Place is legit, but letdown food wise. They had large portions an such, but the food quality was not all there. Meaning it was an average Asian restaurant. The most exciting place was the bar and should I say wow...it's better than most bars. I will be back to the bar side because it is amazing.
Review Source:I must say Yao's Restaurant is one of the best Chinese Restaurants for non-Chinese people (True Chinese foods taste slightly different, and actual Chinese may not think the food is authentic). Â
Although the food I had was not the best I ever tried, they were pretty good. Â But more importantly, the cordial service we received was untypical of vast majority of Chinese restaurants. Â The place looked very clean and upscale, and yet the menu was not over priced. Â
This would be a definite place to bring out-of-town guests to. Â I think the restaurant has be good if Yao put his own name hung above the front entrance. Â
It should be a crime to bring kids to this place as this is not a place to be trashed (or ruin others' fine dining experience with crying/screaming kids).
I enjoy my dinner there 2 nights ago with friends and family. There is new management and quality has changed for better. I personally like the Chinese version of the shrimp lettuce wrap, it is more authentic in taste. We have some vegetarian friends that came along, and they have great selections on vegetarian foods. We ordered the basil eggplant, vegetable fried rice, king oyster mushrooms, and braised tofu. Every dish was very flavorful, and we also had included 2 pots of the infused Jasmine and Orange Black tea. Don't forget to order the peking duck, we really enjoyed it! =)
Review Source:I've been here twice. Once on Chinese New Year and once on Easter both for dinner. (Not sure why both holidays) The food was wonderful both times. The decor was very nice and overall ambiance was great. I appreciate that the menu indicates which dish is more authentic Chinese.
The waiters are very nice and helpful. I've tried a few chicken and beef dishes which are descent. You'd never guess especially by appearance of the dish but the porkbelly with tofu is AMAZING. It keeps getting passed around the table because it was so good. The Mao Po Tofu is also my other favorite. Their portions are huge. A dish is enough to serve at least 3 people. I won't say it's generic, but it's a nice Chinese restaurant to go to especially if you don't want to make my White American husband feel awkward.
If you are a tea person, I highly recommend it. Not only is the tea good, their teapot set up just makes tea so much more fun. My only complaint is that if you don't seat at a booth, then the tables are very very small for 4 people. Especially after all of our food came, we have to be careful to not knock over anything. But yes, will go back!
Yao's gets a bad wrap. Â Despite the mixed reviews, my husband and I decided to give the place a shot, and we're sure glad we did. Â The food is great, the portions are very generous for the price, and the ambiance is lovely! Â The peppercorn chicken was awesome.... very flavorful, with just the right amount of heat. Â
I was pleasantly surprised by the extensive selection of teas, both loose leaf and blooming, by the glass or by the pot. Â
Service was decent... not overly friendly, but efficient. We'll be back.
I come here pretty regularly with my coworkers but today will probably be my last visit. Just had the worst lunch here. Service was slow (45 minutes to get food) and the sauce on my sesame chicken, usually my favorite thing, was mostly water.
Could not flag down my waiter but I told the hostess what was happening and she just shrugged and said, "Sorry, we're busy today."
Not acceptable. Not coming back.
Living in Houston, my expectations for Chinese food are rather high. Â Unfortunately, those expectations were not met at Yao.
I went out to lunch here a while back with some coworkers. Â I ordered the orange peel chicken with fried rice. Â The fried rice was generic and bland. Â There was nothing distinctive about it at all - completely forgettable. Â The orange peel chicken was okay, but too sweet and saucy for me. Â
I enjoyed the lotus tea. Â The presentation was pretty cool in the transparent teapot, but it's a rather small sidenote when compared to the actual food. Â My verdict? Â You're already on Westheimer. Â Drive about 2 minutes South down Beltway 8 to Chinatown on Bellaire, and you can get cheaper, tastier, and more authentic Chinese food.
I went here for a company dinner not too long ago, and I was thoroughly unimpressed. Because we were such a large party, they made an area for us in the back, which was pretty spacious. We ordered practically everything on the menu, and were served family style, similar to any other Chinese restaurant. As I had a pretty good selection of everything on the menu, saying the food was lackluster would be nice. For the prices of everything we ordered, I expected the best Chinese food of my life, but I was horribly disappointed. The General Tso's Chicken was meh, the Sesame Chicken was average, the Steamed Vegetable Mix were just regular old steamed vegetables (I guess I expected them to be coated in gold for how much we paid for them), and everything just had a very normal, nothing special taste to it. I probably could have gone to Bellaire and found the same thing for one-fourth the price.
