Come hungry the portions are huge! service was great, food came out super fast, and prices are reasonable...another satisfied customer! read more

Tanaka Saimin - Fried Rice Omelet w/ADOBO...meat is on the vinegary side, if u like that - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

See all

Aw man, what's with all the bad reviews of Tanaka Saimin? I actually had a pretty good experience here on an early morning weekday. I was running some errands at Party City and was looking to grab a quick bite to eat. With baby in hand, my stomach made the mistake of ordering hot saimin with won tons. Do you know how hard it is to eat saimin when you're alone with a baby? Don't try it unless you're a professional! I went in at about 10 am and was seated in a booth right away. Ordered my food and it came out about 5 minutes later. The saimin noodles were fine and not as thick as I was expecting, the won ton were nothing to write home about but it had some nice veggies in it which I appreciated. I'd have to say that the charm of Tanaka Saimin is that it's very old school aunty. As in, all the waitresses remind me of my aunties and there's something nice about that. I fortunately had a really good service experience. If you like Zippy's or divey diners then you're going to like Tanaka Saimin. If you can't stand Zippy's or old lady diner food, then it's best to avoid this restaurant. Either way, I'm happy to report that I did not spill saimin on my baby. But as I said, do not try this unless you're a professional. I'm on my third kid and it took a long time to master the art of saimin in one hand and baby in the other. I'm ninja like that. read more

This restaurant is busy especially at night or on weekends but the waiting time is very minimal. They serve breakfast and you can order anything on the menu not only breakfast items. The staff is friendly and the cooks are generous with the portion. Great ambiance, lighting, air conditioning and seating are quite comfortable. The food is great and drinks are large! Family & kid friendly restaurant! read more

I complain to my husband a lot that we tend to always eat at the same places on weekends we don't venture out....in an effort to appease me he picked Tanaka Saimin without Yelping it first and by the time my panic of "oh crap it has two stars" set in, he wouldn't let me run out the door screaming. We came for dinner last Saturday and we were both surprised by how big the restaurant is. From the outside, you would never know it can seat so many people, but I guess now it makes sense why there's NEVER parking in the parking lot there. There was a bit of a wait but we were seated relatively quickly for a Saturday evening. In addition to the regular menu items there were specials available such as prime rib, giant pork shank (it had a better name that I forget), and a pastrami burger with corn chowder. My husband ordered the Beef Teriyaki Samin and I ordered the Beef Curry and because I'm a sucker for tempura vegetables I ordered the zucchini tempura as a side. The zucchini tempura tasted more like corn dog tempura but for $2.50 I guess I don't have much room to complain. My husband enjoyed his Saimin but I tasted his broth and in all honesty it was flavorless and in dire need of flavor. The Beef Curry was good but there were literally three small pieces of beef in the curry....more like potato and carrot curry. Our server was meh. She also was serving the table behind us and there was an obvious difference in the service that we received and the service that they received....for example she never asked us if we wanted to order desert or if we needed boxes...she seemed eager to get us our check and get us the hell out. She wasn't rude, but it could be that we weren't regulars and she didn't care if we came back or not....duly noted. Overall the food was maybe 2.5 stars and the service was about the same. I'm downgrading to a 2 stars due to the fact that I was in severe gastrointestinal distress about a half an hour after leaving there and survey says it was the food. Needless to say "A" for effort for my husband trying to find us a new place to eat but "F" for execution. We won't be back. read more

I'm a seeing is believing kind of person. I read the reviews on Tanaka Saimin. I had a few friends tell me it wasn't very good. But in the end, I really just had to try it for myself. Run down with a cold and feeling like poo, the bf and I headed down to Tanaka cause I wanted something warm and soupy. Saimin sounded like a Godsend despite my apprehensions on this place. When we walked in we were told we could either sign in and wait about 10 minutes for a table or be seated immediately at the counter. Counter it was. I opted to order the daily special, oxtail soup, despite my original hankering for saimin. Bf ordered the mixed plate with chicken and shrimp omelette, fried saimin, and rice. He really wanted to try the saimin, since supposedly that's what Tanaka is known for, and decided to order a small bowl on the side. The oxtail soup was pretty typical. It definitely hit the spot, but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it because it was good, or because it soothed my sicky striped throat. They were generous with the oxtail, but it wasn't fall off the bone tender and I had to wrestle with it a little. There was long rice noodles in it, which was a nice treat. Bf's plate looked like a regular plate lunch. He said the fried saimin was ok and the omelette tasted like the shrimp were the frozen kind. No mention of the chicken so I'm going to assume that anything not worth mentioning can't be very good. He started pouring shoyu and salt into his saimin and said it was bland. The portions were fairly generous, but apparently lacked in taste. Some reviews have mentioned that portions to prices were good, but I felt like it was a little pricier for the quality of food you get. Tanaka is a very mom-and-pop diner kind of place and, given the location is spacious, comfortable, and slightly more modern than the average diner, it didn't feel worth it in the end. I went. I saw. And now I believe. read more

