Came here with a group of 9 persons and comfortably occupied Dowon's private room. This Northern Chinese Restaurant is a gem hiding from plain view. Though they have been around quite a while I had forgotten they were here. Today our group ordered a nice variety of items: jajamyeon, jjampong (yes it was spicy!), orange chicken (Cantonese style), chicken chow mein, and few others. My favorites being the jajamyeon (tho i might order it with seafood next time) and the orange chicken. Looking forward to trying other dishes on the menu as well tho... recommend bringing a Chinese or Korean translator! ;-) Thank you Judi for reminding me of this hidden treasure. I learn so much from this phenomenal group of women! Sorry no photos. Too busy enjoying the good food and even better company. Parking lot accessed from Kona Street just BEFORE Piikoi. Restaurant accessed from parking lot. If you park in the lot, be sure to scan the QR code INSIDE the restaurant for 90 minutes free parking! read more

I love Chinese-Korean food so was excited to come try their ~$15 Jajangmyeon, which was delicious and worth coming back for- good and saucy with perfectly chewy noodles! Their sweet and sour pork was good but but for the quantity, not worth the ~$25 to me. Loved their pickles and the ladies were so sweet and checked up on us often for more pickles and hot tea :) read more

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We parked across the street at Ala Moana and walked over because they charge for parking here. We were the only customers for a bit and another party came in minutes later. The server was nice and very attentive. We shared jajangmyeon, garlic chicken and the complimentary banchan which consisted of kimchi, takuan, and onions with a black bean sauce. All plates are more than enough for sharing among two or more people. Jajangmyeon was very filling and delicious, garlic chicken was good but it had too much bamboo shoots which I didn't care for, and the banchan were a great compliment to the meal. While we were eating you could smell cigarette smoke from someone right outside. The restaurant was bright and clean. Service was good and food was delicious. We'll come back again. read more

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Great food! I'll definitely be back for more. I'm not going to lie, I didn't understand much of the menu and I wish there were pictures for us ignorant people, but at the end of the night it didn't matter. Whatever I randomly pointed at ended up being delicious. There's parking. read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Lunch in Honolulu, Hawaii... Dowon Chinese Restaurant is an old school type of place. It serves Korean and Chinese cuisine. I've been wanting to dine here for a while because my friend, Lyla, got ROTD (Review of the Day) many years ago. Between patients, my dentist was able to join me for lunch. She had never been here before either. We both found metered street parking on Piikoi Street, in front of Ichiriki and Thrills Soft Serve. We walked around to the other side of the building to the paid parking lot. That's where the entrance to the restaurant is! We agreed to get the Garlic Chicken and the noodles with seafood and bean sauce. They were both really tasty! My dentist said that the food had a "clean" taste - it's not masked by MSG. I could taste the ginger and garlic. The ingredients were fresh! I would return on a Sunday when metered street parking is free. Our meters ran out because we had a good conversation. We got takeout containers for the leftovers because the portions were generous. Service was efficient and satisfactory. We asked for a refill of hot water in our teapot. The task was completed. Haha! Thank you for the starters! We enjoyed the fresh onions with bean sauce, kimchi, and takuan! read more

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Dowon is one of the few places that has decent Chinese Korean style food. I got the samsun jjamppong and my husband got the ssamsun jjajjangmyun. We also got a tangsooyook to share. We also ordered TAKEOUT. The good: The food was piping hot, the food scratched the craving, the price is reasonable, and there is parking (paid though) The bad (not bad just can be improved): the ttangsooyook sauce was very watery, but still flavorful. The jjamppong doesn't have nearly enough seafood considering the name. Like I said- everything is ... good. I wouldn't say it's amazing like all these social media posts, but it's good. A nice quiet location with good service. Can't complain- definitely helps curb the craving. read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Dowon is the definition of a hole in the wall restaurant. I honestly had a hard time finding it at first, but it's located in the same building as Thrills/Ichiriki, just on the other side of the building. There's a paid parking lot for the building, but I usually just park at Ala Moana and walk over. For five people, we shared four dishes. We got the sweet and sour chicken, bean curd with Chinese mushrooms, pork fried rice, and jjyangmyeon. I think the sweet and sour chicken was my favorite, since it was the most flavorful, but I enjoyed how the dishes we chose complemented each other. I was expecting the portions to be bigger considering the price per dish, so I was still a little hungry after. read more