There were a couple of highlights that I think were pretty good but still overpriced: the Mongolian Beef and the Beef & Asparagus in Oyser Sauce. But that's about it.
The service was decent, nothing over the top, but the restaurant is well-decorated and bodes a nice atmosphere. Would I go again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to a friend? Again, no. Would I rather go to some hole-in-the-wall Chinese place and save the money for a new pair of shoes? Definitely.
I have only ever been here for to-go, but I order to-go from here A LOT.
Everyone who works at the front counter is very friendly and very nice.
I've tried the Orange Chicken, Beef and Broccoli and the Sweet and Sour Chicken.
The sauce for the sweet and sour chicken was a disappointing version of the kind you find at the buffet, but the chicken was good quality...so it kind of balanced out.
The best thing I have ever had here are the egg rolls! They are huge! and no minced meat....100% white chicken breast inside. SO FREAKING DELICIOUS!
Great service, gets the food out fast and it's pretty delicious for the price/service and location.
So not impressed with Yao Ming's restaurant. I expected traditional Chinese fair and service and instead was met with a typical American-Chinese restaurant with sub-standard cuisine in a VERY shady atmosphere.
We went to Yao's for a late lunch and made it in time to order from the lunch menu. Since there were four in my party we opted to get an assortment of entrees and have them family style. We ordered Mongolian Beef, Sesame Chicken, Sweet and Sour Shrimp and Hawaiian Shrimp. All of the meals came with soup, an eggroll and the rice of your choice. We got all three different types of rice and two different soups. I had the Hot and Sour Soup and honestly felt that the Hot and Sour Soup from Pei Wei is better. The Wonton soup had a dark brown broth and tasted of pure salt.
Our entrees were a little better than the soup. The eggroll was bland and tasted like I was chewing on fried straw. Our of the four entrees the one I ordered was probably the most appetizing and the reason I gave this place more than one star. The Mongolian Beef was very tender with a great tasting brown sauce. My husband had the Sesame Chicken and again I think I mine was much better.
Service was very lackluster and our server seemed more interested in leaving before the dinner crowd hit then he was in serving us.
I also have to say we had our young child in tow and he did not seem impressed that he had gotten rice on the floor (even after I tried to clean it up)
For the price you should save your money and go to Pei Wei or PF Changs.. they at least get egg rolls right.
So we've been here several times. Â I like this place as far as Chinese food goes. Â It seems they have a variety of stuff, but I don't eat meat so I have to stick to their vegetarian menu.
We get the veggie lettuce wraps and they have been consistently good. Â And most of the main dishes I got have been tasty. Â They don't seem too saucy and I don't get that MSG headache after eating here.
I like that they have flowering teas. Â I loved the jasmine, but they no longer have it. Â
Service is OK as well.
To preface this, I did not want to eat here, but we had visitors from another country who love Yao and basketball.
I reserved for 10 people.
There was a long wait at the hostess stand because a reservation of 45 walked in right as we did.
We sat in a private dining area.
The walls were red, with a beige wallpaper on the separation partition. Â The wallpaper was coming up, and there was only one picture in there, not of Yao Ming. Â To the eye, it was a drab, but oh well, I guess.
We ordered the American style family dinner for 10.
Peking Duck - very good. Â The skin was so crispy. Â
Lettuce Wraps - They gave us a lot of lettuce, but I still asked for extra! Â It was delish.
Wonton Soup - we were all surprised to see at least 3-4 wontons in each bowl. Â The broth was light, but the flavor was in the dumplings.
Yao's shrimp - breaded kind of like sweet and sour food is, but coated with a sweet sauce. Â I actually loved this.
Cashew Chicken - super bland. Â NEXT.
General Tao's chicken - good, but dry in the middle. Â Huge pieces of chicken.
Sesame Chicken - I don't even remember tasting it.
Mongolian Beef - nothing special about it.
Special fried rice - It was good.
Geez, what else did we have?
Sweet & Sour Pork - but I didn't try it.
