Chinese Cafe

Didn’t like the food here ! It was cold, not spicy enough, and also not hot enough !! Seemed as if it was recooked and given to us !! And double spicy had more than normal fried chilies on top of it !! Practically useless for the dish !! Anyway, probably wouldn’t go there, unless someone really convince me that it was something that might happen once in a blue moon !!

I adore this restaurant and always have. Far more authentic than the other location on Richmond. Though I hear it’s closed now? If so that’s a major travesty.
Anyone know anything about that? Stir fried snow pea leaves are divine, double spicy chicken is great, spicy green beans with ground pork, pretty much anything is stellar. Will break my heart in two if they’ve closed.

I lived in Houston in the 90’s and the Chinese Café location in Sharpstown is the one I frequented most. But when I do come to visit my family in Katy, I make sure I take at least 1 trip to this location to have their double spicy beef, fried rice and sauted spinach with garlic.
I don’t eat meat but I’m not a crazy vegetarian that can’t stand the sight or touch of it (I cook it for my family all the time) so ordering the double spicy beef was a no brainer for me because under all the meat and spicy goodness are slices of bok choy that are simply divine.
The pork fried rice is light and eggy — which I do not mind at all. I have a friend from mainland China that taught me how to make this kind of fried rice in a rice cooker… YUM. (Hit me up if you want the recipe)
The sauted spinach with garlic is refreshing and cooked to perfection. It is a never fail side dish. Alll entrees come with a side of white rice for free for eat in but it’s a dollar extra for take out. Brown rice is available as well.
I got their Ma Pa Bean Curd (or as we like to call it in Massachusetts — Ma Pa Tofu) it looked very similar to the double spicy beef (this isn’t a vegetarian dish — even tho it has tofu, there is shredded pork on top) the only thing missing from this was that yummy layer of bok choy that the double spicy beef has. I think they would put it there if I had thought to ask.
This time my double spicy seemed a bit more single spicy. The hot oil that I usually put on everything was more salty than spicy and it seems that most of the items we got had a little too much salt. But it was still awesome to eat here.
The staff is friendly and accommodating. They even brought our food to the table. Sweet.
I think I will go and try the Sharpstown location next time, for old times sake.

I am very surprised to see this location is closed. We used to eat here quite often when there are not many other competitions. Their food is heavy in sauce and grease so it is very tasty. They used to be so busy all the time and gradually I see them loss customers. They cut down the size in half and still can not make it. We go to Fu Fu’s on Bellaire now. Chinese Café has other location on Richmond Ave. which is still open.

I frequent this restaurant every now and then. I enjoy the food and it’s very reasonably priced. My favorite dishes are: Pork with Bamboo Shoot, Shrimp and Pelt Beans, Sha Cha Beef, Green Beans, and I don’t know the name of the dish, but it’s fish with this crunchy stuff on it. The portions have gotten noticeably smaller this year, but it’s still enough to eat and have enough for left-​over lunch/​dinner for later. The only complaint I have about the food is that it is GREASY! You can literally see the oil in the dish… kind of gross. Coming from a Chinese family, I have to point out good chinese dishes doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand with grease, but I guess sometimes people get too oil happy.
Even though I still enjoy eating here, there are other restaurants I would probably consider before Chinese Café nowadays.

An old favorite of Houston Asians. Lots of familiar traditional foods, with dabs of hot sauces to choose from. Getting away with a class A misdemeanor theft type of awesomeness.
This place is so good, I eat the tofu here. Yes, by choice– which is a sub form of smashed veggies. Yeah it has some meat in it, but the dish rules over rice.
The beef and broccoli is even good, not even close to the Americanized Chinese restaurants out side China town. This is grade A greasy late night tear it up meal. No eye contact made the entire table, everyone is working so they don’t get shorted on their share of the loot.
So next time you are here, be prepared to eat at Connie’s hot dog contest pace. No left overs and one wants to leave stiffed out of their share from this café.

The oldest Chinese restaurant in southwest Chinatown and still owns by the same owner. The best Kung Pao Chicken and hot & sour soup in town, period. I still like their daily lunch special plate ($ 4.60) with three items plus a hot soup and free tea. Can’t beat that.

