my waitress placed the TEAPOT far away on my table. ya had to stand to reach it. and, it's heavy & the handle placement burns your fingers. this is so was years ago, so "same old, same old." obviously the (dining room) eatery's manager couldn't care less about teapot placement. vote with your feet . . . . (Lenin said this many years ago) read more

We came right after their "cart" service (available 7am-2pm) so service was a little slow, but to be expected. They definitely had a crowd during that time that was finishing up. We tried 6 different options and everything was delicious. Shanghai dumplings, shrimp pork hash, spare ribs with black bean sauce, mushroom chicken dumplings, and pot stickers. Zero complaints for me and my friends! read more

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I've been coming to Mei Sum Dim Sum restaurant for about 30 years. This was the first time I was sorely disappointed, everything I ordered was off. The server informed me they had a new cook. I ordered steamed barbecue pork Manapua that was dry and doughy. The shrimp pork hash (siu mai) had no taste, and the noodle holding the meat was either overcooked or undercooked, but it fell off the minced meat. The steamed Char Sui Look Fun (my favorite) had no taste. The string beans with minced pork was edible, but not good. I was going to order char siu fried rice to take home but I I canceled that idea. I will try the place again when they tell me they have another new chef or the old chef has returned. read more

We ordered take out and it was goooood! They serve dim sum all day so we were able to have sum for dinner. The food did not taste at all like it was sitting around all day. Food was fresh and ono. The stuffed garlic eggplant was bomb. Minus 1-star for lack of parking esp if you are picking up a big order (we needed 2 people, 1 to wait in the car while parked in the crosswalk if front of the restaurant and 1 to pick up the order) and for the added wait time for a mix up in our order due to the language barrier but they made it up by giving us mochi puffs. Our order was ready at the time I gave for pick up. Will definitely order again and have them slowly repeat the order back! PS the chow fun in the pics was homemade. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Vegetarian Mabo Tofu, Stuffed Eggplant, Chicken Feet, Chicken Mushroom Gyoza, Shrimp Dumplings and Pork/Shrimp Hash - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Mei Sum Dim Sum is a no frills Chinese restaurant located in Downtown Honolulu. Upon arrival, their team quickly sat me and within minutes brought me a selection of dumplings to choose from. The Shanghai dumplings took about 15 minutes because they made them fresh for my order and they were well worth the wait. Their menu is extremely affordable and the service is fast. My dim sum lunch cost me less than $20 with tip and tax. You can't beat that in today's economy! read more

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Going for dim sum any time I leave Chicago is just something I do. It's a challenge to see if we do it better at home or if it can be dope elsewhere. I think that while Mei Sum had some hits, overall it was just ok for us. It had the classic traits of a good Chinese place: using the bathroom for storage, servers who look annoyed you're there, lots of other Chinese families. The food was good. There wasn't much diversity in dim sum choices on the menu but everything was solid. And the pricing wasn't bad at all. It was shockingly one of the cheaper meals we had in Honolulu. read more

Mei Sum is alright for dim sum. Not junk, but not shaka kine either. If I'm craving dim sum and happen to find parking right in front, sure, I'll stop and eat. If no parking, I'm not going out of my way. I rather stand in da long sss line at Sing Cheong's haha The food? It's fine. I pretty much tried everything that the Honolulu Magazine review hyped up, and while I wasn't blown away, I also wasn't salty. Just solid, standard dim sum--nothing that made me think, "brah, I gotta come back tomorrow" Service is exactly what you expect from an old-school Chinese spot in Hawaii. Pake aunties running the floor. no sugarcoating, no extra smiles, just straight up efficiency. If you grew up here, you get it. If you're complaining about their service, you probably didn't Bottom line: If you're nearby and in the mood, go for it. If you have to make an effort, you're not missing out on anything life changing This place still deserve one shaka though, the kine you trow when someone let you in their lane read more

