Tchin Tchin Wine Bar Honolulu Review

Tchin Tchin Wine Bar (Downtown Oahu) Review.

6/15/2016

Tchin Tchin is a new wine bar in the heart of Honolulu Chinatown opened by the owners of Lucky Belly and Livestock Tavern.

Featuring small plates, wines by the glass (2 oz. / 6 oz.) or bottle, along with whiskies
and other spirits.

I'm quite lucky my friends told me about it, since I would have totally missed it if I wasn't looking for it (it doesn't have any signage).

Their casual rooftop atmosphere makes it perfect for relaxing and hanging out.

We were curious about their Stinky Grilled Cheese Sandwich ($10),
so that's one of the first things we ordered after drinks:

Tchin Tchin Wine Bar Honolulu, Chinatown Hawaii, Stinky Cheese Sandwich.

Stinky Cheese Sandwich- $10. Good flavors. I'm going to take a stab and guess that it's made with melted Cheese (Gruyère?), caramelized onions and pickled juice. Though of course, I could be wrong.

Special of the day:
Shrimp Bruschetta- $12.

Tchin Tchin Chinatown Honolulu Wine Bar, Special of the day- Shrimp Bruschetta.

This was really good. If you like Garlic + Shrimp you should enjoy this. I wished there was more of it though.

Escargot ("Shrooms + Snails")- $16.

Tchin Tchin Chinatown Honolulu, Escargot in red wine sauce.

Ok, I'm a bit torn about this dish. It tasted like a Vinho Tinto sauce (Red wine, Worcestershire, Butter and Garlic). The mushrooms in this was really good! But, with the snails...I'm undecided. The sauce would be fabulous with a steak maybe?

Champagne Battered Lobster- $28.

Tchin Tchin Chinatown Honolulu, Champagne Battered Lobster.

I didn't really taste the Champagne, but the lobster was cooked well, and the Aioli sauce and shoe-string potatoes were pretty good. I would order this again!

There's no desserts on their menu.
But you can ask for it!

Desserts Sampler- $8.

From left to right: Chocolate Brownie with sea salt, Lemon Bar, Pecan + Caramel cake, Lilikoi Cheesecake, and Bread Pudding with Almond and Vanilla Anglaise.

Their desserts were really good!

When the bill came, we spotted a drink we didn't order.
But once we notified our nice & friendly server, it was fixed in no time.

[PROS]

Good variety of wines + spirits.
Really friendly service.
Fair prices. I thought their wines by the bottle were reasonable.
Good food.
Very accommodating. My friend (designated driver) couldn't drink but still wanted something similar. Our server was able to get their bartender to make her a special "Mocktail" (not on the menu). We all had a sip and agreed it was really good. It was $5 too!

[CON]

They were out of the 1st wine I wanted to order.
If you choose to sit outside, there's no cover for ~1/2 of the seating area when it rains.

[NOTE]

Since it's mainly a bar, there's not that many food items.
The restaurant currently doesn't have any signage.
Paid parking (small lot) is available right behind the restaurant, but for safety sake we chose to park at the Marin Tower parking nearby (see rates) ~3 minutes walk away. We stayed for about 2 hrs and the parking came out to ~ $3.50.

Cheers!!

Overall, I recommend Tchin Tchin if you are around the Chinatown area!

You can pick inside or outside seating:

Tchin Tchin Downtown Honolulu Lounge seating.

We originally sat here, but once a table opened up, they graciously let us switch at our request. It was comfy though, they have several of these outside (3).

Tchin Tchin Chinatown Honolulu Wine bar outside seating.

Outside seating. The stairs (exit) in the lower right corner leads down to an alley.

If you park at Marin Tower instead of the adjacent parking:

Tchin Tchin

(Located right next to Bar 35)
39 North Hotel Street
Honolulu HI 96817

HOURS:
SUN+ MON: Closed | TUES-SAT: 5p-midnight

Walk-in or limited reservations via phone:
808.528.1888

MENUS

[Note: I do apologize in advance it's not the best pictures I've ever taken. ;) ]