4. Restaurants

Won Kee Seafood Restaurant

100 N Beretania St, Honolulu, HI, 96817
  • (808) 524-6877
  • Store is closed

Won Kee Seafood Restaurant Menu

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Sorry, We are updating this restaurant cholesterol menu details.

  • Chris P.

    Not bad, not great. It's your typical chinatown restaurant. There was a hair in the soup and the waiters forgot to bring our fried rice until we were almost done with our meal. The owner is really nice though and the food was decent (other than the hair in my soup)

    (3)

  • SM A.

    I'm quite disappointed to be writing this review because my family and I used to love going here. Sometimes the service is great and sometimes the service sucks, depending on who your server is. But recently, my family and I have had very poor customer service and don't think we'll be coming back. It was my younger cousin's birthday that we were celebrating before she went back to California. When we got seated, no water was offered and we had to order our own drinks instead. When we decided on what we were going to eat, our food took 20-30 minutes to come out. The rice even came out last. Not only did our food take a long time to come out, but our server was beyond rude! Every time we asked for something she would just walk away and take a while to come back with what we needed and even replied with "yeah yeah yeah". She rarely ever checked up on us and she looked like she dreaded being our server whenever she had to help us. We saw other tables who got seated after us that were already finishing up when we just got our dishes. When we finished the entrees, she took forever to come back to clear our table for dessert. We had to stack our own plates to get her attention. My family and I also always bring a cake to celebrate someone's birthday and we asked for a knife (mind that they never had a problem with this and always accommodated us with smaller plates, forks, and a knife). After we ate the cake and finished up she finally came back and grabbed ONLY the knife. She grabbed only the knife from us and swung it in the air to take back with her! That's the thing that really pissed us off. It's not safe and could've been a hazard. I actually loved coming here for the food but this was the last straw. Their customer service definitely needs work. Customer service there used to be great with other servers but this time, enough was enough. I'm only giving two stars for the other servers who were great when they served us and for the food. I hope anyone who comes here will not be as disappointed as I am.

    (2)

  • Teri Y.

    I was recently invited to Won Kee for a family celebration. I think it was 7 or 9 courses...but I lost count...and I think we left early before at least one course was served. I was pleasantly surprised to find parking very easy in the Cultural Plaza lot at 6:30 on a Thursday night. I guess most of their traffic is during the day. I was also pleasantly surprised that Won Kee was not very crowded, as well. It's a big restaurant, and I saw mostly the round 10-top tables in there. I think there may have been 5 or 6 parties in the place, and we did not take up half of the space. Service was very nice. All of our food was brought to the table and plated for us. We also got fresh plates a few courses into the meal. Water refills were frequent as well. The restaurant was clean enough, by Chinatown standards. I did not look to closely (I try not to in Chinatown!). The food was all tasty. It wasn't "Wow, this is awesome! I need to come back here." tasty, but it was good. Service, location, convenience (not crowded, easy parking) for the given time have a big influence on my rating. I don't know if I'd make a point to frequent Won Kee, but I'd go back.

    (4)

  • Leichardti F.

    This place has been here forever! The food has been up and down over the decades, however the food was excellent this time around. Although the place was packed, they even ran out of serving spoons for a while, the food was excellently made. Service was kinda poor since they were so packed, but overall as long as the food is delicious, everything else can be taken by perspective right? If you do visit, order the kau yuk, such fatty and tasty goodness!

    (4)

  • Dominic C.

    My wife's family has been dinning at this restaurant for decades. Over the past few years it has turned from one of the "stand-by" Chinese restaurants to go to, to, I will never go there again. Last night's meal was the "last straw". We, (4 of us), were seated at 5:05pm, one of only 4 tables seated. We ordered Lobster, Salt and Pepper style, Lobster, Ginger and Onion style, 1/2 Peking Duck with bun, Crispy Gau Gee, Sweet Sour Pork and Szechuan Noodles. The restaurant filled up over the next 30 minutes. After waiting for approx. 30 minutes the sweet sour pork arrived. After another 20 minutes the crispy Gau Gee arrived. after waiting another 15 minutes I asked the waitress if we can expect our food anytime soon. She said "we very busy", but said she would ask. The Lobster Ginger and Onion arrived 25 minutes after the Crispy Gau Gee. One of the lobster's claws had obviously suffered an injury while in the "tank" or where ever it is stored. It looked diseased. (see pic uploaded titled "lobster claw".) I called over the manager. I asked if she felt the lobster met her standard for quality. She answered without even looking at the lobster, indicating she knew what I was referring to, even before I asked the question. "This is the way we get it from our supplier", was her response. I was floored. When is it okay to serve rotting food to a customer just because this is the way you receive it from supplier? We paid for the two dishes that were delivered and left. Time 6:35pm.

    (1)

  • Emi H.

    In my family, there are two options for Easter dinner: 1) Chinese food 2) Chinese food My Mother (bless her beautiful heart) loves it when her children get together on holidays, but no one wants to cook these days because everyone is so busy. And usually we go to the same Chinese restaurant in Aiea and order the same six dishes we've been eating for the last thirty years. But out of nowhere they decided to change the location of our meal because my brother is engaged to a Chinese girl. I'll admit I was a little scared walking into Won Kee because it doesn't have the greatest rating on Yelp and that's a big no-no in my book. But after we sat down, who should mosey on in but Cathy T, who is Chinese to the core and it made me feel so much better to know that her family deems Won Kee a-okay in their book. Won Kee is by no means glamorous, nor the most cleanly of restaurants but it's also not the worst I've eaten at either. All the dishes we ate were tasty (see my photos) and the peking duck came with gigantic pieces of bird. It's still not my favorite Chinese restaurant but from what I'm told they've got very reasonable prices and that must be why all the important Chinese people in my life choose this spot out of all the others. My favorite part? Although they serve liquor (beer & wine), they still allowed us to BYOB and didn't charge us corkage. Woot woot!

    (4)

  • Paul Kaulana L.

    Unfortunately we had tried this place to go out the box with new dim sum places and will not be coming back. I knew when we walked in at 10am and no body was eating here we were in for some crap. My precognition was correct. The other dim sum spots we passed like next doors legends was packed but this was dead dead empty. I had to even grab my own chili sauce and soy. I can tell when shrimp gau is old and the wrap falls apart very easy so it must be old. Shrimp also was not de veined and shit still in. Eeeeew. Sorry I will stick with Mei Sum or Tai pan. A lot more tasty.

    (1)

  • Ann N.

    Came on a Friday morning around 10:30am. Only a couple people were there and decided to go only because Legends was closed. The lunch crowd picked up around 11:30am Not impressed at all. Only 1 cart with a few items on it. Items from menu were steamed to order. For dim sum, I expect all items ready with carts continually coming by. That was not the case here. Plain look funn was like soft tofu. Spinach scallop dumpling was just ok. My fam ate the peking duck and liked it, but that also took a long time to make. Meat balls just ok. Seafood dumplings were a little mushy with the imitation crab. I was very disappointed an wouldn't come back at all.

    (2)

  • David C.

    This place is so filthy. They kept giving us drinking glasses that were not cleaned. Also the dim sum they served was of poor quality. It seemed like it had been out all day and tasted stale. Never going here again.

    (1)

  • Lyn L.

    11/28/13. Thanksgiving dinner. There were only 2 of us...but we ordered the dinner for 4 which included 4 entrees and a lobster...we opted to "upgrade" to the crab for $5....so now we are up to $65 Waaay too much food...it was all really delicious. People there are really nice...Food was prepared quickly and everything was served nice and hot! Crispy chicken, salt and pepper shrimp, steamed fish and spicy, garlic eggplant. Mostly ate the crab and brought the rest of the food home for dinner the following night. 12/24/13 Christmas Eve dinner. We enjoy the food here so much that we decided to come her for Christmas Eve...This time there were 4 of us...Ordered the scallop soup, Crab (won kee style), ong choy with garlic, clams with black bean, fried pork chop....next time we'd pass on the pork chop...the rest of the items were very good... Good service, good food and reasonable prices...will definitely be back again!

    (4)

  • Paul C.

