Best Restaurants in Chinatown Houston: 12 Bellaire Blvd Picks

Drive west on Bellaire Boulevard past Fondren Road and the street signs pick up a second language, then a third: 百利大道 in Chinese, and farther west, Đại Lộ Sàigòn in Vietnamese. Roll down the window and you'll smell it before you see it. This is Houston's Chinatown, which many locals now call Asiatown, and it's where the city goes when it wants dumplings at 10 a.m., hot pot at 10 p.m. and crawfish whenever the season says so.

One street, three languages, and a ramen bowl named after Apollo. Welcome to Bellaire Boulevard.

This guide is the shortlist: 12 restaurants we'd send a first-timer or a hungry out-of-town cousin to, from cart-pushed dim sum to Lao larb, late-night Korean wings and an order-sheet dumpling counter that's easy on the wallet. For the full neighborhood picture (bakeries, markets and more), keep our Houston Chinatown and Asiatown guide open in another tab.

Where Chinatown starts and stops

For this guide, Chinatown means Bellaire Blvd from Fondren Road west to Beltway 8, plus the side streets that feed it (Clarewood Drive, Ranchester Drive) and the blocks just west of the Beltway, where Hong Kong City Mall and Little Saigon's restaurants begin. That stretch is the heart of the district. Don't confuse it with the City of Bellaire, a separate small city farther east on the same boulevard. Our Bellaire and Chinatown restaurant guide covers both ends of the road.

Five things even regulars don't know

• There's a ramen bowl here named for NASA. Mensho, a Tokyo ramen group, tells Houston diners to try "Apollo," a soupless bowl it calls an original menu item, because Houston is known for NASA.
• Ocean Palace is a 38,000-square-foot, two-story restaurant. It opened in 1999 at Hong Kong City Mall, and the second floor is a banquet hall for weddings and parties.
• Tan Tan has been a family business since 1986. It still cooks both Chinese and Vietnamese food from one long menu.
• Your hot pot started on a side street in Chongqing. Liuyishou opened its first restaurant there in 2000 and now counts more than 1,300 locations worldwide.
• Bellaire Blvd answers to a Vietnamese name, too. Look up at the street signs for Đại Lộ Sàigòn: Saigon Boulevard.

The 12 best restaurants in Chinatown Houston

Hours change often here. Everything below is "typically," taken from each restaurant's own site, so check before you go.

1. Ocean Palace

11215 Bellaire Blvd (Hong Kong City Mall) · Cantonese dim sum and seafood · sit-down

The grand old hall of Houston dim sum. Ocean Palace serves dim sum daily, typically from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on weekends the traditional rolling carts parade through the dining room with steamed and fried dumplings, chicken feet, sticky rice, ribs, taro puffs and congee.

Order: whatever stops at your table first, then flag down the shrimp dumplings and sticky rice. Use the online waitlist on weekend mornings.

2. Arco Seafood Restaurant

9896 Bellaire Blvd, Suite K · Cantonese seafood and dim sum · sit-down

Arco is the pick when you want dim sum for lunch and a proper Cantonese seafood dinner from the same kitchen. Dim sum runs daily in the day (its site lists earlier start times on weekends), with lunch specials and takeout too. It takes reservations, which matters for a family table on a Sunday.

Order: dim sum at lunch; at dinner, go big on seafood and share family-style.

3. Dim Sum King

9160 Bellaire Blvd, #B · dim sum counter · cheap eats

The order-sheet answer to Ocean Palace: small, quick and easy on the wallet. The menu reads like a Cantonese breakfast shop, with rice soups (congee) and fried Chinese bread alongside the dumplings, and you can order ahead online for pickup.

Order: Crab King shiu mai, pan-fried turnip cake, a steamed beef rice noodle and a bowl of rice soup with a stick of fried Chinese bread for dunking.

