Fook Lam Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Honolulu

We are from Sacramento, California, and craving for some Cantonese dim sums after a week in Kailua-Kona and Hilo. After reading the reviews, we decided to give FL a try and were quite satisfied. There were some misunderstanding by first timers (me included); and I questioned the owner in Cantonese for answers. The owner, Mrs Lee, said the restaurant has been in biz for more than 17 years. It has been a favorite dim sum place for many locals and visitors. Like many reviewers, I found the chicken feet (#14) to be above average, tender with a hint of chili pepper. We had my favorites: deep fried mochi with meat (#10)—both sweet and salty; lotus leaf covered mochi rice (#22)—yummy, comfort food for me; and baked Char Siu buns (#1)--presented and recommended by staff. We were quite full and didn’t get to other favorites (Look Fun, Porridge, deep fried taro puff #11, and dessert (baked custard buns #2 or Chinese Style Salty Creamy Egg Bun #37).

General suggestions: 1) budget 3 to 3.5 dim sums per person. Works out good back home even with my grown up children. 2) make sure you drink plenty of hot teas to flush out the grease and fats. My kids were passed on the advice from my father--drink at least 10 tiny cups, and yes for girls too. Confusions: 1) Staffs are pushy. Staff presented a stack of dim sums at the table before the customers settled down. They are for customers to view and select. The reason is to make sure customers have what they want instantly, piping hot from the kitchen. Customers are, of course, free to reject what they don’t like or recognize, such as chicken feet. For non Cantonese customers, like my native born children, it is easier for them to recognize and point to their favorites than reading and ordering from the menu. Same dim sums but often called by different names in NYC or San Francisco. Sorry, I never heard of deep fried mochi. Thought it was Japanese food, lol. 2) Mysterious and hiked prices. We saw the menu under the glass top. There were four menus in my big table for 8. As of 3/23/2021, from the menu, small (SM in the bill) dim sum is $3.95 (#1-18), medium (MED in bill) is $5.25 (#19-29). Prices of Special orders/dishes (#30-48) are listed in the menu. Once ordered and delivered, staff will note them in the back of the bill in Chinese. No charge for hot house tea (unusual for us from mainland—used to pay $1 to $1.50 per person). State Sales tax is 4.75%. Confusions arose when customers forgot about their special orders, usually much higher prices because of bigger sizes and delicacy.

From my experience, both taste and price (good and of good value) are comparable in Sacramento and Fook Lam. . We won’t mind coming back and try out the other authentic dim sums when we are...

This is our 5th dim sum in Honolulu but we frequent dim sums (LA, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, HK, etc. for reference), food here is mediocre at best. The food seemed overcooked like the tripe was mushy, ribs had an off taste and it wasn't the seasoning, more like the meat is about to spoil. The service was also very aggressive, kept on putting dishes on our table when we didn't want it. The restrooms look very dirty. From the back, it didn't look like they had a regular kitchen, saw some gas burners warming up their food. The worst part was their dishonesty by upcharging us and doubled the price on our bill (the egg tart and shrimp dumplings) and another item we couldn't even find a match for on their menu to what we ordered. Very disappointing that they would have such poor...

Located by the canal, parking can be on the street or at a small parking garage nearby with good rates. You'll also get a good view of the Asian men gathering around tables playing cards lol.

It's a popular dim sum spot but I personally think there are better dim sum choices out there.

I tried a couple of dim sum and they weren't as good as we hoped. The skin wrapper was either mushy or too thin that they broke apart when the dumplings were being picked up by chopsticks. The flavor wasn't lackluster. The congee was OK but nothing to write home about.

The best item there that we all enjoyed was the deep fried sesame balls. Very crispy, good amount of sweetness, light and airy, a true delight! I feel like their deep fried food might be worth trying more than their...