Tai Sei Ramen

The other day i was just on my way back from the Neal Blaisdell Center and I happened to see the place was on the review list for one of the popular spots on the radar. It turned out to be wonderful as I ordered the soup noodle and with varieties of vegetables primarily lettuce which was one of my most favorite food.
Very glad I got the opportunity to make a visit and had a pleasant time.

I really appreciate their friendly service, cheap prices, and delicious food!
Parking: Small private lot with approx. 6 stalls
Service: The servers are very friendly and very welcoming!
Food: My fav part of reviewing! I love their mabo tofu anything! I first tried their mabo tofu yakisoba and it’s been a personal fav since then. Another fav of mine is their house fried rice! I always get stuck between wanting to order the mabo tofu yakisoba and wanting to order their fried rice! Ahhh decisions, decisions! I have also tried their mabo tofu ramen (pretty good if you’re stuck between wanting something soupy but at the same time wanting something with mabo tofu in it!). I think the best thing about this place is their delicious combo deals. 2 reasons: 1. The price to portion ratio: $ 10.99 for 1 large entrée, a mini entrée or side, and a drink. Really can’t go wrong with those prices. And the portions for all their menu items are huge! We made a mistake of ordering 3 combo meals one time, and the amount of food given to us could have fed 5 — 6 people (I went with mom and dad). And 2. some of you might think this is funny, but have you ever wanted to order noodles in soup, but for some reason you also want rice? Well I always have this issue! But luckily, this place has a solution! Their combo #3: 1 large fried rice, 1 mini char siu ramen, and a drink! $ 10.99? Thank you Tai Sei Ramen! I’ll see you again soon!

Located on Beretania St. mauka (mountain side) of the main police station. There are about 3 or 4 parking stalls in the front lot, and they have additional parking in the back on Kinau St.
This place gets really, really busy during the lunch hours on the weekdays. Tons of phone orders, and the dining area is usually filled with people who work in the surrounding areas.
They have dine-​in only combo specials that all include a drink, and a number of other noodle and ramen specials to choose from. As for me, I usually get the combo with the fried rice and chicken katsu. On my last visit about a month ago, the rice was a little dry and lacked flavor. But, the gyoza was very good and I woulld order it again.

Had the chicken curry Katsu ramen and it was amazing. Tried the crispy gyozo that was delicious. Will definitely be back. Prices were just right

Hmmmm… the service here was excellent. Water always full, food came out fast and hot. They were nice to my kids (who, praise God, were behaving) even. However, food was so-​so. Chicken katsu was too light in color. You’re thinking, is she serious about the color of the katsu? But a darker golden katsu indicates a fuller cooked and crunchier katsu. The chicken was definetly cooked but not that crunchy. The curry sauce was pretty good. We also ordered char-​Siu ramen… not enough flavor in the broth, definetly semi-​homemade. Noodles looked not that appetizing and pork char-​siu? Dry. My son’s miso soup, thumbs down on the flavor again cause it hardly had any. Maybe I should’ve tried something else but not a place I would come back to for the food. Again, great service which helped give it the 3 stars.

Another hole in the wall proving itself to be a good place for local flavor at reasonable prices! I was content with my broccoli tofu and rice. It could have used to more seasoning and it was quite starchy but it filled me up. My friends fried rice was good, but the meat pieces could have been bigger. I liked the chicken katsu curry was the best out of all three dishes, very flavorful and it was a large portion!
Service was nice.
Parking is not abundant.

Food is decent but horrible service they talk smack about you while you’re eating the older lady who I assume own the restaurant sits in the corner and stared and me and my bf on numerous occasions while we ate and talked about us to the waitress. She wouldn’t even refill our water, in an empty restaurant. We had to flag her down. That’s when the smack talking commenced. Bad vibes and even worse service. Getting takeout next time because the foods ok and cheap

Tai Sei is by far my favorite ramen shop on the island. The ramen is delicious, the place is nice and homey, the employees are attentive and sweet, and it’s also a sentimental piece of my history.
I usually alternate between katsu curry ramen and char siu ramen. Both are very flavorful (although once the katsu curry was quite oily) and do the trick to filling me up. Upon occasion I’ll order the mabo tofu yakisoba. That one is a winner when I’m not up for tackling a bowl of broth. Their gyoza is also delish! I normally don’t do gyoza because of the cilantro, but for some reason the dumplings here are great. I really like how they offer them fried, steamed, or pan-​fried (so only the bottom is crispy).
Location-​wise, it’s pretty obscure and you’ll miss it if you’re not looking for it. It’s in a small complex across the street from the Honolulu Police Station on Beretenia Street. The parking lot is really small, but there’s a larger second lot behind the building that’s accessible from Kinau Street. Inside is very cozy and homey. Everything about this place screams local business. To my knowledge, the place hasn’t changed much in ten years or so, which is incredibly refreshing in the ever-​developing, ever-​changing jungle of Hawaii.
The employees are also nice. There’s one younger Chinese lady who is exceptionally sweet. The older Chinese ladies are not super friendly, but they all dish out great service with their food.
This place brings back fond memories of hanging out with my mom during her lunch break before I was old enough to go to school. I felt like a princess, out with my business mommy, bringing out the human in her during the hustle of the busy business district.
There’s hardly a bad thing I can say about Tai Sei. If anything, I’d just complain about how far it is from where I live, but I’m the one who moved. :P The day that this place closes will bring me to tears.

Ordered the katsu curry rice plate and the katsu was so oily I got a stomach ache after. The curry hardly any beef and vegetables too. What a disappointment!

