For all of the gamers there are in Houston I can't believe they haven't put a gaming cafe yet in Chinatown. I can guarantee 99% of the people (esp the guys) who go to Dun Huang Plaza probably grew up playing games like LoL/DoTA/Starcraft with their buddies. I'm glad that this place adds another activity to the area! Right now most of the stuff to "do" in Chinatown besides eating/drinking is either karaoke or escape rooms. I really enjoy this place because (1) It's well priced. Only $4/hr for 1080p and $5/hr for 1440p, so can think of it like paying for a movie ticket (at least that's how long I can handle playing for nowadays) (2) It's open late until 2-3AM, can totally go here to hang with friends late night (3) The equipment is great overall. Mechanical keyboards, big monitors, good hardware, and comfy seats Some things to keep in mind (1) Not sure if microphones are any good. The headphones were fine acoustically, but I didn't manage to try out the microphones and had trouble seeing whether they had mics. If you're with a smaller group though you guys can usually hear each other by just talking and sitting next to each other (2) You have the own the game and have an account first in order to play the game. You have to login to access your Steam/Origin/etc account on the computer in order to play the game you want (3) A lot of the initial login screens and computers are set up in some Chinese system which is confusing at first but it's still really easy to find the game you want (and I don't know any Chinese!) I will definitely be coming back next time I have a hangout with friends who enjoying playing games read more

Came here with my boyfriend so he could play his league decay games (he just moved here and is waiting on his desk to be delivered). Super clean, pcs run well, comfortable chairs, reasonable pricing. Would come again. read more

I wish I took photos while I would hangout in this spot, loved the computers and how fast they would run. Would come in here and play lots of games with my husband and we'd spent hours in this place. Would definitely tell anyone who wants to play on a PC and wants to be around other people playing and nice staff to come here! read more

I feel like a place like this should have a working phone number. I had a great time here but our hotel is 45mins away. We had to drive all the way back to make sure we didn't forget our belongings at the establishment.. read more

Really enjoy the time here and love that the place has lot of computers .. I been coming here for a while , where we can play without anybody annoying us read more

My son told me about this place. I like coming to play Fortnite. The set up is nice and workers are friendly. I coming to get away from the house. read more

Black Ants Gaming Lab - PC setup is nice. - Internet Cafes Near Me - Houston, Texas

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Update: I spent another 2 hours with the $5 PC setup, and was able to play Escape From Tarkov on medium settings with decent frame rates. There were still some issues, such as the game not being downloaded on the PC even though it is in their system. The man working the front told me that since it's on the other PCs, it should be downloaded already. However, I had to spend an hour and a half downloading the game. Overall, the experience was okay since I was able to run the game. The monitor on the $5 setup is vibrant and really nice. I enjoyed this setup a lot more than the $4 setup. read more

Black Ants Gaming Lab - Internet Cafes Near Me - Houston, Texas

Super friendly staff, though some are hard to get out past the counter to check the restroom and trash can. I also understand it might be hard to do things when there's only 1 staff member. The machines are decent enough. 1060 and 2060 graphics card machines. Only complaint would be trash throw out and restrooms. read more

Very professional, Very amazing and sweet staff. The community the people everybody is just perfect place to be in read more

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Dont get me wrong service was top tier, staff was extremely helpful and sympathetic with any problems that occurred which is why this review is two instead of one star. The bad part was the actual gaming experience. Computers were alright, the chairs smelled like sweaty feet, peripherals didnt work well but the main concern is their pricing claims. The $5 and $6 pricing options are really affordable but they lie about the specs of their computers. When paying for your gaming time a light up sign under the counter has options of a 2070 with an i7 for $5 and a 4080 with an i7 for $6. Me and my friends chose the $5 option and when i checked if the specs were correct and unfortunately they weren't. The real specs included an i5 and a 1080 which obviously arent the specs listed and have a great difference in performance. read more

I've been searching throughout Houston for a decent LAN Cafe, and I've finally found it! Black Ants Gaming Lab is conveniently located in one of the busy plazas in Chinatown. Although parking can be difficult on weekends, the garages always have some spots open. I am a really big Starcraft 2 fan, and I was glad that they had the game installed on all the computers. Although it may not be as popular as other titles, it is still an awesome game! The computers here are pretty high-end machines, capable of running of running most games. The monitors here are also high quality. The set ups are pretty impressive with mechanical keyboards and great mouses. Overall, Black Ants sets the bar for LAN cafes in Houston! They charge low prices for the opportunity to play on top notch computers. I will be sure to come back in the future for more wonderful gaming experiences. read more

