Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    Jin Yuan Cafe - 錦源美食

    4.5 (16 reviews)

    Jin Yuan Cafe - 錦源美食 Photos

    Business Info

    You might also consider

    More like Jin Yuan Cafe - 錦源美食

    Recommended Reviews - Jin Yuan Cafe - 錦源美食

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration

    Reviews With Photos

    Fried Tofu Vermicelli Soup
    Amy W.

    Excellent Chinese food! It's so hard to find good pan fried bao, and the Jin Yuan ones are delicious!! Everything on the menu was good, but the bao are a must order! The chicken was true to authentic taste and cooked perfectly. Prices are very reasonable as well! You can order takeout or dine in through the kiosk.

    Christopher S.

    KATY, TX 77450 / SHANGHAINESE / 03-16-24 / TAKEOUT DINNER +The Pork & Vegetable Wonton Soup [8 pc] ($7.99) was delicious. +The little ones loved the Shanghai Soy Sauce Mixed Noodle ($5.99). +The front register lady was nice. -The Boiled Pork and Cabbage Dumplings ($8.99) were a little pink/raw. -They were sold out of Sheng Jian Bao [4 pc] ($5.99). -Some of the customers did not clean up after themselves and left the tables really dirty. I will definitely return to try some other dishes. Go check them out and give them some Yelp love, y'all!

    Beef curry vermicelli soup, Duck glass noodle soup
    Nhi V.

    Comforting and great value. Definitely a carb heavy spot but it gets the job done. Some of the dishes are below $10 - a rarity in this economy, and you get a whole bowl of delicious homemade tasting noodles. Be warned that most of these noodles come with very little meat, if any at all. I got lucky with the Duck Noodle Soup which comes with a gizzards, livers, and tofu. My boyfriend ordered the Beef Curry Vermicelli soup which had exactly 2 beef slices. The scallion noodle seems popular if you just want a boil of plain noodles in scallion oil. Next time I will try their homemade dumplings. Also, a major con was that the cashiers do not speak English. For non-Chinese speakers, you can order off the kiosk, which is what we did, but there were some confusing stuff on the menu that we weren't able to get clarification for. Had to order blindly and the below pic was what we ended up with.

    Oil splash noodles mid way devouring
    B C.

    Small spot inside Ranch99 food court. Had the oil splash noodles for $12.99 and the steamed pork dumplings (xiaolongboa) for $6.99 (for 6). Both were so delicious and so reasonably priced. You can see them hand making these there. Definitely coming back! (May 28, 2025)

    Pork xiaolongbao
    Tiffany H.

    Jin Yuan Cafe is located in the food court of 99 Ranch Market. There's a small dining area in front of the kitchen. Can order at a kiosk or at the register. First time going, the food we were interested in was already sold out. Still decided to order Shanghai scallion soup noodle & steamed pork dumplings. Average but got the job done. At some point, I got to try the pan fried pork bun as takeout. It was so delicious! Would've given 4 stars in the past... Most recent visit was a different story (a week after Beryl's landfall). Ordered takeout and the pork xiaolongbao did not have an unusual/sour smell. However after eating one soup dumpling, it tasted good initially but the stench of the meat became very intense. My SO previously had their XLB and could tell that the quality was not the same. Played it safe and decided not to finish the rest of the food. It's unclear whether the batch of meat was bad/old/not fresh or if ingredients were kept after Hurricane Beryl? We'll never know; probably not going to return here for a long time...

    Shanghai pan fried bun
    Julia B.

    This place has FANTASTIC food for such a good price. The menu isn't extensive because they focus on specific dishes and they do them so well. The pan fried buns have crispy bottoms and juicy insides. The noodles are savory and hits the spot. They also offer frozen dumplings if you wanna pick up a bag to cook at home! I highly, highly recommend checking this place out, it tastes wonderful. I'm definitely going again!

    Sheng Jian bao
    Michael J.