For dessert, Mango Pudding - For someone who isn't a huge fan of mango, (I know, I know, sorry) I actually enjoyed this. Â It wasn't too sweet, but I was already too full to even finish dessert.
There was no tea pot at our table, and our waitress informed us that tea was ordered individually. Â She featured jasmine, oolong, and green tea. Â We already gave the menus back, so I couldn't ask about the black rose flavor I saw in there. Â Wah.
I probably wouldn't go back, but if I did, I'd get the lettuce wraps, peking duck, and Yao's shrimp.
Oh, and bring a sweater. Â It was nipply in there.
This is my first time to visit Yao Restaurant & Bar, it's located on Westheimer in the same shopping center as Kasra Persian Grill, which I have frequented often, and Benihana which I've been to once.
I decided that I wanted to go somewhere I had never eaten before so my husband and I ate here.
The restaurant is very nice, Â the entry way has pictures of Yao Ming , and the dining room is red with victorian type chairs. Â It's a little dim inside, but dress is casual, and there were a variety of people in the restaurant.
Something that I really enjoyed was that almost every table had a pot of tea on it. Â There is a separate tea menu and the pot is brought to the table with small double insulated glasses. Â We had the rose black tea and it was very nice, rock sugar is brought to accompany it in a small bowl.
For a main course my husband had the Kung-Pao Tofu, the tofu itself was softer than what he is used to, but I think he enjoyed his meal. Â I had the Chicken with curry and onion. Â The portion sizes are quite large, and two people could easily order one dish and share. Â
For dessert we tried the fried mantou which neither of us had ever had. Â It's described on menu as a chinese beignet and I think that's a pretty accurate description though a lot less sweet. Â
I enjoyed our lunch, I would go again, and I didn't have any real issues with the food or service. Â It's not the most memorable food I've ever had, but again I LOVE the tea options and I'm happy with my impromptu decision.
The first thing I noticed about Yao was it lacked service. This would continue to be a problem throughout the night. While the place was less than full, it seemed as though some of the wait staff might be on drugs. While our waiter disappeared, the guy bringing food to tables was inches away from putting food on top of our already full plates until he realized he might have the wrong table. Other than the general "out of it" state of the wait staff, they were slow, unresponsive and didn't listen to anything we asked for.
It was part a lack of maturity as well. The wait staff seemed like they were all in high school. Some were more intent to spend their night hitting on the hostess I noticed as well, which might explain where some of the waitstaff went. To end the night, I asked for my check to be brought back quickly and it took them 20 minutes.
Overall, this was a bad experience. To make things worse the food itself was not worth the tall price Yao charges. The beef was not tasty and instead tasted like bad oil. As a fan of Yao Ming, I figured I would try it and at this point I would recommend he revamp that place or consider selling his investment if he hasn't already.
I just got home from my baby shower. Â It was held in the banquet room at Yao Restaurant and Bar. Â The General Manager Nathan worked with our budget and put together a great food offering for us. Â The staff, lead by Angel was fantastic. Â I cannot say enough about how wonderful they treated us. Â They did absolutely everything right and made the day perfect. Â
I am a pretty harsh critic and can usually find something that I can mention on Yelp but honestly, they did everything 100% perfectly. Â I don't understand the 3 star average and hope people will try Yao based on my review.
For our food we had hot and sour soup, spring rolls, and chicken lettuce wraps as our appetizers. Â We had Yao special shrimp, a chicken dish (can't remember the name) a beef dish (can't remember the name), chicken fried rice, and steamed rice. Â
They kept bringing the food in small batches so it was fresh and hot and the pans were never empty. Â The room was very nice and clean. Â
Overall, an excellent place to have an event and I look forward to having another party there in the future! Â Who knows maybe our baby's 1st birthday!
I have only visited this establishment twice, and thankfully I did not have to pay either time. My company decided this would be a good place to host an event, not once, but twice.
The only thing redeeming about this restaurant is the name on the door. Yao Ming still holds celebrity status amongst the AAPI population out in Houston. Despite his constant foot problems, we are all still proud of him on the court. Off the court, not so much.
I hope this restaurant is a good tax shelter for him, because honestly it isn't much else when it comes to food. The decor is nice, traditional with a modern twist. The bar is decked out in Yao and basketball memorabilia.
