Lin’s Hawaiian Snacks

I’d give this place zero stars if I could. I ordered a mango shave ice because I kept on coming across the picture of it on ads. I finally made it in only to find out that the chunks of mango were previously frozen. Not even fresh, this season mango frozen but most definitely the store bought type. They were sour, very mushy, and stringy. I couldn’t finish it. I left my reusable bag in my car because I wasn’t going to need it. I bought a few snacks that I could’ve easily carried out to my car but the associate rang me up for $.50 for a huge paper bag without asking (which is the usually common courtesy). She didn’t tell me but I saw it on my receipt. I probably wouldn’t care at all about the .50 bag but my mango was disgusting…

Snacks: Really yummy! Best place to get local snacks.
Bubble Tea: So-​So. The boba was hard, not soft like it’s supposed to be.
Customer Service: Usually fine, but when I went in last night, the girl at the register was preoccupied writing something down. She greeted me when I walked in, but did not take her eyes away from whatever she was doing. I stood at the counter, ready to order, and still, did not take her eyes away from her paper. She rang up my order and gave me my bubble tea, thanked me, and still, no genuine eye contact.
I didn’t realize until after I walked out the door feeling unsettled that this was so rude! It felt like I was bothering her or something. Not the kind of feeling I’m used to getting from small businesses, especially in Hawai’i. :(
Overall, still love their products, but bummed about the lack of genuine customer service.

Hands down one of my favorite crack seed stores when I’m in the area! Lin’s is like your old mom and pop crack seed store you used to go but have more options. Items range from bubble drinks, smoothies, iced teas, dried fruit, fresh fruit, shave ice, local style candy, and of course crack seed. They even have selections for sale by the pound in the big jars! Their selections make good gifts as well. They sometimes have special gift baskets and bundles.
Parking though… There’s street parking but there’s also paid parking. Not sure how strict they are but I usually can find street parking. Pricing is pretty decent as well, depending on different items. If you’re not in the mood to buy a regular size, you can always opt out for their dollar candy wall which has a pretty big selection of different candies like gummy ropes, rock candy, and more. It’s about a one serving size. Not in the mood for candy? They also sell fresh fruits as well once in a while. In the past I’ve seen pineapple, papaya, and more. They even have Li hing pineapple in the back fridge.
I really enjoy their made to go counter. If you like Li hing Mui, I suggest trying the Li hing slush and if you like boba (tapioca balls), add it as well. Salty but yet seed :) You will not regret it! Their shave ice is pretty good especially their mango special. With the different options it’s sometimes hard to choose from.

Just got a Jasmine honey tea with tapioca. The boba is hard and chewy. Not the consistency it’s supposed to be. It’s probably old… also the drink has a little sour taste to it. Probably from the boba? I love this place for the snacks like the sour watermelons or the sour apples. I also love the arare choices here too! I would come here for their packaged snacks. probably will go somewhere else for drinks and shaved ice.
Note: when I was there. I saw the girl at the register touching her nose while handling a customer’s shave ice. There was also a guy there that came from the back (where they prepare your drinks and shaved ices) that was touching his hair. Kinda gross.

All I can say is that I love their blended bubble tea drinks. My drink of choice is the Taro Coconut with pearls. The size is perfect and the price is right. Plus, they have a drink card that rewards all of your purchases — love that! They have tons of other snacks, but I never get them. I am all about the bubble tea and they never disappoint. I have tried name blended bubble teas (taro/​coconut) and Lin’s has the best one that I have found.

Grew up in Hawaii and cracked seed was my candy. Chocolate? No thanks … give me li hing mui any and every day.
I now live in CA and have been looking for good cracked seed for YEARS but to no avail. Found a few places online and ordered it and the seeds were sweetened with aspartame and were nothing like before. GROSS
Found Lins market online and I am now happy as a clam. These seeds are the best. They use sugar … Not chemicals like aspartame and honestly their spices are even better than when i was a kid. I hesitate to tell you the MOST amazing thing they sell because I’m afraid it will sell out but on the other hand, if I tell you and you buy it they will make more. Okay: the BEST seed EVER: Li Hing Cherry. If I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life it would be this.

One of the last few genuine crackseed stores in Hawaii. Large selection of crack seed and assorted snacks, shaved ice, bubble drinks and a few other odds and ends. If you’re going to the movies at Ward, I’d stop here (right around the corner on Kamakee St.) first to grab some goodies at a way CHEAPER price!

