Review General Kai - Auckland Central

Guo Ling

Dropped by General Kai for dinner for the first time. My better half heard of them when they were a food truck so here we are. Nice new clean restaurant setup. Ordered four dishes off the menu which has various Asian cuisine to choose from. Food was tasty but did not really wowed us tremendously. Friendly and smiley staffs. Thank you

Courtney Sit

Great modern pan-Asian fare opened by the guys who started the Kai Eatery food truck. A great mix of Asian cuisines including Japanese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese and Chinese - unlike some other places, all the dishes were done really well. And the highly recommended Kai Fried Chicken has to be some of the crunchiest I have had in a while. The pearls on my tea were a bit too soft for my liking, but I enjoyed the modern atmosphere and service. Hope it stays in the area and tastes just as good when I come back next.

Jae Park

Simple homely food. Affordable and tasty, the staff were very friendly and helpful.

Jack

Great casual dining experience. Clean and tidy. Good variety of dishes. Would go back.

Hoi Ting Phoebe Leung

delicious food but a bit pricey, nice place as well

David Ting

General Kai has definitely brought his A game over from Kai Eatery to the competitive Asian food scene that is Dominion Road. The signature fried chicken is every bite as tasty as the original XL chicken (beats the Colonel's chicken anyday). There was little wait time between our dishes, yet they all tasted fresh and piping hot. No doubt an excellent hangout spot to wow your friends with a mean feed!

NZ Little G Jimny

Yummy food! I recommend the Kung Pao chicken and the Five Spices duck pancake. Love the crispy pancake. The place is nice and cozy. The staff are great and helpful with the menus. They accept zomato gold here. Lots of parking available in the side of the building. The place needs a bigger sign as its hard to locate when you are driving.

Lilith Peng

Good ambience and great service but food is a little pricey and small portions

afsana haque

Had fried chicken, it was ok...quantity not qorth $15...Kai Eatery XL chicken is better value. Also had peach tea with black pearl...there nothing special about it. Tried their white pearl...it taste like lychee but I will stick with the original black pearls.

Nelson Tan

The lamb and pad thai beef is pretty good

Sports CarRental

Great place to eat interesting Chinese fusion cuisine. Reasonably priced and interesting dishes. Love to have more places like this in our neighbourhood, well done. Tom Rosentreter >>>>> SportsCarRental.co.nz <<<<<

Vivian L

Very friendly staff member, Mapo tofu is very nice, fried chicken is tasty - crispy outside and very juicy inside. A bit expensive and generally nice experience.

Cecil Croucher

Nice bright cafe. The raw fish was fantastic. The spring rolls and the chicken speciality was very good. Pleasant obliging staffo

Nichapat Rintaka

Nice present food, good taste yum

Icyicy Guo - 25%OFF GOLD Membership Code: ICYI7584

Good spot, easy parking, nice&comfy seating. Food was good and reasonably priced. Good selection of non-alcoholic drinks. Foods are tasty~ Special note to Chilli Dumpling, Pot stickers, Chilli Beef~ In general the flavours are very good. Could do with more or a variety of menu choices though. Zomato gold worked well.

Nicole Choy

Thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We ordered the chicken bao, fried chicken and seafood pad thai. Food presentation was nice as well. Couldn’t fault anything. Ambiance was good, fairly new restaurant by the looks of it. Would definitely recommend this!!!!

EyeVan Ho

It was ok... Their fried chicken was the star of the show! But everything else was just a bit above average.

Katy Wang

Food was nice. What upset me was the Zomato gold service. I went in by myself and asked if they do takeaways on Zomato Gold, the waiter said no, only dine in. I said fine I will have it here then. Then he said nothing. After I finished my meal and was ready to pay, the waiter told me I cannot use Zomato Gold because it requires at least 2 people sharing meal together, he said he can show me the regulations then he took a regulations card out from somewhere under the counter. I was like why didn’t you show me this before I order anything?? I mean really? Yeah it is part of my own fault coz I should have checked the rules, but shouldn’t the restaurant be honest and tell the client how to use Zomato Gold?

