Ginza Won Restaurant — Restaurant in Honolulu

After I saw the 4.5 review, I visited this place because I needed to eat Korean food after a few days with too much oilly food. The first impression was outside of the store, this place located on the back side of the road and the front of the store is not really welcome and it was very disorganized. After the sitting, the menu shows many varieties, so I tried very basic; bean paste soup, seafood soft tofu soup, cold noodle, and seafood pancake. When the food was served Bean paste soup does not have enough ingredients ( only potato, zucchini, onion, and jalapeño). Soft tofu soup does not have the right taste. Just put jalapeno for spicy is not the way for 순두부( soft tofu soup). Seafood pancake seems okay. But cold noodles are like just out of the instant bag from a grocery store with a few slice of thin pickled horseradish and slice cucumber. ( no 수육 thin meat) Each one dish costs $20-25, but the ingredients in the dish here are like $5 dishes. Maybe I should have tried a grilled meat menu. Unfortunately, I needed something not greasy this time. Next, the cleanness, the rice was not cooked right, too overcooked( 떡밥), and I found one cotton string and one string of metal wire from susemi(metal string dish washing tool) When I pointed that out to the server, the server said it was from washing and just took away the evidence very smoothly. ( ha ha). After this, I did not say anything. I just kept finishing the dish quietly and paid the bill and left tips close to 15% and left. ( servers were nervous about what happened. They kept checking on us. This is the reason I gave 3 stars for the server. At least they knew there were something wrong. ) Because I did not want to ruin my dinner during the vacation.

I would not recommend this place. Especially customers who are looking at the review, the review is not reliable, at least for this store. To the owner, please work on the food quality and cleanness. I really do not understand the such good review for this store and honestly can not believe they are real now.

I just got the reply from the owner. He or she said I am the wrong and I am the one who does not know the korean food. Because I am one versus 10 other good reviews. I am from Korea and am living in Seattle now. I have been cooking Korean food every day and often visiting famous Korean restaurants in Seattle and other places like CA, Las Vegas, etc. I know that the food I am eating is good or bad, at least. Reply only expresses bad feelings about me without apology about things in the rice. It is quite disappointing.

Your bean paste soup does not even have any tofu in it. Your cold noodle does not even have one slice of meat. I thought you were not Korean, so you did not know the real korean food. But it seems you ARE korean . You just make food a very frugal way. 답변을 주셨네요. 네. 좋지 않은 리뷰를 보고 기분이 나쁘신건 이해합니다. 하지만 전 최대한 정직하게 있는 그대로를 표현한것입니다. 한국에서 와서 미국의 여러곳을 다니며 한국 식당을 다녀보았지만 가격에 대비해서 맛과 재료의 정도가 이렇게 성의 없는곳을 많이 겪지는 못했습니다. 한국분이 아닐지도 모른다고 여긴건, 그렇다면 부족했던 여러가지가 이해되었기 때문입니다. 리뷰에 적은건 바꾸겠습니다. 그렇다면 더욱 이해가 가지 않는 저녁식사 경험이었습니다. 특히나 리뷰를 보고 찾아갔던 저희 입장에서는 리뷰가 조금더 정확해야 한다고 느낀것 뿐입니다.

; Update after 2nd response from the owner. Dear owner, I did change my rate from 2 to 1, based on your 1st response. You accused me of being a person who does not have any consideration and does not know any standard for the food. My initial review was a very honest one. I even praised the pancake and the server's concerned attitude. However, after seeing your two responses, I can see that you only care about reviews, not want to learn from the customers' opinion, and try to correct the problem. As I already said on the first review, I just wanted you to improve the quality of food and more close care for the cleanness. As the owner of the Korean food in the foreign land, please be more responsible about what you are representing to the other people. Also, I believe the review should be very honest and show the exact fact. After I visited your place and got your response, I felt strongly that the good review of your store is not...

I've been to Ginza Won twice now and it's been great both times! In December I went with some of my friends after we finished the Honolulu marathon, and we were thrilled! I forgot to write the review back then, but I came back to Oahu with my girlfriend and had to come here again.

I'm happy to report that it certainly wasn't a one-off experience, and both visits were wonderful! The staff are all very friendly and the vibe is extremely cozy and makes you feel like you're at home- something that I suppose can be chalked up to a family owned business. The set options on the menu are also good value, and the meats we tried both times were delicious- they even offered to cook it in the kitchen for us the second time since we only ordered one meat and two menu options. The only feedback I could give is that the seafood portions in some of the dishes weren't quite what we were hoping for; most recently we ordered the seafood tofu soup and seafood pancakes. Both didn't have much seafood in them, and the pancake was flatter and less structured in texture than I was hoping. The meats all deserve nothing less than five stars, however.

Overall, I'm a huge fan of this restaurant, and I'll be going back every time I visit Oahu. If the Ginza Won t-shirts that the staff wear are ever up for sale, I'll definitely be purchasing one as well! (I asked the waitress if they were for purchase on my last visit, and I'm almost certain that that was the first time they've ever gotten...

I wasn't expecting too much since this was in the heart of Waikiki, and that's a good thing. I ordered the Galbi Tang, spicy stir-fried pork, and soybean paste soup. I was really worried after eating the kimchi because it was not good at all. It was the first time I've had bland kimchi. The soybean soup and Galbi Tang had a good flavor profile, but they were salty. Also, how is it that both of these dishes cost the same? The soybean paste soup was old fashioned, like you would see in the countryside. It was in a small claypot with a few small pieces of tofu, some potato, and a few pieces of zucchini. Compared to the Galbi Tang that had 2 pieces of short rib. There's no way this should be $18 each. The bean paste soup should be at least a few dollars cheaper as it has less expensive ingredients. The best thing was the spicy stir-fried pork. It was seasoned nicely with a small amount of heat. Would I go here again? Probably not, but I figure American people don't come here for soups but rather...