This has been a long standing staple in Chinatown, one that I had passed by many times. Well I was tipped off that they have a really affordable lunch special here, so I came here one day to check it out. The dining room was full when we arrived, and there was a very small wait. It was pretty noisy in there with the full house. Between the two of us, we ordered four dishes-- the steamed sole, salt and pepper pork chop, Kung Pao chicken, and beef with gailan. The Kung Pao was probably my least favorite. It was very salty, and the chicken was white meat and a bit dry. The beef and gailan was fine but maybe a bit one dimensional. The pork chops were tasty and a slight bit sweet. The steamed sole was quite nice. It is definitely a fan favorite here and took a bit longer to arrive than the rest of the dishes. Just be wary of the plentiful small bones. Overall a good place I would visit again given the great pricing. I give the edge to Confucius Seafood though for their lunch specials. While a bit more expensive, the dishes are executed better. read more

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Extremely popular place for a family dinner, especially during lunar new year weekend. Entire restaurant was packed and waited 15~20 min after our reservation time for a table to become available. We had quite the array of different items for our table. Some standouts: the steamed chicken with ginger scallion sauce is outstanding (definitely the best I've had). The chicken was tender, juicy and very meaty. The skin was snappy and not grossly fatty. The salted egg yolk tofu is a must. Beautiful salted egg yolk batter on the outside and soft, silly smooth tofu on the inside. Sweet and sour fish had a nicely balanced sauce that you'll want to spoon onto your steamed rice. This is a very good Cantonese restaurant with plenty of options thay seemed to be enjoyed by many locals. read more

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1. Service - wait staff are very attentive. It seems that the staff are working all tables. So you don't have a designated person. 2. Price - depend on what you order, prices may vary between $10-15 a plate. Also note that they have really good lunch special prices. 3. Ambiance - this is a small restaurant that holds approximately 75 people. Decor is dated. This is an ideal place to dine with family. Dress code here is casual. 4. Food - I recommend their BEEF CHOW FUN. Which is a Canto Noodle dish with beef, bean sprouts, and green onions. I remember the beef being tender. 5. Cleanliness - Restrooms can use a make over. Dining area appears clean. Staff is really good at cleaning the tables. SUMMARY: This is not a restaurant I normally would go to, but I was here by invitation. It is surprisingly not a bad Cantonese restaurant. I would recommend this place and I would hit them up again. read more

Food here is legit, though the service can be a bit choppy depending on who's your server. That said, I only experienced one waitress who is a bit rough around the edges. You'll know if you meet her. But don't let that dissuade you. Everyone else is cool and the food is excellent (and somehow at reasonable prices!) Snow Pea leaves with garlic, salt & pepper squid (my personal favorite), salted egg tofu, and green beans with ground pork were all delicious. I also love the way they do the Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs (big chunks of meat) and cooked and seasoned perfectly. The only dish I'd avoid getting again was the Yu sha beef (hope I remembered that right) flat rice noodles. Everyone at the table agreed it was bland and missing something. Last thing to note: the water they give you to drink is pretty bad. My nephew said it tasted like Dwayne, "The Rock", Johnson's sweat. My Sister-in-law on the other hand said it tasted like drain pipes. Either way, unpleasant. So treat yourself with a canned drink or something. read more

Came here for the lunch special and they were packed (even at 1pm on a weekday). It's a good deal with everything under $10. I asked for steamed fish with black bean sauce (18) but pointed at 19 on the menu which was sautéed fish (my fault), so they brought the wrong dish. They apologized and brought me the right one. Fish was soft and the black bean sauce was flavorful and great with the steamed rice. Lots of regulars here - the table next to me had an elderly couple whom the waitress asked about their grandchildren. read more

Le Lai - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

grew up on le lai and some things never change; its been an iconic establishment for decades. it gets PACKED around noon for their lunch specials. you can get delicious comforting canto dishes for less than $9 each!! very tender beef, silky scrambled eggs, and generous portions. the main downside is the wait and service, but makes sense given how busy it gets. truly a (not so) hidden gem in bellaire read more

Le Lai - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

It's taken awhile for me to try this spot out. But, I've passed by Le Lai so many times. I have since tried out their food with my family and we love it. This is now going to be my go to spot for delicious Cantonese food. Our favorites include: Salt and Pepper Crispy Sole Fish, Salt and Pepper Squid, Steamed Chicken with Ginger and Green Onion, Steamed Striped Bass, and Stir-Fried Mushroom with Yuzi Tofu. Dishes we tried and will pass on: Fried Pork Chops, Stir Fried Beef Noodles, Stir Fried Clams, and Beef Brisket. The interior is pretty plain, but we came here for the good food. Plus, service is prompt and friendly -- qualities we don't usually expect from Chinatown. We will be back. read more

