Dagon

A cute little restaurant with remarkable Burmese food. Their lamb briyani is the best on island and their curries are delicious.

The food is easily one of my favorite places. The salad was very unique and delicious with tea leaves in it. Shan noodle's tamato-based sauce flavour was so good. The only reason I gave it 4 star was because of a cockroach that was spotted crawling on a plate on another table waiting for customers. Unfortunately, this is probably more common than we expect in many restaurants so you'd have to just accept it. Despite this, I'm still tempted to come back and try different dishes. Three dishes were more than enough for two people as we still had enough leftover that's enough for another one person meal. Visiting from Vancouver, which is already well known for variety of top notch cuisines it offers, we actually don't have any good Burmese restaurants. Another thing tourists should know is the BYOB in Hawaii. I'm really envious you can do this in Hawaii as I experienced this for the first time here bringing own wine and enjoying the food without having to pay ridiculous mark up for some cheap wine at a restaurant.

This was my first time eating Burmese so I can't vouch for how authentic it is, all I know everything was delicious. My wife loves Burmese food since visiting Myanmar, so we had to try it. It's a flavorful cross between Indian, Chinese and Thai food. We got the tea leaf salad to start with, which was super refreshing. I got the garlic noodles, which was very Thai inspired and very tasty, and my wife had the lamb potato curry with Jasmine rice, which had distinct Indian influences. We also got the Burmese tofu on the side, sort of chickpea french fries - delicious. Overall, the meal was great and the service was exceptional,we'd definitely go ahead when we're back in Honolulu.

Casual atmosphere, no frills but warm service. I ordered the Tea Leaf Salad, Palatha, and Burmese Eggplant Curry, and enjoyed all three menu items. The palatha was super flaky and the eggplant was tender and warmly spiced. Would return to try additional menu items!

I love Dagon! Their food is absolutely delicious and we've never had to wait more than 30 minutes for a table. The wait staff are so sweet and friendly and the food comes out quick. One of my favorites on island.

A great Burmese restaurant! We were a group of nine and managed to reserve a table on the same day. It was a feast of rich flavours and spices. We ordered: laphet (the traditional fermented tea leaf salad unique to Burma), mango salad, vegetable samosas, stuffed tofu, chicken biryani, vegetable kebat, beef and potato curry, lamb coconut curry and chilli prawns. All dishes were delicious and enjoyed by the group, most of whom have never tried Burmese food. Though very tasty, the weakest dish according to my Burmese partner was the tea leaf salad, since the tea leaves were very sparingly used, meaning the dish lacked the usual punch that we are used to having at home or with relatives, but we figured it’s a difficult and expensive ingredient to source on the islands. Still, worth ordering to get a hint of what is one of the most interesting salads in the world!

Dagon was a lovely experience, we were sure to make reservations as seating is limited and this is a popular place. Parking was available on the street with no problem either. Our waitress and hostess ( same ) checked our vax cards and IDs and got us seated she was attentive and got us water and drinks right away. We had plenty of time to look over the menu and make our decisions but unfortunately this is where things started to slow down a bit. She still did a great job but she was the only one working which seems to be the case in a lot of places these days. No biggie we weren't pressed for time but some small irritations with getting some of the items. The food was all cooked and prepared very well and tasted great, the portions we great too. I'm no Burmese expert but everything seemed very authentic and we will definitely go back again and would highly recommend Dagon to friends and family.

short story go to the other Burmese place. cuisine: ok ginger salad. good, but dry coconut rice: very good. well balanced, but a bit over cooked mango shrimp curry: nice balance and tang. no heat. shrimp under done service: poor. kitchen, good. bathroom existence obscure BYOB floor, poor: understaffed for a friday with poor attention to detail. too many tables for one waitress. had this one before. she was a little salty then too. said 5 minute wait. I waited 15 and watched the single waitress handle every table on the floor after setting our table for 2. cleared 5 tables, delivered 3, 4 empty, made us wait outside and when I checked in at 15 minutes told me she said 10 and asked me to wait outside again. ambiance: OK.

Burmese food! I've eaten at this place some years ago and it was still just as good as it was when I went for Valentine's Day! I've never really had Burmese food before so that's why I went here in the first place and I wanted my partner to try! We definitely got food for like 4 people. We got the Dagon tea leaf salad which was DELICIOUS! I like the crunchiness of the peanuts, garlic chips, and all the flavors in this, this is my kind of salad. We got the Crispy Tofu with Salad Filling, Myek Pan Fried Noodle, the Mango Curry, and rice. OH MY, my favorite was the MANGO CURRY with white rice. SO GOOD!! I like the combo of sweet and savory! Atmosphere - It's a comfortable atmosphere and lively, dim lighting. There are Burmese decorations around the room. Service - It was a busy day and there was only one or two chefs that day and one cashier/server doing all the work! She was so sweet and hustling back and forth and such. It was Valentine's Day. Our reservation was for 6:30pm and when we went, there were two other parties there and then it filled up as the night went on. I would say it can fit at least 20 people but that would be a bit full. The Cost - The range is around $15 - $26 per dish. Parking - I'm not aware if they have a parking lot as we walked to this place but there is metered street parking in front of the place but there are other restaurants nearby so the street parking gets pretty full. Location - It's on King Street like if you're headed towards Kaimuki. There are other restaurants on the same street and across. I would definitely come here again because I really want to get the mango curry again and eat that with a bunch of rice. P.S. I don't have any pictures because I took them and didn't realize that my phone wasn't saving them due to my lack of storage space. :'(

