Golden Coin Bake Shop & Restaurant

[This happened back in Oct-​Nov time but procrastinating like a mug…]
Last night I ordered catering and confirmed pickup at 6pm the next day. Busy day, but I made time and rushed to get my order. Just a bit past 6pm I came into the shop and stated my business. They looked confused. I repeated myself several times and it seemed to finally click on in her head and the lady scans her work area trying to figure what was going on. Right there on the receipt taped on the counter was my order. They told me I could have my Shanghai lumpia done by 630 (it was probably around 615 at this point so roughly 15 min to cook) and I could be on my way. I was already there and I was going to be late to my function here on out, so what the hell could I do but wait. So just past 630 and as promised my small order (40 pieces) was ready. I got to my potluck before 7pm and the food was fresh and hot still.
Food was good, but was put off by the whole incident prior. They didn’t offer me anything to appease my dissatisfaction (cuz I looked dissatisfied and not in the least happy) and I would have felt better if they could have tried to at least make an effort to show me they were sorry for their error and inconveniencing me. They coulda offered me a drink or even said next time I could get hooked up or something (anything)…but I got nothing. The food was good and a hit at the potluck, but unreliability is a no-​no in my book. If I ever do order from them, I need to be certain to constantly be on them, calling and reminding them, to know my order would be completed on time. I shouldn’t have to do that cuz a good business elicits faith, and that I do not have… like PE said, can’t truss’em.

I used to come here a lot but NEVER again I wanted a plate with 2 entrees the chicken adobo and the milk fish but they told be its side order so I said ok so now it’s mini plate but instead I got charged $ 11.75 and instead of putting the fish in the plate they put it in a foil and wrapped it and put it under my plate so all the sauce ran out of the plate. So I ended up w dry chicken adobo and milk fish for $ 11.75…never coming here again

Place is bomb.$ 3.89 for eggs, fried rice and meat. Can’t beat that. Food was really good.

This is a place I stop when I’m needing a few Filipino basics. The price a have definitely increased and I cannot believe by how much. I enjoy the pork adobo, but more so the rice with the gravy. They weren’t chincy with the gravy today. It made it a pleasant meal.
I still don’t like that they removed most of the refrigerated bottle drinks. I wish they had Pepsi so I don’t have to run somewhere else to get one.

They are so stingy with their portions. Everything is a side order it just sucks. I was expecting great quality food. But they suck. The ube ice cream was not good at all. Wouldn’t recommend eating here

I love Filipino food and I get that craving satisfied here for sure.
Yes…the Pandasol.
Always fresh & hot as advertised. They’re not kidding. The pandesol are awesome. Take home a dozen.

Whyyyyyyy are they so stingy with the portions?! I usually go to this location and get tinola bc that’s one of my ultimate comfort foods ESP when I feel sick. Usually I use both my choices for soup so it comes in a larger container. Tell me why I’d pay $ 8 for two scoops of rice and a small arse coup of soup?! I mine like smaller than a baskin kids scoop of ice cream!!!
Usually they give it in the larger container but today’s lady tried to give it in that dinky container. You just lost a regular customer.
And stop heating up styrofoam in the microwave, cancer causin agents people cmon!

Walk by this place a lot, but never knew it was Filipino food. Finally order a plate lunch here and was as good as any fast food Chinese place. However. I have noooo idea what I just ate and the names they have might as well be in Chinese. I think a nice translation on the item name would make this a much better experience.

The worst service with bad tasting Filipino food. The employees are rude and dont understand nor do they speak good English. I’m 50 percent Filipino so dont think that I’m putting them down because I’m not. There was not enough flavoring in any of their dishes. The Chicken Papaya soup was bitter, the Pork Adobo was fatty, the Taho dessert was not sweet enough, the Filipino Rice Cakes were dry. If you want REAL Filipino food, go try Max’s of Manila or People’s Café instead. Not only do these two restaurants have the best tasting Filipino food, but the service is too good to boot!

