the restaurant is ok. nothing special. i hate how its setup though, especially with carpet. and when the games are on the projector, theres these dividers that are supposed to be decorative or something that kind of block the view from diners in the back. the bar is tight, but the dining room could use some work. the food is decent, i would have expected some real chinese food, but its really just another restaurant with yao ming's name on it.
Must say I was disappointed with the food at Yao's place. Other than the Peking Duck, everything was just a copy of P.F. Chang's, and overpriced. Imagine the business he would get if he had opened a restaurant somewhere along Bellaire - and he could have gone with an authentic Chinese menu too.
I've been to Yao's about 4 times. Very nice entrance and overall place, very proffesional, in that matter. However, the food is solid. It's good old american chinese food. Nothing amazing, not bad though, just good solid food. Though, it is overpriced.
Yeah I don't know what you ordered man ... I went there to eat with one of my friends and we were both really impressed. I've been back there once and I had one of their teas .. fabulous. And it's not really "pricey" to me either ... it's not extremely cheap like your typical corner Chinese restaurant, but the food is well worth the price IMO.
I dig Yao's... The bar is cool. The Vietnamese Spring Rolls are freakin' killer. Hot and Sour soup is mediocre... General Tao's Chicken rocks. I like the jalapeno touch. The duck is rockin' if you like duck. I could eat those Spring Rolls for lunch 7 a week. Not too pricey. Fat Tire on tap. Great place to watch the game but the coolest was when they let me go back to Yao's room. I have no clue what real Chinese food is like.
there's only a handful of 'real' Chinese restaurants in Houston to begin with. I suppose it's a little disappointing that Yao's folks didn't open up one of those, but I can't really blame them for wanting to replicate PF Chang's - why go out of your way trying to outclass the competition via food when you can just mimic the top dog's (financially speaking) main cachet and appease the American palate? That said, the food is overpriced for what you're getting.
I don't think people will pay a premium price-wise on any Chinese restaurant located on bellaire. You open it where he opened it because people are willing to pay $20/person for dinner on westheimer instead of $8/person on bellaire.
Just hope this will NOT be a repeat of the following exploitation of the name and fame of Yao Ming in Shanghai.
The owner must be r****ded to think Shanghainese would want to eat these kinds of food. Maybe Americans love them, but then again, Americans who travel that far to visit Shanghai most likely have something else in their minds.
I actually really like Yao's restaurant. As a few mentioned, the hot tea is really good. The food is high quality. Yeah, higher priced than I'd like, but they use good ingredients. And no, I'm not a fan of PF Chang's.