Last night here was my first time ever coming in, pass it every time we're on Nimitz..has to sign in wait 5 minutes then was seated had a very nice older Japanese lady waitress she was very nice and helpful..gf got the burger and saimin I had roast pork w/shrimp omelet mix and the kids had chicken katsu with French fries our waitress was so nice she split the kids food on two plates..food was good and prices were nice ..will be back and awesome hours open late 11pm. read more

Tanaka Saimin - Prime rib looks mayjah - Japanese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

first time diner after driving by for many years. initially a 15 minute wait for table but if counter is open can sit immediately. the namesake dish was tasty as was pork chop, banana cream pie, fried ice cream. warm friendly service by well seasoned staff. local japanese american style diner, will be back yum read more

Felt totally decieved! Waited almost and hour to sit down and then found out it was a facelift on my least favorite saimin place! I ordered the tanaka special which is saimin and tempura. While looking at the menu I got a strange inkling that I had seen this before. Looked a lot like the menu at dillingham/boulevard saimin. We start eating... Everything is kinda blah. Saimin is typical, but the tempura is really doughy. Ick. Not even a little crunchy! The Teri beef was also a bunch of crumbs and not pieces of meat. The best part was the spicy mustard to liven things up. Upon leaving we asked our server if this was boulevard saimin... (I was convinced since the same servers were here.) and the answer was...(*drum roll please*) YES! For those of you that love boulevard saimin then this place is the same; only brighter, cleaner and gimungous. I, on the other hand, was uninformed that this place was only a new sign and a new building, but the same food. I've never enjoyed boulvard saimin so I felt totally tricked into waiting an hour to eat at my least favorite saimin restaurant. Super sad panda. :( read more

Came here looking for a good saimin since a few of us wasn't feeling good from the vog. Located across of the Honolulu pier the former paper/box mill is now converted to a number of new eatery and stores. The new look compared to their sister location on Dillingham is pretty nice. Up front there's lots of chairs to "wait" for you table. I'm guessing the amount of chairs they have to wait means the get busy? Not sure. We checked-in and the wait wasn't long at all. We were seated with a friendly smile and our server came over quickly too. This was good thing for us because like I mentioned -- we weren't feeling so perky (sniff sniff, cough, cough) My choice was the won ton min and a side of mac salad. Weirdly enough I love mac salad. It's such an old school item and you would ask your self how does an establishment mess up "mac salad". When I do get a bad mac salad I do the head tilt with the crooked mouth look (huh?). But this place was spot on with the mac salad and as stuffed up as my nose was I enjoyed every morsel of this mac salad... nom nom nom My saimin on the other hand, I wasn't so impressed. The broth lacked flavor that I'm used too and I didn't care for the won tons. But maybe my taste buds was off on this day and I need a repeat. Of course I did attempt to see if it would taste better with the mustard sauce as well and no luck. Sorry but I left most of my saimin in my bowl along with the broth. As I walked out of the establishment I made sure to look at everyone else's table to see if they were enjoying the saimin and most of them did appear to have no problem swallowing overcooked noodles with substandard broth. Ugh! Am I too picky, or am I too sick to realize what everyone else is enjoying. So I asked my better half how his food was and his reply was "I just ate it because it was there, the food was less then what we like". Vindication! But I will go back and try something else. One bowl of won ton min will not deter me from giving this place a fair shot at a better review. Crossing my fingers I visit them soon. read more

I'm sorry but how can you ruin saimin? Bad broth..not sure how but I hated it, and I never hate saimin unless the noodles are overcooked. Great concept, but um really bad delivery. read more

Pretty much one of the worst meals I have every had (or it might be the worst). I am totally not a picky eater either. The dashi seriously smells like BO I got some on my sweater and I can't even stand the smell of it. Listing on their menu "tempura" batter is completely incorrect, it was the heaviest coating of flour batter not crispy at all! I am trying to save you!! Do not eat there!! The service was also very slow for a lunch crowd. I would advise against eating here read more

