The Most Scrumptious Szechuan in Houston

Trendy Dumpling

★★★★☆ 4.2 (987) • $$

"Been here a few times now, and it's a solid spot serving authentic Chinese flavors. Honestly the most appealing thing about this place is the location. It's conveniently along the 59 north feeder road, in the shopping center lining the road.Despite having dumpling in its name, I've found the dumplings to be mediocre compared to its nearby competitors. My water boiled fish was on the bland side. The cold cucumber appetizer was all right. I enjoyed the crispness. My friend really enjoyed the bbq pork buns.Overall nice spot. I wouldn't put it as my top spot, but I would happily return."

Wanna Bao

★★★★☆ 4.1 (780) • $$

Spicy Girl

★★★★☆ 4.1 (544) • $$

Duck n Bao

★★★★☆ 3.8 (495) • $$

"We decided to try this place since we were nearby at the outlet mall and didn't want to drive back south to the Bellaire area before heading back home to DFW. Looking for Asian food, we saw that they had Peking duck and soup dumplings on the menu so we were sold. Walking in, the interior is nice at first glance with lots of wooden beam accents, but looking at it closely, there were torn upholstery at multiple booths. Our party of 7 were seated right away since it was early dinner time. The young lady that was our server was friendly and offered suggestions when I told her it was our first time. Overall, we enjoyed our meal because we were hungry but nothing stood out enough to consider a return visit. Here's a breakdown of the food we ordered: Hot oil wontons - more soy sauce tasting than chili oil which made it salty Scallion pancakes - crispy and tasty, missing a dipping sauce though Pork soup dumplings - the soup inside was light and lacked a depth of pork flavor. The skin was thin and too fragile that resulted in them breaking upon picking up Beef fried rice - decent and standard although a bit on the oily sideStir fried green beans - would have liked a stronger garlic flavor but overall was goodPork belly with buns - nicely braised and tender meat, we liked it better than the duck Whole Peking duck - my main reason for coming here and was the biggest disappointment. The duck was dry and bland like it was not made fresh that day. The soup that came with it was pretty good after adding some chili oil. At $58 for the whole duck, it was a big letdown."

Wula Buhuan

★★★★☆ 4.4 (331) • $$

Hi Trendy Dumpling

★★★★★ 4.5 (309) • $$

"Checked out this place on a Friday right when they opened. Wasn't too crowded and service was extremely kind and quick. We had a baby with us, and they were super sweet to her and accommodating . We ordered the soup dumplings, the chili oil dumplings, egg plant in garlic sauce and Hunan beef.Soup Dumplings, Chili Oil Dumplings and Egg Plant were 5/5. I wasn't a fan of the hunan beef and really just picked at the broccoli. Definitely check it out, pricing was good and service was great. Not too loud and nice for a lunch date!"

Szechuan Spice

★★★★☆ 4.2 (285) • $$

"We ended up at Szechuan Spice for our Christmas dinner. Not our typical routine but do to some random events, here we sat. Surprisingly, the place was almost full and to-go orders flowed all night. Seemed to be a pretty good sign that the food was good. We started with some egg rolls and ordered Szechuan pepper beef, Mongolian beef and Orange chicken. We also had the steamed rice, fried rice and vegetable lo mein. The egg rolls were tiny and basic 4/10. All the entrees were solid 8/10 each. Not the best I've had but would order all of them again. The beef meals were both nice and spicy like we like it. Rice is rice but was cooked well and so was the lo mein. I'd say this is a solid 4 star spot. They have beer and wine options too. Service was real friendly and as good as you could ask for, especially considering how busy they were. I'm sure we will be back. My wife liked it a lot."

Pepper Twins

★★★★☆ 3.7 (336) • $$

"Nice setting and attentive service!Heard this place was great and didn't disappoint....only down was a little too much garlic in my beef noodle, but flavor was solid!"

Pepper Twins - Kirby

★★★★☆ 3.7 (299) • $$

"Pepper twins has been my go too off Kirby since Qin dynasty changed owners and fell off. Are used to go to Qin dynasty for about 20 years, but they really have dropped off in quality and cleanliness. So me and my girlfriend are very happy that we found pepper twins because they take quality and cleanliness pretty serious for the most part.I will admit today the table and the floors were very sticky. So Pepper twins get to it and clean those messy tables and dirty floors.Food: the lunch specials here are absolutely amazing. So far I've gotten the Mongolian beef and it has been top-notch. Actually today I tried the general sales chicken and that was equally as good. My girlfriend tried the Kung pow chicken, and the shrimp Kung pow as she shared both dishes with me. I will agree. Both of those are extremely good as well. The hot and sour soup is really good too. All dishes come served with White rice.The customer service top-notch as well. The food comes out in a timely manner, and all the waiters and waitresses here are very friendly. Keep it up guys and gals will continue to come here for lunch as far as I can tell because we really like this place."