Wow! Wow wow wow! Let me tell you something, this is a place you’ve got to try! Flavored ice teas, milk teas, fruit smoothies, ice blended drinks, shave ices, snow ices, and the best part (i think) crack seeds!
We heard about this place & saw the Unilocal reviews. We just had to try it! My daughter ordered a strawberry snow ice & i ordered a coconut/​taro blended smoothie with coconut jelly. Both items were amazing! Great flavors on both!
The staff were super friendly & knowledgable about their products and had recommendations galore! This is a great place for kids and adults! Come try it out because I know you will leave with a loyalty card! We did… Enjoy!

The snacks here are really good, but the shaved ice is not. If you are looking for some shaved ice, I would recommend going somewhere else. The ice wasn’t that smooth and the flavors tasted super artificial.
But the snacks here are delicious. If you want some li hing candy, fruit or bites to eat, I would recommend this place for that. They come in pouches that are about $ 5 and are perfect size for a snack. By the register, they have tiny sizes for $ 1 so you can pick multiple things if you can’t decide what you want to get.

I’m not really into seeds, but every so often I do crave the sweet saltiness of it. So, being that today was one of those days, I stopped in to Lin’s because they have bunches of these small little bags that are portioned out into just a few seeds or candies in each. They are $ 1.00 per bag, and is just enough to give me my fix. I think if you buy 10, you get 1 free.

The shaved ice was perfect! It was fluffy and soft. I tried 3 flavors– coconut, Lychee, & pineapple and topped the whole thing with condensed milk. Yum!!! Best shaved ice I’ve had on the island!
They had a large selection of candies and fruits. You can’t go wrong with any of the mango slices.

Perfect treat for hot days and to give into that sweet tooth. Their shave ices are a good deal, and you can add the toppings to it too! Each additional topping costs $ 0.75. Be careful it can add up, I added so much extra toppings I paid an additional $ 4 to my smoothie which was around $ 4 to begin with. I am a sucker for their mango smoothie. I came here a few times, and always picked up a mango smoothie with mango popping pearls and add in a bunch of other toppings.
The mango shaved ice is a good deal, and I shared it with two of my other friends. We enjoyed the ice cream on top, and real fruit mango on the size, with condensed milk drizzled on top. I recommend this because it’s sweet, but not overwhelmingly sweet.
They also have a stamp card system! If you know you’re coming back, be sure to pick one up. They have little packages of crack seeds, local snacks, and candy that costs a dollar each. These are great if you wanted to get a little taste of something before dedicating to a whole big bag of the crack seed or candy.

They do have a variety of products. Their seeds however you have to purchase a minimum of $ 5. I wanted a snow ice and that was down! When you have the taste for something because their advertisements drawn you in and they don’t have any? Worse feeling! Then you go up to the cashier with some taste testers and go to pay for items which total less than $ 5 you can’t use your credit card because they have a minimum purchase for that too! Don’t think I’ll be returning!

Beast mode for li hung Mui candy and bubba drink. A most Stop at store.
Just make sure if park you pay for the 2 $ a hour fee otherwise you will come back for a 40 $ ticket. That’s the only reason I would dock a star other then that awesome choices, Sit down area INSIDE and Outside, and good pricing.

This place has a ton of candy. It’s a dream for all you sugaraholics;) I stopped in for a regular shaved ice. In the past few days I have been taking in a lot of refined sugars. :sigh: oh well: I found out that lins candy shop offers sugar free flavors. I was strongly inclined to order one.

There was two girls working the counter. One managing the register, and the other in charge of making the drinks and shaved ice. Service was very slow. I looked at the menu and saw the various flavors of bubble tea, smoothies, and regular tea. All the prices were reasonable affordable.

I informed the young girl that I would like the sugar free orange, vanilla, and strawberry. They ran out of orange so I picked passion fruit as a replacement. When I received my shaved ice I eagerly dug in. It tasted ok. After experiencing shimazu I have high expectations;) The vanilla and strawberry not so much due to the lack of ordering sugar free. Passion fruit was definitely the winner here.