I've been coming here for the past 15+ years with my family, so it's safe to say this place is definitely a Chinatown staple for me. If you're looking for affordable, authentic Chinese food that is not too salty, not too oily, pretty healthy, but also still very flavorful, this is the place to go! They're a small mom and pop shop, and the food tastes like homemade Chinese cooking, which is probably why my family and I like it so much. Some of my favorite dishes are the salted pork chop, mushroom and tofu, and steamed fresh fish! read more

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Saw Yelp's rating started trying by ordering steamed fish and chicken to go. Fish was not fresh and chicken was bland. Ginger sauce was mediocre. It was the first time my husband refused to eat more. He didn't complain but his gesture tells all. Two things they can improve 1. Use fresh fish, 2. Season your steam chicken please it lacks taste. 3. Chopped onion in ginger source, make it smaller (mince) customers are not cows. read more

Food was great! The tastes were on spot with home cooking. Portions were great too! Coming from NY, the prices were very reasonable.

I was in a very wandering mood and festive for Mid Autumn. I was making my drive around the area and found myself visiting a restaurant I never noticed until it was brought to my attention from the local food groups on Facebook. But it crossed my mind and took the chance to visit Le Lai. I am actually surprised that it is in a business plaza I often stopped by often as a kid till now. But walking in, the restaurant is spacious and I am brought to a nostalgic feeling. It gave me some familiarity as a kid going out to eat with my family. But right away I was seated and was dining in alone. I was looking through the menu and had in mind three things: duck, spinach and clay pot rice. Unfortunately due to popularity of the day, they had ran out of duck. So I made an alternate pick and decision to go with the steamed chicken with green onion and ginger. My optimism got the best of me and I did give a valiant effort but had to take home the clay pot rice and some of the sautéed spinach with garlic. The steamed chicken with green onion and ginger was flavorful. The chicken was tender and not heavy. The sautéed spinach packed a nice balance that went well with the steamed chicken. I did get an opportunity to try the clay pot rice a bit before taking it to go. I enjoyed it and I was familiar with the dish from other restaurants that also offer it. I appreciated the authenticity to the dish and presentation is eye catching for sure. Overall I am very pleased with my visit to Le Lai. I am disappointed at the fact that I forgot the number one rule: "family style portions" and it is a nice amount. I can't believe I never knew about the restaurant until now but the various offerings Chinatown has, challenging. The staff are nice and I appreciated their help navigating through options. But maybe another day, I can get lucky with duck. Le Lai, for me, has made my list of great finds for this year. Authentic Cantonese cuisine and I get this warm feeling inside. I will come better prepared and bring back up. No issues for me, just come hungry. read more

Food was great and timely, portions were just right and prices were fair. What more can you ask for.

This is one of our favorite Chinese family style restaurants in Houston Chinatown. We have been here several times with friends and have always had a great time. The family style portions and service is great. They also allow you to bring your own bottle of wine. I am looking forward to continuing to return. More and More Chinatown is changing in to more chain restaurants. This place is family owned and provides great food and service. read more

5 stars and nothing less for this place. It's a small, unassuming restaurant that has an extensive menu and delicious food. I let our expert cantonese friends order the dishes, but everything was amazing. Specifically would like to call out the crispy golden fried tofu, which is nice and silky inside with a lightly crunchy/saucy outside. Pork rib claypot rice, beef chow fun, pea shoots, beef with veggies, etc. - you really can't go wrong with any of the dishes here. This place can seat larger parties and it's definitely better if you come with a bigger group so you can try more items. Waitstaff is nice and attentive. Would highly recommend this spot for delicious food with a reasonable price! read more

