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Makino Chaya
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
24 reviews for Makino Chaya
It's not too bad but I'm not crazy about it either.
The one thing that's great about this place is Wagyu beef. I've never had Kobe or Wagyu in my life.. and trying it just opened my eyes and tastebuds to the world of tender, tasty, favorful red meat. (I tried to become a vegetarian years ago..but I'm actually glad it didn't work out.. I mean, I'd be missing out on so much good food!)
They also had Wagyu fried rice.. which was ok.. but it reminded me of the saying, "Too much of a good thing..."
This restaurant is what actually made me sign up for Yelp.
My first, and definitely last, experience at this particular location was awful! The sushi looked as if it were left out all day. Every type of dish there was cold. The tongs for many of the dishes were resting on TOP of the food (eew, not everyone who uses those tongs wash their hands! and now it's on the food? gross!) The lobster tail seafood thing was cold and flavorless. And finally, my cup was dirty! I ordered a Coke and seen a layer of film floating on it!
Please save yourself the time and money. I found nothing pleasing about this restaurant at all.
I was forced to eat here twice by a couple of my retarded cow-orkers who seem think all you can eat for cheap = good food. I think if you have live here your whole live you never develop taste buds. This greasy slop house is mobbed by locals with fat rolls on their heads. They are lined up even before the place opens. Simply foul.
Yucks. I will never return to Makino Chaya. Just all you can eat low grade food. Greasy, tasteless, boring. Well you pay for what you get. If I am ever dragged back here, I'll be kickin, screaming and wailing!
The only culinary highlight was the wagyu beef teppanyaki station, but even there there was a good chance you'd get a cut of beef that was at least 30% fat. We're not talking marbling here, just fat...
The sushi selection and quality was poor to mediocre, as was the rest of the hot food buffet. Dessert-wise, stick to the jello (hard to screw up), or the fresh fruit since it keeps the preparation to a minimum.
They wanted to squeeze nine adults and a child onto two tables that would have only held eight adults comfortably. A leg actually fell off the table they tried to relocate us to next. Service was mediocre: they were relatively slow clearing away dishes, and they did not refill our water glasses once.
The carpet was sticky - nothing like having your slippers adhere to the floor if you stand in one place to long. Water dripped copiously from the ceiling near their fruit station. On the other hand, I probably saw as many different varieties of fly inside as they had different types of fresh fruit available. The interior was also too warm, and as a bonus you will leave smelling greasy.
They do not accept American Express, only VISA and Mastercard, and they will claim that requiring a photo id to use your credit card is not a violation of the credit card merchant agreements (false).
I FELL IN LOVE WITH MAKINO CHAYA ON SOUTH KING STREET BACK IN 2004... so imagine my disappointment when they opened a chain of restaurants and changed the menu! I dined here in March of 2008 with my parents expecting the OLD MAKINO CHAYA I first dined in.
Food was NOT GOOD and there were little grey mice running around under the buffet tables... we also let the waiter know and pointed out the little creatures, he nodded and his face looked like he already knew.
GROSS... WILL NOT RETURN!
PS I just tried to remove the star.. but I guess I CANT!
In land of buffet, this place is not worth the $26.98 + tax + drink + crazy hungry peoples fighting for utensils and rice. Nope. I know buffet and this is like the McDonald's of buffet. I mean compared to Todai, at least this place didn't make me wanna vomit.
But we did it again... we ate here... again. The food, so plentiful and oh so plenty of blah too. Ya know, when i see crab and lobster advertised for $26.98 + tax, i don't want it soakin' in some mystery broth with herbs all over it. NO! I want crab, lobster and drawn buttah. How obsurd is that request? Apparently it's taboo here at Makino Chaya.
Yeah and they have this banana dessert. The sad thing is that THIS is what i look forward to eating here... all for $26.98 + tax. And yes, I do know that i can make this at home for a dollah, but NO... I wanna pay $26.98 + tax for this!
So, it was the same ol' same ol' ... until... we saw... ... ... ... the wagyu beef! *dun*dun*duuuuun*!
Ok... so there we were standing in a hella long line of crazy peoples with empty plates just *staring* at the chef cooking this meat of the gods. H and I, who are very meat eating peoples, were like, " How do you order this? Why do I see people getting it with sprouts? Who the eff needs sprouts? WHY the eff would you eat it with sprouts? Do you HAVE to take the sprouts? I just want meat. Will they kick us out if we just ask for meat? Can we stand in line again? Cuz that portion looks too small."
