Char Siu House

Tried this eatery today because of the comments on Unilocal was very good. We ordered 2 large plates, 1 choice roast pork on 1 and char Sui on the other. I can’t believe the meat portion was so little compared to the pictures shown on Unilocal.The rice was plentiful but did not have enough meat to eat with it. It was tasty and the sauce was good but only problem was the meat portion was little. That’s why I gave only 2 stars. Next time I will show the plate lunch pictures to the owner, can imagine what a mini is. I’m still hungry right now.

I’d give this place negative stars if I could. I was walking around Chinatown this morning with my family. We were hungry and I decided to stop by to grab a plate lunch. I walked in with my African American husband and my African American son. I listed their ethnicity so you can guess where this is heading. The butcher behind the counter gave them a funny look, like he’s never seen a black person before. He’s probably never seen a Chinese woman married to a black man.
I went up to the counter and ordered my plate. I told him I wanted the large plate with two item combo, roast pork and roast duck. I told him twice. I guess he was so distracted with my husband that he didn’t hear me. He gave me a plate with roast pork and char siu. I had to tell him again what I wanted. This time, he took the char siu off my plate and started chopping up the roast duck. He then proceeded to give me all the bony parts of the duck. I counted seven small pieces of roast pork on my plate, and six pieces of duck. Only one piece of the duck had meat on it. All the other pieces were just bones. The roast pork wasn’t bad. It was tasty and the skin was crispy. The duck lacked flavor and was bland.
With so many other places in Chinatown selling roasted meat, I don’t think I’ll be patronizing this place in the near future. If I do, it won’t be for the plate lunches. I’ll either order the roasted meat by the pound or go with half the duck. That way I won’t just be getting the junk pieces.

Nothing fancy but simply the best. Crispy roast pork and bbq pork. Look for the red signs. Really good

Located in Chinatown, you’ll this little hole in the wall a fairly busy place during the lunch hour. No seating, so it’s grab and go but it’s authentic and worth a visit.

Great place for roast pork & char siu they only have take out but the food tastes great I personally like this place better than their competitor nam Fong only problem is they usually run out of food by noon time because they only make enough for the day so plan to get there early or else!

Great little hole in the wall to buy roast pork and char sui pork to go.
Buying cooked meats from this place, I’m cooking a little easier on a weeknight — fresh choy sum from Chinatown, the roasted pork from here, and little stir fry sauce, served with rice from my new rice cooker. Easy. And good.

Cheap eats!
It’s always nice to find a place that you can grab a quick bite at an affordable price. After seeing a friend post numerous pictures of the meals he gets here, this place got on my radar. When he got Review of the Day here, I made it a top priority to come. Unfortunately our schedules didn’t match up and we couldn’t go together. I did stop by to visit him before I went and he gave some great tips of what to order and how to order it.
My lunch buddy was able to join me and it was perfect because of the tips that our friend gave us. If you order the two choice, you get a little less meat than if you get the one choice. Our friend recommended to my lunch buddy to get the one choice of one meat and I order the one choice of another meat then we can share. Genius! Not only will we get a little more meat, it’ll save us $ 2.00 each!
We both ordered the large one choice for $ 6 and it was a bargain price! She ordered the Char Siu and I ordered the Roast Pork. Both plates came with a ton of rice, some Choy Sum and the meat that we ordered. They will ask you if you want sauce over the rice before handing you the plate. Trust me and add the sauce, it really brings a lot of flavor to the dish. The soy based sauce doesn’t cost extra so score!
They have one table inside so you can dine in or you can order for take out. We ate our meal inside Maunakea Marketplace. Both of us agreed that the Char Siu was a winner. That’s probably why they named the place Char Siu House. The Roast Pork was good but about average. I had their Roast Duck before and it was good but again, about average. There wasn’t enough meat for all the rice in the plate and that’s my only complaint. Overall, this is a great little cheap spot to grab a quick meal.

Hidden gem located in Chinatown. My family and I were drawn by the display of food through the window. Usually I like to do some research on restaurants prior, but decided just to order. The roasted pork was very juicy and some of the best I’ve had. I saw that locals were coming and going as well, so it is a good restaurant to check out if you are in the area.