Duck N Bao

★★★★☆ 4.1 (217) • $$

"Houston has some hidden gems for dining, and Duck N Bao simply adds to the hype. I've seen these guys a few times on social media and have bookmarked it on Yelp to try when I finally made my rounds in H-town. Well, my assessment is that this spot is worth the visit.The restaurant is small so you will be met with a line during dinner service. Arrive early if you have a bigger party and add yourself to the waitlist to save some time. This is what I ordered to taste test --* Crab Meat and Pork Soup Dumplings ($12.95)* half Peking Duck which includes 6 pancakes, duck hoisin sauce, cucumber slices and scallion slices ($32.00)The soup dumplings were amazing. I read that the soup dumplings are handmade in house and I could tell because of its intricacies -- every bite was perfect. And, the ginger dipping sauce sealed the deal for me. Moving over to the Peking Duck, it was surprisingly very well seasoned. I'm from the Bay Area in California so I know what type of potential that particular traditional Chinese dish has. The chefs at Duck N Bao are certainly creating a name for the restaurant and I love it. Supporting small businesses is my motive but it gets even better when the product or service is worth bragging about.My server Carolina was sweet but ran around the restaurant with a sense of urgency as it was busy, and I appreciate that type of hustle.All in all, the experience was worth satisfying my curiosity. I will definitely return when I'm in the area again."

888 Beijing Chinese Restaurant

★★★★☆ 4.2 (155) • $$

"This was my first time , but not my last time. The food was so delicious, that I ate it without taking a picture first. The person that our order was polite, and the food was packed well to go. It's a small cute plate to eat. Definitely gotta give it a try."

Spicy Banda

★★★★☆ 4.1 (128) • $$

"My brother and I have birthdays within a week of each other, so we always do a joint birthday outing with the fam. This year, we wanted something new to all of us so we chose Spicy Banda. Yes I said Spicy Banda. It was once named Spicy Panda until one of the major chains asked them to change their name for whatever reason. They really should leave these locally owned, small business owners alone, but i digress. This spot is located in East Pearland in an up and coming area with lots of new houses, shops and eateries. It anchors a shopping strip with plenty of parking. We came on a Sunday and it was fairly quiet. We did call ahead for our large party and they had a table ready for us when we arrived. A nice lady took really great care of us from start to finish and customer service was great all around. The owner/chef came and checked on us frequently and even ran over to be in our family pics. Spicy Banda specializes in fusion Szechuan cuisine and they do it really well. Our family loves this type of food and we especially love ordering a bunch of things and eating it family style. They definitely don't skimp on portions here and you get your money's worth of food, plus leave with a full belly and leftovers. We usually all order and entrée and pass our food around. Our table came equipped with a lazy Susan which made sharing so much easier. I'll just list what we got with a rating to make it easier. We called ahead to order a Peking Duck which I believe no one at are table other than myself has had. I'm used to getting it in Chinatown, but they do a pretty solid one here. Not as good as some of my favorite spots, but good. It came with pancakes which are like crepes and served with the typical sides of hoisin sauce, green onions and cucumbers. They take the carcass and then make a delicious duck soup that is also served with it. Our crowd now are Peking duck lovers. We also ordered 3 Flavor Pepper Chicken (5/5), Biang Biang Noodles (3/5), Chicken Fried Curry Rice (4/5), Cumin Lamb (4/5), and Crispy Fish in Thai Chili Sauce (5/5). The chicken and fish were the stars of the show and will be a order again item. Everything else was tasty as well though. We were all impressed with the food and very full and content after our meal. Overall, this was a great pick to celebrate our birthdays. Pearland has been surprising me with some of these new locally owned and operated Szechuan spots popping up. Spicy Banda will definitely be going into my regular rotation of food spots!"

Happy China Cafe

★★★★☆ 3.9 (135)

"It's a bit of a drive to the other side of Pearland for me to get to Happy China and once there the parking is typically a little horrendous.I continue to return bc it's the only place I can trust to fulfill my egg foo young needs. Its also one of few places that even serves egg foo young. I typically get the house special egg foo young with fried rice and will occasionally add a hot n sour soup. I also like that for a nominal bit more, you can upgrade your rice side to one of their fried rice + protein options. Happy China is a great go to for egg foo young. Not the best I've ever had but a solid choice given the options available.Also the service is always good! The young lady at the checkout counter is always calm, sweet and pleasant."