Have you ever seen the sparkle in a local person’s eye when they go to a seed store and see all the big glass jars lined up? One of the highlights of my Mother’s Day yesterday was handing my Mom a Lin’s Hawaiian Snacks gift card, and asking her if she wanted to go down to pick out some goodies. She was ready to go! Dad came along for the ride, and he had fun looking around, too. There are oodles and oodles of old school seed lined up in the jars along the windows of Lin’s, and the friendly staff will offer a sample from the jar if you’re not sure what you want, but for your convenience, almost everything there is also in pre-​packaged bags, ready to grab & go.
But it’s not just a seed store!
Lin’s has all kinds of snacks! Nuts, spam musubi, Chinatown favorites like almond cookies & mac nut and sesame chew candies, sugary treats like gummi bears and all kinds of other gummies, coconut balls… even regular candy and Pez! That’s just the packaged goodies. There are also bubble drinks, Taiwanese style snow ice, shave ice, iced tea and more being made to order at the counter.
Since there’s such a huge variety of merchandise and also since after school, kids congregate at Lin’s for snacks, sometimes there can be a line, but it’s worth it! Just a note: all kids love treats… even low income ones. Please have a little patience when Lin’s has to run an EBT transaction. Yesterday I learned that they cannot do them online so have to manually write out each one. Smile, relax and just know your purchases will be worth the wait.
Finally, Lin’s also has a tent (or maybe more than one – I can’t keep track!) at the Aloha Swap Meet. In addition to most of the packaged goods that you find at the Kamakee location, they offer cut up fruit, li hing pineapple, pears and even whole pineapple. I don’t go to the swap meet often, but I usually stop at the Lin’s tent for some refreshing fruit to snack on. More than once, we’ve also lugged around a huge pineapple to take home as well and they’re always super sweet!

Another stop on my Honolulu «to go» list was to get Hawaiian crackseeds. My friend brought me to «the place» for it, Lin’s Hawaiian Snacks near the Ward Center. They have a parking lot adjacent to the store, but only two free spaces are for Lin’s. The other spots are $ 1/​hr at with payment at the pay station. Just found out from Maile K. that Lin’s refunds the parking fee if you take the ticket into the shop. Great to know for the next visit.
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Walking in to Lin’s, you’ve entered a snack fantasyland. Wall to wall seeds, seafood, Japanese snacks, dried fruits, nuts, gummi/​li-​hing gummis and candy. Filling my order list with li-​hing mango, cherry and mui, lemon and tangerine peel and a last minute call from home for li-​hing gummis for my nephew, everything look so tasty.
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Paying for my goodies, I noticed that they also have shaved ice, bubble and milk/​flavored teas, smoothies and juices. Some patrons were enjoying them in the tables that were in the front of the store.
A great store for all your Hawaiian snack needs. Will be back here during my next trip.

Fantastic place to get crackseed and other local snacks.
There are two free parking stalls in the adjacent lot, otherwise, paid parking @ $ 1/​hr, which can be refunded if you take the ticket into the shop. Unless there is someone with you, you run the risk of getting towed. But then again, I didn’t see tow trucks standing by. Pay station takes bills and credit cards. I do not know if it gives change.
There are two four-​top tables inside and some tables outside to enjoy your bubble drink, smoothie, shave ice or teas and snacks
I purchased two pounds of licorice plum, ¼ lb of sweet whole seed and a passion fruit iced tea. Got my pog stamped for my drink. I grew up buying seed from the glass jars the crackseed stores used and still purchase seeds this way today, even though the shop sells pre-​packaged items.
My go to place for a stress releasing drink!
Enjoy!

I first seen Lin’s Hawaiian Snacks when they were located at Ala Moana Shopping Center on the lower makai side of the center. Since it relocated at the Kamakee Street I have only visited the store a couple times.
As I walked into the store with my mother on my first visit… we both noticed at all the varieties of cracked seeds and candies that they have. I quickly found a small bag of rice candy. I remember of eating this candy in my elementary school days. My mom ended up finding dried lemon. I was ready to pay for the two items when my mom asked if she could have shave ice. Of course I gave in to her request. That’s what a daughter is for right. LOL.
My second visit to the store… I actually walked around the store to see all the salty and sweet goodies that they carry. I can already feel the salt in my mouth just by looking at a bag of rock salt plums or li hing powdered mangoes. I purchased the tamarind candy and the salted red belt candy.
Lin’s Hawaiian Snacks will be my go to place for childhood snacks for the days that I am in the Ward vicinity. One day in the future I will try their shave ice.

After shopping in Ward on a sweltering afternoon, my friend and I decided to stop at Lin’s for a cool and refreshing boba! Located on Kamakee Street next to Phuket Thai, Lin’s offers sweet treats like shave ice and boba as well as popular local snacks.
From milk teas, flavored teas, fruit juices, smoothies, and blended boba, the options are limitless! After a few minutes staring at the menu and mulling over my decision, I ordered a Blended Watermelon Slush with Boba. With tables both inside and outside Lin’s, my friend and I decided to enjoy our drinks inside with the A/​C!
As we sat, a number of patrons flowed in and out, most ordering a variety of boba to sip while they shopped at nearby Ward. I did not explore the rest of the store’s supply of li hing mui and seeds, but I did notice an assortment of $ 1 treats at the front near the cashier! Sometimes, all you want is a handful of li hing mui or sourbelts instead of a large bag. Lin’s conveniently packaged small portions are the perfect sample size and at just $ 1, you can’t go wrong!