Service was fast and felt like the Aunties were feeding you. However the broth of the saimin was a little too fishy for me. Char shu pieces were these little tiny cubes that you can't even taste. read more

Haven't been here in years but stopped by since there was traffic on the way home. They checked your temperature, ID and covid card. Tables was spaced out and the restaurant is pretty big. Service was excellent. She told us the specials and also said there was grilled corn bread. Omg it was so delicious I didn't share it with my husband and didn't take a picture lol Food was good, came out hot. Check out my pictures that is a complete meal. You get 2 choices of sides. The sides look like a entree. I'll be coming here again.. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Sizzling Rib Steak with Mushroom and Onion - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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The menu includes a variety of food. Tanaka saimin food has good quality control. The waitress and waiters are old timers. They are all very friendly. read more

This review is directed at the fried Saimin at Tanaka. If you are a fried saimin kind of person, I highly recommend Tanaka. Better places to get traditional saimin but fried saimin here is really good. You can add on type of meat topping you want from Teri beef, bbq chicken, etc. I got the crispy shoyu chicken. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Fried Saimin - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Service was very friendly and jovial conversation. Food was good. What's not to like about old school breakfast? Ambiance was as expected for a diner. Clean and orderly; can't ask for more nowadays. Solid 5 for breakfast before hitting the home b improvement stores. read more

Service was slow and wonky. The side of Teri beef was cold. The saimen was good. Wonton not so much. Eh there's other places to try. It had a wired vibe and servers were looking at me funny the whole time. read more

I called Tanaka Saimin to order a Tanaka special, and yes apparently I ordered the wrong item. When the lady took my order I made sure I said no rice and, noodles. I repeated it 3 times to the lady and she said ok, with hamburger and noodles. When I got home I called, and the cashier took responsibility and said let me talk to the manager. The manager insisted I ordered the wrong food and so the cashier told her she heard it wrong, and said I wanted hamburger with the noodles noodles, they should've told me i was ordering the wrong plate. Again I understand I ordered the wrong food, however they should've corrected me. I was so frustrated and I hung up on them and didn't want to hear it already. The called back and left a message to say if I want my money back I can come in, I'm in Mililani and don't got that side often. That was a good gesture on their part. Also, if your going to bag soup please have better containers or get better bags. Ugh. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Bag broke as soon as it came out of the car. Why would you use a paper bag and have liquid. Ugh. All of the back seat - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

First time eating here today with the hubby. Service was very quick and friendly :) we both got the Tanaka Mixed Plates, mine with crispy shoyu chicken, chicken katsu, fried saimin, and mac salad. Hubby got the beef stew, yakitori chicken, fried saimin, and rice. We also ordered fried one ton (which i forgot to take a picture of but it was delicious and the sauce was amazing!) All of the food was AWESOME! The only down fall and the reason they're getting 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the mac salad. It was kind of warm, and something about the taste was a little off. Not sure if its always like that or if something was up today‍ Would highly reccommend this place, and will be coming back!! read more

Tanaka Saimin - Fried Saimin Chicken Katsu Crispy Shoyu Chicken Beef Stew Yakitori Chicken Macaroni-Potato Salad White Rice - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

It's so amazing that Hawaii is opening up! I went to zumba in Pearl City but stopped by Costco Gas to fill up. Suddenly all I could think of was SAIMIN. I knew there was Tanaka Saimin right down the street, so against my better judgment I drove there. I only say this because I'm so chubby after my year long quarantine and was craving my favorite comfort food. I walked in, was seated after filling out my info sheet and having my temp taken, and began looking at the menu. I desperately wanted the wonton min/burger combo, but really? I'm trying to lose weight here! So I had some black coffee, a glass of water, and a big bowl of wonton min. I have to be honest here.... the wonton min wasn't the best I've had, but it still hit the spot. Prices are good, and the service was exceptional. A special shout out to Roxanne, who was one of the best servers ever. She checked on me to see if everything was ok and if I needed anything else, and she was so very nice. Service counts a lot for me so this is why I'm giving 5 stars. The menu is full of good comfort food and the large interior space is perfect for social distancing. I left feeling full of delicious food and very happy. Thank you Tanaka Saimin and Roxanne! read more

