Maad Lamb Cuisine 小羊馆 — Restaurant in Houston

Came here for the first time on a Friday evening with a friend, absolutely blown away by the experience. We ordered the Grilled Lamb Skewers with a side of Naan (combo set), edamame, toothpick lamb and lamb shank in hot chili oil.

Lamb skewers are seasoned very well with cumin but grilled to the most optimal texture for chewing.

Naan looked and tasted like northern Chinese 葱油大饼 the dough isn’t pillowy and soft but rather very tough to chew through.

Toothpick lamb was probably our favorite dish of the night. The lamb is seasoned incredibly well with fragrant spices and every bite had a small kick of heat to it.

Lamb shank in chili oil was served with the meat sliced into the serving bowl, very thoughtful. The lamb is very tender and falls off the bone. It’s not very salty so dipping it into the hot chili oil is a must.

This restaurant serves Xinjiang Cuisine with a heavy focus on lamb dishes. Without a doubt, it beats out so many “authentic” Chinese restaurants I’ve dined at in the Bellaire area. They also serve Xinjiang Style hotpot, very rare to see in Houston. The lamb prepared here is top quality and reminiscent of authentic lamb I’ve eaten in Mainland China.

This a hidden gem in Houston, when we arrived at 6:45pm there were hardly any patrons in the dining room, but more groups started coming into a little after 8pm.

Service here is pretty decent, the wait staff suggests you drink water from their small bowls, but you can always request water cups. My only gripe is every dish seems to be somewhat overpriced for the portion you get, nothing comes with a side of rice unless you order separately. I’ll be returning frequently as I’ve recommended this place to a few...

This new restaurant is still in its soft opening phase as of mid-June 2023. They don't take walk ins, only WeChat reservations. Note they do have an English menu, by request. I didn't see it though, that's just what the waitress told me.

We ordered a couple appetizers (see photos) which were very good and flavorful. The platter of raw veggies was fresh. We also ordered the split hot pot with a spicy side and a non-spicy side. The lamb in the non-spicy side was very soft and tender. I didn't personally try the spicy side but the rest of my party enjoyed it. The waitress was attentive and helpful, explaining the dishes as needed. One thing to note is that I feel like most hot pot places will add soup for free but they said here they charged for it. We declined (we were almost done, it was just getting a little salty) so I'm not sure how much extra they were going to charge.

The restaurant is not huge but there are lots of mirrors that fooled both my husband and me into thinking there was a whole separate section. It didn't feel cramped. There are also free, unlimited play, old school arcade games that are fun to play...

Don’t be fooled by the name of the restaurant. Yes, they serve lamb, but it is the cheapest, fattest and toughest cuts. There are 1 or 2 dishes using better cuts but they are few.

We had the spicy lamb skewers on naan; overcooked, fatty and gristle was abundant. The diced lamb on toothpicks was the very same and looked NOTHING like the photo on the menu. The lamb soup broth was bland and lukewarm. The lamb bits intended for the bowl were fatty and gristle filled. The Tiger salad wasn’t too bad but the tiny plates we were forced to use made EVERY dish difficult to eat.

The server was difficult to understand given her strong accent and after taking our order, she ignored us until we interrupted her reading when trying to check out.

Located in a mall next to a very busy interstate toll road, the atmosphere is without imagination or any effort whatsoever.

Fortunately, my dinner companion was delightfully conversant and fun to be with. It raised my evening from being awful to wonderful.

Do yourself a favor and forget this...