Yao Restaurant & Bar

I absolutely love Chinese food! Thus when I saw a coworker with Gen Tso’s, it was beautiful and I was starving.
First customer service is horrible not due to an attitude but lack of concern for customer service. I’m right down the street about a mile already understood there was a $ 2.00,delivery charge my lunch order Gen Tsos (overpriced) only came to $ 14.28 and it needed to be $ 15.00. I explained it’s my fist time order from them and would really appreciate the opportunity to try their food and know if I like it before paying for more stuff. Well needless to say I end up with 1 extra egg roll for $ 1.40; ended up throwing both of them away, they were not fresh but frozen an mushy on inside. The steamed rice was good and the chicken was palletable; not something I would recommend or purchase again. However the presentation was beautiful. Oh yeah the hot and sour soup was pretty good but the crunchy noodles were homade but very greasy. My real score is a ²¹⁄₂.

Great experience. We were greeted as soon as we walked through the door. There was no wait and the workers were very pleasant. The food was to die for. I will definitely be back again. Thank you to our waiter angel he was the best.

The food here isn’t too bad, but it is a bit pricey. We came here on a Saturday and made a reservation. I don’t think you actually need a reservation as the restaurant wasn’t too packed. Service wise, this place is phenomenal. We ordered a Yao’s punch bowl to start off with. It’s a pretty large serving of pineapple vodka fruit punch and tasted pretty good. As for food, we got the peking duck, double pan fried noodles, Yao flavored shrimp and bean curd tofu. I really enjoyed the bean curd tofu dish as it was a nice and light vegetable plate with good flavor. The peking duck was very small and didn’t really have a lot of meat on it. They cut it in front of you, but don’t chop up the leftover duck meat into little pieces for you to have as other Asian restaurants tend to do. The duck also comes with Chinese tortillas rather than a bao. The double pan fried noodles were good, but they weren’t as crispy as I expected them to be. They use larger noodles so I can see how it is more difficult to fry. As for the Yao flavored shrimp, I would probably pass on that next time. Unless Yao was General Tso in some other lifetime, it didn’t really have any unique flavor to it. For dessert we ordered a mango pudding and it was actually very good. It wasn’t overly sweet or heavy and was a great palate cleanser to top off the meal. I wouldn’t mind coming back here every now and then, but I do think there are many more options that Houston has to offer.

BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT IN HOUSTON — let me tell you why!
GREAT FOOD — Peking Duck is phenomenal, and there is some King Oyster Mushroom item that was also notable. My husband loved the place so much when we went there for dinner that the next day, he ordered a bunch of other items from GrubHub the next day to have delivered to our home. We didn’t find a single bad item that we ordered.
CLASSY ATMOSPHERE — you could bring a date here. Traffic is light on week nights and it is quiet. In addition to the main restaurant area, there is also a sports bar section but I don’t care to watch sports.
FAIR PRICING — More than the «average» price for Chinese food, but you are paying for a restaurant experience. If you are price sensitive, then this is not the takeout/​delivery place for you.
This is a regular spot for my husband and me when we have business in the area. Happy dining!

We ordered delivery near closing time and it was fast, hot, and fresh. We got the P3 hot and spicy pork, c4 sesame chicken, a8 egg rolls. All were good but I prefer legit Chinese food as opposed to General Taos type Americanized Chinese food so I really enjoyed the hot and spicy pork. Give these guys a go for delivery for sure.

My coworker placed a delivery order on line today. She was very specific about her order not having eggs in the rice. Minutes later she received a phone call concerning the order. Making sure that the oder was correct, they asked questions about the not having eggs. What would happen. My thing is they didn’t have to call. They could have acted as if they didn’t care. But they took time to ask questions. Let her know her order would be as she asked. GOOD JOB. Most restaurants could care less. Thank you. Keep up the good customer service.

Nice atmosphere. Good menu that could be better. Service was good. Not very busy. Over all tasty. Worth a trip. If you expect typical Chinese menus with pictures for every thing… This is not your place.

