Cafe 101 ain't shabby, especially for late night munchies. Their reverse happy hour is solid, and their food options are really nothing to complain about provided you don't eat "real food" and just stick to snacks. If I rated Cafe 101 by real meal, the rating would definitely go down. So I give this place a four, but if you judged the place on gut-filling food and price point, it'd be the average 3 star rating reflected above. FOOD&DRANK Culture lesson! Cafe 101 takes its name from what used to be the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. (Now go Google "Taipei 101 Fireworks" and make it a point to visit during the next Lunar New Year.) As such, it sells tasty Taiwanese-inspired cuisine for a higher than comfortable price point to consumers. Drinks really are pretty yummy, if you just stick to the basics and don't spruce things up with whipped cream and sprinkles. I particularly like their Bubble items (that don't contain bubbles... but are solid smoothies): they taste naturally fruity. Milk teas are pricy compared to other places but in their defense the sizes are also rather large. (No option to get a smaller cup though. Pick your caloric ruin.) To avoid complaining about prices, don't come here super hungry. Come here for a late night munchies run and take advantage of their reverse happy hour! Split some sushi (pretty good fish-to-rice ratio) and milk teas (let yourself be distracted by the fact they're served in cute mason jars) when they're discounted and I'm sure your opinion of Cafe 101 will improve. Maybe. Don't take my word for it. SERVICE: I haven't encountered too many issues. Sometimes it's a tad on the slower side, but overall nothing to really complain about. AMBIANCE Cafe 101 walks a thin line between cool neon lighting and go-go bar, and I'm not sure which side it lands on. Still, I guess it works--this place at least put effort in how the restaurant looks, as compared to other no frills places in DunHuang Plaza (or the rest of Chinatown, for that matter). Cafe 101 does a good job in that I can see it catering to various ethnicities and not just those of the Asian variety. tl;dr Don't eat a full meal here. Come for some small munchies instead. read more

My two friends and I split the calamari, sizzling kalbi beef, and stir fry noodles. The calamari was mediocre, nothing special about it. The sizzling kalbi beef was delicious. I enjoyed the rice and side dishes that came with it. However, I felt like there could've been more of everything, especially the beef. It seemed like there were only about 10-12 pieces of beef in the dish. Nevertheless, I'd still order it again. The stir fry noodles were a no for me. I didn't like the hint of fish smell/taste it had. The texture of the sauce also had some sort of grittiness in it. However, one of my friends did like it. In the past, I enjoyed the kimchi fried rice, kimchi fries, chicken nuggets, fried tofu, and pineapple fried rice. I would definitely recommend those items. A popular drink among my friends is Skydiving and Young Girl's Dream. read more

I've been going here for awhile. It's good if you want cheap and decent food. They've got a big selection for tapioca drinks (try the green Heineken, it's a creeper) and I typically order the fried tofu. Only downfall is they have strict rules with a minimum charge on credit cards and split bills over a group of 6 aren't allowed. Don't expect stellar service, it's fair. read more

Service is not that great, and the food is a little overpriced. Because cafe 101 is right in the center of chinatown, parking is extremely hard to find unless you use the garage! We ordered beef noodles that was spicy and it was expensive but portions were not that much. The fried squids were my favorite and the appetizer was a lot in portion for its price. The sauce for the fried squid was soy sauce with a hint of sweetness, and next time i go, i think thats all i would order! read more

The service is amazing when I went for lunch! Staff(waitresses) all looking beautiful. The modern vibe you have in there makes you leave Houston for half a second. Lastly, the food was cooked to a crisp perfection everything was yummy and not overpowering. Definitely coming back! read more

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I don't know how I can summarize my experience here. Food was atrocious as there was no quality. I ordered pineapple shrimp ball and it came out with old, cold canned pineapple pieces in the bottom with few lukewarm shrimps on top. The shripms were not fresh and smelled strongly fishy (literally). Definitely not worth $12 for the portion and quality. A Chinese buffet would be much better. Salt and pepper sakura ebi (which the waitress told me it's a squid dish, when it's dried shrimp dish) was way too greasy: again, the dish had a strong strange odor. Their menu is like a book offering so many types of dishes, which indicates to me that they actually don't have anything that's really good or special. When walking into the restaurant, I smelled some sort of sewer and flies kept sitting on our food. Poor service as we had trouble getting attention from the wait staff constantly when there were only 2 other tables for multiple wait staff. The waitress never checked on us after bringing the food. I would not go there again nor recommend it to anyone. read more

This is like my go to place to eat late at night because they open till like 2 am. Their happy hour is pretty cool too. It's like 4pm-7pm and 10pm-2am. Their food is pretty and they have a lot of cool drinks. Their service is pretty horrible tho. The last time I came there, I didn't get served till 20 minutes later because I went to go look for Him. I'm pretty sure he wanted to wait till after happy hour to serve me. There's also like a minimum charge for cards too. read more