    I've been eating here for years now - - mostly to meet clients for dim sum lunch or dinner parties to celebrate someone's birthday. We had out-of-town relatives and came here to celebrate. We had dinner reservations for 630pm for 2 tables and this place was rocking. The whole restaurant was packed with Chinese peeps and I knew I was going to be in for a great meal. First of all, eating with family has always been high on my list. But when you add good food, it cannot be any better. The menu was pre-determined starting off with the cold appetizer plate. We had children on our table so I let them gobble up the char siu but I'm a fan of the sliced boneless pig feet, where I enjoy the gelatinous texture and gristle. I know it's not good for you but if I hike Koko Head religiously every weekend doing a back-to-back double, I'm going to make sure I reward myself. Next came the seafood soup and I was surprised it was piping HOT, they way soup should be served. It could have used a little more flavor but overall, a very good bowl of soup. Many authentic Chinese enjoy free-range chicken but it's okay to me. I'll admit it is slightly flavorful than your regular chicken. But I'd rather be chowing down on Hong Kong-style crispy chicken where you enjoy the plump meat of human raised chickens. Our dish was served beautifully and resembled a phoenix, perhaps? A cold ginger sauce came on the side. A popular dish on our table was the deep-fried stuffed tofu with shrimp dish. Ever since I've been successful of long-term weight loss, I try my best to control deep-fried foods so I stopped at one piece. It was very crispy, piping HOT and not greasy at all. A very SOLID dish. Another big hit was their crab with the signature house-sauce. It was cooked until perfection. The crab meat was very sweet and easy to crack with your teeth. The sauce was interesting - - some fermented black beans with XO sauce??? Very tasty... Next came their stir-fried green beans with minced pork and dried shrimp. Another popular dish on our table and SOLID. Very good. Their honey-glazed pork chop was lean and deep-fried well but the honey glaze was overpowering. Too much honey in my opinion. The seafood stir-fry with broccoli was okay. I've had better. The sauce was very light and the seafood taste perhaps got lost somewhere? But I'll admit the broccoli was cooked perfectly. It was al dente with that crunch and bright green color. Lastly, you cannot end a traditional Chinese 9-course meal without noodles. We were celebrating the matriarch's long-life (in her 90's) so we had stir-fried E-MEIN noodles. It was very simple, the way it should be but I like my food with bold flavors. I was surprised for dessert you were given a choice of either almond tofu w/ fruit cocktail OR red bean dessert. The almond tofu was the generic package mix where I enjoy it made from scratch starting with evaporated milk and Knox gelatine. Because the whole restaurant was packed, service was not at its best. I used to work at a Chinese restaurant so I can relate. I'm lenient in this category. We had to ask for white rice, hot tea & water refills, forks for the children, etc. I noticed empty water glasses on my table including my favorite niece (I only have one so she wins by default) so I stood up and searched for the water pitcher and brought it back to our table for self-service. When I dine with my family I try my best to make their dining experience great so I do not mind at all refilling our own waters. I did this several times and asked the staff to please add more ice as I like my water COLD. Overall, the quality of food exceeded my expectations so it gets 5-stars. Service could have been better but overall, decent at 4-stars. We came here for food so this place gets the benefit of rounding-up to my final 5-star review. NOTE: Parking at the Chinese Cultural Plaza is either metered street parking OR their parking lot at a rate of $3. DO NOT park at their loading zone (by Regal Bakery) as there clearly is a sign stating LOADING ZONE only for 15 minutes.

    (5)

  • Stephanie L.

    Save your tastebuds and go to Legends instead. Everything is overly salted and their selection of dim sum is not expansive. The biggest disappointments 1. Extremely soggy taro and 2. Soup dumplings that didn't contain a drop of soup. This is my first and last time dining here. The one star is for the decent waitress who apologized for the soggy dimsum.

    (1)

  • Jihyun K.

    This was a horrible restaurant. Everything else was booked so we ended up here. The dim sum was old and the har Gao and turnip cakes we ordered tasted off as if they were sitting out for a few days. The worst part was the service. The waitress was extremely rude and sat us at a small table and rushed us. She gave us the menus and immediately asked what we wanted. We told her we needed a few minutes so she rolled her eyes and went away for ten minutes. She did not even bring us tea and at the end the tip was already included. No wonder she was so rude!! I think this is the worst dim sum restaurant in China town. Go to legends and be sure to make a reservation.

    (1)

  • Larcy Z.

    I love the sweet and sour shrimp! It's very tasty and the shrimp is is very generous. The cake noodles are pretty good, too. I will definitely be coming back because of the quality of the food and the service.

    (5)

  • Thomas L.

    Staff was really really rude. Spoke with the manager and said we had reservations for 12 , she was even more rude to us, there were 12 of us, 8 handicap 2 wheelchair and they wanted us to sit at one round table that has a sitting of 8, the room that they put us in was really small room with 3 round tables and looked like a storage room with boxes and pile of plates and audio equitment on the table. we asked if we could use table an additional table staff said they were reserved . Three of us had to stand up and eat. well it as now 7:30 and, no one was sitting there. now, it's 8 o'clock and still no one is sitting at the table. after we finished we ask for the check. waited 10 minutes before they came with the check. Restaurant wasn't that busy. Food did not taste good either. I would give them triple zero stars. not going there EVER!!!!! they should fire that manager, She was especially RUDE

    (1)

  • Jon L.

    Visiting Won Kee was a backup plan as my parents and I had intended to dine at Legend for dinner. Unfortunately, there was a party which appeared to take up the whole restaurant. As a result, we ended up at Won Kee after checking out what restaurants were open nearby. I am sure this is pretty common as Won Kee must get the overflow business when Legend is full. While it is easy to find good dim sum in Honolulu, finding a good Chinese dinner spot can be a challenge. Chinese restaurants can be a crapshoot because they offer huge menus, but unless you have dined there often, you won't know till you try a dish whether it is good. It really all depends on the chef's skills. The restaurant was quite full which is a good sign. The restaurant is smaller than Legend, but still is a moderately sized place. I have dined here a few times (dim sum and regular menu) and it does not look any different then previous occasions I have visited. It is not a casual place, but not an elegant one either. It is just fine if you come here in a t-shirt and slippers. We considered ordering off the set menu which includes a choice of a selection of dishes as well as a lobster dish. But I suggested offering a la carte instead because the pricing did not seem to justify it especially since this was a meal for three. Ordering off the set menu would have certainly meant leftovers. Most land meat (chicken/beef/pork) items seemed to fall in the $10-12 range here. Note that dish portions are smaller in Hawaii compared to the mainland however. Ordered three dishes. Fried pork chops, fish with choy sum and another item that I have forgotten. I think it was a tofu hot pot dish. We also ordered a salted fish fried rice. When it comes to ordering rice at a Chinese restaurant, it is better to get fried rice since they charge you for each bowl of steamed rice. The price difference is not that much different, so it is better to just get fried rice. Overall, I thought the meal was just alright. Though my parents were quite impressed with the dishes as they were better than they expected. The pork chops were disappointing. They were missing the crispiness that I look for. The other items were fine taste wise. Left feeling full and there was still leftovers for the next day. Won Kee is not my first choice for dim sum or Chinese food. But if I was nearby and I was not able to eat at the place that I want, I would consider Won Kee as a backup spot.

    (3)

  • Emily M.

    This place is shady. I don't judge Chinese restaurants based on service as they aren't known for it, but I wish I could give this place zero stars. They included tip to our party of six bill (not indicated). At first we didn't understand why our bill was more than what we anticipated. Our server rudely explained general addition and multiplication to get our bill total of $430, however she was still short $80. When we asked again, she left and came back with another server, who rambled through our order, saying it was the alcohol. (Yes, we know what we ordered, we literally just finished eating your mediocre food! And yes, I can still do arithmetic after having a few drinks). After much explanation and busting out my calculator, we asked if tip was included, which we found out it was!

    (1)

  • Andrew T.

    surprisingly friendly service for a dim sum place. affordable. plenty of seating including 2-tops. I've gone twice and enjoyed it both times. there was not a huge amount of variety in the dim sum, but plenty to fill me up. tolerably clean and fairly nice dining room.

    (4)

  • Jimmy L.

    This is probably the place I come to most often because the other restaurants in cultural plaza are full (which means there are better options). Service 3.5-stars: Owners/Managers are dressed in casual clothes. If they weren't standing up the whole time, I wouldn't have guessed they worked there. They have the ol' cart-style dim sum service. Unfortunately, this means you get hustled. Meaning, whether or not you can decide on what to eat, they will always try to suggest other dishes. Good for tourists, but I'm Chinese. I already know what I want to eat. However, we DID order har gau but the whole time we were there, it wasn't available. Food 3-stars: Steamed food isn't too bad. It's pretty consistent in terms of quality. Fried food cart is my concern. The food isn't really fresh. It's cold and in some cases, may be even stale. I'd stick to the steamed stuff or anything that's made to order like their funn plates. Overall: I'll probably be back again. I was thinking they're probably not really popular because they don't have distinctive competencies. I mean they have some new dishes coming out that other people don't have, but the fact that they're probably created that day, chances of those dishes coming out again are low even if they're good. Food isn't especially fresh or anything so they're kind of on-par with the standard. Nothing special. Today was just especially strange because there was some guy at the other table that kept staring at me. I looked behind me to make sure... nothing there. Maybe I had something on my face or in my hair. I have no idea. Point is, I was covering my ass hole walking out the door. Btw, it's dirt cheap. Good for big groups.

