Arco Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Houston

EVER SINCE I WAS BORN UNTIL NOW, I HAVE NEVER EVER MET ADULT THAT DOING CUSTOMER SERVICE THIS BAD! I UNDERSTAND THAT BEING AN IMMIGRANT IS HARD BUT ENGLISH IS THE SECOND LANGUAGE THAT IS REQUIRED IN EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY IN THIS WORLD, AND YET IF YOU COULDN'T SPEAK IT WELL, AT LEAST HAVE A SMILE ON YOUR FACE WHEN SERVING THE FOOD, PEOPLE COME TO HAVE A GOOD TIME AND MONEY IS EARNED NOT GIVEN FREE, THUS WHEN THEY SPENT IT ON YOU, IT SHOUD BE WORTH IT. I HAVE BEEN A WAITRESS MYSELF, HAVE BEEN TIPPED WITH ONLY ONE PENNY, BUT AT LEAST I KNOW I SERVED THEM WITH THE BEST SERVICE TO ANYBODY ELSE. I DIDN'T EVEN GET GREETED WHEN I STEP INTO THE RESTAURANT, WAITED 10 MINS BEFORE SOMEONE ACTUALLY CAME TO GET OUR ORDER, IT IS FINE THAT THEY DON'T SMILE AND RESPECT CUSTOMERS WHICH IS THEIR INCOME BUT THEY DID'NT NEED TO BE RUDE, EVEN YOUNGSTER LIKE ME KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO EARN MONEY. I ASKED HER TO TAKE A PICTURE FOR US SINCE WE WERE OUT CELEBRATING MY FRIENDS' BIRTHDAY, SHE GOT UPSET, THEN I ASKED FOR SWEET SOY SAUCE, NAPKIN AND A NEW PLATE, I DID'NT EVEN GET THE CHANCE TO FINISH MY SENTENCE AND SHE ALREADY WALKED AWAY MUMBLING SOMETHING IN CHINESE WHICH I BET WAS DISRESPECTFUL. OUR WATER CUPS WERE ALL EMPTY BEFORE SOMEONE ACTUALLY CAME TO DO A REFILL, SO I ALREADY DECIDED THAT IS NOT THE SERVICE THAT DESERVE MY MONEY TO TIP. AND I ALWASY KEPT MY WORDS, I DIDN'T GIVE ANY TIPS SO SHE ACTUALLY CAME BACK AND ASKED FOR TIP MONEY, SO MY FRIEND PUT DOWN $1 AND SHE SAID THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT ENOUGH SINCE MY BILL WAS $75, SO SHE STARTED TO LIST OUT WHAT SHE DID FOR US FORCEFULLY. I TOLD HER WHY I DIDN'T GIVE HER ANY TIPS WITH THE ATTITUDE I GOT, SO MY FRIEND GAVE OUT SOME CHANGES HE HAD IN THIS WALLET, AND I TOLD HIM NO IT IS NOT RIGHT! SHE LITERALLY TOOK THE MONEY OUT OF HIS HANDS, AND RAN AWAY TO THE RECEPTION WITH IT. I GOT SO PISSED THAT I STOOD UP FLIPPED MY TABLE CLOTHS AND WALKED OUT, AND THE FUNNY PART WAS THAT ANOTHER GUY ACTUALLY RAN AFTER ME AND SAID "F* OFF, YOU ARE LIVING IN AMERICA, YOU ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO GIVE TIPS, YOU GO BACK TO YOUR TEACHER AND PARENTS SO THEY CAN TEACH YOU AGAIN."

YOU MIGHT THINK THIS IS EXTREME, THAT I AM JUST SOME RUDE KID, BUT IF YOU CAME AND EXPERIENCED THIS KIND OF SERVICE, IT IS REALLY NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY, SO I AM JUST TRYING TO SAVE YOUR TIME, EFFORT, AND MONEY. IF MY REVIEW HERE GOT DELETED, EVEN MORE SHAME ON THEM!!!! THANK YOU...

I'm a newbie in the world of dim sum and this is the second restaurant I've had dim sum from but this place so far is my favorite. It's much higher quality than the other place I've been to, you can instantly tell from the taste of the food alone. Everything we ordered was delicious, but the star of the show was clearly their spicy turnip dish, which I sadly forgot to take a photo of. Delectable little cubes of heavenly turnip with a delicate crisp on the outside and perfect softness inside, sautéed in a savory red chili sauce with finely sliced spicy jalapeños. It's to die for! I deducted a star because it took them about 10 minutes to even acknowledge us once we were sat down but I will be glad to edit this post in the future if the service improves. That being said, that turnip dish is the stuff dreams are made of and I need more of it in my life.

02/11 Edit: Visited this place again today and the service was much better, plus added a photo of the turnip dish.

03/28 Edit: Visited this place over the weekend after having not come here in over a month only to find that they recently started automatically charging 18% tips to your bill. The service this time around was absolutely terrible to where my boyfriend and I felt as if we were invisible and/or they were purposely ignoring us, then come to find that there's a compulsory 18% added to our bill?? Come on. We frequently GLADLY tip 20% almost everywhere we go so long as the service is at least decent, but being forced to tip 18% for such horrid service quite frankly felt like a slap to the face. My boyfriend was baffled so he asked our server about it and she claimed that they've always done that and when my boyfriend tried to dispute that, her response, in Chinese, was "so? So? So what? What do you want me to do about it? So what?" As much as I love the food, I will not be going...

Been coming to Arco for a few years now, always an enjoyable experience for the most part.

Located in the H-Mart Plaza, parking can be a bit of a pain on busy weekends. The restaurant itself is decent size, with a number of private rooms on the left and good number of seating for all types of tables.

Service is typical chinatown efficient. Not necessarily friendly, but we're hear for good food and not fine dining. Ordered salt and pepper pork ribs, mapo tofu, beef chow fun, and some dim sum. Food came out within minutes nice and hot.

Mapo tofu decent flavor, not too saucy. Beef noodles were great, very filling and tender beef. However, the chop could be cut up into smaller bite sized pieces. Salt and pepper pork was a bit on the small size for the price, but great flavor with plenty of onions and peppers. The dim sum still some of the best in Houston and highly recommended.

4 stars as pricing has gone up and...