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Great food ! Won't disappoint. I had the mushroom burger and onion rings bout the rings were huge! Even ordered dessert cause it was delish! Banana cream pie yum! read more

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From the outside, I thought Tanaka Saimin would be maybe a smaller space that sold more traditional Japanese ramen (i.e. shoyu, shio, miso) but it's called Tanaka Saimin for a reason--the saimin has a lot of good umami flavor, maybe from konbu. The broth is clear, but the flavor is not bland. At all. The noodles were cooked well. I generally prefer my noodles more on the firmer/al dente side, but for Hawaiian saimin, I though the noodles were cooked well. (I've had a lot of soggy saimin noodles--not fun.) The fried saimin was also very good. Again, I like firmer noodles, and I thought the consistency was good. The noodles were also seasoned well. One highlight: I tried a bite of the crispy shoyu chicken was basically like (in my opinion) a garlic chicken but not super garlicky. One idea for improvement. The shrimp tempura that came with my Tanaka saimin special was too oily. Had the shrimp not been oily, I would have said it's a great throwback to the old-school okazuya shrimp tempura days. read more

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The staff is friendly, the location is clean and they don't mind explaining things when you have a question. Very accommodating specially when I mentioned I wanted to share my meal they bought out extra bowls and everything. We got the Tanaka saiman which the broth was so flavorful. The tempura however in my opinion had too much batter. All in all it was a decent meal read more

Mix plate is my go to!! All the food is great and consistent. They are busy so get in early for breakfast or for dinner

First time dining here for lunch. I follow them on IG and I've heard so many wonderful feedback about their food. I ordered the princess cut for of the prime rib. It was good. I might come back to try other dishes the next time I drive to Honolulu. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Princess cut Prime rib - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

It's my go to place for delicious meals at affordable prices. Service is exceptional and very accommodating. I love their mix plate, kalbi and fried saimin. My friends really love their oxtail saimin. They get that religiously. read more

Fried saimen is ok, pork chop is different, but will try agai in the near future. I think they iover charge on the banana cream pie a piece was about 1 inch x 1 inches for $5. 00Something read more

Tanaka Saimin - Fried saimen and garlic white sauce pork chop - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

We come here once in a while if we are in the area and want saimin. Cant go wrong with the Tanaka Saimin, comes with won ton min side salad or tosa, some slices teri beef and one shrimp tempura. Today decided to change up from my norm to a mix plate. Beef stew roast pork with fried saimin. All tasty with plenty of flavor never tried any of those and quite happy with flavor and amount of food. I would get that those again. Parking is limited to 90min and in select stalls. So lunch time can get pretty crowded parking wise. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Mix plate: Roast Pork, Beef Stew, White Rice, and Fried Saimin. - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

I love Tanaka Saimin! The food is great, portions awesome, and it has a family style feel to it. I always order their oxtail soup which is delicious (waaay bigger than Zippys and much cheaper). My favorite thing about this restaurant is the hostess: Aunty Carol. She always gives us our favorite table and is so friendly and welcoming. Even if the food is good, I won't return to a restaurant if the service isn't. So Aunty Carol really makes the experience. I just hope that management takes care of them. I heard one day that the manager on duty was giving her a hard time, so I wrote a letter to the company to ask them to treat her with more respect. Besides iffy management, I 100% recommend this place!!​​​ read more

Went there for the first time and was 5 minutes to closing we were able to still be served family of 7 the food was amazing everything was very delicious and big portion also the lilikoi chiffon cake was the best I ever had in my life and the staff was friendly and honest read more

