This little restaurant is just a wonderful, hole-in-the-wall kinda place! Authentic Chinese foods that 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! read more

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Love it! This is the No 1 choice for our family reunion! The owner is very nice and kind, all the food tastes so authentic Chinese flavor. There is no food addictive added. The price is always so reasonable! Whenever the lunch or dinner. It is always the best choice. read more

Shanghai Cuisine 友家 - Authentic Chinese food - Shanghainese Near Me - Houston, Texas

My first visit here was great. I didn't know what to expect but I got the Kung Bo chicken and was really happy with the quality and the taste. The prices are slightly higher than than regular Chinese places but it's well worth it as the cuts of meat and ingredients in the food were way better and didn't taste like processed typical cheaper Chinese to-go restaurants. Chicken pieces were lean and tasty and big and mushrooms were full and fresh. Owners and staff were friendly and nice restaurant was clean and had a nice vibe. I'll definitely return read more

First off, I dont really know Chinese food. I only knew of Chinese food as Generals Tso's chicken or 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. read more

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It's very hard to rate this place because I am not as familiar with Shanghainese food. If anything, this has taught me that I don't like the food from this area as much as other areas of Asia. I will say that the food tastes a lot better as leftovers than when I had them fresh the first time. Salt and pepper squid - oily but love the flavor. Just the right tenderness, not too chewy, almost melts in your mouth. Wish it were less oily. I would pick it up and watch the oil drip down onto the place or my napkin. Fish fillet with fungus and cucumber - this is so my fault. I loved the fish, loved the fungus, hated the cucumber. Cooking a cucumber is a crime to me. It leaves this slightly bitter after taste that permeates the dish. NO NO NO. Got rid of the cucumber and everything else was good. Scrambled eggs and tomato - I like my eggs on the savory, saltier side. I like my tomatoes cooked to the point of falling apart when I just look at them. The dish I got had almost raw tomatoes and a bunch of sugar dumped in. Sorry, I've had better. Pork chop - they looked great, fried great, unlike the squid there wasn't any oily drizzle drama. Instead I get this odd aftertaste like it has been sitting in a coke or something acidic for a long time to try to get it soft. 1st bite I made a comment. 2nd bite I made a face. 3rd bit I tried to hide my previous face with a forced smile. 4th bite I tried to make everyone else finish the dish so I didn't waste anything. Ummm, FAIL! So I ended up taking it to work the next day and trying to offer it to my coworkers. Ummm, no takers. But it tasted better this time so I just ate what I could. I may return but it won't be anytime soon. The husband/wife team were fantastic though. Good luck! read more

Either this place is under new management or they redid their menu because the stuff here is different from what has been reviewed before. It serves a wide variety of homestyle chinese cuisine and the lunch portions are just right. Some of our favorites were the eggplant dish and the fried pork ribs. It's not a perfect review... as some of the other dishes we've had were hit and miss in flavor, and the service is understaffed... but we liked it because it had that homestyle feel to it as most of the dishes are brought out family style with a container of rice and the vast majority of the dishes are under $10. I've uploaded pictures of our meals as well as some shots of the menu as well. This small place fits right in alongside QQ, Fufu, and the other small traditional eateries in this shopping strip. They do take credit cards. read more

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I'm not very familiar with Shanghai cuisine, let's get that out of the way first. My husband liked the cold tripe and bamboo dish with spicy oil. Green beans were done well. Cold.chicken dish was not memorable, however. Furthermore, the other dishes that contained seafood, I didn't much enjoy. I found them overcooked (shrimp not deveined - ewww, texture mealy, squid really chewy). Some of the dish combinations seemed bizarre to me, but again, I have not had much experience with Shanghainese food. My stomach did not agree with me after I returned home. Don't know if it was the unfamiliar combinations of food or if the seafood wasn't the freshest. read more

Why did I forget to review this place!? This place has legit, authentic Chinese food that's good. I recommend: Shrimp with Cabbage Rice Cake with Mustard Green Shredded Pork with Celery & Tofu Tofu Strip with Pork & Jalapeno Clam Soup with Tofu Try these if you dare!! These are some of my favorite yet unhealthy dishes: Spicy Pork Intestines Spicy Beef Tripe Spicy Pork Kidney Slices Portions are rather big and inexpensive. Service is good. There is a lady there (I think she may be the manager/owner) that is friendly and speaks English very well if you need recommendations. P.S. Their noodle soup/soups are huge. They look like they come in a bucket. They also have $4.95 lunch specials. read more

Very nice. Remind me the childhood. I do not want to say, but the flavor is so different. The unique taste brought me the memory.

