Molihua — Restaurant in Houston

They are certainly still getting their feet under them regarding service. The staff were very friendly and welcoming and accommodating but the server lacked polish, (lots of um/uh and “mozdefinitely”) was unfamiliar with the menu, didn’t specify the pieces in the nagiri flight, etc. We had to ask bus boys for water refills every single time we needed it. Even watched the server fill the water of the table next to us and completely miss us. (Just a learning curve thing in service but could stand for some attention in a place charging these prices.) The food was OK. Not the best sushi in houston by miles. Australian Wagyu/ hot stone was cut way too thick and unevenly, the fish was fresh and very good. Black gyoza wing appetizer was a bland dumpling. Pumpkin puff (?) was interesting texture. Again not particularly exciting. The roll we got was elegant and flavorful and interesting (hakami asparagus) although it was advertised as a pear forward roll but the asparagus was certainly the main character. The cocktails were mid. Poorly balanced. And priced at the very high end ($26/$18) The most offensive part of the meal however was the dessert. We got the chocolate caramel cake. The server warned us it was a “very small portion” but never in our wildest dream did we envision a single dry brownie the diameter of a quarter, a tablespoon of mediocre mousse, three blueberries, two very thin peeled mandarin slices, two raspberry halves, a blueberry sized ball of maybe whipped cream? Maybe merengue? Couldn’t known for sure as it was so tiny you couldn’t taste it. a store bought toile garnish all served on a bed of flavorless cookie crumbles for a whopping $18. It was literally not even two full mouthfuls of dessert. When he said small he meant “this is exactly one bite of flavorless, dry cake.” This was truly obnoxious and frankly soured the whole meal for us. The atmosphere is trying very hard to be upscale but something feels highly “faux” about it all. Even the door hinges are so lightweight that you have to be careful when you open the door to the restaurant and the bathroom because they fly open and bang into the wall. Plus the entire hotel, restaurant and even the soap in the bathroom is the strongest smelling flowery perfume smell —headache level heavy handedness with the fragrance. Maybe if they can fix the stink, polish the service, learn to slice wagyu, and address the pricing/portion issues this could be an interesting sushi addition. But the location already makes it off the beaten path so it would have to reach phenomenal levels of great to be worth a return visit for us. Valet was at least...

Yikes. Save your money. Much One of the most disastrous meals, or attempted meals I have had in a long time. MUCH better dim sum and sushi in this town. Once you find the restaurant which is hidden behind a cheeky single panel door, you enter an extremely dark room with no ambiance. 2 servers and 2 sushi chefs on a Tuesday with a pretty full dining room of large 6+person reservations. They require a $75 per person reservation hold as well. Undertrained server with the worst breath...a good manager should have said something to him. He could not tell us about the items we asked about. We did not get the first 3 items we ordered and after 2 hours and multiple chats with a manager and host, we asked for our check. They did comp the whole meal, since we only got one rice dish and 2 appetizers for 3 people. The food we did have was mediocre. The sashimi did not seem fresh and was lightly seared to hide that. When we received the Crab and caviar rice pot, the service quickly opened it and stirred it up, making it seem they did not have much crab or caviar as we searched for it in the dish after he plopped spoonful's in dishes for us. It was weird. He should've asked to serve us and at least let us see the $30 rice dish. Other tables around us were complaining as well. We watched an 8 top get one sushi roll at a time delivered to the table. I hear the gentlemen tell his dining companions "this is not typical food or service for Houston". Sad that this Michelin star chef we were excited for, has this untrained staff and lackluster atmosphere representing him. Also, there is no seating at the bar because they built the bar too high for ADA standards so they cant use it until the fix that. It was also difficult to watch a couple walk in with a service dog and get crammed into a 2 top right next to an 8 top with no room for the dog or the guest. Yes, it is early but I can't imagine this place improving much unless they do some...

Dined in on a Saturday at 6:45 pm for a party of two and was seated immediately by the sushi bar.

It’s a very dark restaurant, not much lighting, needs more decorations.

We enjoyed everything we ordered! The chefs know what they are doing!

We ordered:

Hamachi crudo: hamachi melted in our mouths, and the blueberries on top was a nice touch versus jalapeño slices!

Crispy temaki salmon tartare: least favorite dish, beds more umami

Crispy truffle puff: very soft mochi balls! The truffle flavor could have been stronger

Chicken wing mochi karaage: this was so good, presentation could be better, it comes in a brown togo box, a nice round hybrid bowl plate could work better

Otoro: buttery goodness and it was on top of ice so it was super chilled

Unagi: kind of dry but good flavors

Naruto: itty bitty four pieces of goodness

XO hand pulled noodles: our favorite dish! Noodles were so soft and chewy!

Chilean sea bass: very good flavors

Garlic butter shoyo fried rice: the best garlic rice we’ve had!

Coconut sago: needs more sweetness, and it was a tad too thick

Chocolate and salted caramel cake: the cake...