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If I can make negative Star, I definitely will do it. Food: are good and the price are reasonable. Service : the first time I go there buying to go the ladies service are good funny. The second time I go, there dinner with whole family and friend it is good service nice and she make sure we order the dish is correct. She patiently explain everything about the we order ,, because at the manual sometimes didn't spring very clearly how the food cook like (dry or a lot of sauce) and I think she understands Chinese restaurant have the same thing cook out, but the name of the dish are different . That I really appreciate that lady . BUT the third time I go in there, it was totally disappointed . Come out a man take care our table , he is brush you off the order . When we try to say about the dish the way, and he keeps saying that is only one time we had .... So we can't even say more because he is rude brush and loud. Finally came out two wrong dish . one of the ordered is boneless fish but he give us fish with bone (my children visit me for just three days and he really want to eat a salt and pepper fish with the bone ). OK the first one we take it is not easy to eat, but that is right.. The second dish we asked for the tofu with the vegetable and mushroom ... he keeps saying they only have one kind of the tofu dish so right we believe him . But it comes out a deep fried tofu.... Which we can't accept it. So he finally change the correct dish for us. That is right we don't want to make anything big deal . But the teach come out more than 30 minutes. We almost want to give up.. Finally, the dish come and he come out saying we are wrong. He just tried to be nice to change for us, but no more next time. My son was speak out, pointing the way he said is wrong and he just silent, but he still think he's right. And he tried to make the happening. He's really kind man to helping us. I feel sick of his reaction. And my son said that is really rude and not professional services. So I suggestion people just order to go don't set in . Except is the lady, service is good. Ambiance: for Asia Chinese restaurant this place are acceptable. CLEAN . read more

Le Lai - This is the location - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

The food tastes great! The price is very nice for lunch special which lasts the whole week (besides off on Mondays). The service is fine. read more

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Great food and great hospitality! Excellent value. Lunch menu starts at around $7. Lunchtime gets busy though.

Great price and food is surprisingly tasty. There are large tables for large parties, but there isn't much smaller tables, and the restaurant is small. Highly recommended. read more

We love this restaurant. Especially during lunch time. They are always packed because of the value you get from them. Their lunch menus are full of options, so you don't have to worry about not having what you want during the lunch. The amount per lunch meal is great too. Comes with a full plate of dish and rice on the side. The best of all, the price for lunch menu is great! We usually come for lunch, and we will order one dish more than the amount of ppl at your party. For foodies like me, that amount is perfect for the entire party!! The service is great as well. They are usually pretty quick at serving the dishes, unless the particular dish you order takes longer time to prep, or they are just short on cooks. If you want to try for their lunch menu, make sure to stop by early. They are usually packed by 12:30... the most busy time for them! All of the dishes taste great! My favorite is the salt and pepper fried calamari if you like fried calamari, give it a try next time!!! read more

Love this place for eating family style. The dishes are under 10 bucks for the most part and they're flavorful and delish. We ordered salt and pepper fish, Singapore noodle, fried noodle with chicken and veggies, veggie with garlic sauce, Kung pao chicken, beef with rice flat noodle. All the dishes were fantastic! Would definitely return and bring back up as we had leftovers galore. Service was ok as they forgot to write down one of our orders and double charged one of the dishes, so make sure you check your bill!!!! I overheard from another table that they forgot one of their dishes too. read more

While eating, a cockroach was crawling to my leg. Very disgusting. Told the servers and got no apology. Tried to talk to the owner but got ignored. read more

Nothing fancy. Just good traditional Chinese food. Oh, and they also offer Americanized Chinese food too. This is the type of food you'll find that the older generation enjoys and younger generation appreciates. Actually, come to think of it, do I still count as part of the young generation? I enjoy and appreciate this type of food! Their lunch special is where it's at. Each dish is reasonably priced and portioned appropriately, allowing you to choose more of a variety in one sitting. It's the ideal place to eat out with the family for a very casual occasion. Staff is friendly. With the Cantonese conversations going around all around (both staff and customers), it feels like a place I'm already familiar with. They do speak English too so don't worry. We usually order a hot clay rice pot dish, egg plant, salt and pepper squid, pepper steak, and tofu, I'm not a huge fan of the Americanized dish here (I.e. sesame chicken). I had better sesame chicken elsewhere, but everything else I liked. Good casual Chinese food, lunch specials, friendly staff. read more

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One of my favorite restaurants in Chinatown. This place offers friendly prices for all of their menu. Most of the lunch prices are only $7.68! Food was delicious and portion is generous. The employees are all so friendly which is rare when in comes to Chinese restaurant. I highly recommend Le Lai for everyone to try! read more

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Authentic chinese, excellent food and excellent service - Looking forward to going back...soon

Best Cantonese restaurant in town. Friendly service, excellent food. Lobster and royal chicken are 2 of my favorites.

I've been to many Cantonese restaurants and this place has the best salty pepper squid! Will definitely go back just for that. They have lunch specials 7 days a week, which is quite rare because most restaurants only offer them on weekdays. Most of the dishes on the lunch menu are less than $8! My hubby and I were there for lunch on a Saturday. We tried 4 dishes, salty pepper squid, steamed sole fish, beef tendon with tofu, and fish fillets with curry. We really enjoyed the squid and the steamed fish. The other two, not our cup of tea. But I still gave this place 4 stars because I can tell they are really good at cooking seafood. The doneness of the fish and squid was perfect! I can't wait to go back to have the squid again and try other things on the lunch menu. read more

One of our favorite spots for Cantonese food in Houston. The food is good and I'm always satisfied with the service.