I love restaurants that have cuisines that you can't always find easily. Dagon is one of my favorites! It's owned by the same people that own Rangoon and both serve excellent food! I wish Dagon was still open for lunch because it's closer to me but I still come here often. Just visited again for dinner with a friend that was in town. He's vegetarian and so we thought of this place because they have lots of options! I can't get enough of the fried Crispy Tofu with Salad Filling. I literally order it every single time! Both versions of the Tea Leaf Salad are fantastic and you can't go wrong with their curries and noodles. I also highly recommend the Kabat I like mine vegetarian for a healthy dinner. I know I was just there, but after writing this, I want to go back right now! Service is always friendly but sometimes dishes can take a while to come out. It's worth the wait!

The food at Dagon was very delicious. I enjoyed trying Burmese dishes for the first time and really hope to return again with friends. Our waitress was so nice and very helpful with helping us decide what to order. The space was filled with island music, which made our eating experience very comforting and full of good vibes. Please please order the Shan Noodles if this is your first time visiting

I have been looking for a good Burmese restaurant in HI. Dagon was just ok. The tea leaf salad and samusa were good. The chicken pumpkin stew had two small pieces of pumpkin and the flavor was watered down. We were urged to order the pineapple fried rice which was not good, (I should have followed my instinct and declined!) The service wasn't great: friendly enough, but not polite and didn't seem to care. The price point is way too high for the food quality, ambiance, and service. We will not go back.

Tasty Burmese food. Have been coming here for years. They are BYOB. Always get the tea salad. It is pretty hearty and has good textures. Platha bread and curry dip is fun, it was a bit liquidy this visit, however they thickened it for us upon request. Calamari was very flavorful. We also tried several curries and rice/noodle dishes (not pictured). Pumpkin curry was our favorite. Fish curry on this visit was fishy and fish was unfortunately tough/gristly. We always see the same lady working here and she is nice and helpful. Good to go with a lot of people so you can try plenny dishes.

I was excited to try this place out after seeing all the reviews and the fact that they have vegetarian options. I called online for a take out order and the person who picked up wasn't too friendly. When it came time to pick up, the lady also didn't seem too friendly when she asked if we needed utensils. Food itself was pretty average to me. The tea leaf salad seemed to be missing one specific flavor that I cannot pinpoint. All the portions are fairly small too. They're also the only place in Hawaii I have gone to that gave styrofoam boxes. The only dish I would come back for is the Vegetable spicy chili. Overall probably not somewhere I would come back to unless friends really wanted to try it.

Been here 5+ times now and things have gone downhill since my last review. My boyfriend and I went to celebrate his birthday and both ended up getting food poisoning. I became nauseous with stomach pain the next day and was sick all day and it hurt when I tried to eat anything. My boyfriend also had a stomach ache the next day and his nausea set in the day after. I got the tofu noodles which was a mistake. It tasted sour but I wasn't sure if that was how it's supposed to taste. My boyfriend tried some of my noodles and also said it tasted weird. Also the service has always been weird. The last time we came, it was empty except for one table and I asked to sit by the window but she made us sit in arms length of the only other table that was there. Also the salad didn't taste as good as it once did and got a lot smaller. I will not be coming back here. I am trying to get in contact about the food poisoning but there is no answer.

This was a last minute drop in and we didn't have any reservations but the woman was kind enough to seat us (with a caveat she needed the tablet in 1-1/2 hours) I believe it's the same owners as downtown Ragoon. It's smaller and less upscale but the food is still delicious! We started with the palatha combo. The palatha were bread-chewy thin sheets that are fried. We ordered an extra order to eat with the curry. Disappointed with the accompanying curry for dipping. It was pretty soup like thin with some pieces of chicken. I'd skip the combo and just order the palatha. Of course we got the Dagon Tea salad- so light and flavorful. If you are chili adverse, you can ask them to leave out the chiles. -Biryani with lamb- the pieces of meat were very soft mixed with a thick hearty sauce. On the side was the pilaf rice mixed with veggies. -3rd dish was mango curry- this was our favorite dish. We had it with chicken. It was chock full of veggies, chicken and mango chunks. It was on the sweeter side because of the mango. It reminded me of a sweet and sour taste. Make sure to order bowls of rice to go with it. All that fed 3 hungry diners with leftovers to take home. So if you don't want to go the downtown Rangoon, come here! Street parking or small lot behind.

Really great Burmese food with tons of vegan options. We stopped in for dinner on a Friday not too long after opening. You might want a reservation for prime dinner time. We ordered: -Tea Leaf Salad ($15). Well-made version of this classic dish, with plenty of fermented tea leaves, pulses, peanut, tomato, and lettuce of course. Everything worked together beautifully, the salad was adequately salted, and the textures were great. Killer. 5/5 -Golden fried tofu ($9). They use split pea for their version of shan tofu. This dish came with thin strips, a la French fries, served with a sweet chili sauce. Pretty good but I'd prefer a better sauce/seasoning. 3.5/5 -Shan noodles ($16). Rice noodles with tofu and a tangy tomato sauce -- this worked beautifully. The noodles were cooked so well that they almost melt in your mouth along with the tomatoey coating. Delicious. 5/5 -Pumpkin veggie stew ($15). This was the least interesting dish, but still tasty. The dish came with a few pieces of squash (skin on -- you have to scoop the squash out) and assorted vegetables, with a somewhat thick, under-salted pumpkin-y, tomatoey sauce. Good but needs a bit more seasoning. 3/5 Service was disinterested but pleasant, informative, and quick. Great Burmese spot that I would definitely return to. Recommended.

