Sam's Cafe — Restaurant in Houston

If no stars were available I'd leave them. I just moved to Houston so I've not eaten at many places in town. I had a long day, was hungry and wanted to sit down and eat. I was in the neighborhood and picked this place. I walk in and all the staff was eating. The lady operating the front counter comes up and says they are having lunch and it would be about 20 min wait because they were having lunch and I could come back then if I liked. I said that I would wait because I was already here. I ordered my food and asked for fried rice instead of steamed. My order is ready and I go sit back at my table a few minutes later she comes saying they don't have dine in today. She really wanted me to leave he restaurant which is clearly a dine in restaurant with dine in on the door and tables to eat. She says they don't have the staff this week to clean (you can see in pictures what a big mess she had to wipe up after 🙁) up the front and it was 5 ppl having lunch with her when I walked in. I understand businesses encounter short staff sometimes and have to improvise but don't not inform me that you're supposedly not doing dine in after you take my money. She actually never asked was it dine in but claimed I told her I was carrying out. Which is a lie because I deliberately looked for a place to dine in. I asked for my money back and she didn't want to do that "because I touched it" so I'm now taking my time dining in to eat my food and write this review because I didn't buy it to sit and eat in my car. The rice is horrible (it's just regular tasting white rice with a few pieces of egg), but I was going to accept that before the no dine in situation; the chicken is okay but service is flat out horrible. Oh and she's watching me eat.... so that's gonna be even slower eating from me. If you're not accepting dine in put a sign up! Especially since there's a nice size yellow sign on the door stating smile you're on camera. I guess they think the world is out to steal their dear...

I ordered from this restaurant today. I got chicken wings, honey chicken and chicken fried rice. The only thing I really enjoyed was the chicken wings. The honey chicken wasn't honey sauce line sesame but like mayo mixed with honey. Not the best combination of flavor. It came served with chicken nugget cut chicken that I was supposed to mix with the sauce. Note, the sauce is think like mayo, so you'd have to mix it like they do in Wingstop. The fried rice was just ok. The chicken wings were the only thing I really enjoyed. I can't say much about the atmosphere because the lobby is closed off, I think it's due to a "grand opening". The service was great. The man at the counter listened really well and was friendly. The food may taste good if you're under the influence or just really hungry. The food came out quick, about 15 minutes and was nice and hot. With all of this being said I feel like I wasted $30. I don't usually leave reviews of this kind but This let a bad taste in my mouth, no pun intended. Because with $30 I could've went to rice box closer to my home and received exactly what I was expecting. Unfortunately, I won't be returning unless it's to get a refund...

I had been a returning customer for a while now, that was until today. I had a small things happen after new management took over but I chalked it up to a late order. Well i ordered this evening and an hour later food still had not arrived, so I called. Girl who answered the phone barely spoke English and couldn't really understand me so she could not find my order and kept trying to get me to place another order. I guess the other girl got off the phone and I heard them going back and forth but still they could not find my order, even though the girl who took my order told me she was going to double check it before it left. I told them to go ahead and cancel the non-exsistant order and if the driver showed up I would send him back. Driver showed up 15 mins after this, as I was sending him back, they called to tell me he was on the way. Told them I was sending the food back and never ordering again. They did not but say OK. I was stunned, I have been ordering from this place for over a year... this new management is horrible and I will not order from them again, especially if they keep sending me burnt sweet & sour...