The Mandalay

We always come here for our standard Chinese dinner. Minute chicken and emein is really good and they were nice to serve us dinner after they close. Keep in mind this is Cantonese chinese food so don’t expect them to do Hunan or Szechuan as well. Also, the parking situation is mainly across the street and they will validate but getting in and out of the parking structure across the street is not as convenient.

My mother in law brought us here for Chinese New year 2016. I was actually really impressed with how tasty their food was. I ate EVERYTHING my mother in law ordered because it was soooooo yummy. From the green beans, honey walnut shrimp, Peking duck, beef chow fun, everything was superb and brought out pretty quick. Their service during dinner was also acceptable. Nothing like my previous experience taking out. I’d love to come here again with groups.

Came in — little before 7:30 and was told that the kitchen was closing… I get it cause they weren’t that busy. If I had a restaurant I would totally close if there were only 6 occupied table at the time. This place is really 3.5…only because they don’t come and check on you or refill water. Chinese food is so salty… gotta have the water. The house cake noodle and the shrimp walnut is really good! But the other dishes were okay, we had eggplant and chicken. The hostess was really nice!

Horrible!!! Absolutely horrible. I had my son first birthday here a couple days ago. Horrible service. I had planned months before that day, I specifically ask for serval accommodation, that were promised but not met… I had set the party for 17 tables and they said give and take 1 – 2 tables. Only 14 tables shown up but Guess what I had to pay for those two tables they give and take!!! At the beginning of the party I told them to stop making those 3 empty tables but I guess everything was already made forcing us to take home 3 table worth meals… (No wonder why the food was cold as hell… They probably made it days before and had everything frozen) This could feed 30 people… I had paid for everything including 30 deserts to go home after they said them packed up all the food. Go home to find 30 portions of desert not even there. Made me more angry to the fact I got ripped. Literally the to go food was spoiled. 1 – 2 days after the party my guest complain about unsanitary food. Leading to a lot of bathroom visits. The bird nest soup was sour. Going through the soup I couldn’t find any bird nest, just chicken and egg white… The food came out slow… Promised me 12 waiters only had about 8 – 9 waiters… The waiters told my guest to serve themselves. Water cups were not filled. My family had to go serve my family and friends. Why am I paying tip for you guys when you didn’t even do your part you guys didn’t deserve tip… This isn’t even the end of the misery yet. So much more but I’m going to end before I blow up even more. Never coming back or recommending this place to anyone even if I hate that person. One more thing I have to mention… The kitchen is filthy I picked up the cake and dropped it off to the restaurant. They had us put it in the refrigerator… It was filled with dim sum that was uncovered. It smelt like mold and mildew I wonder how long those have been siting in there!!! Disgusting

Bonus: I’ve never had to wait to be seated.
Take out: yes they do, but honestly, it just doesn’t taste that great and sometimes I end up waiting longer for the takeout because it wasn’t ready than I would’ve taken to sit and eat. I’ve never tried from the mini cafeteria type line in front. I do a call ahead order and pick up on those days I can’t step away from my desk very long.
Dine In: I always have a good experience. I was new to Dim Sum before I started working in the building next to it and I enjoy the experience or what you want, it comes out VERY quickly, one at a time if the other orders take longer. There is a sweet older lady that loves to give compliments, she always makes me smile. The hot tea is hot tea I like. I usually order the shrimp dumpling, pot sticker, and sui mai. That would be sharing with two people and that would be enough, or they would order one more thing.
Hit: dining in Miss: take out

Being Chinese myself I have always loved Chinese food as much as everything else. Fortunately, was lucky enough to come to this place for a couple times and during my recent visit I had ordered turnip cake, chive dumpling, and vegetable rolls and really had enjoyed them all.
Most of the time people would be here with their friends and families and it may turn out much better since each order has two-​three small pieces so the more people to share the oder, the more varieties each person gets to try. Often times I find myself prefer trying little bit of everything so it surely would be a great place for groups or with friends.
It only was just on the way for a take out so did not pay much detail attention to the settings and it was not during the lunch hour so lucky me got the nice quiet moment of peace while waiting on my order.
The overall impression of the restaurant was pretty good considering the designed ambiance, embellish surroundings, grandeur furnishing, and scintillant lightings… etc It was indeed somewhere nice and splendid :)

I had a wedding reception here and everything was perfect! Linda and her staff took great care of us and the food was to die for! My family has had a couple of big dinner parties here and we will definitely be coming back. If you are looking for good food and great service I would definitely recommended going here. Thank you Linda!!!

