Golden Eagle Chinese Restaurant is one of those hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurants that at first glance you might avoid. You make excuses on why you haven't eaten there, "Oh, I don't know if it's open or not it's hard to tell..." or "It's the location. Maybe if it wasn't located in [insert rough neighborhood here. My personal favorite is China Town] I wouldn't mind eating there."
My initial excuse was that Golden Eagle Chinese Restaurant has large (and I mean LARGE) posters all over the exterior (and interior) of their restaurant advertising special dishes. Now these posters weren't colorful and displaying pictures of dishes. These posters were black and white large-font print. However interesting pepper-salt frog legs may sound to me I would much rather view a specials menu than gaze around the room looking at the additions to their menu.
Golden Eagle has a number of interesting items on their menu (this much I knew without taking a glance at the actual menu). "Wallpaper Specials" as I will refer to them in the future included pepper-salt frog legs (which I hear are delicious), pepper-salt quail, honey-shrimp with walnuts, shark fin soup, pork belly with taro and so on and so forth (yes I wasn't exaggerating as to the number of these papers lining the restaurant). While I didn't try any of these specials except the honey-shrimp with walnuts, I did get to try their house special for two.
The house special for two ($29.99) included egg-drop soup, chicken with house sauce, honey-shrimp with walnuts and crispy gau-gee mein. My friend and I also ordered beef-broccoli with cake noodle to top it off.
The waitress was friendly and it seemed that she was the only one running the front of the house operations at Golden Eagle. She brought us water and tea and took our order. I noticed that the tea was slightly sweet and not the usual tea that you would find at a Chinese restaurant. But I wasn't in much of a tea-drinking mood that day so I didn't mind too much.
The waitress reappeared with our egg-drop soup and served both of us a bowl-full. There was enough left over for maybe two more bowls so the portions were quite generous. The soup was your standard American-influenced egg-drop. I noticed that the carrots and peas that were added into the soup tasted frozen (maybe canned?) but definitely were not fresh-cut.
By the time I was about halfway done with my soup more dishes arrived. First up was the rice followed by the chicken in house sauce. The chicken was stir-fried with bell peppers and onions and covered in what looked to be a blazing-hot chili pepper sauce at first glance. However after diving into the platter of chicken I found it to be mildly spicy and quite tasty.
Next up was the crispy gau-gee mein and the beef-broccoli with cake noodles. Two very standard dishes that you see in most Americanized Chinese restaurants. The reason why these two dishes were ordered were of course for comparison between other Chinese restaurants around the island. After digging into both I came to the conclusion that they were your average crispy gau-gee mein and beef-broccoli with cake noodles with one exception -- the sauce was a bit too sweet.
Last to arrive was the honey-shrimp with walnuts. If you have read my previous Chinese restaurant reviews, you know that this is perhaps one of my favorite dishes to order. When the dish arrived I started with a walnut. It was good. Crunchy and slightly glazed as it should be. I then took a bite of shrimp. The mayonnaise sauce was a bit too sweet yet it was also lacking flavor (not enough salt or MSG. Not to say that they use MSG here of course). The shrimp also tasted a bit undercooked and slimy underneath the batter. I'm not sure what to make of their honey-shrimp with walnuts. Perhaps I'll have to give it another go.
Overall, the meal was decent and the service was great. Who can complain about a lunch like that? Well, I guess I could but hey, I'm sometimes overly critical (and obsessive) when it comes to honey-shrimp with walnuts.
NOTE: About MSG in your Chinese food...it isn't the bubonic plague. I for one don't mind MSG in my food. Please check out the website below for more information on MSG.
For More Information Click Here
Golden Eagle Chinese Restaurant
Rating System: 1-2.5-5 (poor-average-excellent)
Service: 4.25
Food Quality: 2.25
Monetary Value: 1.75
Quality vs Quantity: Tie
Overall: 2.75
2334 South King St. (The structure is located along South King however it is facing Young St.)
Honolulu, HI 96826
808-955-5080
Showing posts with label king street. Show all posts
Showing posts with label king street. Show all posts
March 8, 2010
March 7, 2009
Sushi King
You know that you're a sucker for sushi when you go to a restaurant to eat a cheap and filling late night special for $10 and end up buying a $30 platter of sushi. Yes that's me. Sushi King is a casual late night haunt for me and my friends. Located along South King Street just a block away from Aki no No lies Sushi King in all its glory.
The menu was so diverse that I needed two visits to review this restaurant. The menu (at least in the way that I look at it) is sectioned off in a few categories. First you have the classic combination dinners with all of your favorites such as tempura, katsu, butterfish and the like. I suggest you skip this section and go for the good stuff (the sushi).
The next section that I would like to highlight on the menu is the sushi and sashimi section. The nigiri and to-order sushi menu is a bit pricey (in my opinion) for the quality of fish served. My suggestion (and I really do push this when I eat here with others) is to get the sushi omakase ($30.00). For $30 the chef will present you with a rather large platter of sushi. This platter varies as the chef chooses what he sees is fit for you to eat. By ordering the sushi omakase option you get a wider variety than you would get from ordering $30 worth of nigiri sushi. My platter contained 6 pieces of tekka-maki, 2 piece maguro, 2 piece egg nigiri, 1 piece mirugai, 1 piece halibut, 1 piece ama-ebi, and to top it all off -- 1 piece toro, uni, and ikura! What a steal for $30.00!
