Mein Restaurant

Great food. Large selection of dishes. Good service. Servers were very attentive and pleasant.Good ambience. Novo Asian look with good lighting. Clean restroom. Reflection of how kitchen might be - clean. Affordable pricing.

Excellent service, beyond outstanding food, a total culinary experience in Houston's Chinatown. This restaurant came highly recommended and did not disappoint. You could return again and again to try something new and never get bored. Our favorites?

*The pork, noodles and dumpling dish was a crowd pleaser
*Soup dumplings
*Shaking Beef

In an area teeming with choice, we will return and that's saying something.

The service was great! There wait staff was frequently walking around the room removing any empty plates, refilling drinks, and offered to pack up any leftover food in to go boxes.

The food was ok compared to other restaurants in the area. It was not terrible but not spectacular either. The food came out quickly and was hot.

From the outside looking in, the restaurant lighting looked warm and inviting. When you walk inside it's surprising how bright it is. I would've liked the lights to be more dim. Overall it was a nice experience!

Hits:
Beef hor-fun
Short rib

Good:
Smashed cucumber

Miss:
Red oil dumpling
Salt pepper shrimp (this was a fav of another person at the table!)

Service was very good and ambiance was nice. We'll come back when we're in the area!

The service is super quick and the staff is friendly, but the food here is mediocre at best and came out warm. I came in with some friends on a Thursday night and the restaurant was not too busy. From the outside the restaurant looks pretty dim lit, but upon entering it is very bright inside. The space itself is pretty large with plenty of seating.

We ordered the sansai egg tofu which mainly tasted like thickened soy sauce. There was no other flavor profile to it. The texture of the egg tofu was good, though the outside could use a little crisp. We also ordered the calamari--this was the best dish we ordered. It was super crispy and you could customize how much salt and lime you wanted on it. We also got the beef flat rice noodle, which ended up being pretty bland. The Garlic Yu Choy was also good, but it's difficult to make this dish improperly.

The chili oil here does not have much flavor, but it packs a kick! As for the complementary rice, rather than giving enough for the table, one bowl was given per entree.

For dessert we got the lava toast. The lava toast tasted pretty similar to a french toast, but the insides were filled with salted egg liquid-y goodness. I do wish the outside was crispier, but the inside was still good. Overall, an okay experience, not sure if I would go again.

So many restaurants to choose from in southwest Houston. Luckily our friends live in Houston and are able to provide recommendations. Otherwise I wouldn't know where to start (except for Yelp of course).

This restaurant is nice and clean. They provide table-side service that is more polished than most of the family-run places that are typical of the Asian food scene. The more "Americanized" format is less intimidating to me than the authentic places, and the food is still spot on.

The menu is large and offers is a solid list of Chinese and Vietnamese dishes. Portions are huge and the prices are reasonable. Our party of four ordered five dishes. It was plenty, and we brought home containers of leftovers.

On this visit my three favorites dishes were:

Smashed Cucumber Salad - This is a traditional Taiwanese dish that is my friend Helen's favorite dish. Crispy cucumber pieces are tossed in a garlicky and tangy sauce.

Beef Flat Rice Noodle with Black Bean Sauce - The wide flat noodles are stir-fried with beef, onion, bell pepper. Very yummy.

Garlic Eggplant - I loved the fresh eggplant slices cooked with ground pork, garlic and a slightly spicy brown sauce. I loved it.

So many other dishes to try. I will be dreaming about this place until my next visit.

The most amazing Chinese food I've ever eaten. First time eating at Mein and we had no idea of what to order. Our waitress, Angelina, recommended a few dishes that sounded amazing. The Red Oil Dumplings for appetizer , main dishes Dry Beef Hor-fun, firecracker chicken, shaking beef, XO Sauce fried rice and a Thai tea. Our plates were left completely empty and our bellies full.

The restaurant is family friendly serving to large or small parties. Great place to eat at a reasonable price.

Nut allergy warning - many dishes contain nuts, but the restaurant does a great job of labeling and I had no cross contamination issues.

Mein is a very, very popular Chinese fusion restaurant located, as other reviews note, in a small strip mall that is difficult to park in. Some of my other favorite restaurants are also in this plaza. They do not take reservations on weekends, unfortunately, and are not great at accommodating large parties. That being said, we showed up with 20 people on a Saturday night and were very lucky to get two tables of 10 each without a wait.

Here was our order for the entire group of 20. It was nearly perfect, a small amount of leftovers. Price is per dish.

4x Xiao Long Bau 9.50
4x Char Siu Pork 11.50
2x Garlic black bean chicken 15.50
2x Shaking Chicken 15.95
2x Squid Ink Fried Rice 15.95
2x Country Men Fried Rice 17.50
2x Drunken Noodle 17.95
2x Char Kuey Teow 16.95
2x Garlic Eggplant 13.95
2x Mapo Tofu 13.95
2x String Bean Olive Leaves 13.95
4x Salt Pepper Squid 17.50
2x Wok Seared Liver 10.25
4x Lava Toast 8.50

They also have a BYOB policy with corkage fees of $15 per bottle and $30 for liquor.

I wasn't able to get photos of everything before the food was devoured, but the food came out in reasonable time. I would say they were very slow in getting us glasses for our liquor and did not bring nearly enough rice out.

Of the dishes I had, I would recommend:

-Garlic Eggplant (universal favorite)
-Wok Seared Liver (if you enjoy the texture)
-Squid Ink Fried Rice
-Char Kuey Teow
-Lava Toast

I think their mapu tofu wasn't nearly as spicy as I'd like, and other dishes were good but somewhat pricey.

Overall a great experience there individually, but not great for large groups. Maybe a smaller party to go family style.

Fancy looking Cantonese restaurant with great decor. I'm used to more hole in the wall places because most nicer looking canto places are banquet hall type but very cute for a date night in Chinatown.

We got some takeout so didn't get to eat things at peak freshness but still very good. The beef flat noodle is exceptional - perfectly qq rice noodles lightly seasoned and silky beef. One of the better renditions of the dish in terms of pure noodles bliss. The egg tofu dish is also very tasty, albeit a bit expensive for 6 coins of tofu. Peking pork ribs are also really good here, would definitely recommend.

All in all, it's a bit diff from the rest of Chinatown but definitely worth a stop.

We went for dinner on a Friday around 6pm and there was no wait for a table. This restaurant shares the lot with several other restaurants along with a grocery store. Therefore, it might not be easy to park directly in front of the place.

We had clams, crispy duck, and beef flat noodle. The food is definitely Cantonese style and when someone asked for chili oil, it had to be brought out from the back. Staff is proficient in English.

The clams in black bean sauce had a lighter, brown sauce and its taste was good but not as sharp in black bean as other places. The clams were fresh and meaty. Did not have much sand and the sauce was not overly seafood tasting. It was light and balanced.

The crispy duck came with cucumbers, green onions, sauce, horseradish, and two wraps. It was enough to enjoy as a meal for one person or an appetizer, as mentioned. Very crispy and delicious if you like duck.

The beef flat noodle was one of the best I have eaten because the beef was soft and tasty and the dish was not overly salty. The flat noodles were large and did not stick together.

The atmosphere was fun with great decorations that created a 1930s feel. Great for groups and eclectic decorations that made you feel like you were eating in the street. Very fun.

Prices were high from $15-25 a plate. However, great tasting food and worth the price.