Adrian Mak

enjoyed the food! service was a little slow but it seemed like they were understaffed on the floor but couldn’t really complain on an overall

Jeremy Tan

Great food and good service even though was a bit understaffed. Recommend the shumai and the fried chicken with a bowl of braised pork rice.

William Van Roosmalen

Warning don’t order the large fried chicken by yourself you will not be able to help yourself and may feel slightly sick after eating the whole thing. The food here was delicious and cheap with Gold pricing. The prawn pad Thai was flavoursome and fresh. The only let down would have been one pancake for five dollars, which was said to be enough for two people. A small shortage of service but it may be just teething problems. Would go again.

HJ

This place has potential! But due to the slow food service during our visit it didn’t reach above average for us. We ordered the Crispy chicken bao, Seasonal veggies and the Mapo tofu with a side of rice. This was plenty for the two of us! Unfortunately the timing of the dishes was really slow and let them down. There was quite a wait for all our dishes and we received the bao first and also the rice, which we thought was odd and assumed our mains wouldn’t be far off because of it. But by the time our mains came the rice was cold. However they were happy to replace it on request (and ended up taking it off the bill). Now on to the food.. the Crispy chicken bao was yum, with a light non greasy or oily crispy chicken. The sauce was good but it could’ve done with more (.. I like sauce ok! Especially if it’s good). The Mapo tofu was tasty and was quite spicy. The Seasonal veggies was just bok choy - it would’ve been nice to have a few different veggies like broccoli or cauliflower rather than just the one. We had requested for tofu to be added so thankfully that added a bit more to the dish. The staff were good, and helped us with the menu and selecting what they thought were the best dishes. They were also happy to fit us in for a last minute booking. The restaurant is really clean and tidy with a modern lux vibe so would be a great date night spot. Book ahead to be safe ☺️

Nathalie

3 and half Stars - Dined here for dinner and the place wasn’t too busy. We were seated promptly. Staff were super friendly and the place is a little small and quite dark (some people were using their flash light to read the menu). We were super excited to try their food because of all the good reviews. We ordered Kumara fries, dumplings, duck pancake, fried chicken, lamb with cumin and mango snow ice with a total bill of nearly $90 for two people (no drinks). The Kumara fries were good and well cooked they added these sweet powder you get from churros therefore it’s too sweet for our liking. Dumpling was really yummy! One of the best one. Then everything else was average - fried chicken tasted like the ones from take away and the sauce was just mayonnaise it would have been better to have another sauce, lamb dish had a weird texture like super soft (similar to takeaway meat texture) and the flavours were very subtle and duck pan cake - well there wasn’t any duck to be honest it was all duck skin, very hard to chew also no sauce it was all a bit too dry. Despite the average dishes we did enjoy the mango dessert. Overall we had an “ok” experience and the place is good for snacking and drinking milk tea.

Wesley Ong

Delicious food and friendly service.

Jess Freedom

The vietnamese waiter was so amazing! He was so amazing from when we seated up until the very end! He was super patient and gave us recommendations as it was our first time there. The service we received was the best experience I've ever had at any restaurant I've ever been to. I felt very comfortable and everything he recommended was heavenly! I do have a thing for Kumara fries though so my favourite was that! The pork belly bao was my friend's favourite and can't blame him, that was also delicious!

Angadh P

Whatever food we ordered on table was spot ON!!!

Nitya Lakshmanan

I came here for dinner with friends and we absolutely loved it, both the service and food. We were highly recommended this restaurant because of our love for Kai eatery in town. When we walked in we were greeted and immediately seated. The service was outstanding, the waiter accidentally dropped a wine glass (not ours) but he profusely apologised for the noise and mess. We ordered the chicken bites, spring rolls, beef tataki, pork belly bao and sizzling beef. The highlight has to be the beef tataki, it was amazingly flavoursome and tender. All dishes though were great, very little to fault about the food. As mentioned before, the service was extremely friendly and welcoming. Highly recommend General Kai!

