Jade Garden

Wish there’s a ZERO STAR level… This one is spot on. Just had lunch today and they served us spoiled rice… We didnt have to taste it to figure it out– you can tell just by smelling it! The worst part is the lady in the cashier… She WROTE on our receipt the amount of tip we should give– FYI, there was only 3 of us that just ate lunch… She said, the waitress recognized US, that we don’t tip them, so she force the amount of tip… (Would u give a good tip to a restaurant that just served you spoiled food??)
WHAT ??? We’ve not been here for months, 8 months at least. And this lady recognized us???
Wow! THAT LADY AT THE COUNTER — is surely a FULL TIME SWINDLER. This is not the first time.
I ordered to go at least on 3 occasions … Being not chinese… she will over charged you. On one occasion i ordered ‘dinner size’ … Good thing i checked the food container before i left my car– they gave us a lunch size! Guess what — the lady at the counter charged us dinner! HEED TO THIS review– specially that LADY AT THE COUNTER… OR YOU’RE BOUND TO BE SWINDLED!!!

The worse Cantonese food in town! Taste so bad, and very salty! Won’t come again and won’t recommend any friends to try! So disappointed.

We arrived at 7pm and were seated right away. But it takes more than half hour to start seeing our orders. The food is good but the service was poor. The waiter is even reluctant to give us highchair because she says it’s hard to move it to our table because of the crowd. And it takes forever to get tea refill. Bad experience.

I had New Year’s lunch with my family here and was pleasantly surprised. Everything about this place was very satisfying — food, ambience, service, and prices. Notably, their food isn’t overly salty and greasy and is actually quite light, which comes as a relief, since I’m usually K/O’d after a Chinatown meal.
We ordered fried rice, beef and vegetable flat noodles, eggplant, and lobster. Everything was tasty but light. Those used to heavier Chinatown fare might find the food to be under salted, but honestly I thought the flavors of the meat and veggies stood out nicely on their own without the added sodium. The lobster in particular was very good — sweet, tender meat in pre-​cracked shells resting in a succulent soy and ginger sauce. It was also an excellent deal, two lobsters for $ 19. The quality of their food was consistently very high. The meat was well-​cooked and had none of the weird bits (fat, bone shares, ligament, etc.) that I hate.
The service was quick and polite, and the ambience was clean and comfortable. The bathroom, always a source of concern for me in regards to Chinese restaurants, was commendably clean as well. My family and I had a great experience here and can’t wait to return!

Avoid on Christmas Eve.
When my dad wanted to go somewhere to eat on Christmas Eve, I thought he was being paranoid when he said we needed to go at 6 p.m. to Jade Garden to beat the crowd. Who is going to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve? It turns out every Chinese person in Sugar Land. We got there at about 6:20 p.m. and although we were seated immediately, a couple parties after us were not as lucky. The place was completely packed by 6:45 and people had to wait for a table.
Even though we were lucky and got a table, we were not lucky in getting our food fast. We timed it and it took about 45 minutes to get our first dish (salt and pepper crab) and an hour to get the peking duck and seafood pan fried noodles. I appreciate that they send out boiled peanuts (which I thought were perfectly salted, but the rest of my table thought was too salty), but I’ve never had to wait so long for a meal at a Chinese restaurant! Even though everything was delicious, I can’t give this place more than 3 stars because of the wait.
We did notice that this place was packed with immigrant Asians. That should tell you something about the authenticity of the food.

