Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant

In the Ala Moana Americana Hotel is where this restaurant is located. Park on the upper level, where there is more than enough ample parking. Then, walk across the cat walk to get into the hotel. Take the escalotor down to the lobby, then take the hotel elevators to the restaurant, same floor as the pool.
The décor and ambiance is very nice but is the usual Chinese settings. They do have interesting items to view, and you may want to take a pictures. I wanted to but ppl in our party were apparently starving to death and pausing for such a viewing was being intolerable.
There was a short wait before we were seated. The service was very nice and cordial. I can’t say I was feeling the love but definitely the staff was nothing but very professional providing whatever was required.
We were here for dim sum and couldn’t wait to get started. Immediately upon seating, we spied the first cart coming our way with dagger eyes. The cart ladies were very kind taking their time explaining what each dish was, and. making suggestions.
At one point, I couldn’t find our regular waiter so I asked another. I wanted to order a noodle dish. I let him know what i wanted, he took the order and went immediately into the back to place the order with cooks. I like that. it did not take too long for it to be served and that was much appreciated because now we could eat it with the rest of the delectable dishes infront of us.
We were out of tea. M took the lid off and placed it on the table. A wait staff came by scooping up the tea pot and cover. A few minutes later he was back with the tea pot filled. M likes to do that as a little test to the attentiveness. We really wanted more tea too. So, it wasn’t purely for nothing. Anyway, the passed that test with flying colors.
If there’s anything of point to bring out is… it would be nice if the staff smiled more and showed that they really cared. However, I do get the impression they love what they do and are sincere about giving customers the best service. Just need to take it to the next level.

One of my favorites for dim sum in Honolulu. My favorites are the taro puffs and stuffed eggplant, but haven’t had anything there that I haven’t liked yet. Probably a little pricier than some other places with good dim sum in town, but I’ll pay for it for the convenient location (right in the hotel), and of course, the cart service (wouldn’t be the same without it).

I came here to eat for a company party. Two of the dishes that were served had raw chicken. As soon as the waiter put the first plate down, I could see the blood on the chicken. I don’t know how they couldn’t see it. We did let the waiter know about the raw chicken, and he replaced the dish. We didn’t tell him about the 2^nd one. Overall, I was very disappointed especially we paid $ 35 per person. I will not go here again.

We went here recently for dinner and enjoyed it quite a bit. They are always friendly (on the phone and in person) and the food is delicious! We had lots of dishes but the one thing I keep drooling over is the Cantonese Duck. I have had peking & roast duck but never Cantonese duck. I usually prefer chicken and was hoping we would get that but I forgot all about it after trying this duck. Oh my it’s sooo delicious. The only thing is that the wait staff does not speak much English. It took a while for me to order a gin & tonic and that was after the bartender/​manager/​head waiter came over to personally take our drink orders. Service could have been better (it wasn’t even that crowded). Looking around everyone seemed to get the peking duck and Lobster. So I guess you can’t go wrong with that. 4 stars for the food alone.

Went for a family dinner with the newly wed addition to the family and we received all the leftover foods, was served with horrendous service. All the food looked brown and disgusting. I wouldn’t recommend for anyone to eat there. For a place located in a hotel, this is by far the worst service I’ve ever received

Living here for nearly 25 years and I am astounded I never heard of this place till today. Upon walking in I thought oh no… It gonna be the Chinese place from Christmas Story. The total Chinese motif, gold dragons, waiters in bow ties, ming vases everywhere. The menu was your standard fare, so we went with what we know… But what we didn’t know was what gosh darn high class Chinese food was to come. Everything was delicious, and seemed to be an upscaled version on old timeless dishes. The only reason I did not give 5 stars was do to long wait for the food… But was worth it.

