Kim Sơn — Restaurant in Houston

What brought me to Houston is because of Kim son. I never thought of coming here for the foodie scene. Righr after paris trip back in September 2023, I figure I browse southwest and I bought all the tickets for Florida, houston, and Oregon lol. . So I scored a cheap ticket on southwest and I stuck with it. . Ok now when I landed around 3 pm and after getting the rental car and it was time to go find food. I google mapped the directions and kim son is 1 hr away with traffic. I'm like perfect by the time I get there is when dinner starts which is 5pm. . When I arrived the building is huge. When I opened the door to enter the building it was blasted with decor for chinese new year which is really extra and festive. I really loved it. I was wearing yellow which was perfect match with the decoration. . I went upstairs to meet the host and got my number for when they open they call numbers to seat the party. I was called 2nd when It was 5pm. . It was time to take the videos and pics because I didn't know what to expect. . I went to the pho broth and they made 10 different ones. I settled with the crab meat tapioca noodles like udon in a thick broth. It was really good and temperature was good too. I also got one rice noodle dish and he told me to get what sauce to pair with it at the Condiment bar. . Then I went to get the grilled oysters which were not cook all the way it was still a little raw but they were in a rush. The flavor to the oyster was viet style for sure. . The pork sausage skewers were amazing. The shrimp skewer was good too. . I had hainese chicken and the chicken was fresh and they had onion ginger scallion sauce to dip in. Loved it. . They had some tilapia fish with garlic and Thai chili and I enjoyed this alot and went for second and thirds. . They had clam stir fry in viet style. I wasn't a fan of this, the flavor wasn't my favorite. The steam snail was fresh and they had some sauce for you to dip in which remind me of thai chili. . I loved the viet style mochi with dried shrimp in it. Loved the bannana lead with tapioca and dried shrimp in it. It was all so fresh and quality. I loved how it was like ordering it at a resto quality. . FRESH SUGAR CANE JUICE - OMG COULDNT HELP IT AND HAD 3 CUPS, SO ORGANIC! . Loved the viet desserts but was so full I can't eat anymore. The dessert bar was overwhelming 😋 all the ones I had they were all good. . This place is great for beginners to explore vietnamese food. Or people who like viet food and wants a variety. I loved how each item I had was quality. They really make sure each dish is fresh. . Get here early to avoid the crowd. Or else you will wait. The price point for a Friday dinner was only 34 bucks. Such a good deal to try so many items and experience this. I would definitely come back in the future. . Overall it's great quality buffet. I really enjoyed my experience during chinese new year. Hope this helps and thanks for reading. Have a...

--- NK Score = 8.2/10 ---

7/10 = Furniture/Ambience 8/10 = Food Quality 9/10 = Prices/Services (Other Ratings Hidden) =( BASIC INFO )=

Semi-Large Restaurant Busy During Lunch, Ok Dinner Decent Food ( PRICES AT BOTTOM ) Vietnamese + Chinese Buffet Style Various Prices, Fast Service Decent Parking Accessibility = Atmosphere =

Pretty casual ambience, the interior is simple and they have many different tables to offer. It's usually super crowded during lunch and somewhat busy during dinner. This location is generally populated by families or friends who want to eat and converse. = Food Quality =

Vietnamese Dishes: They offer a large variety of all the traditional and popular Viet items. The quality is decent, but being able to eat so many usually costly dishes is what makes this place great. Basically, 85% of your favorite Viet foods can be found here during lunch time, specifically before 2:30 PM! Also, definitely try the kitchen area, pretty good flavors.

Chinese Dishes: Although there is a wide range of different Chinese items, most of them were somewhat mediocre and didn't proceed beyond being decent. Some notable items I had were the Wings, Shrimp Tofu, Eggplants, and some others.

Sushi Dishes: Not much to choose from, and the quality is pretty meh, except for maybe 1 or 2 of them. = Price / Service =

Prices By Time = Lunch - Dinner - Sat/Sun Adult (Age 11+) = $10.45 - $14.95 - $17.95 Child (Age 3-5) = $5.45 - $6.95 - $7.95 Child (Age 6-10) = $7.45 - $9.95 - $10.95

Lunch = Super Nice (Awesome) Dinner = Some extra Seafood (Meh) Sat/Sun/Holiday = Too Expensive (Bad)

Service here is usually pretty fast, they'll refill your drinks and clean your tables every round and you basically have nothing to worry about. Recommendations: Come during lunch time! You'll have a blast eating with your friends, especially since there's so much to choose from. Ideal times are ( 11:00 - 1:00 PM ). Wouldn't recommend other times because it's like $5 more expensive for just Crawfish and stuff.

Signed NK (June 2017) Images below by...

Update January 2025:

There’s a nice Vietnamese restaurant with some other Asian cuisine like fried rice, beef and broccoli and Chinese broccoli. As a buffet the cost on the evening was $32 for adults.

It’s an enjoyable experience. Fun atmosphere. Foods made fresh at the soup station and the street station is nice.

Although, This is a buffet there are servers to dole out the food to you, which is overall pretty helpful. I’d say the line doesn’t get too long as you’re waiting for things.

There’s a nice variety of soups street food Fried foods, vegetables, seafood. The servers are overall very attentive at removing dirty dishes, bringing napkins, and refilling water.

They have a nice ambience a very large open footprint many tables many chairs just note that during different times of the week it can get very busy thus the parking lot it’s very full as well so you might not get the best parking spot and you might have to wait in order to get in this is one of those Asian buffets that I enjoy

For me, a three star would be an average score for a buffet. I guess it’s one of four star because I think it’s above average however I would’ve put in the same category of a five star buffet. Know that if you want just really good Vietnamese food not in a buffet. I would just go to a Vietnamese restaurant that specializes in those various dishes like you might want like a Banh mi sandwich or pho.

Update Sept 2023:

Food is very delicious and promptly added as quantities get low. The freshly made soups are a nice touch and good variety. They grilled meats has a street feel to it too.

The servers were prompt at serving you the food and clearing the table dirty plates.

Not a cheap I all you eating experience (about $30 per person)

Large parking lot much it’s a busy strip mall so be posted to park a little further away from the entrance.

Great Vietnamese buffet. The noodle/soup is amazing! They even have halo halo. Good seafood. I guess another star would be given for greater variety like vermicelli & banh mi. I'd recommend and have been there twice in the...