Went with the family (4 total) for dinner. My mom wanted to try the Lobster special, which admittedly was a reasonable price ($ 19). However, when ordering, we were convinced by the server to add the noodle option to the lobster, as well as a fancy-​sounding fish dish, costing $ 20. We rounded off the meal by adding in a basic snow pea leaf dish and beef short ribs.
We knew it would be somewhat more expensive than Chinatown but we didn’t expect it to spiral downwards so badly.
What went wrong?
1. We didn’t ask the cost of adding the noodles to the lobster because we assumed it would be nominal. It wasn’t. It cost $ 10. They were literally just lo mein noodles placed under the lobster so the juices would soak through. Not worth it.
2. Though the lobster tasted fine, most of the lobster appendages were still encased in their shell and we were given no utensils to break the shells open.
3. The fish dish ended up being literally like 8 pieces of fish (around the size of a watch face) in a bed of random common veggies. The fish itself was okay, but nothing special. Not worth $ 20.
4. The beef ribs didn’t taste very good and were like 80% bone. Yes, beef ribs are supposed to be largely bone, but this was ridiculous. The parts that were meat were also very tough to chew and take off the bone.
5. My mom got a bit sidetracked watching the TV when our bill came out. We were essentially goaded to pay our bill as soon as possible. The reason was «they were closing soon» and had to count the cash, clean tables, etc. It was 8:30. They closed at 10:00. It wasn’t like we were taking up seating that other customers could use either. The place was only like 30% full.
6. My mom doesn’t really understand the concept of tipping that well, so she accidentally voiced her decision to leave a low tip by telling them exactly what total to charge on her card. They said «That’s not how it works, I will bring you the receipt and you can write in the tip then.» After they took the card, the person came back having ALREADY WRITTEN IN A 15% TIP. She added that we could cross it out and lower the tip if we wanted, but really she was just manipulating us to accept the tip as written, and said what she did to cover herself.
Our total ended up being just under $ 100 for a 4 person meal.
All in all an absolutely terrible experience. Never ever again.

We come to this place almost every other week. Overall food is good, more on the greasy and salty side but you can always ask for less oil/​no msg/​low sodium. Restaurant is not so clean but I guess pretty standard for Chinese restaurants.

The service was poor. Ill mannered staff. Ordered family combo, asked what it was, she so rude, like I’m supposed to know, in insisting she told is shrimp pork n beef. When did was brought asked me if I needed fork n spoon, I said yes, the lady showed me to the stand where it was kept. I took them. She asks «why chopsticks, u know use them». I said I do, she was fondling with her hair. Real rude people.
Prefer café east people.
Got home to find soup fallen out. Bad bad service. Food ain’t ask that great either

Lobster special was really good. The scallop and shrimp w vegetable special was not that good and too pricy. Otherwise dinner was good and people were friendly.

Food was not too bad. But the taste is not consistent from time to time. They could not handle customer queue well.
The worst thing was that they refused to accept credit card with unclear reason. It is very inconvenient when we are not ready with enough cash.

Came here this morning for lunch. For 5 people, we paid $ 120 and we were automatically charged tip because they counted my three year old nephew as our sixth person.
The food was mediocre *at best*. I grew up eating Chinese food in Chinatown off Bellaire and Beltway 8 — so many good places. Now I live in NYC and relish the ease of good chinese food near my parents house in Sugar Land when I come back to visit.
Dim sum: fried shrimp ball — more outer crunchy stuff than shrimp ball. Shu mai and shrimp dumpling were standard. Don’t come here for dim sum. Just bite the bullet and go to Kim Son or somewhere off Bellaire.
Lobster and fish: exceedingly meh for $ 25 & $ 17 respectively. Scallion and beef: small portion, overly sweet. The flavors here are not much better than a standard hole in the wall take out place in NYC outside of Chinatown (eg places you generally avoid). When I found out it was 138 (incl tip), I told my parents we shouldn’t go there again. Too many awesome places in SL or Houston Chinatown to give it a second try. What a waste of calories and precious few mealtimes during my short visit. :(

Don’t get why the rating is so low. If the service isn’t poor/​the people rude, then it’s not an authentic Chinese restaurant! That’s just how it is if you want good real Chinese food. In fact I’d be a bit suspicious if it was otherwise. Based on food this place is one of the better Cantonese places in Sugar Land. We got the Peking duck, Japanese tofu, crispy noodles and it was delicious! I really enjoyed the Japanese tofu as it was different from Chinese tofu. It had more of a custardy texture and was circular in shape. Would definitely recommend for everyone to try out!

