Water Drop Vegetarian House

Read the good reviews about this place and decided to try it. Walked in and stood in line at noon. Lines moved quickly. I took a cup of complimentary hot tea before I ordered my food. They had about 8 dishes you could choose from. Decided to skip the starch and ordered the jai and stir fry veggies. They have me a generous portion of jai and a smaller serving of veggies for $ 7. The jai was very tasty and had the black fungus, dried bean curd, water chestnut, dried tofu, won Bok, broccoli, carrots and choi sum. I enjoyed the fresh vegetables. The sir fry veggies consisted of cucumber, sweet potato and a variation of bean curd. I could not finish the meal. I would go back again to try their other dishes. They have a lot of seating in a clean air conditioned space. I may sit down to eat the next time I’m there. Good vegetarian meal at a decent price.

This is a great spot with great food. Fairly new to the area as I hear with vegan/​vegetarian cuisine. They have small plates $ 7, and large plates $ 10 with choice of rice, fried rice, noodles, and several entrees and an assortment of appetizers.
I usually go for the mini plate which you can have rice, noodles or both then two entrée. I usually go for a shredded tofu or sweet and sour disk then stir fried veggies. Everything is tasty and healthy and seems very well nutritionally balance. Great portions for the price.

This restaurant has good vegetarian Chinese food. The menu varies slightly each day. The food as mentioned is served cafeteria style, where you can pick a starch and either 2 ($ 7) or four entrees ($ 10). There is usually a nice man who might be the chef working at the counter. The other staff are all nice, too. For the starch you can pick half rice and half noodles. The offer a stew veggie rice instead of fried rice, which has little or no oil so is healthier than the usual fried rice. It’s very tasty.
So far my favorite entrees are the turnip cake with ginger sauce, basil eggplant, and fried bean curd roll. I’m still hoping to try the mapo tofu.
The restaurant interior is clean with relaxing colors, very zen, a nice place to eat in the middle of downtown.

Great addition to the downtown food establishments. I’ve been here twice and both times the employees are friendly and the food yummy.
Jai: ⁴⁄₅ still tasty but not the usual style that is «normal» in other chinese restaurants.
Steamed vegetable: ⁵⁄₅ it’s choi sum. Can’t go wrong with vegetables. It’s not over cooked.
Noodles: ⁵⁄₅ tasty with a lot of filling.
Steam rice is available. $ 7.00 for a mini.
I would definitely be back.

Was extremely happy when I heard about this place a couple of weeks ago. I’m even happier now that I’ve had the chance to eat there. It is in a nice office building that houses a Buddhist organization of some sort and I saw a monk there also.
Location/​Parking: Makai end of Alakea Street… within quick walking distance of most of the downtown office buildings. No convenient parking at all. Of course, there are the usual public pay multilevel lots and a few random street parking spaces but you will still have to walk a bit. I parked over by the Post Office/​Kamehameha Statue in that metered parking. That is a very short pleasant walk and inexpensive. Quarters only @ $ 1 per hour. I recommend these metered stalls but there is an hour limit. Should be enough time for lunch. There is usually a spot open on the statue side.
Service: Cafeteria style service with the food behind glass and labeled. Very patient and helpful staff. I forgot to get a drink and a nice lady came by and offered to get me water or tea. I think she was just being nice. The dining room is much larger than most of the downtown lunch shops. But lots of people were doing take out anyway. So unless you only have 30 min. to eat you can probably slow down, get a seat and enjoy your lunch.
Food: Take out or eat in. Four choices combo plus rice or noodles as the starch. Or there is a mini two choice plate. $ 10 or $ 7. Tax included. So a $ 10 bill will do it. Water and hot tea is included. This is an excellent value. The staff suggested to me that many people choose half noodles and half rice. So you can get one scoop of each. I picked Jai/​Monks Food, curry stew, a veggie pan fried patty, and a roll with fake ham. There was also choi sum and a mixed veggie stir fry. The Jai was excellent with great flavors. I’ve had this many times at lots of different places. This was probably the best of the bunch. The curry stew had some sort of imitation meat and big chunks of vegetables. It was also an excellent dish. The veggie fried pan cake was good too and added some nice variety. The ‘roll’ sort of thing was also good with imitation ham and cheese. Wasn’t really sure what this was supposed to be but I liked it! The veggie rice (I don’t think it was fried) was good. The rice noodle dish was A-​OK but overshadowed by the other items.
Vegan/​Vegetarian: I forgot to ask but I didn’t see any signs of eggs or dairy. So I’m pretty sure it was all plant based. I would suggest clarifying if you aren’t sure. My only ‘observation’ is that much of this was fried or cooked with oil. Since this is Chinese food this is not surprising. But many who are looking for plant based eating, are also looking for healthful dishes with less frying.
Well, I’m a fan! And a Big Fan at that !! Good value, big servings and meat free!!! Almost as good as it gets. I’m coming back!

