Kim Chee Restaurant

For years we have loved Kim Chee Restaurant in Enchanted Lakes. The food is fresh, delicious, tasty and large portions for sharing. The buffet is great to sample all the veggies and tempura, spicy chicken stew, and even soup. The owners and chef are like family. The restaurant is friendly and inviting for all — a great place for large family meals and very kid friendly. Special entrees have very artful presentation! It’s also one of the cleanest restaurants i’ve ever visited! Plan to go sometimes soon! (closed Sundays)

This place certainly exceeded our expectation. Great food, free vegetable bar and dessert and tea and amazing decoration of each dish. The service was also really good.

Excellent! Korean is one of my all-​time favorite cuisines and not only was the food great but the service was great as well!
I am leaving the restaurant feeling like a member of the family and I watched as customers came in and out being given the same greeting you receive stepping into your auntie’s house.
We ordered the mixed plate with Kal-​bi, shrimp tempora, and shredded lettuce salad topped with a piece of fried mandoo.
We also ordered the salad bar which had fried rice, kimchee, seaweed, eggplant tempora, locally grown papaya, salad, and a few other choices.
At the end of our meal, our server, Michelle brought us some hot tea and a complimentary cake.
I really enjoyed my dining experience here and will certainly be back! I would recommend this location without reservation to anyone in search of good Korean cuisine!

Great food with excellent service!!! Most definitely a have to redo!!! Lol… Same great quality food as well as same excellent service!!! Did not disappoint!!!

They’re always so pleasant and the food is really good. For 2 adults and 3 children we always get the «2 people special» which includes all you can eat veggies, meat jun, bbq chicken, chicken katsu, shrimp tempura, Kalbi and more. Seriously a lot of food for $ 40! Also the service is always great and they’re so accommodating!

Probably my favorite meal in Hawaii to date. I’ve noticed that Unilocal in Hawaii tends to be overly generous with its stars but this place deserves every 5 star rating it gets.
The food was great, came in ample quantities and was complimented by an excellent salad bar (including the spicy chicken stew, which could have been a great meal in itself). The short ribs, chicken katsu, BBQ pork and BBQ chicken were all great, although to be honest, we were all pretty stuffed with salad bar by the time they came.
I should also mention that the staff was excellent. They were warm and inviting, and took excellent care of our little ones.
Would definitely return.

Place is pretty decent. I don’t care to much about the food although I am impressed by the fact that the chef had his own cooking show. In fact he’s splattered on every tv in the restaurant. The restaurant itself is very nice. Extremely surprising considered most Korean restaurants are kind of dirty and run down. This restaurant is mostly known for their inexpensive buffet with great variety. However what disappoints me is how expensive it is for a regular plate to go. Nearly $ 20 for a plate!!! Also the meat jun was disappointing, not as good as other places. Also wished the meat Jun sauce was slightly sweeter. I gave this place a 4 star because of the service and how friendly the owners are: D.

Got the meat jun/​kalbi combo. The eat jun tasted like it had a little freezer burn. The Kalbi was big bone style. Good but small portion. Because I didn’t get rice, they let me fill up a small container with veggies from the buffet. Service was great. I might return but would probably skip the meat jun.

My local friend highly recommended this place especially the chicken katsu. And one might wonder. Really, for real? What’s the big deal? Well, after the first bite, it’s legit, it’s a big deal. Omg, it was the best katsu I’ve had ever. Succulent chicken hugged by crunchy tasty fried batter. Amazing. I’ll be back next time!