One of the past few dim sum places worth going to. Went for lunch and had a big party so we got the set meal.
A good amount of various dishes that came out one after the other. My favorites were the Shrimp and Scallop (very different, light, yet delcious and full of flavor) and Deep Fried Taro (flaky, crispy and melts in your mouth).
You can definitely taste the difference in quality and preperation. Very consistent in taste and steamed to perfection (not overdone and tough like some other places).
Topped the meal off with their coconut, honeydew melon, and tapioca dessert. Very refreshing and excellent way to clean the palette.
If you are visiting Hawaii take a chance at a Chinese/​local staple of cuisine for lunch. Tons of other great looking dim sum dishes that I wish I could try but I’m sure I’ll be back to eat.
Great service, clean, and very quick. Great for groups or couples to grab a quick bite or for a lazy meal to sit down and relax. Recommend to everyone.
Ambience is full of energy but yet not overwhelming.

dinner
Food was very good. beef and broccoli, shrimp wonton soup, fried noodle with chicken and shrimp. fried wontons (large and meaty) all good.
about the only thing, the wait help was not interactive with the customers. your order please. they could care less it seemed when you replied food good. they just had to say it. must be cultural I suppose. no smiles. no banter,
Lunch two days later dim sum very very very very GoOd.

The Peking duck was the highlight of the meal. It was crispy, fatty goodness in a beautiful little steamed bun garnished with crispy scallions. It was all downhill from there. The honey walnut prawns were mushy and almost gummy inside. The whole fish was fine, but nothing amazing. The sweet and sour pork was pretty good and had a nice light breading that I enjoyed. The rest of the food was unmemorable and the service was seriously sub-​par as they were not very busy. Good thing the company and conversation was superb.

A quality dim sum restaurant for those not-​so excellently versed in the joys of real Hong Kong-​stye dim sum. The restaurant’s most redeeming feature is that it actually endeavors to make it easy for non-​Chinese patrons to see and select what they want to eat.
Restaurants in Chinatown, while arguably more «authentic» in ambiance and cuisine (I use the word «ambiance» loosely when what I’m really talking about is loud Chinese people), can make for a very anxious experience. PARTICULARLY when you’re the only Chinese person at the table and everyone is depending on you to order and oh god the carts never make it to your table before they run out of food and there’s only like two shrimp dumplings and a char siu bao on your table and everyone looks hungry and you told them this was the best place for dim sum and now they don’t trust your restaurant-​recommending prowess anymore.
Don’t fret, my anxious, hungry pet. At Royal Garden in Ala Moana Hotel, there are multiple carts that come around fairly often, and if you can’t wait, you can easily flag down a bus boy or server to bring you a certain type of dim sum from the cart or kitchen. Unusually enough for a Chinese restaurant, the bus boys and servers are eager to bring your order as fast as possible, and if it’s not their job, they will immediately call for another person who will. The «cart ladies» are diligent about showing you what they have in their steaming baskets, and are very patient with you when you go through that whole rigamarole of asking everyone at the table what they’re okay/​not okay with, and how many they want.
The dim sum itself is fresh and flavorful. It’s all you can ask of dim sum, really. The fried turnip cake, taro puff, deep fried seaweed rolls filled with seafood, custard tarts, and shrimp dumplings are my favorite things to order. The chicken jook is great if you’re de-​turnting from Rumours the night before (don’t lie, I know you slept in your car outside Macy’s). Just don’t drown everything in shoyu, please. Honor the hardworking cooks a little. Working in a Chinese kitchen is no joke.