Lao Sze Chuan

★★★★☆ 3.9 (96)

"If you don't know Sze Chuan is the old method for Sichuan or 四川 in Chinese. Lao means old. So, the name of Lao Sze Chuan does more than just Sichuan cuisine.Ignore the slow service and mixture of odd pieces of furniture, the food is a little better than other Sichuanese restaurants in Houston. That's why I couldn't understand they hung the banner all written in Chinese... Something about Chicago. Read the English description on this Yelp page.When I walked in, I smelled chemical like new stain and paint. I almost walked out. After a while, the stink dissipated. Almost everything on the menu has a pepper icon, that means HOT like in Sichuan spicy hot. You wonder why this restaurant is so close to Mala Sichuan. The food here seems to be more authentic and the restaurant is bigger with a private room in the back.The duck oven is one major attraction in Metropole Center because the restaurant is right at the entrance. Seats and tables can be arranged, which means it's group friendly."

Tiger’s Chinese Cuisine

★★★★☆ 4 (85) • $$

"This location isn't as good as the other Tiger restaurants. This is really unfortunate because this is the most convenient location for me to visit so I was very much looking forward to eating here so it could be my go to place.I love the Dong Bo pork made by the other sister locations. Usually the pork dish is shiny and juicy, with delicious sweet sauce covering the meat. Unfortunately this location's dish didn't have the same flavor, the pork fat was not very well cooked and the pork meat had been over cooked to the point I couldn't even cut the meat with a knife easily. The meat was cooked to the point where it was super dry and slightly burnt underneath. When asked how my meal was, I did mention this but was told this was how the dish is meant to be cooked. Obviously, he had no idea I've had this dish many times and also we make it at home. So that was a little disappointing. The other dishes were pretty good otherwise but the response hurt my impression of this place..."

Szechuan House

★★★★☆ 3.6 (91) • $$

"Chuan. Chuan. Chuan. See? I know how to Say Chuan.Anyway, house everything going with you?Yet another excellent Szechuan restaurant in HTX, with really yum spicy diced chicken AKA Chongqing chicken - and good Mapo Tofu and lots of other nommy dishes that you will enjoy. The Eggplant is pretty tasty as well, but heavy.There is a wealth of Sichuan food in Houston's Chinatown which will totally spoil you. Come over here and give it a try for yourself. Bite Of Spice is my number one, but this place is definitely in the top 5 or so.SH is a little bit more authentic perhaps than the most notorious and popular - Mala Sichuan - and you can tell because the only people in here are normally Chinese, whereas over at Mala you have all sorts of international clientele.It's also much less popular than Mala, so it definitely needs your support - and once you taste the stuff here you'll be glad to give it to them. And once you taste my stuff, you'll be glad I gave it to you."

Lao Sze Chuan

★★★★☆ 4.3 (61)

"We came by for lunch on a cold day wanting some hot food. Located in Montrose in a small shopping plaza. Parking is easily available.The interior of the restaurant is actually decently contemporary and clean comparing to other Chinese spots. Service was great and the food came pretty quickly. Squirrel fish 4.5/5. Best we've had in Houston. Sauce is solid. We forgot to ask what kind of fish they used but hope it wasn't tilapia.Peking Duck 3/5. Not the best, slightly chewy and just not as crisp and tasty as others that we've had in Houston. The crepes were nice and thin so that's a plus to be authentic but for $55, this duck was a miss for me.Kung Pao chicken 3.5/5 slightly not traditional with the zucchini but tasted alright. Just not what I thought would be my traditional Kung Pao chicken but a slightly more Americanized version. Crispy chicken 3.5/5. Missing some spice but still nicely fried. It's just missing the super Sichuan pepper element to the dish that gives the dish its signature flavor.Egg yolk shrimp/prawn 3.5/5. We were actually looking for a walnut shrimp on the menu which they didn't have, so we opted for this. The taste was fine but not very outstanding and slightly oily.Overall a pleasant surprise and a decent choice for the area. Not the best Sichuan spot but definitely above a few other spots in the loop."

Suzie Wong's Chinese Restaurant

★★★☆☆ 2.9 (107)

Xiaolong Dumpling

★★★★★ 4.8 (33)

The Red Hot Chili Burrow

★★★★☆ 4.3 (30)

"I think I found my go to Chinese place. I haven't found a Chinese place in the area that I really like enough to order multiple times, but I ordered take out recently and I will order again.The hot and sour soup and general tso's chicken both had a nice kick to it and were flavorful. Everything tasted freshly made. I liked the white rice. It was a medium grain rice vs the regular Chinese restaurant rice that is dry and falls apart. It isn't too expensive, but when I think of Chinese food, I think of $10 or so (pre-inflation brain). It is more like $13-$14 a dish on average."