We have been visiting the windward side of Oahu regularly from our home in Charleston, SC for almost 20 years. During this time, we have built relationships at many restaurants and businesses. On this August 2015 visit, the Korean restaurant we have visited for years was temporarily closed. After reading many reviews, we decided to visit Enchanted Lake Kim Chee.
Having spent 10 days in Seoul last fall, we’ve had a lot of great Korean food. But the food we had here at Enchanted Lakes Kim Chee was the best. We three tried several dishes: my husband, the bulgogi; I had a mixed plate — one of the dinners with several options, which I HIGHLY recommend for sharing; and my daughter had Bi Bin Kook Soo.
First of all, there is a «salad bar» that has all of the rice and Kim Chee and other veg you would expect at a Korean restaurant — but you can try them ALL here! The sauces, rice, and veg are unlimited — but pace yourself!
Service was top notch. Our friendly waitress helped us pick sauces and kept our water glasses full. We did BYOB, and she brought us glasses and openers. When we mentioned we had been to Seoul, the owner came to speak to us. Everyone was so friendly!
Portions are huge. BYOB. Credit cards okay. Comfy booths — not like the store front fast food at other places. Definitely our highest recommendation for the food, service, quality, and price.

I love coming here on Saturday’s for their lunch buffet. When I walk in I’m greeted with a lot of enthusiasm by the owner. I’m a low maintenance regular customer so I immediately go to the buffet and get my favorites. Let me just mention that I like spicy food, but not too spicy. My favorite is their spicy chicken stew. .it looks super spicy… but don’t be afraid, its not that spicy. Well, maybe it is but I add rice and corn to «cool» the stew.. It is so good, and it is only served on the buffet. .it has chicken, carrots and potatoes. I also get their meat chun, chicken katsu, 1 bowl of cucumber kim chee, and1 bowl of cabbage kim chee.. So good. This will usually hold me to dinner.
The service is always excellent and the restaurant is clean.
The price is reasonable and the people are so nice. I enjoy coming here to eat my veggies.. My only wish is that they would be closer to home.
I try to get here when they open to né sure that I can get a seat.

My oldest son just started summer school here and wanted to have dinner with us. I wanted to go somewhere near his school since he doesn’t have a car. So we checked the reviews of several different restaurants in the Kailua area which all had wonderful reviews but he specifically wanted some Korean barbecue. As luck would have it a friend of mine just told me about the Enchanted Lake Kim Chee restaurant located in Kailua. So the Unilocaler that I am pulled up the reviews and pics for this restaurant. The reviews were outstanding! So I told my son that we are a go for the Kim Chee restaurant.
We all met up at the restaurant with our BYOB ready in hand. Let me just start off by saying the staff was very patient and very kind. From start to finish you will get the absolute best care and service!
Now moving along we decided to order a couple appetizers to start. We ordered some Mondoo and some sweet potato fries. Also just to let you know that everything you order comes with some sort of sauce. Each one is different and also very tasty!
If you look at my pictures you can see the different dishes that we ordered. The food is kind of pricey but to me well worth it! You get an abundance of food. So much so that I had to get a to-​go box to take the rest of meal home. There was enough for another meal. Also the food presentation is amazing! My youngest son did not want to eat his food at first because he said it was too pretty to eat. So he looked at it for little bit and his Hunger got the best of him so he finally began to eat. We ordered several dishes: Mahi Mahi Jun, BiBimBap, the Kim Chee plate and one other dish. All the food was presented masterfully and they tasted exceptionally good!
They also have a Korean buffet style salad bar which was amazing as well. They offered many variations of veggies, tofu and bean sprout salads to name a few. The salad bar comes with every meal.
We were so full that we did not get a chance to have dessert. Well, that gives me a reason to go back for more!