Service was fast and friendly but the food was expensive, small in portion, ala carte (charged extra for small bowl of steamed rice) and worst of all food was mediocre (orange beef was chewy and stringy, made from cheap flank steak)

Mandalay today. omg, call to order Gailan and add fried tofu to stirfry. get there 20 mins like they said, order not even in the system, then they put in the order, with my hand motions stir fry together with oyster sauce and garlic… she collect the money $ 21.38 wtf… she comes back «no more gailan», shit… she says «you take choi sum?» No, go check if got ong choi, ok ong choy… $ 21.38 what? Ok. friken hungry… order comes and i notice 2 boxes, i tell her why was it not stir fry together??? She looks at me and is quiet… I said F*c# it and left… Hey manager/​owner — she never said sorry, not even once for all the mistakes and screw ups… I come about 1 time a month paying for a table of 10 or 20 at least 6 times a year plus other times with 2 – 4 people every month… You just lost that
Oh btw the fried tofu had shrimp inside, no one said it had and a friend i shared it with was allergic and had to take a shot after eating a piece… the ong choi was delicious though.

Went for a society dinner and we reserved the whole restaurant. As far as Chinese restaurants in Hawaii goes this one is one of the cleaner/​fancier places. We enjoyed a 7 course meal here and I’m sure we’ll reserve it again for the next get together. During the work week they serve dim sum which is good and within walking distance from downtown a little fancier than legends.
So tonight we had Chinese chicken salad with jelly fish very good and the sauce was good too, seafood soup, black bean salmon very good not all restaurants serve this, mushrooms and bok choy winner! Very tasty, oyster balls, roasted chicken, crispy noodles with seafood good and almond float. Service was good despite being busy serving all the tables and they did a good job with changing out plates when it was dirty and refilling water and hot tea. I will come back again, consistent good food and I like that it’s clean and I can take customers and mainland visitors here.

Mandalay is a Shanghai/​Hong Kong-​style Chinese dim sum restaurant located at the site of the old Yong Sing Chinese Restaurant, across from entrance to the Bishop Square parking structure, where you can park free (validated) after 5 p.m. and on weekends.
I hadn’t been there in years, but had occasion to on Mother’s Day, when we partook of its special dinner buffet. We got there for our 5:30 p.m. reservation and wow, was it a madhouse. It was crowded and noisy, and we had to battle the buffet line to get to our table.
There was ample offering in the buffet, including (taking a deep breath) roasted pig, snow crab legs, Peking duck with bun, prime rib and shrimp cocktail, Chinese chicken salad, potato salad, beef egg-​drop soup, beef broccoli, taro cake, sweet-​sour spare ribs, deep-​fried salt and pepper shrimp, sesame green beans, chow fun, chow mein, shoyu eggplant, fried rice, almond float, haupia, custard pastry, jin doi sesame balls, and a bunch of other entrees and desserts that I can’t remember.
The food was okay, nothing special popped out at me, but then, buffet entrees are usually like that — kind of overcooked and short on seasoning. Still, it was a nice dinner. Service was fast and efficient.
I’d go back, but not on a special occasion buffet night. I’d like to try their dim sum next time.

I’ve been here several times thanks to the kindness of my supervisors. Every time we come here, I’m never disappointed. There is one lady who works there that is so kind and attentive that it’s hard not to have an enjoyable lunch.
We come here for their dim sum and I usually just let my supervisors order with a few requests of pork hash and char siu look fun (hey, whatever makes me happy right?). we also get shrimp puffs, some different types of gyoza.
Very yummerz and a nice place to go to lunch where we don’t have to walk far ^_​^
I think the prices are average and portions are good. I wouldn’t want to pig out and risk falling asleep at my desk after lunch ^_^

Atmosphere: 5 stars
Can definitely feel the «fine dining» experience here especially around the fancy downtown buildings. Servers are friendly and attentive. Also very fast.
Food: 3 stars
I grew up in California where Chinese food is a staple. Maybe it’s my own tastes growing up there but Chinese food in Hawaii is hit or miss for me. I was really looking forward to this one considering the prices. It’s not bad but it’s definitely not great. I did LOVE their BBQ Manapua-​type dish and salt and pepper pork. The rest was ok. We had Ginger Chicken, Fried Noodles, and rest I can’t remember.
Came here because work paid which am definitely grateful for and can’t complain about that. However would probably not come here on our own again.
The food taste weighs much more heavily than the service or atmosphere for me so that’s the reason for 3 stars.
We did however buy some orange chicken from the Express section for the kids. I never got to taste it but kids seemed to devour it! If we ever find ourselves here again, we will definitely try it!