I am dumbfounded by the negative reviews lately. We came with a group of five and had a very sweet and funny server, her name (according to our receipt was Khun S). She was very friendly, patient, and offered answers to our questions. She brought the food out quickly and explained everything. She was very attentive and made sure we were happy with all dishes. The food was yummy too. We had samusas, fried tofu, Dagon tea salad, mango salad, shan noodles, pumpkin stew, fried rice, and mango curry. A ton of food for the five of us and it was only $119! None of us had ever been there before but I know we'll be back! Thank you for such a great evening and meal!

Charged higher than what the menu price was listed. The lamb curry with potatoes stated $18 on the menu. But I was charged $16 + $3 for the lamb curry. They obviously knew what they were doing. It doesn't matter if it was an extra $1. When I confronted her about it, she kind of just walked away, thinking I would just pay anyways because it's just a dolar. Regardless of the amount. You do this to 100 people, that's an extra 100 dollar (plus percentage of tax and tip), It's fraudulent. I shouldn't even have tipped her 15% because the service wasn't even that great. Lamb curry was good but you can get good lamb curry in any other south/southeast Asian place. The tea salad was alright, don't understand the hype. It feels like it was missing dressing and flavor. Unlikely to return.

I'm not sure if I've ever had authentic Burmese food, but based on other cuisines I've had from the region, I suspect they really tone down the spiciness for Western palates. Thankfully I'm not a huge fan of spicy, so everything was quite tasty. The golden fried tofu, samosas, and tea leaf salad were very tasty. For an entree, I had the Burmese Lamb Curry with potatoes, which was also very hearty and flavorful. Street parking is usually available, and they are BYOB, which is always a plus. Service was very good, but they need to clean the tables better.

Love the tea salad! The food is freshly made and very delicious Make sure to call for a reservation as Dagon is always in demand and full! I love the green tea salad!

I wonder all of the negative feedback. We had amazing experience till now every time we went there. They are professional cordial to their customers. And the food is amazzing!! If yoy want to taste the authentic flavour that is the best place to go!!

Great food at a reasonable price!!! Heard about this place from a coworker, who loved the samosa and since I'm such a foodie I knew I had to try this place out. We were able to find street parking really easy when we went, but not sure how it is during the day or if they have a back parking lot. Came here for dinner with my bf on a Wednesday night and arrived around 6 pm. There were already a few tables occupied and we were greeted by our waitress as we headed to an open table. She immediately brought a wine opener, wine cups and water for us along with the menus. FYI it's BYOB ( Major ++++), we bought a bottle of wine from across the street from 7-11. We ordered the Dagon tea leaf salad and Burmese samosa to start and OMG they were so good!!!! The salad can be spicy because of the jalapeño, but I think you can ask to leave it out. All the vegetables mixed together along with the green tea leaf dressing worked well together!!!! We especially liked the crunch from the peanuts and split peas. The Burmese samosa, was the reason my coworker raved about this place and she was right. The crisp outer wrapper was filled a mixture of mashed potatoes, mint leaf, garam masala and spices served with chili sauce. We then ordered the Burmese fish curry with red snapper, which was in an amazingly light, very flavorful sauce. The fish was cooked very well and still moist. We dipped the palatha in the curry sauce and OMG, it was amazing. If you've never had palatha before, it's a buttery flatbread type. Bottom line, the food was great and will definitely be back again!!!

Apparently I forgot to write my review the last time I was here cu my pics were uploaded. So you'll see two set of photos. I was just here last night and loved the food and we were able to eat here since it closes at 10pm! Everything closes so early now. Last night we had the crispy tofu salad, tea leaf salad, Burmese Kebat with chicken, pineapple Fried rice, and Platha Combo. The tea salad lacked flavor but everything else was delicious!! I can't believe I always forget about coming here. I think it's due to parking, the lack of it. However during the week and meeting my friend at 8pm, there were several street parking spots in front of the restaurant The service was great. She actually suggested the IJ rappel rice with the Kebat and mentioned having us try the Platha Combo and we said sure if that what you think is good. As for my previous experience I can't remember cu it was actually before Lockdown I wouldn't be able to comment on the food. I only remembered the crispy Tofu was delicious and very different. Great food and will visit sooner.