    (3)

  • Little D.

    Because the Legend next door was so packed, we did not want to wait, also wanted to try somewhere new. We tried Won Kee for lunch. The experience turned out to be unexpectedly good. Quieter atmosphere made it easier for us to communicate without yelling, loosing voice. Food, service, atmosphere were all good.

    (4)

  • William W.

    The price is reasonablethe food tastes goodI like their dim sunsticky rice chicken is amazingalso I like their fried noodleespecially the Lady master is so kindIf you are not sure what you want to eatthey will give you very good and valueable suggestion. I very like this Restaurent in Culture Plaza Chinatown.

    (5)

  • Part Time D.

    Roaches!!! Our family's annual dim sum breakfast for Chinese New Year was on Saturday. You should all know that this is the most disgusting place in Chinatown. This was the second time I've gone there. The dim sum is mediocre but I still went back. The worst part was that I made the reservations and take all the blame. Not once but twice during our meal there was roaches running up the wall. We tried to ignore it. But towards the end of the meal we found a small roach tucked away in our lookfun. I had to decide whether to gross everyone out and ruin the breakfast, possibly the day, or keep it to myself. The total bill was about $95 and that will be the LAST time we ever go here again! Stay far far away. In fact the board of health should put a big RED NO PA sign in the window! It shouldn't even get the one star that I'm forced by Yelp to give. Sorry family

    (1)

  • Cathy C.

    Worst dim sum experience ever. If I could give zero stars, I would. Only two sizes of dishes, $2.30 and $2.95, and all but one of ours were considered large. We had three dishes that tasted like they were cooked yesterday, and the baked char siu buns were gross. One of the servers was very sweet, and suggested that we try the steamed char siu next time. Sorry, there will be no next time.

    (1)

  • Jerrene T.

    Throw a rock or rat infested cabbage (just kidding!) in Chinatown and you'll find a decent Chinese restaurant. In Chinese Cultural Plaza where this restaurant is located, there are multiple Chinese restaurants all serving the same thing. How do you distinguish yourself? Easy you're either Legends or not. In this case... Not Legends. My husband and I came here for an early dinner for my uncle's service. We didn't have a choice on the menu but it was probably close to what we would have ordered, had we decided to come here on our own. We got type of soft wrapped chicken type roll (it was about the only thing I have not tried), steamed fish, chicken with cake noodle, dim sum with scallop and spinach, walnut, shrimp, and jin dui. They were all okay. But it was totally your typical lacking service Chinese restaurant. It was a huge group of people but it was so hard to flag people down to fill waters or get more beer. We were pretty much the only party in the restaurant, save for one table of one person. The parking was validated but you did pay a small fee. It was nice that the parking lot was clean and not smelly. I am not sure if it was because it was a Monday night or what but we could easily find a stall that wasn't meant for just a Smart Car. I wouldn't rule out coming here again but it won't be for awhile. There are too many other good Chinese restaurants that are closer and have a wee bit better service.

    (3)

  • Laurie L.

    With todays cold weather I had a craving for Jook. A friend had taken me there before and she ordred jook with this long stick that she dipped into the soup. We ordered that, spinach scallop dumplings, sui mai , fried taro and noodles. We ended up with way too much food but we took some of it home. The jook and the pastry stick was ono, just as I remembered. The fried taro was just out of the kitchen so it was really good, as was the noodles. However I've had better scallop dumplings and siu mai elsewhere in cultural plaza.

    (4)

  • John C.

    There are quite a few dim sum restaurants in Chinatown. The only thing that is noticeably different about this one is that some of the dim sum portions are bigger than the ones in the other restaurants. I ordered the pork hash, shrimp dumpling, spinach dumpling, seaweed roll with shrimp, and mochi ball with red bean. The mochi ball was huge but didn't have too much red bean inside. Maybe I'm just getting bored with dim sum but I usually use the red hot sauce as well as the spicy mustard sauce.

    (3)

  • Ram K.

    Came here despite a warning from a friend. She didn't say why. Actually we wanted to go to Legends but they were closed. Won Kee is right next door so we figured why not. Walked in, place was pretty empty was told to sit anywhere. Water and menus were brought to us then hot tea. No dim sum carts, we just ordered off the menu. Not that big of a selection to choose from. See if I can remember what we had, mochi rice w/ chicken, taro, seaweed roll, look fun, shrimp dumpling thing, shrimp won ton and my gf ordered minute chicken on noodles. The first item took a while to come felt like 12-15 minutes but after that it just kept on coming. Everything tasted fresh and good. The young girl who was our waitress gave good service. The first couple of things we tried to order was sold out, which was okay since it was after the lunch crowd. I wish their dim sum menu had more items.

    (4)

  • Derek R.

    Won Kee Seafood Restaurant. I was so excited for Chinese food! especially because the restaurant's in china town. I figured it should be decent.... forget it! I guess I'm more used to the americanized version of chinese food..... lol! we're talking about cold pig feet cut like sashimi.... beef that tasted like it fell on the floor and they didn't have the decency to even wash what ever that jumped on it before feeding it to us! I guess if you're a big fan of veggies, you would like this place. and! as all of my followers know... "derek's allergic to all veggies!" lol! so.... looks like i'll never, ever go back to this restaurant! :D

    (1)

  • EMILY H.

    This is the only place on island that i would rate it with 1 star. I give it a 1 for the food. The place is small and sometime with crowd. Be aware if you see advertisement of their special, they can turn down the special by saying it is expired. I went with my family with party of 10 on father's day. We want to order from the family set with 4 or 6 dishes. The server told us they do not sell the family set menu on holiday. So we ordered 8 entree from the menu. We ate almost to the end and there is still a vegetable that didn't come. The server immediately check and brought us the party size vegetable but unfortunately that was wrong order. They didn't take it back and told us it is free since they made a mistake. when comes to paying the bill, they still charge us. The owner told us the dish was a big party size and they only charge it with regular ala carte price. I told them that was not the dish we want though and expect them to fix it. The server took back her word and saying i did not say it's free. That was the moment that I tell myself i am not coming back anymore. My family heard it too so we complaint and owner try to make it up by giving us the dessert. Although we got the dessert, we paid the wrong order they brought us which told us it was for FREE. I cannot believe how they would do business like that but again, it's Chinatown and you find anything extraordinary in there. The food is just like any other Chinese restaurant. You can actually pick other places with better service and probably give you better experience.

    (1)

  • Boki C.

    i went here for chinese new year dinner. and i was with a bunch of pake fobs (i'm kinda one myself too).. anyways, we had lobster, crab, jai, uhu (i can steam it better, they over steamed it - SHAME!), the usual chinese new year cold app's. it was very delicious. the restaurant itself is dumpy.. but where isn't it in china town? the crab was lightly deep fried with a lot of salted duck egg.. YUMMY!!!

    (4)

  • Michelle L.

    Not my favorite dim sum... The choices weren't as many as you'd want. They had a lot of different dumplings like chicken potstickers instead pork, although that seemed to be the tastiest one. I usually love the taro cakes but I didn't care for their version of it. It didn't have great filling. We also ordered lok Funn and it also was subpar. I understand why the other neighboring dim sum places were significantly more busy. They may be worth the wait.

    (3)

  • Donna L.

    *Update* Boo, I am sad that I have to take away a couple of stars. The taste and quality of their dim sum went downhill, based on my last several visits here; it progressively got worse each time! Bummers. Secretly, I was hoping that I just went on some "off" days, but I am afraid that was not the case. The place and food just isn't the same as I remembered it to be when I first started going here. Although, a few of their items still maintained their awesomeness, like the (please excuse the poor Cantonese phonetic spelling): noh mai bao (mochi rice balls), ha gaw (steamed shrimp dumplings), and pay don sow yook jook (lean shredded pork with thousand year old duck egg... yum!). However, I'm afraid those items alone will not entice me to go back anytime soon... maybe I'll give this place another go in a couple months? *sigh* Thankfully, there are other (better) places for dim sum in the cultural plaza! All my Chinese friends keep raving about Tai Pan, which I don't recall ever trying... probably b/c it's always packed and it's a very small place, even though they expanded. The fact that it's always busy and crowded is definitely a good sign, but it's not so great for quasi-agoraphobics like me - I don't know about you, but I need my space when I eat! Maybe one day, I'll get over how cramped it is in there and give it a try... anyone know when the craziness ever dies down in there? B/c that's when I plan on going... lol! Anyway, Fook Lam (located on the outer part of the cultural plaza on River St (where all those Asian folks play chess) is my new favorite dim sum place for now.

