Best Brunch in Alief, Houston: 8 Weekend Spots on Bellaire Blvd

The best brunch in Alief is dim sum and pho, not eggs Benedict. Ocean Palace in Hong Kong City Mall rolls traditional dim sum carts through its dining room on weekends, Golden Dim Sum starts serving at 9 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and Pho Dien has bowls on the table by 8:30 a.m. Add Kim Son’s weekend-only egg tarts and a breakfast croissant from Lee’s Sandwiches, and you have a full weekend morning on a single stretch of Bellaire Boulevard in southwest Houston.

Here’s the fact that makes Alief brunch even better: the neighborhood is named after a woman. The community started as a prairie called Dairy, and in 1897 it was renamed Alief after Alief Ozelda Morris Magee, who ran the post office out of her home. She is buried in Alief Cemetery at Bellaire Boulevard and Dairy Ashford, a few minutes west of every restaurant on this list, according to the City of Houston’s Alief Super Neighborhood page.

Our one-line version: in Alief, brunch comes in a steamer basket, a pho bowl or a baguette.

Where is Alief? How we define it

Alief is the City of Houston’s Super Neighborhood 25 in far southwest Houston. We use the city’s own boundaries: the Westpark Tollway on the north, the Sam Houston Tollway (Beltway 8) on the east, Highway 6 on the west and the Fort Bend County line on the south. Every pick below sits inside that box.

One overlap to know about: the stretch of Bellaire Boulevard just west of Beltway 8 is also part of what many Houstonians call Chinatown or Asiatown. The dim sum halls here appear in our Chinatown brunch guide too, because they are on both maps. Places east of the Beltway, such as the Bellaire Food Street area, are left out on purpose. For the full district, see our Chinatown and Asiatown guide.

The quick list

• Weekend dim sum carts: Ocean Palace, Hong Kong City Mall, 11215 Bellaire Blvd
• Earliest weekend dim sum: Golden Dim Sum, 10600 Bellaire Blvd, from 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday
• Weekend-only dim sum items: Kim Son, 10603 Bellaire Blvd
• Dim sum any time of day: Crown Seafood, 10796 Bellaire Blvd
• Pho at 8:30 a.m.: Pho Dien, 11830 Bellaire Blvd
• Breakfast baguettes and Vietnamese coffee from 7 a.m.: Lee’s Sandwiches, 11210 Bellaire Blvd at Boone Rd
• Pancakes around the clock: IHOP, 6759 Highway 6 S
• Texas fast-food breakfast at Beechnut and the Beltway: Whataburger, 8134 W Sam Houston Pkwy S

How we chose

Every pick had to sit inside the city’s Alief boundary, serve food you would want on a Saturday or Sunday morning or midday, and show its address and current hours or service details on its own official website, checked in October 2026. We confirmed each address against the boundary, which is how a few well-known spots just east of Beltway 8 dropped off.

We left out places we couldn’t confirm on an official site or social page, even beloved ones, and restaurants that don’t serve until lunch or close on Sundays. Hours change, so treat every time below as typical and check the restaurant’s site before you go.

Where can you get dim sum for brunch in Alief?

Alief has four dim sum restaurants within a short drive of each other on Bellaire Boulevard, just west of Beltway 8. Pick by style: carts at Ocean Palace, an early start at Golden Dim Sum, weekend specials at Kim Son, and all-day service at Crown Seafood. Our citywide dim sum guide covers how ordering works if you’re new to it.

Ocean Palace

Alief, Hong Kong City Mall, 11215 Bellaire Blvd · typically open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Ocean Palace in Hong Kong City Mall has been open since 1999, and it is the big one: a two-story, 38,000-square-foot restaurant whose second floor handles banquets for up to 800 guests, per the restaurant’s own site. It calls itself Houston’s largest dim sum restaurant. Dim sum runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on weekends the classic rolling carts circle the dining room loaded with dumplings, taro puffs, ribs, sticky rice, congee and buns.

What to order: flag down whatever is steaming as it passes. Go with a group so you can try more.

Insider tip: Ocean Palace has an online waitlist on its official site. Join it before you leave the house on a Sunday.

Golden Dim Sum

Alief, 10600 Bellaire Blvd #105 · typically Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Golden Dim Sum in Alief opens an hour earlier on weekends than it does on weekdays, so it is the earliest dim sum start on this list. Its dim sum menu is numbered, so ordering is easy: steamed items first, then pan-fried, deep-fried, baked and dessert.

What to order: steamed shrimp dumplings, shrimp and pork shiu mai, pan-fried chive dumplings and the fried crab claw with shrimp paste.

Best for: early risers and small tables who don’t want to wait for a cart.

Kim Son

Alief, Saigon-Houston Plaza, 10603 Bellaire Blvd · dim sum typically 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Tuesdays

Kim Son in Saigon-Houston Plaza serves dim sum from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day it is open, and it is closed on Tuesdays. On weekdays the dining room closes between lunch and dinner; on Saturdays and Sundays Kim Son stays open straight through into the evening, per its official site.

What to order: the weekend-only items. Kim Son’s menu marks the fried egg milk bun, fried taro dumpling, pan-fried turnip cake, egg custard tarts and hot tofu with ginger syrup as available on weekends only.

Best for: a mixed group where some people want dim sum and others want Vietnamese dishes.

Crown Seafood

Alief, 10796 Bellaire Blvd, Suite C · dim sum served all day on most items

Crown Seafood is a Cantonese seafood restaurant whose official site says it starts the day with dim sum, also called yam cha, and serves most dim sum items all day. That makes it the useful backup when the cart halls have a wait or you’re running late. Lunch specials typically run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Good to know: Crown doesn’t publish its daily hours on its site, so call ahead at (281) 575-1768.

