Friend’s Kitchen

Dined here during a trip to Houston based on a family friend’s recommendation. The Bok Choy with prawns is truly an amazing dish, nothing like the name would suggest. Other dishes are legit chinese dishes as well. Prices are reasonable and portions are decent. Would definitely go back next time I’m in Houston.

Food is delicious and worth the wait… if they are willing to give you a table! I went in with my family (8 total) and instead of telling us a wait time or offering to put tables together, they said «sorry, we can’t do that» and tried to send me on my way. The food is fresh, flavorful and fast, but good luck getting the customer service to match up. Very disappointed in the service. Maybe they think because there are so many restaurants nearby they don’t have to help all their guests? Either way, good luck.

We order 4 dishes and one pidong without sauce. I am so angry about that. I order to go because it is convenient to my family, but one of dishes without sauce that make me so disappointed to this restaurant. Why your staffs cannot do their jobs careful and patient. I won’t go this restaurant any more.

I love it. The price is good too. This place is my favorite place. The food is tasty.

Great food. Fair priced and large portions. We love the fried fish filets and chrysanthemums tea.

This place has been one of my favorite restaurants in Chinatown for a couple of years already because some friends of mine are from Qingdao, a major city in eastern Shandong Province of China, and this place serves authentic Qingdao cuisine. Not highly decorated, the store front looks plain and a tad ghetto; yet, the food is really good! The kitchen can make a wide range of foods from very light to very greasy, but most of the foods that I have tried are delicious. Prices are reasonable; most entrees, in sizeable portions, are only $ 10 – 15 each, unless one would like special-​ordered seafood and stuff. Various appetizers served in smaller portions are interesting and allow me to try more of the different tastes. Service is prompt and friendly.

I love it because it is quiet and peaceful .The workers work so hard and they are really nice. The food is great and authentic.

I like Friend’s Kitchen. They serve authentic Chinese food and the specials are on the wall in Chinese. Personally I like the spicy fried fish and the string beans. As for dumplings, I recommend the fish!
I will be going back.

The BEST Chinese restaurant in Houston Chinatown. Staffs are super friendly and food is very tasty. Price is very reasonable! Highly recommend it.

It has been years since we last visited. Restaurant was near empty when we stepped in on a Saturday afternoon.
Spicy Fried Fish Fillet was awesome, light and crispy batter. We quickly cleared that plate. Pa Ji had good flavors, but the presentation was non-​existent, would’ve been nice to add some lettuce or cilantro for garnish. Beef tendon with seafood is different. Good portions, and the ingredients tasted fresh. Probably will make the re-​order list.
Service was quite good. Mom found the rice cold, and our waitress gladly reheated it in the microwave.

I don’t know if maybe I got there on a bad day, but everything we got was under a layer of grease.
The ma po tofu tasted weird.
The green beans were good, but still very greasy.
I avoid this place now.

Went for lunch w/​a friend. Fast service. Waitress explained a few dishes we had questions about. We had the fish fillets, peppered beef, white rice, and vegetable fried rice. Dishes were between $ 4.50-$ 5.50 each and they served 1.5 people each! Very good!

Friend’s Kitchen = Shanghai Cuisine
so here’s my old review and I still stand firm that this place is authentic and good:
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 & Jalapeño
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.

From the view point of a white guy in a very Chinese restaurant the food is great. The service is fast and friendly. The prices are cheap.
My waitress helped with the selection. The spicy fried fish was fantastic. I also love the shredded potatoes.

Met up with some friends for a Monday lunch at this place as they worked in the area. While the original plan was to eat at Fu Fu Café in the same plaza we all agreed to give this place a try as we were looking for something slightly different. At 12pm prime lunch time hour the restaurant was empty but that did not discourage us. The waitress was nice and over some broken English one of the guys decided to go with her suggestion for some sauteed shrimp and cabbage dish which she said the restaurant was famous for. We ordered 3 dishes in total one of which was spicy fried fish and ate family style. The bill including tip was about $ 30 so not cheap and well the food was decent. My colleagues are big eaters so commented on the plates seemed small and looked more like lunch portions. This place serves a few offal dishes for those who are interested. Overall not a bad dinning experience and I wouldn’t say we are in a rush to go back but perhaps the next time we are on this busy food strip and the other places are busy we’d probably quite happily settle to eat here again.

The sign on top of the place say’s Shanghai cuisine… but the vinyl lettering on the window say’s Friend’s Kitchen… and then the chinese vinyl letter’s say «friend’s house shandong style»
Went in for the lunch special… food is ok everything tasted fine. The standout dish we ordered was the spicy beef (xiang la niu rou) it was basically fried slices of beef tossed in a wok with spicy red peppers and has just a slight kick of sichuan peppercorns in the taste (although you don’t see any on the plate, maybe they use the powder).
The real beauty of the place was how fast everything arrived. If you’re hungry and you need to eat like right now, drop by this place. Jimmy John’s ain’t got a thing on this place. We ordered 5 lunch special dishes and they were all out in about 5 – 7 minutes. Lightning quick.
It’s a bit greasy, but hey it’s affordable and FAST, FAST, FAST!

Wow I was very, very impressed. I haven’t really tried a new Chinese restaurant in a long time; I tend to like to stick what I know I like. My family has been coming here for years and now I see why.
The food was fast, fresh, reasonably priced, well cooked, and very unique and just pain yummy in it’s flavors.
Even something basic like the stir fried noodles were surprisingly good; they didn’t skimp on the meat and veggies, the noodles were al dente, if Chinese noodles can be al dente.
I didn’t get a chance to look at the menu, my mom ordered as she always does, but I posted pictures. Will update in detail next time — but for now, highly highly recommend this place, especially in comparison to the review I’m about to write next.