4/23/22 Saturday night 7:00pm Where do I begin with this wonderful place. I first heard of Dagon about - maybe a year or two ago and it didn't hit any special highs with me when I heard of them and it never came up again as a place I should go by but on this night my friend suggested it- saying: "There's a salad at that place that is much better then an average salad you have to try it" That statement is true.. well in regards to the salad being amazing. I have no inclination of what a true Burmese style type of cuisine inhibits most of the food I had for that night. I understand that most of the ingredients used are well much different then say Thai cuisine or even what it reminisced to remind me of was Indian food. Let me tell you about the salad: a level in flavor with the chopped lettuce not whole pieces, sesame seeds, "love" fried garlic slices, beans, peanuts, yellow split peas and green split peas, sunflower seeds, jalepenos, tomato and lemon and lime. It's delightful with the seeds and crunch the fried garlic pieces are a great additive. It's all about "flavor" The other two dishes: 1) the Burmese curry chicken with potatoes. There's a wonderful herb of clove or nutmeg in the homemade sauce it's all so good to the senses the food is full of flavor. The Burmese- Indian rice: has a beautiful color from the cardamon in a basmati rice... I believe it's made before it's mixed into the regular basmati rice. The cardamon is the red rice in the regular rice. Also is cinnamon, raisins, and light butter, along with tomato slices cucumber and fried onion. When I lived in Denver an Indian restaurant that featured a rice pudding during the Taste of Colorado event... this dish just made it interesting for my eating "rice pudding" experience- this Burmese rice dish is the same but without it being a rice pudding... it certainly is the first time I had a savory version of what I was familiar with. This rice went well with the Burmese curry chicken and potatoes (cause of the nutmeg or clove in the sauce) and the other dish that I had that night: shrimp and eggplant. The shrimp and eggplant dish is complimented with garlic. Onion, ginger, scallions in a fresh made tomato chili sauce. It is just as good on its own but it also paired well with the curry chicken and the Burmese rice. If I was to say I traveled to a cultures place via the food. This restaurant: Dagon has taken me to "Myanmar, Burma" and it is flavorful and exciting! I'll be returning soon.

What a great experience! This was my first time trying Burmese food. We went on a Thursday night around 8 pm. Street parking was limited, right outside of the restaurant. We started with the Mango Salad. Very refreshing but overpriced (15 dollars!) We ordered lamb coconut curry, Burmese fish curry with red snapper, coconut rice, and palata. Plenty of food for 2-3 people. Both curry dishes were 5/5 amazing. The fish curry was great over rice. Palata was so light, great for dipping in the coconut curry. We ended getting two orders! Place is BYOB. Service was prompt. Definitely would go again!

First time having Burmese style food and I'm in love with their tea salad. Usually, my number one complaint with salads are simply that they're boring to eat--but not this one. There's so many textures and flavors going on with every bite that it never gets old. In some bites I can taste the crisp sunflower seeds with the romaine lettuce. In other bites, I can get some of the crunchy chickpeas with the squishy tomatoes. Absolutely delicious!

Doubt I would go back. Pros- - BYOB - Some parking - Fried squid Cons- - Not the friendliest lady. Pushed us to order more food. - Some pieces of the fried bread was burned black but she still served it to us. - Other dishes were just ok - No splitting of our bill I left feeling like I wish we chose a different place to eat. Not bad but not worth another visit.

Went to Dagon for dinner on 10/13/2023 and our party of 6 was charged $189.25 which included a 20% tip. Food and service was good until I paid the bill and did not know that tip was collected TWICE! The server did not inform us that gratuity was automatically added to our tab before my credit card was charged. The restaurant uses a handheld credit card reader that flashed the tip screen for less than a second, bypassing the tip option so I thought tip was not included. The bill was not provided before hand and I did not receive the receipt for the charge by text until we left the restaurant. We proceeded to give the waitress a $40 cash tip which she happily accepted not informing us that tip was already included. She basically got a $70 tip on a $152 tab! Disappointed that the server did not inform us before accepting the cash tip knowing she imposed 20% gratuity on the tab!

Amazing flavors, would recommend the ti leaf salad and the pumpkin beef stew. Prices have gone up but still very reasonable

I went here for the first time trying Burmese food to celebrate my birthday with some friends. We went on a Friday night around 7pm, which was super busy and street parking was limited, since there was no parking lot. I definitely recommend booking a reservation ahead of time. At the time, there was one server, I went ahead to write down the order on my phone on my "notes app" so it would be easier for them. Service: Quick Parking: Limited Reservations: Highly Recommended I definitely recommend getting the appetizer sampler, dagon tea leaf salad, crispy tofu with salad filling, Burmese fish curry with red snapper, and pineapple fried rice with shrimp. (*** = favorites) Apptizier sampler ($14): Samusa, baya kyaw (pea fritter), vegetable spring roll, and golden fried tofu. Best for sharing with groups to try various things for some hot, fried food! - Dagon Tea Leaf Salad: So flavorful with a mix of sweet, citrusy, and mild spice that makes the salad very refreshing. Crunchy and crispy from the various textures. *** - Crispy Tofu with Salad Filling: not too heavy after eating the appetizer, very popular *** - Burmese fish curry w red snapper: The fish was super tender, and very sweet with tomato and coconut paste as a special menu. *** - Spicy chili (lamb): super flavorful with a lot of cumin - Pineapple Fried Rice (Shrimp): sweet and savory, great to have this instead of regular rice*** - Burmese pumpkin stew (beef): a different version of beef stew, but sweet from the pumpkin - Burmese curry with potato (chicken): similar to beef stew, but with chicken and potatoes.

Been to the main restaurant downtown that was unforgettable so decided to come here. I always get the same thing, but it was awesome!! I was disappointed that they hired a waitress with poor customer service skills... i've seen her at the Indian restaurant down the street who was just as cold and rude then. Just one of those people who don't seem happy and forget that they are the face of the restaurant they work at. I will most likely return for the food, but I sincerely hope that the owners take a close look at the tatted waitress with glasses.... Great food, unpleasant experience.