Honestly with all the new chinese restaurants opening up in town I have no idea why anyone would still put up with the management at this restaurant.
When it first opened years ago the food was amazing and much better than anything you could get close to Sugar Land. I remember coming three nights in a row with my mom and my brother.
Now, the portions are smaller, the quality has gone WAAAY down, and the price has gone up.
Here are some horrific experiences I’ve had as a former regular at this restaurant:
1.I ordered a black pepper beef which is supposed to be made with tenderloin. It has always been made with tenderloin, and any respectable asian restaurant that you go to will make it with tenderloin. It has TENDERLOIN in the chinese name. Well, they recently started serving it with some unknown cut of beef that I’ve never had the misfortune of tasting. Might have been clearance chuck roast from walmart by the looks and taste of it. It came bloody, under seasoned, under cooked, and didn’t even have a single black pepper in it. I returned it and the NEW floor manager, the same lady who has worked the cashier for the last several years, named LISA, came to my table with an ungodly uppity attitude and told me loudly in chinese «well I just had it and it was delicious. I have no idea what you’re talking about and sure I guess we’ll take it off for you, but I just want you to know that that’s how it’s made. There’s no way we can make it with tenderloin and charge that amount of money for it, nobody will do it.»
2. I ordered their 2 lobsters special despite seeing a bunch of half dead lobsters crammed into a dirty tank. I paid attention to the servers and didn’t see a single person get the lobsters from the tank. What was served to me later on were two EXTREMELY small lobsters that were tough, overcooked, and GREEN. Likely dead for a long time and they decided to throw into a freezer after too many DEAD lobsters accumulated in their disgusting seafood tank.
3. I brought guests from out of town to eat at this restaurant. When I stepped away to use the restroom, I came back to Lisa hassling my guests saying that paying with cash would get a 3% discount (seriously? who cares!). I stepped in and said «no, you guys are my guests let me get the tab.» I kid you not, Lisa SNATCHES the money out of their hands and walks away with it.
4. I came and ate with a large group of friends, and we were about done with our meal. This was about an hour before closing. Lisa came by and told us to hurry up and pay because they were closing. A little later, we saw her seat a party of around 10 on a large table next to us. Lady, are you kidding?! An hour from closing and still seating huge parties and you’re telling us to get out? I just glanced at other reviews on the side of the page and see a similar experience by Neville D. on 5÷8÷2015.
5. If you order take out, the time they give you for ready food will almost always be 20 minutes less than how long you actually need to take. Whenever they told me 20 minutes it would take 40, whenever they told me 40 minutes it would take an hour+. Honestly with how bad the service and kitchen is and this place still getting a ton of traffic from asians who don’t want to go to China Town, I’m about to start my own restaurant next door.
Honestly, with all the other GREAT asian places in Sugar Land now I’ll never go back to Jade Garden. Go to Keeper’s, Phở Ben, or Thai Cottage. Between the three of these establishments with GREAT and CONSISTENT service serving roasted/​bbq meats, fried rice, fried noodles, noodle soups, stir fry, and rice plates, there is no need or reason to ever put up with paying a premium price for poor food to get harassed by a power tripping glorified cashier named Lisa that was unfortunately made the floor manager by new and clueless management.
Hopefully the new business owners read Unilocal.Look at any of your poor reviews over the last 4+ years and you will see the common theme here is Lisa. Fire her, rework your menu, portions and price so that they make sense, and then you can be the premier Asian restaurant in Sugar Land again.

Have to say this is one of the best Chinese restaurants near sugar land! The restaurant is clean, big, service is fine, the dishes are good!

Rude rude rude!!!
Lisa the manager always treats you like she has to leave even if you show up at 9 15 and closing time is 10 00 she wants you to order now!!!
Food is awesome prices are great but with her running the show, only the hungry will show up nobody that wants a good dining experience !!!

