Service here needs serious improvement. I walked in and wasn't acknowledged at all while the counter worker finished a phone order. After ordering, I watched my plate sit ready on the counter while the staff focused on other things. Even when I mentioned that my food was done, the worker seemed irritated and still took her time -- talking story with another employee instead of helping customers. It shouldn't take that long to bag a plate lunch that's already finished. Poor service from start to finish, all I can say I'll never go back again. They need training and more! read more

Small location tucked in the corner of a strip mall in Waipahu (near Seafood City). Fairly busy around lunch time, easy ordering, fair prices. Spicy pork was tough. Not sure if it was overcooked or just a poor cut of meat. Mac salad & shout potato were fine. Clean, a few tables to sit at. Plenty of parking here. read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - Spicy BBQ Pork Plate - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

Our go-to for korean food...Im a Waipahu girly and will always drive there on my way home to Ewa Beach. Yup even if there's another Pearl's by my house!! Best meat Jun and choi sum. Our go to is MeatJun+FishJun combo, no rice, double choi sum, potato salad, japchae, zuchinni jun. Its enough for my daughter and I to share...and we are both big eaters. They're pretty busy, so phone line is sometimes busy, cross your fingers! Affordable catering pans for your next gathering. read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - Catering Menu pics taken in-store 11/29/2025 - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

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Nice people working the front & pretty good portions! The prices have surely gone up over the years, but I would say it's a fair price to pay for the stacked plates with banchan/side dishes. My go-to entrees are the bbq chicken, meat jun, kalbi, and fish jun. The dipping sauces for the "juns" are quite flavorful, but I wish the protein itself had more seasoning. If you don't dip the meat and fish, it's a rather dull experience. Still like visiting Pearl's every now and then tho! :) read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - Meat Jun & Fish Jun Plate - no rice; Banchan: Double Jap Chae, Choy Sum, Cabbage, & Fried Potato Salad (or whatever it's called lol) - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

Was craving fish Jun and since it's lent season, decided to give this place another chance since it's been awhile. . . Years Went here today to buy fish Jun. dead wrong. Portions are even smaller. Um lady gave me have half a scoop of the potatoes and it wasn't even a FULL scoop!!! Had to tell her 2x to make it a full scoop. SHAMEFULL. Will be taking my $$$ elsewhere. Had to use my second choice of potatoes in places of getting the Japae noodles OMG!!! 2026 MAR 13 read more

Prices went up since the last time we came here but I think it's worth it because their portions of the banchans and main entree is still generous...lasted for 3 meals each! Again, we ordered without rice so we could get an extra banchan. The food was tasty and know we'll be back when we're in Waipahu! read more

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Pearl's KBBQ located near Goodwill Waipahu has been around for a long time serving good quality Korean/local plates. As a regular customer, I order a Meat Jun Plate with 4 sides and no rice. I ask for no rice so that I may get bigger portion of sides, and I can just make rice at home. The food itself is great. They provide a lot of meat for how much I paid ($21); it can fill my family and I with no problems. It is such great value! Service itself is okay, no complaints. My only complaint is the cleanliness of the place. It feels a bit outdated with no renovations being done in quite a while. The place can be very clean but also very dirty. They get plenty of customers yet they are very quick to bring out to food. I don't under all the negative, outdated comments. read more

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Tried to order from Pearl's Waipahu and Pearl's Kapolei. Prices online were very reasonable. No one answers the phones. My daughter went into Pearl's Kapolei to order food since she couldn't reach them on the phone. She said very slow service. The workers move so slowly, both working on one order. Phone was ringing but no one picked it up. Had to wait for 1/2 hour for her order to be ready. I ended up ordering from somewhere else. read more

Sorry to say, but I don't see any real difference in taste and quality compared to Yummy's or Waikele BBQ. Prices are better than your sit down Korean BBQ places. read more

Good value for serving size. Ordered chicken katsu, which had a nice panko coating with the right amount of crunch without being burnt. The chicken also was flavorful without needing katsu sauce. Also ordered spicy pork which had tough cuts but nice umami flavor. They are generous with the banchan and all were fresh and tasty. read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - Menu 5/2025 - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

Went in and couldn't order food because they for some reason only was accepting phone orders. Had to go to the L&L next door instead.

