Tanaka Saimin 888 North Nimitz Highway, Honolulu, HI 96817

"Buddy treated me to lunch at Tanaka Saimin on 16 Feb for lunch. It was my first time eating there and I was pleasantly surprised. I have had a lot of Saimin in Oahu and I can say their Tanaka Saimin was very flavorful. The broth was rich and had a great seafood flavor. The noodles were great with a very pleasant bite. The Tanaka Saimin special came with 3 sides, a shrimp tempura, teriyaki beef and mac salad. The mac salad was pretty standard fare, and the shrimp tempura was not immediately identifiable as shrimp tempura. At first, I thought it was some kind of chicken tempura based on texture, but looking into the tempura, it looked like it was a chopped and formed shrimp patty. Of the 3 sides, the teriyaki beef was the star of the show. Not a single bite was tough, chewy or had unwanted globs of unrendered fat or gristle. Every single little slice was tender, flavorful and juicy. The real star of the show however was our waitress. She was a young Asian lady, the youngest of the entire wait staff, and its unfortunate I did not get her name to include her in the review. But she left knowing I thought she was excellent."

"Visited to try Saimin first time on the way to airport. The place looks exactly like american diner rather than Asian restaurant, and you can enjoy variety of foods mixed. Saimin small is a good size and taste good with shrimp soup flavor."

"Good food. Lots of food. Good price. This place is fire. Tanaka saimin is great."

"I really am sad to post this review as we've had takeout and eaten at Tanaka Saimin numerous times and were very satisfied with the food. But this last time was a disappointment. I had the Korea Moco: kim chee fried rice that was very oily and with hardly any kim chee, and the crispy won ton was not crispy at all, was very oddly shaped and bland. My husband ordered the mixed plate with shrimp tempura and teriyaki beef. He had seen a review that said the shrimp tempura was with a thin crispy batter and this was not like that at all as you can see from the photo. The batter was thick and soft. And the fried saimin was very dry. Also the plates came out very messy with the teriyaki/kalbi sauce splattered on the plates. Not sure what the problem was this particular night. It wasn't overly busy as we got there a little after 7pm. Maybe there is a new cook. But I'm not sure if or when we'll give it a try again."