Place is located at China town. Don't worry about parking space. Theres a paying parking lot across the street. I will recommend that after dim sum you may walk or plan do to something around China town. The parking lot was $5.00 for 10 hours. Not bad if you know that is .50 cents an hour but you can't pay less than $5 dollars. Place was clean, tables are round, and place is spacious to move the cart around. Restaurant is closed every Wednesday. All the popular breakfast dishes are ready to serve at the table. The waitresses are up their game. They are efficient and fast. read more

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If you want "carrot" dim sum, this is the place. Both the bean curd and scallop dim sum was comprised almost entirely of carrot. The spinach dumpling didn't have any shrimp in it. The chives and shrimp har gao was just ok. We waited about 45 min for our order. Not coming back, unless I am insanely craving carrots... read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Bean curd... Mostly carrots... - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Still 5 stars. I take guests from out of town, family and friends here with confidence, knowing it'll be a good meal and not break the bank. The food is always great, cheap and delish. Tons of variety on the menu. The servers were kind of mean years ago but they've mellowed out, and when you come often enough, they're really nice and helpful. They have a few new menu items (as of March 2019). Shrimp with taro and pine nuts in a steamed dumpling wrapper. Taro and shrimp spring rolls. Garlic butter shrimp (totally not north shore shrimp truck style). Chestnut and shrimp dumplings. My rule of thumb is to stick to the dim sum dishes. Anything off the regular menu is hit or miss and more expensive. If you go with a group (which is best!) you can all order a few things and try a lot of different dishes. The bill is usually less than $15 each. Food is hot and made fresh at night. Watch out so you don't burn your mouth! Especially on the fried garlic eggplant. They run out of the baked pastries and desserts early so order those ASAP. BYOB, no corkage fee. A pot of free jasmine tea is placed at the table. My favorites: Taro and scallop nests or just taro nest (has pork) Shrimp or scallop look fun Garlic fried chicken wings Garlic fried eggplant Beef balls Chicken feet Scallop and spinach dumplings Fried shrimp dumplings Baked char siu manapua Egg custard tarts Mushroom chicken dumplings Seafood roll Actually it's all really good. The few disappointments are the non-dim sum dishes, the spare ribs, the soft shell crab... read more

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This place gets a 5 star for it's food alone. My family and I have been going their for years and even to their original location before this one and we have always favored their dim sum over anywhere else in town. The quality of their dim sum far surpasses everyone else for it's freshness and preparation. It is always a good value here, so it won't bust your budget to splurge on a big meal there. They have all the classics and then some for dim sum. My favorites and must haves are as follows: Spareribs, Siu Mai or Shumai aka Porkhash in Hawaii, Shrimp Dumplings, Steamed Look Fun, Chicken Feet Tripe, jellyfish, Fried Garlic Eggplant, and of course Egg Custard for dessert. Of course there is a full menu of Chinese classics you can order from if you need something more. We like to get a plate of Choy Sum with Oyster Sause for some veggies and sometimes some Crispy Fried Noodles with Seafood if feeling hungry. Most of the staff have been there a long time and may seem a little rough around the edges, but they know what they are doing. In a a busy place like this, there is no time for niceties and it shouldn't be expected. I don't mean that they are rude, they are just not going to bend all over you like a fancy restaurant. The place has seen a lot of traffic over the years and it shows it in the overall condition of the restaurant, but I feel that it is clean and never had any problems eating there. Don't let looks deceive you, because if you don't go based on this place's appearance, you will miss out on some really good dim sum. read more

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The service may be blunt and lacking any personal touches but the food and dim sum is always spot on. It's BYOB so that's a plus. Parking is not the greatest there is a paid lot but stalls are tight. I usually do a few turns around the block and find street parking, worth the walk. Basic Chinese restaurant set up with round tables and tablecloths, bathroom needs updating. I recommend this place and have been coming for years read more

Unassuming, and no frills, the women working here make it look easy, but do not be fooled, this is probably some of the better quality dim sum I've had in hawaii. The dishes are each made with care and are all warm (if not piping hot) when served. The space is clean(er) for chinatown and the food comes quick. We got a handful of our dim sum faves but some of the standouts were the Lo Bak Gao and the Pai Gu, but we enjoyed a lot of different items on the menu. Parking is easy, as there's a nice lot across the street that's very cheap. This is a great location if you wanna also do a little walk around chinatown after to grab a coffee and check out some of the markets and stores. This spot is a great option for dim sum in honolulu's chinatown. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Lo bak gao, pai gu and sui mai - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Heard so much about this dim sum place so I finally went for lunch today. The food is very tasty and the service is fast!