The service crew seemed unfriendly and not very accommodating. I asked for an extra plate, but they did not respond and acted as if they could not hear or see me. read more

Will never disappoint- food is awesome, service good and always a lot of food that I bring it to work for lunch!

Huge disappointment! Ordered Mayo potato salad and it was dry and flavorless. The chicken katsu was cooked I burnt oil, lots of black specs. We should've stuck with our go to next door at L&L. The meat jun was tough and flavorless. The fish jun and bbq chicken was good. Won't cater those ever again. read more

ANSWER. THE. PHONE . Everytime I call this place ...no one answers the phone. Saves me time so I dont have to wait . When I get there, there's maybe 1 table. No one in line. SMH. read more

We always go there to eat I had to try the bbq chicken.... People don't order the bbq chicken it's dry a lot of hard pieces just like it old just reheated on the grill. L&L bbq chicken way better it's soft and moist.. what makes it worse &16.99 lol read more

This is a great place to get awesome grinds, prices are very reasonable and portions are also awesome I highly recommend this place. read more

Felt too lazy to cook tonight so we ordered takeout from Pearl's Korean BBQ, Waipahu. This particular location is situated in a very busy strip mall by the Seafood City. The parking lot was crowded and somewhat tricky to navigate with cars and people all over the place, but we were able to find a spot pretty quickly. We got two plates to go- meat jun and fish jun. My husband enjoyed his meat jun plate, but said he preferred the veggies at other Korean plate lunch places. The fish jun was ok, seemed to be more egg than fish and a little on the greasy side. I ate until I was full and there was still plenty of food leftover for tomorrow's lunch. Overall, pretty decent for the price and amount of food you get. read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - Meat Jun Plate - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

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Was thinking this was Friday, so would reward myself with a better lunch so I headed to Pearl's Korean BBQ. I knew in mind what i wanted, as I always saw it on the menu board and wanted to compare it to places I'm familiar eating garlic chicken, those being Waiakamilo Drive Inn, Sugoi's, and Mitsu-ken. Well, i chose the spicy garlic chicken as I wanted to taste how spicy a korean style spicy garlic chicken tastes like. A regular plate on the menu board stated it was $13.79. I chose not to have rice, so i had five instead of four ban chan appetizers/sides --- chose choi sum, bean spouts, cabbage kim chee, chop chae (long rice) and tried their pa jun (korean pancake) for the first time. Pearl's at this branch is not shy about giving you a lot of their sides ! Brought it home to eat and realized during the ride home that there was no strong garlic scent in the car unlike if you were to take a garlic chicken plate into your vehicle, so I thought that was good (or bad depending)... There were a total of nine pieces (there were more larger pieces than small pieces) pieces, not uniform in size...but i thought that for the amount...the garlic chicken portion was more than sufficient. Upon eating the chicken pieces, I came to find out there weren't spicy in heat level (i'd say on a scale of 10, it would rate a 2.5)--there was a slight and quick sensation on my lips after eating my meal. The pa jun was thick, man like I've never seen a korean pancake this thick (like about 1/2 inch high), but the flavor was mild...so for me, i would not select this side again...well, if you wanted to give this to a young child to make them feel full earlier, so you can eat the main course...choose this side ! I couldn't complete even half of the plate because of all that sides that filled my stomach, so I will eat the rest for dinner. Again, I'd choose this entree again...oh and by the way, I looked at the previous photograph of the menu board that I last took a picture of back in Sept 2020 to post onto Yelp, and guess what ??? *Update: Why was my plate only $11.99 on the receipt and with the tax, it came out to $12.55. Did the price be reduced and they needed to update their menu board's price of $13.79? Or was it an input error that has it priced on their computer as $11.99? Wow !!! If the $11.99 price is in fact correct...I've never seen a dish entree get reduced this dramatically---why? how? I dunno, but I benefited on this plate lunch...unless management makes the correction soon... read more