    This one comes from a special place! I'm Shanghainese and although the cuisine is often confused and imitated for what it truly is, this is the first legitimate location in all of Houston/greater Houston that has come close to what a Sheng Jian Bao should be! Sheng Jian Baos are the fried cousin of the soup dumplings everyone knows and loves! They also have a ton of authentic Shanghainese dishes that many other places don't carry! This is truly a lost art & hidden gem

    See all

    5 months ago

    Helpful 4
    Thanks 2
    Love this 0
    Oh no 2

    5 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 1
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1
    Photo of B C.
    0
    5
    2

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 1
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 1
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Y Z.
    2
    94
    34

    1 year ago

    100% authentic Shanghainese Shengjian Mantou. I have decided to move into your neighborhood so that I can often come to visit you.

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 2
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Michael J.
    521
    98
    153

    3 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 1
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1

    Ask the Community - Jin Yuan Cafe - 錦源美食

    You might also consider

    Shanghai Restaurant 富仔記

    Shanghai Restaurant 富仔記

    3.8
    (183 reviews)
    13.3 mi
    $$

    4.5 stars Our friends brought us some Shanghai Restaurant…read morefor dinner and we had salt and pepper ribs, house special tofu, beef cubes with mushroom and asparagus, and sautéed on choy. Per our friend, their salt and pepper ribs are the best they've had in Houston, and I would agree. It was crispy, flavorful, and the meat was tender. Yum! Definitely the highlight of the meal. The beef cubes with asparagus and mushrooms was good too. Beef was nice and tender and flavor was good. The house special tofu was a surprise box as it literally had everything in it! There was beef slices, chicken chunks , squid, shrimp, charsu, bamboo in addition to deep fried pieces of tofu. I enjoyed the dish, but maybe because there were too many things in it I would probably try something else next time, before you're not sure which protein you're going to get each time. Sautéed on choy was good as well. I can't comment on the service or ambience since we didn't dine in. However, overall enjoyed the place and would love to return to try other dishes (as well as reorder the salt and pepper ribs.

    Hadn't been back in a long while, but we came here to celebrate the Lunar New Year. This…read morerestaurant is another OG in Houston. They have been around for as long as I can remember. Don't be fooled by its English name, you will not be eating Shanghainese food here: this is a traditional Cantonese restaurant. In typical Chinese American fashion, we had the "adult" table and of course we sat at the "kids" table. We ordered the classics as pictured. The food is always tasty and consistent. Service is friendly and the even though this spot is no frills, it is a familiar place with a very family-centered atmosphere. You can not go wrong with old reliable. If you are ever craving authentic, traditional Cantonese cooking without the large, dim sum hybrid model, I definitely recommend this place. Perfect for lunch with coworkers, by yourself, and great for larger dinners with the whole family.

    Photos
    Shanghai Restaurant 富仔記
    Beef Toss Fried Beef with Flat Rice Noodle
    Beef Toss Fried Beef with Flat Rice Noodle
    Hot and Sour Soup

    See all

    Hot and Sour Soup
    One Dragon Restaurant 上海弄堂里

    One Dragon Restaurant 上海弄堂里

    3.8
    (493 reviews)
    13.1 mi
    $$

    Wow this is THE best restaurant ever. I'm going to ruffle feathers for saying that in TX the best…read morerestaurant isn't tex-mex or bbq. Best dumplings, noodles, tenderest pork belly. The cleanest restaurant and the best service. I felt like I was at a high end restaurant as the ladies were so attentive and friendly. Why can't you be in LA? I'm going to ruffle even more feathers and say this is better than any Chinese restaurant in LA, SF or anywhere in CA. Please please please come here as we need them to be around for the next time we visit Houston!

    Went for lunch. The restaurant is small and located in a small corner. There's only a handful of…read moretables, but we were seated nearly right away. The parking lot is busy and can be hard to find parking. We got a few dishes to share. The braised pork belly was delicious. Soft and fatty with a delicious sauce. The soup dumplings were also great, a nice salty soup and plenty of meat with a good dumpling wrapper. The star of the show were the fried dumplings, not pictured below. It had a nice crispy outer layer with an extremely juicy center, almost a soup dumpling in its own right. It's hot, so be careful! The veggie dish we ordered was also fine. The only thing I didn't really like was the rice, which was a little hard and dry. They also gave us a free braised fish dish to try, which my friend said was good. Overall, super delicious! Will definitely need to be back.