Very sad this visit. Said open 9am. Came 10am. Tried to order chicken feet. Not ready. Okay, ribs, Sui Mai, shrimp chive, tripe and seafood dumplings. Don't how they did this, but shrimp dumplings was warm and wrapper was cold. Rest of food came out warm. We decided to just pack up everything and steam it at home. Tried to order Jin dui to go. No luck there either. Main reason was for visit was chicken feet. read more

Omg!!! I so love this place ... I want to go back already! Honestly this will be one of my shortest reviews because I can't recall every dim sum we ordered - but we did go all out with two go arounds of ordering plus some desserts! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures - but I will next check-in! Good- delicious totally 5 stars!! Parking there is on street parking which is a hit and miss. But lots of parking garages in walking distance... Cleanliness- restaurant was clean! Did not go to the restroom so can't comment on that. Service was quick easy to point at menu for pictures and multiple wait staff checked in on us. Totally do recommend food is very tasty! Definitely a 5 star yelp review!! The fat cells are doing the happy dance!! read more

Our go to dim sum place, Golden Palace, has closed. The owner retired and the son didn't want to take over, so we needed a new place to go to. Searching on Yelp, Mei Sum came up. I want to say that we had come here before, I think when they were in their old location. Parking can be a bit of a challenge. We just parked in the lot across the street. No carts or cute ladies walking around. You tell them what you want and then they bring it to you. They had all the favorites: sui mei, har gaw, stuffed tofu, chicken and chives. However, they were all out of custard tarts. She recommended these rolls, which I thought may have had a custard filling but had char siu instead. They were good, just not the same. Staff is friendly although, the shouting at each other in Chinese was amusing. Steady flow of customers coming in. The funniest was the hapa tourist couple that brought their own chopsticks, and were all lovey-dovey with each other...get a room! LOL! Definitely worth checking out, but I do miss those cute ladies that would bring around the carts. Mahalo Mei Sum! read more

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Honolulu Magazines top five dim sum joints on the island. Good excuse to revisit. And... One of the only dim sum eateries to use mei gui lu jiu (Chinese rose wine). It's different and not for me. Example 1: Dried scallop dumpling - reconstituted shredded dried scallops and wood ear fungus with rose wine in a won ton wrapper. Great texture, loads of umami but a bizarre finish of "stink roses" for lack of a better description. 2/5. Example 2: Bean curd roll - MSG seasoned ground pork, shredded carrots and lots of wood ear fungus and rose wine in a well steamed bean curd wrapper. Again, upfront flavor is good, umami high, but the rose finish brings out a funky barnyard taste in the pork. 2/5. The requisite two items to measure a dim sum restaurant: Har gao - thicker crystal skin wrapper surrounds a mixture of fresh and dried shrimp with copious amounts of diced water chestnuts giving it a very different texture. 3/5. Siu mai - a mixture of ground and chunky pork. Well seasoned and cooked. Tender throughout. 4/5. Others from top to bottom: Tripe - Well cleaned and cooked, loads of ginger and great chili heat from fresh sliced chilies. 5/5. Spare ribs in black bean sauce - Uber meaty and tender. Taste more like Okinawan shoyu pork. 4/5. Fishcake w/ corn - Well flavored heavily seasoned with MSG. Too bad they used frozen corn with rubbery cellulose layer. 3/5. Scallop and spinach dumpling - Very thick crystal wrapper loosely filled with two tiny bay scallops and frozen spinach. Uninspired. 2/5. Extremely efficient phone ordering with the server reading back the entire order before setting a pickup time. Packaged well and ready at the promised time. Chinatown prices. COVID note for dine-in: The restaurant is still trying their best to social distance guests and is properly sanitizing tables, chairs and high touch surfaces. Grabbing the door handle dripping with Clorox... Ahhh the good old pandemic days! Different but if it's your jam... read more