I was super excited to finally get to go and try something different today. Unfortunately my experience that I had was not the best. Placed an order for our office today over the phone. Whomever I placed the order with asked me if I wanted one check or separate checks, I told her one. Got there about 15 minutes later and right when I walk through the door there was no one to be seen. So we waited a few seconds until a lady approached us. She then asked how many were dinning in and I had told her I was there to pick up. I then told her "I'm sorry, we are going to have to split..." She then cut me off and rudely told me that she had already discussed this with me over the phone about only needing one check and she was very adamant when she said she could not split the check. She then took whatever paper I had in my hand and walked away with my hand written note to myself on what we ordered. Like did she really need that paper? She went to the back where the kitchen was and left without saying anything. She then returned a little more calm and said that she couldn't split the check because she already put it into one. So I simply cut her short and told her that she did not need to explain herself and I understood the first time. Since it was a big deal I would just pay it all on my own. Our total came out to a little more than $60.00 for 5 plates. I wasn't really checking our order and at this point was just disappointed at the way I got handled and wanted to leave. We got our food and left and at that time my coworkers told me that I was really calm at the situation and she was really rude to me. While they were talking I noticed on the receipt that a lot of prices were $1 more than their take out menu. I then asked the rest of the workers when Did we get this menu? They told me they just picked it up a couple of weeks ago. When I got back to my office I then called and asked about the prices. She was still rude when she picked up the phone and told me the prices have changed since last year and went up. So I simply told her okay, that's weird because we just picked up this menu recently. Instead of being apologetic she told me literally I was wrong and she was right. So I just left it as is. When opening our 2 Hearty bentos, we noticed that it was missing the hotdog and no one informed us that they ran out or it wouldn't be in the bento? At this point I was over arguing with her. I would like to say that I'll try it again, but after all of that on my first visit and the prices being ridiculously over priced... I think I'll stick with Zippys or La Tour that is a little cheaper and better service! :( read more

The worst ever for take out, food for sure will take long and will be cold by the time it's received. absolutely upsetting.. would not recommend read more

Wow.... where do I start? Came here with some coworkers on a cool cloudy day for some saimin and I gotta say.... I'm severely disappointed. If I could give 0 stars, I totally would. Let's see... from the start, we had to sign in to a restaurant that was barely half full. No greeter or hostess. Nothing. Multiple employees walked by without giving us a second look. It took a good 10 minutes before we got seated to a very awkward seating arrangement. Single booths running along the wall and larger booths down the middle. Think, airplane style seating, but in a restaurant. The grub. For a "saimin" place, you would THINK they would have some awesome saimin (c'mon, you have the word in your name). Their menu was quite overwhelming. Lots of plate lunch style plates. Beef plates, Chicken plates, Seafood plates, AND saimin. Seriously, if you're going to call yourself a "saimin" place, focus on saimin. I wasn't feeling too hungry so I opted for the standard saimin without all the toppings. Based on other reviews, I think they use the same noodles and broth for all their saimin, but vary in toppings. Honestly, I was VERY unimpressed. Noodles were slightly overcooked, but I look my noodles pretty al dente, so I'll let them slide for that. Their broth was pretty bland. Cup ramen has a more complex flavor than their broth. It's VERY shrimpy and that's about it. Even when we were paying, the waitress gave us a smug look when we told them we wanted the separate the check. It took her a while to separate the check (might just be a shitty point of sale system), but it shouldn't take 10 minutes to split up a check of 5 people.i Parking around that area can get tough, but usually pretty available. They have a bar, but it seems like its there to address another type of audience. I probably won't be going back unless they do some serious restructuring of their menu. Ditch most of your menu items, change your name, or just make the food better. read more

Came here with my in-laws for the first time a few weeks ago. It was close to closing time on a Sunday, but it was still busy. Luckily there were 9 seats at the "bar" with our names on it! Our server was very nice & service was prompt & efficient. The huzzband & I both got the saimin combo... although he got the won ton saimin & I stuck with the plain. The combo comes with a deluxe hamburger. The noodles were nice & firm... perfect texture that I love. Soup broth was tasty. The burger was good sized too, so actually one burger was enough between the two of us. But the highlight of the meal was the tempura fried ice cream. To be honest I was stuffed, but I just couldn't stop eating that ice cream! At first glance it doesn't seem like anything spectacular... a plain brown orb sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Once you take a bite, though, it's heaven! The fried shell is thin & crispy, and covers a large ball of vanilla ice cream. The cinnamon sugar & honey drizzle adds just the right amount of extra sweetness. Mmm mmm good!! I'll definitely be back to try more of the menu, but ESPECIALLY for that ice cream! read more

