Chinatown

5 stars, not for the every day happenings in chinatown since it’s getting smaller each year with the Chinese restaurants being replaced with other ethnic stores, but for some markets and restaurants, and the 5 stars for the events happening during Chinese new year.
This year we celebrate the year of the monkey and the events are switched where night in chinatown with all the booths set up is 2 Saturdays before cny (tonight as I write this) and choy cheng (eating of the greens with many lions blessing the stores with fireworks) is the Friday before cny. Tonight was a spectacular all day and night event with many kung fu and lion clubs participating in the events with fireworks, street performances and stage performances as well as a parade. However this only happens annually, so you’ll need to wait until the next year if you missed it today, and choy cheng next week. Since they block off the streets, it’s hard to find parking, but there are a few parking lots that charged $ 3 for all night.
Otherwise, they need to clean the streets, and it’s wise not to walk at certain parts of chinatown all other nights, maybe except for first Fridays.

Coming from San Francisco Bay Area, this Chinatown leaves a lot to be desired. It was very dirty and overrun with some shady peeps. needless to say, we did not stay long in the area. This Chinatown also closes very early like 4 or 5pm. So be prepared. Best/​safest time to go would be in the early AM to pick up some good food and fresh veggies/​fruits.

Really enjoyed visiting the Chinatown area since there really wasn’t many good Chinese food places near Waikiki strip. I loved walking through the fish market and seeing all the colorful fish and the fruits there were soo much cheaper than anywhere else. It wasn’t the cleanest place but trust me, it is one of the better Chinatowns I have seen. The people were nice and not as pushy as SF. It felt like home but at the same time very different. Walk around, get some fruits and small cooked good. It is a lot of fun!

aside from the homeless pee smelling streets China town is the go to for Asian grocery shopping and cheap no tax items. Parking can be a challenge but there are ample parking garages and street parking though is hard. You’ll find authentic places selling herbs, produce homemade look fun noodles etc. And THere Are Many phở And dim Sum Places Pretty Much It’s What Your IN The Mood for…

There are so many options! I do like the one fish market tucked behind one of the main markets. It was our first time in chinatown so we walked around to all the stalls. You quickly learn some places are cheaper than others. The hard part is going to be remembering which stalls or market has the best price and fresh product. I’m sure it’ll take us a few trips to learn it all. It was a fun experience and we bought a few things: ahi tuna, coconut buns, rambutans, and longons. There were surprisingly quite a few Vietnamese markets. There’s hope… I can cook phở! Although there were a lot of phở restaurants in the area we will have to check out. I’m just happy there’s a chinatown!

Some of my first memories are of Chinatown. My parents would drag me around buying groceries. I grew up disliking Chinatown because of all the walking around looking for the cheapest and freshest groceries. Not to mention the place smells like urine, feces and homeless people. It smells worse when it’s drizzling or raining.
It’s true what they say about things looking bigger than they are when you’re a kid. Chinatown now as an adult is really small. A lot smaller than a lot of other Chinatown’s that I’ve been to. This place still smells like urine, feces and homeless people but now I don’t mind as much. If you take the time to walk around, there are lots of great spots to shop or dine at here.
Groceries are usually cheaper here and that’s a plus because money doesn’t grow on trees. Food here is pretty awesome if you’re looking for Chinese or Vietnamese food. I love coming here to have phở, bun bo hue and dimsum. Surprisingly they have a hidden spot here that has fresh poke, sashimi and Japanese inspired cuisine that I frequent.
There are several options for parking when you come. Street parking, loading zone, prepaid lots and municipal parking garages. If you come on Sunday, street parking is free and usually hard to find. The city bus also runs through Chinatown if you don’t want to deal with parking.
On top of the cheap groceries and good restaurants here, you’ll find great lei and flower shops. There is also amazing shops selling manapua’s, roast duck, roast pork, shoyu chicken, char siu and fruit smoothies. Even though it smells and it’s small, there’s no other place like our Chinatown.

I love Chinatowns the world over. This one’s no different. Great selection of fruits and veg, fresh meats and fish, and basic junk stores to buy anything and everything you don’t need. Also a great place to eat from many different Asian cuisines. Lots of good bakeries too. Take a walk through Chinatown. It’s fun and you’ll likely find something of interest to eat and or buy to bring home.

