This place has been in business for years but I believe that management has changed hands a time or two. I hadn't been back for dinner in years so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food. Fish clay pot: very traditional claypot made with catfish and a dark dark sauce. It wasn't too salty but not too sweet and it goes perfectly with white rice. Fried squid: amazing! Definitely one of the top five fried squid dishes in Houston. Very crispy on tbe outside but nice and chewy (not too much) on the inside. I like to get a piece with jalapeno. That little bit of spice adds to much depth to the squid. Also fantastic with rice. Fried soft shell crab: For years and years I was under the impression that only one Houston restaurant had delicious soft shell crab (Tay Do) but this place definitely gives them a run for their money. Crispy and so well seasoned. This is a must try dish. And goes great with rice. Sauteed clams: the sauce includes sauteed basil! So so so good with rice. Sour catfish soup: absolutely not for me. The recipe here is not sour at all, in fact it is a sweet soup. I have heard that this is one way to prepare this soup but I do not care for it at all. Others at my table seemed okay with it though. Overall, definitely worth a visit. Go with a few people to try more dishes. I would also recommebd going earlier as this place gets packed! Even on a Sunday night! read more

We are addicted to their claypot catfish. Every now and then, the wife will get a craving and we have to come here. Other food is good too - my personal favorite is the spicy garlic eggplant. read more

Vinh Hoa - Spicy eggplant - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

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2 stars for the dinner for 6 and fried flat noodles with seafood and veggies. Just low quality food. Simple as that. Meat was chewy! Crabs was super dry and tasted old. Chicken was lacking meat and was mostly skin. Definitely not worth the ~150$ price including tax and tip. So disappointing cause this place use to be good. read more

Vinh Hoa - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

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This is still one of my favorite family style dinner places! Majority of the menu is good, of course there are dishes that are average. Located in Chinatown, customer service is not priority though they are pretty attentive. I normally order their razor clams, deep fried pig intestines, snow pea leaves stir fry garlic, oyster clay pot, sizzling beef, crab rice wrapped lotus, and canh chua. There are other dishes that is recommended but definitely those are my go to. read more

I was hoping to have a good review based of the pictures on here but I was sadly disappointed. I was on the lookout for soft shell crab on Saturday and this place came op on yelp. Firstly it's a bit hard to find with the construction in the parking lot so be sure to drive around back! Secondly the customer service is bad I came in and it was somewhat empty someone gave me a menu and I placed my to go order. I got the special fried rice and the soft shell crab. It took forever for someone to finally take my order and when they did they were rude. My food took very long and when I went to grab it the hostess who charged me asked me for my "proof of purchase" even though she rang me up. I dug in my bag and found it and she took it ripped it up and threw it away. I was so annoyed because that was my copy and they said they could not give me another. Lastly and the most important part the food! The soft shell crab was OK and that's all. No flavor and it was heavily breaded and fried. So much breading that I couldn't taste the crab in it. The fried rice was even more disappointing! It was white rice mixed in with peas, carrots, and a few pieces of ham. I literally took my pan out at home and added eggs and soy sauce and fried it. Overall I was very disappointed with the entire experience and more than likely will not be returning. read more

Good lunch special! They have 2 lobsters for $20 but you have to spend a certain dollar amount! But the XO sauce they have for the lobster is amazing Mafo tofu they use soft tofu which is perfect but I wish It had a spice to it‍ They had fried calamari which is good. But they didn't offer any salt pepper or lemon with it. We had to ask for it. It was literally just fried calamari and not sauté jalapeño on top. The clams are nice and flavorful, just wished it the veggies paired with it was more cooked Overall decent place for the price,it seems like they have everything beforehand so once you order... everything shows up in less than 10 minutes! read more

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Food here is subpar. Bo tai chin- you get so much for the price! It's refreshing and flavorful. Had to squeeze in some lemons though. Fried rice is a miss. I've gotten this every time I come here and it's always bland and dry. There's no chinese sausage in fried rice, btw. Calamari was okay. Could have used a little more salt and pepper. Soft shell crab was flavored well but was on the greasy side. The only thing I'd recommend is ordering the 2/$20 lobster special. Can't beat that price! In order to get that deal, you'd have to order 3 other entree dishes. Still a good deal, regardless. read more

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If I could give a zero review this would be the resturant . Food is very salty . Vegetables were not washed throughly . When we brought the issue to management they didn't care . They just said ok lol . Will not come back or recommend friends or family . Wouldn't even eat here even if it's free . read more