Whenever we’re in Chinatown before noon, Char Siu House is one of our must-​stops. Their char siu is perfectly seasoned and cooked… not too salty, not too sweet, not too fatty or lean, and not burnt. Be sure to go early because they sell out fast!
If we’re early enough, their roast duck is great as well, but on our past several visits, they’ve been sold out. Today in particular was Kamehameha Day which they explained is the reason why they were sold out. As an alternative, we bought a Shoyu Chicken which had just come out of the cooker piping hot and fresh. The dark meat as well as the white meat is amazingly moist and tender while the flavor of the soaking sauce is wonderfully well balanced.

I miss Chinatown. Odd for me to say since I work on Bishop St., and Chinatown is really a few blocks away.
Growing up my grandma (Popo) would take me and my sister to Chinatown weekly if not more. Same routine, park in municpal structure and walk the stinky alley to King St. Venture through Maunakea Market and the rest of the day would either be Popo playing mahjong with some other crazy gamblers or hair appointments. We spoke no Chinese but could really tell when they would talk about us. Chinese are so obvious lol.
Anyways, these memories of the shops and people make me so nostalgic when walking around to Char Siu House. Pork belly, duck, char siu… delicious.
Only go for the large portions, that’s the only thing worth it.
If you’re one of those that really germaphobic… you might not get passed the them touching your food with their hands. I honestly trust them enough at least not to kill me.
FYI: Cash only!
You really can’t go wrong with this little shop off Maunakea. If you’re really hesitant just check out the marketplace, so many more choices inside. It’s so alive!

This place was so disappointing! We saw that it made an appearance on Bizarre Foods and wanted to give it a try for a non-​Hawaiian meal. After shopping at Aloha Stadium, we worked up and appetite and I was excited to try the roasted crispy pork from here. First, there was a language barrier. The man cutting up the meat for us kept asking us what we wanted and we kept repeating to him large plate of crispy pork and roasted duck. I believe it was 8 – 9 dollars. He finally got it and we paid for our food and proceeded to the parking lot across the street to eat it. When we opened our tray, the portion was so small! I swear it looked like nothing compared to the Unilocalers photos. It consisted of 80 percent rice, 5 percent greens that was included and 15 percent meat. We were so irritated and annoyed, we went back to Waikiki and stopped by Ono Seafood before we went back to our hotel. I wish I could’ve taken a picture but we were so famished, I didn’t think to take a photo! We will not return back to this place! Whomp!

I stopped by chinatown for some errands today and found this place, so I walked in, the chef seemed legit (I’m from HK), then I ordered a charsiu and roast duck rice large size to go for my dinner (cost only $ 8). When started eating I was like OMG, I feel like I’m eating at a restaurant in HK. 5for sure. The charsiu is making me emotional. BTW, I noticed the staff doesnt speak English well, which is a good sign to me (not Americanized food), so in case you wanna try what I had just show them the picture below lol definately will go again (I live in Kailua)

I really thought about not writing a review for this place just because this place is just that good. You really can’t have any complaints coming here just because it’s cheap and delicious… prove me wrong i dare you because you probably can’t here.
Char siu house is a small hole in the wall of pick up and go plates. Small plate for 5 dollars gets you rice, choi sum and choice of meat like roast pork or char siu. Sauce on the rice and everything? yes please!
A large plate runs about 6 and if you can’t decide between having either or, you’re in luck since they offer a two choice plate. Whats even better is that the plates will ALWAYS be under ten dollars… large or small under 10. That’s a deal in itself!
yeahh…my popo always taught me the real chinese secret in life… cheap, delicious food outweighs all.

We need to give businesses a SECOND CHANCE. It’s only fair to do so. No one is perfect and we all have our «off days». This applies to people as well as businesses.
After a really awful experience last year here, I stepped foot into Char Siu House just before New Year’s as I had to redeem a gift certificate and wanted to pick-​up roast pork to welcome the New Year.
Just like many establishments in Chinatown on New Year’s Eve, this place was ROCKING with peeps standing in line. Got here about 1pm only to find the showcase mostly empty with some meats coming straight out of the kitchen! So fresh and piping HOT.
Unfortunately, there was a Chinese lady who ignored the line and made her way to the register ordering. She must have been a regular because they assisted her immediately and treated her like royalty. I was in a good mood so I didn’t let that bother me.
When it was my turn I spoke in Cantonese requesting to use all of the $ 30 gift certificate for the crispy skin roast pork and not to chop it up. To my surprise, the meat cutter was really close in cutting a chunk off and was off by only $ 0.14!!! Wow, talk about accuracy!
Rather than asking me to pay the $ 0.14 difference, the cashier let it go and I walked off with a huge slab of PIG.
With the smell so tempting, I was able to sample a piece of nicely marbled roast pork and DAMN, was it so good! Perhaps better than rival NAM FONG, which is about one block away…
So, should you ever have a bad experience, give the place a break and give them another chance. Let them prove to you what they are capable of doing.