Yeup, us lil' piggies... oh effing well! We got up to the front and we were so sked to ask for no sprouts cuz everyone else was getting the sprouts, so we took the damn sprouts. K den, so we went back to have taste... and then that was it. Screw the crab, screw the lobster, screw the bananas... oh hells yea, it's all about the wagyu beef for $26.98 + tax. BUT, we still had to conjure up the cojones to ask for "no sprouts". SO STUPID! Oh, and then we still didn't know if we were missing a sign that said, " ONE TRIP TO THE WAGYU BEEF STATION ONLY! " hehe... but i nevah saw one so too bad! We ate more, this time were brave enough to ask da guy to "hold the sprouts" ( i hate sprouts, just a waste of time and taste).
So, the basic short story was:
Crab and lobster (with crappolas instead of buttah) ... $26.98+tax
Fighting hungry peoples for a fork & rice ... $26.98 + tax
Banana dessert that u can make at home ... $26.98 + tax
Wagyu beef w/o sprouts ... $26.98 + tax
not being chicken schett to go up for seconds and thirds AND ask for no sprouts at the wagyu beef station... effing priceless. ^o^
*2 stars for the wagyu beef which is actually equal to 20 stars (10 stars for each yellow star)... but no stars for the freekin' price for the blah food. got it? k den.
Oh, God this is great!
Having grown up in a small family, and sans the slew of les relations communes, it's always an experience when a long overdue family-friend gathering occurs. Oh, joy! Endless questions about my job, the length of my hair, my band ("I love the Beach Boys! Do you sound like them?"), etc. What could make this marvelous experience more American-kitsch?
A buffet!
I loved the South King Makino Chaya (now closed) when it was a lesser-known joint. They offered some superb items, like chicken slowly cooking over a tiny charcoal grill. But times change, and things get crappy with expansion and location changes. Alas, Makino ain't quite the same no more. The special menu consists mostly of nigiri and sashimi platters (still not bad), no longer offering the elaborate dishes and prepared desserts.
Also, there was a rat.
Happy New Year! Let's drink cheap domestics and blow shit up.
My brother & I had some free time and just randomly stopped by for lunch. It wasn't even open and there was a grip of people waiting so I thought it must be freaking delicious!
Well, if you like lots of overcooked fried food, this place is your heaven. And hey I love fried chicken, fried tempura, etc...but I also appreciate some things not soaked in oil. It got old really fast for me.
Sushi...maybe it was just the day I was there...but it was inedible in my opinion. The crab legs were okay, but it was just too much damn work to get to the meat.
Dessert was okay. yeah, that's all I got.
It was cheap for a buffet, I'll give them that. And the staff was nice. But I don't think that is worth $27.
My wife and I decided to go to Makino Chaya this evening. Well, it was a toss up between there and Tony Roma's. It's just the wait time was way less at Makino Chaya so we ended up there.
Well, it wasn't just the wait time, it was the fact that when we walked into Makino Chaya the first thing we saw were the huge crab legs and the ginormous Wagyu beef stand behind the hostess...The short story on the Wagyu, it's basically Kobe beef, here's the shorter story, every slice is like a slice of filet mignon...Anywho.
Are you serious? Wagyu beef for $27!? The beef is EXCELLENT! Melts in your mouth like butter baby! The cook they had on hand was great, personable, and made sure our every serving was medium rare.
I've seen places selling this stuff in excess of $80 a person, and that's a single serving. The fact that you can just keep going up to get it is crazy. The food here is generally O-K, but I highly recommend going just for the beef, I think even Makino Chaya makes that statement relatively clear when you walk in and the first thing you see is the grill stand for the Wagyu beef.
I was really excited to go to Makino Chaya as the place does look nice. I couldn't say the same about the food and service. Even the service utensils grossed me out as I found food particle on some forks. The fried foods were quite greasy. Most of all I felt ripped off because the picture showed crab legs but there were none to be found. I was one of those early patrons who stood outside before opening so everything that was out was available to me. I wish I had read the reviews on this site before going. I would have spent my hard-earned cash elsewhere. To make matters worse I got sick and threw up when I got home. This was the first time I got sick from eating food at a restaurant. So I say save your money and go elsewhere. It wasn't cheap as some people make it out to be.