Vinh Hoa, a staple restaurant that I visit every time I'm Houston. It's a great place to take a big group to dine for excellent Vietnamese food / family style and when I say excellent I definitely mean it. My favorite dishes to order here are: canh chua, ca kho to (pictured), tamarind lobster (pictured), and clams in basil (pictured). All these dishes taste genuinely homemade and tastes like mom made it, makes my heart warm! the lobster is definitely a must try, it's full of flavor, juicy, and well a real treat. I'm not a big lobster fan but this is a whole new level of cooking lobster. Service is pretty good, food comes out fast and they cleared our plates to make room for more lobster and clam shells! read more

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The Vietnamese presence in any Chinatown is a given, but only in Houston's Bellaire is it serious enough to merit several hybrid Chino Viet establishments like Vinh Hoa (Chinese: 永華). The staff is usually conversational in both Vietnamese and some dialect of Chinese (usually Teochew, followed by Canto and then Mando) and the menu offers a myriad of specialties in both cuisines. Despite the big sunlight laden windows and neatly tiled floors, there is an element of old school meets dodgy in a setting that sort of reminds me of where people would hide in The Walking Dead. The decor is minimal, yet cheesy and the odd placement of lanterns, ceiling fans, vents, and ceiling tiles just looks like bad interior decoration. There is a decent number of tables for big groups as expected, even if it seems like there are too many chairs for the big tables. On the food front, it is a hodgepodge of randomness. In NYC, we have the problem of abundant Vietnamese restaurants being put on by Chinos, resulting in a strange disparity of quality that some people (including me) can't seem to shake. The Chinese dishes here would almost scream the same thing, except flip flopped. Presentation is a blunder, the execution is decent (e.g. egg with shrimp but not overcooked) until it gets complicated (mapo tofu - blech), and the taste is a bit on the disappointing end. Anything that is fried here (salt pepper squid, flounder, etc.) is probably something I'd avoid entirely unless it's the soft shell crab. The saving grace on the other hand, is the seafood and Vietnamese dishes (no surprise). Ca kho and Canh Chua? Really spot on. Their version of Bo Luc Lac almost has a homestyle feel to it and carb lovers will love their bottomless rice pot. A lot of the seafood is straight out of the tank fresh, which means lobsters, crabs, and even frog legs will be tender and flavorful. Most of the dishes are your typical $10-20 range, but their lunch hour featuring a limited menu of items for $5.35 has the locals crowding this place up well into the late afternoon. Even though the experience is a 3.5, I'm rounding up to a 4 for the benefit of future outings. read more

Have you ever driven by one of "those" places where it seems kind of cookie cutter type of establishment but all of the tables are usually full with people waiting by the door to get a table? Well here is another one of those places and for a good reason. The prices are reasonable and the main feature maybe on a good majority of the people's mind is the two for $20 lobster. If you want them steamed it's an extra $5 and if you order more it's $27 for two more. I am not sure if that's per table but that's what the sign said. Welcome to Vinh Hoa where parking is tight, the price is right and the fresh stock in the aquariums can bite. This restaurant is located on the intersection of Corporate and Bellaire. I remember it saying "Dynasty Plaza". The menu is one of those that have about 10 pages and with a lot of diversity, something for everyone. Feeling culturally spirited? Well, order one of those $16 frogs that glare at you when you enter the door or are waiting for a seat. I don't think they're exactly an item hopping off of the menu. Mother ordered the Dungeness crab wrapped in banana leaf and steamed with fried rice. It is $18 -/+ so don't get sticker shock like I did when you get the bill. A mere innocent sized one damaged me for $51, it's ok mom, I love you, you are worth it any day. If you finally get a table be prepared to get asked if you're ready to order every two minutes. After you get your food be prepared to get someone to your table every.....twenty minutes. It's understandable though if you know what I mean. This place is worth bookmarking and, at least, trying ONE time. Trust me, you either love or hate it here. read more

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This is a favorite family style restaurant in Houston that I've been to before. We ordered from the family sharing menu for 10 persons. For a set price for 10, we were served 11 items.We got the crab meat w/ fish maw soup, salted toasted shrimp, beef short ribs w/ black bean sauce, bamboo fungus w/ black mushroom, shredded chicken mix w/ shredded cabbage top w/ flavor fish sauce, crab cooked Hong Kong style, crispy fried sole fish and Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce. Vinh Hoa lobster, young Chow fried rice. We also ordered their the soft crab. It's a must, it's so good. Our waiter was slow getting things we requested and their Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce has a funky taste like it was spoiled. I would definitely come back. read more