Char Siu House is a great place to get your fix of tasty Cantonese-​style roast duck, roast pork &, of course, char siu!
It was NYE and before leaving for work in the AM with my son, my husband casually tells me that we should have ordered some roast duck to take with us when we fly out to Maui to ring in the New Year with his parents’ (my in-​laws) that night but then said nevermind cause it’s NYE and it’ll be sold out by the time I get done with work. He didn’t realize I worked half day and I have my trust-​worthy Unilocal app on my phone. Called around a few places before deciding on CHAR SIU HOUSE and the lady took my phone order and allowed me to pick it up in the PM when I finish work.
It’s fun watching them carve the duck right there through the glass window as we stood in line. I could have passed the line since I had called in my order but didn’t know that as a first-​timer. Oh well.
Wanted to order a small plate lunch of the roast duck with rice but was told there will be another 10 – 15 minute wait for the steam rice to be done. Next time because it was lunch time and my hungry, restless toddler was ready to leave for the airport right away even though our flight isn’t for another couple hours more!

Before I headed off to HNL and fly back to LAX on the 13^th of August, I had a strong hankering for crispy roast pork belly and char siu. I located the Char Siu House on Unilocal and found that it was a small, basic and old fashion Chinatown BBQ take out place with almost no place to sit. Both the char siu and crispy roast pork belly were good and tasty. However, finding a place to park was difficult.

I could eat a whole bucket of Char Siu. We stopped here with Hawaii Food Tours and I was upset that we waited until the end of the trip to do the food tour or else I would have definitely come back to this spot.

Char Siu House in Oahu’s Chinatown.
First things first, this place is small. Like many other restaurants and stores in Chinatown, if it isn’t an establishment that makes most of their money pushing Dim Sum, it’ll be a small storefront.
Anywho, they specialize in Chinese BBQ. Shoyu Chicken, Roast Pork Belly, Roast Pork, Pork Tongues, Intestines… I know, the last two may have just turned you off. One of the two was really good, the other was meh.
We went with the Braised then roasted Pork Intestines and the Tongue. THE TONGUE WAS SERIOUS. Tender, flavorful, legendary. One of the best Tongues I’ve had in my mouth… Pause. The Intestines, Aiight. Nothing to go crazy about.
They’re one of those BBQ joints that hangs their meat in the Windows… Pause again. It’s a sign that they know what they’re doing. Even if you aren’t into all of the offal choices, the have normal chicken and pork dishes that I am sure won’t disappoint. Everyone else was in there bombing on them.
Nice, hot… Meat.

I came here and ordered some pork intestines, pork stomach, and cuttlefish. I’ve learned that I’m not a huge fan of the pork intestines from Char Siu House because after a few days in the fridge, I couldn’t stand the smell. The cuttlefish was good but a bit pricey ($ 17/​lb).
I’d come back to try the Char Siu since that is their namesake. However, when it comes to Chinese BBQ, I’m still a Nam Fong fan.

This is another good place to get Roast Duck, Char Sui, and Roast Pork they even have Squid and some innards if that’s what you are looking for.
They offer plate lunches although it’s basically what they sell on rice with some Choy Sum with it. Plan to eat somewhere else like Maunakea Market place or take it home as there is only one table there, or you can always be the star of the eat in table. The flavor of the Roast Duck is as good as it gets, the Char Sui and Roast Pork is also very good. Everytime I go past I have to look for the Squid it is so funny as this is the only place in Chinatown that I usually see one hanging for sale.
Parking is limited to the street or one of the lots nearby, usually not crowded with maybe one or two people in line at any given time.