This place is awesome! I’m not a vegetarian but every now and then I’ll have a craving for vegetarian food. The place is surprisingly spacious and clean. You have a choice of 2 ($ 7) or 4 ($ 10) items. I decided on the 4 just so I could try a bit of everything. The taro fried rice is bomb and I really liked the noodles (you can do half & half). I love jai so I was happy that they had it. Everything else was really delicious and tasty. Portions are generous! I’ll definitely be back!

This is the best vegetarian restaurant in Hawaii. All dishes are unique, healthy and delicious. We really enjoy and love it.

I believed it wasn’t meat.
OK, but not great. Had what everyone was recommending — the mapo tofu and fried turnip cake. It was bland…
The curry noodles were good.
The price was right.
The restaurant is nice and new.
But these just aren’t enough to being me back.

Options are always a good thing! How boring would our world be with only carnivorous restaurants & pizzerias? Who can get bored with pizzerias! =P How many of you cringe at the word VEGETARIAN? How many of you have actually tried it?
I had the mini for $ 7 (tax included). Half rice /​half noodles, eggplant with vegetables, and a spring roll! Cafeteria style!
Well if you’re in the downtown area you can bury all those fears into your back pocket! This new VEGETARIAN restaurant is damn good!
PROS:
Affordable: $ 7 mini! $ 10 regular! Sides are affordable too!
Taste: Really tasty! They use tofu and mock items too and best of all it tastes good!
Environment: It’s very comfortable and no tension of being brainwashed to join a cult! Haha!
CONS:
Parking: No real fault to the business, but expect metered parking! If you’re in the downtown area than no worries!
I was pleased with my lunch and would return in a healthy heart beat anytime! It’s NOT the best evar, but it’s good and student affordable too! My only advice is skip the fried rice and go with a full serving of noodles as your starch!
You don’t have to be a vegetarian to give this place a try! You’d be surprised how good vegetarian dishes are, but if you never tried it then you just might be missing out on something life changing! Saving animals is such a good feeling=)

I just had a «I can’t believe it’s not meat!» moment. The vegetarian is THAT good here. Growing up in a Chinese household, I am used to tons of flavor in my food and of course MEAT. Since becoming vegetarian, its been difficult to eat out at Chinese places, because most of the food options contain meat/​meat byproducts.
Enter, Water Drop Vegetarian. Wood Ear Fungus, Chow Mein, and Mapo Tofu galore– all vegetarian, Woohoo! Upon entering, the area is clean, modern, and sleek. The staff was very attentive and friendly, and the descriptions on the glass made it easy to pick out which options I wanted to have. I personally went for the $ 10, 4 choice option, which also came with a starch; the other plate is $ 7 for 2 choices. My advice is splurge for the 4 choice option and save the leftovers for dinner OR split with a friend. $ 5 for two meals anyone?
The nice gentleman that helped me also gave me the option of splitting my starch so that I could try two of them! I went with the taro/​mushroom rice and chow mein. For my sides, I got the wood ear fungus, veggie patty, eight heaven delight (?), and a foo jook (dried bean curd) stir fry of sorts. (Sorry I’m bad at remembering the names, but I uploaded a picture of my food.)
Everything was packed with flavor and authentic Chinese. If you’ve ever gone to a buddhist temple and had Jai the food tastes like that but with a punch. The mock meats have the texture and taste of meat but of course its not.
I would definitely be here more regularly if not for the lack of parking – metered parking or bust. I was lucky enough this time to find parking one block away! If you work downtown, this place is easily accessible for lunch hour by foot (I’m jealous!)…for the poor souls like myself, I’ll have to bring a friend/​family member next time.

