wait for your number to be called. The bad thing about this place is that there are no seats, not even a chair or bench. It’s take out only.
Let’s be real. This place is cheap. Most of their plate lunches go for $ 7 and they give a lot of food. Most plate lunches these days will run you around $ 9. My husband always gets the garlic chicken plate. They give you around seven huge pieces of chicken, along with two scoops of rice and one scoop of mac salad for $ 7. I like to get the Mitsu-​Ken bento. It comes with three pieces of garlic chicken, bbq beef, hot dog, spam, egg and ginger, all over white rice. Everything in that bento is seasoned and tasty. I like variety and that’s what I’m getting here for $ 6.75.

Yes… get the garlic chicken.
Ambiance
Parking:
* On a late Saturday morning… there were plenty of parking. The area is in a big parking lot and not in a very touristy area. 10 – 15 minutes away from Aloha stadium.
Seating:
* No seating… unless you sit in your car or on the curb.
Feels:
* Straight up business. Once again the location is not very touristy but moreover on the way to touristy places. There’s the door, two lines for you to order and you wait outside for your order. Not much of a sit and dine place but a great grab and go.
Food: I ordered the garlic chicken meal (rice, garlic chicken, and mac salad)
Garlic Chicken (Recommended)
Quite amazing, definitely not like your average chicken wings. The outside was crispy and sweet and the chicken was served fresh cooked well. However, I’ve felt like I’ve tasted a like this in California but what made this stand out that it was boneless and the sweet honey taste to it.
Mac Salad (Semi-​Recommend)
Great! Most times I’ve had mac salad that has had over-​excessive mayo, too watery, or too peppery but I felt like this brought a great balance to the sweetness of the garlic. They compliment each other well if salt was to garlic chicken then pepper is to mac salad.
Customer Service:
I asked for a breakfast special and he apologized but in a very forced/​non-​genuine vibe tone… didn’t vibe with me very well. Call me sensitive but customer service is a big thing to me. Other than that, being behind 4 other groups the wait wasn’t too bad 10 – 15 minutes.
Overall:
4.5 stars. The price was affordable, food was delicious, our meals were served quick and the customer service was awkward. Quite the hidden gem, this place is definitely on my list to try again or recommend to friends.
TL;DR Tips:
* Great for travelling around the island, it opens early (5am)!
* Recommended for tourists.

I’ve been going to Mitsuken ever since they were located on School Street. At least with the new location it’s a little bigger and parking is readily available in front or in the area.
I’ve only really have gone here for their breakfast and I always get the breakfast combo with garlic chicken. It’s such a hearty and filling breakfast that I usually finish in two sittings. The prices are well worth it for what they give. They even sell just garlic chicken in pieces because it’s pretty much one of their top hot selling items on the menu.
Definitely a spot to hit up for people from out of town who wants to try some cheap local breakfast plates or lunch bentos.
CASH ONLY!

This location is 100x better than school st. OMG at least there is parking. I brave this place about once a month. The only reason i stay away from this place is the long line. And they don’t answer the phone for phone orders.
I always get the deluxe breakfast combo, which includes a plate full of fried rice, 3 bacon, 3 pocho sausage, 2 egg and 3 pieces of gralic chicken. All stuff us Hawaiians like for breakfast. They have the best Garlic chicken, period. Add that to fried rice bacon, sausage and egg… Winnaz.

Hate to be redundant. The garlic chicken is simply the best. Juicy, crispy, garlicky, and sweet. They have the kinks worked out of the system and the speed of the line and the service on Saturday mornings has greatly improved since they opened. I can’t wait and set the container on my trunk and start in. Fried rice, bacon, eggs, and chicken are a perfect high fat way to start the day. If you are going to indulge, then do it right.
I have to admit I have not moved beyond their garlic chicken. When I grow tired of it, I’ll review other parts of their menu. Until then, forget Sugoi and come to the real home of garlic chicken.
BTW, if you aren’t from here, dark meat rules. It is more flavorful. If you want white meat, go to KFC.
Also, cash only. If they took credit cards, they would never be able to keep up.

Best Garlic Chicken around! Hands down, the best!
I would have never been introduced to this awesomeness if it wasn’t for school, and I’m glad I did because the food is life changing. It doesn’t matter what you get here, it’s all awesome, but you really should only come for the Garlic Chicken if anything at all.
Best thing to get in my opinion are stuff off their breakfast menu, you can never go wrong with eggs, bacon, and garlic chicken! With their new location, makes it so much more convenient to get in and out, although their hours are limited, still better than their last location.
Like I said before, life changing, a must stop by destination if you’re visiting O’ahu.