Love the food here! Dim Sum, Dim Sum!
My family holds baby’s 1^st birthday celebrations here. The have an event area upstairs that looks down onto the main dining room.
Parking is located in the building directly across the street. Mandalay will validate.
Restrooms are located off to the side of the main dining room on the ground floor. Clean. The ambiance is nice and cozy. The acoustics are good as it doesn’t get too loud, or so I didn’t notice. The staff, though not super enthusiastic, are very polite, attentive and accommodating.
The food is very good and it is presented nicely. A great place to get good dim sum on a Sunday with mom and the aunties. Enjoy!

The Mandalay restaurant located in the downtown area close to Alakea and King Streets is my number one favorite Chinese restaurant in Hawaii. Yes, it’s a little more expensive than many other Chinese restaurants but there is great ambiance and service. Cloth tablecloths, napkins and plate changes during courses are the normal service.
My favorite is the dim sum lunch served every day until 5 p.m. I always order the usual half dozen or so orders which include har gao, shumai, baked char siu bow, fried nori shrimp, the seafood pouch, spinach and scallop, & a few others.
There is free evening parking everyday and weekends are also free all day. Because of its location in downtown, they are very busy for lunch on weekdays but very empty on weekends. Highly recommended!

What definitely gave The Mandalay the four stars from me is that they were open during the holidays! Christmas 2014 was my first visit to The Mandalay. After doing a little research, I found out that it’s a two storied Chinese buffet restaurant. I dined here with a party of 17, so we had to reserve two round tables to seat us. The tables were nestled in the back of the first floor, which was perfect since we wanted some separation from the main dining hall. To be honest, I did not have very high expectations prior to the dinner, but The Mandalay surprised me with their variety of buffet items (prime rib, crab legs, roast pork, somen salad, egg drop soup, fried shrimp, cocktail shrimp, almond tofu, and jindui!). I was also surprised with how accommodating the staff was. They were friendly, attentive, and happy! Anyone working in the food and beverage industry during the holidays definitely deserves kudos. The Mandalay does two seatings on Christmas day, one at 5:00PM and the other at 7:00PM. Definitely be on time or earlier since that means maximum time to pig out at the buffet line! The lines were long for the first half hour, but after that there was barely a line. The Mandalay left me jolly and full on that Christmas night, and I’d definitely spend another Christmas there.
Tip: The Mandalay offers senior discount for 60+
Tip: Ask servers for melted butter for your crab legs! (was told that they used to serve it in the buffet line, but took it out)