Checking in here so many times, I feel like I am required to type a review!
Royal Garden has been open for 30 years, and has become a staple here in Hawaii. Growing up, China House was my mainstay with Royal Garden as the special occasion place. I’ve had my share of meals there and numerous photos with the two Fu Dogs outside throughout the years, and everything about this place has stayed the same for 30 years. There’s always a sense of class, elegance, and refinement whenever I come here. The décor is very traditional and formal. The staff here have very proper etiquette and decorum. The same things can be said about the food. Located in the 3^rd floor of the Ala Moana Hotel, it may seem hard to get to, but it’s easy. There is a ramp from the Ala Moana Shopping Center 3^rd level parking on the Macy’s side that connects to the hotel. You just enter, find the elevator to your left, and go to the 3^rd floor.
I have mainly come here for dinner recently, and after so many meals, the thing that always pops up in my mind when I’m eating here is, «they do it right.» Royal Garden prepares Cantonese and Hong Kong style Chinese cuisine how it’s supposed to be; in other words, it is authentic.
The one thing Royal Garden does consistently well is how it prepares duck. Each and every duck dish is prepared to perfection, whether it’s Peking Duck, Pei Pa Duck, Braised Duck Hot Pot, or Stuffed Duck, all of them are top-​notch, high quality dishes prepared with great precision. I particularly enjoy the Pei Pa duck because it is prepared and roasted very well
with the fat rendered down for a very crispy skin, and the meat itself is tender and juicy and incredibly tasty.
Another of my favorite dishes is the Baked Stuffed Conch Shell with Seafood. The conch is very fresh with very tasty and flavorful stuffing. The conch meat is perfectly cooked and prepared very well. The seafood stuffing is in a curry sauce and it is absolutely delicious! You can’t find this anywhere else.
Speaking of curry, the curry here is one of the best. The curry chicken casserole is incredibly tasty and goes oh-​so-​well with rice. The curry is pronounced and perfectly spicy with a hint of sweetness and richness from the coconut milk, and the chicken is always cooked very well.
I’ve had so many dishes here, which are all great, but those three stand out the most. Each and every dish is always prepared well and very precise, and the ingredients in each dish are always fresh. Even the simple vegetable dishes are prepared precisely. The vegetables are cooked perfectly, and will always have the proper sauce for it.
The staff here is very formal with proper etiquette. The dish is always presented and announced. You rarely find that in a Chinese restaurant. They are very attentive when it comes to changing plates, filling up water, and so forth. However, I’ve noticed that they are extremely hard to flag down, as if their peripheral vision is narrow and only straight forward. Yes, it can be frustrating and you are sitting there waving your hands and arms thinking, «how can this guy not see me!?» Not all of them are like that though.
Overall, this restaurant is truly what an authentic, upscale Chinese restaurant should be. The décor is traditional, the staff is refined, and the food is precise. It’s the best Chinese food Hawaii has to offer.

I’ve been both here both for lunch and dinner time. The place is clean and the wait staff is helpful/​knowledgable depending on when you go. For lunch time, it is the cart style — different items on different carts. When suckling pig is available, it is only served after 11am (place opens at 10am).
I would be back — because I love Chinese food and when I like to pick the dim sum from a cart.

3 stars is a fair grade for a fair place. I am not a regular for dim sum probably because I don’t have people to go with regularly… but when my extended family decides to launch an expedition of sorts into the Chinese dim sum scene we go to various places all over Honolulu.
This establishment is a nice one and located in a relatively easy to access area. It is not as plagued by outright service incompetence which is a plus, and the cart servers have about 10 — 15 seconds of patience over their Chinatown or Happy Days counterparts. The food is alright; the look fun is a solid ⁸⁄₁₀ and the siu mai around the same as well. but the chow fun lacked taste and the other noodles we got were somewhat generic. That, along with the fact they at first refused to seat my baby cousin in a high chair, were the negatives.
Overall I would not recommend this place above some of the other, tastier joints in Chinatown. But for the first timer it was alright and the food was around a B or B–

