Makino Chaya

Wow. dont even know where to start. I came here once a few years back and it was AMAZING.
Came back to hawaii and ate here again.
First off, the sushi rice was dry as shit, as well as the stuff on it. The uni looked like it was 5 days old. I spit half of it out.
Then i went on to the hot stuff. Mahi was so dry i couldnt stick the spatula in it so skip that.
Then my lil brother ran up to me and showed me a picture of a cockroach that was crawling around one of the counters… cool, i guess?
Then my gf showed me some black stuff in my water, fuck it i drank it anyway.
Then i ate fried oysters that was really crappy. Then i ate some crab, it was crappy, the lobster straight up taste like microwave.
The corn, potatoe, shrimp, was ultra crappy, i spit it all out.
Then i slipped on a puddle of water and almost broke my neck.
Now dont get me wrong, im not a picky eater. Im from san francisco and eat in dirty chinese restaurants with bad service. And i like it.
The server was eating a taco bell on his break, enough said.
Service was coo.
Oh btw both men bathroom stall non working locks. Nice i can take a crap on edge, exciting!

Not sure when this happened but the Aloha Tower Makino Chaya is now closed. Another one bites the dust in the Aloha Tower Marketplace.
I enjoyed the convenience of this location. Now there are just the Makittii Hawaii in Waikiki and the Pearlridge Makino Chaya to choose from.
I just wonder how long before another restaurant in the Aloha Tower Marketplace closes. What is the fate of this landmark complex? What is the fate of the New Year’s eve fireworks display?
It is a challenge for a business to survive in Hawaii. I am hoping things get better in Hawaii.

i dont know if this should have any STARS at all
Called to reserve a table for two… the wait wasnt long at all, sat down pretty fast, Im thinking becauese they just opened. The service was good, filled our cups and took away our plates away.
For the price of the buffet what can you really expect.
The food was blah. The teppanyaki steak had no taste & chewy, alot of oil and butter on the flat top. The «lobster tails» weren’t cooked, or was that something esle… he cooked it on the flat top, but wasnt turning orange. Needs garlic or someother seasoning besides salt/​pepper.
The sushi was sushi, my other half said the poke was slimmy. The crab legs was the best. The other foods were so so.
The crap station was not even open… and that looked good.
I guess now we know… and will not go back again.

this place was ok. the butterfish was too saucy, the tables WERE really sticky (the waitress told us it’s the finish on the table that makes it feel that way, but if that’s the case you ought to consider a new finish) and we went with a relatively large party so the waitress didn’t look too pleased to be dealing with us. The guy who cooked the steak was really the nicest person we encountered there, and the steak he prepared for us was the best thing we ate all night. The fried oysters were hella breaded and you could hardly taste the oyster at all.
The sushi was good, there was a variety of sushi that I liked. The ones with spicy tuna were delicious but all the fried items (tempura, calamari, and they had a fried sushi also) were rubbery and not fresh tasting, but it’s a buffet so I guess you should go in expecting that.
service prevented this place from getting a higher rating.

I was really excited to have some crab legs buffet. Once we got to Makino Chaya, we toured all the stations and decide where we should attack first. We were the first seating, the crowd has not rushed in yet, so we got first dips to lots of stuff. All the food was presented nicely and everything just looks appetizing. First, we targeted the teppanyaki station, the chef was preparing steak and lobster. It was just chuck steak, so H and I shared a piece, and good thing we did, it tasted super gamy. Yuck! The lobster was the little slipper lobster tails, totally lacking flavor. Second, we went towards the crab legs, it was decent size crab legs, but definitely frozen for a while, and you can totally tell from the texture of the meat. However, if you soaked it in butter, all is well. Next, we headed towards the sushi station. It has a large assortment of nigiri and rolls, however, nothing looked fresh at all. The only piece that I enjoyed was the clam. Lastly, I ended my dinner with a freshly made crêpe with vanilla ice cream. That was the best thing of the night. There were also a tempura station, hot dish station, fruits and dessert station, but I didn’t care for it.
We took a lot of pictures of the food stations and it definitely looks delicious until you start eating it. Talk about bad buffet food, I probably won’t be dining here very often. Oh, to make it worse, service was horrible, we didn’t get our drinks until half way through dinner. And when we wanted our check, we couldn’t find anyone around, so we just walk to the front and paid. If I want buffet, I will go to Prince Court.