This review is for the delivery/​takeout. When I was in NJ, I used to get Chinese takeout almost every week. When I moved to Houston we tried a bunch of places that delivered but for some reason they were all really bad and I had almost given up hope of some good Chinese delivery.
But then we (my husband and I) tried ordering delivery from here and now we won’t get delivery anywhere else and we don’t even find the need to go out to have Chinese food.
Ordering is a breeze because you can just do it online. Delivery guy is this super nice and polite middle aged Chinese guy (compared to the NJ delivery guys who always give you attitude). The delivery has always been within the «estimated time of delivery». I would recommend ordering from the lunch specials menu (everything we’ve gotten there so far has been what I was expecting or better). My husband likes the general tso’s (very spicy, which isn’t actually that spicy) lunch special with wonton soup (the soup part is super salty but the wontons are good) and fried rice. So far I think my favorite has been the orange peel chicken. And most importantly, my husband (and his sensitive body) has no issues digesting the food from here which means no msg (so if you’re into that msg goodness, this place isn’t for you).

We went to Yao’s for a large family dinner — 30 or so people. The restaurant is really really large and has several movable walls which allow easy creation of private rooms of varying sizes. The entrance foyer features lot of Yao and friend-​of-​Yao kitsch, just as you’d expect.
What I didn’t expect was that the restaurant was hidden away in a strip mall. In fact, if I didn’t know from the outside that it was related to Yao Ming, it wouldn’t have caught my eye.
So the food: So.Much.Food. My relatives did the ordering, since it was a large event. Every time we thought we were done, more food came.
Tea was plentiful and the pot was always refilled with hot water. I ordered plain green tea, others at our table ordered jasmine. Both were great and refreshing.
Our appetizers ranged from handmade crab rangoon (yum!) to chicken drumlets (I don’t eat those) to really tasty spring rolls. We also had a very rich beef noodle soup. I found it a little too rich for my preference, with a touch of sweetness as well.
We had too many entrees to mention, but I’ll do my best (see our photos) — cashew chicken, baked salmon in a spicy glaze, fried rice, beef something or other and sauteed vegetables. The latter were AMAZING. And I put too much fried rice on my plate, not realizing what else was coming.
Dessert was the most weird-​but-​good pudding/​flan with a strawberry glaze. It looked a little like a blob covered with blood (lighting was low in the room). But the flavor was good, so looks aren’t everything.
Is this traditional Chinese? No — it’s definitely more Americanized Chinese food but it’s really good. I wouldn’t compare it to PF Chang’s. It’s much more like your really nice, really hard working mom and pop Chinese restaurant that churns out really tasty food. We’d eat there again and wish that we could have put some of the TONS of leftovers in our car for lunch the next day.

Decided to stop in and try this place. I got the lunch special sesame chicken with a spring roll, hot & sour soup, broccoli, red bell pepper and a tea for $ 13. Food was good and friendly staff. Would come here again.
Sidenote: The food I had did NOT taste like PF Chang’s.

You would think if Yao Ming is going to attach his name to a business, he would do everything in his power to make it the best Chinese restaurant ever… Unfortunately, that is not the case. This restaurant is no better than any other mom & pop Chinese restaurant along Westheimer and the food here is double the price.
We ordered take out last night. Woman on the phone was rude and not helpful with answering my question. When we got the food we opened the bag only to realize we were missing a side of rice. We called and they refused to bring one to us. They refused to credit us any money and told us we could come back to get the rice — which wasn’t feasible. They then «went to talk to the manager» and hung up the phone then ignored our calls for the rest of the night. I’m sorry if this sounds whiny — but when I get $ 50 worth of take out for two people — I expect everything to be in the bag and phenomenal. I ordered the Walnut Shrimp — it would have been great to have a side of rice with it… the entrée itself was lacking in shrimp and lacking in flavor. The wonton soup was by far the worst soup I’ve ever had — tiny wontons, sub par broth — NOT worth the extra $ 4.75. The «wonton skins» were burned and worse than any I’ve ever had — and you get charged $ 1.50 extra for a bag. My boyfriend didn’t think his sesame chicken was anything special.
I probably would have had a different experience had we gone inside to dine… I won’t be giving them another try, though, since they messed up our take out order and were completely rude about it. A note to the management — trying to fix your messed up orders goes a LONG way in the eyes of the customer. We will be taking our business to other, less expensive restaurants from now on and everyone else should too!

I am a big Yao Ming fan so needless to say, I had to give Yao’s bar a try even though I hear he doesn’t own the restaurant anymore. The Bad: THE FOOD! I left pretty disappointed. It is not the most authentic Chinese food I might add. The Good: They have a pretty good selection for their lunch specials. Portions are generous. Service is quick. I’ve never seen this place get busy and I drive by it almost everyday after work. The bar area is pretty spacious with large TVs, great for watching sporting events.

Yao’s restaurant isn’t bad, but it’s also not that great.
The restaurant is HUGE though, so you can have your huge gatherings here and there is plenty of parking.
I was a bit disappointed with the pork belly since it wasn’t melt in yo mouth goodness as other folks have suggested.
The servers were pretty nice, but I think they were understaffed since we sat around for a while many times before we could flag them down. And this was with a pretty empty restaurant.
i think there are better options in Houston, but if you’re a fan of Yao ming, or the Rockets, you should come take a look at the memorabilia.

Pretty cool to be going to Yao’s! I liked seeing all the signed basketballs, newspaper articles and pics of Yao Ming :)
The service was quick and friendly, and the space is really pretty and huge! I wonder if they do wedding dinners here. Anyways, we had the:
Spicy beef and vegetables: This was so NOT spicy, so I asked for some hot sauce, haha. Meat was good, though.
Tong po pork belly: Pretty legit, thick pork belly (versus tiny slivers of it)
Overall, alright food and nice lookin’ space. And yes, you finish your meal off with some fortune cookies. Gotta love ‘em!

I’ve been meaning to try this place out for 2 years now and finally made it in!
My bf and I came in for a very late dinner, 930 pm on Wednesday night. The dining room was pretty much empty so we sat in the bar, where there was one other guest.
The bartender took our order right away. She knew the menu very well, she made suggestions, and we ended up going with the DINNER FOR TWO, which came with a soup, appetizer 2 entrees and dessert. EVERYTHING was delicious. Coming from Toronto, I am used to TRUE authentic Chinese food, and I cant say that I have been to many places in Houston where I have had that. THIS is the place for it! The quality was pretty good, and the flavor was absolutely there.
The place is great for business meeting i would imagine during the day– they have a lunch special/​menu from 11am — 4 pm.
I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for true authentic Chinese cuisine with quality.

I had an appointment with my Chinese friend. I was there. I opened the door. I had to hear some Spanish conversation instead of Chinese conversation. Of course, I can’t see any Taco. This is a Chinese restaurant. I guess that the most of the guests are non-​Asians. That’s why this restaurant had Latino Servers who are our majority in Houston.
I checked the menu. It is not Chinatown prices. Kind expensive. But the most of the lunch are still less than $ 10.We had a table. We saw forks and knives. We are speechless. My Chinese friend had to ask the server to bring chopsticks. I had never seen a restaurant which asked Asians to use chopsticks.LOL.Anyway, this is some American-​Latino-​Chinese restaurant, I guessed. Our nice server brought chopsticks.
The food weregreat. Nice atmosphere. I opened my fortune cookie. It said «Estamos Amigos y Amigas». I guessed that we are friends in English. What a nice word it is. I love it.
I went back to the door. I saw a big vase. I knew that Yao Ming was taller than me. I didn’t know that there were vases which were taller than me. It was so big! I guessed that Yao Min might be hiding in the vases. Of course, he is not in Houston anymore.
I really enjoyed food and atmosphere. I will return. See you soon! 再見！！！

