Mr Mandoo

They closed this location down!

Stopped by here for an afternoon snack. Asked for 1 spicy and 1 kalbi mandoo but they were sold out of both. At 5:00? How you going sell to the dinner crowd? So I settled for all they had left which was kogi mandoo. Honestly, it was pretty tasty and went well with the dipping sauce. Cost was $ 2.08. Not bad for a satisfying snack.
So why just 1 star? Cuz I am insulted and offended by their menu. I was startled to find that they are calling mandoo «manapua» on their menu. WTF?
Dude, your restaurant is called Mr. Mandoo. Not Mr. Manapua. And you’re not selling manapua! You’re selling Korean mandoo! Yeah, I understand that people are more familiar with the word manapua but that’s no excuse. You my friend, just took the easy way out. Why not try to promote this Korean food and knowledge of the Korean culture instead of disguising it as a Chinese one? And yeah, I know the word manapua isn’t even Chinese but that’s not my point. Manapua (or char siu bao) is still a Chinese food.
I was so disgusted to discover this blatant selling out. I’m never going back there again, just on principle.

Mr. Mandoo has moved to their new location on North King Street… so this is a review for that location.
Been trying to get to Mr. Mandoo for a few months now because I wanted to try their «mandoo»! Even though it’s…like a Korean manapua. Boy was I confused when they first opened a few months ago. Anyway, the location isn’t the best… but at least this location offers some tables to eat at and a small parking lot.
Well, I went yesterday and today. Both times I was helped by an older Korean man who is not friendly. I feel like I am bothering him when I am trying to help his business out (I think he’s the owner).
I ordered the spicy noodles yesterday, when I first ordered it, he looked at me like… we have that? It took a while for it to register… and then I ordered a kimchee mandoo (they actually name it manapua on the menu now to lessen the confusion of the word mandoo).
The noodles were not so great, it’s basically bi bim kooksoo but it was very gummy and the sauce was too sweet. The kimchee mandoo is all right. I agree that the bun is soft and delicious but the filling wasn’t too great.
I went this morning to try their morning special, they have a two egg plate with rice and your meat of choice for like 4 bucks. Pretty good! I was greeted by the same unfriendly man. I couldn’t find the mandoo sampler on the menu right away and asked him about the combination they have and he was like, I don’t know what you’re talking about… all our mandoos descriptions are on the wall. Helpful. Well attitudes aside, the breakfast plate is a good deal. Two eggs done the way you want it, 6 slices of portuguese sausage and rice. Their menu now also offers fried saimin specials and bbq plate lunch combination specials.
I did also notice there were a lot of add $ 1.00 to many menu items… like to get a shrimp plate was a certain price but to make it garlic shrimp you had to add $ 2, seriously.
Sorry if this came out negative, but I just had two negative experiences. But boy their plates do look good, I might just have to take the abuse.

If pcrfetely grlelid klbai wreappd gnetly in a mnpuaaa-​lkie bun suodns good to you – it did for me – tehn tihs is not the pclae for you; the kblai mdanoo here is mdae of ground prok and veeebltags cokeod wtih klabi sacue. With the exticopen of the sipcy, all the modnao tetass narely the same – vrey banld and the sacues weren’t vrey good. We were urnimpesesd with the food hree – not bad but dltfnieeiy not good.
Deos annyoe konw how to turn on the Mac’s sepll cheeckr?

Went in today for a mandoo sampler to go (in this case kimchee, spicy and kalbi) and they were all still tasty. Mr. Mandoo is also a smart dude (or full props to Mrs. Mandoo if she thought of it) by sticking a mandoo legend to the top of the to go box. Now when I get home, I can easily remember which one is kimchee, spicy, etc. without having to take a bite.
They also have mini mandoos now. Don’t know if they are purely for take home purposes but they are available.