CUSTOMER SERVICE.... I tried several times coming here before writing a review but it's the same-o experience every time. Environment: It's huge! Big space but not enough people to fill it. They have booths and counter space but again like I said big space. Parking sucks here! When you drive in, you would have to go behind the building before finding parking in the front of the building. AND not to mention it's one way! When parking is full, where do you park??? I honestly do not know but I've seen people parking at Lowes...not too sure if Lowes knows about it. Food: The food ain't anything to die for. It's saimin basically with the option of burgers, dinner plates, and the newly addition of pasta. Yes pasta. I guess business ain't so great so the addition of pasta items was included. The prices are kind of heavy when you think of it, because you're only playing for noodles and broth. By the time I ordered and got my food, my teri beef was cold and the tartar sauce for my shrimp temura was like a old yellow color...not white and cold. CUSTOMER SERVICE: OMG...I swear they wonder why their ratings hasn't been 5 stars. It's becuase they have no customer service. I feel like the waitresses working there hate their job. I walk in, and you have to sign in you name and how many people in your party. Then the hostess comes and is like "how many? ok. you (pointing to me) come." I mean talk about bad customer service right?! And when you think it couldn't get any worse the woman taking my order came, her body language seemed as if something was bothering her and she wasn't so happy. She didn't smile and her tone when asking if I was ready to order wasn't very welcoming. I think the only good experience I had was when the bus boy came promptly to my booth and provided us water. He was nice smiling and ask politely if he could offer us something to drink. Otherwise, I recommend going elsewhere to get ramen or something. read more

I had been meaning to try this place since it opened. It is a Japanese restaurant with a local Chinese flair. Too bad I like real Japanese food. :-( The noodles were overcooked. The fried dumplings were deep fried way too crispy. The Tempura was over fried and too greasy. The interior of the restaurant is deceptively nice. That is, of course, assuming you WALKED all the way from some place with real parking lot. Parking is TERRIBLE!!! If I were the owner I would be asking for a break on my rent because of the parking situation. I would use that break to hire a Japanese cook. Not any better than a Zippys but with a nicer dining room. read more

The rice was hard. Figured I'd support local restaurants I'm disappointed, but the other food was good. read more

I have family visiting from the mainland and one of my family members suggested that we take them to Tanaka saimin. One of our waitresses was a little rough around the edges and could've been a bit more pleasant. I ordered the Tanaka plate: choice of 2 and picked the crispy shoyu chicken and roast pork with fried noodles and Mac salad. My food was very delicious! The roast pork was really tender. There was hardly any fat on my plate. My husband order the two choice also but got a shrimp omelette and roast pork. I guess he got enough fat on his roast pork for all of us. His shrimp omelette was just OK. One of my daughter's ordered the chicken katsu and that was just OK too. The shrimp tempura has very thick batter and lots of it. Everyone ordered lots of different things. From saimin to beef stew to Korea moco and more but they all enjoyed their food. read more

My wife and I went to eat there tonight about 7:15pm. Restaurant was not crowded. My wife ordered a large saimin and a one-refill drink. I ordered the Tanaka Saimin Special which was saimin with a side of teriyaki meat, one piece tempura shrimp and macaroni salad. The order came in about 4 minutes, fast! Waitress "Georgia" I believe, never checked back, never refilled the water or soft drink; we never saw her again. The temperature of teriyaki meat and shrimp was the same temperature as the cold macaroni salad which tells me it was pre-cooked and sitting under a heat lamp to expedite service. Waitress came by to drop off the bill. Meal came out to $21.47 with tax. "Georgia" never thanked us, or asked how our meal was, or I would have told her. (Obviously, I did not finish the side dishes.) The cashier, "Floor Manager" (It said on her nametag) asked us how our meal was. I said "I ordered the Tanaka Saimin special and the teri beef and shrimp were as cold as the macaroni salad; they probably pre-cooked the meat". Instead of apologizing, or offering something, she argues, "THEY DON'T PRECOOK THE MEAT." and "WE DON'T TAKE AMERICAN EXPRESS." Rude as hell. Sorry lady, but after over 10 years of hotel and restaurant management experience, and 14 years as a college instructor teaching young minds what to do/ what not to do in terms of the customer service experience, I believe I am qualified to evaluate your restaurant's performance and say you failed miserably. I will never go back to this restaurant, as I think the food quality and customer service was better at McDonalds' on Ward where I had lunch today. read more