If you have never had Burmese food, you need to try it. It's sort of a cross between Thai and Indian food, but somehow better than either. The appetizers they make with yellow lentils are spectacular. I discovered this place when I had only 1.5 days left in Honolulu, so I went there for dinner the last two nights. If I had known about it from the beginning, I would have gone there every night, because it was WAY better than anything else I had in Honolulu.

Delicious, flavorful food. Excellent service and ambiance. Ample parking in the lot next to the building.

A small group of close friends of mine wanted to spend a Friendsgiving Night. It was suggested we all try out Dagon for our first time all together. Majority of us chose this place over another place, which we ended up going to for a friend's birthday party. Dagon is a Burmese Restaurant located in the University Area on S. King Street near University Ave. It's BYOB and I've also learned that they have a sister restaurant Rangoon Burmese Kitchen in Downtown Honolulu. Of course me always running late, I was the last to arrive. My friends were already settled in with Rose bottles on ice, and red wine to the side. It was a very busy night, I believe every table was occupied, and reservations start at 5pm until closing. All 4 of us came hungry, we ordered with our stomachs, rather than using our heads for this one lol. A whole bunch of different items were ordered like crispy tofu, coconut pork curry, spicy chili shrimp, basil lamb, and much much more. I'd say there were 11 items in total, perhaps more, creating a whole leftover bag for all of us to take back with us. Which we ended up sharing with another set of friends to try out as they work in the food and beverage industry. I'd say mostly all the dishes were just as good as Rangoon, without the higher price point as they do in downtown. The platha came out sort of towards the end of all the dishes, which didn't give us the chance to eat it with 2 of the curry dishes we had ordered. Although, it's good by itself, it would have breaken up the spiciness of the curry. I can totally understand that with pandemic, shortage of staff seems to be the common issue not only for the business, but also for their customers/guests. One point I didn't like, was that the facilities are located separate from the restaurant. You do have to ask for the key, walk to the side onto an alley, and enter the restroom in the back part of the building. You should walk with another person, as nowadays you never know who may be lurking in the area. I found that the woman's restroom was already open, making anyone free to use it. Not sure who maintains the restrooms, but I found no paper napkins in the dispenser.

This place has gone way down since my last review 5 years ago. From roaches behind the pictures that will make a run for your plate, to unfriendly service and food that just tasted flavorless and nothing like before. Not sure what happened here but I am sad it's not the great place it once was anymore.

SERVICE - very small restaurant with most tables only seating 4 people - willing to accommodate larger groups - one lady taking orders and serving - food takes a bit of time to come but not drastically bad - only indoor seating - parking located behind restaurant MENU - clearly marked sections based on dish/protein (seafood, salad, vegetable, etc) - average price ($12-$16 per entree) - good selection of vegan and gluten free options FOOD - appetizer sampler (6/10): was supposed to come with fried tofu as well but we just got the fritters, samosa, and spring rolls. It could have had more samosas and less of the fritters as well as a different sauce. Good dish to share for the table. - garlic noodles with tofu (4/10): nothing spectacular about these. There's no strong garlic flavor. The crispy tofu nuggets are quite dry and needed to be soaked in the sauce. - coconut vegetable curry (8/10): this was one of the better dishes that we ordered. It came to the table piping hot. It had a good mix of vegetables with broccoli, eggplant, and peppers which were also cooked well and not mushy. The base itself was creamy and filled with warm spices. - nan gyi dok tofu (10/10): my favorite dish of the lot! It combines coconut curry and rice noodles into one. Must order WOULD I GO BACK? Yes. Possibly just for the coconut noodles.

Burmese food is one of the most underrated cuisines! I love the southeast Asian and Indian influences that result in deliciousness every time. This was my second time eating Burmese food, and I'll keep coming back! Came on a Saturday evening and the place was full! FOOD: Samusas 4/5 Burmese Lamb Curry 5/5 Roti 5/5 Indian Biryani Rice 3.5/5 Garlic Noodles with Tofu 4/5 Highly recommend the Roti with Burmese Lamb Curry!! Was my favorite part of the dinner. PARKING: There is street metered parking; free after 6pm. SERVICE: Exceptional. Our waitress checked our vaccination cards and then seated us promptly. Brought us waters, menus, and even gave us her recommendations for food. So glad we listened to her!

I recently tried Rangoon Burmese Kitchen and decided to try Dagon, their sister restaurant. There is a lot of overlap between the menus, and I ended up buying almost all of the same things I had at Rangoon. My friends and I came here for dinner around 5, but free street parking doesn't begin until 6. We went inside to exchange coins, but the lady told us to just park on the side for free. There are a few stalls in the little driveway between Kokua Market and Dagon. The dishes here are made to share, so we ordered three entrees, bread, and an appetizer. This was way too much food for three people, so we ended up taking home leftovers. Here's what we got: Burmese pumpkin stew - super delicious, loved all the vegetables Palatha - I don't know how to describe this, but it is the best bread in the world. It's kind of like naan, but it's really thin, crispy, and buttery. We got it as our carb for the stew, but it's great to snack on on its own. Garlic noodles - the flavor of these noodles were amazing. Loved the amount of garlic on it and the garnish. The texture of the noodles was also great. Tea leaf salad - when I went to Rangoon a few weeks ago, everyone liked this the most, but I couldn't get myself to like it. However, I gave it another chance and really liked it. I just needed to pick out the jalapeños. There's a lot of crunch and texture to the salad. Appetizer sampler - this came with everything and was pretty good. The spring rolls were probably my favorite - it was flavorful and came fresh out of the kitchen Our waitress was friendly, and I'm pretty sure she was working at the other restaurant too. The only questionable thing was the water. I don't know why mine tasted funny, but my friends said theirs was fine. I love this restaurant and will definitely be coming here more often! I wish more people knew about this place because the food is so good.