Having said all that, if your AAPI friends are in town and want to eat at a trendy Chinese restaurant that is not noisy (like most traditional Chinese restaurants) then Yao's is not a terrible option. Just don't expect the food to be anything short of bleh!
OK, I've been to this place a few times since my last review. We've even gotten take-out and that was all right.
Last time, though, I was much less than impressed.
For one thing, our server was terrible. His name was Tat-Wing, and he was just awful. For another, after multiple visits the food is just OK. Pretty bland. Nothing that's supposed to be spicy ever is. The mixed drinks are horrible. I don't know where they found their bartenders.
Stick with the Yao Shrimp or Sesame Chicken. Forget the rest. And if you get Tat-Wing, ask to relocate to another section.
Also, the ladies' room was unkempt and nearly every stall was out of toilet paper.
The Verdict: Great except for the drinks, and the food, and the service, oh, and the restroom.
I was not impressed at all with the food here....
It was not terrible and the service was fine...but I have no desire to ever go here again. Â There are so many better, cheaper chinesse restaurants in my opinion...
The place is huge and of course there are tons of basketball memorabilia all over....a big bar area with tv's and the bathrooms are clean.
I was just not happy with my food or my boyfriends food...we had pepper steak and orange chicken and plain white rice.... none of it was good. Â Even the water had a funny taste....
The atmosphere gets a 4
Service-4
But, food- 1 or 2
This place was fairly packed on a Saturday evening during dinner hours. Â There were a lot of kids, perhaps lured to the restaurant by their adoration of Yao Ming.
I started out with a bowl of Mrs. Yao's special wonton soup. Â The ingredients were fresh and the wontons were well made; the pork filling was tasty and the broth was flavorful, with sprigs of chopped celery throughout.
Next our party of 5 ordered 3 dishes. Â This was just enough for all of us. Â We first tried the orange chicken. Â We requested that the sauce be put on the side, which was a good thing, because too much of it would have been rather overpowering. Â The batter on the fried pieces of chicken had a good consistency - moist but with a slight crunch.
We also had braised tofu with mushrooms and snap peas ($8.50). Â The ingredients were fresh and the snap peas were pleasantly crispy, but the dark sauce was too salty and heavy.
The best dish by far was the peking duck, at $26.95. Â The skin of the duck was fried to crispy perfection. Â Our waiter sliced off the skin with surgical precision, scraped off the extra fat and oil from the tender meat, cut up the meat into manageable pieces, and placed everything neatly onto a platter. Â The duck was served with freshly made crepes, green onions, cucumbers, and plum sauce. Â We ran out of crepes quickly but were given more promptly when we asked a waiter. Â The duck meat was tender and juicy, while the skin had a great crispy bite that wasn't too oily - just perfect. Â The other ingredients complemented the duck well.
The service at Yao restaurant was prompt and friendly. Â Our Mexican waiter, Angel, had picked up some Chinese phrases from a coworker and tried them on us: "Thank you," "no problem," "I can wrap that up." Â I was impressed. Â The waiters were attentive and our food came out quickly.
The atmosphere was what you would expect of an upscale, celebrity-owned restaurant. Â The place was clean and lavishly decorated. Â I'd recommend checking out the private banquet rooms in the back of the restaurant, where you can see the famed extra-large chairs that are supposedly designed for Yao Ming.
In the end, Yao's isn't extraordinary -- the food is your typical Americanized Chinese cuisine, as many people have noted. Â But, the service is good, and I left feeling pretty satisfied.
A friend and I ran across the street for lunch at Yao's today. Â This was her second visit and my first. Â We both had sushi. Â I had one of the lunch specials--three rolls for $12. Â They were all good but nothing outstanding. Â I also had a bowl of hot and sour soup which was pretty good. Â My friend had two of the special rolls and liked them both though they were a touch spendy at $12 - $13 each. Â I'm a big believer that food is considerably more important than ambience or service, but the interior was nice if not somewhat uninteresting. Â Service was good but a little unpolished.
The menu also includes lots of the usual Chinese standards with prices around $12 for those items. Â
I'll probably be back because it's literally across the street from the office, but there's certainly better sushi for less in Houston--just not that close to my office.