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This is the kind of restaurant you go with your family and your extended viet family so you can take up at least 1-3 of those big round tables. You don't come here with your friends and you definitely don't bring your nonasian friends here-- why? I have no idea, it's just how it is. Who can relate? The food is usually really good (there's been an off time.. But will blame on bad ordering), and the lunch specials are pretty cheap. read more

We came here because another restaurant couldn't take any more lobster order for CNYE. Luckily we ended up stumbling here since it was nearby. They had a lobster special (two for $29). That's not bad, but they are small lobsters. There isn't a minimum of entree orders needed like the other restaurants. I believe it was an additional $5 if you want to do the butter garlic sauce or something. Anyways, we did take out order and they were really nice, typical Chinese/Vietnamese service. We liked the salted fish and shrimp fried rice the best out of all the dishes. read more

Vinh Hoa - Crispy Duck, S&P Lobsters, Abalone and Salted Shrimp Fried Rice - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

Great seafood! The lobster was super delicious - the spice balance was perfect and with a nice offset from some chopped shallots. The clams also had a really nice surprising flavor with some basil and a nice little heat coming the jalepeño. Will definitely be back and can't wait to go back and try more of the their dishes - they are very large portions, as a heads-up so make sure you've brought a few friends to help you polish off everything! read more

Vinh Hoa - Clams - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

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I used to be a regular here years ago, but when I finally came back this time, it was incredibly disappointing. The ca ro phi chien don was not completely cooked and had some red raw pieces; the bo xao cai was incredibly salty; and the portions of the $6 dishes were incredibly small compared to other places like Confucius. The only redeeming dish was soup bong bong ca thit cua which was pretty good. This restaurant is not very sanitary as the dishes are often dirty and if you watched them wash the dishes (as the dish washing station is open to the public), you would gag. When they recooked our ca ro phi, it was still raw!!!!!! Such a shame. I don't recommend this place, if you want affordable lunch specials, try Confucius! read more

It was just ok... not bad. It's reasonable priced for seafood and service was good. The ambience is OK it's more like a hole in the wall kind of restaurant. read more

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Fiancee was craving Chinese style lobster so we looked on yelp to find a place to fulfill his hungry state. Vinh Hoa came up multiple times, so we took it as a sign and headed that way! It's a huge area, with plentiful seating. We saw a lot of families here so it's friendly for big groups. We ordered the garlic scallion lobster (2 for $20!) along with 2 veggie dishes, both very tasty. The green beans sauteed in tangy spicy sauce was just enough flavor not overpowering the green beans, which my fiancee loved. I couldn't get enough of the leafy sauteed greens which were juicy and garlic flavored. Both dishes went really well with the entree. As for the lobster, it tasted fresh and had good amount of meat on them! Wish it could've been slightly more seasoned or marinated for longer. I ended up making a soy sauce + spicy oil dip to kick up the flavor some more. Still, a great deal for lobster! read more

Vinh Hoa - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

Total disregards to any social distancing during these times. Pretty packed house on a Xmas day as I ordered to go for my family. I used to come here a lot but this year left me eating at home more and I thought I would splurge a bit at the year end but was a bit disappointed by the quality of the food. The pork chops in Peking sauce were measly small pieces of spareribs and was like lunch special sizes but I was charged full price for it. The snow pea greens were over cooked, the fish maw soup was meh no flavoring and the rice was soggy. I ordered 6 dishes and my family was not happy with the food leaving me depressed for screwing up Xmas dinner. Thanks for nothing, really let a loyal customer down. read more

Nice restaurant for casual dining. This is an original type of food with lots of flavor in their dishes. Food is served fresh and hot. Food comes with rice in a passive plastic warmer to keep rice hot. They have TVs usually playing the current sporting event. There are aquariums in the restaurant displaying the freshness of the food. Parking lot has a lot of parking, and it is currently being fixed in some parking locations to improve the lot. read more

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Ooo Vinh Hoa. How great thy art. Couldn't believe that we got lunch special on Sunday noon. Lots of options for $5+ per entree. With buying 3 entrees, we could buy 2 lobsters /$20. You come here for food, clearly not for ambiance. It's a restaurant from late 1970 or early 1980 with the dragon and Phoenix background. Shockingly the food tasted great for the price. I wonder aloud how they could keep floating with very little profit. read more

Average restaurant. Most dishes were OK. Reminds me of the past old Asian in my childhood that was lacking in decor and never really looked clean. After our meal, we were automatically charged tip for 6 people. I'm not happy about that because it's not written anywhere that they would do that. read more