Food is nice service is ok nice place to eat with friends at lunch time, the price is very good $6.99 read more

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Havent been back after a long time. The dishes are still really good. Another place is back on my list. read more

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Pretty impressive joint. Simple and affordable with decent flavors. Nothing was overly salty and that is so hard to find these days! This place feels like a home cooked cantonese style joint. Recommendations: Bean curd morning glory Pork belly with preserved veggies I'll have to go back to try more stuff. read more

Located in the same plaza as Pagolac, Le Lai serves up a great variety of Viet/Chinese cuisine. Lunch special prices are a bang for your buck. Fried squid was my favorite more so than the fish. The plus is all orders come with a large box of white rice. read more

Le Lai - Salted fish - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

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My friend took me to this spot and did the ordering. The food was excellent. I can't tell you what I had but it was authentic. I like family spots like this that has clearly been around a long time and have great local support. The food was cafeteria style not where you place and order. However, it looked as you could do that but from what I can tell most did not. I do recommend and will visit again. Also parking is not a problem plenty of parking around. read more

Le Lai - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

It was my pleasure to take a group of adventurous foodies to indulge a 11-course meal with a family-style dining. We were celebrating the 6th annual Asian Pacific Heritage community meetup in Houston. This year's theme was going back to 1980's. My thought about 東江菜馆 Le Lai Chinese Restaurant was perfect because of Dynasty Plaza plus their down to earth friendly staff and authentic Cantonese food. I want my foodie friends to explore the old-fashioned Cantonese cuisine at a decent restaurant. There isn't anything fancy inside, just nostalgic feeling for last 15 years. Thanks to my foodie buddy Eddie S for scouting this location few month ago. I worked out the kinks from eating here few times. I presented my dinner plan to waitress Penny. She helped me to identify what local folks like. I brought home the takeout menu to study with help of Google Translator. Then, it was like doing a math equation to figure out possibility and probability when I placed the order. To encompass a complete experience of all categories, we ordered the following: - Singapore Style Rice Vermicelli 新洲炒米粉 - Steamed rice (constantly refilling) - Fried Tofu 椒盐炸豆腐 (not popular) - Preserved Vegetable Pork Clay Pot 梅菜扣肉煲 (gone in 5 minutes) - Baked Pork Ribs with Special Sauce 京都肉排 (gone in 8 minutes) - Baked Squid with salt 椒盐鲜鱿 (recommended) - Sautéed Beef with Chinese Broccoli 芥蘭炒牛肉 (experience the difference) - Steamed Chicken with ginger garlic 姜葱霸王雞 (people loved the sauce) - Salted Chicken with Basil 九層塔炒鸡片(so so) - Stirred Fried Spinach with Minced Garlic 蒜茸炒菠菜 (very garlicky) - Sichuan Eggplant 鱼香茄子 (popular) - Dried Scallops & crab Fried Rice 瑤柱蟹肉炒饭 (came last but we were full) Comments I received as "I wouldn't know what to order until this" and "family style dinner makes sense to try all of these dishes at reasonable price" meant a great accomplishment to me. You can follow my foodie group at fb.me/ChinatownCrawlHTX for upcoming meetup events. read more

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This place has been here since I moved to Houston more than 20 years ago and it deserves to be since the food is so good. Authentic Chinese food with cheap lunch specials. The food come out fast and hot. The server is very helpful and attentive of your needs. I especially like the salted fish eggplant with chicken pot. I highly recommend this place read more

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Homely.... Feels/tastes good. Like going home once a week. Wife even promised the waitress that we see them next week

This was rather mediocre Cantonese food. Perhaps I ordered poorly but I was underwhelmed

I'm hesitate to give this place five stars because i LOVE THE FOOD here and I don't want it to get too busy. We ordered three dishes, each one tastes absolutely amazing! read more

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Love their lunch menu. Fresh steamed fish is not to be missed. I dine in as well as doing takeout all the time.

Good service, excellent menu choices. A favorite for my Asian friends, and apparently for those families being served.

Went there for lunch and the lunch special there everything is 6 bucks. Though not huge volume on each you gotta chance to try different things. They are Cantonese restaurant so I'd focus on those dishes. Everything was freshly made. People there were friendly. The stir fried beef, shrimps and pot chicken were all yummy and family style. I'd prob say the only downside was that dishes were in general on the saltier side - but they also you complementary rice and tea so you can eat along with. read more

Le Lai - Lunch specials - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas