Yum Yum Cha

Yum yum cha! Where did you go? I loved your dim sum and am sad to see the empty restaurant. Please tell me/​us you will be reopening soon or relocating nearby!

Food: below average — average dim sum.
Gives you very very small portions of dim sum. Dim sum is not that great compared to the ones I had in china town.
Service: nice people but takes forever for food to come out. Usually dim sum comes out in 5 mins tops. But took them 15 mins. Also the workers are all over the place it seems, kinda seems chaotic watching them work.

I generally don’t hate my money, but I owe my wallet an apology. The dim sum here suck donkey balls! Notwithstanding the questionable smell, quality and freshness is comical. Never trust a non-​asian review when you’re craving Asian food! Tej, you should be ashamed of yourself for recommending this place. Wtf bro!!!
**update** I have food poisoning. I truly hate this place!

Great food. Could have better customer service.
The food is legit, tastes great and is cheap. As someone whose not well versed in dim sum, I was definitely at a loss as they just drop off food at your table without even saying what it is.

Yum Yum Cha is a gem that exists in Rice Village. The restaurant is not flashy by any means, but it doesn’t need or want to be. This place produces, in my opinion, some of the freshest Dim Sum in Houston up there with HK Dim Sum. With a simple concept, conventional classical music playing aloud, and fantastic food; Yum Yum Cha is an absolute delight that any lover of Houston Asian food should frequent.
The owner is there everyday that the restaurant is open, and you can tell she runs this place with fierce passion. She is on top of her waitstaff, making sure that they handle the customers properly. The only issue I really find with Yum Yum is that because the dim sum is made fresh, and to order, with such a small staff overall: waiting on food can be a problem. If there are more than 3 groups in the restaurant, you may have to wait 5 – 10 minutes between each item you order. I have had lunch here where it took almost an hour and a half to eat. That being said, the food is just wonderful.
Whenever I go, the group consistently orders the pork and shrimp siu mai, steamed beef balls, deep fried taro puff, crispy shrimp rolls, steamed shrimp and bbq pork rice noodles, shanghai dumplings, steamed shrimp dumpling, and steamed bbq pork bun. I do not want to bog this review down with the fantastic flavors of each of these items, however each of these are absolutely delectable. I would highly recommend the siu mai and taro puff (the taro texture may be funky, however the pork mixture inside with the taro makes for a mouth-​watering combination)
There is no alcohol served, and your sodas will be served in a can. Be mindful of their hours, as they are open for a limited time for lunch, close down, and then open back up for dinner. They are also closed on Tuesdays. Enjoy! You’re in for a treat.

Food is good and price is reasonable! But service is extremely horrible, especially the lady who wears glasses, worked in dinner! After we ordered some dishes, we asked her to borrow a menu, she answered with a nod and said nothing, and i was like «okay, she’s a cold person, it’s not a big deal»! However, when she cleared out the table for us, she slapped the dishes strongly on the table like getting angry! Now i would say,“ok that’s rude”! I’m a server too, and working in fast food restaurant, even it’s really busy but we’ve never treat customers like that. If you are angry, unhappy, sad, it’s okay because it’s normal, but please at least respecting people! we even don’t know who you are, and we do nothing! !

Great place for fast dim sum. They have a great selection to order from and they make it within 5 – 10 minutes. We spent about $ 40 for a table full of food and it just kept coming from there. It was more than enough for 2. Overall it’s a nice little locations within the rice village area. I haven’t seen any other dim sum place near there. Service was great also great and very helpful. Tables were a little sticky though and the overall cleanliness wasn’t the best but it’s also not that terrible.

I really enjoyed visiting this restaurant. It’s convenient to my work location, and the service is always outstanding.
I would like to point out they are missing quite a few traditional dim sum choices I tend to jump to, but I’m comfortable with their menu.
Nice price point, seems like a good place for a group of less than 6 people. Didn’t seem crowded.
Worth checking out for a bite to eat in rice village.

Great dim sum. My wife and I shared about 6 or 7 dishes and all but the BBQ puffs (microwaved and doughy) were great. The service was quick and easy.
The problem — and the reason they get 3 stars — is that when I went to the restroom it was kinda dirty and smelly and as I was peeing a massive cockroach sat there and watched me. This made me worry about the cleanliness of the kitchen. We’d already eaten at this point otherwise I would’ve left.