Yes they are called Tanaka Saimin and NO neither my mom, myself and husband ordered Saimin. Go figure? My order consisted of the Tanaka 2 choice mix ($11.50) which I selected +2 pcs shrimp tempura (mostly batter and hardly any shrimp) +shrimp omelette - again the shrimps were so tiny I could hardly taste it but my omelette was flavored well and it also came with a small side fried Saimin - I'm a noodle lover but this dish didn't WOW me. Overall the service was great, but the food kinda reminded me of a downgraded version of Kapiolani Coffee shop kinda feel. It's great that this place is open at 7am and they serve everything on their menu regardless if its breakfast lunch or dinner so that's a plus! read more

Uh oh, watch out for this one. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing. If you judge Tanaka's by its nice booths and relatively pleasant interior and their nice bathrooms then it would appear to serve good quality food. But like unlike Side Street Inn which is nothing pretty to look at but it's the best food you could ever ask for, Tanaka's cannot deliver on that promise. And I don't think it tries...I see this establishment working much better as a fast food place with a drive-thru window, but to sit down here and spend more money really doesn't make sense for a fulfilling dinner. I think one of the best indicators of quality Asian food is what kind of kamaboko they're using. And when they're using the paper thin swirly slices, well then, I think you immediately know there's a cutback on quality somewhere. Perhaps I glanced at other people's saimin so I chose to go a different direction which was ordering oyako donburi. It wasn't that bad but it wasn't great. It actually came with a side of miso; a pleasant surprise. For appetizers we ordered a plate of the calamari and the ahi poke. The calamari was fried in a really thick batter so if you get the hankering for a thick piece of crispy squid you actually might enjoy it. The ahi was way way too salty though and you need three gulps of water for every half a bite of ahi. So beware of that little salty surprise. The service in the beginning was actually good and attentive, but as it got more busy, we seemed to be stranded among the sea of other tables, completely abandoned. No idea where she went but we were sitting there waiting for the check to be taken for about 20 minutes. So in conclusion, I wouldn't frequent this place again nor would I recommend it. It was simply mediocre without being horrific. Yelp challenge: #06/365 read more

Got in around 9pm after a movie just for a quick bite to eat. Didn't expect much but since we pass by often thought we'd give it a try. Checked reviews after we sat and saw 2.5 stars so even more so I didn't expect much. Boy were we wrong. Parking kinda sucks but not their fault. Got in and seated right away. Asked the waitress for suggestions and she gave us the Korean moco and the mixed plate 2 choices. We went with it and she got it going. Had our waters before we even got our order in so that's always great. Hubby had a beer and that came quick too. In about 10m or less our food was ready to eat. Korean moco looked sooo good! Kim Cher fried rice with Kalbi and over easy egg on top with 3 pieces of fried Mandoo with ono looking dipping sauce. My order was the chicken katsu with rice, roast pork with gravy and fried saimin. We were both in seventh heaven! Our food looked amazing, tasted great and was super quick. We were literally out of there with our left overs in boxes by 940pm. For the amount and quality of food you get the price is very affordable. We'll definitely be coming again whenever we're in town for sure and recommending to others. Hoping to try the beef stew and maybe prime rib if they have that available. So many yummy choices, exceeded my expectations! read more

Service to food quality I'm rating it below poor! I had lunch there at an odd hour (3pm) on Wednesday so it was pretty empty. I was greatful that I found parking right in front. The hostess was outside of the entry door valaauing with I assume a patron. So I patiently waited, there was no one waiting before me to be seated. Several minutes later, she finally comes in when 2 groups of people come in AFTER me. She seats a group before me....fine it was an elder group. My parents taught me well to always be respectful to my elders so water off a duck's back . After seating them, she signals the 2nd group behind me to follow her, when they told her I was there first. She looks at me & says "you wait" & still signals them to follow her to a table. When she comes back, she asks if I want a table or counter, I say table, she insists "you sit at the counter." What the heck?! Why even ask?!!! Fine. Sit at the counter, where no one else is sitting. No water served or menu for what seems like 10minutes & everyone else that was seated before me has already ordered. I finally order the oyako udon, which I was very disappointing! It looked & tasted like regular saimin noodles in shio base topped with a cubed chicken & onion omelet. BLECH! Bad service and terrible food makes equals me never returning to this joint! read more