For $ 14 all-​you-​can-​eat buffet, it’s not bad. By other standards? It’s bad.
Strolled in a on a week day with an hour left of the $ 14 lunch buffet. Piled up on sushi, crab, and fish first. Then I realized this was their trick: make me fill up on sushi rice! Anyway, the fish quality was okay– not the freshest, but okay if you add enough wasabi and take a bite of ginger every once in a while.
Headed back for some snow crab and a little bowl of butter… it was heaven. My mouth is beginning to water, so I’ll move on.
The cook-​to-​order steak was flavorful, but the guy was in a rush and gave me SUPER-​rare-​lord-​of-​the-​flies-​is-​this-​thing-​still-​alive? meat. Sometimes you want rare meat and other times you’re at a $ 14 (2.5 stars on Unilocal) buffet and you’d really rather go with ‘medium’. This was obviously the latter. I picked out the most done bites of my generous serving of live cow and enjoyed the flavor immensely.
Calamari was dry, but with a very satisfying and oily flavor. Tempura was fine by me. Didn’t get a chance to try udon or crêpe– no room in the tummay.
Finally, the last part of my experience: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE DESSERTS HERE?! Did I come on a bad day? The cakes were really, inedibly bitter. All 4 of them. The mochi was also weird. I was so excited they had warabi and matcha warabi mochi, but they were too fragrant and of a weird consistency. I guess you can’t get everything for $ 14.
What we did get? Good service, quick refills, lots of food and full tummies. Oh, and don’t forget birds flying at our table while we ate. But I’m willing to overlook a lot of things if they are cheap.

Been to 2 buffets thus far and this is the better of the two. Apparently they have the same owner. I’ve been to Makittii for lunch only, but to Makino’s at Aloha Tower for dinner and lunch (both bday meals).
PROS: 10% lunch/​20% dinner discounts for kama’aina. Crab legs during lunch time vs Makittii that doesn’t offer it. Free birthday meal (party of four) vs. only 50% off at Makittii. They make fresh crepes with bananas, strawberries, ice cream, and you can top it with chocolate and/​or powder sugar. BBQ pork ribs are my favorite (see photos). Lobster tails available at dinner.
CONS: we came at 1:30 for lunch and it was about to close at 2 so not much time to get our grub on. After last call around 1:45 they start taking things away. Good thing I eat fast and I was able to at least get in 3 plates (I usually do 5). Lobster tails available at dinner but allowed only one tail per visit to station and verrrrrry salty.
…and if you don’t know, to get deals at either spot, coupons are necessary and local ID for kama’aina discounts as well.

This review is ONLY for the Lunch Bentos.
Makino Chaya has long been selling lunch bentos at ridiculously cheap prices. Our office decided to take advantage of it… and it’s not hard to see why the butterfish/​shrimp tempura bento was the majority sold.
The miso butterfish/​shrimp tempura bento comes with: rice, a piece of miso butterfish, 2 shrimp tempura, 1 siu mai, 1 mini spring roll, slice of fresh tomato, ocean salad, small egg omelete roll, mac salad (they aren’t very consistent on the sides… you will randomly get mac or spaghetti salad). I think you get the idea, they give you a LOT. And guess what? This bento only cost $ 5 (well 5.20). Other bentos we got were the saba which cost four bucks and comes with three pieces of saba and like 4 lemon wedges (score!) and then Tokyo Chicken Bento for like 3 bucks which also comes with a whole lot.
We were initially worried about the quality, such a cheap price… was it leftovers from the night before? Who knows. I’m not going to say these are like the best bentos you will ever have, but they are really good for the price. My boss said she also spotted a new grand opening sign for 10÷15÷10. Looks like Makino is looking to make changes for the customers… which is good. Maybe I will give their buffet a chance again after this new opening.

