Chinese in Houston

8332 SW Freeway Outer Loop - SW

713-988-5838

Chinese, Restaurants, Recommended, Sponsor

The favorite restaurant of Houston's Beijing expat community, this is the place for Peking duck, Peking noodles, meat pies and all the other favored delicacies of the Chinese capital. The lunch special's soup, egg roll and entrée format may be Westernized, but the food is anything but, and you don't have to ask them to make it extra-spicy. This may be the best deal on Chinese lunch in the whole city.

3-6-9 Oriental Bistro

1009 Westheimer Montrose

713-524-8686

Chinese, Restaurants, Recommended, Menu

While this place is clean, modern and serene, a bistro it is not. Sill, the small restaurant in a strip mall has been around for quite a while and does a good takeout business. There are some dishes that are worthwhile, like the Sesame Seaweed Salad, the Crispy Shrimp With Walnuts and the Chicken Wraps.

888 Chinese Restaurant

403 Winkler Dr. Outer Loop - SE

713-644-8888

Chinese, Seafood, Recommended, Menu

888 is a big square room with booths down both sides, tables in the middle and two television sets high on the wall at one end. The clientele includes a lot of Mexican-Americans, and the menu includes some Chinese-Mexican combos like whole mojarra with shrimp fried rice. The mango chicken in garlic sauce is easily the best thing on the menu. It's a tropical-tasting dish that seems only vaguely Chinese.

Aling's Chinese Bistro

6542 US ALT-90, Sugar Land Outside Houston

281-242-0432

Chinese, Indian

Arco Seafood Restaurant

9896 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

713-774-2888

Chinese, Seafood, Best Of

1 article

Auntie Chang's Dumpling House

2621 S. Shepherd Lower Shepherd-Kirby

713-524-8410

Chinese, Recommended, Best Of, Menu, Readers' Choice

Dumplings are done well at Auntie Chang's, but little else about this full-service, strip-center Chinese restaurant near Montrose warrants a stop. The spinach, pork, chicken, beef and shrimp versions are steamed, while the pork version can also be pan-fried. A sampler platter offers two each of four types; top them with your choice of tabletop chili, ginger-soy and jalapeño sauces.

3 articles

Bamboo House

540 Waugh Dr. River Oaks

713-522-3442

Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Recommended, Menu

Bamboo House's serene and spotless interior, with its soothing colors and hip décor, belies its strip-center location. Standard Chinese dishes are served alongside more adventuresome offerings; Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese dishes also make appearances. Prices are slightly higher here than at other Chinese restaurants, but they reflect careful preparation and choice ingredients. Wok-seared beef and leeks, teriyaki rib-eye, oolong sea bass and walnut shrimp are favorites.

Cafe 121 Chinese Restaurant

5727 Westheimer Galleria

713-784-8999

Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Recommended, Menu

This place specializes in pan-Asian cuisine, including Chinese and Vietnamese. They also focus on healthier versions of Asian favorites, using no MSG and only skinless white chicken meat. An extensive menu includes some dishes that are hard to find or not available elsewhere, like soup dumplings and mango shrimp.

Cajun Corner - CLOSED

11526 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

281-530-3474

Chinese, Seafood, Vietnamese, Recommended, Menu

For those who love Cajun-style boiled crawfish, the spicier the better. The Vietnamese-American-owned Cajun Corner sells them all year round, in addition to gumbo, étouffée, chicken wings and a full menu of Cajun specialties. The only dish (besides boiled crawfish) that really stands out is the crawfish fried rice. A separate counter sells the Chinese pork and egg noodle soup called mi, which can be ordered with a variety of meats or seafoods.

1 article

Chengdu Taste

9896 Bellaire Boulevard, Suite A Outer Loop - SW

832-930-8888

Chinese, Szechuan

Chengdu Taste opened mid-May at 9896 Bellaire in Chinatown. The restaurant offers a selection of authentically executed Sichuan dishes that are not completely new to Houston diners. Plates like the deep-fried chicken with dried peppercorns, toothpick lamb with cumin and proteins prepared in boiled hot sauces are standouts. The BYOB policy allows guests to bring their own beverages and there is no corkage fee. Skip the diced rabbit and Chengdu-style fried rice. Reservations are not accepted and wait times can be 15 to 30 minutes long at the usual lunch and dinner times.