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Did a phone order to almost closing time (8:20pm) got there in time. As we got home, The food was good until my boyfriend took a bite of the bean sprouts & choked on this plastic that was blended in with the bean sprouts. Tried to call the store but since they closed @8:30pm tried to contact @9 but no answer. read more

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Definitely a go to whenever I'm in town. Their portions are huuuuuge!! They are not stingy especially with their veggies. Depending on how you love your banchans, this can be a good or a bad thing. We recently ordered their bibim kook soo and the noodles to veggies ratio was little. They put more veggies than noodles. Wish it was the opposite but still, the flavor of every item we've ordered including the banchans have been consistent. Price is decent and service is great! read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

Great food, just really bad service. They rarely answer the phone when you need to put in a takeout order, and we have spent quite a bit of money there when we're working. read more

02/27/23 located in Waipahu this place been my to go to for Korean plate lunch and party orders. They are not too stingy on the veggies and their portion are pretty reasonable that I have no complaints thus far. Staff is nice and restaurant is clean. Ordered a small pan of kalbi, small pan of meat jun, and medium size veggies. Got to pick 4 side choices. Flavor of food is good and just how I remember it. Happy eats!! read more

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Can't beat Korean food for the price and serving but worth it. Can't find a place that gives you a good sized entree with rice and 4 vegetables which you can choose from usually 10 or so selections. Was not busy when we got there and service was fast. Food was excellent tasting as I said, you can't beat Korean BBQ food read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - Pearls special - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

ordered 6plates, check your guys Salads! I got my plates with kimchi and mac salad! Got home and lucky as a parent we taste first before feeding the kids. kimchi and mac salad tasted off, and for sure the kimchi taste old like old! By smelling it ,smelt off. we came between 1030am/11am. Lucky the kids didn't eat both salads. read more

This place deserves ZERO stars. Placed a phone order and was told 5-10min for pick up. Waited in there for 30min and watched everyone after me leave. Asked the lady about my food and was told I have to remind them. That's not my job!! Then she says "What do you want us to do?" ZERO customer. ZERO organization. read more

Didn't really care for it. I had the meat, Jun and barbecue chicken combo. Overpriced and the Barbecue chicken wasn't that great . read more

I think the bad reviews are fake. The food is always excellent and good service. They also give very generous servings. Enough for another meal. It would be nice to have a non fast food place though. It's probably more profitable for them as they are now. read more

This place used to be cheaper but I guess with the way things are the prices had to go high. I believe the portions used to be bigger as well but maybe it's just me. You can't see it in the pic but there was the noodles under the meat jun. The food was good and its a go to meal when you have no idea what you want to eat. And be patient with the workers they seemed under staffed and they got a lot of frequent calls while I was waiting for my food. read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - Meatjun plate (regular) - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

ok before you say anthing....yes - i went to a korean bbq and ordered chicekn katsu. This place is by my work and when i go i always here people getting chicken katsu so i figured i would try it. I was craving the veggies and we had just eaten korean a few days earlier. WOW! I think we have tried chicken katsu at almost every place in the waipahu area. I never would have expected to find the best one at a korean bbq. The chicken pieces were fat and juicy and not over cooked. It was sooo crispy but not overly battered. The katsu sauce was traditional japanese katsu sauce and not some wierd ketchup/tobasco thing some place try to use. The veggies here are fresh and the same you would find at most korean bbq places. They do give alot here so it kinda makes up for the higher prices compared to some other places. I would recommend calling in your order becuase it can get busy and if you walk in during lunch time you could easily be there for 20 minutes or more waiting for your food. read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - chicken katsu plate - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii

Foods is 4 stars. I loved their BBQ and veggies. Service is 4-5 stars Ambience is 3-4 stars We go to EWA Beach, Waipahu and Kapolei. But, Waipahu BBQ is our favorite place to order our food read more

First and last time at this location. I wanted something small so I ordered a mini Bbq Beef. The Portion was appropriately fitted into a large plate lunch box container but, the price and taste were awful. $12 for 1 scoop rice, 2 choice of veggies and the worst beef ever. It was anything but bbq'd. It was like the beef was soaked in soy sauce and that's all I could taste. Shoyu beef is not what I expected of course the sodium content was terrible. Please follow the "Pearls" recipe. I'm not recommending ordering Bbq beef from this Waipahu location. read more