Most restaurant opens late morning 10:30/11:00am here.
Take out type deal.
Expensive fruits and were NOT good ;(

Honolulu’s is my favorite Chinatown in North America, if Hawaii can be included. While most cater to tourists, Honolulu’s is for locals. Produce, seafoods, and meats are sold everywhere. There are shops where fresh leis are made and sold. Restaurants abound. There is a food court where you can find bagains in prepared foods — $ 1.25 Spam Musubi! Hawaii has its own unique dim sum. There are shops (kitchens) that open early in the morning and sell them ’til they run out. Mixed in among produce and meat stalls in one of the «malls», is Maguro Brothers (see Unilocal listing) — not to be missed if you like fish prepared flawlessly.

The sweet smell of… wait, can’t use the word «sweet». There isn’t one distinct smell to describe China town. It all depends on which store front you are near or alley way. I do have to admit from my childhood to adulthood the smell, feel, energy, loud chitter chatter incites memories and truly makes you feel alive. When I’m here it makes me feel as though my day is full, though it may have only been an hour. It’s that liveliness that energizes the soul.
You can get anything here and even some things you wouldn’t think you’d see :) Such bountiful colors for the eyes, fresh fruits and veggies at almost every turn. The duck, roast pork, all types of food will have you wanting all of it.
My favorite place to pick up fresh fish is 88 Fish, best quality, cleaned, gutted and ready in a snap. The ladies are always friendly. After getting my fish, my next stop Lee’s Bakery and Kitchen for their BOMB custard pie and custard pumpkin pie mix, which are stables at my Thanksgiving table.
Yes, I can’t forget to mention the mess going on there, which tributes to the reason I cannot use the word «sweet» and the homeless situation. It is a sad sight, but this is what gives China town such a unique vibe.
When you’re in China town, I suggest you stop, observe, take it all in, appreciate the sound, colors, smell, people. Take it all in and I know from just seeing and being in that moment in a place so alive, you too will feel that energy that I can’t really seem to describe. I guess I can’t describe it because it’s a feel like no other.

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where we have a vibrant SF Chinatown and a smaller one in Oakland, I enjoy checking Chinatowns in other cities when traveling. We stopped by Honolulu’s Chinatown to pick up some local specialties and to take a stroll through the area shops.
Compared to Chinatowns in San Francisco, New York, and Vancouver/​Richmond, Honolulu’s is small that encompasses several blocks. There are stores selling Chinese dry goods products, vegetables and fruits, meats and seafood, delis, bakery goods, crafts and even leis and some restaurants.
We stopped by Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery to pick up some macadamia nut and peanut candy, specialty candies that are no longer made by SF bakeries. Also the locally grown longan fruit (Lung ngaan or dragon eye fruit) is about $ 3/​lb less than the going price for the one shipped over from the Islands. Too bad, I couldn’t bring any home.
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Though not large like some other famous Chinatowns, Honolulu’s Chinatown does serve the community with the Asian products and for us out of town visitors too.
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Unilocal 365 CHALLENGE 2014−(338÷365) «Chinatown, Oahu»
One of my first memories of Chinatown was a field trip we took in grade school where we walked around, took a tour of the various shops and food vendors, then taking a break at a sweet shop with Honey Twists, Banana Rolls, and Almond Cookies.
I also remember during our high school days driving by Hotel Street being teenagers going to «spock da hookers» with the boys. What crazy times we had back in the day! Chinatown was also kinda dirty, trashy, and streets would be filled with homeless people… not the best memories, but it wasn’t until I left home and experienced Chinatown in other cities (NYC, SF, LV) that I began to appreciate my own back home.
things have definitely cleaned up here, and in my last few visits in the past few years, I’ve recently discovered Char Hung Sut, one of my usual stops now, and my first time ever having an Egg Puff. Streets are a lot cleaner, businesses continue to thrive, and seriously, some of the best meats, seafood,(live frogs too!?) and produce can be found here. More bookmarks have been added (Scatch Kitchen, Livestock Tavern, Maguro Brothers) thanks to fellow Honolulu Yeeps, I can’t wait for my next foodventure in Chinatown. ALOHA!!!
Shaka Meter: \uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​4

The majority of the shops closes around 4 p.m. ish. Its pretty dirty, not really worth visiting.