    Photos
    One Dragon Restaurant 上海弄堂里
    Pork buns super delicious!
    Pork buns super delicious!
    Xiao Long Bao - Soup Dumplings

    See all

    Xiao Long Bao - Soup Dumplings
    Hu's Cooking

    Hu's Cooking

    4.5
    (1.1k reviews)
    20.6 mi
    $$

    5 Stars - Authentic Szechuan that absolutely nails the classics…read more During our short trip to Houston, as a custom, we were determined to find real Szechuan food, and luckily we found Hu's Kitchen. The location is a bit unassuming, and parking is definitely tough (the spaces are very shallow), but the second we walked through the doors and smelled the Szechuan peppercorns, I knew we were in exactly the right place. I generally judge a Szechuan restaurant by their 夫妻肺片 (Fuqi Feipian)--which they cleverly name "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" on the menu. They completely nailed it. The beef, tripe, and tendon were incredibly cohesive together, yet you could tell each component was prepared and marinated in a slightly different way to perfectly highlight its specific texture. The chili oil was right on the spot. We went through a massive bowl of rice just eating this dish alone. Honestly, if I weren't feeding a family of four, I could have just ordered that and been perfectly happy. While the Fuqi Feipian proves their skill with dry dishes, the 水煮魚片 (Fish in Szechuan Hot Chili Oil) proves their skill with wet ones. It's another must-order. The execution was flawless--we didn't just finish the tender fish chunks, we ate every last piece of cabbage soaked in that incredible chili broth. For my two daughters who can't handle the heat, we ordered the fried rice, garlic pork ribs with onion, and the 紅燒獅子頭 (Giant Meatball with Cabbage). The giant meatball was spectacular. The kids completely devoured it on their own, but I managed to steal a bite, and it instantly brought back childhood memories of exactly how this dish is supposed to taste. We also had the Dan Dan Noodles, which were great and rounded out the meal perfectly. I loved all of the dishes we tried. Should we ever find ourselves in Houston again, we will absolutely be revisiting this hidden gem.

    My mom wanted steamed fish with ginger, scallions, and that light sweet soy sauce. Hu's Cooking…read moredelivered! When we ordered, they mentioned it'll take about 20 mins but it came out in 10. No complaints here since we were starving from an 8 hour road trip. The Dan Dan Noodles...I had high expectations but sadly this dish fell short. I recommend Hu's Cooking to use a bigger bowl and more sauce because it was difficult to mix the noodles and the sauce wasn't...saucing, unfortunately. I wish there was more flavor in this dish. The Scallion Pancake was super over-fried and oily. See image in my review. The outer parts of the pancake were fried to a crisp and only a small circumference in the center stayed chewy. I know Chinese tends to be oily but this pancake soaked up way too much oil. Half a Peking duck: super great price for so much meat. The difficulty when eating this dish is gnawing the meat off the sharp bones of the duck. Mapo Tofu with white rice: pretty easy staple, no complaints here. Dinner on a Saturday was packed but we got seated quickly and food arrived fast.

    Photos
    Spicy chicken, clear noodles with red pepper sauce, and stir fried green beans
    Spicy chicken, clear noodles with red pepper sauce, and stir fried green beans
    Open til 11:00pm on Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat
    Open til 11:00pm on Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat
    Hu's Cooking