There are definately pros and cons to this place. I took my mom here for her birthday and
Pros - The quality of the food is really good. The hot and sour soup was amazing. I also enjoyed the dishes we ordered and felt they were cooked to perfection and the vegetables were crispy. The bar area looked like a nice place to hang with friends and catch a drink and watch a basketball or baseball game. The food is well priced and the dishes are plentiful. It's owned by one of the best ambassadors for the entire country of China, as well as ambassador of our own Houston, Texas.
Cons - The location is poor. The restaurant seems emptier than it should be, and the decor can be a bit cheesy. The wine menu leaves a lot to be desired.
It's still a good place to bring out of town guests who are basketball fans, but don't expect this place to be hoppin.
I still prefer Yao's to generic chinese food like PF Chang's.
Most of the Chinese lunch spots I frequent are the $5 lunch special variety, with dusty blinds and a brusque waitstaff. But you can tell Yao and his family take pride in their establishment, and for only a moderately higher price, you get goodly portions in an upscale atmosphere. A large dining room and a nice bar area complete with Yao memorabilia and large TV's serve most parties, and private rooms will accomodate larger groups, even when Yao brings his Brobdingnagian friends over for dinner.
When I eat at places in the same genre, I often get at least one thing in common, as a basis for comparison. The hot and sour soup has more and fresher ingredients in a heartier broth than you'll get at the cheaper places, and when you cut through the General Tso's chicken, you'll actually see moist  white meat inside instead of a vague gray dominated by breading. Along with the standard Chinese and lunch-special fare, there are plenty of more sophisticated dishes, including the rather unfortunately named "Yao Flavored Shrimp." That may be slang for the diminutive victims of the eponymous center's prowess on the court, but I'm not sure I want Yao-flavored anything.
If my own review doesn't carry enough weight, while I know there is a certain element of hero worship involved, when you see Chinese patrons taking pictures of themselves outside the restaurant, I take that as a pretty good recommendation.
Every so often, I stop in to Yao's for lunch during the work week. Â Each time I have been there, I have enjoyed it. Â The lunch portions are considerably larger than the typical lunch specials at other places. Â Granted, I never venture into the random menu items, but the staple Chinese lunch-special fare is quite good. Â Extra rice is brought out quickly, the sauces for eggrolls come in single serving bowls and, most importantly, the food is good. Â They also offer brown rice, for those who find that useful. Â Add to that, the prompt and friendly service, and you get my recommendation. Â
I have been in the bar one time for a beer to talk business with someone. Â It is quite a nice bar but I must confess that I have never spent much time there or gone for happy hour.
I took my parents to Yao's for Peking duck all the way from Austin to Houston.
The restaurant is not in Chinatown. It's at the street mall area. I didn't see Yao Ming there either, but his pictures on the wall. It was totally packed during lunch time. All guests are white. We are only Asians eating there. Feel like P.F. Chang's. Also we didn't get chopsticks either.
I like the appetizer, Mrs Yao's wanton. $3.5 for 4 wantons. tastes really fresh.
The whole Peking duck is $27. We like it most. delicious.
We also ordered other dishes. They all taste like P.F. Chang's. So if we come back again, that will be only for ducks.
I saw a tall Asian guy in shirt walking around in kitchen, front desk. Don't know if he is Yao's dad.
Food: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Cleanliness: 4/5
Decor & Setup: 4/5
Gave it a 3 for food because I tried just the sweet and sour chicken and egg drop soup. Â It taste like any other Asian mall food to me. Â Nothing too special, but that's mainly because i didn't try any other signature dishes which is probably good. regular price and huge portions.
The environment is awesome. Its Huge, clean, nice, good service. Â Not too fancy on the decor, but still pretty cool. Â Its like a huge Asian restaurant with NBA decorations, pretty funny lol.
I like this place. The portions are huge, and the food is hot and fresh. The decor could use a serious make-over, but I do like the tall doorways. I'll be honest, I only order sesame chicken and fried rice, so aside from those 2, I'm not sure about the rest of the menu.
I've eaten in the restaurant section a few times, but I usually sit in the lounge. It's like a whole other place in there. TV's, modern furnishings, and a dance floor give this section a club vibe. They have a fantastic happy hour also, but it's usually empty in there. Guess the word never got out. It's far more upbeat than the restaurant section. It's worth it to check out, but come hungry.
