888 Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Houston

I've ordered and received delivery from 888 on Wayside multiple times. Never ever had a problem, food was great, drivers were friendly, and I always tipped well.

However, today was much different and I don't think I'll be giving them my business again as a result. I put in an online order like I usually do, it said it'd take 90 mins, which wasn't an issue. Though with the amount of times I've ordered (easily 15-20) it's usually never THAT long.

By the time it was an hour and a half later, I called and spoke to a woman on the phone asking about the order. She put me on hold for almost 5 minutes, and told me it would be there shortly. I said thank you. She was honestly rude and very short.

30 minutes later it still hadn't come. I called again, the same woman answered, and I asked again. She put me on hold for 5 minutes again. Eventually a young man answered and I just asked for a refund. Because at that point it had been over 2 hours and I just didn't care for the food anymore. At that point I got a call which ended up being the delivery driver saying he'd be here soon.

At this point we don't even want the food anymore and just want our money back. At this point I was tired of doing with it, to which my girlfriend wanted to talk with them. So she did. She asked for a refund and was put on hold 2 different times for about 10 minutes total. During that time the food arrives.

She said she wanted her money back, to which the woman she was speaking to (supposedly the manager) said that they wanted the food back to do so. We couldn't send the food back as the delivery driver had already left in the amount of times we were put on hold. The woman offered a partial discount on a future meal, which at this point we don't even want to give our business to this location ever again. So we denied, and asked for a refund, to which she insisted on us calling our bank to charge back the total, rather than give us a refund. It went back and forth for awhile until we gave up as it was clear that they weren't going to cooperate.

I'm unsure of what's going on at this location, but with some of the reviews it's clear that there's an issue with staff and/or management as of late.

Save yourself the time and stress. Go to a different restaurant, or at least a...

Up until today 2/4/2023 this place has always had a 5 star rating from me ever since they were at the Woodbridge location. Everything from take out, delivery, and dine in. But today was just something else. As usual I pick up my parents to take them out to eat. Today was our favorite place 888. Everything is perfect until my personal plate arrived. Smallest portion I’ve ever seen from that place. Been ordering the exact same thing ever since I could remember. I tell the server which was top notch, he proceeds to tell me he will tell the girl in charged. She comes and asked if everything was ok and I said I’ve been ordering the same plate for years and asked why was the portion so small. She says that’s the way it always is, always has been (lie) I told her if that’s the portion size then I don’t want it and we will just share the rest of the food we ordere. Which was a lot. I get my tab and the plate was on there. I asked the server to call the manager and he tells me that she’s not coming. I then walk to the counter and ask her if she can get it removed and she tells me just because you didn’t like the portion doesn’t mean we can take it off. My exact words where either you remove it and I pay for my whole ticket and gratuity or I don’t pay for anything and you can call the cops and I’ll sit here and wait for them. She’s like no don’t worry about I’ll remove it but I’m gonna make the server pay for it. I replied are you seriously gonna make him pay for it? She said yes. I have my father call the waiter and explain that she’s gonna take it from his pay so that I’m still gonna pay for the gratuity and the ticket without my plate on it. I give him an extra $40 to show that it’s not about the money, it’s about there lack of respect for there customers. The waiter is happy as hell and even though I still paid for my plate through him it felt alot better giving him the extra money he deserved and still paid for the gratuity on the ticket. That girl that was in charged needs to realize that instead of removing the $13 plate and keeping a loyal customer happy just cost them a good loyal customer that always tips very generously and spends lots of money there. Each time we go our tab is over $100 oh well. Off to find a replacement...

"If a customer is paying $35 for their meal, the least you could do is give them decent white rice to go with it."

I don't normally leave reviews, and I feel sort of bad leaving this one because I used to LOVE this restaurant (when it was at its old location).

I ordered the whole fish in hot bean paste with white rice for delivery. I remember this dish fondly, so I had pretty high hopes. I knew it wouldn't be as spicy as it used to be, nothing here is anymore 😩. . .however, it was really salty (and I love salt). The tail wasn't really cooked, I guess it didn't fit in the pan. I suppose for most people that wouldn't be much of an issue, but I like to eat the tail when it's cooked properly/crunchy and it was kinda strange to see the tail looking so raw. I suppose y'all need a bigger pan.

That being said, the part that ruined the meal for me and made it so disappointing was the white rice. I remember this restaurant always having perfect white rice. I don't know what happened, but my rice was WAY overcooked. It was mush. I suspect it was a cheaper kind of rice too, but it was hard to even see how large the grains were since they were disintegrated.

If a customer is paying $35 for a dish, the least you could do is give them decent white rice to go with it.

I hope this review helps to improve whatever happened yesterday evening in that kitchen.

2 stars, because what I got was no where near worth it for the price and messing up something as basic as steamed white rice (and so badly) seems like a rookie mistake. It was visible that the rice was mush, it should have never even been served to...