My first time eating here was last year with R and his family. We had dinner reservations at this new type Japanese food "buffet". There's the "all-you-can eat" part and there's a selection of food that is cooked/made that you can order of the menu; which you can order any 2 items of the menu at a given time; and keep ordering to your heart's (or stomach's) content and these items are not available on the buffet lines. It was good but it can get overwhelming with all the choices of food! There was an assortment of sashimi, poke, sushi, cold noodles, various meats and seafood and desserts ~ tiramisu (my fav!), cheesecake, pies, fresh fruits and a chocolate fountain! It's like Todai's but bigger and better. I don't think I've ever eaten as much as I did that night! I could barely move and felt totally grossed out when I got home...
This year on Valentine's Day, my boss treated us "small but very important people" from the office to chow down some great grubs during lunch time. The venue ~ Makino Chaya; the newly open franchise at Aloha Tower. There are two other locations; Pearlridge and Mililani. I think I had 5 plates total since it's buffet ~ an assortments of sushi, salad, OYSTERS, mussels, crab legs, tempura, and more. It was okay...less selections compared to the one at Pearlridge (but then again I ate there last year so maybe there's been some changes from then until now) and the desserts did not appeal to me. Ohh well...this one I give 3 stars :)
Thank godness, R and I weren't planning on eating out that night! Otherwise...I'd would have to be carried home because I'd be too lazy to walk! *grins*
Sorry, I did not care much for this location. I went during a weekday lunch. Food temperature was luke warm. We had to wait (8 minutes) for a seat, but the place was obviously "slow".
If you must go to Makino Chaya...I would HAVE (just got note that this location is no longer there) recommend the McCully location on KING. So much better service and quality of food!!!
I may check out the other locations...but for now....I just won't recommend this place. Sorry. :( I know how much the locals love this place! I DO like this place better than Todai though!
If you've never eaten at Todai, you never will.
We went during the main dinner time and even though they were full, we got seated within about 5 minutes. I'm not sure if that's usual or we just got darn lucky, because there were people out the door waiting when we got there.
Certain items are located in the buffet line, while the better items are located in the buffet menu. Both are all you can eat, but the menu prevents the good stuff from siting out too long. The sushi was very fresh and they had three kinds of hamachi sushi/sashimi out in the buffet line along with all the great usual suspects...salmon, maguro, etc... The buffet menu (you can order two things at a time, but you can order as many times as you want) includes soft shell crab, king crab legs, tempura, toro, blue fin tuna, and much more.
I was actually impressed with the quality of the food just relative to other restaurants (not even taking into consideration the fact that buffet places tend to have lower quality food standards--which this place did NOT). I've been to the one in town too, and was more impressed with this one.
As usual, if you're going to the buffet to eat fried rice, you're wasting your money. But if you're going there to eat seafood, sushi, sashimi, etc... you're going to the right place...enjoy it and come back and write a review!
more like 2.5 cause it was decent. the dessert cakes had no flavor, too dry but the fresh made crepes were pretty delish! the tako yaki and broiled fish were pretty good. the plates were DIRTY! i saw some plates w/ pieces of dried food, Yuck!
a lot of people say makino chaya is better than todai, but i beg to differ. i came here for lunch, and the food was pretty good, but i feel like you get better sushi at todai. the prepared foods are a little better here, but who wastes their time on the prepared foods.. you come to these buffets to eat sashimi and sushi.
the chocolate fountain is cool too -- or actually was cool until you see all the little kids using it, and sticking their fingers in it. who knows where those have been.
I just started looking at Yelp's restaurant review. Boy, I wished I discovered Yelp before going to this Makino Chaya. This was a total rip off. Why? We went there for lunch on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. The restaurant started serving lunch at 11:45 and it was to close at 1:30. We figured we still had an hour before they closed. We hit the buffet line and noticed many of the entrees were almost gone, we took what little they had left and hoped that the buffet would be replenished. But guess what, none of the food was replenished. We spoke to the cashier, who spoke to the manager and was told we should have asked the waitress to replenish the buffet. Are they serious!!! To make up things up, they offered us a 10% discount, big deal!!! I would never ever patronize this place again.
Ok. First of all. Probably the 4 worst combination to have. All you can eat+Seafood+Buffet+in Hawaii.
Normally I don't like buffets, because you never know how old anything is, but, this place is good. I found out that they open only at certain hours so nothing sit around and gets too old.