Despite already having our favorite spots in Chinatown, we decided to check out Chinese Café after it landed a spot on Houston Press’ «Best of» List. After eating here, I think I’d stick with Lai Lai’s, Tan Tan’s, or Café 101.
The chicken with mushrooms and spinach was mostly spinach in water, though everything did taste good. The vegetable noodles were also decent but not outstanding. The white rice was not that good either.
The wait staff seemed indifferent to having customers, but one benefit was that it was very cheap.

We have been going to Chinese Café for about 5 years now. We live in Sugar Land but once we discovered this wonderful place, we were hooked. My wife is a strict vegetarian while I enjoy seafood. My wife will only eat the mapo tofu, no msg, no funky meat substitues and a lot of garlic, no. 3 hot. I may get somethiing or just share this huge bowl with a little rice.
Today’s lunch is something I have to Unilocal about. I walked in and was greeted by Betty and Li Hua — Yu. Betty takes the orders and payments. Li serves the food. I said it would be nice to get a weekday lunch but I did not think they would let me have the mapo tofu. I ordered the mapo tofu, paid and went to a table. On the way I picked up water, a plate and silverware.
They all know I use a cane. Li came over with a bowl of rice and a bowl of steaming hot and sour soup! I said I ordered mapo tofu and Li said Betty wanted me to have the soup while I waited. Li also brought silverware since she did not want me to get up. I thanked her and she went and got the mapo tofu. I am a light eater and barely made a dent in my meal.
I had so much left over that I requested Li to pack up the tofu and rice. She took care of that and waited at the table just in case I needed help getting up from the low chair. Once I was up I joined her at the counter where Jacqueline the manager had come out of the kitchen. I told them that I had a choice of locations and it did not matter when you drove there from Sugar Land. With this kind of service we will never go anywhere for the mapo tofu.
My wife will have a surprise for dinner and will surely enjoy my lunch story. This place loses one star for cleanliness and ambiance.

Congratulations to Chinese Café as «The Best of Houston» from Houston Press 2011. I frequent this restaurant, but I don’t know how people rated this as «the best» Chinese restaurant in town. The prices are reasonable. The tastes are just ok. Lunch box is very generous and inexpensive.
This restaurant also serve hot pot. One day I inquired about how to order the hot pot, the cashier told me that the broth maker didn’t show up that day, so «no hot pot today.» I guess I have to call in advance for that.

I found out about this place from my fiancé and his brother — they are addicted to the beef and bean curd. I have to say, it is beefy and greasy and just because there is tofu in it, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. But it sure does taste good! We have to stop by this place every time we’re in Houston!

The location on Richmond is better and friendlier.
Major gripe was the veins in my sweet and sour shrimp. Luckily they took them back with no problem.
Overall the taste of the food is different. I will go out of my way to visit the Richmond location.
I will return though if I’m feeling lazy and want cheap chinese food.

My parents use to bring back food from this restaurant growing up. It’s delicious, greasy, Chinese food goodness at a hole in the wall.
My favorite dish is the shredded pork with bamboo shoots. If you come in for their lunch special, you can get a great deal with a soup for under five dollars.

This place basically means china town for me. I’ve been going to this store since I was a little kid… I remember spending weekends there in the crowded and packed restaurant. I think over the years things have changed (less crowded) and it’s a little dirtier… but the food remains relatively the same!
The food here is generally very oily and greasy. It has a ton of MSG and taste DELICIOUS. I would scoop the oil from the plate and pour it onto my rice and also drench the chili paste oil onto my rice as well to create the world’s best rice mixture. Afterwards, I would then pile on the dishes that I ordered. This place to me has the best egg plants in the world!!! I love the egg plant dish here… I rave about it to everyone I know. One thing I would caution though is that this dish comes out EXTRA hot (temp), so be careful of eating it quickly.
My sister loves the chicken kung pao here and the beef with green onions.
I highly recommend eating here if you’re not shy about ingesting oily and greasy foods.

This is my go to place for Chinese food. However, everything about it says «chinese» you walk in and you’re guided into a roped off area with pictures of their selection on the wall. You’re supposed to pick your selections by the way it looks, they do offer a paper menu which is helpful for to go orders and you’re able to see how much money you’re spending on the food. The fact that the restaurant has been here for years definitely has its reasoning.
One of my favorites is the Shredded pork with bamboo in a fish flavored sauce? This is semi-​translated from the Chinese name of the dish which I never learned in English but they know what I’m talking about so that’s all that matters.
The ladies are not always very nice. They make you feel rushed and hurried while you’re ordering which is never a fun experience.
As for the interior, this place gets one star on cleanliness, it’s an older restaurant so I understand in a way however, every table we sat down at was sticky and I wasn’t even sure if our cups were clean. I’m sure they wash it but the place overall just made me unsure.
I would probably suggest to go from this place and eat the meal happily at home where you know that the dishes are clean and the water isn’t tap.