Kim Chee I, Kim Chee II, and Kim Chee III doesn’t have anything on THIS roman numeral-​less Kim Chee!
Located in Keolu at the Enchanted Lake Shopping Center, it is easy to find with ample (but tight) parking.
Came here for dinner with a bunch of cool peep! I ordered the Dinner Special, which consisted of 1 piece of Shrimp Tempura, a few pieces of Fish Mahi Mahi Jun, Chicken Katsu, Kalbi, 1 piece of Fried Man Doo, an onion ring, and a decorative piece of a fried sweet potato chip with a side of slaw. The presentation is nicer than other Korean BBQ restaurants, but it’s really just the sweet potato chip on top of the mound of meats and the accompanying cabbage slaw. Now onto the food. The Fried Man Doo was okay. The filling was bland and wasn’t much. The bottom part of the mandoo wasn’t fried to a golden brown for some reason and you see the white wrapper. The Chicken Katsu was excellent, perfectly fried, perfectly cooked, well-​portioned, and the meat was soft, juicy, and tender with a nice, thin, crispy crust. The one shrimp tempura was all right. The batter was mostly soft than crispy. The Kalbi was very good. The meat was tender, tasty, and cooked and grilled to perfection with a nice char. The highlight of this dish had to be the Mahi Mahi Jun. Sure it’s just a thin slice of fish in egg batter and deep fried, but how often, does the fish come out overcooked, tough, bland, dry, and not that appetizing? Well, I was worried for a similar outcome, but not this time around. It was the total opposite as the fish was PERFECTLY cooked. It was also well-​seasoned, soft and tender, tasty, juicy, and the meat was flaky, fresh, and great quality. Lastly, I didn’t care much for the slaw since there was more dressing on the plate than on the slaw itself, but the veggies were fresh and probably needed to balance out the mound of meats on the other half of the plate.
A great part of this restaurant is the All You Can Eat Vegetable (Banchan) Bar. I think this is a great idea as it makes it easier for the servers and the customers rather than having numerous little plates on the table that takes up space, and having to constantly walk back and forth from the kitchen to refill them. You have all your basic banchan items such as Kim Chee, Cucumber Kim Chee, Cold White Noodle Salad, Bean Sprout Namul, Corn, Fish Cake, Mac Salad, Glazed Potatoes, Braised Firm Tofu with a Spicy Sauce, Broccoli Rabe (The oddly translated
«rape») Namul, and perhaps a few more I am forgetting. There is also White rice, Fried Rice, Seaweed Soup, and also jello and sliced papaya. The Kim Chee and Seaweed Soup didn’t stand out and lacked flavor. My absolute favorite was the braised tofu because it had a nice balance of flavors with the sweet, spicy, salty, and savory. My other favorites were the bean sprout, broccoli rabe, and glazed potatoes. All were fresh and tasty.
It was my best friend’s birthday (a week early), and the servers still provided him with a complimentary cake and a Happy Birthday song. That was very kind and thoughtful of them to do that. The cake was a Frosted Carrot Cake with a Fried Shrimp on top. No idea how the shrimp works with the cake, and I didn’t have the opportunity to try them at the same time since my buddy immediately popped it into his mouth haha. The cake was good though. It wasn’t overly sweet or super rich. A nice dessert to end a fantastic meal.
It’s a tad on the pricey end since you’re just eating the basic meats such as BBQ chicken and BBQ Beef, chicken katsu, meat and fish jun, and etc. The non-​meat items are even more expensive! Bi Bim Bap and Chop Chae shouldn’t cost $ 18 and $ 19. I’m sorry, but it’s mostly rice and long rice with beef and vegetables. Other than that, this place is BYOB with no cover, so that’s a big positive and balances the cost out.
The service is excellent. The servers are very friendly, very positive, very patient, very attentive, and very personable. The food took the right amount of time to come out.
The décor was nice. The front has a long fish tank, and the walls has TVs and mirrors with random artwork in between. The TV constantly show the head chef making each dish from start to finish, and it really showcases his precision, technique, and care he puts into every dish. So if you ignore your dining companions and watch, you’ll definitely learn a few things. I know I did, and now, I want to cook in a suit. It’s pretty damn Boss, lol. :) The place is all booth seating, so if you have 3 or more, someone will be trapped inside.
Overall, I thought all the food was great quality and well-​cooked, and definitely well-​presented. The all you can eat Banchan bar is awesome. The service is the absolute best, and the décor is nice. The price is bit high if you’re comparing to other Korean BBQ places, but it is BYOB, which balances it out. It’s a great place, and I’d definitely come back here time and time again. They also offer take out and caters as well! That’s something to think about.

First of all, I just want to say I love the customer service! Everyone was extremely attentive and friendly! I should follow with the restaurant being Byob !!! So bring some beer or wine and have a good time! I have the combo; kal bi, meat jun and mahi Jun!!! It was Ono!
My meal also came with a Korean style salad bar with All your favorites! Parking was easy as they share a large parking lot
Try it out!