The best dim sum I have tried in Houston… but I haven’t tried many places.
I want to give it 5 stars because at least they service dim sum inside the loop but I can only do 4 because compared to other places outside of Houston it isn’t great.
I ordered around 12 different things and realized 6 of those were really good and 6 of those were just ok. It makes it easier for next time.
The rice wrapped in lotus leaf is the only thing I thought was even better than the one in Tim Ho Wan (hence my 4 stars even though the place is dirty)– and thats saying a lot considering Tim Ho Wan has 1 michelin star.
Very disappointed at Shanghai dumpling special as I was expecting the typical broth inside that bursts inside your mouth— and it wasn’t there. Hope they fix this for next time.
Service was good.
Will I go back? probably if I don’t want to drive too much and have an urgent need for dim sum which happens once a month.

Excellent food and an easy access location, not to mention in the right neighborhood of Rice Village.

Another little gem in the Rice Village area!
I won’t pretend to be a dim sum expert, but I really enjoyed the food here. I instantly fell in love with the pan fried and deep fried sesame balls; the first time I visited, I had to order another serving of them. The BBQ pork buns have a sweet-​savory flare, and you cannot go wrong with the fried bread (also ordered more of that). Everything came out piping hot in a timely manner, so there were no awkward gaps in between dishes. I love that friends and I have been stuffed with 6+ dishes here for a total of max $ 10/​person.
The only reason I didn’t give this restaurant more stars is because of the actual venue. I can’t fault them for the lack of parking since that’s a general Rice Village complaint, but I think they can really spruce up the restaurant. If they hadn’t been recommended by a coworker, I would have walked on by the old, dusty sign. The inside of the restaurant is clean, but there’s not much to look at.
Regardless, the food is made with care you can taste, and I’ll be back!

My boyfriend and I were hesitant to eat here since it’s in the village and we usually go to Fungs for dim sum. Since we didn’t feel like driving to Bellaire, we settled for yum yum! And everything we ordered was very good and our tummies is happy!
What we ordered: pork and preserved duck egg rice porridge (only on Saturdays and Sundays), steamed shrimp roll, steamed chinese broccoli, ha gao, fried taro puffs, Sui Mai, bbq pork buns, and chicken feet. The portion size didn’t bother us. We will be back when we want dim sum!

This is my first experience eating at a dim sum restaurant. I went on a Friday afternoon when it was pretty slow. There were two tables besides us. I liked that they had a picture book, and the lady who took care of us was pretty nice and helped explain the ordering process.
We ordered a feast trying several different things which I can’t remember the names of. Beef balls, Taro Puffs, BBQ Pork Buns, Lotus Seed Bun, Turnip Cakes, shrimp dumplings, etc. For the amount of food we ordered I felt the price was reasonable.
The food came out staggered and a little slow although I was distracted by my company so it wasn’t such a big deal. I did notice as I went to the bathroom that the restaurant was a little dirty and I did not care for that.
As far as food quality I don’t have anything to compare it to, but some of the fried items were very greasy. So greasy in-​fact that it made me feel kinds sick to my stomach which doesn’t happen often. I liked the chicken and rice and some of the flavors of various other menu items, but I felt everything was a bit too mushy and over cooked.

I usually go to china town for dim sum, but dim sum ends around 3 pm and yum yum cha was opened with dim sum until 7 pm. Anyways, so I decided to try this place. The BBQ pork buns were probably the best thing there. And then the fried tofu with shrimp. It wasn’t what I thought it was but it was still good. The steamed rolls were soggy and thick. I didn’t like them. I would probably only come back here if I really have no where else to go.

I would normally walk around Rice Village and one day, I saw this place. YUM YUM CHA. I thought it was cute, but I didn’t think to go in until a friend of mines went and had said it was pretty good. And so I went for lunch on Wednesday at around 12:45 PM. There was only one seated table there and the person who worked there was very to the point though rather vague. There was no «hi» — just, «sit anywhere,» in a rather severe tone of voice. It’s amusing to see later patrons stare at her blankly for a few moments before realising they could choose where to sit. I lived in China before briefly so I wasn’t new to this… but people don’t tip in China and they do here.
Slightly lacking service aside, I was here for the food. I love dim sum but the first thing you must know is that I’m vegetarian. So were the other three people I was with. A majority of their food is not meant for vegetarians other than the Cheung Fun (2 items), the lotus seed and custard buns, and some of their desserts. Although I’m a huge fan of Egg Tarts, they’re traditionally made with lard so we stayed away from that to be safe. We ended up getting 2 orders of the Vegetarian Cheung Fun, 2 orders of the Chinese Fried Cruller Cheung Fun, 1 order of the lotus seed bun, 1 order of the custard bun, and 2 orders of the Almond Pudding.
The rice noodles for the Cheung Fun was decent but they weren’t as firm as I’d like. I don’t need it that firm, but it fell apart too easily as I was trying to guide it towards my mouth. The buns were OK and it was more bread than filling. They were also small. As for the Almond Pudding — purchased as a way to cleanse our palate — it was all right, reminding us of tofu with a hint of almond with little bits of what looked like canned pineapples and maraschino cherries on top. By the time we were ready to leave, a sudden rush of people came in. When we left, there were around 5 seated tables. At least the place seems to be fairly popular.
This place is good for a quick fix, but we left «just right». None of us were terribly full, but it hit the spot… perhaps not dead-​on, but somewhere there. I’d rather go to San San Tofu for their dim sum since they have a larger selection for us vegetarians, but you are where you are! China Town is the place to go to for good dim sum with the full experience with the cart, but when in Rice Village and you have a craving for some good old Chinese tea time — go here!