Great place to spend the afternoon with some friends! Black Ant Gaming Lab is located on the second floor of the south most build in Dun Huang Plaza. Equipped with top of the line model towers, you have two price options. Good grade desktops and High-end grade desktops. Prices: 4$/hour gets you: - i7 w/ GTX 1060 - 144hz Curved Monitor 5$/hour gets you: -i7 w/ GTX 1080 - 144hz 2560 x 1080p Monitor +Tax Rather than most Internet cafes, the payment plan is pay first then play. You pay for your hours upfront and 5 minutes before your time runs out, a automated system alerts you. In Chinese. My friend and I stuck with the 4$ method and it did not disappoint. I've been to a few Internet cafes and not many carry top parts with 144HZ monitors to accompany the tower. The 1060 worked as well and any other card would on Very High settings. Cons: 1. Headphones: Poor quality headphones. Headphones did not have flexible microphones to pick up sounds close to the mouth. Rather, it picked up noises throughout the vicinity. TIP: Bring earbuds, use discord through the phone and having the headset over the earbuds! May not be a big issue, but when coming to play with a friend, you're not able to communicate very well. 2. Smoke friendly environment: Smoking is allowed while playing games. Although it doesn't bother me too much, it may bother those who aren't used to being in cigarette environment. Something to keep in mind. 3. System is mostly in Chinese. Even when select "English" Overall, I would come back to play. They offer computers with great parts at affordable rates. Would definitely recommend this place! Thanks for reading. read more

$4/hr for decent gaming set up or you can do $6/hr for better graphics card (1080 GTX) and curved monitor. Not bad! They have a deal where you can pay $30 a year for unlimited gaming. I strolled in at 4 pm on a Sunday afternoon and the place was decently filled with teens. The couches were nice and their comps are lined up in competition setups. The hardware was pretty decent as well. I paid for 1 hour's worth of game time. The clock starts ticking when you log into the desktop. The program this place runs looks like an emulator, however I am not 100% sure. When I logged in, the language was in chinese it took the dude 15 minutes to change the settings of the desktop from chinese to english. He didn't even offer to reimburse for that time either. Needless to say, I was rather annoyed since it automatically logged you off. Either way, this place is pretty decent for gaming. So far so good since its practically brand new. The equipment is nice, they do have snacks and its relatively cheap. read more

This place is extremely fair In price for what it delivers! Great equipment along with comfort. Pretty legit overall with long hours. And in a great location, plenty of teahouses and cafes within short walking distance. Great place to have a LAN party or solo play. :) Located on the Second floor! read more

Black Ants Gaming Lab - Internet Cafes Near Me - Houston, Texas

service is horrible. tried to come here to play valorant and login into discord and system doesn't work or it's not connecting to the internet service here, we told the guy at the counter and we've been sitting here for an hour+ and no response or help on how to fix this issue. very disappointed with this place. read more

I got my husband some hours here as a gift. He's an avid gamer and has been wishing there was a gaming lab here so when I found this place I was excited. My son and I drove over at open since they do not have gift cards and don't take payments over the phone. The guy who unlocked the door for us was friendly. The systems were really cool and my kid (who is also a pretty hardcore gamer) wanted to play right then. But we did not have the time. I did notice the trash cans were all full of trash which I thought was gross since they should be emptied and the place cleaned up at closing. We made my husband an account and put $50 on it for him. That gets him 10 hours of gaming so a pretty good deal, I think. His first visit he stayed till closing and used 6 of them! He was very happy and excited and is looking forward to going back! read more

KICKASS PLACE TO GO! This place is open till 3am and my boyfriend and I went to Houston for a couple days so we saw it and decided to check it out. Now I'm not huge on video games but it was badass and we ended staying two hours. It cost $4 for curved screens and $5 for flat!' read more

Pretty good. I didn't see a problem with the large headphones. They fit my little sister and her best friend (age 8-9) pretty well. They had no complaints. I did not have any complaints either. It does get hot and humid quickly with all the computers spewing out hot air. Computers are not in english but you can figure things out easily. I did experience a bit of lag on fortnite. No lag with League. Ping was around 40-60. Same as my house.... It is fun to go with friends and my little siblings though! They serve ramen. Lololol Prime gamer food right there. Easy-fast-lazy. How I feel as I play games. read more