Rating: ²⁄₅
Date (s) Visited: 8÷31÷10
Food: ²⁄₅
Service: ²⁄₅
Atmosphere: ²⁄₅
Price: ²⁄₅
My friend swears by Makino Chaya, much preferring it to Kat’s Sushi. Having never heard of this place before, I went on Unilocal to read the reviews and I was terrified of going. It seemed like this place violated every sanitation regulation in existence. In reality, when I went for dinner, it wasn’t that bad. The place was reasonably clean and nothing struck me as being unsanitary about the place. The food, and pretty much every other aspect about this place, is sub-​par, though.
Food:
Don’t be fooled by their seemingly extensive selection — most of it is made from inferior ingredients. I had their tempura and I can tell that they just threw fistfuls of shrimp into the fryer because when you try to take a piece from the buffet line, it’s all clumped together in a ball. Furthermore, they either use the fryer for other foods or never change the oil because you can taste the salt more than you can the shrimp.
Their sushi is… terrible. Not so fresh vegetables, no so fresh fish, no so fresh rice. Their sashimi is Grade B, at best. Has next to no flavor and the color tells you that it’s old.
My friend loves their all-​you-​can-​eat crab, which is the main reason he likes to go there. Personally, I don’t like crab, but he had plate after plate of crab legs so there must be something good about them.
Their dessert is their only saving grace. Although it’s hit or miss, when you do find something that’s good, it’s surprising. I had a green tea cake, and it tasted like it was made from quality ingredients! Amazing!
Service:
The people who work here seem to be rather gloomy. They’re nice, as much as required by their profession, but not much else. I don’t think I ever say anyone working there smile.
Atmosphere:
Completely dark. We went right when they opened for dinner and we sat near the balcony and it was so dark! Where were the lights? This isn’t the Stone Age! I didn’t like how the tables and chairs felt kind of sticky; definitely didn’t help.
Price:
$ 30 for a buffet of this quality? Not worth it unless you eat nothing but crab legs like my friend. Save your money and go elsewhere.

Went here a few weeks ago because I kept hearing of their cheap lunch bentos. They are cheap at $ 3 – 6 if I remember correctly. Even the butterfish ones are cheap! It is a very good bang for your buck.
Bento quality/​taste was average. Nothing to write home about. IMHO, don’t come here expecting to be blown away by the taste. Good quantity though. Even though the bentos are cheap, they’re still a normal bento size. The draw here is the great bang for your buck you get with these lunch bentos… I don’t know about the buffet though since I’ve never tried the buffet here.

DO NOT go to the other Makino Chaya location and this one too. Ive read the reviews, but had to go because of family.
Pros:
–good air circulation
–waiters were friendly
–lots of variety of food
–dinning room was spacious
Cons:
–tables were sticky, i couldnt even touch it cause it was nasty.
–food was «eh», not bad but not great
–only stay 1.5 hours then you got to go (usually when you go out to eat dinner you stay at least 2 hours maybe 3 if your somewhere else)
If Makino Chaya cannot keep their tables clean, imagine how dirty the kitchen is –_​-​’ If you really, REALLY desparate and all other buffet places are booked, and you have no food at home, then go, but only in this order.

It gets worse and worse every time I go there to eat. They have a lot of varieties with the food but they don’t taste fresh. Many of them are soggy, old and very oily. The time’s I had been there, I hadn’t seen any white rice so I ate their oily fried rice. :(
The only two things I like eating there is the steak and crepes because it’s made in front of me.

Yikes!!! Talk about the classic case of quantity over quality. Food quality is poorly presented and if you put enough MSG even cardboard with some sauce could tasted decent. If course I will never know. haha.
The uncleanliness of the restaurant scared me to avoid this place completely. I have seen roaches, I have had completely unwashed cups and utensils, staff there seems to have checked out and the buffet is way over priced.
Way better off going to Hakone
Trust me and stay clear. Tourists stay clear because this place will give you a bad impression of food in Hawaii. Don’t say I didnt warn you.

AHHH… RUNNN!!! You couldn’t pay me to eat here again!
1. HUGE Roaches roaming the buffet… I’m not talkin about the little ones… the ones that fly, k?! AND, the workers aren’t even phased by it! An employee at the sushi line ignored one that was on the wall behind her and when I just kept staring at her with my mouth wide open she finally whacked it off the wall and went back to fixing the sushi tray. EWWW, no washing hands there.
2. The few times our server did come to our table, he always had food in and on his mouth.
3. Went during a Birthday and had the coupon for the special and gave it to our waiter in the beginning before our meal. He misplaced it and the manager came up to us accusing us of trying to squeeze something by them and that he was «sick of people thinking they can get away with it»… I was in total shock and embarrassed and then our waiter comes up to us giggling saying that he found it and we will be ok. (um yeah, sooo speechless at this point) The manager didn’t even apologize to us after! We usually would have raised hell at this point, but the hubby and I were having such a great and beautiful day we didn’t want to bother.
4. The food SUCKS!

Best Japanese food buffet I’ve been to so far in Hawaii for lunch.
They have the widest selection of sushi, although the quality may not be the best. I suggest getting tennpanyaki since they make it fresh, instead of it being food that has been sitting out for a while. If you’re smart, you’d follow the crowd and eat whatever most people are eating because it’s more likely to be fresh since they’re refilling those foods regularly. I was disappointed at the desserts, but I’m not a huge sweets fan, so it wasn’t a huge turnoff.
The service was pretty good for being fairly crowded. I would come back again if the price was cheaper, but I rate this higher than the Todai’s in Waikiki.