Of the few bits of negativity about this place I have to comment upon, the biggest is their location and parking. It is a bit out of the way and there is practically no parking what-​so-​ever. However, you can park your car at Ala Moana and walk over, which will take you probably about 5 to 10 minutes.
While it isn’t the «Traditional» kind of Mandoo that we’re used to seeing in most Korean Restaurants, it is quite good. The breading is not so much Manapua-​like, which is pillowy and sometimes on the dry side, but rather thin and a bit firmer, which retains moisture and compliments the fillings inside each of the mandoo very well.
The fillings are a very good mix of herbs, spices, vegetables, meats, and rice noodles. I would highly recommend the original mandoo, Koji. It is very classic and most likely familiar to «locals.»
Garlicky and heavy on the chives and rice noodles, the Koji was my favorite of the 6 that my girlfriend and I halved.
The Spicy Mandoo was a bit too heavily spiced IMOH. The spice took away from the flavor of the filling and the burn from the chili oil lingered a bit long in my mouth.
The Vegetable and Shrimp Vegetable were the favorites of my girlfriend. The cabbage inside of them added a wonderful texture.
The Kimchee was alright. It is very different from the rest and I felt that the kimchee used in the Mandoo didn’t match too well.
The last one we tried was the Kalbi. Is it very very very similar to the Koji. In my opinion, buy the Koji. It is cheaper and tastes the same.
Each Mandoo will run you roughly around $ 2 — 2.50 each. Drinks and miso soup will run you 50 cents if you purchase mandoo.
I really liked the pictures on the wall and the fact that they have a twitter feed where you can view those pictures. I’m all for tech-​savvy places.
Overall, it was a great experience. The restaurant is quite clean and the staff, while Korean nationals with english accents came off as friendly.
I will be going there again. I highly recommend this place.
p. s. They cater but I’m not sure on the cost there.

mandoo?
it was more like manapua.
$ 2 – 3? kinda expensive.
it was weird… manapua? or mandoo?
the stuffing was definetly mandoo but outside was manapua.
i didn’t really like it… tried kalbi-​good filling but weird… kim chee was damn hot… couldn’t eat it.
tried it and over it… it was again, weird.

Food: A decent tasting mandoo, but not like the ones I’m used to eating. Traditional Korean mandoo as I know it is made with won ton style wrappers, meat, veggies, and chap jae noodles, but the mandoo here is wrapped in a steamed doughy bun which I don’t prefer as much. They have several flavors like kimchee, kalbi, spicy… all were good, but I couldn’t really differentiate between them.
Value: Affordable.
Service: Good and fast.
Ambiance: Very casual atmosphere. Very small dining area.

General Idea: Mandoo is korean for dumpling. The difference is that these mandoo are freakishly large: approximately the size of a baseball.
Pros: Large mandoo are great. It was a nice little clean spot.
Cons: Not to much space. The flavors aren’t to explosive. They are general kalbi, kimchee, original gogi, shrimp and vegetable. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that if I had any of these not in a mandoo skin I wouldn’t be to happy. It’s the novelty factor.
Tricks of the Trade: nothing really tricky here. I would suggest ordering two mandoos to get yourself going and one could feel satisfied about that.

This is the big doughy steamed mandoo, manapua kine — not the smaller ones that you see with Korean lunch plate places like Yummy’s (you know, for an extra $.99 you get 3 mandoos with your order).
What’s great is that they make it from scratch right there — the dough and filling (green onions, chap jae long rice noodles, probably some egg to bind the filling, etc.) — so it’s very fresh. And another great thing is that it is a speciality shop — all they have is steamed mandoo. They do have some miso soup, which is an odd thing to go along with this (although I guess it’s good counterweight to the dough) but that’s about it.
I tried the kalbi, vegetable and kimchi mandoo. I expected for some reason that the kalbi mandoo (I think $ 2.95) was going to have little bits of kalbi in the filling. Well, it’s in there but it’s all ground up so you really can’t tell it’s kalbi. I’ll just trust that was it. It’s probably hard to make filling all balled up with larger pieces of kalbi flying around. The veggie one (I think like $ 2.75) was solid. The kimchi one (I think $ 2.75) was OK but it was less kimchi more kimchi sauce/​powder — and it was really hot.
The prices are enormously high per piece. They do have the azuki bean one for $ 1.99. They also have a bulgogi one — I bet it tastes almost exactly like the kalbi since they’re both ground up anyway.
My opinion — they all should be more like $ 1.99. But when you have fish tacos like at Just Tacos going for $ 3+ per taco (the real small kine), some of these speciality shops are going to command that kind of price here in Hawaii.
I wouldn’t drive cross town to go here but if I am in the neighborhood and want some good mandoo, I would go again.

