Sarah Place

I’ve eaten here about 10 times, which is a good review by itself! Some of the best Chinese food in Houston, IMHO.

As a Shanghai native, I loved this place.
Upon arrival, we were anxious, as we had heard about the «terrible» service, and rightfully so. Though we were seated and attended to right away, it became pretty obvious that they were short staffed tonight, as our food came out very slowly. On the bright side, the ambience is slightly nicer than your average Chinatown grubbery.
Now for the food:
The 熏鱼(Shanghai style smoked fish): ⁵⁄₅. The flavor was all there, tasted like the real thing. The portion isn’t huge, but definitely adequate for a starter. The fish is tender, and devoid too many bones.
Wuxi ribs: ³⁄₅. Tender and succulent. However, the pieces were too big, and the meat did not taste of authentic rib sections. Nothing special.
Pi-​Pa Tofu: ⁵⁄₅. Fried to perfection on the outside, juicy on the inside. Mouth watering!
Stir fried bean sprouts: ³⁄₅. Fresh, but a bit too greasy.
Overall, a very pleasant experience. There are a billion other dishes I’m dying to try out (fried red bean dessert, tofu with shrimp, wonton soup, etc). Can’t wait to come back!

Great food! We ordered the crab meat soup, pan fried noodles, and peking duck. Each bite was savory, and the bao was refreshingly sweet, perfectly complementing the richness of the duck.
Service is great for a Chinatown joint, but it sure helps if you know Chinese. Will be back soon!

This has been our go to place recently as everything we had was fairly tasty, the service/​atmosphere is better than average for an Asian establishment, and they are able to accommodate larger groups. On that note, if you are going with at least 5 people I would just order their set menu and add an eggplant dish because the best part is that it includes the best sweet item there-​FRIED RED BEAN DESSERT! The best description I can provide is glutenous rice/​mochi filled with slightly sweetened red bean paste fried to perfection!
Another must order are their Shen jian bao (生煎包-​pan fried pork buns), holy mother these are AMAZEBALLS that don’t disappoint. I would suggest ordering this FIRST as they are made to order and take some time. However, omg these are mouthwatering good, as I type this out I am already salivating at the thought of when I can have them again. Think of this as the perfect ratio of fried dough (man to) to goodness! Each bun is filled with just the right amount of pork filling and gelatin. Ok, I know this sounds gross but the gelatin melts into a liquid when cooked (like soup) so be careful when you bite into it and not lose the flavorful juices!
Other highlights are their Peking Duck which yielded tender meat and crispy skin to pair with the buns. I also really liked their starter soup-​this was more of a higher end egg drop soup as unlike most places this one actually had some meat and had a nice peppery flavor profile. I wasn’t really wowed by the lobster, but their steamed fish was also quite tender. If anything, if you stick to the shen jian bao and the fried red bean dessert you will leave quite satisfied!

Love the food here. I haven’t met a dish I didn’t like. The food also comes out extremely fast, which I can appreciate. The restaurant is also generally much quieter in comparison to other Chinese restaurants.
One dish that I love in particular is their Pi Pa Tofu. This is one dish that I will try at any Chinese restaurant if it is on their menu. There are not many restaurants, in my opinion, that can make this tofu quite as good as this place does. I would definitely check it out.

Awesome food, tastes exactly like the food we eat back in China. I forgot the name of it but there is a specialty fish dish that is awesome and a must try.
If we can’t eat here my family and I get the zha jian bao (fried buns) to go because they’re the best in town– be advised they are popular so they do sell out often and don’t get restocked till next week.
Service is perfect here, attentive without being intrusive.

This is my FAVORITE Chinese restaurant ever. My family always takes relatives and friends here when they visit, and this is the place I always eat at first when I return home from college. The owner is super friendly and always stops to chat with our family. Service is also fairly fast, and we’ve never had to wait an unreasonable amount of time. The ambience is nice, but not super fancy. Just nice enough to take family friends, and they have nicer banquet rooms as well.
My family’s usual order is a Peking duck, sweet and sour fried fish, jade tofu, eggplant, some form of green vegetable, and fried red bean pancake for dessert. The duck has crispy skin and comes with steam buns rather than crepes. It’s not as good as what you’d get in Beijing but still the best I’ve had in Houston. The fish is fried to a shattering crisp and perfectly complimented by the gloopy sweet and sour sauce. The eggplant is amazing — perfect texture and flavor. The jade tofu — egg tofu with oyster mushrooms — is downright one of my favorite foods. It’s crispy on the outside and soft, eggy, and savory on the inside. If that doesn’t sound good enough to you, please just take my word. It’s mind-​blowing. The red bean pancake is decent. It’s not my favorite, but my family really likes it so we still get it every time. Even their fried rice (which doesn’t sound super impressive but is nevertheless something I seriously crave when away from home) is delicious, with large flakes of egg and salty-​sweet chunks of char siu pork.
Bottom line: GO HERE. If you order the right stuff, there’s no way you will be disappointed.

