14 Casual Asian Restaurants You Must Try

2/23/2017

Korean restaurant in Korea

Hey everyone, it's Claire~!

Today I want to share the 14 casual Asian restaurant that I like in Houston! Also if you didn't know, I always link the website on each title of the restaurants ^_^

Let's get started!!

1. Osaka Japanese Restaurant
I love this restaurant in midtown! I've been here almost five times, and every time I went, I received an awesome service. Even though you go alone, their service is the same, even better! They check on you several times whether you need anything which is great. They have side of booths, tables, and on the left side, they have more private seats.

The food is great. They have two menus, lunch and main. I normally order the same thing which is the tempura udon. Since udon here is really good, the taste makes me want to go back. Their sushi is great as well. I think this place is for both casual as well as date night. They also give the tempera (in the middle) which is always on the house (& it's good, not too oily!)

For parking, you can park in front of the restaurant or other shared public parking spaces!

2. Azuma Sushi & Robata Bar
This place is a nice sushi place! The seats are booth structured and tables. If I remember correctly, the seats were a bit low compared to the height of the table, which I felt more cozy. They have a lot of staff, and they are all friendly. The food we ordered were really delicious, we ended up ordering another plate of dongatsu (LOL)! The restaurant is quiet during the dinner as well, which I really liked!

3. Ono Poke
The popular "poke" bowl! This restaurant is in midtown, normally busy!

Once you go in, there are tables on the side, and they have have outdoor patio for larger groups. The top bowl is large, and the bottom one is regular size. The main difference between these two is the amount of sashimi. When you order, you can either make a customized bowl (you pick toppings, sauce, and the rice) or you can order the bowl they sell. Below are both customized.

I think they give you a lot. The price is around $11-15 which is not cheap; but if you are hungry and love this type of food, I guess the price is worth!

You can also see them making your bowl, which I think makes it even better.

4. Mai's Restaurant
OMG, I love this Vietnamese restaurant!! The main reason is because they open till 3-4am. They close on Sundays. My favorite dish other than pho & spring rolls is the simmered shrimp with rice. Their meat/steak is delicious as well as the vermicelli bowls! When you order pho, the portion is a lot, and the bowls are a bit pricey compared to Pho Saigon.

This place is also casual & date night type of a restaurant.
Right when you come in, there's a full bar so you can sit there if you want to. They also have upstairs (but I haven't been up yet - I think it's for private events?) They mainly have 4 seats tables, and 5-6 booths are on the right side.

Because they open so late, I see police officers coming here to eat (late shift). I thought it was funny.
Parking is spacious, and the place overall is clean & nice. Service time used to be a bit slow, but now I think it got a bit faster. Servers are friendly.

5. Sushi 9
All-you-can-eat restaurant in Katy! I personally like to go here during dinner time (starting from 5pm) then lunch. Although lunch is cheaper, the menu is limited as well. I love red tuna sashimi, but they don't have that during lunch.

Basically, you go in, and start ordering off the menu until you feel like you are gonna throw up (just kidding, eat until you are full). One tip I want to share is to order sashimi first, eat them as much, and then order other sushi, udon, or meat. The reason is because if you eat sushi or other food first, it will fill you up really fast, which then there is no point for you to go there. They also have 4 flavors of ice cream. I haven't tried the chocolate, but I know their vanilla, green tea, & strawberry flavors are all super delicious!

Parking is easy to find since it's in the plaza. This place is around 30 min from my house, but I still go for that all-you-can-eat service. They recently expanded their store, which looks nicer and more spacious. They don't have "booth" seating, but their tables are pretty comfortable!

6. Nidda Thai Cuisine
Many of you might not know this place, but you should definitely try! Don't judge the appearance of the building/entrance. Their pad thai is seriously so delicious (except the part where it's a bit salty - I think it's because they grill with a lot of sauce). Their lunch time is from 11 - 2:45pm, and usually during this time, it is very busy. If you want to to-go, I suggest you order online first, and then pick up. Since they are so busy, if you go in and order a to-go, you will end up waiting almost 30min. If you are dining in, it's better. They give you this soup and baby spring rolls before the meal. The soup is so good, I really want to know what it's called.

The service is not too bad considering how busy they are during lunch time. There is no wait when you go in so that's good. I think they also have dinner time, but I've never tried yet. I think it's better during lunch time since you get the lunch menu & prices are cheaper than normal.