They have a lunch/​dinner menu but at lunch time, it’s usually better just to get their buffet. It has just about all of my favorites: fried rice, BBQ and katsu chicken, meat jun, spicy chicken stew (prepared for the buffet only), and potato or vegetable tempura. Both their cucumber and cabbage kim chees are very good, as is the mac salad. The $ 13.99 price is only a couple of dollars more than a regular plate.
At dinner time there is no buffet but the entire buffet line is used for side dishes of all sorts. The presentation of the entrée is masterful, as well. Although I love the buffet’s variety, I would not hesitate to pick my favorite entrée and eat just that and the side bar for dinner.
Service is always prompt and very friendly, especially from Sarah, the co-​owner.

I bookmarked this place on Unilocal after seeing in photos that they have a «banchan buffet» aka a Korean all-​you-​can-​eat veggie/​salad bar. I told my husband and he was instantly down to go check this place out. We came here on a Saturday evening and upon entering the restaurant we saw that every table and booth was taken. A worker greeted us and handed us menus to look at while we waited for an open table. We marveled at the fish tank right in front of the entrance. My husband and I agreed we would split the «Two People Special» which consisted of meat jun, kalbi, chicken katsu, bbq chicken, and shrimp tempura with the included the «banchan buffet». After around what seemed like a 10 minute wait, we got seated by the «banchan buffet». After we put in our order, we headed to the salad bar. I got chicken curry, kim chee tofu, macaroni salad and my husband got the kim chee tofu, too, and some other veggies. There was also kim chee cabbage, kim chee cucumber, chap jae noodles, corn, and jello. Then entire time we were there, the chicken curry and the chap jae noodles were not refilled. Our salad bar favorite definitely was the kim chee tofu. I noticed this lady going around being really jovial with other patrons, even offering kids toys. Then I noticed her walking ever so slowly behind the counter and my husband and when she rounded the corner, we saw she was carrying a medium-​sized pizza pan plate of food. I think she was walking slowly to prevent on of the fried garnishes from falling over. When she placed the plate in front of us, we were glad we were sharing this plate because there was a lot of food. She also providing dipping sauces for the meat jun, katsu, and tempura. Everything tasted good. My husband is a kalbi addict and he really enjoyed gnawing the meat of the bone. The only thing I didn’t really like was the shrimp tempura batter was excessive so I peeled some off the shrimp. During our meal, we watched the video looping on the flat screen TVs that showed clips from the chef’s episodes of «Electric Kitchen» which I guess is a local TV show. There were also clips of how the chef prepared the food like chopping up ingredients, battering stuff, and then frying them. My husband realized from the videos that this restaurant is not part of the Kim Chee 1 to 7 (is there more?) restaurant chains. It was a pretty amazing considering the amount of food they gave and the «banchan buffet» that I have not seen anywhere else. I hope to come back so I can try the other stuff on the menu.

This place is great! The service is always friendly with a family feel. The owner (wife) gets to know everyone. Very personable. What’s also great is the all u can eat salad buffet that comes with your meal. Seaweed soup, fried rice, noodles, veggies, jello, potatoes in sweet sauce, fried tofu & more. Their meat Juhn is the best, so tender & thicker then anywhere else. The chef (owner) also had his own cooking show «electric kitchen» u can watch it while u eat. Shows how all the dishes are prepared, got some knife skills! Pretty much fine dining in a Casual setting.

