Pepper Twins — Restaurant in Houston

Parking is tight if you have a big vehicle

Walking in there was quite a wait to sit down even though there was only one person ahead of me that was waiting to place a To-go order. Only 5 parties were in the dining area with what seemed to be 2 waitresses.

After being greeted and sat down I waited for one of the waitresses to come take my drink order while looking over the menu. After about 5 min a waitress came and asked what I wanted to drink. After another 10 min of waiting after deciding what I wanted, I received a phone call and then while in the middle of the call the waitress rudely interrupted my conversation to take my order. But I was hungry so I had to let the person know I had to go. I ordered the shrimp shumai for appetizer and the combination plate. This restaurant does not give you the option to substitute fried rice for white rice. Instead you have to order a family size portion. Mind you I came solo on this outing. While waiting for the shumai they brought out the white rice. It was at this time I realized that there were other tables next to me that were properly setup, but my table didn’t have plates napkins or utensils. When I asked the waitress for a proper setup they walked all around checking in on the other tables before going to get me a plate and chopsticks. So the next thing they would bring out was instead of the appetizer was the combination plate (mind you this is strictly an entree -a huge portion I’ll admit) I was disappointed they didn’t bring my appetizer. I asked and they said the appetizer takes longer to cook. That leads me to believe that the main course isn’t as fresh as it should be. There was no steam coming off the entree. Afterwards the shumai showed up and was good but very small compared to the rest of the food. After tasting the food and realizing this was missing something I went ahead and ordered spring rolls - to which only come in an order of 5. When they arrived the spring rolls were very soggy internally. I was very disappointed with the quality and the service and the prices here should reflect that instead of the $51 (before tax and gratuity) for a very basic dining experience

I have a lot...

I am Taiwanese and am super picky about my Chinese food, so much so that lots of the Chinese restaurants do not suit my taste. Pepper Twins is THE exception. Pretty much everything I have ever had here is delicious. This new restaurant is spacious and able to accommodate large parties comfortably. The meal starts out with the fried noodles (like the ones you usually get on the side of egg drop soup) but they flavor it sweet and spicy so it's very unique. If you do not like spicy food, eat with caution. I have starred the ones you definitely should order. We ordered below:

Cucumber Salad- This was so good. spicy, but slightly sweet. Very crisp and refreshing. Would recommend.

Mr.& Mrs Smith (beef tendon)*- this is my favorite. Its a mix of different cuts of meat flavored with those Szechuan spices and eaten with rice is satisfaction. You MUST try this.

Ginger Fish- pretty good; portions are big and fish is tender. This is a spicy dish.

Pepper Twins Chicken- also very good. This is cubed chicken with green peppers (yes those green things are peppers not beans). The chicken was very flavorful and juicy.

New Year Festival Soup- This has a shrimp, fish ball, these jelly mushrooms that are really good. The soup is nice and light and pairs well with the spicy flavors.

Fried Green Bean*- another personal favorite. you must try this.

Sweet rice- this is a nice end of meal dish. The rice is sticky and sweet and on top is a delightful paste.

Golden Eggplant*- Another favorite. You must order this too. It's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Almost like healthy French fries, but uniquely its own.

As with most Szechuan dishes, the food is prepared with pepper corns which can numb the tongue, however, I think they must crush the peppercorns because the numbness wasn't too overwhelming. The food is FRESH and flavorful. The owner, Yunan, meticulously ensures that the quality is outstanding and it really shows. Perfect place to get the real Szechuan experience. Price is a little more than your average Chinese restaurant, but it is worth it and reasonable considering...

Ordered coconut milk chicken from the restaurant, food delivered to me five hours after packing from Houston to Austin. Food got spoiled and smelled unpleasant when I opened the container. But it’s the first time I ordered this particular food and didn’t pay much attention to the suspicious smell, just poured out the food into a boiling pot for re-heating as instructed from group WeChat in a rush to prepare dinner for the family. Bad smell became stronger and filled the kitchen and family room as the soup reheated to the boiling point, both kids and my husband started complaining about the smell. Again First time to try this dish, After the soup started to boil, I added box of cooked carrots which were also found spoiled later due to long hours packed in the container or even before packing, who knows what happened to the materials. Later in the soup reheating process, I learned from group WeChat organizer that the spoiled carrot was supposed to be cooked with another dish I ordered. I don’t think add carrots into chicken soup would be a problem. After five minutes of reboiling, I served the coconut milk chicken soup. The soup really tasted bad- sour due to the carrots, stinky due to the spoiled coconut milk. When I communicated this in WeChat group with restaurant, they blamed me for the bad smell, claimed that I miscooked the dish. First of all, they packed the coconut chicken soup with the carrots in a separate bag which was very misleading if the carrots were not intended to go with chicken soup. Second carrots can go well with coconut milk chicken. The bad smell came from bad materials, not from carrots. That is the common sense right? The lady who is in charge of the Austin branch kicked me out of WeChat group when I tried to explain and defend myself in the group So disappointed with their rude, reckless way to treat their customers. They blamed me for their errors and omissions in front of big group of their customers and the most scaring part is that they removed me out of the group WeChat which deprived my chance to defend myself....