Name: Cooking Girl С³øÄï
Add: 2400 W Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030
Web:http://www.thecookinggirls.com/
Reviews:
I love cooking girl and pepper twins and am feeling so so lucky that they opened a cooking girl mere minutes from our home!
We tried all of our usual favorites including:
1) Red oil wontons - not quite as good as the kind I crave from Din Tai Fung, but pretty up there, and definitely looooaaddsss better than the paltry version at Spicy Girl. Tender thin wonton skins and juicy pork/shrimp filling in a savory spicy broth. Perfect for a cold night!
2) Cumin lamb. You can never go wrong wtih this dish, esp with the lamb is juicy and plentiful!
3) Hot boiled fish. Always a table favorite with incredibly tender fall apart in your mouth fish swimming in a pool of hot spicy oil.
4) Dry fried green beans. Another classic, another well done dish. My favorite part is going fishing for the lightly fried garlic slices.
5) Spicy chicken cubes. Again, Cooking Girl can't be beat for their version. Juicy lightly fried spiced chicken. Lots of peppers but also lots of chicken!
Service is fast and polite. Restaurant is clean, well lit, and pretty. Really impressed with their newest location. Parking sucks though on busy nights. Small lot so street parking is also an option.
To sum it up: absolutely delicious Szechuan food, excellent portions, decent prices, good service, and lovely interior. Will be coming back often for my fix of spicy Szechuan cuisine!
First off, the food was just incredible. Just a warning, most of the foods from Szechuan are spicy, and are definitely a core component of what makes the food so good, so just be prepared for that. DEFINITELY get the staples which were all 5/5 in flavor and portions:
- Cumin lamb (incredible spicy flavorful pieces of lamb with an aromatic mix of herbs, spices, and cumin)
- Mapo tofu (very soft chunks of tofu with spicy bean paste and minced beef)
- Hot boiled pork (very tender slices of pork in a red spicy soup with chilis and herbs)
- Green beans & eggplant (the only non-spicy dish with perfectly cooked crunchy green beans and soft well-seasoned eggplant)
You also get unlimited rice so no need to worry about that! The amount of food that we ordered should be enough for 3-4 people that eat an average amount.
All in all, I left feel extremely satisfied with the dishes. It's just what you're looking for when you want Szechuan food. Can't wait to go back!
Honestly there's a lot of great things to say about this place!
It's beautiful inside. I mean like really cute! Hats off to the person who decorated it. The food is delicious. They really live up to their "taste means everything" quote. It's China Town quality with better location and service. And there's plenty of parking available (and you don't have to fight over it like in China town.)
And now the food! The BEST part! Everything we ordered was on point! We got the red dumplings, cumin lamb, mapu tofu, and eggplant love green beans! The red dumplings did not disappoint. And I'm so glad that we had leftover lamb and tofu to take home because it was just as delicious the next day! I couldn't wait to eat it. One of my top favorites was the eggplant love green beans because it's so hard for me to love a vegetable dish and this is definitely one that I love! It has this savory garlic sauce over it that I can eat with anything!
My husband and I loved everything about this place and will sure be returning on a regular!
In the past week, I have been to this place 3 times. I'm not sure anything I say can be a better endorsement than that, but I will try.
Located close to, but not in Rice Village (so you don't have to deal with abysmal parking and traffic), it is in a nice convenient place and has an abundance of parking spots. The owner/waiters are very nice. They do stereotype you a bit (I got chopsticks and a bowl when I went with my Chinese friend, and a plate with a fork when I went with others), but they always give me a bowl and chopsticks when I ask. The place is large, so you usually don't have a long wait, and the food comes out very quickly.
Now to the food: Absolutely incredible if you love spice like me. Favorites so far are the red dumplings, cumin lamb, and the pepper twins chicken. All 3 taste amazing, have large portion sizes, and really have a kick! The also give you bottomless white rice to eat your meal with, and I recommend putting your entrees with rice in the bowl as by the end, the rice has absorbed all the flavors and tastes amazing. The dan dan noodles were ok, but nothing special, and a couple of fish dishes I've tried were also decent.
Even though this isn't the cheapest place, all these dishes are reasonably priced given the sheer quantity and quality of the food you are getting. Overall, definitely a worthy place to visit if you can tolerate the spice!