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After seeing this place get recommended several times on Instagram, I was super intrigued especially to try their jajangmyeon. Especially having experienced the packaged ones previously, I thought trying it from an authentic restaurant could help repair my opinion of the dish. Dowon is a chinese-korean fusion restaurant. Their menu is expansive, although it may be confusing to navigate at first as many of the listings duplicates, like from 1- 31& 110-119 has no english, only chinese and korean. Since I can read chinese, I can tell that they're relisted in english on the rest of the menu. We knew we wanted the jajangmyeon but we didn't know what else we wanted so I told the waitress that we will get one jajangmyeon and to give us a moment for the other item. We later placed the order for the hot and garlic shrimp. Here's when the issue starts arising. After a while of being served, we finally received our banchan. The shrimp arrived first for some reason, for $30, the portion is minimal and the shrimp pieces were almost majority breading especially as the shrimp pieces were SMALL. The jajangmyeon took WAYYY too long to arrive, especially as we ordered it before the shrimp, we got the shrimp, ate most of it, THEN the jajangmyeon arrived. The jajangmyeon were very well done though. The portion was also reasonable with its pricing. I personally wouldn't come back unless i was ITCHING for their jajangmyeon and couldn't find anything similar. read more

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This long-time favorite has become a go-to spot for many in the Korean community. Oldschool Korean chinese vibe. Their signature pan-fried Jjajang is packed with wok-fired aroma and deep savoriness that hits you from the very first bite. You can choose your spice level, and even the medium option delivers a spiciness of a Buldak Kick. For soju pairings, nothing beats their Palbochae. The sweet-tangy blend of assorted seafood comes together beautifully, creating the perfect shared dish. And the garlic Kkanpunggi adds more charm to the table. read more

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Looking for Korean comfort food cooked Chinese style? Check out Dowon Chinese Restaurant located on Pi'ikoi behind Teapresso. They only have one door in the rear of the building along with their parking stalls in the back. Seating is a bit smaller than other Chinese joints, but is a worth while option to hit up. Optional parking is also close by and a short walk to and from, and also street parking if you can find one of the few nearby. Inside is nice and tidy with red booth tables, and a few table with chairs. Service is welcoming and friendly, and are intent of serving you their form of aloha. I'm mainly giving the 5-stars off of their version of Sweet 'n Sour Pork or Tangsuyuk. Mini pieces of pork, lightly battered then deep fried and then paired with stir-fried veggies with a sweet 'n sour sauce to either go on top or on the side. Personally, I like the sauce on the side. I will say this place does the fried pork part the best than other spots I've tasted like Eastern Paradise, and On Dong just to name a few. Though I truly feel Dowon has this dish down the best. Every piece is about the same size, battered and cooked evenly and taste pretty good without the sweet 'n sour sauce. To me, that says a lot if you can eat something without the other part of the dish, but equally ono together. The other dishes are about the same as the other spots, but you must have the Tangsuyuj if you do come here. Till my next pig-out, Grind On, Pau! read more