1 article

China Garden Restaurant

1602 Leeland St. Downtown/ Midtown

713-652-0745

Chinese, Best Of, Readers' Choice

While the lunch menu is fairly mundane, Americanized Chinese-ish food, the dinner menu here features more traditional fare, including both Mandarin-style and Cantonese-style food, plus dishes typical of other provinces. Examples of some of the more oddly-named dinner entrees: Shrimp Bird's Nest, Slippery Chicken, Peanut with Chicken Ding, and one dish called "Happy Family." Before you laugh, though, you should know that China Garden is considered one of the most authentic Chinese restaurants in Houston.

2 articles

Chinese American Restaurant

11317 Bissonnet Outer Loop - SW

281-498-1280

Chinese, Recommended, Menu

Situated in a funky strip center, this place is well worn and badly in need of updating. But despite the lowly atmosphere, the quality of the food is excellent. Lunch specials start at under five bucks and include all the usual suspects like kung pao chicken, Szechuan beef and so on; the regular menu will surprise you. Seafood is one of the specialties here, and there are lots of choices, such as stir-fried cuttlefish, soft-shell crab, lobster and salt-toasted sea bass. Or perhaps you're ready to try the beef tripe with black bean sauce. The place is frequented mainly by Asians, so you know the food has to be good.

Chinese Sichuan Cuisine

9896 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

713-773-1670

Chinese, Halal, Recommended, Best Of

While there are plenty of Sichuan restaurants in Chinatown, the new- ish Chinese Sichuan Cuisine is among the best. Dishes are fresh, and service is both friendly and efficient - even if you only communicate by pointing at items on the menu. Try the hot pot or ma po tofu during the winter months, when you can share the warm and fragrant dishes with a table of hungry friends. Hot and spicy shrimp isn't as spicy as the menu would lead you to believe, but it and the cumin lamb are two of the can't-miss dishes here. Lunch portions are huge and cheap, as are the plates the waitresses will happily heap with items off the convenient Sichuan snack cart near the front of the restaurant.

1 article

Crown Seafood Restaurant

10796 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

281-575-1768

Chinese

Capable of seating approximately 450 people at once, Crown Seafood Restaurant is the newest and largest banquet-style Chinese restaurant to open in Houston’s Chinatown. Prominently located in the center of the Lion Plaza at Bellaire and Wilcrest, this restaurant specializes in live seafood such as whole fish, dungeness crab, lobster, geoduck and spotted prawns, which are held in tanks and cooked to order. The menu also includes more than 50 options for beef, chicken, duck, seafood and noodle and rice dishes. Open seven days a week, Crown Seafood also offers weekday lunch specials from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and an excellent selection of made-to-order dim sum — some of the best you’ll find in town — for lunch daily. This restaurant has plenty of accommodation for large parties and families of ten or more.

1 article

Daniel Wong's Kitchen

4566 Bissonnet, Bellaire Inner Loop - SW

713-663-6665

Chinese, Restaurants, Recommended, Menu

The venerable chef Wong is no longer at the top of his game, but many Houstonians still count his eccentric dishes among the most interesting Chinese food in Houston. The Rio Grande Valley beef, made with fresh Texas citrus, and "road kill pork," stir-fried with big slices of garlic, are standouts.

1 article

Dim Sum King

9160 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

713-270-6788

Chinese, Dim Sum, Recommended, Best Of, Menu

While some may lament its nontraditional choice to serve dim sum all day long, that's exactly the aspect of Dim Sum King we love most. Six days a week (it's closed on Tuesdays), you can get dim sum for brunch, lunch or dinner - and all of it good. There are no carts here, either; just a very cozy room with an à la carte menu. It's good for dim sum neophytes, too, as helpful photos of all the dishes and their English translations are listed throughout the menu. Turnip cakes and beef balls are favorites, but save room for fried bread at dessert.

3 articles

Doozo Dumplings and Noodles

1200 McKinney Downtown/ Midtown

713-571-6898

Chinese, Health, Recommended, Best Of

Doozo may mean "welcome" in Japanese, but the Dumpling Diva, Julie Lu, wants the line in this food court to move quickly, so you'd better know what you want and have cash in hand when you get to the front of the line. The line moves fast, as do the delicious dumplings: healthy steamed veggie, chicken or pork, all accompanied with a spicy dipping sauce. One of Lu's secrets is using spinach instead of cabbage in the filling. Since this place offers takeout only, plan to enjoy your dumplings in the food court.