The exhaustive menu means it's going to be many visits to explore all their offerings. read more

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So many items to choose from that there are 2 menus. In the end we ordered: Spring rolls - large portion and tasted good Shark fin soup- good size for small sample Crunchy noodles with shrimp - huge portion and became our favorite and plan to reorder again We also want try their lobster. Plenty of seating especially for large groups and ample parking. We arrived about 40 minutes before closing and looking forward to next visit. Refills came quickly and service was nice and helpful. Saw a large plate of greens at another table. Searched both menus but was not able to find it. read more

Vinh Hoa - Shark fin soup Crunchy noodle soup with shrimp - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

Love this place! food is great, and they are quick to bring it to the table. love the lunch specials and the lobster specials. we go there quiet often, Taste is on the spot! read more

I remember this restaurant being good, but this time it just didn't hit the spot. It's been awhile. Not a bad choice for a cheap lunch though. Favorite was the buttered soft shell crab (not on lunch special). It's mostly batter, but that's what makes it good :p I think it was $17-18, but it's pretty big Lobster 2/$20- OK, but husband thinks Confucius tastes better L48. Beef with broccoli $5.87 - good but typical. L1. Clams sautéed with black bean sauce $5.87 - didn't try L4. Shrimp, scallop, squid sautéed with tofu $5.87 - salty read more

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I don't care what anybody say about this place. I still go to Vinh Hoa on a regular basis. It's also good for to go orders for family dinner at home. Their price is reasonable and the food is good compare to other similar places. I've tried dungeoness fried rice steam in lotus leaf at several other places and this is the best in my opinion. Vinh Hoa is still place first choice for lobster special. My only complaint is that they no longer Jane their $5 place special. read more

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really bad. Sea food over fried. Vegetables had almost no sauce. the portion so little. Business on Friday night was low.

Perfect place to go to get a cheap Asian family-styled meal! Came here for my birthday, I loved how it was BYOB. I come here very often with my family, but the two most highly recommended things I like to order are: Crab fried rice: OMG this is the best Crab fried rice I've ever had and it comes with little fish roe inside as well! Raw Geo Duck: I love the texture of this dish and you basically eat it like you would with sashimi. They even fry the smaller pieces for you so that no Geo Duck is wasted! read more

Vinh Hoa - Chinese Near Me - Houston, Texas

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Food is ok for the price. Good lunch deals but service was mediocre. We had a group of 4 people for lunch. What I did not like was an automatic 20% tips added to the bill. read more

I came here because they have really good reviews. Their lobster and razor clams were so fresh, the lobster was 2 for $20! What a steal! Flavor-wise, I really didn't care for the basil sauce or the ginger scallion lobster. I've had much better in Atlanta and Cali. Don't even get me started with the canh chua, we hardly even touched it. It lacked sweetness, taste like a crap load of fish sauce in it. Didn't even look good either. $15 for about 8 small tiny shrimps, we mostly got soup, what a waste of money. Service was okay, our server never came back to fill our drinks, but he was nice when taking our order. The thing about Asian places is, there's no one server for a table, you can call anyone over and they can take care of you. The bus boy literally pushed my seat in when walking by so he can clean the tables behind me. He threw the plates in a bin to be cleaned, but he as so loud while he was doing it. I hate when places place your bill when you are barely half way done. They were busy and wanted to rush us to get up...uhh no, I'll leave when I'm done eating my food. Rude. read more

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TLDR: Low key, one of the best bang for your buck places in Chinatown. Right off the beaten trail behind where the old Dynasty Mkt used to be (only OG's remember), this spot has consistently had good food at cheap prices over the years. Boasting $5-7 lunch specials, plenty of seating, and live seafood that rocks... who cares if it's not the cool place to be, the food is good. Go. Visit: Weekend (lunch) Order: Salt Toasted Squid Basil Clams Walnut Shrimp Ginger Scallion Lobster (2/$20 when you order 4 or more dishes) Rating: 8.3 In the heart of Chinatown, in what used to be the Dynasty Market center, Vinh Hoa has been serving up tasty Chinese/Vietnamese cuisine at great prices for years. With a wide variety of live seafood options, the focus here is primarily geared towards freshness. Among the better deals are the lunch combos that run around $5 (it's like Jack in the Box tacos, given inflation over the last decade, I don't know how they do it). On this occasion, a friend and I went all out and ordered 4 dishes... including a 2 Lobster deal for $20 (your choice of preparation: Ginger Scallion, Salt & Pepper, etc.). The food was SOLID. Highest marks go to the Ginger Scallion Lobster and the Basil clams. These were a MUST! I'm not exaggerating when I say that I used every single grain of rice to shovel these delicacies into my mouth. It wasn't pretty and I don't care. The sauce is the boss. If you get anything here, get these two. As for the Walnut Shrimp, they were good... but since I've had so many versions of this, I can't say they were comparatively great. Still worth a try if you've never had it and feel like something new. Lastly, the Salt Toasted Squid left much to be desired. The breading was a bit dense, and there was little to no seasoning at all. It was in fact, quite bland. All in all, the service was surprisingly good on our visit (as anyone versed in Asian cuisine knows, service can be a hit or miss). It's been a couple days and I'm still thinking about the lobsters and clams. You will too. Do it. read more