If you have the word, "saimin" in your restaurant's name, you better have tasty saimin broth. I went there only for the saimin. The noodles were respectable. The portion was so so. The broth is not good. It's not salty enough. It's not porky, shrimpy enough. It's just too watery. It's not offensively bad but as I said, if the word, "saimin" is part of our restaurant's name............ read more

Our night was going great. We found good parking, got seated right away (no waiting) then comes our server... Asshole! Didn't like him at all & that ruined dinner for us. He barely came by to check if we needed refills & a couple comments he made was just straight up rude!! As for the food, the saimin was delicious! We didn't like "da saimin burger." It just wasn't for us. The crispy shoyu chicken wasn't that great either. I don't think I'd come back here again mainly because their service sucks (or maybe just him) read more

Being this was my 1st visit to Tanaka Saimin I was very pleased with our service and food. My cousin and I stopped in on a Sunday after our running session (we arrived about 10:30ish) and the seating was great. The waitress asked if we've been here before and we said no so she gave us the quick what's hot and good here... of course everything on the menu just looked great when you're famished!!! We both ordered the Tanaka Combo but instead of saimin noodles we ordered with Udon noodles. Let me tell you, the portions were generous! Large bowl of udon noodles, won ton, veggies, char siu meat, green onions, fishcake.. yum! This combo came with side of teri beef, shrimp tempura w/tarter sauce and potato/mac salad. Plus we had unlimited refills of great coffee (it wasn't colored water!, if you know what i mean, hehe). We are definitely returning to try all the other items on the menu. I'm not sure why this place has some bad reviews. The decor of the place is nice, very roomy and not overly crowded like Liliha bakery on Nimitz where you literally are next to someone (really... like really!) Nice wood panels (quite clean too!), tv's on the wall... large diner which I didn't expect to see from the outside. Bathrooms were very clean (or maybe because it was still early in the day.. not sure, may have to try at a later time) but all in all, 1st experience was very good! read more

I knew I had to give this place another chance as soon as they got settled and worked out the links with the staff and management. I am glad to say that we had a much better experience- about one year from our fateful first visit. Had tanaka special and Japanese breakfast- was real ono. My waitress initially brought out Mac salad when I ordered tossed'- she insisted I keep the Mac salad while she promptly brought out the tossed at no additional charge... how could I refuse? The whole place is bright and spacious with big screen tvs streaming news and sports **It should be noted that the wait staff and management were real polite and "aunty like" which made us feel very welcome comfortable.also! There was a 20% discount on our entire order because we ate before 10 a.m! read more

I order Saimin Special. it's included teriyaki beef,tenpura and potato salad. when they serve,teriyaki beef was already cold.tenpura is not liiks like tenpura.like a fritter or corn dog.if you imagin Japanese tenpura,you will regret and disappointed.saimin soup tast weird.maybe they have good things except this but I don't wanna come back and try anymore. waitress and server's attitude and hospitality was great.only I can give 5star is their server and waitress. read more

Came in on a weekend at about 2:30 for a very very late lunch. Half the restaurant was empty and the staff made us sign in. C'mon now...We were later seated and placed our orders. We waited a while for the waitress to return with our water, nothing. Waited 15 minutes, still no waitress to check on us. I finally got up and went to the car to grab my own water. Our food arrived 5 minutes later, had to remind the waitress of our water. No apology, no utensils. Sigh, worst service ever! read more

I rarely have the time to write reviews. Unfortunately, my experience at Tanaka Saimin was so disappointing, I'm making time to do so. Please heed and eat elsewhere! Pro: The restaurant is clean and nicely decorated. Con: 1. Service: Waitress was a bit nervous & overwhelmed. Took over 8 minutes to greet our table, then another 5 minutes to get us water. Basically, we were sitting at our table for over 10 minutes without water (on a very hot day). This is crucial since it's lunch time and we really need to get back to work. 2. Food: Salt & MSG was the key. Portions are tiny. I ordered their large Kim Chee Saimin. First few bites, I wished I drove home & made my own noodles. It was underwhelming, salty & disappointing. The noodles were soft. The kim chee skimpy with black dots riddled all over the won bok leaves (that means it's not fresh & should have been thrown away). The fishcake teeny with the char sui following the theme. Seriously, a packet of Sapporo would have been more satisfying... Still hungry, I was tempted to pull out my protein bar from my purse & eat it right then & there. I only held back because I didn't have the time to explain to the waitress why I'm eating outside food -- I just wanted to leave. This restaurant would have been 2 stars, but I had to knock another off. The cashier took my credit card, ran it to pay, got on the phone & left me waiting there until she was done. Hello? It's lunch time, we need to get back to work.. can you please rip the receipt from the credit card machine & let me sign it? After my lunch, I checked Yelp. Hah! Tanaka Saimin averaged two stars? Geez.. now why didn't I check that first before wasting time & money? read more

