Hin’s Garden

So greasy. So, so, so greasy. When I bit into the egg roll, multiple streams of grease went down my hand.
The chicken and vegetable combination fried rice was smashed into a little carton and the rice was over-​cooked and shimmering with grease. The only good thing was the low price and fast delivery… so I didn’t waste much money or time on this mess.

I love this place. It’s the closest thing to «Fu’s Garden» there is left. I’ve tried cashew chicken all over this state and it’s the BEST here. Good quality chicken and great sauce. I love the wonton soup, broth is dark and rich in flavor. The most awesome thing here are the spring rolls you get with the lunch meal. All veggie and crispy, like none other they are too good. Last and a biggie for me yummy iced tea :)

Out of all the generic Chinese American restaurants in Houston, none does lunch as well as Hin’s. Their General Tsos has the perfect amount of sauce and the fried rice is the best I’ve found in a generic Chinese American restaurant. It isn’t going to win any accolades but I’m happy that Hin’s exists to fill the Asian rotation during work lunches.

Stopped by for an early dinner today. First the place was empty (two tables with people) Nice lady comes over and drops of the menu’s and takes our drink order. As she drops of our drinks she says I will be right back and proceed to one of the other tables. Now I was in no hurry tonight, yet at the point I started looking at the other two people behind around behind the counter chatting wondering how long until our order was taken… I was starting to get upset. So the people at my table decide to order family style. I would like to recommend that you DO NOT order the sweet and sour pork… the batter it nasty … real nasty … so in a nut shell is ok nothing spectacular I would say its on par with a no name buffet restaurant.
So now to the Juicy part and the main reason this rating went from a 3 to a one.
the check arrives. and I tip just over 10% and prepare to leave…
The waitress comes back and tells me the restaurant has a mandatory 15% tip policy and would I please re tip her to at least 15% … yes you did read that right the waitress came back and said you must tip me more…
Now I am not sure about anyone else but until she demanded I tip more, I was not planning on writing a review on the so so food but the tip demand was just outrages as far as I was concerned.

My work orders lunch specials from here all the time, the quality and flavors is exactly what you are looking for when it comes to comfort asian cuisine. The portions are very generous and everything that needs to be stir/​pan-​fried is lightly battered. All-​white meat and no MSG.

We ordered special wonton soup, chicken & broccoli, Mongolian beef and spicy beef. Everyone seemed pleased. Soup was served lukewarm. But service was excellent. Good value. Portions are generous.

Look. I get that it’s American Chinese food. That’s ok. Sometimes American Chinese is good. However, when even your hot sauce doesn’t have flavor, you’ve got a problem.

I was craving Vietnamese food big time.
Luckily I found out that Hin had a few Vietnamese dishes.
I ordered take out. The place looks run down. With maroon-​red carpet. Parking lot was terrible. Good luck on finding a parking spot.
I ordered the vermicelli with pork & egg rolls.
Not bad i say. The marinading was not 100% authentic vietnamese taste, but close enough. They were generous on the pork. However the vermicelli was kinda dry. The egg roll was the Vietnamese style rolled in rice paper. It’s quite greasy. There was more rice paper wrapping than filling.
I also ordered cup of egg drop. It’s not a thick consistency, or extremely boiling hot. I was able to sip my soup on the car while waiting through traffic, since the traffic light was out. It’s been awhile I had a decent egg drop soup.
Hin’s is on my Viet-​Chinese food takeout list

I’m really sad that I have to give this place 1 STAR. A year ago, this was me and my buds favorite place. Coming from NYC, and being foodies, we were in awe of all the great diverse food Houston has to offer; we can do without the million mexican restaurants, but hey — we’re in Houston, nuff said. Nonetheless, one of our immediate challenges we faced, was the fact that Houston has an over-​abundant amount of CRAP chinese food! From crappy takeout, to crappier buffets and mediocre restaurants, we were baffled as to why Houston cant get their act straight when it comes to some good ol cantonese, scezhuan, or hunan style chinese food — heck give us some nuclear yellow pork fried rice and fried chicken wings like those found in NYC takeout spots… But no, nothing.
So we found HINS in our neighborhood, and we felt this place was a blessing, great fried rice with egg, amazing beef & brocolli and more! Most of all it was affordable and fast. This my friends was a year ago… TODAY, this place is absolute GARBAGE! I went a week ago, and everything just fell apart in this place. The fried rice was missing the eggs and onions, the food was slow to be served and luke warm, and the appetizers tasted like fried nonsense from costcos, and most important — the beef on a stick and spare rib tips tasted OLD, and GROSS! The beef made me sick… I spit it out and was ready to just leave. We complained and the table next to us returned two of their dishes.
I wish this place remained good, it was never amazing, but good is what we got… This place now joins the ranks of all the crap chinese food in Houston. I WARN YOU, DO NOT GO HERE, UNLESS YOU WANT TO RUN THE RISK OF GETTING SICK!