Outstanding flavors, nice ambiance == great place for a date, guests or pop in occasionally. Dagon is one of my favorite restaurants.

Went with my family and friend to have dinner at the restaurant. The food was good but it was ruined by the rudest waitress on the surface of Earth! She literally ruined our night out! She is white European mostly likely a German. I can't find enough words to express how rude she was..... bad attitude, condescending, rude and trash... I feel sorry for the chef who puts so much efforts then his dishes gets served by a crazy rude person

First time trying out this place and it's pretty good! They have a similar menu to Rangoon. The food for the most part were tasty. The only downside from the experience is they did not have chicken and pork for any of the noodles we want to ordered. We tried out the Burmese curry with lamb (4/5), pumpkin stew with pork (5/5), garlic noodle with tofu (4/5), Shan noodles with tofu (5/5), tea life salad (3/5), and the split pea fritters (2/5). I did not like the tea life salad that much. It was quite bland. The split pea fritters were too dry, kinda a disappointment. The parking situation is only street parking.

If I toggle my bookmarked businesses on Yelp to "date added," Dagon would be at the bottom of the list. I felt like I added this business 12-13 years ago, but never went, no matter how many times I've passed it, no matter how many times where I've been indecisive on where to eat, I just never decided to go. Until now. Finally. Better late than never. I've had several restaurants bookmarked that I never went to and they eventually closed. Luckily, Dagon survived, and it's because its food is awesome! Dagon is just one of a few Burmese (or Myanmar) restaurants on Oahu. The country shares borders with Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, India, and China. You can definitely see those influences in this cuisine. This place is located along South King St. in Mo'ili'ili, after University Ave and Kokua Market. There's only street parking, and I found one spot open further down past the restaurant. The inside is a small place with 8 tables, and it got all filled up after we arrived. It was clean and there were makeshift partitions separating each table. There's a lot of unique artwork that definitely gives this place an authentic feel. The first thing I know I wanted to have was the Dagon Tea Leaf Salad. There's also a Tea Leaf Salad option. The main difference I was told is the Dagon uses cabbage and the other uses romaine lettuce. The first noticeable thing after the first bite was the slightly bitter tea leaves. Everything was flavorful and crunchy, and each ingredient went well together. It wasn't over-dressed or sauced. The raw garlic slices really enhanced this dish and brought out a nice pungent kick. Next, I got the Appetizer Sampler. This is the best way to try many things. It came with: Golden Fried Tofu, Vegetarian Spring Rolls, Burmese Samusa, and Baya Kyaw (Yellow Split Pea Fritters). The best was the Spring Rolls. It was filled with flavorful vegetables and clear noodles and fried nicely. The Samusa was similar to the spring rolls but in a different shape. The flavors were good and I liked the potato in the filling. The Fried Tofu was good too. Well seasoned and fried well. My least favorite was the Baya Kyaw. They were hard. I wasn't able to stab it with my fork, but didn't want to use too much force as it may lead to them on the floor. They were dry and a little bland, but the delicious homemade chili sauce saved it. That sauce made everything more tasty. For the main course, I ordered the Burmese Lamb Curry with Potatoes and a side of Coconut Rice. The portion was huge! There was plenty of lamb meat, but only three cubes of potato, which I have no problem with! Traditional red curry was used here, and it was absolutely delicious. Very tasty and packed with flavor. A nice balance of savory, sweet, and spicy with subtle herbaceous notes. The lamb kind of tasted like beef as there was just the slightest hint of gaminess. The meat was mostly tender and encapsulated all the flavor. There were some large pieces where it didn't feel like they were that tender. The potatoes did taste a little like the freeze dried variety where the middle is less floury, or starchy, like if all the water came out of the middle. We couldn't finish it, and it tasted even better (added more potatoes!) the next day. The Coconut Rice was very, very good! It had really good coconut flavor all around with a nice texture from the crispy coconut shavings. It went really well with the curry. I'd order this every time! Overall, I can't believe it took me this long to dine at Dagon. I've been missing out for so many years, but I'm glad to have tried it and am an instant fan of this place. The food was tasty and delicious, and prepared very well. The prices are reasonable, and the portions are big. The service was excellent. Our server was patient, friendly, and informative. I can't believe she takes care of the entire front of the house: taking orders, bussing tables, running food, answering the phone, managing takeout orders, processing payments, and refilling water. My only issue is the food came out TOO quick. We barely started on the appetizers, and the main course was already out, so it did get a little cold when we were ready to start it. I'm definitely coming back to try other things!

Thursday 7pm dinner for two... First of all the parking is street metered before 6pm or try the alley way which is shared with a apartment building about 7 stalls, but the customer parking sign is graffiti out! Server that night was definitely tired or not in a good mood but did her best to put on a smile towards the end. The food is hands down Burmese tasty and my favorite was the smooth palates bread with pineapple fried rice and curry. The seating was a little close and can't help but hear your neighbors chats at times. I requested music be changed to traditional music like Burmese right ? apparently the Burmese owner likes jamming island style music that whole night... kind out of place vibe. Come for the food at least .