Love dim sum at Royal Garden… but its a little pricey. So, we only come here when it’s a family gathering and we are not paying.
Lunch today was in celebration of Easter! Our lazy Susan was overflowing with dishes.
Some of our favorite dishes:
Chicken feet — in a spicy blackbean gelatinous sauce
Mochi rice — used a vehicle to soak up the sauce from the chicken feet dish
Shrimp Look Fun, pan fried eggplant stuffed with fishcake, seafood roll wrapped in bean curd (shrimp, scallop, mushrooms… oh my!) — delish. Table also ordered house noodles, siu mai, fried shrimp with mayo, taro puff, Ha gao, and so forth.
But what my oldest mini me must have when we dine here is the jellyfish. She loves that crunchy, opaque — slightly spicy delectable cold dish from the sea. I, on the other hand, must have the «doufu fa» which is basically homemade tofu with a warm ginger syrup poured on top. It’s the only place I’ve had this — so this is what I must have when I’m here. It’s slightly sour, sweet, very soft. You either love it or don’t. My kids don’t. But bring on the almond float and daan taat/​egg custard tarts (you only get two to an order here)… and they are happy campers with their sweet ending.
I also get a kick out of the servers. My SIL is this little tiny Chinese girl, and she releases her inner loudmouth here to brazenly flag down the dimsum carts and servers to place orders… because well, it’s loud in the restaurant… and apparently as I look around… everyone’s doing it… so, «when in Rome… er…Royal Garden»…

Dim sum is an excellent way to bring groups of people together to converse and enjoy a meal. What better way to get people talking than dim sum?
Everyone seems to have their favorite dish or technique to ordering dim sum, so there is a collective sense of pride among most people I’ve experienced it with. For those who are new to dim sum, you can expect to be coaxed into ordering from a variety of carts. See something you like? Wave, blink and wink to bring it over.
Royal Garden is a safe option for friends who are not accustomed to the pace and flavors of authentic dim sum. Sure, we all have recommendations for the best joint at the Chinese Cultural Plaza, but sometimes it’s best to visit a place with lots of space, reliable parking and more sanity to the routine.
The only downside is Royal Garden does not validate valet parking. If you’re bringing guests or your elderly relatives, anticipate a trip up to the third floor. I don’t recommend Ala Moana Hotel’s parking lot. It’s confusing, dirty and creepy like a scene straight out of Resident Evil.

It was really hit or miss last night. The bitter Melon soup was great served in a large bitter melon but two of the chicken dishes were very dry and had odd flavoring. The duck and kau yook buns had pickled veggies kinda like you’d find in a bale sandwich which was good.
The service was very average and they didn’t validate which I thought was lame and it seemed like other patrons all got validated. Luckily the braddahs at the hotel give me a break on the parking otherwise it would’ve been $ 40. Although I know it’s discouraged, parking at Ala Moana would’ve been the wiser option.
The atmosphere is nice and not nearly is loud as it could be and the staff is nicely dolled up in red.
The dessert was pretty inventive and I apologize if this is a common thing I just don’t know about; but Azuki Bean Mochi Ball soup. It was tasty, hot and hit the spot.

WOW! Last night I was treated to a wonderful dinner by my friends as they wanted to celebrate the new year, and for their special announcement that they were venturing out to new horizons on the mainland.
To celebrate, they had arranged a stupendous dinner at the Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant last night!
What can I say? Outstanding food, and the wine, & champagne were flowing last night!
We had the following items last night (see da pics of da grindz!) —
1. Seafood Curry in a Conche Shell.
2. Bird Nest Soup.
3. Deep Fried Shrimp with Walnuts.
4. Deep Fried Oyster.
5. Peking Duck with Bun.
6. Lobster.
7. Pigeon.
8. Fresh Fish (Chinese Style).
9. Bamboo with Pak Choi (Chinese Cabbage).
10. Egg Noodles with Crab.
11. Peanut Mochi Dessert
Oh, man… it was a gut busting dinner! Too much good food, and too much booze!
Most of the items I ate last night were pretty standard to me (as I’ve had them many times before), with the exception of the Seafood Curry in a Conche Shell, as well as the Peanut Mochi Dessert.
I must say, of all the items I ate last night, I really enjoyed the Seafood Curry in a Conche Shell. The presentation of the dish was impeccable, but most of all, the Seafood Curry loaded into the Conche Shell was OUTSTANDING & delicious!
As for the Peanut Mochi Dessert… I’m not a big fan of Peanut, but I do love mochi. And to have mochi at a Chinese restaurant? Geez, I didn’t know Chinese folks made the stuff! Lol!
Outstanding service! We had a private room, and the waiter who served us was spot on with the drinks, & food! A cool 10+ Stars of the service! MAHALO!
Royal Garden is located in the Ala Moana Hotel. When I come here, I normally park at the Ala Moana Shopping Center (free parking) & walk across a ramp to go to the hotel. Take an elevator to the 3^rd floor, and there you are!
Last of all, I want to wish my good friends all the best in their new endeavors. I will truly miss them, but I know they will be back one day in da 808.
It was also great to see da homies… you know the smack talk was laid down last night, especially with the booze that flowed on our table. Lol!

