Mini Garden Express

Reviews

• Ed L.

  star star star star star_border 2 September 2026

  Still exploring and it's always a good thing where a serendipitous tip for a lunch spot one day can take you places you didn't know existed - in your own hometown.
  
  Case in point: Mini Garden Express. I don't usually come to explore this area of Honolulu often. Probably rarely at best, but as it turns out, it was cool to see. One of my co-workers graciously offered to drive me to the airport for an afternoon flight to the US East Coast. In exchange, I offered to buy him lunch. He asked if I was okay with Chinese food and he would call ahead to place an order. I was like alright cool okay. As long as they accept credit cards, which they do- but they have a $5.00 minimum charge. I ended up spending $20.00. We arrived here at around 12:30pm on a casual Thursday afternoon after a whirlwind morning at the office, trying to get last minute loose ends tied up before I fly. Mini Garden Express is among a cluster of small eateries housed in a former airline hangar, or at least that's what I think it is. Its a big cafeteria setting with many tables and chairs for people to eat and sit down. Much like The Lanai at Ala Moana shopping center, but this place doesn't seem to have free WiFi or at least strong central air conditioning, but it was comfortable and cozy. We ended up making it a take out affair, since I needed to get to the airport and my co-worker needed to get back to the office within 45 minutes. For the most part though, Chinese cuisine before a evening of flying seemed to do the trick.
  
  The overall experience here at Mini Garden Express was quick and nice. I was told that it was quicker to phone it in and pick up rather than ordering at the counter, which can take 20 minutes. Good points for next time I'm in the area. I initially wanted cold ginger chicken, but noticed that they have chow fun too. I figured I mixed the two together. What came out was basically a chow fun plate with 5 pieces of ginger chicken and a lot of sauce that they use with the chow fun dish. I would have thought the chow fun would have been way less - in proportion to the rice in a typical plate lunch scenario, but it was 85% of it. It is what it is but it was actually delicious and a departure to what I usually have during lunch on the weekdays. Mini Garden Express is located at 4444 Main Street in the heart of Mapunpuna. It's about a 5-7 minute drive to the Daniel K Inouye International airport, which was excellent. You can pick up lunch or dinner here before heading to the airport for your flight without having to pay airport prices. As aforementioned before, they accept major credit cards, but currently have a $5.00 minimum purchase.
  
  On this trip to Mini Garden, I came here by private vehicle. I suspect in future trips, I would arrive here by public transit. With that said, if you are like me, bus routes A, 3, and a handful of other routes pass through the area and makes a stop across the street. I do like the casual ambiance of the cafeteria style seating after you purchase your food. The cafeteria area is large enough to have a nice meal here. I'm sure I would be back here to check out more of Mini Garden Express and other restaurant vendors in the building. If you are in the area and love Chinese cuisine, consider checking this place out. What can be a serendipitous encounter may just be the perfect lunch spot you needed at the time. Yup. This place was perfect for me on 8/29/2019 and I suspect more times in the future. Definitely recommended. Make sure you look at the photos of the menu before you call in. It helps to check it out instead of wasting time in line.
  
  4.0 stars for the overall experience. 5.0 stars for the quick fast food experience. 3.0 stars for the prices. Typical Chinese food experience without the restaurant side of things.
  
  Support local!
  
  B

• Miles I.

  star star star star star_border 22 August 2026

  I ordered the fried tofu and vegetables on crispy noodles and my wife ordered the fried eggplant on rice. Both dishes tasted pretty good but my noodles were not crispy at all. Granted they we downed in sauce but  even on my first bite, the noodles were soft. I've had other dishes from this place on crispy noodles and the noodles were always crispy. I guess the kitchen didn't want to fry them cause it was 5:30 on a Sunday night and Mini Garden was only one of three places still open.  I gave them four stars cause the lady at the counter was actually pleasant tothis visit
  
  Update: I'm feeling a little under the weather so my wife picked up chicken jook. Yeah, not the most exciting thing to eat but it's the only thing I can manage at the moment. Between Mini Garden and Nice Day, I'd have to give the nod to Nice Day's Chicken jook. It had a little more diced chicken and the chicken was very soft. If you like more ginger flavor then Mini Gardens version is the one to pick

• Ric C.

  star star star star_border star_border 15 August 2026

  Nobody's perfect- the hiccup.
  
  Mini Garden Express has been a long time favorite and I would always dutifully bring home minute chicken with Choi sum for da wife and won ton soup for me whenever I was coming home from the west side.  Always consistent with a reasonable price, you couldn't go wrong with an order from this 99 Market mainstay.
  
  Then comes a recent meal from Mini Garden.  One order, won ton mein soup, one won ton with with gravy.  Both were very bland but had the unmistakable flavoring of msg. Hard to get that combination of no taste with msg seasoning.  Part of the problem appeared to be the noodles- seems like they scooped out the noodles from the boiling water and dropped in quite a bit of excess water into both the gravy order and the soup order.  Both had a bland taste.  Surprisingly, the soft wun ton was not tasty either.  Very disappointed.  
  
  But- I'm hoping this was a hiccup and does not reflect what they are normally able to do.  It was busy so they may have been rushed.  Nevertheless, be aware even this place, which is usually quite consistent, can be off.

• Pua H.

  star star star star star_border 11 August 2026

  This restaurant is located in what I still call 99 Ranch market...I live near that area so I tend to come here a lot, but i do love their food...everything I order I haven't had any complaints yet. I love their char siu fried rice only because it's Big pieces of char siu BUT the only down fall I have is that they don't have too much veggies in the fried rice, just green onions. It just seems plain, but if your not a veggie person then this is the rice for you! Either then that it's one of my favorites!

• Heidi H.

  star star star star_border star_border 10 August 2026

  Becareful when ordering the crispy gau gee with cake noodle. The order received had only 4 gau gee and one was sooooo burnt the pork inside barely existed and was burnt hard and dry. That was disappointing since it was not busy at that time. They just didn't watch the gau gee when cooking and gave burnt ones since it was take out and in a small bag. Where is the quality control?