Came back on 10/25/18 to try a few more dishes! The restaurant was packed and the parking situation wasn't the greatest but the service was still pretty good. Just wished the dishes didn't come out so staggered and far apart cause we were done with 1 before the others came! The first and last dish was spaced almost 45 mins apart!
We tried the:
*Spicy chicken cubes and it was crispy and flavors were fantastic! I would get this dish again! 5/5
*Dried Fried Green Beans was actually a little on the bland side. Could use some more salt and I believe the black beans they put in here. 3/5
*Mama's Pan Fried Pork Dumplings - Crispy and flavorful! Loved them! 5/5
*Cumin Lamb - wow the flavors! The meat was so tender and didn't taste gamey like lamb at all! I would get this again as well! 5/5
*Broccoli Beef was almost in like a sweet and sour sauce. Was good but the other dishes were way better. 3/5
*TMD Soft Bacon - a bit on the fatty side but I love how tender the bacon is. Really good flavors - almost too much picked veggies though so the ratio wasn't correct. Liked it at the other location better 4/5
*Eggplant and Green Beans in Garlic Sauce was as I expected. Flavorful the first time but a bit on the bland side tonight, maybe cause of what we ate with it overpowered the flavors? 3/5
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I'm a huge fan of Cooking Girl and loved their Montrose/Fairview location - just didn't love the wait and the parking situation in Montrose. But this location has a pretty large parking lot and is so convenient! The interior is super modern with the hanging greenery and the wood top tables. It's clean, sleek and even though we came during the lunch rush at noon, we were seated promptly and our food came in good time! So I have to say, if they had any issues with service, they've since fixed them! All the tables were full when we arrived but people were closing their tabs so the wait was only maybe 5 mins during the lunch rush! There was also a large party of 20 that took two large tables so it might've added to the chaos. I don't think there would be any problems during a normal lunch rush.
We ordered the Eggplant and Green Beans with Garlic Sauce - cooked perfect, super flavorful and not too greasy. It was exactly as I expected and I can't think of anything they could do better. The Mongolian Beef had lots of onions in the dish but the beef was cooked well and has a bit of spice to it. The TMD Soft Bacon, I loved at the old location, and it's good here as well. It's super soft and contains the picked veggies underneath. I'm not sure what it is about that little bowl at the Montrose location but the flavors were a bit better - slight difference but still delicious at this location. I can't wait to come back and try other dishes! The Cumin Lamb, the Dumplings and the Dan Dan noodles are on my list for the next time! This place couldn't have done anything better and I'm so glad they added this location so close to the med center! Winning!!!
Came back on 10/25/18 to try a few more dishes! The restaurant was packed and the parking situation wasn't the greatest but the service was still pretty good. Just wished the dishes didn't come out so staggered and far apart cause we were done with 1 before the others came! The first and last dish was spaced almost 45 mins apart!
We tried the:
*Spicy chicken cubes and it was crispy and flavors were fantastic! I would get this dish again! 5/5
*Dried Fried Green Beans was actually a little on the bland side. Could use some more salt and I believe the black beans they put in here. 3/5
*Mama's Pan Fried Pork Dumplings - Crispy and flavorful! Loved them! 5/5
*Cumin Lamb - wow the flavors! The meat was so tender and didn't taste gamey like lamb at all! I would get this again as well! 5/5
*Broccoli Beef was almost in like a sweet and sour sauce. Was good but the other dishes were way better. 3/5
*TMD Soft Bacon - a bit on the fatty side but I love how tender the bacon is. Really good flavors - almost too much picked veggies though so the ratio wasn't correct. Liked it at the other location better 4/5
*Eggplant and Green Beans in Garlic Sauce was as I expected. Flavorful the first time but a bit on the bland side tonight, maybe cause of what we ate with it overpowered the flavors? 3/5
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I'm a huge fan of Cooking Girl and loved their Montrose/Fairview location - just didn't love the wait and the parking situation in Montrose. But this location has a pretty large parking lot and is so convenient! The interior is super modern with the hanging greenery and the wood top tables. It's clean, sleek and even though we came during the lunch rush at noon, we were seated promptly and our food came in good time! So I have to say, if they had any issues with service, they've since fixed them! All the tables were full when we arrived but people were closing their tabs so the wait was only maybe 5 mins during the lunch rush! There was also a large party of 20 that took two large tables so it might've added to the chaos. I don't think there would be any problems during a normal lunch rush.