Nice environment and decor for a Chinatown restaurant + Good food + OK Value. So why 2 stars? Because the food made me sick! And I'm 100% my stomach was sick it was because of their food because I couldn't finish it and took it to go and it made my stomach sick again after I finished the left over for lunch! Order a cabbage soup and my wife took out something like a cockroach's leg but we were not 100% sure, she had the soup and she got sick also. I had the chicken nugget with noodle soup and I got sick that night also(didn't try any of hers) So I'm 100% sure there's something wrong for the food cooked that night. Will not be there at least for 1 year before trying again. read more

The food is good and chill atmosphere. Waitress are friendly. Huge menu to choose from. read more

Cafe 101 - Delicious! - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

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Ok 1st thing 1st this place is always crowded, main reason is goooooooooood food. They are very serious about their sushi, no matter what you order from the menu it is good!! Keep it up CAFE101!! read more

Everything is s pricy here , the food is just meh . I think most people just come here for the bar like ambiance . I enjoyed the Oreo milk tea but after awhile it gets to watery so let them know light to no ice read more

This is a decent place to bring your Caucasian friends, if they are trying to slowly ease their way into authentic Chinese cuisine. It's trendy, the girls that work here are pretty, and they're open until 2am on most nights. Sounds like a recipe for success, right? Eh, not really. The food is not fantastic by any means, and the service is usually surly. There are a few things on the menu I enjoy that I periodically come back for though. I like the kimchi and beef hot pot. The (non-alcoholic) drink selection here is not too shabby either, and it's $1 off during happy hour. Happy hour also features some reasonably priced appetizers, like the fried tofu. So many restaurants with later hours have opened in this area, and many of them serve better tasting food, so I don't really have as much desire to come here anymore. read more

Despite growing up and being more picky and aware of good service and good food, this place still reminds me of when my parents would let me eat here and get bubble tea. The pork katsu is the reason why I love this place. The tapioca is competitive. The presentation of the food is hong kong style. I really want to give another star, but I have yet to be impressed. read more

I have a real love hate relationship with cafe 101. I've been coming here for years now so they are definitely doing something right. One of my favorite parts is its late night hours. When I am craving tapioca I can just hop on down to chinatown and get my fix. They have a lot of seating but are packed on the weekends and at night, so odds are there will be a wait. The service is very mediocre. The girls don't seem to handle stress well and maybe have five tables per server max. I just think that there could be so much improvement. I rarely get checked up on. If I need a water refilled, I have to vigorously flag someone down. I think cafe 101 has one of the best milk tea tapioca. The pearls have a great texture and have the perfect sweetness. I come here for the drinks mostly. The food is pretty subpar. It was reverse happy hour(which I love) and I ordered the fried squid appetizer. It was impossibly chewy and not crispy enough. My meal also came with this wannabe egg roll. It was more like deep fried rice paper. There was almost no filling. Food is overpriced, especially for chinatown. I still like cafe 101, but I really only go if someone else invites me. I prefer other places. read more

Nicely decorated inside. Trendy club feeling. Pricey. Friendly waitresses. And the dishes are of "In style dishes." They are not authentic nor of any particular culture. They do serve Sushi here. They serve Herbal Tea and Herbal soup. The idea of offering herbal dishes is great but at least consult with a professional that knows of the medicinal property. I just can't stop laughing at this because the stuff they claim the tea will do is just so.....full of marketing. (I have a degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine and prescribing Chinese herbs and formulas is what I do.) I have tried two herbal soup dish and each time it wasn't all that. I tried the ginseng chicken soup and it seemed to me that it wasn't cooked long enough to have the chicken essence imbued into the soup. I also tried this dish with beef ribs but I just couldn't get the meat off the bone! Free wifi, but I don't see how you can manage to concentrate in there because it is just way too noisy and busy in there at night. read more

One of our favorite places for authentic Chinese food in Houston. Home style dishes, great service, reasonably priced.

Eh, for asian food I have had better. This place has a nice variety of food. But, the down size to all of this is that in the same complex you can get the same if not better for a bit less. The portions are fair but, the food is bland to me. I have given this place many tried and im always disappointed when i leave. The waitstaff doesn't understand much english and it bothers me when they nod and confirm yes and don't understand a thing im saying. Rating: Food: C Decor: A Cleanliness: B Service: B- read more

My absolute favorite restaurant. Love that they are open every day until 2am. Every drink (alcoholic and non-) I've tried is amazing. I highly recommend their Once Upon A Time Roll, 101 Crunch Roll, Dancing Dragon Roll! read more