Great Shanghainese resturan in Houston.
I’ve eaten xiao long bao all over Asia, and I must say that they have very good ones to offer. The filing has lots of soup, and they’re very big. The skin isn’t as pliable, but it’s the best I’ve had in Texas.
Their red bean pancake is also hands down one of the nest I’ve ever had. The bean paste texture is soft and consistent, and the crust is a great mix of crunchy on the outside and chewy just underneath.
The dishes are also very good, and many people were ordering the pipa tofu, which was superb.
They also had the most delicate to-​go packaging I’ve seen at any Chinese restaurant. They put the dishes in foil pans with clear plastic covers, seran wrap the entire thing, and put pieces of cardboard between dishes in a stack.
Overall, a highly recommended place for Chinese food, and the staff was friendly too.

This place is an interesting mix of both Shanghai and Sichuan cuisine, or so my boyfriend claims. I’m a bit skeptical on the Shanghai part because what Shanghai restaurant doesn’t offer 小笼包??? My neurotic beliefs aside, I’m super satisfied with the quality and variety of dishes they offer here!
We came in a large group, so I don’t recall every dish that we ordered, but my personal favorites are the steamed tilapia (super fresh with a good sauce base), eggplant and ribs in clay pot (I’m a die-​hard eggplant lover, and this dish was served super hot, which is always my biggest complaint when it comes to clay pots — that the temperature isn’t high enough), west lake beef soup (light and refreshing, but nonetheless flavorful), and red bean fried dumpling/​cake (easily my favorite. Words can’t even describe how good this dessert is, the red bean paste is sweet without being too overwhelming, and the crispy texture of the breading nicely completes the dish. I’m tempted to order one for just myself next time!)

Came here with my family for dinner because my mom wanted to try somewhere new. Not much service, however they did refill my water occasionally.
The portions are decent as we ordered way more than out table of 6 could eat. Things I would suggest would be the Wuxi pork ribs and beef short ribs in black pepper. Bother were cooked very well where the meat was tender. I also thought the snow pea leaves and some dried fish appetizer my mom ordered were both good too.
The two items I really did not like were the Peking duck and the crispy calamari. Peking duck was bland and dry. The calamari were tough. Definitely do not order either dishes. The only good thing was the soup the duck came with.
I was also disappointed that they didn’t have any clams even though they had clams in black bean sauce on their menu.
We then ended our meal with the red bean pancake which was delicious.
Overall, I would come again for the two rib dishes and the red bean pancake.

We ordered soft tofu shrimp, sizzling hot pot eggplant beef ribs and braised pork belly in red tofu-​cheese sauce. All dishes are tasty but a bit too greasy and salty for my taste. Must be eaten with lots of white rice to soften the strong sauces. Service and décor is better than most Chinese places.

Recently went here for my uncle’s birthday.
Overall, the food is decent. But the food came out suspiciously fast… even for a Chinese restaurant.
The poking duck is not very good. In fact, the duck was probably the worst I’ve ever had. It was dry, stringy, and flavorless. The buns were fine.
The lobster taster fine, but you could tell it was cooked beforehand and tossed with the other ingredients prior to serving. The same for other dishes… They weren’t memorable at all. Also, the soup was wayyyyy too thick… someone got overzealous with the corn starch.
The dessert was great. It was red bean paste stuffed into a crêpe and pan fried. Very nice.
Now that I think about it… It’s pretty Meh.

DO NOT COME HERE!!! –10 stars!!! We have never been THIS MISTREATED ANYWHERE!!! WORST CHINATOWN RESTAURANT PERIOD!!!
They don’t value their customers and have no sense of professionalism. They will treat u like scum!!!
The first thing I observed in this evening of hell was how the waiter wanted to stuff a couple in a corner that was squished with a cupboard next to it-​it was such a bad spot it really should not have been used to seat customers!!! the restaurant was pretty empty and yet the waiter put up a fight not wanting to reseat him!!! Poor dude was obviously taking his girl out for a date and gets second class treatment. He was so embarrassed. Our table watched in wonder – this is stuff u expect from before the civil rights movement where there was normal people areas and 2^nd class citizen areas!!!
Then, we got their signature treatment as well. The cook came out to take our orders (I have no idea why the waitress didn’t-that’s how NOT busy they were).he got into an argument with us over menu items!!! They didn’t have a lot of things we tried to order, and we said: what DO you have? He then lectured us very rudely and loudly-​I HAVE NEVER BEEN TREATED THIS BADLY AT A RESTAURANT!!! he felt threatened that we were embarrassing him by wondering why he didnt have anything in stock!!! And so the natural thing to do for a sh! tface like him? He kicked our whole table out!!! He was pissed so outta proportion!!!
Run ur restaurant right or deserve to close down.
I will NEVER STEP FOOT HERE AGAIN!!!
Moral:
If u see urself as sh! t and like being treated accordingly, this is the place to go! If u have an ounce of dignity and like good food. Don’t come here!!! It’s not true shanghainese food, but rather a hodge podge of whatever they feel like cooking and spitting in.
If u like the worst of mainland china. This is where ur going to find it.

