Bismillah Restaurant & Cafe — Restaurant in Houston

This place is by far my favorite Pakistani restaurant in Houston! From the people to the food, it's all top notch! Bismillah is as close to home cooking as you can get without actually being in a home kitchen. So let's get this review started, shall we? *Breakfast. The fried eggs with keema with a paratha is the way kings start thier day. *Breakfast. The Omelet with a paratha transports you to any Pakistani household on a Sunday morning with spices that will set your bung hole on fire. *Weekend breakfast. The channa puri, a staple and a luxury for every pakistani household for Sunday brunch. The channa curry is spicy and greasy. And the puri are also greasy to sop up all the goodness of this royalness. *Lunch/Dinner. The beef nihari. Gorgeous chunks of tender beef in a spicy, velvety rich and spicy curry. Obviously must be eaten with roti. My favorite. *Lunch/Dinner. The tawa chicken. Boneless chicken breast chunks sautéed with fresh chopped veggies. Can be ordered fairly mild. Still spicy as frack. Lunch/Dinner. Boneless chicken masala is a curried chicken dish with a spicy tomato based curry that's full of flavor and is especially enjoyable with a paratha or two. Or three.

The dining room is cozy. Which means if it's busy, you're sitting close to a lot of people who do tend to stare if you're NOT brown. I know. Kinda creepy but the food is amazing so who cares?

If you're in the southwest area and have never been to a Pakistani restaurant or wanna try some amazing pakistani food, come to Bismillah and you will NOT be...

I wish I could give this place no stars, I don’t understand the hype. EVERYTHING on their menu is spicy, except for the kids sliders. Unusually spicy! We ordered a lot of food almost $100 worth. While ordering I asked the guy at the register what could I feed my toddlers since they only want to eat meat, and he said sliders. I explained that we want just meat instead and he said everything is spicy. So I requested if they could not make it so spicy and his reply was, we would literally have to wash off the marinade. And that they are known for the spicy food. Okay… so what about the paratha rolls with beef? And he said they can request it to make it mild. So we waited for our order and took it home. Living an hour away once we finally sat down to eat instantly realized that ALL the food was extremely spicy and the kids couldn’t eat. Even the paratha rolls which were for the kids, and they said they would make it mild came out really spicy! There was cayenne pepper sprinkled on top for garnishing?! Who does that?! Even after we expressed we didn’t want any spicy food. We threw everything away since it was inedible. As a restaurant if you’re only known for how spicy your food is then you’re not doing such a great job. All the positive reviews here don’t make much sense, I can’t imagine people actually eat food to where it hurts inside, you’re crying tearing up, coughing it all up....

I used to love coming to this place when they first opened & were featured in the Houston Chronicle for their famous Ten Spice burger or something. The place used to look clean and inviting; largely owing to the owner being there all the time. I have always gone there for a quick bite, some hot samosas in the evening and such. The beef kabab roll has been pretty awesome and what I would usually order, other than that, the bun kabab is yummy, my brother has always ordered their Hunter Beef sandwich.

Lately, I’ve not been too happy with my visits. To begin with, they don’t carry the kabab rolls in the cafe anymore and I have to go next door to the restaurant if I want to have the kabab roll. My last four visits I have not seen the owner, the place looked unkept, with dirty tables, chairs out of place & just uninviting. The food quality seems to be going down as well, every time they are “out” of samosas, I ordered the Hunter Beef sandwich twice and the bread was soggy, the bun kabab filling didn’t taste good AT ALL, tasted like the spices were thrown on top rather than being blended in. Not sure what to make of it, it’s sad the owners don’t feel the need to keep it up, I’m hoping they will pick up again soon and regain their...