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My friend picked this spot for her birthday dinner. It was my second time here and there wasn't noticeable change from my first visit. It took us a bit to find parking as there were issues with the gate at one garage, and we kept taking the wrong one-way streets. It was quite the adventure but we got a good laugh out of. Fortunately and eventually we found metered street parking not too far away. Restaurant is chilly, in more ways than one; a jacket will only solve one problem. There were tiny bugs, maybe gnats, that would not leave our table. We must've looked crazy swatting the air all night. Staff was attentive and there were no issues flagging anyone down. Food was tasty and hot, my favorite was the bao. I couldn't resist ordering more before we left so I could enjoy them the next day. I wish they would pan fry their look fun like other places. I might suggest, with certain forewarning, to grab a bite or two, here. Definitely wouldn't turn down an invite. read more

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I'm always looking for a dim sum place that has a wide variety of items that are done very well. Clean, fast service. Mei Sum Dim Sum has most of this but not all. Easy parking across the street (paid lot). They seated us quickly (granted, we went on a week day at 1pm). Pretty clean for a Chinese restaurant. :) Several items had only two per serving, others had 3 - so it was a bit challenging for the four of us to divvy items up without over ordering. The place is definitely not fancy! Hot and sour soup: 4/5 Ong choy: 5/5 Char siu bao: 5/5 (4 pieces), we prefer steamed so this was great, but we also admired the baked char siu buns as they looked like the kind we like as well (smaller bun with a glazed look on the top) Siu mai: 5/5 (four pieces) Deep fried shrimp dumpling: 4/5 (heavier on dough but still crispy, 3 pieces) Pan fried pork and vegetable bun: 5/5, excellent! (3 pieces) Potstickers: 4/5 (3 pieces) Mochi puff: 3/5 (came to table at room temp, cut into halves with not much filling) Bean curd roll: 5/5 (I had to ask three times for it because they kept forgetting, there was a lot of carrot in it which I don't typically prefer but I thought it was delicious!) We'd like to try some other places and would consider going back to Mei Sum Dim Sum. read more

I came to Mei Sun for a work lunch one day. Honestly, the food wasn't as good as I remember it a few years ago. We ordered a bunch of different things, but I really only tried the steamed char siu bao and sesame rolls. The bao was definitely sitting in the steamer for too long because the bun was very soggy in certain bites. I got to try both the sweet red bean and coconut sesame rolls. Both had the perfect texture - light and crispy. Honestly the food wasn't that great and service was not great either. One of our dishes was taking long and the waiter just said "yeah coming" more aggressive than I'd like. No sorry, no nothing. read more

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

I had not been back to Mei Sum since the change in ownership. The shop looks exactly the same, small, busy, and cozy. They don't really roll carts around anymore but they come to your table, take your order, and bring the hot items to your table quickly. We over ordered (as we tend to do) and satisfied my dim sum cravings. Parking kind of is a pain Downtown but jot horrible. read more

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Writing this review on behalf of my mom...she said their service was amazing! Very personable, made conversation, gave good recommendations and were so pleasant! They got lots of dim sum and also a special cake noodle with lots of seafood (fish, scallop, shrimp, squid, chicken, char siu, and veggies). She couldn't stop raving about the jin doi that was so good when it was fresh and warm! They said the mochi rice ball was a bit peppery but that's what I like! They even bought extra dim sum to share with our neighbor since they wanted to support even more! Plus they brought some home for me. Woohoo! Reasonable parking at the municipal lot for $1.50/hr. We love local businesses and especially businesses who give great service. Can't wait to go back and get more dim sum! Yum yum! read more

I honestly don't think I ever tried this dim sum place. It's kind of tucked in Nuuanu Ave below a condo. Street parking available. After reading about it on Frolic Hawaii being voted for #1 on the top 5 dim sum places, we went to order some takeout the first time. Second time we went to dine in. Service was attentive and great. We ordered our usual for breakfast such as pork hash, shrimp dumplings, mochi rice balls, seafood roll, congee, half moon, and steamed look fun. Everything tasted great and fresh. I think this will be our usual place for dim sum now. read more