Parking isn't bad, there's a lot of available spaces in the front! This place is located in Montrose area.

pad thai with chicken

7. Gyu-Kaku Japanese Barbecue
Yes, a bbq restaurant! This place is good for big groups; For three or less, they will lead to you a private & quiet section. Parking tend to be a bit picky, you will probably have to street park.

I think the best time for this place is the happy hour. I get full really fast, so the portion is ok for me, but if you are a person who enjoys buffet type of setting, this is not the best place for you. The portion is small so the more you order, the expensive it gets. The reason it's better for big groups is because they have several bundle meal choice for 3-6 people which falls under the reasonable price category.

8. Oishii
Cheap sushi restaurant in midtown! Their price is so low, that if you want to eat a lot, I think this is the best place to go. The taste is just regular, not too special, but it's not bad.

I seriously think they should change their plate color into white. Normally the plate should make the food standout, but I feel like it does go along, but white plates would be better. They also sell beer. The restaurant itself is not too big compared to the amount of people that come in.

Parking can be bad, because last time I had to park several blocks away on the street. The place closes at 10pm, so if you go anytime (like 1h before it closes), you will have a parking space right in the front.

9. RA Sushi
It can be casual or it can be good friend's night or couples' night type of place.
It's located in City Centre & it's on the 2nd floor.
Once you go in, you will see a lot of high tables in the front, a full bar on the left, lower tables at the back along with booths for large groups.

The cocktails & sushi is great. The interior is dark so if you don't like that type of setting, you can just go early. I think dinner time is great, but happy hour (HH) is better. We ordered a LOT last time during HH including several cocktails, but the total wasn't as bad as we thought. I think it's definitely a great place to go and have fun with friends!

Since it's in City Centre, you park at the garage.

10. H-Mart
Houston's H-Mart not only sell grocery, they also have several restaurants inside. There are actually a lot to choose from, and most of them are really good. Although Korean food in Korea tastes way better, I'd say the ones they sell are 90% close. Always busy, sometimes the tables are full.

The first two were actually really good, but the chicken is "okay". I say this because the chicken doesn't really come with a lot of skin, there's much more bone. Normally in Korea the chickens comes with tons of skin, so I feel like they should do the same. The taste is decent; I didn't really like the spicy one, the regular one is better!

left is the spicy garlic & right is kimbap (rice + veggies)

seafood veggie noodles with side dishes

Regular & spicy chicken from Toreore, side dish is the radish

11. AKA Sushi House
Another sushi spot in midtown! We ordered the sashimi plate that comes with various types of sashimi. It was really good, but the portion was too small compared to the price. The place is really busy so you should definitely make a reservation!

I didn't really like this place that much because the booths and tables are close & seems really crowded over all. Since it was very busy, the service wasn't as good. I might try next time during lunch hours (to see if it's better).

12. Republic Diner
I actually wrote a post about this place, click here to read.
(I don't want to repeat the same information I already have written, so if you're curious, go check it out!)

Food was delicious overall, and service was fast!

top is japchae (fried transparent noodles with veggies) & bottom is kimchi fried rice

13. Cafe 101
I used to work here making 100+ bubble tea!

Anyways, it's located in University of Houston - Main campus. Another one is in Bellaire, I heard it was better!
Asian-fusion restaurant. They used to have a LOT of students & regular customers when I worked there; however, as they upgraded and a lot of changes have been made, I feel like there aren't a lot as they used to have.

I still come here often because of their specialty drinks & some food that I like!
If you never tried, their menu might scare you off because they have a lot to choose from.
My favorite is the kimchi fried udon, kimchi seafood udon soup, kimchi fried rice with meat (sorry I just love kimchi); for speciality drinks, I like their fresh fruit juice (which doesn't contain any sugar) and ice milk drink, blue, blue baby...!!!

The parking is always full. I know this place is more popular to UH students, but I feel like if they want other customers outside of the college to come, they should make a bigger parking lot.

rice with meat sauce + egg, kimchi fried noodles, & mango flavored ice cream soda

14. Jinya Ramen
Ramen place in between of downtown & midtown!
I personally don't really like eating ramen outside, but I thought I'd give it a try!

We began with a great start. Our server was friendly. We sat in the booth. In the middle are just long tables where everyone can sit.

The appetizer, octopus balls, were so delicious! The flakes on top went well with the sauce & the balls! They were served hot which was even better. Then, we ordered the ramen. For me, it was just okay, but not as good. I think it was the noodles; I prefer it more soft, but these were a bit hard & the soup was really heavy. I would want to go back to try other appetizers as well.