2 articles

Dragon Bowl Asian Bistro

1221 W. 11th St. Heights

713-426-2750

Asian, Chinese, Korean, Sushi, Thai, Vietnamese, Recommended, Menu, Slideshow

Dragon Bowl epitomizes the concept of a useful restaurant: a cozy, accessible neighborhood spot that serves food to please nearly every palate. But it manages to escape comparisons to a Pei Wei by actually offering very good food made with high-quality ingredients by a legitimate chef who puts modern Texas touches on the pan-Asian menu. Look for the Third Coast and roll with crispy fried oysters or the head-on Gulf shrimp in a spicy green curry. Dragon Bowl also does a brisk takeout business with standbys like its Hippie Fried Rice, but it's hard not to want to linger in the airy dining room or at the long bar while you watch the cooks work the woks.

6 articles

Dumpling King

6515 Westheimer Galleria

713-266-1468

Chinese, Best Of, Menu

Dumpling King is in a strip center with just enough dinge to make it interesting, with aromas on loan from the cigar shop next door. It's very, very inexpensive, the service is friendly, and in traditional dive fashion, their signature dish is right there in the name. They serve a wide variety of dumplings and pot stickers, with chicken, shrimp, beef, pork, and various combinations thereof. They also serve familiar Taiwanese noodle soups, onion pancakes and egg rolls. There are lots of vegetarian, kosher and halal options, and they're known for their generous wine pours.You can also get uncooked dumplings to take home and cook yourself, if you think you can do it better. While you're in the neighborhood, why not stop by the other shops in the strip mall for cigars, tattoos and kinky lingerie?

1 article

East Wall Chinese Restaurant

9889 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

713-981-8803

Chinese, Recommended, Menu

At this elegant little 20-table restaurant, the waitstaff speaks almost no English, but most of the crowd seems to understand the Mandarin dialect of Chinese just fine. Judging by the exotic dishes spinning on the lazy Susans, it appears East Wall is popular with the most knowledgeable enthusiasts of authentic Chinese cuisine. The prices are low, and the food is served in a friendly, intimate setting at an unhurried pace.

Fat Bao

3419 Kirby Dr. Lower Shepherd-Kirby

713-667-0341

Chinese, Taiwanese, Best Of, Slideshow

Fat Bao specializes in a food not found elsewhere in Upper Kirby: the Taiwanese pancakes called bao, typically only found in Chinatown. They're more expensive here, but the ingredients are more interesting. Try the soft-shell crab bao or the fried chicken-stuffed bao, and complete your order with some of the better french fries in Houston. Staying vegetarian? Try the tofu bao, the fried avocado sticks and the sauteed edamame. But either way, save room for the Nutella-and-banana-stuffed bao for dessert.

16 articles

Fu Fu Cafe

9889 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

713-981-8818

Chinese, Recommended, Best Of

This place offers the best dumplings and beef soup with Chinese noodles in town. Try the "steam pork buns" (a.k.a. soup dumplings). Wait until they are cool, then pop one in your mouth. It's a perfect soup, meatball and dumpling experience.

4 articles

Fung's Kitchen

7320 Southwest Freeway Outer Loop - SW

713-779-2288

Chinese, Restaurants, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Menu, Slideshow, Readers' Choice

Chef and owner Hoi Fung, a Hong Kong transplant, is from a family of serious chefs. Fung's Kitchen's menu lists 400-plus Chinese items, including seafood selections from six aquariums in the front of the room of the Southwest side establishment. The menu is sophisticated, as are the customers. A mundane-sounding dish like scallops with garlic turns out to be made from live scallops, quick-steamed and served in their shells. The city's most interesting dim sum is served here on the weekends. You can also order dim sum from a more limited menu on weekdays. (Dim sum is served from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

24 articles

Ginger & Fork

4705 Inker Heights

713-861-8883

Chinese, Recommended

The staff at Ginger & Fork go out of their way to make guests welcome, and it’s not uncommon to see owner Mary Li and general manager Donnie Roy visiting each table in turn. Despite the homey warmth, Ginger & Fork is in fact quite elegant. It’s in the house that used to be La Fisheria, with whitewashed walls, a long, marble-topped bar and an airy appeal. The Hong Kong-style Cantonese fare is mostly appealing, although on our visits, the clay pot beef and garlic ginger cauliflower were both far too timid. The satay sauce for the beef tasted like generic brown gravy, and the pale, steamed cauliflower seemed to lack both ginger and garlic. That aside, we should have doubled our order of the hoisin-sauced Peking duck bao, encased in angelic, fluffy rounds of dough, and the squid ink fried rice is light and briny, with bits of sweet Chinese sausage, plump shrimp and sinewy squid tendrils to boot. Diners may carp about entrée prices that range from $12 to $29, but how many other Chinese restaurants are there with an excellent craft cocktail and wine list? At Ginger & Fork, it’s about the experience as much as about the food.