The next section isn't as grand as the sushi section but it's just as good -- the grilled section. Sushi King has it's own traditional Japanese grill sitting in the back corner of the restaurant. During my first review of Sushi King I was fortunate to sit in the corner and view the display box of all of the delectable ready-to-grill products. Included in the display were the traditional beef tataki, chicken yakitori, and sanma among other protein options. However what stood out in my mind was that they offered offal. If you remember back to my yakiniku spotlight I talked about how offal was the traditional grilled meat during Japanese occupied Korea in WWII. Sushi King offers cow tripe, cow tongue, chicken liver and much more! Although the portions aren't that great everything was cooked perfectly and is a great way to introduce yourself to offal. It is because of these grilled meats that I had to come back for a second review of the restaurant.
The last section worthy of praise is Sushi King's late night specials. Starting from 10:00 PM you can order off of their late night specials. For $9.95 you can order a variety of combination platters. Each platter includes Sushi King's amazing miso soup (lots of fillers!), rice, salad, and six pieces of either california maki, spicy tuna maki (sells out fast), or three pieces of inari sushi. My favorite late night platter would be the ika tempura platter (very tender!). In addition to the combination platters, Sushi King also offers a late night chirashi special. For $13.95 you get the miso soup and a platter of chirashi sushi (fish cuts vary from what I hear as I haven't tried this yet).
So if you're looking for good cheap eats, late-night Sushi King is your restaurant. Besides, you just can't beat that omakase sushi platter. Although I hate to admit it, there's just a point in time where if you offer such a wide variety of sushi for such a low price I will sacrifice the quality of what I eat. What else can I say? Sushi King 2700 South King Street! Late night satisfaction.
Sushi King
Rating System: 1-2.5-5 (poor-average-excellent)
Service: 2.5
Food Quality: 4
Monetary Value: 4.5
Quality vs Quantity: Both!
Overall: 3.6
2700 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826
808-947-2836
Hours
Mon: 11:30 AM - 2 PM // 5:30 PM - 2 AM
Tue: 11:30 AM - 2 PM // 5:30 PM - 10 PM
Wed-Sat: 11:30 AM - 2 PM // 5:30 PM - 2 AM
Sun: 11:30 AM - 2 PM // 5:30 PM - 12 AM
The menu was so diverse that I needed two visits to review this restaurant. The menu (at least in the way that I look at it) is sectioned off in a few categories. First you have the classic combination dinners with all of your favorites such as tempura, katsu, butterfish and the like. I suggest you skip this section and go for the good stuff (the sushi).
The next section that I would like to highlight on the menu is the sushi and sashimi section. The nigiri and to-order sushi menu is a bit pricey (in my opinion) for the quality of fish served. My suggestion (and I really do push this when I eat here with others) is to get the sushi omakase ($30.00). For $30 the chef will present you with a rather large platter of sushi. This platter varies as the chef chooses what he sees is fit for you to eat. By ordering the sushi omakase option you get a wider variety than you would get from ordering $30 worth of nigiri sushi. My platter contained 6 pieces of tekka-maki, 2 piece maguro, 2 piece egg nigiri, 1 piece mirugai, 1 piece halibut, 1 piece ama-ebi, and to top it all off -- 1 piece toro, uni, and ikura! What a steal for $30.00!
The next section isn't as grand as the sushi section but it's just as good -- the grilled section. Sushi King has it's own traditional Japanese grill sitting in the back corner of the restaurant. During my first review of Sushi King I was fortunate to sit in the corner and view the display box of all of the delectable ready-to-grill products. Included in the display were the traditional beef tataki, chicken yakitori, and sanma among other protein options. However what stood out in my mind was that they offered offal. If you remember back to my yakiniku spotlight I talked about how offal was the traditional grilled meat during Japanese occupied Korea in WWII. Sushi King offers cow tripe, cow tongue, chicken liver and much more! Although the portions aren't that great everything was cooked perfectly and is a great way to introduce yourself to offal. It is because of these grilled meats that I had to come back for a second review of the restaurant.
The last section worthy of praise is Sushi King's late night specials. Starting from 10:00 PM you can order off of their late night specials. For $9.95 you can order a variety of combination platters. Each platter includes Sushi King's amazing miso soup (lots of fillers!), rice, salad, and six pieces of either california maki, spicy tuna maki (sells out fast), or three pieces of inari sushi. My favorite late night platter would be the ika tempura platter (very tender!). In addition to the combination platters, Sushi King also offers a late night chirashi special. For $13.95 you get the miso soup and a platter of chirashi sushi (fish cuts vary from what I hear as I haven't tried this yet).
So if you're looking for good cheap eats, late-night Sushi King is your restaurant. Besides, you just can't beat that omakase sushi platter. Although I hate to admit it, there's just a point in time where if you offer such a wide variety of sushi for such a low price I will sacrifice the quality of what I eat. What else can I say? Sushi King 2700 South King Street! Late night satisfaction.
Sushi King
Rating System: 1-2.5-5 (poor-average-excellent)
Service: 2.5
Food Quality: 4
Monetary Value: 4.5
Quality vs Quantity: Both!
Overall: 3.6
2700 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826
808-947-2836
Hours
Mon: 11:30 AM - 2 PM // 5:30 PM - 2 AM
Tue: 11:30 AM - 2 PM // 5:30 PM - 10 PM
Wed-Sat: 11:30 AM - 2 PM // 5:30 PM - 2 AM
Sun: 11:30 AM - 2 PM // 5:30 PM - 12 AM
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