Photo by Pooja Chaudhary on Unsplash
If you’re a fan of Chinese food or Pan-Asian cuisine, Houston is a wonderful place to be. Whether you’re in the mood for dim sum, fried rice, hot pot, noodles, or delicious stir-fried veggies, you don’t have to look far. Chinese restaurants are especially great for outings with friends and family because food is often served family-style — the dishes are meant to be passed around and shared. We’ve put together a list of the best Houston Chinatown restaurants for you to choose from.
Top Chinatown Restaurants in Houston (TX)
1. Tan Tan Restaurant
courtesy Tan Tan Restaurant
Part of the local Asian restaurant scene for 35 years, Tan Tan Restaurant’s menu features a mouthwatering blend of Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine, including Chinese staples like hot and sour soup and chow mein as well as bo luc lac shaking beef rice plates and Vietnamese hot pot. The food can range from traditional comfort food like congee (rice porridge) and noodles to platters of lobster and Peking duck. One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is the Vietnamese fried rice cake, or banh bot chien; guests can’t help but go back for another helping.
Where: 6816 Ranchester Dr, Houston, TX 77036
2. Crawfish & Noodles
courtesy Crawfish & Noodles
Crawfish & Noodles is more trendy than traditional with its take on Viet-Cajun cuisine. The restaurant blends Asian flavors such as fish sauce and honey garlic sauce with Cajun staples like hot wings and crawfish. For the more adventurous, the menu includes turkey neck, pig intestine, and frog legs. The restaurant also serves more standard Vietnamese fare, including shaking beef and rice, hot pot, and pho. This combination of innovation and strong traditional flavors has brought Crawfish & Noodles a lot of attention–the restaurant has been featured on Netflix’s Ugly Delicious, the Travel Channel, and the Food Network.
Where: 11360 Bellaire Blvd Ste 990, Houston, TX 77072
3. Mala Sichuan Bistro
courtesy Mala Sichuan Bistro
An excellent choice for spice lovers, Mala Sichuan Bistro was founded by a husband-and-wife duo who wanted to bring genuine Sichuan cooking to the Houston Chinese food scene. The menu includes water boiled fish, cumin beef, tea-smoked duck, and pot roasted tilapia. It also features a lot of bamboo shoots and spicy peppers. The Bistro now has four separate locations all over Houston, but many agree that the original Chinatown location, which was nominated for a James Beard award, is the best. As an added note: this restaurant does a great job of labeling allergens, including gluten, which makes it perfect for the Chinese-food lover who has to avoid soy sauce.
Where: 9348 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX 77036
4. Tiger Den
courtesy Tiger Den
Tiger Den is an authentic ramen and Japanese street food restaurant that prides itself on its broth, which simmers for 20 hours before ever seeing a noodle. The result is rich, flavorful, and deep, and pairs perfectly with fatty cuts of pork, thinly sliced green onions, and chewy, house-made egg noodles. The menu also features yakitori grilled meat skewers, which can include some unusual cuts of meat, such as beef tongue, chicken heart, and pork jowl. The restaurant is only open for dinner, so there may be a bit of a wait.
Where: 9889 Bellaire Blvd Ste 230, Houston, TX 77036
5. One Dragon Restaurant
courtesy One Dragon Restaurant
One Dragon Restaurant is a family-owned Shanghai cuisine restaurant run by a husband and wife. It’s a small restaurant with somewhat limited seating, but the food is a definite standout. Dumplings are the main draw here, especially the crispy-bottomed dumplings and the soup dumplings. The braised pork belly and onion pancakes are also very tasty. This restaurant is very traditional, so look forward to a red-bean dish for dessert. If you’re not a fan of waiting, try to avoid peak hours — this place can get pretty busy.
Where: 9310 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX 77036
6. Mian
courtesy Mian
A gourmet Szechuan noodle house founded in California, Mian has gained a reputation as one of the best Houston Chinatown restaurants since the Bellaire location opened up. If spice is your thing, this is the restaurant for you, but be sure to keep a drink on hand. If you dine in, they’ll pour you a sweet drink on the house, just to be safe. The zhajiangmian, or spicy noodles with ground pork, is what the restaurant is best known for, but you can also find mapo tofu, pork dumplings, and chili oil wontons on the menu. Expect a casual dining experience and a set of numb lips once the meal is over.
Where: 9600 Bellaire Blvd Ste 102B Houston, TX 77036
7. Sinh Sinh Restaurant
courtesy Sinh Sinh Restaurant
Sinh Sinh Restaurant is a family-style restaurant with a wide variety of options to choose from, such as Chinese barbecue, noodles, and fresh seafood. The restaurant has multiple large tanks of live seafood, including fish, lobster, shrimp, and crab. You can also opt for roast pig or duck from the barbecue counter, or you can go with hot pot, wontons, or fried rice. The dishes are perfect for sharing with friends and family, so you may as well try a little bit of everything.
Where: 9788 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX 77036
8. Mein Restaurant
courtesy Mein Restaurant
If you’re looking to eat Cantonese cuisine in a modern and trendy setting, check out Mein Restaurant. The restaurant’s ethos is serving “everyday food” that represents what the average Cantonese immigrant might consider standard fare. The menu is pretty extensive, but some of the standouts are the crispy duck leg, the cold hand-pulled chicken, the char siu pork, and the fresh house-made noodles. You can also enjoy wine, beer, and coffee, as well as an array of desserts, such as gelato, lava toast, and sugar egg puffs, a type of Chinese donut.
Where: 9630 Clarewood Dr Ste A-131, Houston, TX 77036
9. House of Bowls
courtesy House of Bowls
House of Bowls is a casual Hong Kong eatery with family-style serving sizes. The menu is extensive, but the standouts are the dry beef chow fun (which some swear is the best in the city), the crispy chicken wings, and the Hong Kong-style French toast. That last dish can be served with peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk if you’re feeling especially decadent. You can also choose from the usual Chinese staples of noodles, rice, and soup.
Where: 6650 Corporate Dr, Houston, TX 77036
10. Thien Thanh Restaurant
courtesy Thien Thanh Restaurant
Thien Thanh is a family-owned and operated business that has been around for nearly 30 years and is considered one of the best Houston Chinatown restaurants by locals. A traditional Vietnamese restaurant, it’s best known for its banh cuon, or steamed rice roll, which many consider the best in Houston. The menu features steamed rice rolls with grilled or minced pork. It also includes North Vietnamese dishes like turmeric fish with dill and tomato vermicelli soup.
Where: 11210 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX 77072
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