Uyen Ngo

I am impressed with this place! Customer service was really good. If you are struggling to decide the waiter there is really helpful and helps you pick the best dishes. The food was perfect, in love with the dumplings with sichuan sauce, and the vietnamese chicken salad 🥰. The place was decorated beautifully too. Would love to come here again 👋

Fluir Wu

Went with my family of 4 and we ordered 3 big dishes, 1 small dish, and one side (kumara fries---they were so good!). Everyone was very happy with their order and enjoyed it heaps, service was good and friendly. Would definitely revisit!

Lucy

A newly opened restaurant located on Dominion Road. Small but cozy environment, the mix of contemporary and traditional decor really styled the place up. They also have lovely tableware and cutleries. We ordered the Beef Tataki, Dumpling with Sichuan chili sauce, Sizzling lamb with cumin and Pad Thai. The beef tataki tasted very traditional. Being overfed of ‘fusioned’ beef tataki, this was actually very delicious. The dumplings were also excellently flavored. The lamb tasted artificial and the quality of meat was average (too much fat). The pad thai used excessive fish sauce and tasted a bit too strong. Very friendly and helpful staff. However he seems a bit stretched as the place had gotten busy. Would be keen to try out their other menu and bubble tea next time. Taste: 7.5/10 Presentation: 8/10 Service: 9/10 Ambience: 10/10 Value for money: 8.5/10 Price $35 per person

Ashwin Alex

Food was beyond expectations, service can be a bit slow as only one guy is out there. Very friendly and accommodating with customers. The dumplings in Szechuan chilli oil was amazing. Tried Pad Thai (the best) and sizzling beef in black pepper (was expecting it to be a bit spicy, but was not) with extra rice. Definitely would come back for more. Had Zomato gold and no issues. Was really hungry ,forgot to take pics. :( Thank you Allen for the wonderfully made food and warm smile.

James Zhu

Great service and great food. Definitely recommend the fried chicken, very flavourful and moist! Very rarely do you get this perfect combination of moist chicken and crispy tasty skin 😍

Holly Picot

It was the first time I came to this place and it will definitely not be my last. The food was delicious. We had the signature fried chicken. It came out fresh from the fryer so it was super crispy and juicy in the middle. —very good flavour too. The dumplings in chilli oil and green beans were also yummy. I look forward to trying the other things in the menu next time.

Mansi Jain

Great service , good food. Would love some vegetarian options

Chanara Ourng

I would absolutely recommend this place for lunch or dinner. My bf and I entered the door and we were greeted with a friendly smile. Once our orders were taken it didnt take long for the food to arrive. The flavors are on point, I love how it's kinda like asian fusion so it was like chinese, vietnamese and thai ☺️. My favourite thing on the menu was the XL chicken, so for any fried chicken lovers out there this is the place to go! 10/10

Sorry_vonguenumber

Nice little place, a bit far from other restaurants making it easier for parking. Staff very friendly and helpful. Food is great. Love the Hanoi Chicken Salad, the Crispy chicken bites tasty and the potstickers are real good too.

Ms. Piggy Loves Food

My best friend and I decided to drop by for dinner and enjoy their anniversary set meal. It was really worth the price. In general their meals is big enough to share when you add on rice or their plain pancakes. The set meal was too much for a small eater like me. I brought my own sistema boxes for left overs. The chicken bites was delicious as usual. Hot and crispy and not drowning in batter. If you do go on a normal day, try out their Sichuan dumplings. The sauce is so amazing that I wish they could also have it with the crispy chicken. Their kung po chicken was spicy but flavorful, best eaten with rice although there was more peanuts than necessary. We also ordered the sizzling beef. Once again, it was delicious, the capsicum gave it color. I would add a bit more black pepper to the gravy. The portion was too much for me that I packed it and had it for lunch the next day with ramen noodles.