My new fave downtown lunch spot!!! 2 minute walk from my office! Fast vegetarian Chinese deliciousness. 7 bucks for small plate (2 sides plus rice or noodles) or 10 bucks for regular (4 sides plus rice or noodles). No meat in the house. Friendly staff, quick payment option with Square and iPad. Clean store, soothing music, lime green walls. Fresh and New!!! Oh yeah complimentary hot tea!
Great downtown lunch spot!
Super Ono

Vegetarian mapo tofu. Whaaat?! Yes, this place has it! Just because it’s vegetarian doesn’t mean you won’t get your greasy fried Chinese food fantasies fulfilled here — you will. And it’s all delicious!
If you love Yuba, they’ve got yuba dishes galore! Fried turnip cake? Get! Glass noodle jai-​like dish? Mmhmm. Offerings rotate so don’t get mad at me if you come and there’s no veg mapo tofu (I was sad too).
The price is right. The food is good. The restaurant is nice and new with lots of seating (but no parking!). Alas, such is the way with these downtown restaurants. Only open during lunch hours on weekdays.
It’s located on the corner of Alakea and Queen in the building that was bought by a Chinese Buddhist Group. Look for the green lettering on its window to spot it.

Walking by here often, I finally decided to try it because of the reviews on Unilocal.At first, I didn’t think to because there was never a long line, but I’m glad I finally did:
2 choice mini plate — 4 stars — for $ 7, and that’s including tax, I had a choice of fried rice, rice, brown rice or noodles. They let me half the starches and choose two, which were fried rice and noodles. The fried rice was different because they added a vegetarian item that looked like spam, with kabocha as well. The fried rice wasn’t too oily like most sold at restaurants, so it was just right. The curry noodles had a slight spicy kick to it. There were so main dishes to choose from, and I ended up selecting the lo han zhai, which was more like modern jai, not the authentic Chinese jai that I’m looking for, and fried potato cake which they labeled as a meat dish, I think because it had egg white. It had a lot of different vegetables and corn in it. Overall I liked thier food because it wasn’t too oily and basically vegetarian, light and different from your usual counter asian stir fried greasy places.
Service — 5 stars — very friendly and they even take time to explain what’s in their food if you have any questions.
Lots of tables, and a choice of water or tea with your meal.

Super good vegetarian Chinese food! Cafeteria style, the mini-​size comes with 2 choices ($ 7) and the regular comes with 4 choices ($ 10). You can order half fried rice half noodles to mix it up! I got the fried pumpkin and the eggplant with string beans. Everything was delicious and did not have the typical oily Chinese food feeling. Serve yourself to free tea and water. The atmosphere is light and airy, perfect to enjoy the yummy food!

I just had lunch here on 1.5.16 with a bunch of co workers, one of whom is a strict vegetarian.
You have a choice of 2 items for $ 7 or 4 items for $ 10. I chose the 4 item combo since I was hungry & wanted to a bunch of different things. I had:
1-​black fungus (wood ear) salad
2-​Fried Bean Curd with cheese & ham
3-​Fried dumplings
4-​Lo Ha Zhai (jai)
I was also offered rice or noodles or a split so & opted for the 50% fried noodles & 50% vegetable fried rice combo instead (gotta taste test as much as possible).
Everything tasted pretty good. You wouldn’t really miss any animal protein since everything is pretty flavorful. I was pretty full & would order the 2 item combo next time. My favorite items were the fried bean curd with cheese & imitation ham, fried dumplings & fried noodles.
They have a free ice water & hot tea station to the right of the order counter. The tea is nice & fragrant, like a Jasmin tea.
The dining room is bright with a lot of natural light, and extends around the corner so there’s plenty of seating.

