Yao's restaurant taking Chinese food to new heights

That's very ignorant.

I hope you give the people who are building our town more respect than the **** your talking.

Well, I'll just hope you were being innocently ignorant. But again not cool; even for a smile.

 

When I'm in Houston, I get the Chicken, spinach, and black mushroom 2 times a week.

 

I'll definately go try the food. I hope it's actually good! For some reason I got the feeling that it ain't gonna be anything special. It's not really Yao's restaurant; it's partly owned by his parents?

If you've been there already, let me know how's the food there!! I don't wanna drive from Austin to Houston and have a bad dinner... I agree Houston's definately the place to be if you love food!

 

LOL that's just too funny... how can you work at a bar and not know what Bombay Saphire is?

Now when you say traditionally, do you mean Chinese tradition or Chinese-American? Cause I'm chinese and I ain't never had a traditional chinese meal outside of family dinners.

Yao's family and their friends/co-owners are obviously FOB's, I doubt they have much clue as to what kinda chinese food Americans like. (BTW, the cheif that works there used to be at another chinese restaurant called... damn I can't think of the name right now but I'll get back to anyone that cares to know.)

Based on what you have said, I don't think they're gonna make it unless people are going there for the experience as pose for the food. (Good tourist restaurant I suppose)

Looks like I won't be driving back this weekend in hopping for some yummy food.

 

I can't even beleive he was able to get away for saying that crap.

...I sorta did chuckle, though. It was just unexpected.

 

Oh it's Cafe Le Jadeite! I worked at this place when it first opened in summer of 2003. The food wasn't great back then, but it was still good. I went back there just a month ago while I was in town visitng my parents and their food has vastly improved. The Mongolian Beef there is one of my favorite dishes in all of Houston chinese restaruants! They have a real good waitstaff there, unlike most of the other chinese restaurants in town. (I had to go through training for about a month before the restaurant officially opened. We had a teacher, you know one of those ladies that worked with high-end restaurants! lol) They also have a live Pianoist (is that a word? I'm sure you know what I mean) that performs there while you dine.

I recommend anyone that wants to experience a high-end chinese restaurant to go and give it a try. The name might be misleading, but it's definately not a cafe. They got a bar in the front with a nice plasma TV. The estimated cost on interior decorations is easily over a mil. Just about everything inside is imported. It's some really nice stuff, nothing I have ever seen in another chinese restaurant.

The wine selection there is pretty good, just about everything you can get. The price on both food and beverages are very reasonable. And perhaps not everyone would know this but they use HIGH-GRADED meat and spice in all their dishes. If you can't decide what to eat, try the Mongolian Beef and you'll know the beef taste different from any other chinese restaurant.

Lastly, they don't just serve chinese food. The restaurant's concept was the traditional chinese cousine with a french influence. Additionally, there's a little bit of japanese in it as well. All the appetizer plates and presentations contain a japnese style. They call it fusion.

 

my friend and i decided to eat at Yao's on wednesday nite and also watch the game while we were there. we got a seat almost immediately, but that was about the only good thing that happened. the hostess took us to our table and got us our drinks and then left. we waited and waited until finally after 20 minutes the waiter came to greet us and take our order. by this point we were kinda annoyed at that...so he takes our order and almost 1 hour passes by before he comes back and asks us how things are and then notices that we don't have any food on the table. he then asks if we hadn't received our food yet and then proceeds to leave and talk to someone else. he then says that he placed the order with the kitchen, but they "accidentally gave it to the wrong table" which is code for "i forgot to place your order". we ask him how much longer it would be and he said "5 to 10 minutes"...we waited for 10 minutes then stood up and left. he saw us leaving and didn't even apologize. i'm NEVER going to that awful place again...oh and we weren't the only ones that had problems with our food coming out, there were at least 2 other tables around us that were pissed too...

 

Went and tried it yesterday afternoon just to see what it was like, and BullFan and buiyahkah have it pretty much covered, nice decor, bland food at best, uncoordinated service.

Also agree with the unfavorable reviews here:
http://www.b4-u-eat.com/houston/restaurants/reviews/rsv3589.asp

However, we did see Yao's mom Fang Feng Di walk into the restaurant, right by our table. I instantly recognized her, and damn she's tall! She was wearing an all black outfit, business-type suit, I guess.

Also, the bathroom walls and sink bowls and fixtures were kind of neat.

I don't plan on going back there ever again.

 

When I say traditionally, I guess I mean, that every other restaurant in Houston that serves peking Duck serves it with a sweet bean paste, and not the salty abomination that accompanies the Duck at Yao Restaurant and Bar.

Our waitress promised towards the beginning of our meal to take us around and look at the VIP room and some of the office space after we were done eating, but I was so tired of dealing with her screw-ups all throughout the meal that we just left when we were done.

She also said that the only Rockets that have been there so far have been Yao and Patrick Ewing.

Also - no desert menu. they're still working on it.

I think what they really need is a Karaoke stage. And Yao belting out tunes all night. Some Captain and Teniel, maybe some Elton John, a little Clay Aiken. That would bring them in regardless of food and service quality

 

I'd never go to a new restaurant the first week or even month of business. It's pretty obvious from the reviews that they have a lot of things to get worked out.

 

I mean the service is probably just gettting the right number of waiters. But the food is basically who the chefs are back there, they must hired some lousy chefs. I have a restaurant I liked here, once the owner and chef changed, it sucked big time. Couldn't they afford some better chefs??

Mark

 

tried the food last week, the tofu dish and prawns were decent, but the peking duck, like bullfan said, were dry; hard to imagine they hired a "professional" chef that only prepare the peking duck like they claimed.

in my opinion, the decor and ambiance were nice, but the food is so-so and over-priced. i'll probably won't go back just for the food, but maybe to catch a game in the bar area.

they'll have their grand opening soon (don't know the exact day), it should be a big event, george bush sr will make an appearance.

 

Restaurants are rarely good the first time around, especially chinese ones.

I haven't tried it, but I would like to the next time I'm in town. I'll probably go just because its Yao's restaurant, but I definitely won't expect too much.

I might have to hit up Sinh Sinh late-night though.

 

Waiting for a chance to see Yao's restaurant? Here's your chance!

...............
Rockets fans are invited to attend a FREE viewing party Friday March 11th from 7:30–10:30 p.m. at the Yao Restaurat & Bar at 9755 Westheimer and Gessner to watch the Rockets on the road. Fans can watch the game on large-screen televisions, play games, meet the Rockets Power Dancers, and compete for a chance to win great Rockets prizes.

Throughout the year, the Houston Rockets will be bringing the Toyota Center entertainment on the road to a location near you. Fans can enjoy the game on big screens while listening to our in game announcer T-gray as he does the play by play. When the game hits a commercial the fun will continue with every time-out being filled with games for everyone to enjoy. Fans can participate in Wing Eating Contests, Trivia, Musical Chairs, Limbo, T-shirt tosses, and more! If that isn’t enough, the Power Dancers will be on hand performing, signing autographs, and taking pictures. Come out and enjoy the fun! Are you in?

* PRINT OUT THIS PAGE AND PRESENT IT TO A POWER DANCER WHEN YOU GET THERE TO CLAIM A PRIZE!

http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_Viewing_Party-130308-822.html

 

Restaurat? Doesn't sound very appealing to me at all. Someone over at Rockets.com needs to get a spel checker.