Where can you eat pho for breakfast in Alief?

Pho Dien at 11830 Bellaire Blvd is the early bowl: it typically opens at 8:30 a.m. every day of the week, including Sunday.

Pho Dien

Alief, 11830 Bellaire Blvd #C · typically Monday to Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Pho Dien is a traditional Vietnamese beef noodle house, and its menu is almost all pho: 17 numbered bowls, most of them beef, from rare steak to brisket, flank, tendon and tripe. A weekend morning bowl here is our idea of the perfect Alief brunch.

What to order: the Pho Dac Biet combination (rare steak, flank, tendon, tripe and meatball), which the menu sells in large or extra-large only. Add the bone-marrow egg on the side.

The drink nobody expects: the menu lists a soda sua hot ga, a soda with egg yolk and condensed milk. If that’s too much for 8:30 a.m., the iced coffee with condensed milk is right there. More bowls across the city are in our best pho in Houston guide.

Good to know: Pho Dien closes earlier on Sundays, typically at 6 p.m.

Where can you get banh mi and coffee in Alief?

Lee’s Sandwiches at 11210 Bellaire Blvd, at Boone Road, is the 7 a.m. answer, typically open daily until 7 p.m.

Lee’s Sandwiches

Alief, 11210 Bellaire Blvd at Boone Rd, Suite 113 · typically open daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Lee’s Sandwiches sits across Bellaire Boulevard from Hong Kong City Mall. The chain’s founder, Chieu Le, started with a single catering truck route in San Jose, California, in 1981, according to the company’s history. The Alief store serves a dedicated breakfast menu alongside its banh mi.

What to order: a ham, bacon, egg and cheese croissant or baguette from the breakfast menu, and a Vietnamese coffee to go. Our banh mi guide and Vietnamese coffee guide have more.

Best for: a grab-and-go start before a dim sum line.

Is there an all-night breakfast in Alief?

Yes. IHOP on Highway 6 is open 24 hours, and the Whataburger drive-thru at Beechnut and Beltway 8 runs 24 hours, too.

IHOP

Alief, 6759 Highway 6 S, Presidio Square · open 24 hours

IHOP on Highway 6 in Alief is the safe bet for a family brunch with picky eaters: pancakes, omelets and booths, at any hour. It sits on the east side of Highway 6, inside the Alief line.

Whataburger

Alief, 8134 W Sam Houston Pkwy S (Beechnut and Beltway 8) · drive-thru 24 hours; dining room typically 6 a.m. to midnight

Whataburger’s Beechnut and Beltway 8 store is the Texas fast-food breakfast on the Alief side of the Beltway. The dining room typically opens at 6 a.m., and the drive-thru never closes.

Save this: the Bellaire Blvd brunch crawl

This route keeps you on one stretch of Bellaire Boulevard, from the Beltway west past Boone Road. Share it with the friend who always says they’ll “just get coffee.”

1. 7 a.m., Lee’s Sandwiches (11210 Bellaire Blvd): Vietnamese coffee and a breakfast croissant.
2. 8:30 a.m., Pho Dien (11830 Bellaire Blvd): a small bowl so you have room for more.
3. 9 a.m., Golden Dim Sum (10600 Bellaire Blvd): shrimp dumplings and shiu mai, ordered off the menu.
4. 10 a.m., Ocean Palace (11215 Bellaire Blvd): the weekend carts. Join the waitlist online before you go.
5. 11 a.m., Kim Son (10603 Bellaire Blvd): weekend-only egg custard tarts to finish.

Do the crawl as a group and split everything. Nobody needs five full meals before noon.

Before you go: a quick checklist

• Check hours on each restaurant’s site the morning you go. Times here are typical.
• Weekend dim sum is the main event: Ocean Palace has carts only on Saturdays and Sundays, and Kim Son’s weekend-only items are only on its weekend menu.
• Join the Ocean Palace waitlist online before you drive.
• Kim Son is closed on Tuesdays, and Pho Dien closes early on Sundays.
• Crown Seafood doesn’t post hours online; call first.
• Bring a group for dim sum. More people means more plates to share.

More brunch around southwest Houston

Heading north instead? Our Westchase brunch guide picks up just above the Westpark Tollway. For the rest of the city, start with the best brunch in Houston, and for more Vietnamese cooking, see our best Vietnamese restaurants in Houston.

Last verified: October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the best brunch in Alief, Houston?

For weekend dim sum carts, go to Ocean Palace in Hong Kong City Mall at 11215 Bellaire Blvd. For an earlier start, Golden Dim Sum opens at 9 a.m. on weekends, and Pho Dien serves pho from 8:30 a.m. daily.

What are the boundaries of Alief in Houston?

The City of Houston defines Alief (Super Neighborhood 25) as bounded by the Westpark Tollway to the north, the Sam Houston Tollway (Beltway 8) to the east, Highway 6 to the west and the Fort Bend County line to the south.

Does Ocean Palace in Alief have dim sum carts?

Yes, on weekends. Ocean Palace serves dim sum daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays traditional rolling carts circulate through the dining room.

What time does dim sum start in Alief on weekends?

Golden Dim Sum at 10600 Bellaire Blvd typically opens at 9 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Ocean Palace starts at 10 a.m., and Kim Son serves dim sum from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

How did Alief get its name?

Alief was originally a prairie community called Dairy. In 1897 it was renamed for Alief Ozelda Morris Magee, who served as postmistress from her home, according to the City of Houston.

Is there 24-hour breakfast in Alief?

Yes. IHOP at 6759 Highway 6 S is open 24 hours, and the Whataburger at Beechnut and Beltway 8 runs its drive-thru 24 hours.