When I first walked into Yao’s, I was impressed with the Americanized Chinese decorations and the cordial manner that I was greeted by the hostess and the servers. Alas, despite the food did not quite live up to the ambience and service.
I ordered the Peking duck, Yao flavored shrimp, and Kung Pao shrimp. While the Peking duck was nice, crisp, with a decent sauce, it wasn’t anything special. Both shrimps were fairly large and a good portion. The Kung Pao shrimp, however, didn’t have much flavor, especially in the spice department, which is what I expect from Kung Pao shrimp. The Yao flavored shrimp, on the other hand, was crispy and full of sweet flavor. The cherries complement the shrimp very well, and it was definitely my fav of the dishes.
All in all, if you’re looking for some upscale Americanized Chinese food, Yao’s is a decent restaurant. The ambience is pretty good and the service is solid.
Ambience 3.5
Food 3.0
Service 3.5

For those who come here hoping to catch a glimpse of Yao Ming, you’ll be disappointed. Yao actually no longer owns the restaurant. The restaurant now exists solely as an homage to his playing days. While it is true that he used to dine here (and his custom-​made chair and table befitting his 7’6 stature still remains), he no longer comes.
The food here is still pretty good for Americanized Chinese food, though. If I have to choose, I’d pick Yao Restaurant over the likes of PF Chang’s. There are select dishes on the menu that still reflect Yao’s input when it was opened, like Peking Duck.
As far as prices go, this place is much pricier than restaurants in Chinatown along Bellaire Blvd, which is just a couple of miles down the road. The tradeoff here is that parking tends to be more plentiful here, and the traffic is not as bad. There are some truly atrocious drivers down in Chinatown, and I’m not even trying to stereotype here. So for a few extra dollars, you get a peaceful meal experience minus road rage. The food quality is somewhat lower than Chinatown places, though.

When it comes to Chinese food, I’m typically game for a buffet over a sit-​down restaurant mainly because I like to have a variety of things (or try one thing and decide if I want more or less of that next time I head to the buffet line). My mom and I always eat Chinese food when we’re together, so this last week she took me to Yao’s.
This is a sit-​down Chinese restaurant. The menu is expansive with options for individual plates all the way to full banquets. They offer their lunch specials 7 days per week, so between 11am and 4pm every day you can get a delicious plate of food, your choice of wonton, egg drop, or hot & sour soup (my recommendation), and your choice of steamed, brown, or fried rice.
My orange peel chicken last week for lunch was so delicious, I talked my non-​Asian-​food-​eating husband into going there for lunch yesterday and he also enjoyed it. I had the mongolian beef, which was very good as well.
The waitstaff have been very friendly and the interior is beautifully decorated. I definitely recommend Yao’s for delicious Chinese food.

I recently came to Yao for the first time and really enjoyed my meal.
It is a nice, albeit huge, space, and we were seated in the bar area, which I usually don’t love, but had no issues with here, as the bar wasn’t distracting in any way. The TVs were at a reasonable volume, and it was still possible to have a nice lunch with my fiancé.
They have a huge menu, tons of tea options, and many lunch special choices, so if variety is something you appreciate you will be happy in your choice to eat here.
I had the combination fried rice lunch special which was $ 9.95, I believe. It was a really solid preparation of this seemingly easy, yet easy to screw up, dish. The meats in it were very fresh and of good quality, and the rice was neither sticky nor greasy. They nailed it. My fiancé had the Schezwan Pork which was very good, as well. The egg rolls were tasty, and I am not usually much of an egg roll person, as I typically find them to be heavy and greasy. Also, the Hot and Sour soup was very well done.
On the whole, we had a really nice lunch here. Excellent food and wonderful service seemed to be on order in spades at Yao… I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a solid Chinese place for lunch or dinner.