Veggie friendly Chinese food? Sold!
I love love love this place! They have all those Chinese dishes I usually don’t eat because it has meat in it… like mapo tofu and that turnip cake thingy. Now I can eat all the Chinese food I want without picking out the meat! This is heaven.
I usually get the 4 choices for $ 10. It’s enough to feed 2 people… so technically that’s $ 5 for lunch. That’s a deal!
Ok, so parking is non existent so this is how you get food from here… First you need two people and one car. Then one person jumps out of the car, runs in, buys the food, and runs out all while the driver circles the block. Then hop right back into the car and off you go to a nearby park to enjoy your food. Works every time. :D

The restaurant is newly renovated and seating is comfortable. It is not easy to find such a spacious and neat restaurant to sit down for lunch in downtown area. A must-​try vegetarian restaurant.
The menu changes daily so you will never get bored. The food is very delicious. They always give a generous portion. The staffs are friendly and welcoming. Very reasonable price. Highly recommended.

Brand spanking new. Everything inside is very bright and airy. I had the four item combo. It was very good and there was lots of volume. They did well by making vegetarian dishes that are tasty, without trying to make vegetable dishes to copy the flavor or texture of meat. Although the food is held of a steam table all of the items were fresh: the tofu had a nice texture and the cabbage was crunchy. They have complementary tea and water with the meal.
The dining room is very bright and airy and the staff is friendly. According to the staff the restaurant is owned by the same people who own the Buddhist Temple on the second floor of the building but the restaurant is for — profit and the temple is of course, non-​profit.
When I finished my meal one of the servers asked me if I’d like to talk to the «master.» Who is the leader of the temple. She was happy to talk about the restaurant, and there was no mention of spirituality or proceliting or anything like that. All and all it was a pleasent experience.
Will definately be back since I am trying to eat healthier

Very good vegetarian Chinese food and very reasonable prices. I will be here at least once a week!

Just finished up a pitch-​perfect lunch from Water Drop Vegetarian House Inc, recently opened at the corner of Alakea & Queen. Welcome addition to the mix of downtown Honolulu food options. Our take-​out cost $ 14 total — filling enough for two people. We didn’t miss the meat one bit — everything was perfectly balanced. Lunchtime only for now — 11a-​2p.

Hawaii has a lot of vegetarian /​vegan friendly places but most of them are the typical western style «wellness» foods like salads or Acai bowls. Save for a handful of Indian and Vietnamese vegetarian places, since Legend Vegetarian Restaurant closed down, I feel that there has always been a hole in the «Chinese Vegetarian» space. Sure, Chinese new year celebrations fill that need once a year, but that’s a day a year and not to mention, they only serve Jai.
Water Drop opened in downtown last week and it is still in the midst of it’s soft opening. It’s a fast food style restaurant where you choose 4 or 2 choices plus starch. Prices are reasonable at $ 10 for the 4 choice plate and $ 7 for the 2 choice. Generous portions. As I mentioned, they just opened and they literally only had 7 choices for the entrees:
Jai
Choi Sum with Mock Beef
Mock Squid
Ma-​po Tofu with mock meat
Squash and Assorted Vegetables
Spring Roll
Bean Curd Roll
These are apart from the starches which includes brown rice, fried rice and noodles.
Taste is pretty similar to what you would have at Buddhist Temples. The «head chef» is a real Buddhist Nun.
Same issues with downtown… Parking! But if you do work around the area, it is pretty convenient.