Miura Elikana

This is a nice place for a relaxing dinner. The waiter was prompt, respectful and efficient. Gave good recommendations as well. I recommend the spring rolls, the sauce that comes with these rolls are💯💯👍🏾. The Taiwanese pancake is delicious, slightly disappointed with the duck portion. The duck was succulent and cooked to perfection. The kumara fries are sooo good. The soft, fluffy inside and the crispy battered texture are a good combination. Try dipping it in the sauce that comes with the spring rolls 🤯. The milk tea was good, a tad creamier than the average. Had it with brown sugar pearls which sounds sweet but it’s perfectly fine. Recommend this place for their great food and good service = overall good experience.

@foxysfoodfinds

@foxysfoodfinds Food: Cumin lamb, har gow, fried chicken on point. Overall: Great mix of Asian without fusion fails. Xtra: Kumara flour in fried chicken batter a treat! You should go here: Yes, worth a visit.

Nicole Mae Flores

Staff was a bit stretched when we went. The restaurant was slightly busy with only 2 staff to mind the floor but they still tried to cater to us eventhough they were running around already. The food was amazing though with the fried chicken, scallion pancake and beans with mince being my favourite. We ordered a bit too much between two people but we certainly did not expect the portions to be big. The ambience was quiet, perfect for a sunday night dinner. All in all would definitely go again.

Jhye21

Friendly staff We just ordered bubble tea from them. It was great bubble tea. I can taste and smell the real tea!!!!! Not like cheap bubble tea. Quantity was alright too. I would love to go for bubble tea again!

Brian Foose

General Kai offers great food, good range of selection. The staff is friendly service is great. The Taiwanese fried chicken is so good. Will definitely visit again and again.

Hurricanegirl

A cute little restaurant in a quieter part of Dominion Road. The service is alway super friendly and helpful, with the staff happy to recommend their favourite dishes. We ordered spring rolls, Sichuan dumplings, five spice duck roll, fried chicken and kumara fries. Was it too much food for two people? Yes. Did we eat it all anyway because it was too delicious to leave behind? Also yes. The kumara fries are the best kumara fries you’ll ever eat. The cocktails and bubble tea options are also fantastic, the yuzu jasmine sour is my favourite.

Jagabee

Dined here with a large group a week ago. Food and service was good though food service was a bit on the slow side. Fried chicken was excellent. Overall good experience but most dishes slightly expensive for the type of food served. 8/10

Bella Luv Food

Lovely friendly staff was the first impression. Not a new combination food + milk tea but hey, we always need more places like this to catch up with friends where everyone can find something to fit his preference. Great benefit from 2+2 zomato gold drinks, we really enjoy the milkteas and their homemade brown sugar pearl was nice. Fair price and portion. Recommended dumpling and fried chicken pieces.

Jay Pham

It was an amazing dinner and service. Thank you, General Kai. Top 3 in my favourite dishes are kungbao chicken, fried chicken anf bun mang ga!

Steve Neate

First visit was a rainy Mother's Day afternoon. Nice welcome, decor, light, sound level all easy on the mind. Had a smashing cocktail each and ordered some dumplings, noodle soup and a duck pancake. The food arrived smoothly and each mouthful was a genuine treat. Fresh and lively flavours and well proportioned. The price was right. We will be going back with friends and suggest you try it too.

Charlotte Rasmussen

Came here today for Mother’s Day and it was the perfect long lunch spot! Amazing food, great service and a elegant interior, definitely a step up from a lot of the restaurants on dominion road. Sichuan dumplings and the pork pan fried dumplings were a highlight. The fried chicken, which they are famous for, was perfectly crunchy and moreish without being too oily. We also got the small chicken soup entre each (I forgot the name) which was so tasty would highly recommend! Honestly everything we ate here exceeded expectations, we will definitely be back!!

Tony

What a pleasant surprise! Honestly this is one of the best asian restaurant in Auckland! Especially the Five Spiced Duck Roll and Kai Signature Fried Chicken. A very friendly manager also suggested us to try this brand new take on Pad Thai. And it was indeed amazing! Even better than most of Thai places I try before. Definitely will come again!

Alena Hu

Really friendly staff. Love the chill vibe. Excellent food. We loved every dish. My favourite was the duck pancake and the snow ice. 100% Will come back again!