We ordered the Eggplant and Green Beans with Garlic Sauce - cooked perfect, super flavorful and not too greasy. It was exactly as I expected and I can't think of anything they could do better. The Mongolian Beef had lots of onions in the dish but the beef was cooked well and has a bit of spice to it. The TMD Soft Bacon, I loved at the old location, and it's good here as well. It's super soft and contains the picked veggies underneath. I'm not sure what it is about that little bowl at the Montrose location but the flavors were a bit better - slight difference but still delicious at this location. I can't wait to come back and try other dishes! The Cumin Lamb, the Dumplings and the Dan Dan noodles are on my list for the next time! This place couldn't have done anything better and I'm so glad they added this location so close to the med center! Winning!!!
I honestly LOVE this place. Not sure what is.. the good food? Good service? The fact that it's not another restaurant in Chinatown? All of the above.
Only been here twice, but I'd come a lot more often if I lived closer/actually lived in Houston. Portions are huge and flavors are good. There's enough servers, and the restaurant isn't terribly large, that it's easy to flag someone down if you need anything. Also, their chongqing chicken is SO GOOD. Don't know how to explain it, but the chicken is fried so well.
My only minor complaint: not spicy enough. My spice tolerance is pretty high and I wish it was spicier. Also, the English translations on the menu is pretty odd. i.e. chongqing chicken is spicy cubed chicken... took me a while to know what it was referring to.
This place used to be Sushi Rock (the most disgusting Japanese/Thai food ever!). Went at noon on Friday, the place wasn't very busy. Plenty of parking spots. Promptly seated, the menu was a simple 1 page long (still soft opening). As expected on the menu were the post popular dishes from the other locations. We ordered hot diving fish (5/5)- slices of boiled (or steamed) flounder in mild soy sauce and hot pepper. The flavor of mild fish goes really well with mild flavor soy sauce. Mongolian beef (5/5)- beef slices stir fry with onion & hot pepper. It's really good but reminded me of beef pepper from any other Chinese restaurant (but better taste). Mapo tofu (4/5)- silky tofu cubes in a thick sauce. Very mild (not spicy) but nothing to write home about.
Service can be a bit more attentive but again this was still soft opening. What I always like about cooking girl is the speed of the food coming out from the kitchen after putting orders in. Always super fast if you are in a hurry to go back to work. We were in and out within 40 minutes. Will absolutely be my go to when I'm in a mood for Chinese food.
-Red dumplings
-Lobster tail and jelly
-Hot diving fish
-Colorful beef
-Ginger love fish
-Mapo tofu£¨with ground pork£©
I really enjoyed my dinner time in cooking girl. The food is excellent and the decoration is pretty nice. The cooking girl offers authentic chinese Sezchwan cuisine, so a lot of food is spicy. If you couldn't eat too much spicy, you can tell them to adjust the spicy level to even not spicy. They said the soft opening menu is temporary, and they keep updating the menu so that customers can try more food. I will definitely come back to try other food. Btw, they have the other location in sugarland.
My new favorite Chinese in med center bellaire area. Excellent quality and as good as most of the restaurants in Asia town bellaire ave. I only wish they had more and smaller- less expensive appetizers.
we really love the food here.it's tasty and yummy
! We will definitely come again! Love it!
Ordered dan dan noodles, steak pineapple fried rice, orange beef and got a free broccoli beef. Taste fresh and piping hot. The broccoli beef was actually an accident, server keyed the wrong order. I think the owner came to our table and apologized and gave us the broccoli beef for free.
Five stars for the owner personally coming to our table. Will come back again.
So as other reviewers noted - this is definitely Szechuan style cooking, so come prepared for some spicy entrees. I saw the Yelp reviews and gave it a try tonight. First, the service is slow - they are clearly still figuring it out. It is a recently opened restaurant, so try to get past this.
Second, the food is spicy - and if you don't know what you are looking for, well just try something. I asked for a recommendation with either chicken or beef, and my waiter recommended pork. Language was an obstacle, so I dove it and threw caution to the wind.