I’ve been here a few times many, many years ago (before I was a Unilocaler) for both dinner and dim sum, and I remember having the absolute worse experience with a particular server. My family and I were figuring out what to order during dim sum, and I had the paper to mark it down. Our server checked on us twice in a minute span, and then one more time a minute after. We weren’t ready yet, and she had the nerve to yank the pencil and paper right out of my hands because she thought I didn’t know what I was doing. RIght after that, she put the paper on the table, and asked what we wanted to order. She was very insistent, and I had to tell her we weren’t ready and that we could mark it down ourselves three times… Then she slammed the pencil down, scoffed, and walked to the back. Ridiculous! She was the most impatient, rude, and aggressive server I have ever had. I hope to never to see her ugly face again!
Yep, guess who was my server on my most recent visit? –_​–
I came here for dim sum with my grandfather, and the thing I noticed right away was how dark it was. I noticed that only one set of lights were on, whereas the other light fixtures only had a few bulbs on. Also, the place was kind of warm, and poorly vented because I was able to smell the restroom with its scented air fresheners and its own smell along with it each time someone entered and exited the restrooms… Not good.
This time, I quickly ordered: chicken feet (my staple), vegetarian rolls, beef shanks, and SIngapore Rice Noodle. I enjoyed the chicken feet here. They were very tasty, nice sized, meaty, tender, and had four pieces (most places give you only three) plus peanuts. The Vegetarian Rolls were something I haven’t seen in other places, so I had to try it. It’s just a steamed chinese cabbage wrapped with a Chinese Shiitake Mushroom, bean curd, and a baby corn. It’s simple, but actually very good. The mushrooms were fresh, and each ingredient was tasty and tender. The beef shanks were okay. They were heated up too long, which ended up making the beef over cooked and tough. The slices were very uneven as the thick and normal pieces were really tough, but at least the thin pieces were okay. The Singapore Rice Noodle was very good. Each ingredient: from the little shrimp to the rice noodles, were all well cooked. The dish overall was tasty and flavorful with the right amount of curry powder, and it wasn’t dry or oily. The only problem was the cook didn’t separate the all the noodles that well as the curry powder had stayed clumped together in a couple of places within the noodles.
So, back to our server because there was an instance of her ridiculousness. I was in the middle of eating my Singapore Noodles, and after taking and still chewing my first bite, this crazy lady swoops in to replace my plate out of no where. She already put down the new plate, and was holding onto my old plate that still had food on it. She said she is changing plates because I had chicken bones on my plate. I am sitting up with chopsticks in my hand, and food still in my mouth dazed and confused as to what on Earth is going on right now. After a second, it didn’t seem like I had a choice or a say to this, so I had to slide all the food onto the new plate. Wow. She literally came from behind and took my plate away without even asking. That was absolutely unnecesarry because I only ate one chicken feet so far, and there will be more bones in a few minutes. Still rude and aggressive I guess, and she didn’t change it the second time when I had bones on my plate. Thanks.
Luckily, I didn’t have to deal with her throughout the meal. Other than the plate incident, all she did was bring out our initial pot of tea and take our order. There were other people who filled my water, brought out our food, and checked on us. The rest of the servers were very attentive and friendly.
Overall though, this place isn’t that bad. The food is pretty good, and the dim sum is better than most places. The prices aren’t too bad. Most of the main dim sum are $ 3.50 (medium), and the rest are $ 4.50 (large), $ 4.95 (special), $ 5.95 (deluxe), and $ 2.50 (small). The small dim sum are in the dessert portion, which is a good deal because other places list them at the regular medium price. The deluxe is another good deal as the beef shank I ordered was at that price. It is more expensive at other places, and you don’t get as much. The regular menu food items are actually decently priced. The problem is the cheaper dishes are too close or the same price as the more premium and expensive dishes.
Lastly, if you don’t want to pay a premium for parking in the daytime, just park at Iolani Palace in the metered stalls. Cut through Café Julia and you are there. After 5PM, you can park in the Bishop Square Lot where they validate.

I was downtown looking for lunch and I remembered a past article in the ‘Dining Out’ section of the paper that said The Mandalay was now serving soup dumplings.
Soup dumplings are my weakness (actually all dumplings are amazing). Almost every culture has a type of dough-​wrapped goodness, and that is a good thing. Perogies, gyoza, samosas, mandoo, spanakopita, won tons, or meat pies… whatever you call it, I eat it.
I had eaten at this restaurant for a large family function and I thought it was ok, so I thought I would head down there and grab some dim sum to go.
I walked in and they were not super busy for lunch, maybe half to a third full downstairs, and the upstairs was closed. I waited for someone to help me for about 5 minutes… hey it’s lunch… no worries.
The hostess finally came back and took my order:
I ordered pork in puff pastry and soup dumplings.
She looks at me and says ‘You want won ton soup?’
I said ‘No…I want soup dumplings.‘
She goes ‘Oh…you want dumplings in a soup?’
I said ‘No…I want soup inside of the dumplings.‘
She says ‘Oh…ok.‘
So then I wait for 20 minutes…
The hostess ends up avoiding me, I think because my food has taken forever, so when she finally comes back with my food I say ‘Everything ok back there?‘
She says’ Oh yes, the dumpling just takes a long time to cook’.
In my head, I’m like… how long does it take to steam a couple of small soup dumplings.
She hands me my to go bag and the pork in puff pastry is in there, along with a clear soup container. I look inside the soup container and there is a large dumpling sitting in soup…
I was like…‘I wanted soup dumplings’.
She looks at me with a confused look.
I say ‘xiao long bao’
She goes ‘Ohhhh’
I said ‘Soup dumplings, right?‘
She says ‘Oh…ok, give me a few minutes.‘
So I end up waiting again… not as long as the first time, but probably ten minutes. She ends up coming back and bringing the soup dumplings. She didn’t charge me for the ‘dumpling in soup’, which was nice, but getting dim sum to go shouldn’t take 35 minutes.
So I walk back to my desk and sit down and open up the containers… everything looks good and I dig in.
Bland, Bland, Bland!
The soup dumplings didn’t have great flavor and the soup inside was under seasoned. The dumpling in soup looked amazing… it even had shrimp inside. It looked complicated to make, but again, very bland and tasteless. The pork in puff pastry was the worst. Not sweet, not salty, just blah… and the pastry was really mushy… making the texture very unappealing.
In retrospect, when my order wasn’t right, I should have eaten the pork in puff pastry right then… while waiting for the soup dumplings… but it felt rude to eat in the hostess area.
I don’t know if I would go back. I may need to go with someone who goes there a lot to know what to get. But with so many Chinese restaurants, especially in this area… is it really worth the trouble to go back?

