Yum Yum Cha Cafe

10/14/09

Yum Yum Yeah

by JSiobhan at Citysearch

I love, love, love everything here. . . but my favorite is the Sesame Balls. The service is outstandng! My husband and I dine here every week!

• Pros: Excellent service
• Cons: Parking

09/10/09

LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

by gizelled at Citysearch

I have to disagree with some of the negative comments on here. I've tried dim sum at various places around town but Yum Yum Cha is definitely a family favorite and we've been going here for years. We've never experienced bad or rude service and we are Asian so I find it completely ignorant that someone would insinuate that race would be a reason for rudeness.

The staff is small but they go out of their way. The food is really delicious and consistently so.

Our favorites include: Shrimp and Chive cake, Shrimp stuffed eggplant and Chrysanthemum tea!

• Pros: Everything!
• Cons: A little small...

03/30/09

Worst experience in worldwide dining

by Ontarget at Citysearch

I hosted a family meal on Sunday afternoon, 3/29/2009 at this quaint establishment. One of our orders was for the pork and peanut dumplings, a highly regarded item per numerous reviews. My daughter ate her's then alerted me to a maggot (yes, a fly's immature larva) that was on her plate.

I notified the front of the house staff, received a week excuse that this was instead a caterpillar (this was better?), but my years in law enforcement qualifies me to know the difference. We were given the opportunity to leave without a check.

I notified the City and a quick inspection this morning, 3/30, turned up minor violations, which could be expected due to horrific nature of the Sunday experience. I leave it to your imagination where offending foodstuff went before the inspector arrived.

Just a note. Our family traveled China extensively in 2007, never experiencing a problem with food handling, preparation or safety. It is sad that we discover that Houston fell flat on it's face at the heart of such a vibrant area of our community.

• Pros: Hot Tea?
• Cons: Lack of Food Safety

03/21/09

Unbelievable!

by feedme123 at Citysearch

Did this place switch owners? I have not been in a while but wanted to treat some friends to dim sum. The five of us walked in and I immediately see four empty tables and one guy sitting at a table for six. Well, the owner refused to put two tables together. We offered to sit at a table for four but were refused. The waitress said that was the owner's orders but said she can take our names and give us a call when a table opens up. Needless to say, we left and none of us will ever return again.

• Pros: Used to be a great place
• Cons: Service - wish I can give it zero stars

03/10/09

Could have been really good

by vivacleo at Citysearch

The location is great since it's not in the traffic mess of most Dim Sum places. There's normally no crowds. We had three bad experiences before we just had enough. All three were hair incidents. One was a short black hair in the cup of soda. A sip hadn't even been taken and the waitress gave us a dirty look. Then we found hair in our shu mai. And the last time they were so rude to us when we walked in, probably because we pointed out the previous hair incidents, we just left. It would have been awesome to have a dim sum place in Rice Village but the food isn't good enough to keep patronizing such rude people and mediocre food hygiene.

• Pros: Location
• Cons: Service

03/05/09

Remarkably Flavorful, Authentic Dim Sum

by phaedracook at Citysearch

When I stepped into this Rice Village hole in the wall, I had some trepidation that I had stumbled on a place that serves dumbed-down dim sum for the uninitiated. Boy, was I wrong about that. My friends and I ordered a table full of food, and there was NOTHING on the table that I didn't like. The almond rice cakes were light and fluffy. The turnip cakes actually had flavor and tasted like (gasp) turnip! Everywhere else I've had these, they tasted like bland taro root. The egg custard tarts had a bit of crispiness to the outsides that was a very nice compliment to the creamy, sweet, eggy filing.

Service was not great, but not bad either. Prices were extremely reasonable.

We WILL be going back.

• Pros: Delicious food, lots of variety, go with friends to share!
• Cons: Service and atmosphere nothing to write home about.

03/04/09

Rude Rude Rude!

by ksangyay at Citysearch

The staff and who I think is the owner (the tired-looking lady who never smiles) are extremely, painfully rude! I've been here several times and I've learned that the staff is not the friendliest, but I've just accepted it because of my craving for dim sum. This past experience, however, was the worst- enough to never eat there again no matter how desperate my craving for dim sum is. The staff seemed to be decently friendly to the other patrons, but for our table (maybe because we are Asian...?) the staff would roll their eyes whenever we asked for more hot oil or some other hot sauce! They would obviously ROLL their EYES!!! We tried to be polite, thanking them whenever they served us, but their cold hearts would just reject it. I guess the restaurant just makes too much money and wants to slow down the business. We've never received four-star service to begin with, but this was the final straw. NEVER AGAIN! The food is average... but not tasty enough to trump the horrific service the restaurant provides. All my friends and I will now boycott this hell hole of a place.

• Pros: open in the evenings
• Cons: service, food, ambience- everything!

02/26/09

Decent dim sum when you can't get to Bellaire

by houston_aggie at Citysearch

I tried this place on a Friday afternoon for lunch. They have a little flipbook with all the dim sum choices and photos. Really helpful if you're a first-timer. I must say, the portions and sizes of the dim sum pieces are quite small for the price in comparison to what you get at Ocean Palace or Kim Son. You can definitely count on this place to satisfy your dim sum craving if you are too lazy to make it out to Bellaire or you want it on a weekday. Otherwise, it's much more worth it to endure the hustle and bustle of chinetown for the real deal.

• Pros: dim sum at any time
• Cons: parking, small portions for the price

02/19/09

A Must Have Experience

by dimsumlovers at Citysearch

I absolutely love this place. I have eaten there MANY times. Their food is always hot and cooked to perfection. My daughter and I frequent the place so often that the staff knows us. I have been out of town for some time now and I can truly say that I really miss this restaurant. I have not been able to find another dim sum place like it. The owner and staff are so personable. My favorite dishes are: Turnip Cakes, Shrimp Eggplant, Chicken Feet, Fried Shrimp Dumpling/Balls, Ginger Tripe and Vegetables. I can't wait until my next visit!!!!!!!

• Pros: Great ,hot food
• Cons: Parking

01/10/09

Portion too small even for dim sum

by joannmeirong at Citysearch

The food is fresh but the portion is too small. The place is very tiny. There are way too many dim sum places are much better. I will not go back.

• Pros: Fresh
• Cons: Selection, portion, parking, ambience