First time eating here at King St location close to Puck's Alley. Metered parking on the street. Restaurant is clean. Patrons are seated as per covid guidelines. The tea salad: interesting taste. . Not sure what spices are used in this dish, but it was odd. Heard good things about it, but I wouldn't order it again. Tofu salad: tofu was nice and crunchy. The spices and cilantro was quite tasty. Pleasant to my pallet. It's something I would order again. Very filling. The lamb dish was gamey in taste and the quality of the lamb was not good. A lot of grizzle so it was chewy. Would not order this again. Sham noodles was delicious. Chicken was very tender. Mohinga like eating Angel hair pasta in soup. Quite delicious. Loved it spicy hot. There are no desserts served, although it was on the menu. After a heavy meal, it sure would have been nice to have dessert at the end of the meal. If it is not something you offer, then perhaps you should remove it from the menu. The waitress was excellent. She was pleasant and kept our water refilled. Perhaps she was the best part of lunch. Overall only 3 stars. I was expecting a better dining experience . Many options to select from. If I return to this restaurant, perhaps I should order what everyone else is ordering.

Food is ok. Maybe a little more than ok. . Service made the food taste bad. We were sat in the middle of the restaurant and it was more than half empty. We wanted a more private table but the waitress was so rude and insisted no other tables were available. Hello? Then she was in a hurry to get everyone out because she said they close early once the tables are all cleared. If you notice when driving by, they're hardly consistently open till published closing time of 10:00PM. . It's a pity. best to call for takeout

Salt & Pepper Calamari [12] // Crispy Tofu with Salad Filling [10] // Appetizer Sampler [11] // Dagon Tea Leaf Salad [12] // Appetizer Sampler [11] // Myeik's Thai Noodles [14] // Lamb Masala Curry [16] // Skillet Shrimp [15] // Lamb Biryani [16] // Eggplant Tofu [11] The Dagon Tea Leaf Salad is by far my FAVORITE dish here. the different textures from the greens, beans, nuts and sprouts with the the light & refreshing lime finish makes the salad SO easy and enjoyable to eat. My family collectively agrees that the crispy tofu is also unrivaled as the best appetizer. the outside of the tofu is super crispy while the inside is still soft, and they fill it with a similar salad to the tea leaf salad, finished off with a lemon juice & fish sauce. the appetizer sampler consists of samosas, split pea fritters (that tasted like smol falafels!), vegetarian spring rolls and fried tofu (which was THE CREAMIEST tofu I've ever had btw, it tasted like a fluffy potato tempura). other favorites were Myeik's Thai Noodles since it featured flat, wide, chewy rice noodles, the Salt & Pepper Calamari which came in smol rings that were battered perfectly with lots of salt & pepper flavor, and the Skillet Shrimp that went even better with the butter Palata bread that we ordered at the end. I will admit the Palata bread was a lot more oily than we had hoped, but it reminded me of a Taiwanese Scallion Pancake which I absolutely love. The food was bomb as always but on our latest visit, our server was pretty unpleasant and it made us a little uncomfortable. We were a party of 8 that had made a reservation, and as a server that also works in a small restaurant I understand that large parties can be a handful. I think we were pretty good customers who never asked for much (not even waters lol) but it felt like she gave us so much attitude the entire time. Everyone in our party felt uncomfortable and we tried not to extend our stay for too long because of it. I love love loved the food here but it just kind of sucked that the service brought my view of this place down a little, especially because we had brought a guest and she was visibly unhappy with how we were treated too.

It was our first time dining at Dagon & had various dishes. The tea leaf salad and palaef ? (bread ) stood out and were the best and amazingly delicious. However, it would be nice if the ambiance/condition of restaurant were cleaner instead of smelling old & mildew odor . And if there was more available parking . Difficult to find street parking in that area and there's only few parking stalls in very small , one way parking lot . The menu posted on Yelp needs to be updated to reflect entire menu not just partial . And it would be great if they were open earlier instead of 5pm - especially for takeouts.

First time trying Burmese food, and loved it so much we came back the next day!! Let me make it easier for you, and let you know all the best dishes so far: 1) Shan noodle 2) Lamb curry with Palatha on the side (same curry as in the combo, but bigger portion & includes lamb) 3) Basil chicken 4) Tea leaf salad - the cabbage one, not lettuce Give this place a try, it's so delicious!!!

This is as good as it gets for Burmese food in hawaii ! 2 Burmese restaurants, own by same family = do what I want and how I treat customers cause we have no other competition. I keep telling my friends in the Bay Area to open up shop down here. Came here cause a friend wanted to try even after i warned him I didn't care much for this place from my pass experiences. Food is ok ! Not good , but ok ! Fish dishes = frozen fish Service crappy as the last time ! I live by their sister restaurant Rangoon and because it's so bad here , I don't want to give their sister restaurant business whatsoever !

Love this place and come here all the time! They are usually very consistent with great flavors. Musts for me are the burmese tea leaf salad and chili chicken (or shrimp). Usually get 3-4 things and do family style so I've tried a lot on the menu... I havent run into something that wasnt good!