I like the people that work here and the inside is really nice, but for what you get the price is a little high. I can tell I'm paying for the rent/renovations and not the food. Oxtail soup is not bad, but watch out for bone shards. I like the saimin noodles, but not the broth. I ordered tempura eggplant once and they all came to me burnt (why would you even bring that over? just take it back, please). The pupu steak was really chewy and salty. You know what, instead of just listing everything I've tried, let me just sum it up: it has the menu you expect it to have, but for higher prices. The food isn't worth the price. If anything, the food is okay, with a few exceptions which are actually good. I love local businesses, so I'd like to say this place is awesome, but really they aren't. You want saimin? Go to Palace. You want any of the other stuff they have on the menu? You're better off looking for something on yelp. read more

Always drive past here but finally took my dad to check it out since he was visiting from Maui. We got seated right away and the place is huge! I couldn't decide since the menu has a ton of choices so we both thought we would give the Tanaka Special a try. The food came out ridiculously fast and it was a late bowl of saimin and a side of fish tempura, Teri beef and either tossed salad or Mac salad. Because I saw "tempura" the waitress let me substitute the Teri beef with two shrimp tempuras. However what came as a side item was not what I was expecting...it was more like a butterfly, beer-battered shrimp...that was pretty good but oily. I guess I was thinking we were at a restaurant with a Japanese name, so I was expecting Japanese shrimp tempura...needless to say, I was a little disappointed. It was like false advertisement. As for the saimin, I hate to be harsh but it was really bland. I honestly like Shiros and Zippys saimin broth better. There was nothing special about it and I had to ask for more hot mustard to add to it with shoyu just for a little more flavor. The waitress was nice but I had to ask for refills on my water a couple times and both times she spilt water all over the table and didn't even attempt to wipe it-she just said sorry and walked away. Maybe they have other better items on their menu but for a place with "saimin" in their name, I would expect awesome saimin! read more

After watching The Book of Mormon on a Saturday evening, my boyfriend and I were debating if we were more hungry or tired. It was already pretty late so thinking we were more tired, we decided to go home but took Nimitz as we wanted to avoid all the traffic getting out of Blaisdell center. On the way home, we start passing by a couple restaurants...Liliha, Zippy's. But I was in the far right lane, so we kept driving. Then we started passing Party City and see Tanaka Saimin was still open, so making a rash decision, we decided to stop and eat here. We didn't realize they were closing in 15 minutes as it was a last minute decision to come here and we didn't have time to yelp it, but as we walked in the door, we got the coldest welcome...no greetings and just stink eyes by a couple of the waiters. Because no one greeted us, we weren't sure if they were still open or if we were supposed to seat ourselves, but a lady finally approached us and sat us up front and gave us our menus. The menus were old and sticky, and prices were a bit expensive. I wasn't really feeling any of the foods on their menu and it was more my boyfriend who was hungry so I just wanted something small to munch on. I'm not a saimin person, so sharing saimin with my boyfriend was not for me. Our waitress was a young girl and she was probably the saving grace for this place because she was super friendly and attentive, unlike the other workers here. I didn't want anything too unhealthy, so I ended up ordering the Yakitori Chicken ($11.75) while my boyfriend got the Kim Chee Saimin ($8). Soon after, our waitress came back saying they were out of the Yakitori Chicken. Damn. I was already having a hard time deciding what to get before this. Even though the Miso Butterfish looked like an entire meal because it came with miso soup, plus it was pretty pricey, $16.95, double the amount of how much my boyfriend's food was, I ended up getting that. Our food came out fairly quickly, and our waitress was great about refilling our waters. But the food was horrible. The miso butterfish was slimy and had lots of bones still in it. There was no flavor and I felt ripped off for paying almost $17 for something not worth it. My boyfriend said his saimin was just ok. After we paid, we then headed for the exit. The same lady that gave us the stink look when we first came in actually said bye to us on our way out. It was probably because she was happy we were leaving. We just fake smiled at her and left. As we were starting the car, we saw our waitress running to our car. Apparently my boyfriend left his credit card in the payment folder. SMH. So to see her going above and beyond to make sure we got back our credit card was very impressive. BUT we'll probably won't be back and our waitress should probably find another restaurant to work for. read more