Not gonna lie, it was a challenge just to get to the parking lot, then, parking is a ... well, it rhymes with ... "Stitch" and starts with a "B", anyways, my pops got a handicap-parking thingy so, we got the spot just outside the front door ... Tanaka Saimin, Howzit! *Covid protocol* Wear your mask, get a temperature check and get seated. What kine food get?? Oh, why, not into da local kine grindz? No worries, they get some tourist friendly items too. But, if you no can fine any tacos/burritos/pizza or pasta kine dish ... then you in da wrong place, sorry ah. Just good food that locals appreciate. My first time eating here, the lunch time crowd consist of locals who work nearby. Family's come here for a quick bite after doing their morning (Costco is nearby) shopping. *So this is what we ordered* My dad ordered LIVER! Why, why, why? Whatever, of course I didn't taste it, so, order it if that's what you want. He said it was good. Enjoy. My wife went with the kalbi/fried noodles combo w/mac salad. Very meaty, good char and flavorful. Soft too. The fried noodles and mac salad were a little bland for me, but, that's why they offer shoyu-- soy sauce for you tourist. Just a few drops and all is well. Both my mom and I got the wun ton min, I got the combo that came with a huuuge hamburger. Very good burger, but it's the perfectly cooked saimin noodles, wun ton and that shrimp based (pretty sure it's shrimp) broth that made this dish work for me. Service was top notched and our food came out in no time. My apologies for this long review, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy Tanaka's as much I did. -- Aloha :) read more

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Horrible! Just waited 1.5 hours for a table of 6. We checked with them twice and on the second time they skipped us! The hostess seems young and inexperienced! I can't believe how long we waited! On top of that, they seated us separately, splitting our party up! If that was the case we could have got seated in 10 mins, not waited 1.5 hours! I still can't believe this! Not even an apology from her. Unbelievable! This used to be one of my go to spots. Not anymore. read more

Salty' Went at 11:30am, luckily no line, was seated right away, waitress was very nice, food came out fast. I had special saiman soup was very salty, wontons wrapping too thick and the wontons meat was not tasty. read more

Got seated right away. Friendly staff. Carol seated us with a smile as usual. I ordered the Tempura Mahi Sandwich with Extra Crispy Fries; husband ordered the Large Saimin. Saimin was good as usual; Fries were hot and crispy, Mahi Sandwich was a delicious mess - so thick and tasty . Great place for comfort food. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Tempura Mahi Sandwich (after I took out the onion and cut the sandwich in fourths ) with Extra Crispy Fries - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Pretty good portion, service could be slow during peak hours. Prime rib is top notch.

Ordered Oyako Donburi takeout. Very little chicken and they were tiny pieces. Should be called Kamaboko donburi. At least the flavor was good. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Oyako donburi - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Craving some comfort food. The Tanaka saimin covers the need. Friendly, efficient service. All items were tasty. Relaxing atmosphere. I can see this place getting real busy during peak dining times. I managed to slip in after the lunch rush. read more

It's Saturday night 8pm and just picked up my family returning from the Big Island. Where to go for dinner? Tanaka Saimin is open until 10pm so it's decided. Special Soup & Sandwich sound good with Corn Chowder and Roast Pork. We signed in waited about 15 mins. That's reasonable. We got seated and we waited over 20 mins for our order to be taken. That's not good at all. Plus that Soup and Sandwich was sold out. Our waitress said she took the last order for her meal. I really didn't need to know that. It should have crossed off the board if it's sold out. Wait, maybe it was The wait was so long and we were not served any water until after we ordered our food. It's the the Gobi Desert at our table now as I tried to decide on something. I had to ask is the BBQ Burger still available? I had to double check. It would have been three stars but it went down to 2 as the waiting for water was not good customer service. They had coffee and they're open later so 2 stars at least Sorry, no photos as my intended review was of their Soup and Sandwich. Maybe I should take a photo of my waitress's Soup and Sandwich read more