This is such a highly reviews restaurant and I'm dumbstruck why we got such terrible food. It wasn't cheap food and the owner has another very highly reviewed restaurant. I'm just extremely surprised. Maybe takeout wasn't a good idea? I'm sorry for a bad review. I hate giving bad reviews for a highly rated restaurant. This review is for takeout. The girl at the cashier packed salad in a separate bag away from the hot food. Thoughtful and nice. Started with the sambusas. They are deep fried I realize but they shouldn't ooze out oil when I hold them, right? The filling was mostly bland. Burmese food boasts of flavors which are definitely missing. Got the tea leaf salad. I order tea leaf salad whenever at a Burmese place and I love this dish. It was bland. Lacked seasoning. And the tea leaf mixture was very bitter. The Nan Gyi Dok (with chicken) had very little chicken to begin with. The addition of crispy noddles isn't bad. Rice noodles are a tad thick. It isn't a bad dish per se but I was hoping to get wah more flavors than what I got. The chilli lamb was nice and spicy. But the lamb pieces could be juicier and better quality. They were very rubbery. There was a ton of spices and so the heat kinda made up for it. They asked what rice I wanted with the lamb and gave me options of white , brown , or Indian flavored. I opted for the Indian flavored. It's pulao/ish and costs 7$. They used basmati grains I think (or some long grain rice). Tbh the lamb and rice were our favorites, relatively speaking. I prolly won't be dining here again if I visit. I'm hoping they had a bad night, that's all.

We REALLY enjoyed our meal at Dagon. This was one of the locations we tried when indoor dining was once again allowed in October and it was such a fantastic choice :) FOOD: We ordered the spicy chili beef, garlic noodles, homestyle fried rice, and their palata (pan-fried multi-level bread). I've never had Burmese food in my life and I loved every single thing I ate this night. Especially the palata - everyone must order this because it will blow your mind. SERVICE: We visited Dagon on a Saturday night around 6:30 pm. Thankfully, there was a table available - we had no idea we should've made reservations but we got lucky this night. They only had one server working this night and it was a little difficult to place our order, ask for more water, order more food, and ask for the check. This was the only thing that turned us off; the server was friendly but she just seemed so preoccupied taking phone orders, bussing tables, taking orders, seating guests, etc. LOCATION: Dagon is a small location with less than 10 tables right now. We parked on King St. where it's free parking after 6 pm, I believe. Will we return? Absolutely!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!! One of my favorite cuisine experiences on island to date. This was the first time I tried Burmese food and quickly realized that it is not a cuisine that is showcased enough. The tea leaf salad was one of the most delicious items that we ordered, but nothing lacked any flavor. I highly suggest ordering family style and trying options from each section of the menu. We allowed the server to basically choose for us and it was the right decision!

This spot is great for good food in a casual setting. We came in on a Saturday night, and brought our own wine to enjoy with dinner (the restaurant allows BYOB!) Food: Started with sambusas for the table, and they allowed us to add one extra since we were a party of 5 and the usual serving is 4. They were so good! Hot, crispy, and really fresh potato and onion filling inside. Came with a sweet and slightly spicy sauce which went well. Then for mains, we got the lamb curry and garlic noodles with chicken. The flavor of the lamb curry was very good, had a lot of flavors similar to Indian cuisine. We ordered it with coconut rice, which is actually more of a pilaf than the coconut rice I normally have gotten from other restaurants in the past. The garlic noodles had a nice flavor, but could have been hotter. We really enjoyed the flavors, but thought that the food could have been spicier. Overall a great spot for a dinner with friends while visiting Honolulu!

Each weekend during this strange year, we look forward to trying new restaurants for take-out. Recently, we finally tried Dagon, the only Burmese restaurant maybe in the entire state. Burmese food shares flavors with its neighbors; if you like Indian and Thai, you'll probably like Burmese. We had delivery and tried three dishes: a red curry fish, creamy chicken curry, vegetarian spring rolls, and plenty of rice. The flavors are complex and delicious; it was fun to have two very different dishes. I absolutely loved the chili sauce that accompanied the rolls and used that on most of my food. There were some negatives to our experience, but they won't stop us from ordering again. I felt the portion sizes were very small for the price. As the food is rich and flavorful, we had leftovers, but they didn't stay fresh due to the additions in the sauce. I feel like the experience would be much better actually eating at the restaurant, and finishing the food fresh. Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to do that soon. In the meantime, if you're looking for something different, Dagon is a great place to try.

COVID-ERA takeout review... I headed here in the pouring rain. It was the perfect weather for a warm, flavorful Burmese meal. Chicken Pumpkin Stew Very mild, lightly spiced, TONS of chicken thigh pieces, mine only had a couple bits of kabocha squash. Not sure a lot of people would complain about that. A touch oily for me (probably because I got so much meat!) but not enough to be an actual problem... Dagon Tea Leaf Salad One of two tea leaf salads they sell, this one had a much vaguer menu description as a "traditional mixture." Having had the other one before, I gave this one a try. It was already tossed and much more funky and garlicky. Still that delicious, bitter, sharp flavor and all the glorious crunch of the nuts and lentils. It was even still crunchy when I ate the leftovers the next day. Yum. Coconut Rice! It's not listed on some versions of the menu but this was the standout of my meal. You'd never think that the starch would be my favorite thing. A light coconut steamed jasmine rice topped with fried shallots and green onions. So simple and just fantastic! GET THIS!