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Kim Son
Rating Details »
Categories: Food, Dim Sum, Seafood, Vietnamese [Edit]
12750 S.W. FreewayStafford, TX 77477
(281) 242-3500
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
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- Category:
- Seafood
- Location:
- Stafford, TX
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12 reviews for Kim Son
This Kim Son is vastly different from the Kim Son in the University of Houston Satellite food court. (The only other Kim Son I have eaten at) -- I came for a graduation dinner where a series of courses were served.
The peking duck here was quite tasty, though not as flavorful as Mr. Wok's peking duck (see review for Mr. Wok) -- instead of tortillas, fluffy pieces of bread were served with the peking duck. The portion size wasn't significant, but this was rectified by the immense number of dishes served throughout the night.
Other courses included a crunchy noodle dish with veggies (standard), delicious crab in a savory garlic-y sauce (try to save it to enjoy with plain rice!), fried rice (okay), beef n' broccoli (didn't get the chance to try), a broth atop a little stove (refreshingly light and full of flavor), and lettuce wraps with spring rolls (pretty good, but a bit greasy).
Overall, I would return to Kim Son again, if not for the giant meal, but to try out the Dim Sum. :)
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I used to LIVE at the Kim Son on Westheimer. So, what happened to the quality? This Kim Son is located in the Fountains Shopping Center, technically in Stafford but basically between Houston and Sugar Land. You'd expect better from a well known restaurant.
Problems... cleanliness. The silverware is nasty, the plates are often dirty, the glasses look to have been only rinsed with some water, and the tables are often sticky.
The food is ok. The Vietnamese egg rolls are awesome (IF you get them hot... sometimes they've just been sitting around and get to be chewy and cold). The spring rolls are great (same problem here, they sit around and get chewy, we order them with Tofu and therefore they have to be made fresh for us). The orange chicken is tasty, but the chicken is over fried/tough and almost impossible to cut sometimes.
Some of the food is great but there is no consistency. There seems to be a serious lack of pride in what they do.
I have been seriously grossed out by the dead fish laying at the bottom of the huge fish tank in the restaurant, if you can't take care of the fish, don't have them there!
If I were you, get your food to go and eat it in the parking lot... it'll be a lot cleaner.
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Kim Son...what has happened?
Your food was once the best in Houston, you were the definition of chinese/vietnamese food.
It seems like as the number of locations went up so did the prices but quality of the food took a reverse correlation.
I only still go to Bellaire location because of the Buffet.
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I really like their dim sum!! Yum!!
Why is Dim Sum only served on Sunday? (No, a rhetorical question.) I ask this because I'm kind of craving it midweek. Actually, specifically the Sesame Balls. Awesome!
It has been a while since I've had Dim Sum. Quite a while, in fact. Perhaps ten years. Mostly it's because I lived for a good long while in a town far, far away from edible dim sun. It's also because I don't want to drive outside of my security blanket, my retaining wall, the 6-10 loop on a cozy Sunday. Oh what a fool I am.
I went here recently and ate some of the best Dim Sum I've ever had in this town. Granted I've only been to a few dim sun places on Bellaire a handful of times; but most of the trays at those places are generally hit or miss. Not here.
Of the dishes we got, I liked the sesame seed bean paste balls, the pork buns, egg custard, shrimp egg rolls (with pineapple), shrimp dumplings, squid, and sticky rice the best. In that order. Oh, and a pot of hot Chrysanthemum tea.
We arrived at 11am to beat the crowds, however we missed out on quite a number of items that were introduced into rotation at around 12pm. Rice Noodle with shrimp. Steamed Clams. Basically more interesting protein-based items.
I'm contemplating going again this Sunday; there are still about forty other items on carts that I was WAY TOO STUFFED to try last weekend. Beware the "eyes are bigger/more ambitious than your stomach" syndrome, you'll definitely be full for the rest of the day. Contentedly full.
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Driving on 59, I always saw this place next to a Cajun restaurant. I finally tried this place for lunch and in one word it was eh.. There is a huge pool out in front with alotta fishies swimming. Inside the place was not so clean I thought. It was spacious inside and noticed they did serve dim sum. However, I tried some spring rolls and a noodle soup dish. Eh. Maybe I'll be back and try something else.