I think this place is a better-​than-​average Americanized Chinese eatery. The restaurant is clean. The service is fast and friendly. The food «tries» to be a little healthier… no MSG, all white meat chicken, no trans-​fat frying oils, etc. The menu is really straight-​forward and typical… with a few Vietnamese and Thai dishes thrown in there. They have lunch specials which include soup, an egg roll and your choice of fried or steamed rice. You even get orange slices and fortune cookies at the end. On top of this, they are conveniently located just inside the loop. Pretty good in my book!

We usually go here for lunch with my work crowd. Nice place if you want tasty and quick Chinese food. The lunch specials are great value when you factor in that they use decent ingredients. They are actually conscious and make efforts to cater to the healthier appetites and this is evident upon consuming the food. For example you can tell they freshly cooked their sweet and sour soup as opposed to using pre-​made. Personally we eat a lot of Asian food and quite regularly find that we are back at this place. Again very affordable and fulfilling if you have the craving for Chinese for lunch in the Galleria area.

In my search for cheap delivery Chinese food in the Galleria area, I ordered from here for myself and a few friends. We got the Mongolian Beef, Kung Pao Chicken, Combination Fried Rice, and Hot and Sour soup. The food seemed prepared well enough, but there was just no flavor to the food. I really don’t mind Americanized Chinese food when I’m getting cheap delivery, but these dishes were just completely bland. Also, there was very little meat in any of the dishes — far too high vegetable-​to-​meat ratio, which made the value proposition suspect. I’ll certainly be looking elsewhere to satisfy my cheap Chinese food cravings from here out.
The positive was that delivery was very quick, and that is the only reason I give 2 stars.

When I’m looking for a business lunch spot, I usually use the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) metric to rate restaurants: just give me a simple, casual place with good food, cheap prices, and a short wait. Hin’s Garden came close on some of these accounts and fell a bit short on others.
We were promptly seated, but it took a little while for our server to bring our drinks. I ordered one of the lunch specials, which are awesome deals. Where else can you get shrimp and broccoli, hot and sour soup, rice, and an egg roll for only $ 6.25?! All of the food was above average – not spectacular but still pretty good. After the meal, the fortune cookies and orange slices were a nice addition. Unfortunately, (and the reason I gave Hin’s 3 instead of 4 stars) our waiter took a very long time getting the check and processing it. That was by far the longest part of the meal. I have a feeling that was only a one-​time occurrence though. I’ll need to come back again to see if that’s true and report back.

A friend introduced me to Hin’s Garden last summer and I’ve been back a couple times since then. If it wasn’t such a drive for me to get here, I’d visit more often. True, Hin’s Garden is not the best or most unique place to have Chinese food, but I’ve left happy each time.
The restaurant itself looks boring and a tad rundown from the outside, but the inside is actually very nice. It’s a big restaurant and it almost gives off an… idk, ancient Chinese palace dining room feel. I was almost in awe the first time I entered the doors. The food is good, and I really enjoy the tight, clean presentation of their dishes — a rarity when it comes to Chinese food. I remember their wonton soup was really addicting, too. Although Westernization is usually a pitfall when it comes to authentic cuisine, I think it works to this restaurant’s favor. It’s a nice and much-​needed break from your usual tacky, «FOB”-ly decorated Asian restaurants and their «I’ll just dump this food from my pan to your plate» splattered food presentations.
It was slow during the times I visited, so service has always been great. The waitstaff is friendly and attentive, but not at all overbearing. I pass by this place on my way to campus, so I’ll probably be back during the fall!