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If you crave dim sum at 2pm in the day, Mei Sum dim sum is serving! It's one of my go-to dim sum spots whenever I'm in downtown. The selection never disappoints, food comes out quickly, restaurant space and cleanliness is . Parking be a challenge depending what time and day you go, but it usually doesn't take too long to find meter parking on the street. There's also Mark's garage right across if you feel that is your last resort. read more

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

Restaurant was dirty, seat were super dirty had choke stain felt like i was on a old city bus.! just ordered 4 side dishes after i paid lady was asking for tip i tip them $5 dollar cuz service wasn't good then the anty try'na ask for more she told me i have to tip $8 bucks lol told her the service was bad and da egg tart that they gave me was not fresh! Right when i was about to eat it, it broke apart and it was so dry and the dried scallops dumpling had one small hair inside!! FYI i get mad when people try'na ask for tips ... i tip upon how good my service is/was..! i don't give free money!!! If i only i could give a zero star i would!! 0/10 for me wont be coming back! read more

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

What's a dim sum place that I haven't been to in a LOOONNNNGG TIME? The first place that came up was Mei Sum. I was right since my review was over 9 years ago. I'm sure I've been here a few times near 9 years ago, but it's the longest out of all the dim sum places that are still around. I've always had good experiences at Mei Sum. We just stopped going because grandmas heard from their friends that it's not good anymore so they just stopped considering it. In case anyone is wondering, the current place the elderly Cantonese community is saying is "not good" is Jade Dynasty. I agree! Listen to your elders! Anyway, the best place to park to go here is in the Smith and Beretania Chinatown Municipal parking. Huge lot. Spacious stalls, and a lot available. Take the elevator up, take a left and walk through the staff parking lot and through the apartment building, and you're there! Everything is exactly the same as before. The only difference is the staff. I don't recognize anyone anymore! But this might be the only place that's very well staffed. If you want to experience something very close to the service in Guangzhou, China, this is the place! You see servers running around yelling at each other, turning over tables quickly, they will kind of rush you to order while also staring at your table but quick to move on and not come back if you take way too long. Yes, you need to yell at them. It's not as intense as it sounds, and the servers are definitely much friendlier than what you see. Ordered the chicken feet. Flavorful, tender, and meaty. Solid! Pan fried corn fish cake was delicious. Tasty, firm, and a nice hint of sweetness from the corn with the savory fish. Shrimp Dumplings were good. Thin, translucent wrapper with chunks of tasty and crunchy shrimp. The Beef Ball Dumplings were very good. You get FOUR pieces! The meat was firmer than other places, which is good. More meaty and less airy. Also had a nice amount of water chestnuts, scallions, and cilantro. The Fried Seaweed Seafood Roll was good. Fried very well for a nice crunchy bite with flavorful filling. Wish it had more shrimp chunks! Still solid though. Ordered a Pan Fried Pork and Veggie Bun because just seeing whatever Mr. Dough is doing with their Sheng Jian Bao made me upset lol. I needed to eat an authentic one. Crispy outside, soft, doughy inside with a tasty filling. Finishing off with the House Special Fried Noodles. The server suggested we get the wet noodles instead of the deep fried version that's more suitable for the elderly. Sounds good! Way to look out for the elderly. It's a dollar more, but you get way more noodles! This dish was more so boiled noodles with sauce, meat, and veggies on top instead of stir fried. The taste was on the bland side, and not as satisfying compared to the fried version. Nice variety of seafood and meat with delicious mushrooms. Overall, it was a good experience. Everything was prepared well. Can't miss this ultra-focused staff! Mei Sum is still one of the better dim sum places compared to others. What's the next place I haven't been to the longest? I think it's Canton House. read more