Tues 8/2 I wanted milk tea around 10p and we couldnt think of any place open thats worth our time and money except this place. Came in for milk tea but ended up with sweet iced tea for the both of us and went ahead and had dinner. Ordered their milk tea and by god I swear they served me a glass of foamy milk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One sip and I already knew I had to return it. So veddy sorry but it was not milk TEA! Exchanged it for a regular sweet tea and it erased the nastyness outta my mouth. Their sweet tea is so dang good I wish I could take it home with me. We shared the Sizziling Beef $10.95-- sooooooooooo awesome the Mr. and I enjoyed it to the very last bite. Thick, tender, perfectly seasoned beef in a delectable sauce with perfectly cooked red & green bell peppers and onions. So good we craved for it for days. However.........11 bucks is kinda a lot for a Non-Sharing dish. Service was bad by some girl. read more

bubble teas and all drinks are great. Beer prices are good, and some appetizers are decent like the chicken nuggets and fries. Some of the food was straight terrible. Will not go back for food. read more

Happy with my Taiwanese lunch with a friend who strongly recommended their food. Seatings are open and comfortable; food is yummy; staffs are friendly. What more can I ask? read more

Cafe 101 - Crispy salted chicken lunch set, yum - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

Seafood trio was the bomb and the alcoholic drinks are refreshing and interesting. Cool place to go and hang out with friends due to its lounge like environment and the music. read more

Cafe 101 - Fried tofu and fried squid..... Delicious - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

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This place is great! All the waitress and waiters are very nice. I came here with my group of friends and we had a BLAST! Their drinks are really good. I love their Mango Green Tea with Tapioca. I would recommend more people to come here. The waitress name, Thy, was very nice and she is really cool. Same goes with the waitress name, Winnie, she would always introduce you to different interesting drinks and foods. Whenever I come to this place, I would choose either one of them. read more

Accommodating customers is always a plus for me and this place gave that to me. Food is pretty good but i haven't had the time to try a lot of their things so i can't objectively comment on this part. Atmosphere is good given that the restaurant is spacious to give the diners a little more leg room than other restaurants of this caliber. This place has a mini booklet on the drinks itself. At times, the milk tea i had was delicious. at other times, it just tasted plain. All in all, a good place to eat and chill. Have no major qualms. read more

Cafe 101 has decent food, nice serviceware, and interesting plate presentation. I was worried the food was going to be too far out there for me, but it was standard Asian food with lots of flavor and variety. Several people in our group didn't have as diverse of a palate as most and were still able to order and fill their stomachs. Personally I get nervous whenever I go to eat on Bellaire but this was a neat find. Cafe 101 had a trendy vibe to it (although the details were not executed well) and an extensive menu. I'd recommend this place to try it out but I wouldn't make it a common affair. read more

Finally I got some time to put in a review for this place. I was there 2 weeks ago, ordered some sushi rolls, korean hotpot, steak fries, and kimchi beef udon. I love the steak fries & udon (5/5). Sushi rolls are pretty good. My mom thinks they are too creamy (4/5), hot pot didnt have much flavor, I always enjoy soup so I hope they can improve on the hotpot (3/5). Over all, its a good place and I would def. come back! read more

The only reason why my boyfriend come here is because of the late hours and certain food items but every time we come the service just gets worse and worse. This time it was a no wait but a 10 minute wait for a greeting, yes greeting. A simple I'll be right with you will suffice in any restaurant business, that way we can be aware of our server, who in this case was nice when she finally did come. No napkins, no utensils other than what is provided on the meal ordered. Waiting makes people lose appetites, and I hated to have given that same answer when the Host (not waitress) asked why we canceled it. So we canceled an order of food and shared one instead. Food is good but service is a huge factor. By the way there was no table touching from our waitress, just the restaurant's host so salute to her! On another note we love the Kalbi beef read more

Poor service, poor food qualities and poor furnishings. I don't come to this place a lot, but my wife do come here when we have nothing in mind. The food here is mediocre, but the price isn't too friendly. When someone orders a specialty drink and an entre, it will cost him 15 dollars. It seems that waitresses here appear for different purposes. They work there because they are pretty. My glasses were always always always empty. The quality of the food is less than just mediocre, it was terrible for the prices I paid for. For example, jaded beef, noodles, chef's special or whatever they taste pretty darn bad for 8-10 dollars. Stir fried udons use so little ingredient and charged me 10 dollars. Regarding the furnishings, the chairs are SO abused that I always sank after dropping my butt onto them.. For 15 dollars, you deserve somewhere better. The extra star I gave it for the speed of service. read more

Edit 9/21/13 Service has gotten way better. Therefore, I bump up to three stars. - Food is okay. What I hate about this place is the service. The waitresses are aloof. They take forever to take your order and then they don't check up on you if you need more water, etc. You have to chase them down to get your check. And once you get your check, you have to wait another 5 minutes for them to pick up your card just to swipe it. Once, my friend didn't finish her tapioca drink, so she got it to-go and the waitress took off with it, 10 minutes later, we were still waiting for it. We asked where it was, and the waitress apparently "lost" the drink. read more