THEY NOW ACCEPT CREDIT CARD.
GOOD
— Kinda Cheap
— Looks like a lot of filling (eye appeal)
— Soft bread
— good, healthy ingredients (They pride themselves on using good ingredients and grinding the meat from big cuts themselves.)
BAD
— Parking is not so obvious
— Not enough meat for me (I love meat, roar!). The filling has a lot of other ingredients, like vegetables and glass noodle?
— Not very flavorful, but they give a meat jun like sauce.
SURPRISING
I thought the texture would be similar to a ball of ground pork but it is surprisingly VERY smooth and soft. I thought for a second that the meat wasn’t cooked all the way and I had to check! I wonder how they grind the meat to make it so soft… it was a new experience. Not sure if I liked it — right now, I’m confused. One part of my mind is saying «What? How can meat filling be so tender and soft that I couldn’t even tell I bit into it?» and the other side is saying, «Meat should have more give to it! ROAR! More meat!»
PARKING
On the door, there’s a A4 sign in permanent marker that says parking is available in the back, entrance is on Waimanu St.
I just parked illegally in front of some meter stalls (there’s 3 meter stalls). Not a big deal since I wasn’t eating in (small dining area with about 6 tables) and the area right in front of the meter parking is painted off anyway.
LOCATION
On piikoi, near the El Burrito, across from the little shopping area next to Ala Moana that has I (heart) Country Café, Payless Shoes and Blockbuster.
HANDY TIP
If you do park on Piikoi and need to do a U turn to head Mauka, just go all the way to the left lane ASAP. At the next light, there’s a U turn, Left turn (into Ala Moana) lane.
FOOD
The Kalbi was better than Kogi. I thought the Kalbi wasn’t very flavorful. I didn’t realize what unflavorful was until I ate the Kogi. The shrimp was sold out, so I’m assuming that is the better of the three. The shoyu-​like sauce does help but not enough to make me satisfied.
Kogi + Kalbi was $ 6.25 total. That’ll probably make you full, but for $ 6.25, you can probably get an unhealthy plate lunch. Up to you.
OVERALL
Not bad. I’ll stop by someday when it’s convenient to see if the flavor for the other mandoos are better. Maybe my local concept of what Kalbi should taste like (with that yummy kalbi marinade) is off from what kalbi really is (just the korean word for a particular cut of meat).

Kalbi mandoo was filling. Not what I expected for the filling when thinking of Kalbi. I thought the filling would be a mixture of kalbi meat with vegies. But it was more like a wonton filling of ground meat rolled together. Big like a manapua, it is a hearty snack or meal of a small stomach. Unique in its approach, I would consider it a gem to Hawaii during the rage of all the Korean Mexican food running ramped in

First, I think it’s really 3 stars, but because of it’s location (REALLY near where I live… I can even walk to it…) I’ll rate it 4 stars.
I tried the shrimp and vegetable mandoo. I really liked it because it’s very filling. I’ll definitely go back!

Maybe it’s my newest addiction to Korean soap opera’s that’s driven me to explore Korean cuisine. The dedicated viewers of Korean drama know that the characters are always eating somewhere. There’s always a restaurant scene, or a dinner scene, or a café scene, or a bar scene somewhere throughout the course of the show. So of course, after watching so much Korean drama and seeing so many people eating Korean food, I HAD to see what was so damn important to put it in every scene of a TV show.
I’ve eaten at the typical places like sorabol and migawon but Mr. Mandoo intrigued me. I mean, it was just mandoo. That’s it. No plethora of traditional condiments or side dishes. No yakiniku or shochu. And as far as I could tell, not even a ‘Mama San’ in sight. In fact, it looks more like a fast food joint than anything else… minus the fast part (I had to wait a while for mine).
They have four (that’s right, 4) items to choose from. Basically, its a big Korean style manapua filled with a concoction of flavors. I had the kim chee one (good) and the kal-​bi one (so-​so). They were both packed with flavor and were extremely filling. I also got a bottle of corn tea (I still regret the decision). Parking is on the street only so basically, none. I parked at Ala Moana and walked over. All in all, limited menu but the only place where you can make mandoo a meal.