Totally adequate for a quick lunch but pretty ‘blah’ on the taste — that’s how I would describe my quick lunch at Hin’s Garden. I was in the area to meet my husband for lunch but he was called into a meeting, so I went to Hin’s Garden on my own. I parked at 11:30am and the parking lot was already almost full. When I went in the place was mostly empty save for a few tables. The restaurant is large with at least 40 tables (yes, I counted). I asked for a table for one and they wanted to seat me at the table in the corner by the entrance to the kitchen. Why? I asked for a different table and was given it. Why do restaurants seat the worst tables when the place is full of empty tables? Nobody puts baby in the corner!
I ordered from the lunch special menu which was a good deal. Lunch special of General Tso’s chicken plus a soda and tax under $ 10.
The egg drop soup was pretty tasty and came with little fried won ton strips to put in it. The General Tso’s Chicken had too much sauce that was just ‘ok’ and decent quality chicken. The portion size was quite large and I didn’t finish it, but honestly, I was unenthusiastic about it. The fried rice was incredibly boring and bland! It was just brown with two little dessicated peas in it. It was not worth eating. The spring roll was cold.
Service was good, prompt, attentive, and friendly… but that doesn’t make up for bland boring food.

Some reactions I had on this day:
–awe — that the food was so inexpensive at lunch. entrée, spring roll and soup for $ 6.25
–surprise (and a little trepidation) — when my Broccoli Chicken came out with a clearish-​white sauce
–surprise squared (minus fear) — when it tasted much better than I thought it would
–gladness — that I was introduced to the place
–fulfillment — in eating there.
Great lunch spot. You should try it. Oh and the staff is friendly.

This is my new «oh crap I forgot to bring my lunch, ok I’ll eat chinese food with a couple people from work» place. That sounds like a list brewing.
But ya, this place is efficient, clean, and the food is good value and aromatic.
Now look, it might not be haute cuisine, but it is there when you need it, and it hits the spot.

Yet again… another take-​out review… i worked late last night and did not want to dine in nor cook a meal, so i did take out again!
Hin’s Garden has good Chinese American food. I was greeted by the Owner/​Manager named Joseph and he made sure I was comfortable at the bar while I waited for me takeout order.
I ordered:
Steamed veggie dumplings — it consisted of spinach, rice vermicelli, onions and chopped tofu. I did not like it. I will stick to getting dumplings at a dim sum place…
Shrimp toast — very delicious. not too greasy and had a good texture.
Kung pao chicken — i went searching for the peanuts! there were hardly any peanuts in the dish! the flavor was good, the chicken was white meat and still tender and moist.
Spicy beef with vegetables — this dish was good. it was spicy, but not spicy enough for my palette. the brown sauce was good and the veggies were nice and al dente. i enjoyed this dish.
Shrimp fried rice — i have had better shrimp fried rice in Baton Rouge, LA. The rice was tender, the wok flavor was good, but there were hardly any onions and shrimp!!! Dude… I want my SHRIMP!
I enjoyed the food and the people there were extremely nice… not too sure if I would do take out again…

Tried this place out today since another chilly spell had lit my desires for dumplings and soup. After reading up on the reviews by Mandy G, Nicole D, and Sam V, I had the lunch special. It was so-​so.
The lunch special is your standard Americanized Chinese lunch: choice of soup, entrée, fried rice, and egg roll. Had the won ton soup which was pretty good — solid broth but weighed down by the doughy dumpling. 888 Restaurant’s would beat this easily.
Opted for the hot shredded pork with Szechuan sauce ($ 6.25). This was the high point and was chock full of lovely ingredients: water chestnuts, black mushroom, some garlic and leeks, mixed with a hearty amount of lean pork. The sauce had some kick in it which did the trick for this cold afternoon.
The amount of fried rice was skimpy but, since it was greasy, I guess I was glad that there wasn’t much of it. The egg roll could have been exiled since it didn’t add anything to the meal.
Service was prompt but the staff seemed a bit dazed during interactions at 3 PM. Décor was a tired 1980s look that daylight did them no favors. If you want to bring guests or a date, this place is a perfect candidate for the magic of CED (cosmetic effect of darkness). Come then.
Summary: Largely forgettable, good if you want a bite close to the Best Buy.

This week I went on a culinary adventure. Every day I found a new friend and the rules were: no planning & we couldn’t have been there before. The seedier the better. Tuesday I ended up at Hin’s. Not-​so-​much seedy but a pretty amazing find.
We split the Special Won Ton soup which was more than special — it was total VIP. It should also be adopted by every restaurant in town. It was chocked full of dumplings, chicken, broccoli, carrots, noodles and more. In short, the biz-​omb. We also split the special fried rice… have you ever seen lobster in your fried rice? Me neither. Again, add it to every menu. Mostest specialest fried rice ever.
I snagged a To Go menu even though I work and live too far for delivery and was even more pleased to find its MSG free &use no cholestrol cooking oil. Lunch specials look really affordable and yummy too [but I was on the hunt for soup]