dimmed sum? I recently had my first visit at Mei Sum (on a friend's recommendation), and it seems, judging from the various reviews, that a dining experience can be a "hit or a "miss" here. We came here solely for dim sum this past Saturday, January 2. PARKING: Street or in nearby lots. We were thankful we found street parking across the street from the restaurant. COVID PRECAUTIONS: 1. Staff wearing masks 2. Social Distancing between tables 3. Plexiglass set up at cashier counter Mei Sum serves your standard fare dim sum and their regular menu is also available. Although we arrived close to noon, we (miraculously) were seated almost immediately. One of the server's dropped off plates, chopsticks, and tea while we looked over the menu. Our order was taken and the food slowly arrived from the kitchen. Overall, the food was ok. I'd say pretty standard/normal dim sum. SERVICE: Not so great. There were only THREE servers responsible for the entire restaurant! Although seating was not a full capacity, it seems the 3 ladies had more work than they could all handle (even with all the teamwork going on). They took orders for dine in, take out AND phone orders, bused the tables, served the tea and water, and brought the condiments to tables as well. As my friend described the chaotic scene: "They were running around like chickens with their heads cut off." BOTTOM LINE: I'd possibly return. Hopefully staffing will be adequate on a possible future visit. read more

You win sum, you dim sum! Mei sum is my go to when I want dim sum. One of the great perks is that they're not only open for lunch. My favorites have to be the string beans with minced pork and the garlic eggplant. But really, anything with their garlic is AMAZING. Prices are pretty standard here. Food isn't so oily like other chinese places. String beans- thiccc and crispy Garlic eggplant- 4 pieces. So soft!!! Pairs perfectly with crunchy garlic Pork hash- standard. Good Dried scallop dumpling- standard. Good Shrimp dumpling- maybe my least favorite. Was too mushy for me. Might've just been this batch Custard bun- No. Dry? Other favs: Chicken wings (with the garlic), char siu bao, mochi rice, look fun read more

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Mei Sum = Beautiful Heart That's what my friends have! We stayed over three hours together - catching up with each other - before the holiday rush - exactly one month before Christmas! The service here was quite good for a Chinese establishment. Our teapot was filled several times without us asking! The servers were able to speak English to us! They let us in before the opening time of 8am and we had a quiet, calm, clean environment until the place filled up. Since it was a Sunday, street parking was free. There's also metered street parking and a reasonably priced municipal parking lot nearby. If you come for dinner, street parking in Chinatown is free after 6:30pm. We ate shrimp dumplings, seafood dumplings, steamed mochi rice, tasty chive & shrimp dumplings, fried mochi balls, Spinach & scallop dumplings, fried taro puffs, plump chicken feet, and yummy custard tarts. Everything was nicely presented and tasted great! I have dined here several times in the past: * My cousins from San Diego enjoyed the deep soft shell crab and the fried seaweed rolls. * My uncle celebrated his 80th birthday with a traditional Chinese nine-course dinner. * My cousin from the Big Island and I had late night dimsum at 8pm once! The dim sum is freshly made after 2pm! These are all happy memories involving satisfied tummies, efficient service, delicious food, and great family and friends! We will continue to share our beautiful hearts with you! read more

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3.5 stars Why did I come here, because I found street parking right in front of the restaurant this past weekend. If there was street parking at any of the other dim sum places in Chinatown, my review would have been about that other place. Parking 10 stars - it was right in front of the restaurant, as many know have to be lucky to find parking now days! Service 3.5 stars - was busy so ladies busy cleaning tables and serving others before we could get seated. Before being seated a server motioned that had to sign in for covid tracing. Food/price 3.5 stars - some dim sum items for the price was really small portions (spare ribs in black bean sauce) I should have taken a photo. Other items cheaper than some of the other places. Generous amount of mustard/shoyu and chili sauces in squirt bottles. Standard dim sum fare. Will I come back, probably, after I hit the other dim sum places on the rotation list. read more

Quick, easy, delicious. That pretty much sums up every experience I've had at Mei Sum, one of my favorite spots for dim sum! Whether you're on a time crunch or would rather sit and catch up with friends/family over a fun and appetizing meal, this place has what you need! The selection is great, service is fast, and every dish is hot upon arrival. I personally enjoy eating dim sum on the weekends so I can enjoy the quiet of downtown Honolulu. Not to worry if dining on a weekday, as there are a number of parking options in the area (Mark's Garage, an outdoor pay to park lot, even a few metered stalls right out front). read more

Craving Chinese food since we was in the area. Might as well since we was in Chinatown Public parking right across the street. We paid $5 (card only) for the whole day. Lots of parking this Sunday afternoon. Walked in, it was busy but we was seated right away and also got to order our food once we sat down. We ordered some shrimp pork hash, half moons to start. Our main dishes was the fried rice, honey glazed walnuts and the sweet & sour spare pork. Asked my boyfriend how he's rate all the food from 1-5, 5 being the best... we both agree on it being a 3. Ladies all around will come by and ask if you want anything else to order, fill your water, etc. person with the cart going around the restaurant with more fresh dim sum read more

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So good!! My friend and I left stuffed for only $36 total. Basically unheard of these days. I loved every dish. Excellent soup dumplings! This will be my go-to dim sum restaurant from now on read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

I really love this dim sum spot. Everything I tried here I enjoyed. They have really good garlic chicken wings, I wish I tired the soft shell crab too. I usually get the char siu bao, potsticker, shrimp dumpling, garlic chicken wings, and look fun with char siu. We ordered their house noodle and honey walnut shrimp, both really good! Can't wait to come back and try more things! read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - House noodle - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

So, due to the 'rona, some of our favorite spots have shut down, which has left us really sad, but on the upside, that means we need to try new places and step out of that dim sum comfort zone. We saw the sign on the way to the municipal parking lot, and while we spent some time walking around Chinatown on a Saturday afternoon, we made our way towards this dim sum restaurant. We weren't sure what to expect, as different dim sum joints do dim sum differently, and add COVID in the mix, well who knows what to do. Temperature check at the door, however they weren't very diligent as some guests were asked to check and others were just seated. The restaurant is fairly large (occupancy sign said 80) and there was enough spacing that people were seated 6 ft apart from each other. Our waitress was juggling different tables and seating guests at the same time, We picked out pork hash, half moon, fried taro, fried shrimp, and some house noodles. The half moon and pork hash came quickly, as the dim sum station had those in stock, our other items were made to order, which had we known that, we probably would've asked that everything be brought out together. Since condiments on the table are a thing of the past, we asked for mustard and shoyu, and the server made her own mix which was way to much for my taste, my nose had one of those clarifying moments from the Chinese mustard. Asked for more shoyu and remedied that situation. Decent dim sum, we can add this place to the list, as it wasn't as cheap as some of our old favorites, but it definitely wasn't as expensive as some other restaurants. Will have to try a different noodle dish next time we visit. read more

Best bean curd and har gao. Clean and efficient service if they only had parking but happy with food quality and portions

Great spot for some nice dim sum! The Hargow was spot on but the garlic Choi Sum stole the show! Quick efficient service in a no frills tea room. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Char su bao - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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The only thing that could have been better would be carts, but COVID killed that. If you don't speak one or more of the Chinese language, anticipate a language barrier. Didn't hamper, we used the picture menu. Good food, reasonably priced, and fast service. About 80% of the diners were of some Asian descent and I took that as "this is a local's place. Will definitely be back. read more

Ate here for the first time since they moved from their last location. It wasn't as good as other dim sum locations that I normally go to. We always order the same things such as pork hash, pork spare ribs, seafood roll, mochi ball, mochi rice, and char sou bao. Majority of the dim sums that we ordered tasted similar, but the sizes were a lot smaller than what I'm used to. The service was really fast considering there was only one waitress at the time. Street parking is available, but make sure you have $3 worth of coins for just an hour since meter parking is more expensive. This restaurant is located on Nuuanu where the Post Office is. There are a lot of tables/seats available. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - March as of 2019 - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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If you go at off peak hours, be prepared to wait a while for your orders come out. Came in on a weekday at 2pm, and not surprisingly, the place was sparsely occupied. Ordered the shrimp with chives, 2x spinach with scallop, dried scallop, xiao long bao, 2x charsui bao, and fried mochi red bean balls. With tip, came out to about $12 per person. The dried scallop was my least favorite, with pinkish pork meat and minuscule amounts of dried scallops that left a funky taste. Best were the fried red bean mochi ball (fresh off the fryer and so so delectable) and the baked charsiu bao. The xiao long bao was okay but unmemorable, spinach was overcooked, and the shrimp with chives was filled with just water chestnut and dough. Perhaps it was an off day bc the locals have been leaving glowing reviews. Personally prefer Ginget and Garlic on Smith St. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Food is always great when we order!! We ordered a big group order. So I asked if they could separate the orders and total each bags orders. The ladies checked the order and put everyone's order in separate bags with totals for each bag!! We only found 1 discrepancy, but it was only because they didn't hear we wanted 2 orders of an item. Not a problem. They added the second order and charge us for it. I went just before the crowd so only 2 tables with people that's why the 2 servers were able to help me check the bags. Great service! Everyone got the correct order and had full bellies. We tried the Turnip cakes, they were Ono!! read more

The food is good, and the price is reasonable. The go-to here is dim sum, but be sure to fill in with some other dishes. I like noodles, so I always grab one of those, but their other food is good too. The only downsides are that they are almost always busy, which makes them late on takeouts 90% of the time, and the deep fried dishes can be a bit greasy. Besides that, like I said, good dim sum, reasonably priced. read more

Outside of Chinatown but still Chinatown parking was easy but we got here early so street parking was available. The pork has as I would say sui mai was good not food to la standards but decent for Oahu. The hom sui kwok was good crispy and mochi like. read more

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Have you been to China? It's chaotic. Mei Sum is pretty calm in comparison but maintains some of that fun Chinese culture while still being clean. It is in a great location with a parking lot right across the street. They have a decent amount of tables and I like to order cake noodles off the menu and then grab a few dim sum plates off the carts. They don't have a huge dim sum menu but that makes my selection process easier and they're able to move the plates quickly so the dim sum is fresh and warm. You can tell because the jin dui is hot and crispy! (fried rice dessert with either coconut or bean inside) read more

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1.5 stars. I've dined here a few times because clients or friends have picked this spot. It's not my first choice, second choice or third choice but I'm flexible. To be honest, they don't even cross my mind when I want dimsum. The bright side is that if I am in Downtown, walking here is closer than walking to dimsum restaurants in Chinatown. This is the only positive I could really think of. Mei Sum Dim Sum is push cart and a decent size for a dimsum restaurant. It's pretty clean and customer service isn't terrible. They are sometimes even friendly. Mei Sum Dim Sum has the typical dimsum you would find at other dimsum restaurants. The only thing is the consistency of taste due to freshness of ingredients. Of the few times I've been here, only a couple times the dimsum tasted fresh and how it should taste like. Due to COVID-19 and not many places being open for dimsum takeout, my sister insisted we come here so we got takeout from here. The dimsum tasted like spoiled food so we tossed it. Don't think I'm coming back again and if clients/friend suggest this place, I'll gladly drive them to dine elsewhere. read more

Very much like nost dim sum restaurants in Honolulu, the reheat frozen dim sum and do not make by hand fresh. It's not bad, it's ok. No comparison to what is available in the Bay Area where we're from. read more

My family got food poisoning on 12-7-2024. We came from Big island for parade ruined our weekend. BEWARE I will never eat Chinese food again. read more

The dim sum here are good. The people are nice and speaks English. I got it to go. I did a phone order and when I got there my food was ready. I just had to pay. It looks like they have every other table open but there were just a couple tables filled. There were quite some people got it to go than dine in. read more

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Other than having the best name for a dim sum place, the food is really good. The flavors are classically Chinese. What I mean by that is everything we tried tasted like what I expected. Just enough spice and flavor to make the experience enjoyable. My daughter just turned 17 and we weren't able to do a family dinner until Sunday. And all she wanted was Dim Sum. There are a few places we like but Mei Sum is the closest, easiest parking (when we are fortunate enough to have the street parking right in front of restaurant) and quickest to serve. So we ended up there and she was pleased. I have to admit that the final bill surprised us. It was more than we usually spend, but I guess that's all the inflation everyone keeps talking about. So just be aware that some things are more expensive and that the dishes are color coded based on how much they cost. But I think everyone knew that? In the end... Good food. Convenient. Always scratches the Dim Sum itch. Thank you sir, Mei I have another? read more

Not as good as I expected. It was just ok. Nothing special. Servers are nice and quick. The place is ok. The food was mediocre.

Good dim sum and veggy dishes. Prices are reasonable and service is efficient and friendly. Some other plusses. Its quiet enough that you hear yourself think. The complementary tea is quite good. There are no push cart ladies hard selling dim sum that you don't really want. Mustard, chili sauce, and soy are on the table so you don't have to request it each time. Parking is easy. Undergroud Municipal lot behind Nuuanu - entrance off Beretania. read more

Not bad but like any typical Chinese restaurant don't expect the waitresses to be friendly and there's always a language barrier unless your speak Cantonese. read more

Food was good, but staff is very disorganized. Phoned in an order of dim sum and noodles. Said i'd pick it up in 30 min at 11:30am. I arrived and the order wasn't packed or ready. Ended up waiting 30 minutes before they had every thing ready to go. I wasn't the only one waiting for their take out order. There were 4 of us all trying to get our orders out. Another customer came in to verify a $500 order for Chinese NY. They really must have been having an off day. When we sat down to eat the dim sum. I thought it was rather bland. So disappointed. I had picked up this food for my mom in a nursing home. I do really like this place. I'll give them another shot before moving on. Hope they don't disappoint me again. read more

I wish I had a photo of the amazing food here, but I end up eating it so quickly because that's how good it is! The parking situation is basically street parking, but there's a lot for the most part. Once you walk in you're automatically greeted by the staff and they are able to seat y out quickly. The authenticity of the environment feels very homey. The staff is always working so hard and they never forget an order. I love the seafood rolls, shrimp dumplings, pork hash, geez you name it! They bring everything pretty quickly (except for the occasional fried items that may take a bit longer). And even with that exception of fried foods, they still don't take more than 15 minutes, and I've waited longer than that for food before. The steamed items are usually on hand and get to the table fairly quickly. They give you menus with photos so if you're more visual that should help. When it was my first time I asked lots of questions and I lucked out, because my boyfriend grew up eating it. However, you can always look up items you may find interesting and see how you'd like it. The flavor is amazing and everything is always so good! Hands down my favorite so far! read more

Mei Sum is one of few stores offers dim sum all day in Chinatown. We arrived around 4pm and almost nobody was there. Because of that, we didn't have to deal with all the craziness of upselling and all. Only one lady was working but she gave us undivided attention and was very nice. I think she made my dining experience here a lot better. Thier dim sum was not bad at all. My favorite was potstickers, shrimp and chives, and deepfried seaweed. We also ordered broccolis with oyster sauce and fried tofu off the regular menu, and they were both good. Only concern but kind of important: cleanliness. The whole restaurant looked kinda dirty and old. The bathroom had really bad wet rug smell. I definitely do not wanna know what goes on in the kitchen. read more

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In the time of COVID, I've been relying on takeout more than dining in. Mei sum isn't fancy, but it's cheap, tasty, and they serve dim sum into dinner time (whereas most dim sum places stop serving after lunch). They also have a parking lot right across the street, which is super convenient. I LOVE their xiao liang bao (yes, I know these soup dumplings should be eaten fresh, but they still taste good to me as takeout) and spinach scallop dumplings (although lately it's been less scallops and more spinach, but hey still delicious). We always get the garlic chicken wings for my boyfriend and the garlic eggplant and garlic deep fried soft shell crab for me. Dunk those in some mix of soy sauce/spicy mustard/chili paste and you're golden! Their steamed char soy look fun and wrapped Mochi rice are always solid as well. The only thing I'm not a fan of was the steamed fish cake with mushrooms. I usually just buy fresh fish cake from Chinatown and throw it in when I make jook, so I'll just stick to making this on my own. This time we tried the chicken dumplings, dried scallops dumplings, and azuki bream jin dui. All good and would get again. Thanks Mei Sum! You know we'll be back! read more

The service was great, the place was pretty empty so the servers were able to refill our waters & check on us constantly--they were nice. We ordered from the dim sum menu: fried eggplant, fried taro+scallops, half moon, shrimp pork hash, mochi balls, spinach+scallop dumpling, fried seaweed and shrimp dumpling.. i normally love dim sum but I'm sad to say the food we ordered didn't taste that great--it was very bland to me. I would say the pork hash & mochi balls were my favorites, I didn't really care for anything else. Of course the menu doesn't really have prices listed, if it did it's not easy to spot. Everything came out to $45+ which isn't bad but I've gotten more for less at other places that had much tastier dim sum. My other peeve was that there are no high chairs available, just booster seats. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Food is great, parking is street or garage parking only. They would get a higher rating but we had to ask for everything: water, fork for my niece, napkins, etc. The high rating is for the food only, service is not the best but price is good. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Char siu bao, shrimp and pork hash, egg tart - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Tl:Dr: food isn't good by any stretch of imagination, solid service. Dim sum all day (at least on Saturday) - that alone must attract many here who're craving for dim sum after hours. While I appreciate the availability, I was disappointed by pretty much every dim sum item with the exception of fried shrimp dumpling, which isn't an authentic dim sum item to begin with. And that should tell you a lot. They messed up some dim sum staples badly here - char shiu bao meat had an unusual, mushy consistency and tasted...nothing that resembles char shiu. Bean curb had a weird god-know-what filling that looked like chopped up food swimming in jelly. I was honestly grossed out. Only a maybe if you REALLY need dim sum when no other dim sum spots are open. But know what you're getting yourself into. read more