4. Mensho

9889 Bellaire Blvd, Ste C308 (Dun Huang Plaza) · Japanese ramen · casual

Mensho is a Tokyo ramen shop with a long, narrow counter-style room meant to evoke a Tokyo street. The menu runs from chicken tori paitan to a Wagyu Texas BBQ Tantanmen and a deep vegan list. It's typically open daily for lunch (11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and dinner (4 to 10:30 p.m.), closing between.

Order: the soupless Apollo for the story, or the G.K.O. (Garlic Knock Out) for the flavor. Vegans get their own V.G.K.O. More bowls are in our best ramen in Houston guide.

5. Liuyishou Hot Pot

9889 Bellaire Blvd, Suite C-309 (Dun Huang Plaza) · Chongqing hot pot · sit-down

A few doors from Mensho in the same plaza, and a full-volume hot pot night out. Liuyishou is a Chongqing chain that cooks marbled beef, wild mushrooms and greens at your table in a broth you choose. If your group splits on heat, ask about a divided pot so spicy and mild broths can share one table.

Order: a spicy Chongqing broth (or a divided pot), sliced beef, mushrooms and plenty of greens. For more broths, read our best hot pot in Houston list.

6. Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House

9896 Bellaire Blvd, Suite A · Japanese wagyu shabu-shabu · sit-down

Mikiya is all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu with a luxury twist: four tiers of wagyu, up to A5, and broths from rich miso to spicy mala. It's the hot pot to book for a birthday. It typically stays open until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Order: pick the tier based on how much A5 you want, and add the bone marrow.

7. Tan Tan Restaurant

6816 Ranchester Dr · Chinese and Vietnamese · sit-down, late on weekends

Tan Tan is the place to bring a group that can't agree, because the menu covers both Chinese and Vietnamese cooking, and it has a whole hot pot section. It's typically open until midnight Friday through Sunday, which makes it a reliable late dinner a block off Bellaire.

Order: a seafood or combination hot pot for the table, plus a noodle dish each.

8. Soho Chicken

9393 Bellaire Blvd, A3 · Korean fried chicken · sit-down, open late

The late-night anchor. Soho Chicken serves Korean-style wings plus mandu, kimchi bulgogi fries and odeng tang (fish-cake soup), and it typically serves until 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday. It's near Arthur Storey Park.

Order: wings half spicy, half not, with mandu.

9. Lao'd District

9393 Bellaire Blvd, Ste B · Lao and Thai · casual

Lao'd District cooks the food of Laos and Thailand, two cuisines that share a border and a love of herbs, lime and chile. It sits in the same plaza as Soho Chicken, so you can do sticky rice at dinner and wings at midnight without moving the car.

Order: Nam Khao, the crispy rice salad, and a larb with sticky rice.

10. Night Market Noodle

9630 Clarewood Dr, A12 · Japanese ramen and tsukemen · cheap eats

Just off Bellaire on Clarewood, Night Market Noodle mixes Japanese ramen with flavors from across Asia. Hakata-style tonkotsu is the base, and the tsukemen (dipping noodles) is the move. It typically serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, with a break in the afternoon, and is closed Mondays.

Order: burnt garlic tonkotsu or the tsukemen, plus karaage or takoyaki on the side.

11. Toukei Izakaya

9630 Clarewood Dr, Suite A-15 · Japanese izakaya · late night

Same shopping center as Night Market Noodle, different hour. Toukei is a dinner-and-late-night izakaya (typically 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, closed Mondays) with yakitori, small plates, ramen and a bar built around Japanese whisky, sake and shochu.

Order: a round of yakitori (negi thigh, chicken meatball, ribeye), okonomiyaki and tori nanban.

12. Crawfish & Noodles

11360 Bellaire Blvd, Suite 990 · Viet-Cajun seafood · sit-down

Viet-Cajun crawfish is one of Houston's signature dishes, and Chef Trong Nguyen's restaurant bills itself as Houston's original. It sits just west of the Beltway on the Little Saigon end of the strip. It's typically closed Tuesdays and runs a weekday happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m.