I’m only a quarter Filipino, but like most local boys, I, on occasion, get my typical Filipino food cravings.
Truth be told, this place is probably closer to a 1-​star, and I was very close to giving them that rating — aside from the fact that their empanadas are actually half-​decent and you can get a pretty good chicken/​rice porridge (forgot what it’s called) for fairly cheap, which hits the spot if you’re feeling under the weather or just hung over.
Aside from that, my experience with the food has been pretty bad. The meat dishes have a ton of fat on the meat — especially the pork dishes, which is most of them, I think. I eat fatty food as much as the next grunt, but biting into a cube of fat attached to a little strip of meat in the pork adobo is pretty disgusting… especially when every piece of meat is like that.
The food seems like it’s left out for a long time, which means they probably cook too much at a time; it doesn’t sell; so they just leave it sitting out there. Some of their baked, dessert-​type dishes are good. And you can get a decent breakfast plate there, although see my comment above about the fatty meat (the tocino here is like 70% fat).
But what sticks with me the most is, I’ve gotten horrible service from there in the past, which really doesn’t make it worth my while to go back. And really, that’s why this place should be getting a 1-​star rating, if not for a few positive aspects.
If you’re craving Filipino food and coming from mauka side and you stumble across this place, just keep going toward Ala Moana food court. Way better food at Jollibees. If you’re craving Filipino food and you’re coming from makai side, then why the hell did you keep going past Ala Moana. LOL
At the end of the day, if you walk right past this place for any reason, you wouldn’t be missing out.

I don’t know why this place is only rated 2 stars here on Unilocal,but here are my 2 cents as a first time visitor of Honolulu. I completely understand that being a Filipino, any Filipino food you buy in a restaurant will not be as good as home cooking.
I stumbled across this place after picking up some groceries & wanting to grab something for take out to head home. I looked up at the sign, which didn’t come off as saying that there was Filipino food inside, but looking through the windows, it looked interesting. Upon walking in, it smelled like home, & I felt comfortable knowing that some of my favorite dishes were being served.
The service was very nice. From what I could tell, everything is made fresh behind in the kitchen by some loving Filipina ladies. The prices are reasonable, but we ended up getting a discount from one of the ladies. This place offers different Filipino dishes, along with assorted Filipino baked goods & freshly baked pandesal! We walked out with a dozen pieces of pandesal for $ 3, fresh from the oven! They even have fruit drinks and halo-​halo.
I wish we had found this place sooner because the food really hit the spot. Of course, since the setup of the food is similar to one of a Chinese take out place, you can judge the freshness of the food yourself & have some common sense as to what you should and shouldn’t get. We will be going back soon!

Usually going in early is much better to guarantee freshness… the only downfall everything looks good and you may buy more then you need!!! The pancit bihon is better than the pancit miki. The cascaron is yucky… NOT traditionally made, so very disappointed… The fried chicken is interesting, but packs oil that you can taste and see which is typically not the norm if you eat chicken regularly. Anyways, I like the pork gisantes and the lechon is definitely not «Thelma special» type so forget it. Friendly service and convenient location, so worth going if you’re in the area and have a craving…

It would be more and more helpful if instead of a name like Golden Coin which kinda implies a Chinese Resturant kind of name it should have a more Philipino name that would better describe the kind of food that they are trying to serve.
I am a spoiled person– I have had some great pancit (sp) or Philipino food from locals that are making their favorite food for friends to share at great pot lucks and those women were great cooks. They know what to do tocook and make good tasting food.
Here at the Golden Coin there are workers more akin to McD. There is usually no taste. McD uses mass made food and the Golden Coin seems to have taken too much of the example from McD without any of the customer service or any marketing suggestions.
Back to review– know that the food is made sometime not recent– all the food on the line that is there to look at was made early– the food is hot as that is the law– but it was really made a long time before you look at it on lunch time. There is a lot of salt used– it doesn’t help the taste but it does try to make you more thirsty.- luckily they have boba or bubble drinks near the ready but the wait usually is longer than that of Jamba. I pass on the drinks usally as they are not as good as those found downtown in Chinatown that has fresher boba. The noodles are sually very oily and dry — does that even make sense– it’s noodles– who in the right mind makes them that oily and that dry? Just goes to show that they have been sitting out way too long. So if you are going for good pancit for get it. It is normal though if you have to take guests or visitors and they want to know what Philipino food is like — you can take them and show them — this is as close as you can get to a McD Philino food without having to go to Chinatown to go to Nesters or somewhere else that has buluut on the front part of the window. (Yes I know what buluut is/​sp may be off though?).
The meat is kinda on the tough dry side — as it probably too has been sitting out longer than it should be — how can you mess up chicken? Ohh Yeah leaving it out all day would answer that. I do wonder if like Zippy’s the food is made way out somewhere and then brought in on slow trucks to each location. I have wondered more than once.
There are side items, like bread and bentos– so usually these could be a nice safe bet if in doubt. Just know that they are pricer in my opinion.
Overall– L&L would be a better choice to eat at or anywhere else really.