    (2)

  • Jethro C.

    Won Kee is definitely a good restaurant, but it didn't really stand out in terms of quality. The restaurant can be easily spotted, compared to some of the other smaller places. Good Chinese food here, but not the best in Honolulu's Chinatown district. At the end of the meal, we decided we would try Legend Seafood Restaurant next door the next time we came back to Chinatown.

    (3)

  • Anna F.

    I came here for a graduation dinner in July 2011 and the food was really good. I came back again tonight for a New Year's dinner and it was bad. They switched chefs. 8 out of 10 dished were bland or didn't look appetizing. The only dishes that tasted good and looked good was the cold ginger chicken and the honey walnut shrimp. There was a crab dish and it was loaded with sauce. The sauce looked/tasted like it was made from oyster sauce, black bean sauce and egg whites. It's a super odd combination. I won't be returning to this restaurant anytime soon.

    (2)

  • Helen C.

    I know we Chinese love salt, but you know it's bad when we start complaining it's too salty. My family and I ordered the four person course. I'd say 75% of it was too salty. I did like the jai, though. They also advertised in the Chinese newspaper that any 4+ course meal would come with complimentary soup and crab (for a limited time...not sure if that offer still applies), but they never included those. Soup usually is the first thing served, but as soon as they started rolling in our entrees, we knew they were skimping out on us. So we specifically asked about it and they brought it to us later. They unfortunately were out of crab so we settled for lobster. Meanwhile, we ordered rice but never got them. I don't know about you, but I like eating my main entrees with a bit of starch. We reminded them three times until finally, when more than half our dishes came out, they brought us our rice. Complimentary dessert/fruits are sometimes offered at the end of dinner. We looked over at the tables around us and they were getting their desserts served to them, so we thought okay...maybe we'll get ours soon. We were very obviously done eating. Dishes piled for their convenience. The waiter passed by us to collect, but never offered dessert. My mom politely asked about it and they gave us our options. The entire experience felt like they were trying to get away with offering us as little as possible. Food was bad. Service was bad. I won't be racing back here any time soon.

    (2)

  • Judy S.

    the food was just meh to me. the duck started out good then started tasting rancid... sigh, I had high hopes but after the duck it just went downhill. the pepper salt pork chops had a weird sweet taste, just not good. and everything else we ordered had a thick layer of corn starch, I had to use my chopsticks to squeeze them out before I ate my veggies. yuck :(

    (2)

  • Joshua F.

    Went in for lunch while exploring Chinatown. We were given a single menu between two of us, given tea, and ignored for fifteen minutes. People up came in after us were helped and served while we waited. We left without eating. Boo.

    (1)

  • Evie Q.

    Couple years back I would have said never again, but we recently went back and the food was excellent for the price. I end up eating enormous portions of rice with sauce from the food. It is that good! Don't let the amount of people they serve at night fool you. The food is so good I ate here 2 nights in a row. Maybe they changed their wok master? idk, but it was good. Must try their oysters and quail you won't regret. :D

    (5)

  • Mei-Lin M.

    Service is great but food is poorly prepared! Most of the dim sum was cold. Lack of choices and definitely cannot compete with other dim sum restaurants nearby. Nice people, but the food is just not that impressive!

    (2)

  • Jensen S.

    Came here after a family event. Pre-ordered that I had no say over our 9 course meal. Dinner consisted of (I'm just guessing on the names since our waitress never speak too good English and didn't want to ask her what each thing was): Chinese Char-Siu Salad Mystery Meat Platter Steamed fish with Scallions Peaking Duck with Bun and Plum Sauce Scallops with Green Bell Pepper and Onions House Cake Noodle with Crispy Gau Gee Cooked Duck Ung Choi with Sliced Beef Almond Float The Chinese char-sui salad was good, tasted exactly like Chinese Chicken Salad but with Char-sui instead of Chicken. (Although I rather have scallop soup as an appetizer) Mystery Meat Platter. Here is a picture of ours and a picture by anna f. of the whole one.http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/SwsGsLebx8mAlj-­vANrtKQ?select=VGLsWKs27wJscqZpDsbhzQ yelp.com/biz_photos/SwsG… The red meat is Char-sui, that's the only thing I'm certain of... the noodle looking thing I think was Tripe, the pink thing I think was pigs feet, and the other meat, I have no idea. It looked like beef tounge, but whole it did not and also didn't taste like it. Maybe Liver? Stomach? Brain? Heart? NO IDEA!!!! ***If someones knows, can they tell me** Steamed Fish with Scallions. This fish was very good and soft. Normally it taste like nothing at other chinese restaurants but this one was very flavorful. Peaking Duck with bun and plum sauce. You can't go wrong with this dish. Always delicious at every Chinese restaurant you go to. Although I don't understand why they can't put an actual piece of meat in the bun rather than the skin... blows my mind because the actual duck comes out later. Scallops with Green Bell Peppers and Onions. This was surprisingly good. There were a lot of scallops in the dish not like they skimped out on it. And if you like green bell peppers , which I don't, you will love this dish even more. I ate a few bell peppers just to try it and it was actually decent to me. Onions are onions and are good all the time. House Cake Noodle with Crispy Gau Gee. This is my favorite dish. The house cake noodle was very good and still crispy, just how I like it. It came with like bak choy, shrimp, mushrooms, chicken, char-siu, and carrots on top with crispy gau gee on the side. **Tip: The crispy gau gee is different from the crispy won ton. the crispy won ton has much less meat and it usually like a shell shape. The crispy gau gee his rectangular and has lots of meat in the middle.** Cooked Duck. It's your basic duck that comes in a Chinese restaurant. I never tried it since I was getting full and went for seconds on some of the better things, like the cake noodle. Ung Choi with Sliced Beef. The Ung choi is kind of like a cross between watercress and bak choy. I don't know how to explain it. It came with a sliced beef very similar to the beef in beef broccoli. Almond Float. This was the dessert for our evening dinner. Almond Float is like a white Almond-ish flavored Jello cut up and put with canned mixed fruit. This dish is always good and my niece loved it. Just before leaving, they gave one of our 3 tables the organic cold ginger chicken. I refuse to eat Cold Ginger Chicken so defiantly didn't try it, but the people that did try it had mixed feeling about it. It taste very different from regular chicken, that all I have to say about that. Overall, this was one of the better Chinese Restaurants I went to for dinner. Food was tasty and the service was fine and always attentive. (I never had to pay for the bill so IDK how long it takes for it to come like some of the other yelpers are saying) **Side note, Anna F's picture of the Honey Walnut Shrimp looks delicious! I wish we had that...

    (4)

  • Tiffany L.

    Planned on going to Legends next door but it was closed. Came to Won Kee instead, huge mistake. Besides the awful service provided which included getting any beverages 10 minutes into the min course after asking several times. To get water I had to walk to the kitchen area to ask for it while 8 employees were sitting around eating food and chatting loudly. We ordered steam pork buns after the dish came it looked the same, but when I bit it I knew it was different. Being allergic to seafood asked if it was the steamed pork we ordered, the lady replied no she didn't have that meat requested and that this was in fact a different dish and served it to us without asking. When we said we did not want it she grabbed my plate in front of me and flipped the contents over back into it's original dish and slammed my used plate back down in front of me and walked away without saying anything, while additionally taking the contents of the other food on my plate. Later we ordered a replacement dish which the breading tasted stale. After finishing our meal and about to leave she brought us a order of the dish they said they were out of. Sad face =(

    (1)

  • Dean H.

    Gotta spit the truth about this dim sum....good and good prices....how can you beat it? Get more selection. No variety leaves me with wanting more and more....you know what I mean....no cold platters, no certain fried stuff, and no jook cart....hmmmmm But seriously, it is all good with the rest of the choices..... Also had some KILLER salt pepper pork chops and the spinach dumplings was FILLED with spinach....nice..... If you are in the cultural plaza area and Legends has a SUPER long line....go next door to Won Kee, you won't be disappointed.....

    (4)

  • Dennis L.

    DIM SUM We came here for late lunch dim sum and expected a decent meal based on the number of filled tables during lunch. What we got instead, was the lady/owner trying to hustle off her last remaining dim sum items on us. Normally, a NO will suffice to let them know which items you dont want. But she had no qualms about putting on high school style peer pressure. She told us no, we didn't know what we wanted and that we would actually like it...FOR EVERYTHING! Everything tasted old, cold and not fresh. WAH WAH

    (2)

  • Doris D.