Quick sit down and neat picture booklet to help people order. That’s about it for the pros…
Chinese Broccoli — couldn’t tell if it was over steamed or just old ingredients. Stalk’s edges were chewy.
Ha Gau — small tiny shrimps, felt like it was frozen and nuked
Sui Mai — dried out, probably also frozen and nuked.
Dumplings– see above
Turnip cakes — decent, not as flaky as I’m use to
Chicken feet — was already mushy at serving, didn’t see one whole chicken feet. Taste was good though.
Overall, this establishment is very underwhelming. I wish I could have been here a decade ago when all the news articles seem to have highly praised this place.
Lesson learned… Need to drive further for good dim sum…

As a Rice student who doesn’t have a car, Yum Yum Cha is my go-​to place when I am craving dim sum but can’t find a ride, because it is so close to Rice University. This is also my top choice for to hang out with friends or to take someone on a date. Although Yum Yum Cha is definitely not as good as the dim sum places in Chinatown, this restaurant still offers a generally solid dim sum experience!
I can’t call this restaurant perfect because I felt that the portion sizes were generally smaller than usual (Isn’t dim sum also small-​portioned as is?), and the spare ribs and the lotus chicken have always been a disappointment. However, I especially recommend their shrimp dumplings (It’s smaller than usual but better than even some Chinatown restaurants’!) and fried shrimp balls (One of the few things here that are bigger than usual).
I’ll take any Chinatown dim sum places over this if I had a choice, but I must admit that Yum Yum Cha is nonetheless a decent dim sum café especially for those who lived nearby.
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tl;dr version:
–Convenient for local residents especially Rice students
–Relatively small portions
–Mediocre dim sum overall compared to Chinatown’s
–Disappointing spare ribs and lotus chicken
–STELLAR shrimp dumplings and fried shrimp balls

We live in NY but when we come to visit Houston, Yum Yum is a must.
The photo book menu makes ordering easy. I’m s huge fan of the Chinese broccoli as well as the fried shrimp balls they are amazing.
My husband was daring enough to try the chicken feet. He said they had great flavor but a little fatty for his liking.
He also loves the tripe.
Can’t wait to go here again

The One Where Sandy Refuses to Drive to Bellaire for Dim Sum.
Yup… traffic on Bellaire/​Chinatown is crazy! Since I was just there yesterday for lunch AND dinner — there’s no way I would fight that traffic again. Okay, enough ranting and now time to review.
My brother is home for spring break so instead of just making lunch like I would normally do, I decided to take him out. First, let me note that I had the hardest time getting him to wake up! Anyway, after calling/​texting some friends — my brother and I finally agreed to try Yum Yum Cha.
When we arrived, this place was packed! We were lucky to find a place to sit (please seat yourselves here) and before I was able to put my purse down, the server rushed over to wipe down the table. Apparently, the folks before us just left. So it’s not your «typical» dim sum place where they push the cart to your table and you basically pick what you like. You’re given a menu to mark down what you’d like and they bring it out.
My brother and I tried their beef rolled noodles, steamed pork buns, shui mai, shanghai soup dumplings, pork dumplings (I was really craving dumplings), curry beef puffs, and rice soup. I have to say it was all decent. I don’t like my pork dumplings drenched in sauce and that’s how they served it. The shanghai soup dumplings did not have soup in it, so that was a major fail. The steamed pork bums were good, but a bit smaller than usual. I get it, it’s the rice village area so I shouldn’t expect much, but it should be a bit better! Anyway, at least I know now and will probably sit through the traffic for good dim sum (or head over to E-​Tao and fight the galleria crowd).