North East Restaurant

It's a close call between three and four stars, but given how unique the food is among all the Houston Chinese restaurants, we'll bump it to four stars. Plainly stated in the name, this place features North-East Chinese food where it is freakin' cold, so think stews and chest-warming food. We went with my parents and jotted down the English name of the dishes we liked best.First, there's "Chicken Cooked in Pot" which you'll probably see on every table with Chinese people. The restaurant advertises that they only make ten of these a day (so much for FDR). Very hearty with potatoes and earthy mushrooms. We also really liked the "Cake with Smocked Pork" - which features a fried bing/pancake that you stuff with smoked pork (thus the typo), hoisin sauce and some greens like a Beijing Duck crepe. Tasty goodness!

i dropped by this place for their soft grand opening several weeks back. this is in the same location as the now defunct umai. just an FYI, the sign on the outside says North East Restaurant, but all the branding on the menus inside say North-Eastern Restaurant....i had no idea what to order, so i had the waitress who was very friendly recommend a few things. i had some chilled braised beef, spicy beef noodle soup, and bell pepper dumplings. everything was A-OK. highlight was the special hotsauce they have - it's kind of like the chili oil you see at other chinese restaurants, but with sesame seeds and was absolutely magic! it made everything taste so much better. if i could, i would buy some of it to bring home. the bell pepper dumplings were also very good. somehow they wrap them in a way that stores all of the soup inside the shell, and with each bite you get a burst of broth. i think next time i'm going to ask for different recommendations. the table of all chinese speaking individuals had some fancy elaborate spread on hot plates that they were eating with jumbo man-tou's the size of my head. never seen such a thing - forgot to ask what it was before i left.will be back again to sample more of the menu!

-No AC = Hot and sweaty dining experience (The restaurant must have it installed but the owner did not turn it on)-Bad staff attitude ("We don't have this dish. Change it!" said the owner rudely as she slapped down the menu and walked away)-Small portions with below average food (The capelin fishes tasted spoiled)One of the worst Chinatown dining experiences I have ever had. I will never return to this place even if this were the only option.

TOO SLOW!!!! Their altitude is rude. I'll never eat here again. We almost waiting for 40 min for our first dish. You know 40 min waiting time in China means shxt?

the food was a-okay. not very familiar with this area for food - dont think we ordered the right combination of things. the waitress was helpful and suggested some "signature dishes". really wish i took a picture of the menu so that i could remember the names of the dishes we ordered (sorry in advance for my makeshift boo boo names).something that has bone in the name (i know - awful description) (3/5) - huge pieces of meat (bone-in). i believe it was braised. it was cute, they give you a lunch glove to eat the meat with your hands. very fatty and salty - wouldn't be for everyone.eggs with vegetables (3/5) - basically scrambled eggs with a staple vegetable of the region. yea.....i liked the dish. wouldn't be able to name the vegetable if my life depended on it.cake with smocked pork (we called it da bing) (4/5) - everyone liked the dish. the bing or pancake was really delicious and crispy. meat was meh for me, but anything is good with hoisin sauce. fried eggplant (3/5) - eggplant stuffed with meat and fried. yea...as you can see, weird mix of dishes. doesn't seem like this area has many leafy vegetable dishes. one neat thing is that if you order 49 dollars worth of food, they give you a half chicken dish for free. it's the kind of chicken that is marinated in herbs/is good for you. i chuckled because the sign on the wall says 49 yuan (the chinese currency, but i guess they mean dollars). i would definitely suggest bringing someone that is more familiar with these dishes - C's taiwanese parents weren't much help.

I've been to this place with my mom once. Everything was great and came out fresh!! I ordered something yesterday, it took only less than 15 minutes. Very good place to hang out with family and friends.

I just love their noodles! I would drive for 30mins to get there and get some noodles and have something else frozen to go! It's not pricy and it tastes pretty good!

Cheap is not always good. Whenever I come here wanted something but they don't have, it's more annoying than being cheap.I first discovered this restaurant was when they just opened (see my storefront photo posted on January 22, 2013). I never came back because they refused to serve the noodle that was advertised on the sign - $2.99.I decided to try them again after reading the newspaper announcing the son of owner joined force to make the restaurant better. Why lie? They don't make the dish offered on the window "guo zheng mo" 锅蒸馍 any more. But the paper was just published. One dish I could give them credit was the Lanzhou pulled noodles. The noodles were fine but flavor was not on the plain beef soup. My foodie partner Que N. wanted to try pulled noodles after I bragged about the texture and flavor at a noodle house closed so quickly in November. I knew the wait time for the pulled noodle. So, I called in early. I said we will arrive at 11 am, before the lunch crowd. Que arrived before me. She saw the food was already set on a table. To me, this was not acceptable. They treated my order as food for the altar. Part of food was cold. The steamed wontons came late and the tip of the wrap was still raw.Just like Confucius said, "有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎" - There are friends from afar, be happy. Despite my frowning experiences, we still had a good time fulfilling the search of bizarre food in Chinatown. Note: This restaurant is also called Dong Bei Restaurant. Most of menu items can be found at https://www.yelp.com/biz/dong-bei-restaurant-houston-2. I do not like restaurant owners can't decide an actual name for their business.

My first time at this restaurant. It is a very typical ma and pa restaurant, quiet, nice food, and clean. The service is just okay.

PISS POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. Called for receipt information and was told "wait" - not "please hold". They put me on hold, then hung up. I called back, the phone was picked up and put back down hanging me up again. I did this seven (7) times and then it went to voicemail. PISS POOR!!!