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Bull$#! on parties with 4 or more tip gratitude. Waitress/waiter barely did anything and want their cut.

Super cheap food especially during lunch hour ($5 plates). My family went for lunch time and got the fried calamari, pork chop, and beef and broccoli (which I think was choy sum and not gai lan). It's located right at the Dynasty grocery store on corporate and bellaire. It's a mostly Cantonese food place with some Vietnamese dishes on the menu. Majority of the workers were speaking Chinese and not Vietnamese. The pork chop was not as tender as I liked but the flavor was good. The beef and broccoli had a lot of sauce and tasted great with plain rice. read more

Super horible experience. Staff is very not polite and unfriendly. Food was placed on the table violently and splattered everywhere. The restaurant closed at 10am but at 9am tried to let the customers leave. read more

Vinh Hoa has always been a fantastic good value Chinese Vietnamese Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown. I haven't been able to wholeheartedly recommend it sometimes because it has a slight consistent issue to me. Tonight however they knock it out of the park. We ordered Fried Live Soft-Shell Crab Sautéed in Butter with Watercress Salad, House Special Live Twin Lobsters, Braised Roasted Pork Belly with Iceberg Lettuce and Chinese Mushroom, Vietnamese Claypot Caramelized Sea Bass, and Steamed Live Marble Goby Fish. Every dish is a winner on its own, thus it's a phenomenal meal when all put together. The key factor that makes all the difference is that all the Seafood are still alive and fresh before cooked, except the Sea Bass. I place freshness and quality of ingredients above everything else when it comes to food. Most importantly, father-in-law is happy, and that's what the Saturday dinners are for, it's for the elderly to see their kids and enjoy a wonderful meal together. read more

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Lunch special: so many variety of dishes to choose from, all for $5.97! So gather your co-workers and swing by for a family style luncheon! My family loves coming here for dinner, they have a wide selection of seafood. Lobster, sea bass, clams, shrimp and so on. Usually they have a lobster special so be sure to ask your server about that. This is one of my favorite places to eat family style in Houston. It gets pretty busy during holidays here and the wait can be up to an hour. The restaurant does look dingy and clustered but the food and prices makes up for it. -1 star for the ambience and service. The service sucks. read more

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Food is good and the lunch special are great! Saves a lot. The services for dine in are great, but to gos is a different story. I guess they want people to dine in or their attitudes completely changed? However, the food and and service for dine in is great. Just don't do to gos if you don't want an attitude lol read more

One of my favorite family style restaurants. I love almost every dish I ordered. Though I did asked for sweet and sour sauce for the fried chicken, it was a tad dry. Probably will not order that dish again. The Salt baked squid is one of the best and their pork simmered in fish sauce is absolutely delicious. Their service is ok. Some waiters/waitresses are definitely better than others but for the price and food, I over look it. One of my favorite places. read more

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On my journey back to Maryland from Northern California in March, my fiancé and I stopped in Houston on our way to NOLA. We were hoping to have some lobster before making it to our accommodations for the evening. Unfortunately no such luck can be found after 5pm when everyone else usually has dinner. Asiantown in Houston is famous for many delicacies, but as I been told and heard from miles away, you must have lobster available at virtually any Asian restaurant in town. It's cheap and it's fresh, can I say more to persuade you? I'm an out-of-towner, lobster by my square is sold by the pound and it isn't cheap neither is having it at a restaurant where they upcharge 100 percent and more. Anyways. My fiancé and I ordered salted fish fried rice, sautéed snowpea greens, salt & spicy pepper pork ribs (his obsession) salt & spicy pepper shrimp. Everything was hot and delicious, as I remember restaurant Chinese food to be! The snowpea greens were crunchy and the ribs were fleshy and had a kick. We had enough to take back to our hotel! Thanks Vinh Hoa for feeding us well, like we were over for new year dinner, before we were on the road again. read more