My family and I go here when we’re too exhausted/​lazy to make the trek to Bellaire Blvd for Dim Sum/​Chinese food. Overall, it’s clean, efficient, and the food is pretty good!
The majority of the waiters/​waitresses know Cantonese, Vietnamese, and English.
I still prefer Kim Son Dim Sum to theirs. Their dim sum is ordered off a menu… No carts milling about trying to sell to you. Their items are all good. Just not as good as Kim Son’s.
I do love their salt and pepper lobster though and it’s always at a reasonable price.

Mmmmm good dim sum in Sugar Land China Town, enough said.
They have lots of my favorites, and most taste pretty good, such as ha gao and Cheung fun, I didn’t like the 小籠包 (steamed mini bun with juicy pork), it wasn’t juicy nor very good.
They don’t have rolling carts, but you can order some from the window and from the menu.

I have been here for lunch twice with the family, approximately eight people. The first time was late in the afternoon, where the volume of people was fairly small. The second time was when the restaurant was full, but we received a seat after about twenty minutes, an understandable wait, considering the amount of customers. My review pertains to primarily the second dine-​in.
After sitting down at our table, we waited 15 minutes for menus to arrive. After we ordered, the food trickled in every couple of tens of minutes — the total duration being about 45 minutes for dim sum to arrive. It also appears as if orders were forgotten, i.e. one of three orders of steamed shrimp dumplings would come in every ten minutes and we were required to remind them, constantly.
My main concern was the manager. The ratio of employees/​customers was small, so I resorted to asking the manager if we could get a refill on tea. She told me to ask someone else, which was an agitating response to accept. Afterwards, when we were finished with our meal, I asked to receive a to-​go box for some leftovers and she responded by saying, «Do it yourself,» and pointed across the room. The manager understands less about customer service than any other employee.
SUMMARY: The food is good and the servers can get their job done when there is a small amount of customers. I would avoid this place if it is crowded, not only for the wait but because of the issues that will arise. The manager is exceptionally uncourteous and needs to be replaced. This place shows potential if and only if management is changed.

Came in with family for a Friday lunch after arriving in Houston…
We ordered dim sum and their lobster special.
Two lobsters for $ 18.99! Great deal. Two styles to choose from, «jiao yan» (pepper-​salt fried) and «cong jiang» («cong» is Chinese leek and «jiang» is ginger, which is stir fried — Cantonese style). We ordered the cong jiang stir fry style, and the lobster was very tender and sweet.
I recommend their «lo buo gao,» (turnip cake) and «you tiao cheung fen» (donut sticks in rice noodle).
Their dim sum spare ribs were a bit too fatty for me, and the «chuan jian» (Spring Rolls) were not very good (Shanghainese style is more refined with yellow leek, shrimp, pork, etc and these were thick and mostly meat).
Good service and clean.

This is my family’s to go place for dim sum in Sugar Land/​Missouri City area.
Food: We love this place for dim sum, because it’s accessible and the food is pretty good. It’s a pretty cantonese place and reminds me of dim sum in NYC… but not like Hong Kong or Vancouver. The dim sum is never too bland or too salty — just right. They have great variety and more variety at the food stand area of the restaurant. I love the fact that the dim sum is always fresh because they make it when you hand in the checklist. Some places will push it around in carts and you’ll have no idea how long it’s been sitting on the cart, but Jade Garden isn’t like that! If you go on the weekend, you’ll notice that it’s packed with Chinese families… that says alot in itself about the authenticity of the food. I need to come back for their non-​dim sum food because I heard their lunch menu is pretty good.
Service: The service is ok… typical Chinese restaurant, but you come here, you come here for the food not for the service. If you ask for water or a kettle of tea initially… they won’t check to see if you’re empty or running low. You’ll have to inform the wait staff that you’re running low and would like a refill.
Price: It’s comparable to other dim sum places, maybe even slightly more expensive but too much. If you go with 11 people, you’ll probably spend about $ 170 and everyone will be extremely full. You’ll even have left overs to take home.
Tip: Pay in cash if you don’t want your full credit card information to appear on the receipt.
Best time for dim sum is on the weekends, but if you come during peak hours (lunch time), be ready to wait 15 minutes before you can be seat if you are a large party.