Order: live crawfish by the pound in season, Viet-Cajun style. Our Houston crawfish guide explains the season.

Save this: the eat-your-way-down-Bellaire route

Screenshot it. Start hungry, share everything, and stop before you have to.

1. 10 a.m., dim sum: Ocean Palace for the carts, or Dim Sum King if you want to be in and out. Our best dim sum in Houston guide has more.
2. Noon, a walk: loop Dun Huang Plaza at 9889 Bellaire and pick up a boba. Our best boba tea in Houston guide has the shops.
3. 1:30 p.m., ramen: split a bowl of Apollo at Mensho, in the same plaza.
4. 4 p.m., crawfish: Crawfish & Noodles for weekday happy hour (in season), or Lao'd District for Nam Khao.
5. 7 p.m., hot pot: Liuyishou for chile, Mikiya for wagyu, Tan Tan for a crowd.
6. 11 p.m., nightcap: yakitori at Toukei, or wings at Soho Chicken.

How we chose

We picked restaurants inside the boundary above that do one thing exceptionally well, cover a range of cuisines and budgets, and confirmed each one on its own official website in October 2026: address, what it serves and that it's operating. We favored places with a clear "order this" answer, and we left out places we couldn't confirm, however well loved. Nobody paid to be here.

Tips for eating in Chinatown

1. Go early for weekend dim sum. Lines build fast on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
2. Bring cash as backup. Many places take cards, but not every counter does.
3. Go in a group. Dim sum and hot pot are built for sharing; four people is the sweet spot.
4. Park once, eat twice. Dun Huang Plaza (9889), 9896 Bellaire and 9393 Bellaire each hold several picks, and the plazas have free lots.
5. Think about the hour. Dim sum is a daytime meal; izakaya and Korean chicken run late.

Getting there

Chinatown is in southwest Houston outside the 610 Loop. Take I-69/US-59 to Bellaire Blvd or Beltway 8 to the Bellaire Blvd exit. METRO local buses run along Bellaire Blvd; use the trip planner at ridemetro.org. Staying nearby? Westchase, just north up the Beltway, has hotels; see things to do in Westchase.

Craving more? Our best Vietnamese restaurants in Houston continues west into Little Saigon and Alief, and cheap eats in Houston covers the rest of town.

Last verified: October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Chinatown in Houston?

In southwest Houston along Bellaire Blvd, roughly from Fondren Road west to Beltway 8, with Little Saigon continuing just west of the Beltway. It's outside the 610 Loop, off I-69/US-59 and Beltway 8.

What is the best dim sum restaurant in Houston's Chinatown?

For the classic cart experience, Ocean Palace at Hong Kong City Mall (11215 Bellaire Blvd) runs rolling carts on weekends and serves dim sum daily, typically 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For a quick, inexpensive order-sheet meal, try Dim Sum King at 9160 Bellaire Blvd.

Which Chinatown Houston restaurants are open late?

Soho Chicken at 9393 Bellaire Blvd typically serves until 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and Toukei Izakaya on Clarewood Drive typically stays open until 1 or 2 a.m. (closed Mondays). Tan Tan is typically open until midnight Friday through Sunday. Check each site before you go.

Where can I get hot pot in Houston's Chinatown?

Liuyishou (Chongqing-style) and Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House (all-you-can-eat wagyu shabu-shabu) are both on Bellaire Blvd, and Tan Tan on Ranchester Drive has a full hot pot menu alongside Chinese and Vietnamese dishes.

Is parking free in Houston's Chinatown?

Most shopping plazas along Bellaire Blvd have free surface lots. They fill up fast at weekend lunchtime, so arrive early or park once at a plaza with several restaurants, like Dun Huang Plaza at 9889 Bellaire.

Is Houston's Chinatown the same as the City of Bellaire?

No. Chinatown is a district of Houston along Bellaire Blvd near Beltway 8. The City of Bellaire is a separate small city several miles east on the same boulevard.