"Upon entering this mysterious upscale restaurant I find myself in a place at ease with the earth. There is definately good feng-shui here, a well balanced placement of furnitures and decorations that secretely extracted a radiant smile out of me..." www.houston-foodcritic.com
"GiGi's is a new chic Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar." www.gochgazette.com
"Gigi says she's serving up dishes from all over Asia. You can see the influence of Executive Chef Junnajet Hurapan, a native of Thailand, on the menu: Offerings include Thai dishes such as spicy tom-yum soup, beef satay , pad Thai , Massaman lamb curry and Panang beef. There's also pho , the Vietnamese noodle soup, and Chinese favorites such as sesame chicken. You can even order some of the popular dishes served at Hunan — try the firecracker prawns and the summit delight (chicken wrapped in asparagus)." www.houstonpress.com
"A personal tour given to me by Ms. Huang on Friday revealed a new restaurant that seems deceivingly small, but it can seat up to 200 guests. Upon entering the restaurant from the sidewalk on the Del Frisco's side, you find yourself in a square bar area with a view of the glass-enclosed kitchen. To get to the main dining room, called the Cherry Blossom Room, you must walk down a red-carpeted hallway past ten dining tables on the right, each in its own private stall, much like the diminutive retail spaces found in an Asian spice market. Curtains will be hung to privatize these dining nooks so that diners will not be "on display" as other guests are escorted to their tables in the main dining room." - www.cleverley.com
A user ( JIMMY N. Houston, TX ) at Yelp.com wrote:
By now I should know better then to try out restaurants that has barely opened for less then two weeks. 8 out of 10 times when I do try a newbie to the Houston restaurant scene, I get disappointed. At most times its the service, which is understandable because they are trying to iron out the kinks. Other times it's the slow wait. However on this occasion it's the food itself.
Since it barely opened to the public on Chinese New Year's I figured it would be best to come on a slower time. Therefore I chose to eat there this past Monday around 3:00. I'm kind of glad it's open throughout the day because I tend to eat late lunches. When I came in through the street entrance (located next to Del Frisco's) I thought it was closed. All I could see was the bar from the outside. As I walked in the General Manager stepped out to greet me and asked if I needed something. So I asked if the restaurant was opened. While asking this I did see Gigi herself sitting at the bar eating and giving a confirmed nod while the manager said "yes it is" to my question. Gigi Huang, the restaurant's majority owner and owner of Hunans, was very inviting with her smile towards me. The GM proceeded to then give me a short tour of the restaurant. He also pointed out the thousands of imported Cherry Blossoms that hang from the rafters of the aptly named "Cherry Blossom Room". That room, which also served as the main dining room, is quite small yet subtly chic... for some reason reminding me of the interior of a Rice loft. Surprisingly the restaurant can seat up to 300 people. I also saw the entrance from the mall area which I didn't know at first. Since there are no store sign displayed yet, your likely to pass by it. I'm pretty sure that has now changed. Once seated, I noticed I was the only one in the CB Room. Understandable since this place is new, it's a Monday, and I am eating late for lunch. One perk was that I received all the attention and had remarkable service. So it's kind of hard to critique on service when no one's there.
That day I had cravings for dumplings. And when I looked at the menu, my choice in dumplings was scarce (more-like 3 to 4 choices). I felt I was misled here, I assumed that they would offer an array of dumplings since the "dumpling bar" was part of the name of the restaurant. I don't know what I was thinking, it's actually the name of the bar area, my mistake. Anyways, after scrutinizing the menu left and right I ordered the shu mai dumplings, pan fried dumplings, and Honk Kong Fried rice. Each dumpling served 5 pieces and was a bit pricier then your typical dumpling joint; yet the Asian in me couldn't really enjoy it. It was different from other dumplings where they crisp the outside wrapping of the shu mai... honestly I didn't like the taste nor texture of it. Call me old fashion, but I like mine steamed. The pan fried wasn't that great either, it seemed overcooked leaving it somewhat chewy. When I asked to confirm if it was indeed overcooked to my server, she stated that's how it looks and seemingly prepared. She kindly asked me if I wanted to take it back, but I declined and just stuck with my order. The Hong Kong Fried rice interestingly had cashews with chinese sausage. It was okay, something I wouldn't necessarily order again though.
Aside from those morsels, their menu is a merging of dishes from the Indochina region and Hunan cuisine. It's very interesting to see Pho, Pad Thai or Lobster in curry sauce on a menu. But it could work, even though they are pricey. Then again, this is in the Galleria and it is a white table cloth establishment. Well like all other restaurants I'll give it another try before determining whether they win or lose my business. Next time it won't be for the dumplings though!
I also want to add that I did like one thing, and that was the Jack fruit creme brulee. Had bits of Jack fruit mixed in and actually tasted great!
NAME: Viviana
SOURCE: www.b4-u-eat.com/
SUBMITTED : 3/12/2008 LAST VISIT WAS : 02-29-08
FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW : Strong points: none.
Weak Points: No Lunch menu, non-authentic asian food, Pricey $$, Small portions, uneducated staff (didn't know what hoisen sauce).
Specialties: none
Entrees: small and tasteless. Don't get the pho (the broth tastes like water and soy sauce)
Ambiance: This was the only decent thing.
You can find this restaurant located here:
5085 Westheimer #B2515
Houston, TX 77056
(713) 629-8889
Note: www.GigisDumplingBar.com is not an official web site for Gigi's Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar. This website is my way of reorganizing the internet and to provide useful information to the internet searchers world wide. The testimonials above are found online and 100% accurate.
Advertisement:
Is your boss not paying you enough?
visit Fair Labor and Standard Act to learn your rights.
Email me HoustonSEOexpert@gmail.com if you need my top of the line Search Engine Marketing services.