Coral

We got the signature kumara fries, spiced beef roll and the signature fried chicken. The fries are a smaller portion and more expensive here than at Kai Eatery. Overall, the food was yum but pricy for the portions. The pancakes had little meat. I suggest going to Kai Eatery for your cheaper food fix.

Alice

Nice clean environment and friendly staffs. Food is delicious, but slightly pricey because of it’s portion. We tried the Oonlong milktea and Jasmine milktea, both has strong tea flavour, which is how I liked.

Food Explorer

Food and service was good. Fried chicken was nice, batter was crispy and not too thick. Would have been a much better experience if their music wasn’t blasting into our ears. Would suggest that they hang the speaker up instead of placing it right next to the table.

Petitesweetsnz

Came here just for drinks, but will be back for meals including my fav Taiwanese fried chicken! The bubble teas were nice, good strong tea flavour and love the brown sugar pearls

Ray Lee

Very good food and the drink is spot on if you want bubble tea that doesn’t give you sugar high. Remember to get the fried chicken! Friendly staff too

LiLi Bee

The location of the restaurant is a bit further out away from the hustle and bustle, so parking was easy. The place is clean and tidy. We had ordered fried chicken, spicy sichuan beef, and green beans. All delicious and full of flavour. Staff were also nice and attentive.

Lilly M. Jane

Highly recommended! The service is amazing, so friendly and lively. As for the food we ordered: scallion pancake, the recommended chicken small plate (with 2 bowls od rice/ the chicken just melts in your mouth, really well done), the pork&choy sum(?) potstick (pan fried dumplings) and taro bubble tea and classic bubble tea. The dish were all fresh and hot, really tasty stuff. The drinks weren't those heavy milk tea you typically get at other places, it was light and it was done by those who knows how bubble tea should taste like. Price is quite cheap. The staffs are just so friendly. Lively atmosphere, lots of people.

Jun

The food was not bad (had the chicken, noodles, dumplings, tofu) and the environment is nice and clean. Service was great too. However the portions seem to be quite small and pricey so probably not a place I would go regularly but still great for every once in a while.

Young920926

You don’t get the milk tea which you thought on the meat. No pudding in the pudding milk tea. According to them, that’s pudding powdered. Don’t know about the main. However when you think about the overpriced duck roll. All you get will be like 10g duck for 13 bucks. According to them, lots of people like that portion. Not mention that we have to help ourselves to get the menu cause no one give that to you for 5 minutes. When the waiter looking at you and you raise your hand, he won’t come to take the order. Food takes a bit long to be cooked. You better order some liquor so you can’t forget the time.

Jimmy Wei

I really loved the customer service of this place, not only did they recommend what was popular but also something different aka the white pearls. The atmosphere was awesome! Keep up the good work team 🙂

Razelle Icaro

Heard about this new restaurant being opened by the owner of Kai Eatery, and I was thrilled about them having an actual dine-in restaurant rather than just a food truck. Unfortunately they don't serve the XL Taiwanese fried chicken they have at Kai Eatery but they did have chicken nibbles which I thought were really good, best paired with the kumara fries. The potstickers were good, although slightly a bit salty. Overall this place was good, although the serving sizes were a bit small for its price.

Karen Rodriguez

This was my first time at General Kai and I was really impressed. The kumara fries and dumplings in chilli were awesome. Service was great too. Definitely recommend it!

Bao Ngoc Tieu

I had a good time dinning with my friends. Amazing foods, cosy and friendly setting. The highlight was the Premium Vintage Black Latte, highly recommend it. Will come back.

Sean Liew

Really enjoyed having a meal with close friends at this restaurant. Food and service were top notch. Will be back with the family and add this to our rotation.

J Eats

Got the chicken pancake, dumplings in chilli oil, sweet and sour pork and jasmine milk tea. Highlight was dumplings in chilli oil - had a herbal fragrance to it which was 👌. Jasmine milk tea was surprisingly good but the white pearls were just okay. Other 2 dishes were standard. Was hoping for the XL chicken to be on the menu but it wasn’t.