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

See all

To be fair, I was looking forward to having dinner at La Tour and since they only had counter seats available, we had to settle for Tanaka. Dining with a stroller is such a challenge!! I already knew this place averaged about 2 stars, but had to try it for myself anyway. I ordered the garlic steak (on special), the bf had some kind of mix plate, mom had saimin and step-dad had cheeseburger. My garlic steak was gross. It had no garlic taste, and for that matter, no taste whatsoever. I asked for it medium rare, it came medium well (not that I can hold it against them, they are a noodle place). It was also ... watery?!?! I don't know if I'm describing it correctly, but it was not the texture steak is meant to be. Bf's mix plate was ok, but how can you go wrong with fried chicken and spam (which I ate because my steak was so inedible). Spend an extra dollar for a zip-pac down the street. DONE. The cheeseburger was... well.. a cheeseburger. Fries were good. Mom's saimin should have knocked it out of the park, since the name implies that they specialize in it. The broth had no taste, and the noodles were like eating ______ (input your favorite package ramen brand here). Strike out. It would have gotten two stars had the service been better, but mediocrity is no cause for an additional star. We end with only one. I think Yelp should have another box in their "Have additional tips on this business?" section. GOOD FOR: [ ] Nothing. read more

Awesome food and excellent wonton saimin! We've gone a few times on every trip to Oahu. Really nice staff, welcoming atmosphere, and killer food. Keep up the good work! read more

Ugh! This place is so awful. I got a catered bento (garlic chicken, rice, egg omelet, spam, BBQ beef) from Tanaka's and there was a hair underneath the omelet!! Not only did that make me want to barf but the garlic chicken tasted like armpits, the egg was completely flavorless, and the beef super chewy. read more

At first I was reluctant because of all the bad reviews they got over the past few years but of course the best way to try out a business is going there and trying out for yourself. My boyfriend really wanted to try the Saimin Burger cause all his homies kept posting it all over Instagram. I wasn't really into it, but I agreed. Walking in, I was overwhelmed on how HUGE this place is. I swear it's never ending. We were instantly greeted and seated. There was three of us so we decided to order one Saimin Burger to split. I ordered the Tanaka's Mixed Plate with Crispy Shoyu Chicken and Beef Stew. The boys got the Tanaka Saimin Special. When we got the Saimin Burger, we cut it into fourths and pretty much smashed it. It was good, not amazing. It really tasted like you're shoving fried saimin and a burger patty in your mouth, at the same time. I love the patty because it was homemade and flavorful with the cheese (yum!) After we ate it, we were glad that we decided to share it instead of all of us getting one. So I recommend doing that instead! The crispy shoyu chicken was like garlic chicken. Don't get me wrong it was good but I was expecting shoyu chicken, know what I mean? The beef stew was cooked well, the meat and the veggies were soft but tasted bland. I ended up putting salt inside. The boys seemed happy with their saimin so I'll take their word for it. Service was great and attentive. I'll be back to try the rest of the things on the menu! read more

Being a regular at the old boulevard saimin I expected the food to be the same or better. I was wrong. The old lady who seated us was very friendly. The decor is similar to the dillingham location but of course newer and cleaner. The menu is exactly the same but of course it's now called "Tanaka Special Mix Plate". I' ordered my usual small saimin and cheeseburger platter. When the food came out you could tell right away the saimin is different and the burger. The saimin had no taste, I had to put Tabasco sauce for some flavor. The cheeseburger had a different kind of bun I wouldn't recommend for a burger. Needless to say I will not be a regular here. read more

So the last time I came here was when they first opened and I wasn't wowed and gave them two stars. I came here a second time a few years ago and again I wasn't wowed so I didn't bother doing an Update Review. Third time must be the charm because I was finally wowed on our last visit. My husband and I came here to eat dinner. I was intrigued by Crispy Shoyu Chicken that was on their menu and my husband wanted to try their Korean Moco with kim chee fried rice, kalbi, and fried egg with a side of fried won tun pieces. When our food came, we were amazed at the amount of food given. The Crispy Shoyu Chicken was tender and juicy. It tasted like Zippy's Korean Fried Chicken, but I think Tanaka Saimin's version is way better. I also had their Shrimp Tempura which was really oily and had excess batter that I peeled off the shrimp, but I didn't mind that much. The fried noodles that came as a choice of side was pretty light and not oily. The Korea Moco my husband had was "kanack attack" worthy. I wish I ordered it for myself. Five star rating deserved not just for the food, but our server was so friendly and attentive. He took real good care of us and we felt right at home with him. read more

See all