Visiting Houston on business, didn't want to miss the Lost Ark launch. Found this place on Google and while it was a bit far, I figured it was the most "Gaming Cafe" sounding business in Houston. Oh my Lord, sweet video game Christ; This place is heaven. The aesthetic is very eSport industrial, which I liked. As other reviewers mention, the prices were very reasonable at $4-5USD. The $5 computers are pretty much the ticket unless you want to play older games like DoD. Even though Lost Ark released like an hour before I arrived, I was playing within one more hour, and ended up playing all day. The computers ran like raptors, seating is very comfortable, the keyboards are nice, and the mice are seemingly well maintained. There weren't too many people and even those who were there were really helpful when I ran into snags. As far as snags go, I don't read Chinese, and their client is a Chinese one. It's quite easy once you are walked through it once, but it does basically require you to ask for help for that first run through. I had an excellent time and wish I had a similar business where I live. Thanks! read more

Pretty nice PC cafe.. the headphones at the nice seats are made for big headed males. :D The smallest it adjusts to is for big boys. So if you're a girl, it will start hurting your ears after 30 minutes. The headphones at the crappy chars are like pillows though. They dont have a fix for this. Smh -_- read more

I went here with my wife this past weekend and it was great. The prices are fair, the seats are incredibly comfy, and it was overall a very nice atmosphere. My only complaint was that there were lots of smokers and the smoke wafted inside the building. Other than that though, it was a very pleasant experience. We'll definitely be back soon. read more

Tried to play valorant and fortnite, both crashed numerous times. We were only compensated 12 extra minutes when we waited over 30 minutes due to the crashes and errors. read more

Place smell like vape or weed. Like the moment I walk in the area smell so bad I couldn't go in and when I try to give it a chance I can't because it smell so bad. Second hand smoking kills and I'm not in for it read more

First internet cafe I found in Houston. Not very crowded, which is nice not to have a bunch of people right around you playing and shouting and screaming into their microphones. Plenty of computers seats to choose from. Two different options in terms of graphics and quality of computer/monitor, with the expensive option being only $1 more than the cheaper option. It is located in the heart of Chinatown, so expect a lot of native speakers in the area, as well as in the cafe itself. read more

Not a bad spot at all! I called a day before asking about how it works in regards to payment and downloading games if they didn't have it. All was true and I had no issues. I just played Dead By Daylight the whole time but it seems like they have other games installed as well. Steam, discord, LoL and more were all on there. Chairs were comfy and the headset wasn't bad (didn't test the mic). I got the $5/hr option for the better PC specs, and the front desk employee helped me get it set up. Overall it was a good time. Can't complain! Come through if you don't have the PC specs at home to play your favorite games. read more

It's a amazing store but was sorta frustrating when a friend and I went to go and play Genshin impact and we asked the girl in the front if we could download it she said yes. So we were trying to download the game,come to find out we couldn't at all and she was like yes you can't download it on that drive. Like then why did you say we could in the beginning read more

My grandson really enjoyed it,he loves gaming and this is the place for him.the seats are awesome and the peripherals are 8/10.the snack and drink choice is great.i think he had a lot of fun coming back definitely read more

The chairs provided here are extremely comfortable. I was also wondering if anybody knows what kind of chairs they have because I would love one :) read more

You guys need to re check the flat and curved PC to see if they are actually 1080 and 1060 respectively. It is a waste of time getting on a flat monitor and dxdiag just to see it is 1060. When playing high quality setting, the fps is noticable lol. read more

The service here is good. I like how they set up their pcs and charges a reasonable price for an hour. pcs come with good parts and do not lack anything. It also provides food and drinks. This is my first ever gaming arcade and i will absolutely come back to play on these pcs again. read more

This is best internet cafe in Houston. The environment is cool and computers are really fast. It is worth checking out this place.

Place was great to hangout with friends. First time being there and the man helping us was very polite and nice. Their prices are very cheap for what they offer and especially the membership for a year. There are high end computers as well as middle tier ones, obviously paying just a little more for the higher ends. The staff are very friendly in helping. Bringing your own peripherals is highly recommended. Although their equipments are good, bringing your own mouse and keyboard can feel more comfortable and would be able to change your DPI to a more specific setting. Their headphones felt pretty flimsy and the microphone did not have the greatest quality. During the day, the place isn't all that busy and you can just about get the spots you want. Only thing I was a little bummed out was their snacks and refreshments, which were a little overpriced. All in all, great business and place to hang out with. Will definitely come back. read more