KK

Been to GK with my friends. The place is so warm with cordial hospitality and their authentic Food varieties. The presentation of foods were so good that you’ll dive into food right away. Keep GK in your fav list \m/

Cecilia Kim

Food was fantastic, so much variety . If you want decent Asian style food , this is the place to come with group of friends or family. Very cosy and friendly environment. Drink is also another thumbs up, they made special fruity cocktail and it was one of the best drinks Ive ever tasted . Easy access and service was quick and professional 👍

Tina Chueh

A+ restaurant, the bubble tea and oolong snow ice were on point! Definitely coming back for more. The food was great and the atmosphere was nice and relaxing. Not to noisy. Great for catching up with family and friends.

Rong Shi

Awesome new place for a variety of authentic Asian cusine. Was a loyal customer at their Kai eatery and this new place didn't disappoint. Ordered their five spiced duck roll, beef check red curry, chicken bite and Bung Mung Ga (pho). My favourite was the duck roll and curry, super flavourful. The chicken bite is a must, basically why I kept on coming back. Highly recommend their cocktail, tried the whiskey sour which was unexpectedly on-point. Ambiance was spacious, clean and modern, service was friendly, definitely will be our new spot to hang.

Tom Wong

I came here as I like Kai Eatery in the city, and was very pleasantly surprised! The food was amazing and the price was more reasonable than I thought . Usually these places get quite expensive due to the nature of a Bao being $10 and it takes a few to fill up a normal person

David Ting

General Kai has definitely brought his A game over from Kai Eatery to the competitive Asian food scene that is Dominion Road. The signature fried chicken is every bite as tasty as the original XL chicken (beats the Colonel's chicken anyday). There was little wait time between our dishes, yet they all tasted fresh and piping hot. No doubt an excellent hangout spot to wow your friends with a mean feed!

Tanz

I went there on their first week. The location is alright, a bit hard to find. It’s just right before the gas station. The place looked alright. The service was ok. We ordered few dishes and they got it wrong. And I thought it was a complimentary or it came with the dish we ordered so I didn’t ask the waitress. We found out when we paid that she got wrong order though she repeated what I ordered correctly at the table. I’m not quite sure how did that happened. Anyway the food....matcha milk tea with white pearls. The tea was alright, I had better somewhere else. The white pearls as advised by the waitress that they are softer and healthier(?) I don’t know why?!?! But I will just stick with black pearls. Fried chicken was a highlight. So crispy and tasty! Sichuan beef was alright, a bit oily for my taste. Crispy chicken bao was alright. Chicken was on point but I think they should fo something to make sauce blend in better. Rice with mince pork we didn’t order this. It was alright but I don’t understand why it’s $5 for plain rice and some pork belly sauce. They have a lot to improve. Going back again here? Umm I have to think about it.

Tony Ma

The food is delicious. Highly recommend the deep fried chicken nibbles. Absolutely delicious. The other dishes were all very yummy too. However downside being the dishes are quite expensive seeing the shop is in the end of Dominion Road. Highly recommended for a good feed. Service: 5/5 Food Quality: 5/5 Food Quantity: 4/5 Environment: 4/5 Presentation: 3/5 Price per person: $50-$60

LuNa The TuNa

KAI used to sell delicious Taiwan deep fried chicken at night market. I have heard they open a restaurant at mt roskill,decided to try. Fried chicken was super delicious！ salt pepper lamb and spicy beef were good, too. Bubble tea was just average, but i've try their slushy before, that was good. All these food ans drinks cost ＄110. Not cheap, but taste nice. So moneies worth.

Alas

Nice Decor. Friendly staff. The lady that served us was very polite and friendly. Food was good. Its Chinese Fusion. Two people $60 with non alcoholic drinks. Good bubble tea options. And good fluffy shaved ice desserts.

Vanessa Fork

Saturday noon after son's swimming class decided to do a lunch celebration for our anniversary. Decided to try this new place. Parking was easy. Food was good. Even for my picky husband, he admit that the food was good. Atmosphere although window seating for an afternoon is too glaring, the soft music is so nice and relaxing. Would definitely come back again.