I decided to bring my parents to Yao when they were in town for a visit. I didn't bring them here because of the food but more for the fact that it's Yao's restaurant. Â I figured it'll be a nice spot to take some pictures and at least they can say they ate at his restaurant. Surprisingly... they really like the food! ...And so did I... (surprisingly).
We had the shrimp lettuce wrap as the starter,peking duck, braised tofu with mushrooms and peas, and the coconut curry scallops. I like that they also serve brown rice. Of all the dishes I had that night I would say the Peking duck would be my fav. Not only was it fun to watch them prepare the duck for us, but the crepe and hoisin sauce combo with the duck was "mm mm good."
The decor inside was really nice. However, the booths seem a tad bit uncomfortable to sit in. I wanted the privacy with my family...so I guess you got to lose some to win some. I'll like to come back next time with some friends to check out the bar area and watch a Rockets game :)
This place is about 5 minutes from my work, so I frequent the place often for lunch. Â Its not amazing, they serve your basic generic American-Chinese food here, but the service is usually very good. Â All in all, the place is good if you're in the area and have a need to eat chinese and look at some Yao memorabilia.
ps. Â I think his dad is the manager. Â Makes my 6 ft 3'' ass look like a shrimp. :)
Listen up, y'all.
After being forced to evacuate nola due to Gustav, a lunch at Yao Restaurant seemed like a spiffy idea. Â Why not dull the pain of being a refugee with some tasty Chinese food at a restaurant owned by China's greatest athlete of all time (apologies to Li Ning)?
As others have said, the sports bar half of the place is very well equipped, but it was totally empty. Â Sure it was 1pm, but don't Houstonites need to drink? Â It was hot outside, after all.
The restaurant side was nice enough, but lacked pretty much any charm. Â One gets the idea that Yao (or more likely his managers) were attempting to create a place that would satisfy the expectations of US customers, instead of creating a restaurant that would challenge the bland tastes of Texans.
Which brings me to the food. Â Ugh. Â For the most part it was good, but largely identical to any other Chinese restaurant in the US. Â There were a few good dishes--seek out any dish described as "authentic" or having come from Mama Yao's collection. Â Those are on par with real Chinese food, which it still seems you have to go to China (or the San Gabriel Valley or Flushings, NY) to enjoy.
Probably more like 2.5 stars. Â Yao is in one of the many freaky no-name strip malls in Houston - Westchase area. Â Nestled behind the Churrascos i ventured in for an easy no-hassle meal and a drink. Â Walking in past the Yao Ming shrine, the bar was like a small wanna-be ESPN Zone.
I sat at the bar watching the Olympics and surfing on my laptop. The bartender was efficient. Ordered a salmon entree. It was OK but smothered in a really sweet sauce - i should have paid attention to the description on the menu. Â The special wonton soup was really good.
However, given that there are some really awesome Asian restaurants down the street on Bellaire, Yao really has nothing to offer but a hassle free drink at the bar.
Our Chinese clients requested this restaurant by name. Â After all, he is their national pride, so why wouldn't they come here? Â The restaurant is nicely decorated with a modernistic touch...and I knew right away they will be serving Chinese-American food. Â By looking at the number of Yao Ming pictures on the walls, I also knew their clientel will be mostly Rockets fans and tourists. Â At least they didn't try to rip you off like a tourist with very reasonably priced dinner dishes ranging from $10-$15. Â The service was okay and the food was better than I expected, but that's not saying much. Â Why would anyone come here when there's so much better Chinese food just down the street on Bellaire? Â I suppose if you're a tourist, it's worth coming once, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Â
3.5 Stars.
I came here with a huge Rocket's fan not expecting much. Â I was pleasantly surprised. Â The food is typical of most Chinese restaurants, but well prepared. Â I like the basil beef. Â The portions are enormous (maybe Yao could eat that much in one meal, but it's works out to about three meals for me). Â The food is served hot and fresh. Â The service is attentive but not in your face.
The decor in the dining room is pretty standard, but the bar is really nice. Â A nice place to catch a game.
From a 2005 visit...
for lunch, i decided i had some time so i would head over to Yao's Restaurant on Westheimer. Yao's is the latest Houston Rocket to go chef on us (before that we had the immortal Clyde Drexler, proprietor of Drexler's Ribs), and I have to say my expectations were dim. The exterior of the restaurant had the look and feel of an over-priced Chinese restaurant with its oversized lions and red & gold lettering.