When I'm out running errands or need something to take the edge off the alcohol from a HH with friends, Tanaka Saimin on Nimitz is my belly filling stop. Can't miss the brightly colored signage, smack in between La Tour and Party City And next to Lowes. My choice is always the same, Tanaka Saimin Special which consists a big bowl of Saimin with a number of wontons in amongst the noodles, the veggies, fishcake. On the side is a "relish" tray with a scoop of Mac/potato salad (I love this), a batter enveloped shrimp (more batter than shrimp), I swear this one shrimp weighs a quarter pound and most likely the most sponge of the meal. The last tray compartment is thinly sliced beef doused with bottled Teri sauce, probably the least appealing but again a must part of the experience. I've never had anything else here but they are plenty busy with a lot of menu items and board specials. They do get busy but there's a lot of seating and even individual counter seats if you're so inclined. The wait staff is very accommodating and I think are all from the original Saimin shops from the 70s as are the majority of the patrons! Don't care, it's good Saimin, better than Shiro's and on my way home from town. If you like old fashioned Saimin, try it here. You won't be disappointed. read more

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Finally tried this place cuz my husband wanted hamburger steak and I was in the area. However, the hamburger steak plate wasn't that good. Not sure if the patties were homemade or not because they looked pre-fabricated. There were no breadcrumbs or anything in it so it was kinda dry and hard for $13.99. The portion was large. I had fried saimin and asked for no meat so they omitted char siu. However when I got home I discovered there was fish cake and egg. Sigh. Well I ate it anyhow lol. The fried noodles were good. So recommend to stick noodle dishes here. In summary portions are big for the price. I'd come back for noodle dishes maybe but not hamburger dishes. Btw today they had limited seating dine in. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Hamburger steak meh - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Tanaka Saimin was our lunch spot this past Sunday. We were in the area and I just thought saimin would be a good choice to have since I hadn't had it in a while. First things first, parking is insane there. It's especially insane now because it's nearing Halloween and everyone is trying to go to the nearby store, Party City. They have designated spots for Tanaka Saimin that is shared with Party City. I had to drive around before I found a spot. The parking lot is pretty much a big one way loop. So if you can't find a spot you just make that circle again. I got lucky on the second time around. I was almost at the point of choosing a new place to eat. Once we got in, we were seated right away. They have a pretty extensive menu and they even had breakfast at the time. I figured we might as well get saimin since we are at a saimin place. My sister got the won ton saimin and I got the fried noodles. I got my daughter the Keiki meal. You got a choice between four items for the Keiki meal. I chose the yakitori chicken. The waitress said it came with rice and corn. The meals came out fairly quickly. My sister's won ton saimin came first, then my fried noodles, and then the Keiki meal. We really had to wait a bit before my daughter's meal made it to the table. I thought it was a little odd that they would bring the child's meal last. She was pretty hungry so while she waited she started eating my fried noodles. By the time hers came she didn't want to eat her chicken. She just ate her corn and rice. And they give a ton of corn. It looked like half of the can of corn was on the plate. I had the chance to taste me sister's won ton saimin and it was pretty tasty. The noodles went well in the broth. My fried noodles were okay. The char siu on it was pretty good and had good flavor and not overly fatty. The noodles, I think, needed a little more seasoning or flavoring. The other place that I usually get fried noodles from taste better. Overall I think Tanaka Saimin is a good place to go with a group or family. Kind of reminds me of a Zippys with all their choice and local foods. If I come back again, I'd get the soup saimin. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Fried saimin - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Me, hubby, daughter and mother in law came here for lunch. It started getting packed for the lunch hour! Luckily we got seated right away. I looked at the menu. I didn't want to eat the same things so I decided to get a cheeseburger with fries and a Diet Coke. The cheeseburger was delicious! Meat was cooked perfectly and the fries were hot! Seating was spaced out accordingly and the booths had a glass in between the other booth but we were sitting at a booth that was spaced out meaning no one behind or next to us. Service here was okay. At least the lady asked us about refills. Hubby needed a refill but the large Diet Coke was enough for me. Parking is directly up front. Luckily we found a spot. Busy day this afternoon for lunch. I would come back to try other items. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Cheeseburger and fries - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Associate Piikea was so kind, patient and helpful. I'll definitely return because of her great service read more