I don't know how this company is gonna stay in business. Shit, if it's there after the first year, then they must have the monopoly on the whole fish market. Eh, and it good fresh seafood at that! And, to make matters worst, they offer part of their menu as the all you can eat. Lobster and Lamb not included. But what the hell order that stuff too, seeing as you're allowed to eat as much as humanly possible on the buffet lines. Yes about 3 different sections. The various sashimi/poki/sushi Section. The King Crab/ Crab from Maine/ Prime Rib/ and Various Meats(Japanese and Korean BBQ) Section. The Dessert Bar. Ridiculous!
There were 5 Adult and 3 Children and we still spent less than 2 bills!!
It's like there wasn't a mark up to the food cost.
The decore is kinda cheezy for a Japanese establishment but the servers ar attentive and they hustle in this fast paced environment. I enjoyed it a lot (about 6 to 8 trips to the various sections) a lot!
A friend treated me to dinner here and it's a great family friendly place. As far as a buffet goes, the quality was good and for the price, you get a lot. As far as service goes, it's a buffet so you serve yourself!
For a buffet its not bad but not great. This place is always packed and once you are seated they give your party a time limit. I think you have 2 hours to eat and leave. So with the time limit everyone in there feels rushed to eat. This makes everyone look desparate to grab the best looking sushi so you have to hold your ground and work fast otherwise someones grandma is gonna get the last of the ahi sashimi.
Definitely has the problem that most buffets have - too much food sitting out for too long, so the food isn't as fresh as you'd hope. That said, the food was decent for the price. I love sushi, and the sushi had been sitting out for just a little bit too long, so the fish wasn't as fresh as it could be. I love buffets though, just having the ability to pick whatever you want and as much as you want is great. There was a ton of seafood, as well as a menu to order different items (udon, etc.) if you wanted something special. The staff was helpful, when you could grab them - they seemed to be running around a lot, not necessarily covering one area. Desserts, yum - crepes with ice cream anyone?
Never having tried the Mililani location (its closed now) I heard this is the best of the 3 Makino Chaya's. Its pretty good, great for the price really, but its a buffet. Wish it was more consistant, sometimes they have the lobster tempura, sometimes the prime rib is ribeye, sometimes you get good fish, sometimes not.
The place to go to indulge in japanese food and seafood! Way better than Todai! I love going to the Aiea location. They seem to have a better selection of sushi, seafood, and desert. I love the chocolate fountain! There are also other locations in McCully, and Mililani. It's about $25/per person but well worth it for the amount of crab that you will eat trying to make it worth $25.
It's alright, a definite step up from Todai. Went at lunch time, thought they opened at 11:30 only to find a gaggle of people sitting outside talking story. Found the door open and went inside to put our names down. Didn't heed the recommendations and get a reservation, even though my dad nagged and nagged me about it. So what! They finally opened at 12 and one by one servers came out to call on parties, no big deal we were seated within 5 minutes and there was only 2 other parties behind us. They seated us by the window, near a huge round table of AF folks. Kind of annoying as we had to squeeze past them everytime. The sushi was very fresh, my favorites being the tempura fried sushi, the shoyu ahi, and the mixed poke!!! Yum. Then it was off to the "hot" options. The whole time I was thinking of the "hot menu", but it's not an option at lunch time, or is it a secret and you have to ask? Anyhow the stuffed crab shell was so YUCK! Full of imitation crab meat. BLAH. All the veggies were UNDER done and hard and chewy. All the fish options were overcooked. My favorites had to be the veggie croquet and the shrimp tempura. But then what can I expect from food being kept warm/ hot by heaters right? I was just expecting more from the reviews here. Oh and a small warning here, the beverages other than water are NOT free. For some reason we thought the "sodas" were free, so we ordered them, when normally we're water with lemon drinking people. Eh, good thing for me I drank up my fruit punch. The dessert section was rather disappointing. Jello, frozen apple pie chunks, white cake, coconut cake, tiramisu cake (all the cakes were dry), random fruits (all of which were sour: pineapples and kiwi), and a crepes bar (but they had to dig someone else from the kitchen to be the crepe maker b/c the usual crepe person was sick). My parents are both senior citizens so their fare was $12.65 eachh, as opposed to my $12.99. The baby was free thankfully! Eh $50, drinks and tax, that would have been better spent getting a bowl of Saimin at Shiro's for $30 cheaper, but at least I know I've tried it and I won't be wondering if it's good or not... b/c it's not.