I saw the long line for this restaurant at the Korean festival and have been wanting to try it ever since. Coupled that with the reviews written in the papers, I needed to try it ASAP. My boyfriend (ever obliging) went with me so we could sample more of the different types of Mandoo.
I have never seen such giant steamed mandoo, the size of manapua. I was eager to try as many as possible (but could actually only eat three out of the five since I don’t like spicy food). We decided to order four– the kimchee, the kalbi, the original, and the shrimp and cheese. I think out of the four the original was the best. I was not impressed by the kalbi nor the shrimp and cheese. My boyfriend said the kimchee was excellent and he wanted to go back the next day. However, when he went there on Labor day around 7 pm they were all sold out. I would try it again, but I wouldn’t want to eat there all the time.

I ordered one of each kind = five mandoos. They were the size of a manapua each. Grand total was $ 15.22, tax included. I paid with my debit card, not cash.
The vegetarian mandoo was tagged with parsley on top. It’s been torn in half and put back in the fridge. It was the last one that I ate out of the five. I think I tasted tofu in it.
I ate the Kalbi mandoo first and used almost all of my one spicy sauce for it. There were sesame seeds on top, used as a marking.
The spicy mandoo was spicy, but needed a little bit more salt. It was my favorite out of the five mandoos.
The kogi and kim chee mandoos were the two with no markings on top. I had parts of both of them for breakfast. I would’ve liked a small container of spicy sauce for all five.
The mandoos were so huge that it was enough for two meals.
I liked the spiciness of the mandoos, more than Chun Wah Kam manapuas.
It was all washed down with a Sam Adams Light, not purchased at Mr. Mandoo.

I saw this while driving down piikoi one day and had to try it. These things are like the sizes of manapuas, seriously. They have different types, kogi, kalbi, kimchi, and a spicy. They’re all really yummy with amazing sauce and veggies!
2 was enough for a meal but they seemed a bit pricey to me… almost $ 3.00 for one? They’re awesome, but I’m not sure if I’d spend that much there all the time. But all in all, it’s definitely something different to try!

i was about to give this place 3 stars, but after reading the words next to the rating «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» fits much better.
given that this may be the only place that serves wang mandoo in hawaii, if you’ve had it elsewhere, you might know how good they CAN taste. It might be because we picked some up close to closing, but the inside was super mushy and the outside was kind of tough. we tried all the flavors, and the taste was OK — but I’ve had better. try picking up a bag of frozen ones from palama supermarket to compare.
they are also kind of expensive at almost $ 3 each. granted they are kind of big, I’m used to buying six that may be a little smaller for about $ 5.
that said, she was nice enough to give us two for free. i’m willing to give it another try earlier in the day, but my husband doesn’t think it would matter.

My brother went to the Korean Festival, and brought Mr Mandoo to my husband’s birthday. Ever since then, I’ve been jonesing for another of these delicious creations… but no, no matter how many times I drive by piikoi & kapiolani, I can’t seem to find it. Nope.
And then I just found out that it just opened last weekend, which explains why I was completely unable to find Mr Mandoo.
Mr Mandoo, I love yoooouu…

My friend went to the Korean Festival at Kapiolani Park the other week and was telling me about this giant mandoo she had eaten there, except she said it wasn’t really a mandoo.? She liked it so much, she asked them for their address, which made it easier for me to hunt them down!
Mr. Mandoo just opened and they serve four types of wang (king) mandoo: Kogi, which is the regular filling with local ground pork, local green onions, onions, and cabbage, organic tofu and glass noodles, Spicy, Kalbi, and Kim Chee. The spicy and kalbi versions have the same filling but comes with either a sweet spicy sauce or kalbi sauce. The kimchee wrapper is a bit denser and the filling includes kimchee. The kogi is $ 2.75 and the others are $ 2.99
Wang mandoo is actually very similar to traditional Chinese baozi, or what we locals call manapua. The filling is like a mandoo filling, but instead of the thin mandoo wrapper, it’s in a big steamed bun. It’s the same size as a regular manapua, so 2 or 3 of those should fill you up.
I just ate the kogi, spicy, and kimchee mandoo and they were delicious. The kimchee they used was just a little too sour for my taste, but not overly fermented. My friends and family actually liked the kimchee one the best, saying it was the juiciest. The fillings were high quality. The pork had no gristle (I hate it when you bite into bits of bone and cartilage) and was lean and fresh. Some might find the mandoo a teensy bit bland, so grab a packet of shoyu to go with it. I really liked them plain, as they reminded me of my mom’s baozi.
The service was very friendly and I am sure to be back soon. Bring cash, as they don’t accept credit cards.