Friendly service and definitely outstanding food. They are always looking at u and the food was brought out in less than 5 minutes. They are so competent and I highly recommend them in the future.

Good food at a reasonable price. They will make it the way you like it. Nothing fancy, but a great place for lunch or a quick dinner.

Tao Sri is bar far the best for gyoza, and just everything. We eat here all the time and I recommend everyone to come eat at Taisei. the crew as well is awesome.

Ordered Gomuku Crispy Noodles with chicken to go; when I got home the noodles were stale and the chicken tasted rancid. This is not the first time I got nasty food from this place. I ate soiled char siu ramen and had an upset stomach & threw up. Thought I would give them another chance. Please Don’t Eat Here! Called to let them know but they could careless

Tai Sei is probably way older than I am (34) and I never once set foot in there until a month ago.
The setting was ok, nothing visually outstanding but it looked neat and clean.
The menu is very simple and similar to Ramen Ya, Ezogiku, Sumo Ramen, etc.
We ordered steamed gyoza, fried noodles, and curry chicken katsu. Gyoza was steamed perfectly with a nice crisp on the bottom, filling was just enough, and tasty. Fried noodles were a just a tiny bit on the oily side not excessive, a taste was a nice balance of salt and seasonings. Curry was also very balanced in salt and spices and not too peppery. Chicken katsu was nicely crisp and not too burnt, chicken cooked well and very moist and tender.
Parking we lucked out on that day but it looks very very limited to maybe three cars. I would go back to eat there for sure but if I have to drive around the block more than twice, I’m outta there.
Staff was polite, service was quick, there were only two other people there and I was part of a family of 4 so we didnt feel rushed as we took our time stuffing our faces!

Great restaurant to go to especially after a long night out and your slightly hungover. The food is filling, place is clean and the service is great. Usually when I go with friends, it’s not super busy. There’s parking outside of the restaurant but if there’s no parking available due to the limited places to park, you can always park at the top behind the building. Friends usually get the combo #5 but I get the combo #1. The curry is on point and the katsu is tasty — not too overly cooked. Same goes with the gyoza. Had a hard time calling in an order one time as the person on the other phone was a bit snappy but I definitely prefer dining in than ordering out. Fried rice is good for friend gatherings and parties.

You pay for what you get. I say the prices are reasonable and the food isn’t bad, it’s just not high quality. Also you need to consider it’s probably ran by Chinese owners/​cooks so instead of it being more of a Japanese ramen shop, you can taste the Chinese infusion in it.
Place seems clean, decent seating and spacing, has two parking lots one you can access on Kinau St (called the «plaza», parking lot for a bunch of doctors also) and the other off of Beretania (there is more than enough parking. I remember reading reviews saying that the parking was limited). Service is good and staff is kind and friendly.
I ordered the Mabo Tofu with rice to go. It had a different feel/​texture to the Mabo i’m used too. It almost had the taste and texture of egg drop soup, but a darker color and with tofu. The taste is less tasty then normal mabo and not too spicy. But overall i enjoyed it and ate it all. Serving size was good considering it was only $ 7.95
I’d say the place is more of a preference as to you wether you’d say their food and service is good or not. It has it’s ups and downs if you consider everything.

Great food for the price!
I ordered a daily special with ramen and curry chicken katsu. Everything was perfect! The chicken katsu was super crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. I love that I got a small bowl of ramen too, since that’s what I originally wanted for lunch. The broth in the ramen was flavorful and the noodles were cooked perfectly. Hope you’re hungry when you arrive because the portions are massive! I have enough for another meal.
The inside is pretty dated and looks like it’s from the 90’s. But the employees there were so kind and nice that the inside doesn’t even really matter. Parking can be tough but I got lucky and someone left when I pulled up!

Tai sei, you tried.
Located so close to where I work, I thought this place would be a great find but I was less than impressed by my lunch today.
The staff was kind enough and the prices affordable enough but the ramen itself seemed to have a really strong ginger flavor that I didn’t care for. Fast service allowed our group of three to be in and out in less than 20 mins so that was greatly appreciated.
They did let me order off the kids menu too, which was nice but options for that were minimal (char siu ramen; katsu + rice; gyoza + curry rice) though not too bad for $ 4.25(?) apiece. Otherwise the lunch menu is pretty standard ramen though my friend got the shoyu ramen «spicy» which might have been a special concoction or they might’ve just thrown chili flakes into the shoyu broth. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
All in all, probably won’t be returning here soon but it was worth a shot.

I am not a ramen eater so I really don’t have any point of reference. In fact this is my first time at a ramen joint. I had the seafood ramen and I thought the noodles were tasty and the veggies were stir fried so it gave a little but if a smokiness to the broth. Not much seAfood though– one teeny tiny scallop, 2 small shrimp and some calamari– it was more veggies than anything. The broth was ok. My husband has the fried rice and that was pretty good. The prices were $ 10 and below. In retrospect I much prefer my phở spot to this bowl of noodles, but I had to try it to see what it’s all about. All in all it was ok.

Doh, not coming here in a long while I didn’t take my own advice and ordered the exact same thing like the other time I was here *sigh* same thing not much curry to cover the rice but one thing was better at least this time the rice wasn’t hard and was okay. Personally I find the cost/​amount ratio a bit high here the amount of food mainly the amount of curry could be more to at least give you enough to cover he rice. Still a bit disappointed in the amount although no complaints on the taste.
If I come here again I really better try something else…