Cafe 101 is one of those places poppin' in Chinatown for the convenience and for groups. I came here several times and been going here for years now. They have come a long way with updated decor and forever adding new items on the menu. My personal favorites here are mainly the appetizers and if you're craving milk tea, their milk tea menu is great. Some of the main dishes that I have ordered is beef/seafood fried udon, veggie hot pot, or salmon don. I used to order more but the recipe must have changed or something such as the golden lemon chicken made me sick one time and I haven't dared to eat again. I like their drink menu as well. Sake bombs, flavored sake and Heineken green tea are good when made correctly. This place has its up and downs; hit or miss. I still come here often with friends and/or family. read more

Came here for a late Christmas dinner. Was asked to leave after finishing our meal, so they could sit a larger party. Quite frankly, it was rude and embarrassing, as we were minding our business while trying to let our food settle. The food is mediocre and the service is terrible. 3/10 would recommend... read more

I probably go to cafe 2-3 times a week! But I still give this place 2 stars instead of 4 or 5... why? because the food is good but a little overpriced. I like going during reverse happy hour when some of the appetizers are $3 and non alcoholic drinks are $3. and another reason why I give them 2 stars is cause service there sucks. The girls are ALWAYS standing at the host stand of whatever and never pay attention to their customers. Im always having to track down my server to get something that I need. Those girls aren't attentive what so ever.. They never check up on me. Me and my friends only go here that often because its the only place in the area that's open late nights besides tan tan, which we don't like. It closes at 2am everyday which is good for me and my coworkers. But drinks there are the BEST If you're looking for really good fresh tap drinks get it at cafe 101. I love their pudding bubble tea. So overall.. Food is okay, drinks are GOOOOD, ambiance is very nice and trendy, service sucks, good for late night since it closes late everyday. read more

Milk tea drink is a GO TO! The only bad thing about cafe 101 is, I always leave uncomfortably full because I just can't stopppppp

This is a place that I go pretty often. If I don't want go any places else， this is the choice, normally it won't go wrong. only couple times that the three cup chicken got over cooked and I used to order their Wheat gem milk tea with Grass Jelly, but the wheat got stalled. however, I still order their milk tea with grass jelly all the time, just without the wheat gem. Even sometimes I don't dine there, still go get their milk tea. I love their fried calamari, this is the dish I have to order each time and I still love their three cup chicken with basal. Their hot pot is good, I like to order that during cold weather or whenever I feel I want something hot and soupy. read more

It is the worse food I ate in 101 cafe! What a bad dishes they served! Only good is decoration read more

Cafe 101 - Bad food - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

I ordered Kung pao shrimp but didn't really like it much. I can truly say I've had better. Not coming back read more

Cafe 101 - Not a master piece by any means - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

There is nothing special about this place other than nice decor and pretty employees. The employees are rude and take forever to ask for your drinks, and forever to take out your drinks, oh and a DECADE to ask for your order, and a CENTURY to bring out your food. Try their carrot juice, because it is made with real carrots. Thats about it. Nothing special. read more

Not sure why this only has 3 stars. Maybe because I'm not from Houston so I enjoy this place. Their food is not bad. Not the best I've had but not the worst. The milk tea come in cute mason jars with whipped cream and sprinkles. The reason I enjoy this pace is mainly for the environment. It is a great place to hangout for young people. It has a trendy modern feel with upbeat music and modern lights. Every time I'm in Houston I always meet up with my friends here. Never disappointed. Their appetizers are decent and kimchi udon noodles are actually pretty good. I would definitely consider this an Asian hot spot where all the Asian kids in their 20s come. They also have a wide variety or sakes. Try the lychee one! It's my favorite. Hope to come back and try the white peach next time. I've personally never had a bad experience here so not sure where all the bad reviews are coming from. If you're looking for a hip place to catch up with friends, this is a def a good option! read more

Cafe 101 - House special milk tea - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

Cafe 101 is the spot where you can't really decide on where to go, so it would be kind of a last resort. Love their tea selection! They are always consistent with the tea. They have a large variety of entrees to choose from. Normally it's a hit or miss. So far i really enjoyed the friend udon, kung pao chicken, pork katsu and the sizzling ribs. To top it off i usually order the almond milk tea with grass jelly. Also, I wouldn't recommend their sashimi or anything that is sushi here but everything else is a go. As for the night portion. It's a good place to meet up friends before heading out to the clubs. Service is good and the ambiance is decent. Love the fact that they carry alcohol here :D read more

Possibly the worst cafe in Chinatown. Only reason I didn't give it a 1 star because their squid ball and their tofu appetizers are good. I'd only come back for those two and their milk tea. Service: I don't even want to start. read more