Went as a birthday celebration for one of our friends. The cost of the buffet is about $ 30 per person.
Things I did like:
— Great selection of food. If you like a fried up piece of seafood, then they got it.
— dungeness crab, king crab legs, snow crab legs, and baked stuffed crab (which was my favorite item of the night). They also have lobster available
— Steak cooked on a hibachi
— tempura bar
— Sushi bar (but no where as big as Todai’s, which I heard has a love hate relationship with Makino Chaya).
— Hot food section, which had stuff like japanese snapper, fried oysters, fried this and fried that.
Basically, if you are hungry and love seafood, then this place is great and should pretty much satisfy any hunger problem.
Things I did not like:
— the hibachi chef was not to happy. You almost feel obligated to tip him with his scowl he has on his face, as opposed to tiping because you felt like he did a good job.
— You can’t split up the check on to multiple credit cards. I don’t know if it because they are lazy or they don’t want to pay multiple fees to the credit card companies, but at $ 30 + per person that seemed ridiculous to me.
— 3 hour time limit. When this place is poppin off, then I’ve heard they’ll make you leave. At the same time I heard that if the restraunt isn’t to busy, then they’ll let you stay.
If you are a buffet lover, then definetly go try it. If you don’t like the buffet’s and prefer quality over quantity then this is probably not gonna be your cup of tea.

Went here for a family get together, and why they chose to go here is really beyond me. I’ve never been fan of buffets. The idea that my food could have been touched by tons of others before me and then visited by flies just doesn’t appeal to me.
The first thing I notices is our tables were sticky. As in if you left your hand on it for a bit you temporarily became part of the table. Gross.
The service was good but the food was subpar.
The sushi was lukewarm, the tempura — soggy. The salads also had a few flies swarming around them.
Didn’t try the Teppan-​Yaki since the line was ridiculously long, and I had no intention of waiting.
The desserts were alright but nothing memorable.
Overall, I’m happy I didn’t have to pay for my «meal» and don’t plan on returning.

2.5 stars.
I’m not a buffet fan because I never feel I eat enough to make it worthwhile. + I don’t wanna balance the cost by bringing a ton of ziplocks to sneak food home. LOL!
Service: 3 stars. Efficient. Our drinks were kept full & plates removed promptly (actually sometimes a little too quick).
Ambiance: 2 stars. Requested a patio table (most were empty) but was denied & the tables never got filled.
Food: 2.5 stars — hit or miss
Grilled beef was tender & yummy w/​yuzu salt.
Grilled lobster was ok, I only ate the tail. I’m not really a lobster fan but ate it to justify the buffet cost.
Fried Ika — soggy & rubbery.
Shrimp tempura — ok. I got lucky & had a crispy shrimp.
Hamachi nigiri — ok. Fish not the best quality but not terrible but rice subpar.
Maguro sashimi — good, pretty fresh.
Desserts were yummy & I liked that they were cut small so I could taste an few. Cheesecake was thick & not too sweet. Chocolate «cake» was basically rich, thick ganache & not too sugary– mmmm.

I visited Makino Chaya on Saturday, February 6, and I’ve decided that I will never go back again.
I went along with a party for my friend’s birthday, and luckily, I didn’t have to pay for dinner, or I think I’d really be ill.
I definitely think the days of the all-​you-​can-​eat buffets are over; overrated gluttony, indeed.
The dinner selections looked like good ideas: salads, dim sum, pasta, seafood, sushi, desserts, etc., unfortunately, they all lacked flavor, some of the hot dishes offered had not yet thawed from the freezer, the sushi looked like it had been sitting out for hours, cleanliness was an afterthought.
(By the way, there was a wedding reception in the dining area near us. I felt sorry for their guests. The last wedding reception I went to had the best Hawaiian food… because it was all made by my uncle’s firefighter buddies! Please don’t have your wedding reception at Makino Chaya. Call some relatives first.)
In summation:
If you’re thinking about Makino Chaya, think again, onegai shimasu.

One word… Disgusting!!!
Sushi was terrible, lobster was raw and what was there was ground lungs and inedible parts. Dessert had mosquito’s all over them… Please do yourself a favor and don’t go there… I like to support places that provide decent food but this place does not deserve to be in business…