    We came here for dim sum on Saturday morning, about 10am. It was nearly empty. I guess people eat dim sum much later than mainland Chinese people. We got the usual dishes, siu mai, ha gau, spare ribs, egg tarts, cheong fun, fried mochi, chicken feet, etc. It was all just ok. The cheong fun was really tough. The meal was certainly cheap, we spent about $18 for 2 people who stuffed themselves silly.

    (3)

  • Norm G.

    We came here for dinner the other night with my in-laws, including my mother and father-in-law, who were here visiting from Hong Kong. We decided to celebrate father's day a little early since they are returning to Hong Kong before the official father's day. My wife told me that my mother-in-law placed the order a couple nights before our dinner. We had: 1. Soup, which contained seafood, ginger, Chinese spinach, and cilantro. The combination of spices and primary ingredients made the soup so savory; I ended up having two bowls. 2. Oysters. I am not usually a big fan of cooked oysters (love the fresh ones on a half shell with beer, however), but these were not too big, and fried just right in batter. I was practically in ecstasy, which I really was not expecting! 3. Lobster. I think it was dredged in some type of garlic sauce. 4. Peking Duck. Even the buns that you put the delicious, crispy duck in were good by themselves. 5. Chopped duck and mushroom concoction (don't know what it's called) that you put in lettuce leaves with hoisin sauce. This dish was out of this world and I had two of them. So much for the diet! 6. Chicken and ham dish, which were these delicious looking slices of chicken, nicely presented with slices of ham in between. 7. Steamed rice dish with lup cheong and chicken which was made in a big clay pot. Delicious, but by this time my stomach was a dai toh lahm (big stomach)! Then we topped it off with, 8. Desert, which was a warm combination of soy milk and ground up walnuts. Just great, but by then I could only fit half a bowl. I was thinking I might have to buy an external stomach (sort of like an external hard drive you might buy for all your video and music files). The food was simply delectable, but to top it all off, the service was very friendly! That was the biggest surprise of the night. Our waitress smiled constantly, laughed, and explained each dish. Another woman came out who was dressed up, and talked to us briefly; I think she was probably the owner. Were we treated this well because: A) My mother-in-law ordered two days earlier; B) My mother-in-law ordered in Cantonese; or C) They treat everyone this well and they just simply epitomize customer service? Answer: I don't know! But I do know the combination of delicious food and superlative service will result in a return visit from us in the near future. Great job, Won Kee!

    (5)

  • Kat M.

    The waitresses were friendly, the food was delicious, and it busy wasn't when my family ate there at 5pm on a Saturday. The garlic porkchops are great for garlic lovers, the honey walnut shrimp wasn't too sweet, and the mixed vegetables with cake noodle was delicious. My mother loved all eight dishes we ordered. We will definitely come back again next time.

    (4)

  • Sherrie D.

    This place is gross... The food comes out lukewarm or cold. The floors are sticky.

    (1)

  • Desiree Anne A.

    My fam and I had a great time at won kee all due to the friendly service and awesome crab dinner deal for 4! You pick 4 dishes from the dinner menu, and you get another dish of whole crab, cooked however you like! :) Since we like to over eat and have more for leftovers, we also ordered 2 other dishes that weren't on the dinner menu set. I think adding 2 more dishes, is still a reasonable bill for the amount and authenticity you get out of the dishes. Bill was about $80 for 6 dishes, including me dads, 2 green bottles. What stood out for me was... won kee special fried rice, which is basically egg white dry scallop fried rice. so good! the fish fillet and black bean cold ginger chicken. it was huge! the spicy eggplant hot pot anyways, all of it was gooood! the waitresses were really nice. they even brought us complimentary dessert. they gave two big jin deui to share and small soup bowls of 2 warm red bean soup and 2 sweet tapioca ones. The only con is they took really, really long to get us our check. It was like they wanted us to eat more. But all in all a good time and will be back!

    (5)

  • Jessica W.

    I strongly recommend my friends to eat this restaurant ,they provide fancy food and cost you low!

    (5)

  • Rita L.

    had dinner here so we could go watch the chinese new year festival...pretty good. i would come back. Cold Ginger chicken...tasty ginger sauce and a good amount of chicken.. Honey walnut shrimp-huge shrimp and cruncy walnuts...its sooo good! I mean...whoa...might be the best i ever had... Lobster and black bean sauce-they have really good black bean sauce here....sooo good all over the rice! the chinese broccoli with oyster sauce is sooo yummy! We had a pretty good chinese dinner here...The service was pretty good too... The portions were right for the price.

    (4)

  • Leimalani F.

    Kung Hee Fat Choy! Its the year of the water dragon, and my horoscope predicts wealth and prosperity through Spring. Being the dedicated Yelper I am, I translate this to mean: Eat out once a day for the next 4 months! This marks my first review of the Chinese New Year that officially starts January 6, 2012. Dim Sum: We ordered items from both carts. Pork hash: Actually better than average. The filling is inconsistent though because I wanted to tackle my sweet Grannie for the large shrimp she got in hers... Baked char siu bau: Sticky sweet on top and lacking meat. But I did find a perfectly square piece of fat in mine.... freak of nature cellulose! Spinach and scallop: Pretty good and filled with spinach. They use real pieces of scallop, not the mystery where's my scallop varieties at most spots. Unfortunately, the pi was old :( Seafood bundle: Excellent. Fresh. BIG shiitake mushroom. Menu stuffs: I didn't actually look at the menu because one of the things I like about eating with my family is that they just take care of the food and order for like 15 people :D Char siu chow fun: We got the dry variety. It was not dry. It was wet. But I liked it very much. Could use more veggies and less salt. Ong Choy with pork: I love ong choy! It's some kind of water spinach that is hollow in the stem and very tasty! Theirs is spot on. Best thing on the table. We got ours with shrimp sauce but usually you can order this with black bean or bean curd sauce too. Overall, I would definitely be back to eat dinner, but I think I'll skip dim sum. Being that this was Chinese New Year and the Chinese Cultural Plaza was packed, I just felt like the items on the carts were a little lack luster. And they do not have a saute cart or look fun cart. Order from the menu and you'll probably be stoked like other Yelpers. NOTE: This restaurant is under new management. Not sure when the turnover happened, but the new owner is REALLY friendly and nice. Unlike other Chinese restaurants, she comes to check on your table and ask about the food (in ENGLISH! Wha- Wha- What???) Great Service deserves the extra star! This place is deceptively large. It must sit 200 people if you look around the corner behind the counter to pay, so this would be a cheaper alternative to Legends or Hee Hing if you've got a massive family (number, not size... tee hee). Also, a big group of Chinese nationals were bussed in about 1:15pm, so eat early if you wanna miss the daily photo brigade.

    (3)

  • Darren N.

    Getting there: Busy but multistory validated lot makes it easy to get to. Cheap parking compared to Waikiki. Ambiance: Typical dim sum / Chinese restaurant feel, lots of circular 6+ person tables with white dining clothes under clear plastic material. Noisy as always but still good for group conversation. Service: Sometimes you have to hunt down the wait staff for additional items (food, utensils, water / tea) but they do make their rounds especially when you first sit. Even if you have to request something, they're everywhere and easily accessible. FYI hot tea is free which is standard for this type of place. Cleanliness of tea cups and utensils are average. Chinese restaurants have a reputation for being a bit lax on the dish cleaning. Food: The dim-sum is not too oily, though lots of items have it--given that most dim-sum is made with oil. My two favorite dim-sum dishes are the shrimp in crispy fried won ton pi (phonetically jau-ha) and cake noodle with beef broccoli. Their mochi rice and custard pie are also family favorites. If you request something that isn't on the carts they'll make it or give you a fresh batch as soon as it's done. Who to bring: You can bring any amount but dim-sum is best enjoyed with a group. How much to bring: To be honest I don't know how prices compare with other places but with a group setting you can get your fill for less than two movie tickets, popcorn, and drinks. Verdict: Not every dim-sum place is the same and this one does not disappoint. Final notes: It helps if you speak Cantonese, or even Mandarin? English will suffice though. This is a review of their lunch menu. Also, lunch can start early and typically dim-sum places are busy--especially on holidays / weekends.

    (4)

  • Jonathan L.

    Jellyfish, walnuts, fried rice, and peanut soup was about the only things I ate at this restaurant. We had a set course meal which included lobster, shrimp with walnuts, duck, pork platter with jellyfish, fish, and peanut with mochi. It was super crowded when we went. Every table was taken but luckily we had reservations. I had a sample of everything but it wasn't that good. Tasted like any other Chinese restaurant. The only thing I really ate a lot of was the dishes I mentioned above. I didn't like how there were fruit flies lingering around my food and had to constantly swat them away. The service was pretty good. The constantly refilled out teas and took away dishes when we were done. The bathroom was pretty dirty though but its probably the same with most Chinese restaurants. The interior is pretty old too. What was pretty cool is that you know your lobster and prawns are fresh because they have a tank with live ones and I saw one of the workers fetching them.