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Kim Son is my favorite place for dim sum with Golden Palace and Fung's Kitchen in not-so-close running. (I find the dim sum at both of those restaurants to border on the greasy side.) If you get there early, around 11 am, you will have no problem getting a table.
For the uninitiated, dim sum is a veritable feast of dishes pushed on steam carts around the restaurant. You select what you like and the waiter marks your ticket with the number of ]dishes, which are tallied and totaled at the end of the meal. It can be intimidating to venture out to dim sum if you've never been because there will be a language barrier with at least half of the wait staff, but if you're reasonably adventurous, all you have to do is point, smile and eat, and you're golden.
I can't think of any dish that I've had at dim sum that I didn't like, but some of the highlights are Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Bun) as mentioned in Alex's review, and the Pork Siu Mai. Siu Mai are like steamed dumplings, but the wrapper is much thinner, and the top is open instead of fully enclosed. So very tasty.
The shrimp dumplings are also delicious, the wrapper is light and melts in your mouth. There are also wide rice noodles filled with either beef or shrimp and topped with soy sauce that are a must-get. To keep things on the lighter side, I would also suggest the Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, and the chicken and rice soup.
You may experience a problem with the steam carts passing right by you if you are not attentive and assertive. If this happens, it is perfectly legitimate to get up and walk to a cart that just passed if you need to. There is also a table up front that you can walk up to and get dishes on-demand. As your confidence builds, on return visits you will be able to make eye contact and order like a champ.
On the sweet side, give the sesame balls a try. They are round sweet rice balls filled with red bean paste and rolled in sesame seeds. They come three to a plate and my husband and I always ask for them to be cut in half so we don't have to fight over the third one. The other dessert to try is called puto by Filipinos. I have no idea what the Chinese or Vietnamese name is, but these will look like white, pink or green flat cupcakes. It's a steamed sweet rice cake served with coconut milk. The saltiness of the coconut perfectly offsets the sweet cake for a nice treat to close the meal.
Dim Sum is also great for angry toddlers. My son loves dim sum because food is served on-demand and in great variety. In fact, that's the same reason I love it too.
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We come here for dim sum during my visits. It's still one of the best in the area. I think the food here is exceptionally consistent. In my 4-5 yrs of coming here, it's always been solidly good.
The wait can get pretty long though, but the people seem to come and go in waves, so if you can time it correctly it can be just a short 5-10 min wait. If you want to be seated immediately go early. I think we try to go once it opens and we're always seated immediately.
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Yummy! I love Chinese food and this place is not bad, not bad at all. It fills me up and leaves me happy! The chicken is good and I can get it for pick up. So all in all the food is good, cheap and plentiful. A very safe bet for a good meal.
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Kim Son is one of the most famous chains in the Houston area, specializing in seafood and Vietnamese style Dim Sum. Almost everything is huge, the restaurants, the food, and the extensive group seating here. One of the biggest issues here is the wait time, since its so darn popular. Depending on the group size of people who crave good Dim Sum like I do, the wait can be as much as 40 min to an hour to be seated.
Service was subpar, but it was probably because they were so busy that Sunday afternoon. Not all of the wait staff was able to communicate in Vietnamese, a good core of them were either Vietnamese, Mandarin, or Cantonese speakers. Then there were the few waiters who were exclusively English speakers, doing their best to avoid the Chinese crowds like mad while pouring water and picking up dishes.
The food was good and the variety was rather impressive. Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Bun) was fresh and the dough was fairly soft. Char Siu So was also crispy, full of flavor, and done just right. The lotus leaf wraps were a bit bit overdone. The egg tarts fell apart almost too easily, and the har cheung (shrimp crepe?) was probably the thickest I've had in recent memory.
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The Dim Sum here in Kim Son is really good. It is the only one out of the many in Houston serving Dim Sum due to a large Asian population in this part of town.
Even the things that may sound plain and commonplace, like the pork dumplings, are good.
The Dim Sum here is one of the best in the city, alongside with the one from Fung's Kitchen.
5 stars because they make the black pepper crab the way I remember it as a child (unlike the restaurant on Jefferson) .. the aroma is still exactly the same .. heavy on the caramelized onions and secret sauce .... mmm.
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