Review Kirin Restaurant - Honolulu

This Chinese restaurant is the best Chinese food I have ever had. I highly recommend it! This restaurant is a little hidden, as it is underground. The atmosphere is classy and the service was great. Our server was very attentive and helped us continue to order family style. I am more than satisfied with my experience! L

Overall I enjoyed this restaurant. The restaurant was clean and appeared to run efficiently. The food came out quickly and accurately. My particular waiter was quite efficient but to a level that the friendliness was lacking and that's okay as I was there to eat and not have a discussion. I ordered the dim sum sampler, mango-colada, and seafood fried rice. All were good, good enough to recommend but not special. I have had the same items at other establishments that were superior. Would I go back? Tough call as there is so much good food in Waikiki that I am not sure...

Amazing service! Great dim sum menu. We also ordered beef chow fun which was delicious! Everything was so fresh. Restaurant was very clean. Staff were friendly and very professional.

Kirin has really good Honey Walnut Shrimp, my hubby's favorite dish at Kirin. Nice size shrimp and serving portion was generous. I order beef & broccoli sub-out the noodles for fried rice on side. Unfortunately, when the dish came the beef, broccoli and fried rice were mixed together. The taste of the food was good, just not as zi ordered. Also, i ordered wonton soup. The broth and wonton were good. However, the soup had lots of chopped iceberg lettuce in it. Never had wonton soup with iceburg lettuce before. When we came to Kirin in 2019, cannot remember if there was iceberg lettuce in the wonton soup at that time. The 4 star is because my hubby was very happy with his honey glazed walnut shrimp. I recommend the Honey Glazed Walnut Shrimp

I went in not having very high expectations because the stairway leading down to the restaurant was littered with trash and there was a strong chemical smell when I entered the dining room. However, the food and service made up for it all. If you've ever been to a nice restaurant in China, you'll notice that the cleanliness standards aren't the same as they are in the United States. What I've discovered is that just like the Health Department, they restaurant owners mostly concern themselves with the back-of-the-house. Meaning that although the floors, chairs and seafood tanks were in desperate need of maintenance and cleaning, the food is where their focus is, and boy it did not disappoint. My husband, who is retired from building maintenance told me that the Health Department isn't concerned with the cleanliness of the dining room as much as the kitchen because their main concern is food safety. The food was absolutely delicious and dare I say some of the best Chinese Food I've had in my life. The presention was average but the service was impeccable. They were very attentive, professional and welcoming. My recommendation is for a restaurant to change their Floris to vinyl or wood to help with cleanliness & saftey. The chairs could either be cleaned or have covers on the backs to keep debris from settling in between the slats. Otherwise we'll done. The restaurant has space for events and the prices were actually pretty great. For instance, my dish crispy duck was only $13.99 and and very juicy. The beef was incredibly tender & tasty. The spring rolls were crispy, light and not greasy.

Very delicious restaurant with a large menu to choose from!! Live lobsters and crabs available! As well as crispy duck and an array of yummy noodle dishes. We loved our meal!!

Food was decent but not the best version I've had of each dish. I liked how the Peking duck came with the skin pre-wrapped, but the duck itself still had a lot of bones. The honey walnut shrimp was good but on the sweet side. Beef chow fun was good, made with the right type of noodles. The egg drop soup and shitake mushroom with bok choy dish was mediocre. It was cool to see all the pictures with presidents who ate here, but overall food was average.

The restaurant was spacious and suitable for family or friend gatherings. Service was quick and decent. Food took quite a long time to prepare for each dish except the soup. Price was quite high for $9 per cup of soup. Decent portion for $20 stirfried ong choy vegetables. The crab meat fish maw soup and stir-fry ong choy came with good flavors and texture. $32.95 Peking Duck came with 6 buns already premade for you and a small plate of more bone-in duck meats. The overall portion seemed to be half a duck only. Peking Duck tasted very average. I would not recommend this dish.

Came for an impromptu dinner date that ended up being beyond our expectations. We got the dim sum sampler, and the crab with black bean sauce. The crab was definitely the star of the show and although very messy to eat, it was extremely delicious. I had never had crab cooked in sauce like this and I was blown away. Our waitress was attentive and kind and also very busy so we did our best not to disturb her too often. We came in on a busy weekend night and got seated quickly. The atmosphere is nice and well lit. You could easily come here dressed up or down and find something to enjoy. The dim sum was good but nothing to write home about, a great place to go if you have a group to entertain who like different options/flavors

My husband and I had the Peking Duck with Chinese pancakes. They not only plated the pancakes stuffed like small crepes with the Peking Duck, they brought us all the rest of 1/2 of a duck cut up in nice sized pieces. It was delicious and perfectly cooked. We also had wonton soup as a starter. The Jasmine Green tea was made with loose tea, making it extra good. They even refilled our pot of tea as we drank it. The green beans and pork had a nice warm spice as well. I was glad to have the tea and white rice. The service was wonderful and the food was some of the best we’ve ever had. A little on the pricy side, but totally worth the cost. We completely devoured everything but the duck bones!