What’s to say… They sell MILLIONS of cheap items and unique gadgets for the kitchen. Pretty much things you won’t find in our normal shopping stores. We purchased a nice meat cleaver and sharpening stone for $ 25.00 today. Nice selection of meats and fish, plus MILLIONS of hole in the wall eateries. We enjoy coming here, even if just browsing… It’s a nice walk. Don’t be alarmed by the homeless zombies here and there… They’re not going to bother anyone. NO EYE CONTACT!

The smells of Chinatown: pee, marijuana, poo, and cigarettes. I had a combination of all those things on my last visit yesterday! And that was all within a couple of blocks! Not the most pleasant way to enjoy your visit, but I still come here often.
My mom lives in the neighborhood and I also enjoy getting my produce here for good prices. You need to be careful though, because some of the produce is old. A lot of the produce is fresh and are great deals though.
Things can be a bit creepy sometimes here. I have been asked for money, offered drugs, and had someone beg for my leftovers as I was leaving a restaurant. I found it very brave for drug dealers to offer drugs to random people only two blocks away from the police station!
There are a good number of homeless people and drug addicts in the neighborhood. Sometimes they are hard to distinguish from each other.
On the plus side, there are some good eateries here. Maunakea Street has my favorite look fun place, Lam’s Kitchen, a great dim sum place, Happy Garden, and a good ice cream shop, Wing’s Ice Cream & Shave Ice is close by.

Trust me, I’ve been to my fair shares of Chinatowns from all over. This one is not one of my favorites.
First of all, it’s not very big considering there’s quite a large population of Asian people on Oahu. Second, a lot of the people here are TOO pushy. I get that being pushy and straightforward is how it’s done, but it’s off the charts here. I mean, once we were accused of stealing fruit (we had not!). Thirdly, parking is a bit of a pain… it’s not too hard to find, but it can get pretty confusing as a single deck has elevators/​stairs that will lead you to completely different intersections. Finally, there’s a huge population of homeless people here. Mainly because there’s a soup kitchen in this area. My sister and I unknowingly stood near it waiting for my parents to finish shopping and it was very uncomfortable.
TL;DR: We’d still go here for all the exotic fruit, flowers, and spices needed to make our traditional meals, but we wouldn’t take anyone here for the sights.

I love chinatown. I don’t necessarily love the smells or the plethora of homeless people, but I love reminiscing about weekly trips to chinatown with my grandpa, shopping for my favorite exotic fruits and getting snacks while people watching and taking in the culture.
There is one meat and fish market in particular that we usually go to. It’s the biggest one and I could spend hours in there just looking. When I was little, I liked peering at the displays of whole pigs and pig parts like ears and hooves while blatantly holding my nose. The variety of sea creatures and many species of fish always intrigued me and I liked watching the live frogs swimming around in their tanks. There are also plenty of fruit stalls where you can get more exotic fruit, not found in supermarkets like rambutan, mangosteen, big papaya, longan and lilikoi. The fruit and vegetables are usually cheaper than in supermarkets too, so I’ll usually pick up banana and Choy sum too. You can also pick up Chinese groceries like canned fish and other packaged foods, and various snacks imported from china like roasted peanuts.
I like the look funn factory for fresh noodles, Mai’s for smoothies and nam fong for bbq meat. There is always plenty of parking in the municipal lots too.

I always visit Chinatown when I go to Honolulu.
It’s wet and dirty just like other typical Chinatown but there are things I love here:
–Lei stands: ANYBODY can get lei in Hawaii =P
–Fresh tropical fruits. I am talking about rambutan, coconut, pineapple, papaya, etc. The rambutan is not as good as rambutan from Asia but not bad.
Celebrate your lunar year @ Chinatown this year. It’s year of the horse.
You can buy moon cake, fortune cookie, Chinese medicine, jade and even sexy cheong sam dresses.
Don’t forget to pick up dim sum and manapua from Chinatown.

Been coming here since i was a keiki to help my grandma and mom help carry bags and grew up watching this place change not so much…
Always the best deals on produce and meat and also everything asian
The pee smell is killaz after the rain hits haha

I was craving dim sum so we ended up here on a Saturday morning and got lucky with free parking on the street. When vacationing I like to make it a point to usually visit the local Chinatown.
Ended up spending a few hours walking around and checking out the stalls of fresh produce, Chinese deli’s, fish markets and bakeries. I noticed there were many Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants to dine at. I was surprised how large this Chinatown is and the only bummer was I noticed several homeless people on the outskirts of Chinatown.
Overall we enjoyed breakfast and sightseeing for a few hours.