I ordered the Red Dumpling (wondering why it was red) and the Magical Beef or something like that. (OK - Colorful Beef). My waiter wanted me to know it was cubed. I don't know why but it seemed important to him. The red dumplings are red, because they are served In a red peppery broth. They brought rice with the dumplings, so, well, I ate it with the dumplings - and between the rice, the sauce and the dumplings, they were little balls of amazing but surprisingly spicy.
My Magical Beef (or whatever) was listed as 2-pepper. Be warned - I am not one of these "Everything is 3-pepper volcano or it isn't worth eating" - I like spicy as a complement. However, this beef was freaking HOT - but in an incredible way. I'd recommend if you are nervous about spicy-ness, aim low and build up.
Again, I strongly recommend this place. If service were better and if the menu had any real descriptions, it would be unstoppable. PS - Most of the audience was Asian - and they seemed to be enjoying their meals immensely so I take that as a real sign of authenticity. I should have just asked people who knew what they were doing for recommendations!
As I am a regular of their Sugar Land location, I am more than happy to see they opened in Houston! Their new menu is authentic Sichuan homestyle with polished details. The interior decoration is earthy and welcoming. So easy to taking great photos!
I will be updating this once I get on my computer. It's the same cooking girl as the sugarland location. I ordered the spicy cube chicken. It was just right. The portion was good and it had the right amount of spice and crunch. I plan to come back to try their other dishes.
Awesome!!! Cooking Girl is definitely a must visit restaurant in Houston.
I got their WhatAChicken, Yellow Stone Pork, TMD shrimp, and Ingenious Fried Lamb, and all of them are amazing! That is a flavor you will go again and try their next dish.
Highly recommend!
Stumbled upon this place today. The food did not disappoint! The hot diving fish and red noodles are amazing.
Love this place. My teenager boys' favor food now!
Great location. Close to Rice and Medical center.
When you walk in, you notice how unique the establishment is. It is culturally decorated and looks very nice. I had the orange chicken with white rice and it was very good. Enjoyed the experience and interested to see what other good dishes they have to offer.
We love this place. At first I was sad to see Sushi Rock go. But I found that Cooking Girl has a unique, spicy take on Chinese food. Everything was amazing. Great sauces. Can't wait to go back, though at prime time, don't be surprised if there's a line to get a table. The word is out!
So glad to have these guys in the neighborhood. Don't always need to make the drive to Bellaire. Place is always packed but got a reservation and we were seated when we entered the door. Owner came by the table several times apologizing that the meal might take a little longer than usual due to all the big groups there that night. We didn't have any issues with that. Recommend the dumplings in the red sauce , green beans meet eggplants and the ginger fish. It's spicy and we had them hold the peppercorns - will be returning often. Also a plus is that they allow byob. So enjoyed the meal with a good bottle of wine from home.
I went in for the soft opening...and then went back again the same week. And again each of the next 2 weeks. I'd have gone back more often but it was getting embarrassing. I've been 6 times in 2 months...and I don't eat lunch out all that often.
Cooking girl blows Mala Szechuan and Spicy girl out of the water. Pepper twins is also excellent which is expected because it's the same owner. I still prefer cooking girl. Its. So. Good. So good.
I haven't even explored the menu because the dumplings and the millionaire beef are so good I'm not even tempted by other things.
This is one of my favorite authentic Szechuan cuisine restaurant. The meals were served quickly. Waiter and waitress are very friendly and good at taking of the guests. The owner is very warm and accommodating. Every dish was properly prepared and tasty. My favorite dishes are whatAchichen, and hot diving fish. Will come back again.
So yummy!!! Not related to any of the other Chinese restaurants in the area, only the one in SL. The food and service are both awesome. They start you off with a bowl of Asian chips that are okay, nothing super special, but not bad. We got the jelly noodles. These are my favorite. So flavorful! I will say that this is more of an acquired taste, so not a recommendation for everyone. We also got the beef noodle soup with rice noodles - very yummy. We got a few other dishes that looked great, but I did not try. Overall, great experience and we will be back!
So yummy!!! Not related to any of the other Chinese restaurants in the area, only the one in SL. The food and service are both awesome. They start you off with a bowl of Asian chips that are okay, nothing super special, but not bad. We got the jelly noodles. These are my favorite. So flavorful! I will say that this is more of an acquired taste, so not a recommendation for everyone. We also got the beef noodle soup with rice noodles - very yummy. We got a few other dishes that looked great, but I did not try. Overall, great experience and we will be back!