    (2)

  • Sandy D.

    Came here for a family party. crab meat soup A squab or pigeon dish (not something I enjoy, although hubby ate it) Lobster with emein noodles (barely any lobster meat) Honey walnut shrimp (best dish of the night) Steamed fish (no flavor, kind of dry) peking duck with buns (tasted good, buns were soft) crispy chicken (good) fried oysters (wasn't too fresh, saw a lot of leftovers on other tables) plain emein noodles (pretty plain, but since we had noodles earlier, didn't feel like having more) buns with a sweet bean type filling The restaurant was packed since our party took up five tables. Service was attentive. New plates for dishes were given regularly, water glasses filled frequently, they were friendly and accommodating. Food came out quickly. I gave it a three stars because of the service. Food was okay, not terrible, not wonderful, but I would consider eating there in the future.

    (3)

  • Virginia Y.

    This is the WORST place I've gone for yum cha during my stay at hawaii. Not only are the dishes cooked poorly. They don't taste fresh and they try to trick tourists when the check comes. I had only 4 dishes and they charged me as 5 dishes. Not only that, they didn't have beef look funn in the carts so I ordered it separately, I thought it'd be the regular dim sum price. Either 3.95 or 4.50 but NOPE it was charged as $5.96. I figured it out after I left that they were trying to jip me because when I asked the waiter what was charged as $5.95 she said it was a mistake and that it's 4.71 but that was actually the percentage of tax. The owner of the place told me it was the beef look funn that was charged $5.95.. Why are 2 people telling me different things on the same item? Luckily i got the check corrected with the number of dishes. But I was still overcharged for the rice roll.. I seriously hope this place goes out of business. Now for the food quality: I got egg tarts which was DRIPPED in oil. Now that I've never seen before.. the beef in the rice roll wasn't even tender or flavorful... I got char siu bao which came out a okay. The spring roll was just greasy.. Steer far far far away from here!!!

    (1)

  • Nancy F.

    Extremely surprised that Won Kee's overall rating is higher than a star. A total waste of time as service is extremely, painfully, frustratingly s.l.o.w. So much so that when we finally got our first dish, even the food couldn't make up for the service. I'm not a fan.

    (1)

  • Dragon D.

    Probably because of Chinese New Year, wow service was terrible. Kitchen coordination was bad too. Our 10 dishes took over 2 hours. We saw the 3 dishes of honey walnut shrimp coming out and none of those came to our table. We had to wait another 15 minutes. Won Kee overall is good but avoid the busy times. eg: Chinese new year.

    (2)

  • Naly P.

    My family and I loved going to this place. never had to wait like Legends next door and service was always okay. Sad to say but my family will never be returning there again as today when I was pouring the soy sauce on to my daughter's plate I could not believe what I saw. Two dead bugs came out of soy sauce bottle. As soon as i could say something my wife says "is there bugs on her plate?. cause I have one on mines too." called the male waiter over show him what we saw he took the plates and bottle of soy sauce. Thinking he would replace the plates since there was already food on the table. we ended up waiting about another ten mins. Finally one of the lady pushing the dim sum cart noticed and yelled something out and got us plates. trying to eat we could not do it so we checked out. going to the cashier I notified the owner of what happen. she simply just said sorry. it didn't seem to bother her that a paying customer was letting her know that there might be bugs in the other soy sauce bottles. my guess as to how little bugs ended up in the bottle? instead of cleaning out the bottles. they just continue to refill the darn things with soy sauce over and over never checking. Awesome way to start the morning!

    (1)

  • Inthira M.

    This is more like a 2.5 stars. The fiance and I decided to try this place when our favorite dim sum place (Fook Lam) was busy and he didn't feel like waiting. He said that this place was pretty good and that his grandparents used to eat here. I think I should have caught on to the "used to" part. So what was it that I didn't like? It wasn't the service. For being lunch time half the restaurant was actually pretty empty so we were seated right away. And despite us being towards the back of the restaurant, a little segregated from the rest of the people, the ladies still accomodated us and kept coming up to us with their carts. I also liked that any request we made was fulfilled immediately (water, extra plates... they even checked on our tea to see if it needed a refill). I also like that they have a take out menu with pictures on it to make it a little easier for people who might not know what a certain dish is called (saw it when a tourist couple came in). So what is it about this place that rubbed me the wrong way? It was the taste of the food that ultimately let me down and left me leaving disappointed. We got the shu mai, look fun with that bread thing in the middle, shrimp and chive dumplings, spare ribs, jook (rice porridge with salted pork and preserved egg), and a bean curd roll. The only thing I liked was the shu mai, I acutally got two orders of it because it was the only thing I really ate. The look fun was also decent I just wasn't in the mood for it. The disappointments were the spare ribs, jook, and the bean curd roll. The spare ribs, though much larger in size than other restaurants, was flavorless. Same thing with the jook, it was the right consistency, but it tasted like nothing and no matter how much white pepper (I even resorted to shoyu) I put on the soup it still didn't help the taste. Also, I'm used to pieces of pork not minced up pieces! There wasn't even ginger inside (or maybe it's just Fook Lam that does that)! Even the bean curd roll just had... beancurd. Now I know you might be thinking "duh, that's what you ordered" but I swear other places at least put vegetables in it like shiitake mushrooms and sliced carrots. The only dish I can't comment on is the shrimp and chive dumplings because I don't eat that in general, but the fiance only ate 1 out of the bunch and he usually eats all of them at other places. I don't know if they just had an off day since so many people rate them high on their dim sum... or maybe I just got spoiled when I was in Hong Kong. Either way, I think I'll stick to my usual spots.

    (2)

  • Kaiulani K.

    I hate to give 1-star, especially since nothing went horribly wrong here, but the experience I had was just bad. Came at night and asked if they had dim sum left. They said they did and I was surprised since a lot of places don't offer dim sum at night. I soon figured out why, when I tried to order they said they were out of 5/6 things I wanted to order. We ended up ordering at random and on the spot. Nothing really blew my mind. The shrimp dumpling was okay, but everything else I could definitely do without. I would say do not get the beef ball (poor texture, flavor and too much seasoning), the seafood roll (just fish, vegetable and imitation crab in bean curd) or egg roll (really oily). The service was okay at first. I understand they were really busy, but we waited over 15 minutes to get the check. I'd like to come back, but not for dim sum. I really want to give these guys a better review.

    (1)

  • Stacey K.

    I came here for dim sum a week ago and I wish I didn't. The Bad: The food was below average and the restaurant is sooooo DIRTY! I don't mind dining at local joints that have a mom and pop charm (btw this place doesn't).. but when hot sauce and spicy mustard containers are covered in crusty glops and oily finger imprints I want to PUKE. The containers have obviously never ever ever been washed... on top of that the hot sauce looked like it hadn't been changed in months. If thats what customers see imagine how gross everything is that we don't see. Sticky tables, dirty floors, blah blah. Not coming back. Ever. The Good: They have a dim sum picture menu so it's easier to pick out what you like. The service was also not bad.

    (1)

  • Olivia N.

    The service was absolutely terrible. No one came over to take order even though there were only a hand-full of customers in the restaurant. We had to raise our voices to get the waitress's attention. It took about 30 minutes to get 30% of the amount of food we ordered. 45 Minutes after we ordered. We were getting impatient and decided to take a smoke break in front of the restaurant while we were waiting but the staffs in the restaurant insisted we had to pay for the first 30% of the food before we could take a smoke break. They really thought we would just run away like that. The table next to us left for 40 minutes and no body ever came by to clean up the table. They don't have the best dim sum in town. Especially the shanghai dumplings are not even what they are suppose to be. I would not recommend anyone to go here.

    (1)

  • K T.

    I'm not used to chinese restaurants closing early at 8 pm where I come from but their food is great. It's full of flavor. The Won Kee Lobster was good. The Honey walnut shrimp is good too. Even their fried rice is good. The staff are friendly. Price point is just right.

    (4)

  • Vira P.

    Good dim sum and it's clean.

    (3)

  • Claudia M.

    The food here was ok...there was barely anyone here when we ate here for dinner. friendly service. probably wont eat here again though

    (3)

  • Michelle L.

    good dim sum and inexpensive as i went up to get change, i didn't see the glass lazy susan turn table thingy propped on a chair in front of me. i ran right into that glass and it was heavy and now i have a bruise on my knee. ouchies ;( but other than that, i like this place for dim sum. always come here with my family and friends :)

    (4)

  • Bob B.