How many times have you picked up lunch at your friendly neighborhood KBBQ joint only to eat up all the banchans and wish you had more? I love veggies a little more than I love meat, so this happens to me. All the time.
Just past weekend, I finally got around to checking out Kim Chee II. Did you know that in addition to all your typical favorite KBBQ items, they have an all you can eat salad bar? This means as much as you can eat of all your banchan favorites, including long rice, kim chi, rice, fried rice, seaweed soup, cucumber, corn, and oh the list goes on! They even have my favorite, spicy fishcake available for the picking! My inner fatty says this alone is deserving of 5 stars.
In addition to the awe inducing salad bar, Kim Chee II also serves up entrees of gargantuan proportions. They have all the typical KBBQ goodies, including meat jun, kalbi, bbq pork, bbq beef, and bbq chicken. These portions are large, and combined with the all you can eat salad bar, you’re in for a major kanak attack. Prices are moderate, but considering all the food you get, you can’t help but wonder how they can afford to stay in business! You can either just pay for entry to the salad bar, which is ~$ 12, or you can opt for an entrée which ranges from ~$ 15 and up which also includes the salad bar. Methinks that the entrée is a better deal, but having the option is nice for smaller eaters.
There are only a handful of booth seats available, and this place does fill up quick. Reservations may be helpful if you’re planning on coming during peak times. Service is beyond amazing; the owner will greet you and treat you like she’s known you forever and make you feel like family. Can’t wait to go back!

Pros: Pride of ownership, Customer appreciation, Ono food, Quiet/​Cool/​Clean ambiance, Cheerful & attentive service, Exquisite presentation of food, Clean & spacious bathroom, Kid friendly
Cons: Hidden between other popular restaurants with dark windows so could be missed
It’s Monday night and I am so full from eating there that I just want to go sleep. But I had to Unilocal Enchanted Lakes Kim Chee Restaurant. It could not wait. My family and I went there to celebrate my daughter’s 9^th birthday. She chose to eat there because she absolutely LOVES the lady owner and the meat jun. If ever you need a pick me up, to smile, or feel appreciated then go eat there. Trust me.
We have taken out dinner from here many times before and dined in on 3 occasions. This was the first time that we went for a birthday celebration and I was so impressed with how they made my daughter feel. Her ear to ear smile said it all. She got her own fancy dessert topped with a shrimp tempura. Tasty and creative. Sang happy birthday aloud, gave her a huge hug, AND gave her a gift (wallet) with her choice of bracelets. That’s how you earn your 5^th star! You could just feel the love.
Their Kalbi is a must try. The meat is tender with the right amount of marble and flavored to perfection. Their meat jun requires no sauce. Serious, it’s that good. If you do need sauce then you are in luck. Their sauce is unique and compliments the meat jun well. Dine in and get all you can eat fresh vegetable bar with added papayas, curry, 4 different rices, and soup (see video). I almost forgot, dinner is BYOB! Dining in for dinner is the best bang for your buck. Ranging $ 20 per head, approximately.
The seating is all booths with soft cushions. They also have 4 tvs and a huge fish tank. Great for kids as the owner loves kids. So quiet and comfortable and clean. The staff are always smiling, dressed in uniform, and the kitchen is clean too. The chef takes pride in his cooking and you can taste it.
E. Lakes Kim Chee… daughter approved! :-)

I love korean food. I love good banchan and I love great service. Kim Chee in Enchanted Lake is great and has all three of these things I love. After calling a few restaurants to check availability on a Saturday night, and after finding out that basically all the restaurants in Kaneohe and Kailua were booked for the night, I called Kim Chee. The owner answered the phone and said if we were coming now, she’d save us a table! So sweet! She also asked for my name, which is pretty normal, right? When we got to the restaurant, and throughout our dinner, the owner continually greeted and asked how we were doing by my name. It was pretty impressive. I also noticed that she called several other customers by name and there were several large parties that looked like regulars.
I ordered the small portion of Kalbi, at $ 23, it was a little steep, but the meat was so tender and flavorful. It is the traditional cut of kalbi with the big bone. By itself, I don’t think it would be worth it. But with the unlimited banchan bar, this is possibly my new favorite restaurant. The ban chan section consists of rice, fried rice, spicy chicken, a chicken vegetable dish like nishime, bean sprouts, cucumber kim chee, kim chee, mac salad, radish salad, jello, oranges and seaweed soup.
This is a great family-​run small business (the restaurant will be closed for a couple days while the owner goes to the mainland to see her daughter graduate. They serve delicious food with unlimited appis and really care about their customers. The owner and other waitresses constantly ask about how you’re doing and if they can get anything. I will definitely be back!