Had dinner here with a few friends the other night. I like the combination plate choices but ask for the sauce on the side for teriyaki or yakitori. My friends wasn't so happy with his meal. Thinking there signature dish, Tanaka saimin special would be the one there dish t to hat can't screwup, but wait for it, the noodles were soggy... The waitress said it normally comes like that, and you have to request for it to be el dente? I never heard such utter malfeasance on how to serve saimin. Then yo say they charge .15 for take out bag, not realizing that the plastic ban law exempts restaurants from doing so Reasons for the three stars is the part servers there were excellent read more

Tanaka Saimin - Read LINE C under exempt - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

They have a variety of local dishes and daily specials. I wasn't too fond of the chicken katsu as it was tiny scraps, overly fried with little chicken and the chicken donburi lacked flavor. But what makes this place worth going is the friendly servers/staff, no matter how busy they are, they always have the best customer service. Their food overall is good as you can choose from a variety of things. read more

The waiting period sucks here! Food is good, but the person who seats them (no names) talks too much, like brah...take it easy!!

Good local food and huge portions. Got there around lunch on a sunday and the place was packed. They got us seated within 15 min and the service was amazing. Super fast and super ono. Shoyu chx was crispy and good. Fried noodles was action. Saimin was good too. Overall super good! read more

Tanaka Saimin - Saimin - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Meh... Is how I felt after tasting their beef stew. From the photo, it looks delicious. Huge cuts of vegetables, beef soft, nice deep red color, but it had a sweet taste that I didn't like. Not sure if the sweet was from the carrots? Or if sugar is added? Some people might prefer their stew a little sweeter, I don't. Serving portion is generous, service was great. read more

One of my favorite places mainly because whenever I'm here, it's always with good company. The waitress, Jonalyn (I think that was her name..) was the sweetest. On my recent visit, I wanted a won tun saimin with kimchee on the side but she suggested getting the kimchee saimin with it being on the side, which was ultimately the more affordable route. She kept checking in on her tables and made sure every party was taken care of. And whoever wanted the steaks, she would put the order to the kitchen right away. Tanaka Saimin, known for their housemade noodles, broths, and their signature local dishes. This is the place with great customer service and modern diner vibe. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Kim Chee Saimin Wun Tun - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

This is a very local style coffee shop environment in my book. Nothing wrong with that, but it is very old school Hawaii style diner. By the name, they of course have saimin of various types and classic local favorites of comfort food. You could tell by looking around that there were a lot of retired looking regular types eating there, so it is probably a favorite for those living near by. The place is a bit outdated, but then it gives it character as do the staff that appear to have been there for years such as the auntie types who are the hosts. Very casual, but friendly. By the name of the restaurant, saimin is their specialty. If you are not from Hawaii, saimin is a local style ramen that has evolved from the old plantation days. It is ramen with the kitchen sink in it by my description as it can have Chinese style wontons or char sui to Korean Kalbi beef and/or shrimp tempura in it, all in a basic broth with chewy egg noodles. Although it was decent, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to have their saimin. However, if in the area I would stop by again if I was in the mood for saimin. read more

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It was a Sunday funday, went to Tanaka Saimin today and it wasn't a crazy wait time, I feel like we waited less than 10 minutes. I always end up ordering the same thing, the Tanaka Saimin special. The food is always yummy and never a long wait as well. We ordered the sweet bread French toast today and it was yummy, it comes with four pieces of bread for each order. We also had dessert today too, a slice of the lilikoi and banana cream pie. read more

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