    I never ever eat out without leaving a tip. Until now. Dim Sum seemed old and sub par. They were glad to hustle what little bit they had left, it seems. Ordered one dish off the menu, just OK. Maybe would have seemed better but service sucked. Maybe we didn't order enough of what they were pushing on us, we even had to hunt for our own napkins. Finally brought water when we asked, no refills offered. Two ladies who sat down at another table got ignored and left without ordering. (They looked Chinese, so I guess this restaurant is terrible no matter whom they're dealing with). When we arrived, I sort of recalled I had a bad experience before, but what the heck I'd try again. Oh, and did I mention bugs crawling on the table? Which normally only adds to the authenticity but there was nothing good about it otherwise. And one more thing. There were only about three tables being used, should have been a clue right there. For a Sunday afternoon I would expect more. Bottom line, there are many great restaurants in Chinatown, but this isn't one of them. Any of the others will be much better.

    (1)

  • Victor Y.

    I used to never go here, but since a family friend in the last 6 months became the head chef here, it's changed alot and the food has gotten 100 times better! a must have is the crab cooked with fried garlic bits! the garlic bits are deep fried and the crab is so tasty it's to die for. then the lamb stirfry is the best! you can't taste the lamby taste at all! my dad hates lamb because of the lamby taste, but when we come here he can't get enough of it! try it out, it's not the same! Chef Qing is awesome!

    (5)

  • Arnrae M.

    Came here on Valentine's. We were actually trying to find another the server stop us at the doorway. They had great selections of Lobster, including their signature Won Kee Lobster. I also had garlic Crab and steamed fish onions with that fresh tasting and taste great. The portions are LARGE. The service was excellent and price was very reasonable. Easy parking and no wait seating. This will be a regular for me.

    (4)

  • James L.

    Located in Chinese Cultural Center on King St. I frequent this place for dim sum often on weekend mornings and it's usually not too busy. The smaller dish goes for $2.25 and the bigger at $2.95. Tea, as usual here, is no charge. (Some places in other states charge for tea.) The waitresses are your typical Chinese waitresses. They yell across the room, but that's probably culture, so it shouldn't bother you if you got used to it. The waitresses are all native Chinese speakers and are not so great in English, so I think some of the waitresses try hard to use English and is delighted to practice, especially since most customers are probably Chinese speakers also. I usually order in Chinese, but they were so pleased to be able to English when they heard that we spoke English. Yeah, it's strange. That's Hawaii. The dim sum is pretty good. The chicken feets and egg tarts are very tasty. The chopsticks, plates, and cups might need a good wiping before you use them. Sometimes they don't look washed very well... that's why I usually prefer disposable wooden chopsticks at restaurants.

    (4)

  • Antoinette C.

    I went here two weeks ago. I loved the food but the service could've been better. :/

    (3)

  • Hiep N.

    Stopped by here for dinner since Hong Kong Noodle house was closed on a Thursday? Seriously WTF! Anyway, the restaurant had some full tables but it wasn't all that busy. We ordered the peking duck, scallop chow fun, and the waitress recommended the sautéed lamb with garlic sauce. The peking duck was crispy and delicious. Just the way I like it. The scallop chow fun was disgusting, bland, and the consistency was horrendous. The noodles weren't house made and weren't very good to begin with. Then they thew some peas, carrots, scrambled eggs, and scallops over them. It was slime y and nearly inedible. The sautéed lamb was surprisingly good. I didn't know what to expect since I wouldn't typically order lamb at a Chinese restaurant, but it was quite tasty. It was stirfried with leeks and spicy peppers. I definitely recommend it. Service was pretty slow and it took us about 30 minutes before our food came out.

    (2)

  • Montie M.

    Not sure what all the negative reviews are about. Maybe the Chinese cultural plaza used to have a problem with bums. We walked around the entire place before settling in for dinner and there were no bums and no stench. We did see a couple of security guards about so maybe they have made a move to improve. Also, the 3 staff members we talked to all spoke English so yet again I'm not sure why people are freaking out. Also, if you're eating in Chinatown at a place called the Chinese Cultural Center, its your own damn fault if English isnt the go-to language. I had the sizzling seafood for $14 and it was very good. the freshest squid i've had. Service was quick and efficient with good attention to refills. I'm assuming the pot of hot tea was complimentary though the bill was in Chinese so I can't be sure. We were attending dinner not dim sum like the other 5 thousand reviews on here, so maybe that has something to do with it.

    (4)

  • Eunice M.

    It has been years since I dined at Won Kee and I was pleasantly surprise. Waitstaff greeted us right away and was very pleasant. Ordered three dishes: young chau fried rice, pay pa tofu, and black bean beef stirfry. All the entrees were flavorful and not too salt. Looking forward to dinning there again in the near future.

    (4)

  • Joshua C.

    A surprisingly good dim sum spot that literally gets passed up as people flock to Legends. We stopped in here on mother's day and had "Shrimp Sum" or "Shrimp 20 Different Ways". It was like a Bubba Gump Dim Sum fantasy, but since I love shrimp I didn't really mind. I always get an order of Shrimp Look Fun and here it was good enough that we got two. The sticky rice wrapped in the leaves with chicken or pork, was also a favorite. Overall the dim sum was nicely flavored and well prepared (not quite as good as what we had in SF, but I wasn't expecting it too be). This place was recommended by my Mother-in-laws neighbor who used to own a Chinese restaurant. Lunch (especially for the amount we consumed) was surprisingly affordable. While it might not be Legends I'd consider this place a viable alternative.

    (3)

  • David G.

    I had a dim sum lunch here today with my dear little old Japanese lady friend. I haven't dined here in nearly a year--it was the de facto dim sum eatery for me and mum, but alas mum and dad took off for the Pacific NW and left me without a regular dim sum partner. I dislike eating alone, but doubly so when having dim sum. Anyhow, after using the last few months to try new places in my new neighborhood (i.e. the downtown confines), it was time to revisit an old friend. And have dim sum with her at Won Kee. Some of the reasons Won Kee, uh, won out against its major competition of Legend next door as me and mum's go to dim sum joint include Won Kee opens earlier, has a more comfortable seating area, usually has better service (e.g. my water gets refilled without even asking at Won Kee, while at Legend I usually don't even bother asking, I just get up and grab my own refill), and mum preferred Won Kee's chicken feet over Legend's (I'll take her word for it). Today, me and my little old Japanese lady friend ordered 7 different items: the lotus leaf wrapped mochi rice, beef balls, shrimp balls, fried shimp in won ton wrapper, mochi puff, taro puff, and thisoneotherthingIdon'trememberwhatyoucallitwithth­eyellowwrapperandwhateverinibutwasprettygood. Sorry I cannot properly name the dishes--blame my Hong Kong born mom for deciding not to teach her kids Cantonese! My friend thought the taro puff here was better than the ones she has had at Legend and Panda Cuisine. I was pretty happy with everything--nothing really stood out, but nothing disappointed either. I was a little worried since we got in approaching noontime that some things may have been sitting in the steamer baskets overlong, but I didn't taste any evidence of that. I was particularly happy that my favorite always-ordered dish, the lotus leaf wrapped mochi rice, had obviously just been prepared before it got to our table. As luck would have it, Won Kee was running a 10% off promotion for dim sum and lunch today, so the total bill was only $17.

    (4)

  • n p.

    I've met people who swear by this restaurant and others who can't stand it. I thought it was okay. Nothing spectacular for the most part. But a nice restaurant to eat at with a large party. The honey walnut shrimp is always really good, so is their peking duck.

    (3)

  • . ..

    Stopped in with my Mother for Lunch and was hungry for some Dim Sum. The Restaurant was near empty, we were lucky. We had some Char Siu Bow, Seafood Curd Roll, Chicken and Mushroom Roll(2x), Shrimp and Chives Roll, Pork and Shrimp ShuMai(2x) and the House Fried Rice. The bill came out to about $35. Very reasonable for the amount of food ordered, we just tried all kinds to just to sample and knew we would be taking home the leftovers. I thought the food was Great. It was fast, hot, Ono, really tasty. The service was terrific, many servers are not english speaking but no problem, very friendly. A definite return and new favorite for us. Parking was on the street cause I have a drove my big 4x4, but the visit was an Awsome Experience.

    (4)

  • Kathleen G.

    came back two days ago and brought a friend over here for first time... food's great as usual: baked pork chop, garlic butter and seafood fried rice (loved this!) and the gau gee as appetizer. speaking of appetizers, they should come out the kitchen first before the main dish, right? but for some reason, our appetizer came after our pork chop and rice. otherwise, it was all good. one star down for that...

    (4)

  • Anita L.