Well, we went to see Crazy Rich Asians and so were dying for some delicious Chinese food after. So glad we found Cooking Girl! Red Dumplings to die for, brightly cooked veggies and the Diving Fish was just a revelation. Everything fresh, sauced to perfection, and spicy as hell ( which I love!) Although this was my first time there, I understand this is a new place for them, a stand alone building with 1 big dining room, brightly lit, clean, and not overly decorated. But you know you are probably in the right place when the people sitting next to you are speaking Chinese and one of them is reading a Chinese book! Too bad I was visiting from out of town, this restaurant would be my go to Every time.
Soft opening. We had the jelly appetizer, twin pepper chicken and the string beans and eggplant. The chicken dish leaves you mouth numb so beware. Everything was tasty and service was very good.
We love this place! It's only been open like a week and we've been three times. The green beans are absolutely delicious. As is the Mongolian Beef, and he General Tsos chicken! Highly recommend.
I'm so happy they opened a location close to the medical center. It's delicious, you should definitely try the spicy chicken cubes!
The food is almost exactly the same as Pepper Twins. And just as good. VERY convenient to all those who work in the med center.
Just had dinner at Cooking Girl on Holcomb for the second time in two weeks. It was awesome -- I am so excited that this restaurant is nearby. I had the red oil dumplings, hot boiled fish, dry fried green beans and my daughter ordered the orange chicken. The dumplings were tender and delicious. The dry fried greens were awesome as well, but the hot boiled fish stole the show. It was loaded with fish, vegetables, and wood ear. It was spicy but not overly so, and the peppercorns were present but did not overpower the dish. The service is friendly and attentive, and the food came out very quickly. What more could one ask for..
Highly recommend this new opened Chinese restaurant, beautiful and clean environment, friendly staff and most importantly tasty food. Our favorite dish is Cumin lamb... Mapo tofu also tastes good... Ginger love fish is my 2-years old daughter's favorite! A good place to share memories with your family and colleagues. Definitely will go back to try other dishes!
We tried the ginger love fish and eggplant love green dishes, they were both excellent. We will definitely return here!
Great food great service! Ignore all the entitled reviewers on here complaining that the place isn't perfect only a few weeks into opening. The food is delicious and they honored our requests for modifications like less salty or spicy. The eggplant green beans are tender and tasty and all the fish is great. The only negative was that the tofu was fried instead of silken, which they told us it was. Still yummy but we prefer non-fried.
This is my favorite Szechuan place in the medical center area. Ginger loves Fish and fried chicken cubes are my picks.
I'm so excited about this new restaurant. Another yummy spot in Rice/Med center. It was highly recommended to us by a "foodie". We left stuffed and happy. OMG the food was delicious and spicy spicy spicy. If you are not sure about your spicy level, request the chili sauce on the side instead of together with the dish.
I'm so happy to have delicious Szechuan cuisine so close to home! The interior is fresh and airy, and the service prompt and friendly. I had the milk tea and Mapo Tofu. The milk tea was the perfect amount of sweetness and the Mapo Tofu was rich and had a great depth of flavor. I definitely will be coming back to try more dishes!
The menu is not unlike a typical Chinese restaurant tailored to Americans. I was disappointed as first because this is supposed to be a Sichuan restaurant. However once the food arrived, I changed my opinion immediately. The food taste great in part because it is cooked using high quality Sichuan spice. This is the best Chinese restaurant outside the Chinatown.
Incredibly tasty! It definitely should be ranked as the top 1 Chinese restaurant in Texas Medical Center, they saved my time in finding a stress relief restaurant after a busy day. I really enjoyed the Ingenious Fried Lamb and TMD Shrimp.
Our family loves it! Delicious dishes - we ordered the red dumplings, salt pepper shrimp, ma po tofu, spicy chicken cubes, hot diving fish, painting soup, and eggplant love green bean. The ambience was nice and the staff was friendly and accommodating. The food came out quickly and we also ordered extra to go. We can't wait to go back and try more dishes when the full menu comes out soon!
An instant favorite! I loved everything we ordered. The service was fast, and the servings were adequate. The place looked great as well. I also like the ambience of the place (plus points for playing Yiruma!). I am definitely coming back for more.
By Yelp
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