This place is overpriced!! They charged $9 for rau muong/cong xing tai/ong choy stir fry with garlic! I could make that myself for a total of less than $2. The average restaurant charges maybe $7 MAX. Peking duck cost $30!!!! It must have been a duckling because it was SMALL. They were also about to charge us the full $30 if we were to order a 1/2 duck like we wanted. Good thing we didn't. The sup mang cua (crab & asparagus soup) was not very flavorful. There are plenty of other places I would eat on Bellaire before returning to this place. read more

I am writing to DISAGREE with this week review in Houston Press! The only reason I read HP is the review but after several "disagreements" I think I might just pass on the "expert" advises & turn on to YELPers instead... This used to house Noodle House 88 (which was pretty good for Indon-Chinese food). We tried the slow-braised pork as review in HP, boy it was so mediocre, the pork was obviously cooked separately & the mushy blob of preserved greens were just unappetizing (like those frozen or canned broken spinach). The pork didnt falls apart & should be cook together with the sauce. Simply put - they cooked the pork separately (so they can keep them longer), then heat up the sauce & frozen greens, pour them over the ready-made pork, voila! We also tried the tilapia with stuffed minced meat (in the belly) which took over 20 mins to cook, my friend like it, i dont coz the minced meat just dont taste fresh nor seasoned well. Again, another black mushy looking dish. We also tried the cold chicken something as appetizer, it was not interesting either & make sure DONT SMELL it, very pungent, i had to ask for some chilli sauce to compliment its smell & was too dry. So, overall, better go to East Wall which is located just adjacent to the building on the other wing, maybe its NOT Shanghainese-style but its better. Their slow-cooked pork is very flavorful, melt in your mouth, falls apart when you try to pick them up & just like home cooked, though they could have been more generous on the preserved greens... read more

I was excited when I saw the restaurant name containing "Shanghai", but it turns out they have changed owners since and now it's really "Sang Dong" cuisine. I ordered four dishes to go and wasn't impressed with any of them. The pot stickers were more like steamed dumplings, no crunch on the bottom at all. Plus the dipping sauce is like pure vinegar. The cashier told me they take 20 minutes because they cook them from frozen ones. Ugh. The San Dong noodle place across the street is so much better for pot stickers. The sauce from sweet and sour fish fillet tasted like it came from Panda Express but the fish itself was tender and fresh tasting. The sauteed green beans were just that, no sauce like I envisioned it to be. The spicy spareribs were so tough that I got tired of eating them after 3 pieces. They saw it into tiny pieces which is probably why it's so hard and tough. Overall I won't go back since there are so many better places around the area for about the same range of prices. read more

We ordered the lamb here, but it has no taste. It's just boiled by hot water without salt or spicy. And the waitresses are rude and unfriendly. read more

Food was average but it was nice to place to be at for private gathering. I like the calmness it is surreal than the madness that's happening outside read more

Shanghai Cuisine 友家 - Scrambled eggs with vegetables - Shanghainese Near Me - Houston, Texas

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The thing with ethnic restaurants is that sometimes the more authentic you get, the more you narrow the audience of people who will enjoy your food. If you want a crowd pleaser, you might want to go elsewhere. First off, the ambiance. Don't bring someone here for a first date unless they have a good sense of humor or are used to chinatown! Our water and iced tea were brought out in mismatched plastic tumblers (I felt immediately transported to my childhood.) The husband, who didn't immigrate to the US until he was 14, asked for the iced tea which sort of ruined our cred. The waiter was confused and kept switching back and forth between chinese and english throughout the meal because we spoke to him in Chinese but to each other in English. The waiters are all young chinese guys and there's even a computer in the corner where they can check their facebook when things are slow. They're extremely courteous though. I ordered the pork with mustard green noodle soup which was pretty good. Won't knock your socks off but it was fresh and comforting to me. Authentic doesn't always mean tasty. The husband got the Wuxi pork rib noodle soup which was pretty awesome. The soup is flavored with a ton of star anise which gave it that distinct Chinese sweet and perfumed flavor to the broth. The portions are huge. The owner of the restaurant is a huge chatterbox and she was telling the table next to us that when they first opened, they made the portion size similar to what they serve in China (small) and everyone gave them feedback that it was way too small for the US so they upped all the portions of the dishes. I think they went a little too far cause the noodle soup was in a HUGE bowl. Bang for your buck I guess. I just think it's funny cause they must think we're monsters for demanding so much food here. I can't emphasize enough how big the bowl is. When the pale skinny boy brought out the husband's dish, his arms were slightly shaking and he really struggled to put it down on the table without spilling any! We also got the potstickers which were super mediocre but still decent. Felt like what you would make at home, thin wrapper. San Tong's potstickers are head and shoulders above. At one point the owner sat down at the table next to us to chat with the customers and even offered to play matchmaker for the daughter. I'm not sure what part of China they are from, they kept slipping into another Chinese dialect (I only understand Mandarin and Taiwanese and recognize Canto) -- maybe Shanghainese? You might not want the owner to sit down at your table but that just shows how straight from the mainland she probably is. They packed our to-go box which really surprised me (but they did ask me if they could use my chopsticks to scoop the food haha). I think this place is technically a hit or miss spot. They have some standard dishes to satisfy the masses and those will probably be misses for most -- I personally think I'll still like it. But if you want to be more adventurous and try some food that's more authentic, this seems like it'd be a good spot. I'll be back to try more -- especially when I'm hungrier and have room to try a couple of their cold appetizers! read more

Very disappointed. Sub-par food. Tried cabbage with shrimps (small shrimps), chicken with eggplants (worse than my home cooking), and sliced pork kidneys (I had much better ones). Not really cheap in Chinatown. Will not return. read more

This place is awesome. You got various choices of authentic yet very reasonably priced Chinese food. During lunch time you will probably need to call in because it gets crowded pretty easily. read more