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I came here for the jajangmyeon (black bean noodles) and tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) because I am on a mission and this place did not disappoint. I loved the jajangmyeon and there were a lot of noodles. I liked that the black bean sauce had some flavor because sometimes it doesn't. I enjoyed the amount of sauce that they put with the sweet and sour pork because then I just slathered that all of over more rice. You get your banchan (little dishes) so they brought out the yellow pickled radish, kimchi and the raw onion with the dark paste. You get tea as well. Atmosphere - Good, classic chinese (it's a Korean Chinese restaurant) looking kind of place. They had tables and chairs but also booth seats. They had a little side room as well with a bit more seating. Service - Our server was so nice and checked in with us to make sure we needed anything. Cost - This cost us around $50 for the food and then with tip around $60. We got jajangmyeon, tangsuyuk, a small thing of rice and then a soda. Parking - It's a small lot but it fits maybe like 20 cars? You might miss it so slow down when you're turning in. The first 30 minutes are free I believe and $2 for each hour (something like that). You can try to find street parking as well, good luck. Location - Entrance to the restaurant is through that back parking lot. This place is in a building across from the Piikoi Ala Moana ramp entrance. It's in the same building as Thrills (soft serve place) but at the back. This place was good and I would definitely come here again to get jajangmyeon and I should probably try another dish too. read more

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I have to admit, it was a miss for me. The food taste was fair. It's the price and portion size: a bit pricy and not a lot. Check out my picture of the $25 black pepper beef. My friend a I went for lunch. Just the three dishes and a beer was $70 before tips. The service was excellent. The setting was classic. Parking is free, just follow the app on the wall inside the restaurant. read more

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Tried this place out because my favorite Korean Chinese place was closed for kitchen maintenance. Super difficult to find. They need to invest in more signage. Also incredibly slow service. The place was empty with two other customers who were done eating. Yet, it took thirty minutes to get our food, which were two spicy noodles. Spicy noodles should not be taking more 30 minutes... Flavor was also very mediocre and nothing to write home about. Considering how pricey everything on the menu is, I wouldn't be coming back here again. read more

Came here a while ago to try it after seeing someone rave about it on instagram. It was pretty busy when we went, and we waited about 30 minutes for food. (Parking is $2.50/hr, so just waiting for food after we put in the order took half of the parking fee.) The food wasn't great--I've had better jjajangmyeons in Hawaii. Realized there was gochu jjajangmyeon AFTER we ordered, so we wanted to come back another time and give it another chance. When we went back to try the gochu jjajangmyeon the restaurant wasn't nearly as busy (there was only one other table when we got seated), but the food still took 30 minutes and the table that came in after us got their food first. :( We wanted to share 고추쟁반짜장 (gochu jaengban jjajang) between 2 of us, but we were told it wasn't going to be enough, which my girlfriend thought was weird because 쟁반짜장 is usually good for 2-3 people in Korea. So we felt pressured to order another dish and got tangsuyuk as well. The tangsuyuk was lacking in flavor and felt more watery than what I was used to. Jjajangmyeon was ok, but I didn't like the sides at all except for the raw onions. Quantity for jaengban jjajang was indeed lacking. Service was not rude but not friendly either. She greeted us by asking if we had a reservation. When we said no, she just waved us towards the tables. She didn't give us water while every other table that came in after us got water and we had to ask twice after we got the food to get water. The food took a LONG time to come out and it was really hard to get her attention to even get the water since she never came around or even looked around to see if we needed anything. Overall would not come back since there is better jjajangmyeon place in Hawaii where the food is better, service is fast, and staff is more friendly. read more

Where!?! Located in a building right off Piikoi (Ichiriki, Teapresso and Thrills) with parking entrance on Kona street which is convenient since it has stoplights you won't be able to see them from the front as the entrance is accessible only from the parking. Small yet proportionately decent spaced tables with a couple a private dining areas I can see why many do flock here as there was a steady flow of guests including a bunch of takeout. This what seems to be a Chinese/Korean fusion as we were served some banchan (raw onions, Kimchi and takuan) though they have a vast menu categorized I was slightly disappointed with the noodles selection as all but four items was seafood which I'm allergic to *sob* as mom wanted fried noodles I pivoted not wanting the same and got the shredded chicken with noodles & soup. First of all the noodles was refreshingly different it's a thick round needle nothing I've had before that I'm aware of but the amount of veggies I had was quite impressive and the same for mom's fried noodles the seasoning was right on point so flavorful yet light and delicious. The next time I'm getting the fried noodles for sure and with the great service making the whole experience so wonderful and relaxing the comfort level was just right. Thank you! read more

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Decent little spot to get a Korean fix! The portions are a good size for the price. I got a jajangmyun and it seemed pretty authentic. We got there at 8:20 pm with the restaurant closing at 9:00 pm and was rushed by the waitress to order. The menu had lots of options which would have made it difficult to choose quickly if I hadn't looked at other Yelp reviews prior to going. There is a decent size parking lot right outside the restaurant but it was filled up when we went Friday evening! We ended up parking at the mall and walking over. read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Jajangmyun - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

I don't know if it was the msg or what but this place was so good i wanted to order more even thought i was completely stuffed. I wanted to come back the next days and weeks. The sweet sour fried pork was so good, it was crispy and so juicy and tender! I heard another table order it with the sauce on the side and I'll be trying it that was next time. It was super saucy but I think it would be nice to use it more of a dipping sauce. The noodles were also some of the best I've had in my life, texture of the noodles was really good and flavor 10/10! Service was fast and polite, even offering us more onions. The restaurant was clean and cool (not hot). read more

If you're looking for jajangmyeon in Honolulu, this is a good place to check out, as shown by the older Korean diners coming in for their post-golf lunch. I'm a huge jajangmyeon lover and this place specializes in Korean-Chinese cuisine. I usually order the jajangmyeon, sweet and sour pork, and sometimes fried dumplings if our party is extra hungry. The service is quick and the workers speak English in case you don't know Korean. There is public parking, but be sure to put cash in the cash box with the corresponding parking spot number to avoid getting towed. read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Sweet and sour pork and jajangmyeon - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Returning from a trip to Korea, someone suggested to try this restaurant that may be closest to the Jjajangmyeong that I tried at restaurants in Korea. This restaurant, located across piikoi street from the old Nijiya, but in the back of the building that faces piikoi street, is worth a try. Don't be fooled, it's not a usual "chinese restaurant" like the others in Hawaii, it's a chinese fusion Korean restaurant. Panchan - 5 stars - they had panchan that would usually be served in a korean restaurant in Korea, the takuan, raw onion with I think is korean black bean sauce, but it's not the usual chinese bitter black bean sauce I can't eat (I have to find out where to get this), and kimchee. I think this may be one of the few places that serves this type of panchan, and it felt like I was eating in Korea again. Jjajangmyeong - 4.5 stars - for $13.50 their noodles with seafood bean sauce was delicious, but the black bean sauce flavor was a little lighter than what I had in Korea. It's reasonable considering the prices in Hawaii, and I'd order this again. However, I cannot compare it to other restaurants in Hawaii yet since I haven't tried any other yet. (Note: I found that Korean black bean sauce is much milder and sweeter than the bitter chinese black bean sauce that I dislike). Sweet and Sour Pork - 4.5 stars - for $24.95, it is not your usual chinese restaurant dish. The batter of this pork is crispy, and their sauce is thinner and lighter, but very flavorfully blended with the pork. 5 stars for the dish, but I took half a star off because it's so expensive. I'd definitely order this again if it wasn't so expensive, but if you have the money to splurge, then this is their most popular and delicious dish. Service - 5 stars - only 1 lady as a waitress as well as the cashier, but it's a small restaurant, and she was very friendly and attentive, and even asked us if everything was ok from time to time. Parking - there's a parking lot in the back of the building where the restaurant is, but they have a sign on their door warning patrons that you have to put $1 in the parking lot box or your car will get towed. It was after 6p when we went, so we parked on the street since the metered parking on the street were free. read more

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I came to eat stir-fried jjambbong, and the taste was okay, but after eating everything, I was shocked when I saw the plate. It seems like it's not polite for a restaurant to give customers plates that have to be thrown away with the bottom completely burned. No matter how delicious the food is, it feels bad to eat from such a plate. When I told the waitress, she said something ridiculous like, "If you put something hot in it, it will turn out like that." Maybe because she works alone, she was very rude and bossy, so it seemed like there was a problem with improving the service. Maybe because there was only one person working in the kitchen, the food came out very slowly. read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - A plate with a blackened bottom - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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I come here for the black bean noodle, it's my favorite in town. The service is a little slow but it's a small restaurant you just have to call them over. The ambiance is quiet and good for family dining. read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Black bean noodle - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Food is solid! Entire experience is exactly as your expecting. I've gotten 2 beef dishes, and let me tell you, if you do, opt for the Spicy Garlic Beef (which is breaded by the way). read more

Everytime i want jajangmyung i come here. Its delicious! Makes me want to go back to korea. They r super sweet and ask me if i need anything :) get tangsuyook with it read more

Need to pay for parking after 6pm, I believe. Big space inside. Great for big number of people or just two! Service is great. Black bean noodles and the Oh-Hyang-Jok-Bal are my boyfriend's favorites!! read more

If you want to eat delicious jjajangmyeon and sweet & sour pork, this restaurant is the place to go jjajangmyeon is always excellent and tastes great‼ I am very much captivated by this magic noodle dish, where the delicious sauce of jjajangmyeon is intertwined with the delicious sticky noodles, creating a wonderful texture. And Korean-style sweet-and-sour pork goes great with jjajangmyeon and is an inseparable part of the jjajangmyeon menu‼ This restaurant is very much trusted by the local Koreans in Hawaii. I have eaten many jjajangmyeon in Hawaii and this restaurant's jjajangmyeon is my favorite read more

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Ordered one jajangmyeon for 2 and it was delicious! Delicious sides especially the onions. Can get pretty crowded and most parking in area costs at least $1 I think. I haven't tried anything else but wouldn't mind coming here again for the jajangmyeon it's so good!! read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Wow. Korean-Chinese good...ever had it? Me neither!! Friday night and my bf and i were doing the classic "what do you want to eat?" Discussion and i suggested Dowon because I'd had it on my list forever. We got the fried garlic chicken, black bean noodles and spicy seafood noodles. This is definitely not Korean food as you know it - it's a lot sweeter than your prob used to and less chili Forward. The spicy seafood soup looked like soondobu but had a different flavor profile: the black bean noodle looked like Chinese black bean sauce but was much milder and sweeter and not at all like it's salty, fermented counterpart. Garlic chicken was delightful and super duper crispy and tasty. Kimchi was awesome! Super fresh and we ate two plates. Service was so friendly and helpful. We'd def cole again to try other items. I kinda think the stir fry dishes might be really tasty and while this isn't Korean as I know it, it's pretty different than anything I've ever had. Location: enter from the parking lot behind Thrills and Ichiriki. Literally all these years of driving and parking here to go to Power Yoga, Teapresso and Thrills and NO idea that Dowon is located here. read more

I love black bean noodles so one of my friends recommended this place to me. I am used to eating black bean noodles at On Dong, so it was time to try it in other places as well. (Note: I will make some comparison between the two.) I ordered the 'Noodles with Seafood and Black Bean Sauce' and 'Gan Poong Chicken.' Noodles with seafood and black bean sauce: The noodles were thinner than On Dong but still good. The black bean sauce was pretty watery. The sauce also contained a lot of cabbages. I think the black bean noodles is a little lacking in flavor since the sauce was watered down. The cabbages also absorbed most of the sauce than the noodles. Gan Poong chicken: The chicken cut was smaller than On Dong. It was more bite-size which is easier to eat. The chicken was very good and crispy. The flavor was the same as On Dong. Overall, it was a pretty okay first impression. I was a little disappointed with their black bean noodles, but I will still go back to try their other dishes such as their noodles with spicy soup and seafood. Their side dishes were very good. I really like their kim chee and pickled radish compared to On Dong's. Parking is $1 for each hour and it is shared with other establishments. read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Noodles with seafood and black bean sauce - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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1. no meats in black bean noodle and only 4 mini shrimps in seafoods black bean noodle. 2. Took them 40 minutes to serve 2 black bean noodles 3. That one auntie with full bang is very disrespectful and treated us poorly. read more

Excellent customer service- very friendly! The food is delicious Parking is $1 and to be paid before entering restaurant. Make sure to note your stall number and place either coins or $1 bill into payment box (located right of the restaurant). We will return :) read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Tangsuyuk - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Not like NY jajangmyun and was abit on the sweet side versus umami side. Their kimchi and banchan seemed authentic and was tasty. A lot of locals and Korean families seemed to be walking in though. Tables were full. read more

I ordered the black noodles it seemed to be on every table and sweet and sour chicken. Noodles were flavorful and bouncy in texture. Prices were a bit high compared to portion size. Service was not very friendly though. Ambiance was average. read more

Great food, reasonable prices. First time eating here. Menu is a little confusing because not all of the menu is in English. Had to use google translate. Had what others recommended on yelp and was not disappointed- black bean noodles and sweet sour pork were both great! read more

Their entrance is back of building which is parallel to Piikoi St. When I arrived, there were 2 tables of people eating. I asked one of the ladies at counter. She said that food is Korean style of Chinese food. I placed my order and had asked to wait outside due to COVID. She said I could wait in the banquet room area which is much cooler than outside. The kitchen door had a piece a material hanging and air conditioning was blowing it so I could see inside kitchen. There was a male cook who was not wearing face mask while preparing and who knows how other people were in kitchen may/may not wearing a face mask. My order was the seafood black bean noodle. Noodle and sauce were in separate containers. There was a lot of noodles and not enough sauce and shrimp. The sauce wasn't thick and somehwhat tasted like black bean. The sides were kimchee, daikon, and raw onions. read more

Dowon Chinese Restaurant - Sides with dish - Chinese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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My family and I have been searching for a good Korean Chinese restaurant for jajangmyun and other Chinese food. This place is the closest place we've found so far that serves the black bean noodles and amazing sweet and sour pork. That is a must. We also ordered jampong, Mongo beef, gampoongi shrimp, spicy squid sautee. We'd definitely order the seer and sour pork. If I crave the black bean noodles, I'd definitely stop by. read more

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I rate this restaurant 10/10. The side dishes, the noodles, the entire meal tasted fantastic! And the sweet and sour pork 탕수욕, was out of this world! We scraped the bowls clean! read more

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One hour to get our food and waitress blamed me after i complained. Other customers got their food way before us. Waitresses just ignored us. Terrible service. No water. When I was going to leave waitress said "NO, your food come out now!" Only one dish came out. Second came out 15 minutes later after I asked again. read more

The first time we came, it was after a hike and we were ravenous! I remember the food being amazing! This time I came with a less ravenous appetite and the dishes seemed more oily. Still delicious, but quality seems lower than what I remember. Still nice home-style food though. read more

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They food was not bad but the service is the worse you can experience in your life, the server attitude is crazy rude, we have 6 people and making decisions for what to ordering like 3 minutes after we seats down the server give annoying attitude about us and ask ready to order yet ?! Her attitude was rude and loud Like wth in the world you can ask a customer who just seat down to give out order. read more

First of all, I made the mistake of ordering here since I normally order from On Dong for my jjajamyeon and sweet and spicy pork. So, yes, I did have a difficult time finding it because I found out it was in back of another restaurant on Piikoi. When I finally found it, I moved my car to the back parking lot. I was surprised it was much smaller than anticipated and I really wasn't greeted at all. In addition they didn't even make my order yet and I was truly disappointed since I had to wait and I was already in a rush- no apologies, nothing. The ambiance is really a small hole in the wall and pretty intimate as I heard many Korean conversations. I guess price point wasn't that bad but not as generous as my favorite place. Their black bean sauce was a bit flavorful but lacking something. The noodle portions were decreased 25% of our usual order so would I come back... maybe if someone else was treating and maybe one of friends who speaks fluently. Sorry- no pics this time as I was in a rush to leave...maybe next time! read more