I’m weirded out when my meat has a spongy texture. How do they even get the meat to be like that?! That’s not normal!
Bf ordered several dishes from here for a family dinner, and there wasn’t a single thing I loved. Everything was either salty, greasy, or bland. Bleh. Don’t come here!

When Lai Lai is on a long wait, walk on over to Chinese Café! (that is if you don’t want a scrumptious banh-​mi sandwich from Don or Givral also in the same parking lot.)
Food here is very inexpensive with big portions. They bring out each plate with a bowl of steamed white rice. You want more rice? $ 1 please! (I heard they used to have free rice refills back in the day.) I ordered the Double Spicy Beef and Chicken. But I felt like it was only single or half spicy. We also tried the green beans and ground beef and the cashew chicken; all very tasty! I would totally come back here if Lai Lai is too packed and I don’t want a banh-​mi.

This is what chinese food is supposed to taste like. greasy, tasty, and loaded with MSG. =) My family has been eating here since we were tiny tots and nothing has changed here. The menu is in all chinese signifying the authenticity of the place. although they do have some pictures of some dishes to help the non speakers.
My favorite dishes here are the beef with green onion, pork with bamboo, egg with shrimp, ma po tofu, egg with peas, and some others I forget until I see other people ordering it. My ultimate guilty pleasure is getting the sauce from the bottom of the dishes and pouring it all over the rice. SO DAMN GOOD.

Food Tour Through Chinatown:
Tonight’s stop was at Chinese Café. David N (Houston Unilocal’s King) said this was his «Favorite Chinese restaurant PERIOD», so you know I had to try it.
Chinese Café is a medium sized counter service restaurant. When you go in you see a wall full of very faded ‘specials’ that help you choose your food. There are many more items on the menu than on the wall. There is a hand written Chinese menu behind where you order. You can tell the people who work here are very comfortable in their positions. The people who serve food have long dangling hair. There were unbussed tables everywhere (and this was at 5:30pm, didn’t the lunch rush leave hours before). I noticed that this is a popular ‘take out’ restaurant. At least ½ of the people who walked in were getting take out.
The food was ok, not bad. It was very cheap. The food came out one plate at a time, don’t expect to get your order all at once.
The pork and egg fried rice ($ 5.45) was HUGE! It was ok, but not very flavorful. The pork was a little bit chewy. We were really hungry and we only ate about ½ of it. huge huge huge portions
Peking style sweet and sour chicken ($ 7.95) was good but a little too sour and not so sweet. Once again the portion sizes were really really large. The chicken was good quality. We were surprised that portions this large could only be $ 8. It’s an OK dish, but it would have been better if we’d had more people with us and we each just got a few pieces. Too much of this entrée is overwhelmingly sour/​tart.
The large egg rolls (2 for $ 1.90) were good. I’d definitely get them again. This is one of the very few places I’ve seen with the large won ton wrapped egg rolls. They were scolding hot when they came out and we’re yummy!
Drinks: water, tea, soda (cans)… If you get iced tea, don’t expect any lemon, they don’t have any (weird, right?).
I’d maybe go back here, but nothing was ‘wow’. I think this restaurant has more nostalgic quality for some other reviewers than actual high quality food now.
And my search continues for the perfect Chinese restaurant.

Oh man the memories I have in this place. I’ve also been coming to this place for around 20 years, and the food and the flavor remain unchanged even though the prices have doubled since I first came here. My favorite is still the Double Spicy Chicken, with oh so tender chicken breast and bok choy in a flaming, numbing super flavorful sauce. I have to caution you though, if you don’t like spicy food, then you’ve gotta stick with some of the milder dishes on the menu. The only thing I don’t recommend is the fish here, its overpriced and not very tasty. Even though my family complains about how oily and MSG-​loaded the food is here, we still find ourselves coming back occasionally to just splurge and satisfy our cravings for some old school Houston chinese food.
Although this place has nothing on a home cooked mom and pop Chinese meal (I am Chinese, and my mom’s a damn good cook), Chinese Café definitely holds a special place in my stomach with that one signature dish… yum!