Ordered fish jun all veggies. The mini plate came with 2 large pieces of fish and 3 choices since I went with no rice. I got the shoyu potatoes, Choi sum, and jap chae. The veggies were full of flavor I loved them. The portions were large and quite filling. For the mini I paid $11 and change. Not a fancy place but we'll worth the money. read more

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Went there for the first time, I ordered the Kalbi & chicken combo and the fish Jun plate, I was not happy with both of these plates, the fish Jun had to much batter on it and the BBQ chicken was over cooked and looked like it's been over marinated in the sauce where the chicken turned dark. I don't think I'll go there anymore. read more

Korean food in Waipahu... To celebrate my aunty's birthday, I brought Korean food over to her house. She called in the order and I picked it up. She chose Pearl's because it's relatively close to her house, there's free parking in the shared parking lot, the place is clean, and the service is pleasant. When I entered the restaurant, the first thing I thought was, "what is that smell?" It was not a food fragrance but an unpleasant odor. I noticed a Glade air freshener on the trash receptacle and I was so glad to be taking the food out. I got to aunty's house and excitedly opened my styrofoam takeout container! Yum yum! FOUR pieces of kalbi were tender and tasty! I couldn't cut them fast enough! The banchan was good - I ate all of the corn and most of the tofu, rice, choi sum, and pickled seaweed. I went back to the kalbi... oh, oh... I found a green strand of plastic... like from a kitchen scrub brush. Uhg. I stopped eating immediately. I lost my appetite. My aunty called the restaurant. They apologized and invited us to return for a replacement. Um...I'll let aunty have the free plate... haha! read more

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Service is 110'% awesomeness. BBq food will always be bbq food but very delicious. They surprised me with the portions. It was huge! Will definitely go back to feed my family. read more

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AWFUL!!! We called at 4p asking to order a small pan meat jun in which they say pick up at 6:30p. Son in law arrived at 6:20p and paid for the order and waited. He saw 3 other guys go in after him and pay to pick up small pans of meat jun. Pearls gave all those guys their pans while my son in law was still waiting. Upon seeing that, he went up and asked Pearls where's his pan. They told him they had 4 orders for 6:30p pick up and he's the last one. He told the woman that he was the first one there. They told him, oh well 25 more minutes. My daughter called and asked them to refund his money. Lady was very rude and said, tell him to come get the money and hung up the phone. The audacity! Not even an apology for their screw up! I used to cater from this place quite often, even for my daughter's baby shower. No longer will I support this unprofessional business! read more

Food is fantastic. I always order my favorite pearls special plate it comes with a trio of their best grilled meat 4 sides and 2 scoops rice. I also ordered a side of their kalbi and the portions were huge. read more

I've been going to Pearls for so long that I could never find myself not wanting to go regardless of whatever reason to convince me to go somewhere else. Their food is good. I'll order the same thing and still not get over it. There would be days where the amounts are inconsistent but for this trip, they hella delivered. For me, one plate is two meals, lunch and dinner, or dinner then brunch the next day lol. They're so fast at servicing because I'll phone order like 4-5 plates, and within 30min or so, it'll be pau and I'm on with my day. Whenever we'd have parties before or small family dinners, we'd order catering in the morning and it'll be good to go for pickup in time for dinner. Everyone asks where we cater and we refer them to here and it's a hit every time. I love how you can just order the sides and get that in a pan. So good for potlucks and you'd be the favorite in your family hehe. They recently renovated and I'm loving it so far. Somewhat modern with digital screens and new counter top and paint, same layout. Lowkey miss the og look just because it reminds me of my childhood. Other than that, one of the best kbbq places imo. read more

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old smell as usual food is alright, prices up my plate 17.00 a plate. $$. I got the Kalbi/BBQ meat good. the long rice & potato is very good. the sitting was too tight for a 300 pounda. LOL read more

Pearl's Korean BBQ - prices up 1-year after z/28/20 - Korean Near Me - Waipahu, Hawaii