    See all

    Shanghai Cuisine 友家

    Shanghai Cuisine 友家

    3.4
    (17 reviews)
    12.8 mi
    $

    This little restaurant is just a wonderful, hole-in-the-wall kinda place! Authentic Chinese foods…read morethat I have never tried, or not even heard of, can be found here; for instance, "Pig nose with cucumber and garlic (appetizer #14)" sounds like bizarre and freaking people out, but it is delicious!! Seriously, I never knew pig nose were edible *face palm* Anyways, for the very first time I had the "pig nose" (pig snout), man oh man! I liked it! The pig snout has been slow-cooked so it is pretty tender yet chewable, and it tastes sorta like pork tongue or soft tendon; the cucumber adds a refreshing crisp and the garlic boosts the flavor! I DARE YOU to try this bizarre food! Lol My favorite appetizers and entrees here include, but are not limited to: 1) Shredded potatoes in chili oil (appetizer): a little spicy; loves the crispy texture of the shredded potatoes; tasty and interesting! 2) Sweet & Sour pork loin: i love almost everything sweet & sour so I may be a little biased on this one; however, not only me but also the boyfriend and his coworkers have said that it is delicious, so i'm sure this is a good one! 3) Shrimp w/ cabbage: flavorful, but kinda greasy as the shrimp and cabbage are soaked in oil. Don't be fooled by the orange-reddish colored oil though; this one is not spicy at all. 4) Pork kidneys stir-fried w/ cabbage: another one that sounds bizarre, maybe? oh well, the organ meat is thin-sliced and cooked just right so it is soft and crispy, rather than chewy and plastic-ky (as if overcooked). I would recommend this one to the organ-eaters *wink* 5) Egg scramble w/ Clams: eggs not overcooked; clams taste fresh. Just perfect! Prices are very reasonable (accepts credit cards); food portions are huge; service is prompt and friendly. Before I go, this place is BYOB!

    First off, I dont really know Chinese food. I only knew of Chinese food as Generals Tso's chicken…read moreor Sweet and Sour chicken etc etc... and I am not really a fan of those. However, I've grown to find out that those dishes are usually just "American Chinese" dishes, if you would. You know a place is authentic when the majority of the guests are Chinese (we were the only ones that werent) and the waitress doesnt know how to describe some of the dishes in English. My hubby and I arent frequent Chinese food eaters, but we decided to just stop by since the shopping center here has a lot of good places to eat, or so we assume since these joints are always super packed. We didnt really know what to order, half of the entrees was because another table ordered the food! We had a vegetable dish... which I think was stir-fried snow pea leaves, but she kept telling us no and calling us it something in Chinese... um, ok. But it was good... that dish is hard to mess up. My hubby loves egg and tomatoes, so we had to get that and he loved it! (You would think eggs and tomatoes are easy to make... but I heard it can be tricky.) We had the salt and pepper squid... I wish it was crunchier, but it still had good flavor. The waitress recommended steamed fish with mustard greens.. bland, but had some flavor... and healthy. The other dishes look good, too... Im willing to come back and try more items... maybe with a Chinese person next time.

    Photos
    Shanghai Cuisine 友家
    Shanghai Cuisine 友家
    Shanghai Cuisine 友家

    See all

    Taste of China

    Taste of China

    3.3
    (63 reviews)
    12.8 mi

    Two foodies from Houston…read more We decided to try the Taste of China since we have seen the restaurant on our walks through the shopping center. The restaurant inside is not large but well laid out and clean. Staff is friendly and professional. They quickly greet and seat you. We ordered three dishes two were similar one had pork and the other had beef with jalapeños with a side of steamed white rice. The third dish was a soup like. The food was seasoned well and delicious. We will definitely be back. Give it a try for yourself. Happy eating!

    THIS PLACE AUTOMATICALLY FACTORS IN 20% TIPS WHEN THEY SWIPE YOUR CARD…read more Party of 4 in early May. Ordered 6 plates and a soup--total $120 (but after their tip, came out to $150). We usually tip pretty well, so the amount was not an issue--but the fact that the staff who helped us TOLD us the pre-tip price is $126 and then REFUSED TO GIVE US the bill after we paid made us suspicious. After repeated badgering, we were finally handed the bill and saw the $150 price. We would have been fine if you told us the automatic tip for a party of our size or that there's an amount/dishes-cap for the automatic tip--but if we had not asked for our bill four/five times by different members of our party, then we would have accidentally left another cash tip on the table. The ONLY reason we kept asking for the bill in the first place is because we wanted to make sure that a dessert plate we ordered--which never arrived during the entire service--was not charged. Taste was authentic, portion sizes okay, and there was a good selection of food from different parts of China on the menu, but absolutely would NOT come back again due to this shady business practice.

    Photos
    Taste of China
    Taste of China
    Taste of China

    See all

    Jin Yuan Cafe - 錦源美食 - noodles - Updated August 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...