    I would have to say, we were very impressed with the meal we had here. We had no expectations but were open minded to the fact that we'd never eaten here before. I was craving claypot rice and ordered one of those, but it takes a long time for it to be ready so we ordered other stuff while waiting. Bitter melon with beef was delicious! I love bitter melon and this dish just hit the spot. Dried tofu stir fried with pork, bean sprouts, green peppers and carrots was also really good. Because I had requested everything to be cooked with less oil, the dishes tasted just like home made. Spinach with garlic was also very light and delicious. Hubby was craving cha siu fried rice so he ordered that while we waited for my claypot rice. It also did not disappoint! The little guy had 2 bowls on top of the other stuff he ate. Finally, the claypot rice arrived. I was eagerly anticipating the wonderful 'burnt' bits stuck to the bottom of the claypot which is what this dish is all about, but was so disappointed when firstly, I drizzled the sauce over the rice and I could hear no sizzle. Then, I ran the spoon along the edges of the pot and nothing was stuck to it. This was definitely not cooked in the pot itself. What usually happens when the rice is not stuck to the pot is cooked rice is used and then whatever you've ordered with the rice (we ordered chicken and mushrooms) is placed on top and then just heated up so the whole thing is hot. If the entire dish was cooked from scratch in the pot, there would DEFINITELY be the layer of scorched rice on the bottom. I would return for its regular food because it was fantastic, but because of the claypot rice (which I was craving) turned out so terribly wrong, I had to take off one star.

    (4)

  • Amy G.

    i like coming here. the food is cheap and they give ALOT of food. i am a huge fan of fook yuen, but there are just a few items they do a lot better then fook yuen does. first, they have this dried scallop fried rice. SOOO GOOD! and then there shrimp cashews are really really really good. its super crispy and they give you so much of it. i'm still a huge fan of fook yuen b/c htey have really good sweet and sour dishes and they have my favorite: chicken hot pot with tofu and salted fish.

    (4)

  • Henry K.

    Great place, good price like the surrounding!!!! I liked it when me and my better half went.Gotta go back for the LOBSTER!'!!!!!!!

    (4)

  • Dan F.

    I just ate here for dim sum during lunch time. We ordered various foods such as Siu Mai (Pork Dumpling), Bo Choi Gau (Spinach with giant scallop dumpling), Jin Jook Gin (Giant scallop, shrimp, shitake mushroom, and something else all wrapped in some deep fried tofu skin look alike., Ha Cherng Fun and Dai Ji Cherng Fun (Thick rice noodle wrapped in shrimp and giant scallop), No Mei Fan (That giant rice with chicken that's wrapped in that green leaf thing), Chicken Legs, Ha Gao (Shrimp Dumpling), Some Tripe dish, Ji Choi Gin (Shrimp wrapped in Seaweed that's deep fried), Ja Ha (Deep fried shrimp), and some Baked Char Siu Bao served with glazed sugar. Sorry for the bad Chinese, but anyway I thought the food was pretty decent. I ate most of the food so I was pretty satisfied. The service could've been better but I guess they didn't like us because we were Chinese and we spoke little Cantonese to them. After about an hour eating the food, I started to get this major headache. I still have it as I'm writing this review. Most likely there was a lot of MSG in their food. Something that can't be helped at any Chinese restaurant. But so far this is the only Chinese restaurant that actually gave me a headache after eating. Will I eat here again? I don't know. I'm kind of worried about the MSG content.

    (3)

  • Mako H.

    went here this weekend for dimsum,,,, wasn't crowded and service was pushy but then again,,, that's chinese,,,,, used to eat here alot back in the day,,, dim sum was pretty good 2 people $22 plus tip

    (3)

  • Lei L.

    This place is hit or miss...never get takeout from them. Soggy noodles and mushy shrimp canton - bummers

    (2)

  • Angela K.

    I echo what has been shared in the reviews below. The dim sum is surprisingly good. They DO NOT cheap out on the ingredients; you don't just gnaw on some piece of fat instead of meat. The seafood is fresh. There is a lot of variety. Best yet, the prices are unbelieveably cheap. Really, can't complain. I'm only sorry that I must purchase a ticket back to Oahu in order to satisfy my craving for their food.

    (4)

  • Dijon Y.

    The dim sum here is alright, pretty good. I'd come back again. The service is friendly. I need to try more dim sum on Oahu before I can give a higher rating.

    (3)

  • Carol L.

    A great place for Dim Sum. Opens @ 8am! Soo reasonable! Like another yelper said...Shrimp prepared 120 ways! :) They even ask for what kinda of tea you would like! Love the deep fried seaweed with shrimp...yes more shrimp. Look fun is always yum with the special soy sauce it comes with shrimp, char sui or beef. If you want noodles or a stir fried veggies they take orders @ 1000. (I think that when the cooks come in) LOL Ask for Mary the waitress she is super. Extra credit ~ help if you know someone who speaks Cantonese to order like me (wink~wink)

    (5)

  • Elle B.

    ok..update...still 4 stars but i highly don't recommend trying to eat here on Sunday unless someone at your table speaks Cantonese. What is normally a pretty chill place turns into a freaking madhouse.

    (4)

  • Matt K.

    I want to start off by saying that the reason I am giving Won Kee such a low rating is because of the service my family received. It was really all due to our particular waiter, don't know his name...but he had really bad teeth (I'm talking black, nasty teeth). All the other waiters / bussers / waitresses were very personable and nice, just our waiter was horrible. They were pretty busy at the time I went tonight, about 7pm. We looked over the menu and were trying to figure out what we wanted to eat. Our waiter was very pushy, when we asked questions about their specials or certain menu items...he answered us with a very short response that didn't quite answer our questions. The response that was the worst for me was when we asked what kind of fish they used (local or international suppliers). He didn't say that they used either, but that they use the cheapest! (HAHAHA!!!) The last straw with our waiter was when my mom noticed that every other table seemed to have the traditional Chinese desserts on their table but we were not offered desserts before he brought the check. When she asked him if we were supposed to get desserts with our meal or not, he basically paused...and said (in Chinese), "Well...what do you want?" He gave us desserts and when we talked to another waitress, she said that we should have been offered dessert and that they come with every meal!!! That really pissed me off!!! All that said, the food was pretty good in quality. My family enjoyed the food portion of the meal. We were starving after a long visit to the Polynesian Cultural Center. What we ordered: - Duck and Roasted Pork Combo: Pretty good. A little more greasy than I like, but with duck...that is to be expected. - Chinese Broccoli: Crisp and fresh. Not too much sauce. - Walnut Shrimp: Nice large shrimp. Fresh out of the fryers...just enough sauce! Walnuts were delicious. - Clay Pot with Fish, Tofu, Mushrooms and Garlic: The fish was very tender. Sauce was flavorful and not salty. So all in all...the food here is very good. We had a horrible experience with our waiter, I would suggest requesting a waitress if you dine here, they were all very nice to my family. I would give the food a 4 star but the service a 0...hence my 2 star rating. This is really my first negative review of a restaurant. Bad service leaves a bad taste in my mouth!!

    (2)

  • maiko h.

    As the name indicates, seafood is king at Won Kee, which is located in the Chinese Cultural Plaza. This is a fancier place where you will pay a bit more than you would at a hole-in-the-wall joint, but the price tag warrants their expert handling of fresh seafood. We always ordered something seafood with the garlicky black bean sauce, usually the fresh clams, but sometimes the prawns or oysters. The salty black bean sauce over white steamed rice is, I think, one of the most sublime heights of Chinese cuisine. The cooks at Won Kee really know how to make the black bean flavor punch out without being muddled, while taking care not to let it overpower the delicate seafood. And the steamed whole fish dressed with hot sesame oil and covered in thinly julienned ginger and scallions as well as plenty of cilantro was a family favorite--enough that my mom bravely incorporated it into her repretoire for between our visits to Won Kee. I think this place is best for people who eat with gusto and have no fears of sea critters, spiciness, or exotic flavors. Their signature dishes tend to be something one wouldn't usually get at a Chinese restaurant such as whole fish or whole crab, and if you're timid about ordering then you'll miss out on the best part of the menu.

    (5)

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Map

Opening Hours

  • Mon :8:00 am - 9:00pm

Specialities

  • Takes Reservations : Yes
    Delivery : No
    Take-out : Yes
    Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
    Good For : Lunch
    Parking : Validated
    Bike Parking : Yes
    Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
    Good for Kids : Yes
    Good for Groups : Yes
    Attire : Casual
    Ambience : Casual
    Noise Level : Loud
    Alcohol : No
    Outdoor Seating : No
    Wi-Fi : No
    Has TV : No
    Waiter Service : Yes
    Caters : Yes

Won Kee Seafood Restaurant

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