We came back with a group of 24 people in honor of Owen’s dad, who just passed away on Jan 2.
We had preordered everything so that the food could arrive once the guests showed up.
Jellyfish & chicken salad was very good, although it could use a little less lemon.
Crabmeat & fishmaw soup could use a little more flavor, but nothing that we couldn’t fix with a little white pepper and chili paste.
Honey walnut prawns was great!
Peking duck was delicious!
Steamed ginger onion uhu fish was excellent!
Shiitake mushroom with veggies was ok.
Seafood panfried noodles was good!
Salted fish and chicken fried rice was good as well.
Service was excellent!
Overall, I was not disappointed that I suggested that we choose them to host our dinner.

I always used to love coming to royal garden as a child. I loved the steamed look fun roll with the ground beef inside and sweet soy sauce on top. I loved my shumai and mochi rice. I love how it’s so clean and bustling and efficient inside the restaurant.
The only thing that made me really sad is the recent increase in price of dimsum. Somehow, between the time when I left for college and now, the dimsum prices at royal garden have seem to have skyrocketed! I had lunch with my dad for 2 and it came out to be $ 37 without tax and tip. I’m begging you royal garden, please keep your prices affordable so that I can afford to come back. I love you, don’t do this to time baby.

It’s on the third floor of the Ala Moana Hotel, and it’s my grandma’s favorite dim sum restaurant! I’ve been here a bunch of times in the past, so it’s about time I write a review!
Parking:
I always park at the Ala Moana Shopping Center & walk across the bridge/​ramp to the 2^nd floor of the hotel (yay free!). I’ve never actually parked at the Ala Moana Hotel, but I imagine that you can probably valet if you’d like.
Food:
Nothing to complain about here. I’ve been there for both dim sum and dinner. Although some of the dim sum isn’t quite the same as I’m used to at other dim sum joints, it’s not bad by any means. The fun part is that they push all your dim sum options around on various carts (dessert/​sweets cart, frying cart, etc), just like in the movies!
Service:
This is kind of where the rating takes a dive for me. The servers, for the most part, are all as nice as servers in a demanding Chinese restaurant can be (smiles, offering all their dishes, etc). BUT of all the times I’ve been to the restaurant, the only time my service wasn’t spotty was during a dinner when we made a pre-​set menu for the family. All the times I’ve been there for dim sum, though, have been weird.
I’m not sure if it’s the language barrier that’s getting in the way of great service or what, but trying to communicate what we want with the servers pushing the various dim sum carts always seems to throw a wrench into things. For example, I asked a woman pushing a cart for «turnip cakes» (I have no idea what they’re called in Chinese), repeated myself at least 3 times, and then she smilingly brought me a stack of napkins… obviously a miscommunication. At a beginning of a meal, we asked for taro gok (fried taro balls) & steamed look fun wrapped charsiu w/​a sugar-​shoyu sauce (still don’t know the Chinese name for that either)…I don’t know if they didn’t understand us or just didn’t hear us, but we had to ask again halfway through our meal, and then we received it towards the end. Those are just a couple of examples, but we’ve had other problems as well.
Anywho, I know I’ll be back because it’s my grandma’s favorite dim sum place, but I personally prefer a couple others that are in Chinatown over Royal Garden.