9 articles

Golden Cafe

1430 W. 19th St. Heights

713-869-8883

Chinese, Restaurants, Recommended, Menu

This is a family-run, inexpensive neighborhood spot that serves large portions of typical lunch and dinner specials such as General Tso's, kung pao, sesame chicken and the like. They also serve more unusual dishes such as fried or steamed filet of flounder, grilled mahi mahi, sizzling beef with scallops, spare ribs and egg foo yong. Vegetarians will find many dishes here as well. The menu is extensive and everything is fresh and made to order.

Golden Hunan Restaurant

1801 Durham Heights

713-880-1688

Chinese, Recommended, Menu

This Chinese outlet is a little prettier and a little more elegant than your average neighborhood place; even the serving plates have Japanese-style compartments for each dish. The menu is standard fare - moo goo gai pan, kung pao chicken and the like. The chef's specialties are the reason to eat here. The Hunan-style leg of lamb has a hot and spicy bite to it, as does the Sesame Phoenix Chicken. Weight watchers will love the box called Special Diet World.

Golden Palace

8520 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

713-776-8808

Chinese, Restaurants, Recommended

The dinner menu is too exotic, and the dim sum brunch is only passable. Sure, it's fun to order dim sum from a cart, but when you order it off the menu at Golden Palace, the dumplings come to the table piping hot. And when the dim sum is made to order, the kitchen has time to get everything right.

1 article

Hai Cang Seafood Restaurant

11768 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

281-564-4288

Asian, Chinese, Seafood, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Slideshow

Hai Cang Seafood Restaurant is a surprisingly wonderful spot tucked away in a ho-hum strip center on Bellaire. The seafood prices are some of the most reasonable in town, especially considering the freshness of the offerings. At the front of the restaurant stand several large tanks full of live seafood just waiting to be cooked and served family-style on an ornate platter. Though seafood is Hai Cang's specialty, other traditional Chinese dishes, such as sizzling beef and Kung Pao chicken, are worth a try. Meals come with a big pot of sticky rice and conclude with a complimentary bowl of coconut tapioca soup, so go hungry.

7 articles

Heights Asian Cafe

2201 Yale St. Heights

713-880-9998

Chinese, Vietnamese, Recommended, Best Of, Menu

This Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant in the Heights took over a rundown Long John Silvers, but you'd never know from the gleaming dining room and sleek decor. Steamed pork and vegetable dumplings here rival some of the best in the city. The rest of the food is standard, but serviceable, Chinese and Vietnamese food geared toward Western palates that include pho, Hunan chicken, and fried rice plates for affordable prices.

1 article

HK Dim Sum

9889 Bellaire Blvd. Outer Loop - SW

713-777-7029

Chinese, Dim Sum, Malaysian, Recommended, Menu

Dim sum is the draw here, especially on weekdays when few other dim sum restaurants are open, but the restaurant also serves Malaysian dishes. The dim sum is excellent; however, the odoriferous Malaysian dishes are not for everyone's palates. But if you are an adventurous diner, take advantage of the rare opportunity to order a little of everything HK Dim Sum has to offer.

1 article

Hollywood Vietnamese and Chinese

2409 Montrose Blvd. Montrose

713-523-8808

Chinese, Vietnamese, Recommended, Menu

This spot will satisfy your late-night cravings for black pepper calamari, scallops, char-grilled beef, lemongrass beef and other Asian favorites. Daily lunch specials are incredible values at under $7. A large and well-stocked bar (try the chocolate martini) greets you upon entering, and, unusual for an Asian restaurant, there's a talented pastry chef on staff who's turning out some incredible cakes and desserts.

House of Bowls

6650 Corporate Dr. Outer Loop - SW

713-776-2288

Cantonese, Chinese, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Menu

House of Bowls offers perhaps Houston's most authentic Hong Kong-style food experience in a festive, colorful atmosphere on the southwest side. Bring a group and prepare to eat a lot of food (without spending a lot of money). Can't-miss dishes include the pitch-perfect beef chow fun dry-style with fresh noodles and the curried shrimp fried rice, but for something different, indulge in a plate of crunchy deep-fried chicken wings or House of Bowl's crowning glory: Hong Kong-style French toast stuffed with peanut butter and topped with sweetened condensed milk.

2 articles

Houston Area P.F. Chang's Restaurants

4094 Westheimer Rd. Unknown

713-627-7220

Chinese, Menu

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Chinese in Houston