My family & relatives came here last night for my graduation dinner. There were 13 of us, so we ended up in the VIP room.
Food: really good, esp the fried red bean pancakes at the end. That’s the only reason for the one star.
Service: as a fellow service industry worker who’s worked every position in FOH (including management), service was slow and TERRIBLE. First off, we were rarely checked on, and the restaurant was empty (Monday night slowness). Next, we had ordered extra buns for the Peking duck. The extras AND rice did not arrive at the table after asking multiple times until maybe 20 min after the first 5 plates arrived. By then, the duck was cold. Refills also took forever. Turns out all of the servers were sitting down eating their dinner — so my brother took it upon himself to refill everyone’s drinks with the pitchers. They didn’t even bother to take the pitchers from him to refill the drinks themselves. Teapot was also never refilled the whole night.
Here’s the part that angered me most. My father took the bill & since service was VERY half-​assed, he tipped 15%. The server came to pick up the check, saw the check presenter, & forced my dad to tip 18% instead because «we’re all Guangdong people, we take care of each other.» Oh HELL THE #### NO. Their lazy arses barely took care of us – we had to do it ourselves. My father didn’t want to cause a scene, so he changed the tip anyway.
In addition, they close at 9:30pm. By the time that time rolled around, we had already paid (Miss Self-​Entitled Waitress had also robbed my father of extra tips), & one of the staff members came to close our door without a word. As we left the restaurant, there was a little old lady smoking a cigarette in the restaurant. Their entire staff was mean-​mugging too. I get that we stayed a little longer, BUT IT’S A BIG TOP. Of course serving 13 people will take a little longer. Hella rude …
Do NOT set foot in this place. Terrible service & apparently it’s acceptable for their staff to ask their guests — no wait, CUSTOMERS — for bigger tips. Never eating here again, esp when there are plenty of other restaurants in Chinatown with the same quality of food for better prices AND much better service.

Visiting family and they brought us here. The food was great, but the service was pretty poor. They don’t spoon it for your party like most Chinese restaurants. When we asked the waitress, she said she would only do broth because she doesn’t know what each of us likes to eat. Ridiculous. Chinese waiters usually dish a little bit of everything into each bowl.
Fried tofu with sliced mushrooms (like Abalone) is yummy. Dou miao (pea leaves).
Sea cucumber, which I only eat when the elder family members order it, was done well here. Young, soft and tender.
Fish head soup is EXCELLENT.
Dou sa buo bian (red bean fried pancake) is a definite way to end a meal.

My parents brought us here for lunch.
The dining area was pretty clean and nice.
I would have to say the food is decent but over-​priced
The service was good — food came out fast — but again for the price, I can do much better at Confucius (Guesner and Bellaire next to Fiesta supermarket) or Lucky Dragon next to Jusgo supermarket — Those places are cheap and good food quality.

An underrated restaurant in Chinatown, in my opinion. My mom really likes coming here to eat, so you know it’s legit.
We like Sarah Place for the Wuxi spareribs and stir-​fried fish dishes, but they have a lot of classic Chinese dishes done well. In my opinion, their dishes aren’t as oily as most other Chinatown restaurants, but they still have a lot of flavor. I think the food here tastes more homestyle, a bit lighter than a lot of other places.
The waitress here was also nice, in an Asian mother kind of way, haha.
I haven’t tried the Peking duck here yet, but we saw it being served to another table and it looked awesome. They also have private rooms available if that’s something you’re looking for! Give this place a try if you’re looking for authentic, Shanghainese style Chinese food!

Have a group dinner here with some friends.
Pretty authentic, make sure you try the Xiaolong dumpling!

I’m so disappointed. This place used to be my go to place to take people for some good Shanghainese food. I used to be a very frequent customer. There was good service, not in terms of how nice the servers are but more in terms of wait time and promptness of service.
However, when I went today, the food has definitely taken a turn for the worse. I was disappointed by the over-​seasoned fish, the over-​cooked lobster and beef, and the all-​I-​taste-​is-​oil veggies. Not the same quality that I was used to. Though I did notice that their soup is still stellar as always.
Very disappointed. I would love to hear if there’s been a change in chef or management that has caused the dip in quality. But I definitely will not be returning in the near future.
Recommendations for other Shanghainese places in Houston are very welcome!

Items off of the regular menu are just A-​OK, but the specialty items, such as Lobster salad, «Buddha Jumps over the Wall» soup/​stew, and the «Eight-​Treasure Duck» (crispy duck stuffed with sticky rice), are interesting and tasty! To find out more about the «Buddha Jumps over the Wall,» check it out here!
For desserts, I would recommend the red bean pancake, which is fried crispy on the outside with soft, gooey (not overly sweet) red bean paste inside.
Service is acceptable but not great; yet, the setting and decors are pretty nice, and price is reasonable.