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Come here for dim sum all day long. You won't get everything you ordered at the same time because it's made to order(be careful...it's hot). We enjoyed everything that we ordered. Baked Pork Buns Bean Curd Roll Garlic Chicken Wings Garlic Eggplant Fried Rice Fook Kin Style Soft Shell Crab Street parking can be difficult in Chinatown. We went at 10:30 and we found a metered stall at the end of the block right away. You'll probably park & walk a little further if you come closer to lunchtime. Come for authentic dim sum served by friendly people. 2 thumbs up! read more

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On a mission to go to Daiso, we found street parking right in front of Mei Sum Dim Sum. I am not a fan of dim sum except for pork hash, half moon and manapua. But of course I wanted to try this place out. Upon entering, I was greeted, most of the dim sum are ready for purchase, not knowing what they all cost, I'm buying things blind until I'm told what I owe. I didn't care for the park hash. The manapua had some big chunks of char siu, I think they should be smaller pieces , but the black sugar gin dui was ono! My bill came out to 15.00. There was a strange smell in this restaurant that did not make me feel good thus I will not be returning to Mei Sum. read more

I was craving some dim sum and this place hit the spot. Yes, they were understaffed when I got there and it took about half an hour for the food to come out but it was worth the wait. The siu mai was as delicious. The fried fish balls were so crunchy outside and tasty inside. The best was the mochi sticky rice balls. Never had this dish before and could eat all day. Highly recommend read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Mochi rice ball and siu mai so good - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

I like the food and service. It's unpretentious and cozy. Maybe my favorite place for dim sum. read more

Went to this popular dim sum restaurant in the skirts of Chinatown. Crowded as usual but didn't take long to get our favorite choices and an order of beef chow fun. Usual efficient service with not overly friendly demeanor but absolutely expected in these types of establishments. Always go back here when I want to satisfy my dim sum fix or when friends return home from mainland to visit! read more

Do you like Dim sum? The traditional Chinese meal made up of small plates of dumplings and other snack dishes and is usually accompanied by tea. Similar to the way that the Spanish eat tapas. This restaurant located in Chinatown serves a great variety of dishes. There are so many choices even beyond dumplings. This restaurant looks like an old run down diner, so don't expect much, but the food makes up for it. It took us a little while to get served as they were quite busy, but once we started ordering the service was great. True authentic dim sun ordered directly not off a cart, so it comes out fresh. There are also literally dozens of other dishes to be ordered with it. The dishes are served to be shared amongst those in your party. Great for brunch. read more

Pretty consistent. I have been here so many times but never before Chinese New Year. It was peaceful and not crazy busy so it was great. I noticed that dim sum evening time is more favorable than during the day. They actually heat everything to our order. Perfecto. I was happy and so is my belly. I got my Chinese New Year dishes in my belly so I feel that we got our blessings. Let the year of the Tiger roar and I bless all this year. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - The beginning of beef chow fun (dry style), pot stickers, and spring rolls. - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

I'm really fond of this Dim Sum spot. It's absolutely delicious and their food is full of flavor. I visited this restaurant with one of my friends since we were exploring Chinatown together for lunch. Service: Friendly and tentative, especially since we were the only ones present. Ambiance: Good family spot to eat! read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Shrimp & Chives Pork Siopao Stickyrice & tea - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Went to Mei sum for some Dim sum! Ordered out usuals! Shumai, charsui bao, Mochi rice wrapped in lotus leaves, and har gao. Prices are not bad. Good place to come for Dim Sum! Also recently went here and got take out and tried some new things I've never tried before like their seaweed rolls and fishcake corn patty. read more

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Prices went up, so it's probably better to go in a group to get the chance to try more things. The beef look fun isn't cut like at some other places, and the sauce smells strongly of star anise which makes it stand out. The mushroom chicken is really good. The gravy gives it a heavy umami flavor but still feels like a light chicken soup. Very nice and comforting feeling. Everything was super fresh and felt right from the steamer Service was very attentive and fast read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - Beef look fun - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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The place was nice and simple, it was on a Saturday lunch time, we got seated right away. servers are super friendly and helpful. the food was superb! I wish they have more selections on menu, specially the boa/dim sum. read more