The best filipino food is made at home. Nothing will ever taste better. However, if you don’t know how to cook, or are too lazy to cook, or can’t convince your mom or aunty or grandma to cook for you AND if you’re willing to overpay for mediocre filipino food, then I guess Golden Coin is for you.
Besides this, they always have a sign on their door advertising fresh pancit miki (cheap), but whenever you ask for it, they say it isn’t available. And they always have some lame excuse like their chef used it all or the chef needs it or they don’t have enough to sell. Really??? If that really is the case, then take the sign down.
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While not the «BESTEST» pinoy food in the world, it’s not horrible, but definitely some dishes are better than others here. And let’s face it, sometimes a Filipina needs to get her pinoy food fix… and she’s too lazy to cook it herself.
One must understand, coming here, is like going to a McDonalds or Burger King for a burger. You know there’s better burgers out there (Teddy’s, Honolulu Burger Co, etc) but for sheer convenience and time constraint you go to the fastest option. This is what Golden Coin is. A fast, convenient option for my Filipino taste buds.
With that said there the only items I get here that are consistently good are the pork gisantes and mongo. That’s the ONLY two items I get. Sometimes my husband gets the kare-​kare but then we always get disspointed coz 1) it ain’t my momma’s recipe 2) it ain’t even ox– tail! Kare kare with no ox tail??? BOOO.
Of course, no ones cooking is as good as their own or their mom’s, grandma’s great grandma etc but again, Golden Coin has it’s proper time and place in my food regimen.
Pros:
–Fresh hot pan de sal
–Pork Gisantes
–Mongo
— chicken tinola (easy to make home tho =)
Cons:
–kare kare
–adobo (too oily/​salty)

I am a filipino but Golden Coin foods selection doesn’t really entice me whenever I check it out. Everytime i go there, the food looked so dry. My co-​workers who were not filipino, always telling me it is not dry looking. It is really good according to their taste. I think the reason that doesn’t entice me at all with their selections because or I’m guessing it was Ilocano’s dishes while I came from Visayan Region. The only thing I keep coming back here was the Chicken Empanada. You guys should try their empanada. By the way, Ilocano, Tagalog and Visayan have different dishes and meaning I have never tried Ilocano dishes at all as well Tagalog dishes.

Easy formula to eat here… look through the glass, if it looks good, buy it. If it looks bad, leave. When it looks good it really IS. Don’t know what it tastes like if it look bad cause I leave. It’s a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ chance it will look good.

I got sick from the palabok I had there. Ruined my vacation. :-/

Im bummed that this is the only closest Filipino fast food restaurant near my area. But this indeed is my go-​to place when I’m too lazy or don’t know how to cook certain filipino foods and crave for it. gosh I wished I knew how to make palabok, arrozcaldo and kare kare!
–Pancit Palabok is delish! love the sauce and all the toppings minus green onions!
–Chicken Arrozcaldo with extra calamansi sauce — yummy in my tummy!
–Kare Kare is good
–meat w/​coconut milk, string beans and squash dish is awesome!
— 2 choice for $ 7

First off, I’m not Filipino, and I’ve never actually had real, authentic, restaurant-​style Filipino Cuisine, so I apologize if I come off as ignorant… because, well I am.
Service: Well, it takes them awhile to actually turn around to see if there is a customer waiting. Sometimes I wonder if they really do see me, but they just ignore me until I start unrelentingly stare at them.
Food: The food is made in mass quantities like any other fast-​food take-​out places so they are place in warming pans. I really can’t judge the quality of the dishes made there since I’ve never been to a «good» Filipino restaurant. Therefore I can’t say «Meh I’ve experience Better». My initial thought when I saw the food was,…didn’t appear appetizing. They all seemed greasy and overcooked, and everything seemed like it was stewed in some kind or other mixture of sauce.
In some ways the food reminded me of my grandma’s old country-​style cooking, where she gathered whatever she had in the refrigerator and slopped it all together. Appearance was not so appetizing, but when it was eaten, it wasn’t too bad. Edible to say the least. I have had their pancita, chicken adobo, pork stew, chicken and squash, squid and vegetables, and chicken with broccoli. I don’t think I’ll be trying their beef tripe dishes or pork that’s been cooked in blood anytime yet.