I went inside and was seated in some booths to the left. Directly above the booths were mirrors where you could not only see a reflection of yourself, but also you could spy on other patrons should one have the desire. Seeing only dudes in the restaurant, I certainly had no inclination for voyeuristic tendencies. I think the mirrors served as an unintentional breach of privacy, and I think the restaurant would be better served without them. The bug screens on the windows also served as a sharp contrast to the generally elegant design: large lanterns, lush vegetation, and comfortable seats filled the restaurant. Another oddity was right above the booths was a glass design that looked somewhat like a smashed car window. I can't stress enough that the ambience was more than palatable, however, there were just strange defaults that could only be described as poor attention to details.
As to the waitstaff, my server was friendly and helpful, but he interrupted my meal a bit too often. I appreciated the effort, and therefore, I did leave him a good tip as a result. However, I did mention this on the red card provided at the end of my meal.
The menu at Yao's leaves something to be desired, however, the food is of high quality. The dishes are mostly simple, but I expected that. What I did not expect was to get a "deal", i.e., I assumed since Yao owned the restaurant that the food would be average at best and be highly overpriced. This was simply not the case. I ordered Cashew Shrimp and Chicken for $8.25, and the dish was loaded with shrimp. Actually, the dish was loaded with everything -- it had a perfect blend of cashew, shrimp, carrot, baby corn, snap peas, and I really liked the brown rice option. Yao's is very healthy for a Chinese restuarant, and it even has "healthy" menu options for people who are concerned about their bodies. They also serve Republic of Tea brand tea (which is fine). Aside from the simplistic menu, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food served at Yao's.
Another aspect of the restaurant that cannot be downplayed is the fact that Yao Ming did not create a self-indulgent shrine to himself with his restaurant. Other than the name, there is no mention of Yao in here. Aside from, of course, the annoying sport fan customers -- I heard a variation of "Is/How Often is Yao Ming Here?" 4 times in less than 45 minutes, and the restaurant only had about 30 patrons dining at the same time as me.
Overall, I have to say I was somewhat impressed with Yao's. I would certainly go back again, and I plan on going for dinner sometime soon. If you live in Houston, it's worth checking out.
We planned to go out to dinner with a couple from the neighborhood with whom we often dine. Where should we go?
Yao!
Upon entering the restaurant, we were immediately confronted with a shrine to Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets enclosed in plate glass. I'm a man who wears size 14 sneakers, but was duly impressed by how many acres Yao's shoes cover. Â Turning to the right, we entered the bar.
Wao!
It's long and sleek with hardwood floors and subtle lighting. All the furniture is edgy and modern with a lot of burnished steel. We sat around a coffee table and had a few rounds while waiting to be seated. It was very pleasant. There were big screens everywhere.
Let's eat nao!
The hostess took us over to the restaurant section and seated us in a comfortable booth. There were no big screens in the restaurant and I asked our waiter why. He told us that they used to be installed there but were removed because they couldn't turn the tables over fast enough with customers sitting around watching games.
Holy cao!
I guess you can't let folks watch the franchise big man if you can't turn a profit (even if the restaurant is named after him). We ordered and in short order were served. The prices were very reasonable (in the $10-$15 per entree range). The food tasted like the $10 plates I'd get at Pei Wei or the local take-out Chinese place. Quite underwhelming.
The dinner conversation was excellent. We paid the bill and left.
Ciao!
We came here on 4th of July for lunch and the place was just semi full. Â The food was not memorable and the dishes were overpriced, but a large portion of the clientele was actually Asian--always a good sign of an Asian restaurant. Â I guess I was a little let down by the experience.
That is until I saw the bar. Â Wow. Â They evidently forgot to decorate the entire dining area and spent all their money on the bar and the memorabilia in the huge glass case. Â There is a signed everything by people that I'm sure I'm supposed to know. Â There's the obligatory cut out which makes my 5'3" seem even shorter. Â The bar was well set up but completely empty. Â Granted it was the middle of the day on a holiday, but still. . .aren't there lonely, drunk, sports watching people in Houston? Â Seemed a little odd to see a bar empty.
I guess if you have Rockets fans (or Yao fans), you can head over there, but don't go for the food.
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