Great dim sum! Good service! We will go back and try my choices in the future.. I especially enjoyed the pork buns

I've never had Dim sum before. I went with a family friend and took my kids. I was super hesitant to bring them because their palate is that of babies lol. If chicken nuggets aren't on the menu it's probably not a place for us. My kids loved it!!' They ate so much!! The food was hot and served so quickly !! The pace was fast. The service isn't American polite but I get it. And wasn't offended at all. Will be going back. read more

First off going to be honest , food is decent. Why 2 stars .... Be warned right now ! Last two times I went there my bill was more than expected from menu prices. I'm not sure if they do this to everyone , but last 2 times, apparently they added gratuity to bill. They didn't say that they did ...and gladly accepted 18 % more on top. This second time I asked them why the bill was so much ... they got caught .., and didn't know what to say accept English no good. F - that , they knew exactly what they was doing !!! So be warned ! If your check is more ... they probably added on gratuity!! read more

Pretty good. Convenient for downtown, in a fairly clean area/safe area. Best part is they have dim sum at night too, so friends and I have been going long time. Workers are nice enough for a Chinese restaurant. One worker took the time to take pics of the menus and text it to me. Since Covid, they don't have as much dim sum ready as they used to, but at least it's fresher. I usually just go an order veggies to supplement my lunch. Sometimes need protein or a dim sum snack. Yesterday my gf wanted coconut jin dui. She said warm and delish. I got an order of the cutest little pork hash. Def yummy, but the size and price of all 4 equal to like 8 at Royal Kitchen. So not the best prices for everything. read more

Mei Sum Dim Sum - World's tiniest pork hash. Used a fork for scale...but it's one of those smaller plastic forks. - Dim Sum Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

You can't beat this place. So authentic and the food is so fresh! This is our second time grinding here and both times we had to get rolled out of the restaurant. We ate our usual shrimp ball, manapua, fried taro, noodles and look funn. Grindage!!! And parking is right across the street. It's $9.50 for two hours. read more

Great location, very easy to get to and the staff are funny , like FOB funny; direct, do not mince words, straight to the point, take your order, bring your food and leave you alone to eat! If you need anything extra you need to wave them down to get their attention. The Dim Sum was ok to good. I say that because the Siu Mai was only ok, didn't quite taste like the other thousands that I've had at other locations, Har Gau (Shrimp Dumpling) was great , the Bean Curd less than ok, the Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce was great , the Mochi Rice in Lotus Leaf was ok (my Aunt said hers was good) because it didn't seem fully cooked, and the Char Siu Gon Lo Mein was ok because there were clumps of noodles that had concentrated oyster sauce rather than evenly cooked through. All-in-all, I give this place 3-stars or, my personal rating of 3-shakas ! read more

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Been to Honolulu twice but only this time I get to visit the Chinatown. Anywhere I go I can't find good Chinese cantonese foods anymore but thank God I found this place by chance. Got to taste their authentic cantonese taste. I hope this place survives long enough for me to visit again in the future. The governor or mayor of Honolulu needs to help revive this Chinatown as many tourists will appreciate for sure read more

Let's start by saying the food is good. I'm not going to complain. But it's very annoying to demand me how much I need to tip the server who served our fried rice, put rice on a cup, with the very same gloves after she mopped the floor. Thank you but unhygienic and RUDE to tell me how much I need to tip. read more

Appreciate that Mei Sum has re-opened for dine-in service. Since Oahu is in Tier 2 of Mayor's order, you must follow protocol by signing in and providing your phone number. We were traipsing through downtown and needed to grab a bite and didn't want to move the car. It's nice to be able to sit and relax, enjoy your tea and meal in a clean environment: simple pleasures during the current pandemic. Having dined here numerous times, I'd have to recommend ordering from the menu. The dim sum we ordered that day was not steaming hot; the pi or wrappers did not have the proper texture. read more

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