It’s my lunch break and although I should probably be using this hour to get in some exercise at 24hour fitness, I find myself here at Mandalay, party of 1 for dim sum. The 12 o’clock hour is a very busy time here, the waitress barely greets me and then disappears for about 10 minutes before I can put in an order. They do not do carts here, all dim sum is via special order. My food slowly came out, probably another 10 minutes which feels like eternity when you are starving. Orders don’t come out all at once, it’s brought out in piece meal. Here’s my review on the food that I ordered:
Seaweed rolls — Excellent. Very light and crispy batter and stuffed full of shrimp– no skimping here.
Spinach with scallop — Not much flavor, kind of bland, tasted like straight steamed spinach with a small piece of scallop
Seafood bundle — Can’t review cause I was too full to get to it, but I will say it was very heavy to pick up with my chopsticks. So no skimping here either.
Pan fried shrimp with chives — Now this is where it’s at! Packed full of shrimp and chives, lightly pan fried which gives it a little crispness. My favorite of the meal.
House Noodles (cake noodle style) — Very good. Noodles tasted extremely fresh. Crispy fried on edges and soft and almost gooey in the middle where the sauce soaks in. Comes with shrimp, scallop, fish and ika, all of which were jumbo sized. Only complaint is that the sauce was a tad too salty.
Overall food was very good. Service was ok– not very attentive, left me waiting for long periods of time. So if you are on your lunch break, be aware of the clock. Price point was pretty high for dim sum but because of the portions they give you, it is worth it. However, the noodles were only $ 12.95 for cake noodle with all that seafood! Definitely worth a try.

Right smack in the middle of downtown Honolulu is the least place you’d expect a Chinese dim sum restaurant, and many people that I’ve known never been here.
Recently, I was given a good opportunity to join family on a dim sum luncheon. Being that the dim sum scene was extremely disappointing lately with my favorite spots being quite terrible, I had low expectations of this place. I mean after all, it can’t have much traffic in and out on a Sunday can it? And trying dim sum in a completely empty restaurant doesn’t guarantee you fresh dim sum.
Part of my eagerness was that we were told they had a new dim sum chef recently, the original Panda Cuisine one many years ago.
Ordering system is by paper, no carts here.
First surprise: Sunday parking is free. Park across the street at Bishop Square.
Siu Mai — plump but geared towards local taste. Far from traditional Hong Kong type. Think just pork hash. Couldn’t taste the shrimp and wasn’t sure if it had any. D
Ha Gau — As I’ve said in previous dim sum restaurant reviews, this makes or breaks a dim sum restaurant. Shrimp filling is perfect, the pei was thicker than I’d like. B
Beef Balls — Fresh, without the hint of exposure to freezer as some places show. They don’t skimp on size either. B
Fung Jow — Chicken feet! Mild with peanuts. Just the way I like it. Flavor was there and the size was larger than other places. A
Seaweed roll — I loved this. The filling is same as you’d find in ha gau but the roll is deep fried seaweed with batter. A
Beef look fun — and yes it did look fun. One of my favorites executed to perfection. They loaded it for us. A
Service — slow. It did take a while for us to get our food even though the restaurant wasn’t too busy.
Price — If this spot was a bit cheaper, it would easily be my favorite, but unfortunately, prices are high here (not too much). It’s more in line with Royal Garden.
If you’ve exhausted most dim sum places and haven’t tried here, I highly suggest it. There have been too many disappointing places lately and quality has gone downhill for most older spots. Mandalay is an exception, and hopefully they stay consistent.