The Monk's — Restaurant in Houston

Update :

The other day, I thought that I would give a second try. After my initial review, they reached out right away and try to rectify the problem. I'm glad for it.

I ordered (everything vegetarian) Hot and Sour soup; Monk's Special Dumplings, Gravy Gobi Manucharian, Dry Chili Basil Paneer and the Monk's Veg Noodles. Except for the soup, everything tasted very nice. I'm confused what went wrong in soup, maybe too much corn starch, but the thickness didn't translate it to taste. I appreciate the freshness and flavor in the food. I will say between 2 people, we cleaned everything except the Noodles.

Again, for me, I like the spicyness but you need to definitely specify and say if you need it mild. I feel like if you have a good appetite, you are definitely going to need more food.

I'm glad that they were responsive and allowed me to give a second chance. I definitely will be back.

First Visit :

Bottom line : Very disappointed in customer service. Mistakes happen and we can understand, but taking care of the customer is always priority one. Always.

Full story :

We ordered dinner to go, excited because of the multiple excellent reviews everyone has said thus far. We placed the order around 5:08 pm. We specifically told that we are fully vegetarian. The first gentleman, whose name we didn’t catch, didn’t understand what we were saying, so he passed to Francis. He took the order, understanding exactly finally our order. We drove there, and patiently waited since we had got there at 5:20 pm. We were told that we would get a receipt with the food since there was some confusion in the beginning, which we were happy about. After almost 35 minutes, we got the food (we were told 25-30 minutes when we hung up the phone at 5:08 pm), and took off for home in Sugarland. Again, though there was a receipt in the guy’s hand, I didn’t ask since I thought it would be in the bag. He placed safely in my car.

When I got home, wife took the food out of the bag. At first, we saw the Gulab Jamun and were excited that they put complimentary. As my wife took things out and open the containers, she noticed more than what we were expecting. My dad and I started but while putting in the plate the food, things just didn’t look right. Even though I didn’t order pakora, I took it since it look like cauliflower. One bite and had to spit out the whole thing, cause it was chicken.

Right away my family was naturally upset and we called the restaurant. Luckily, Francis answered the phone. After placing us hold for almost 6.5 minutes, he asked to come there and give back the meat dishes. When we explained that we live in Sugarland, he said that they’ll remake it and to come and pick up. We were excited to eat the food but not to drive 25 minutes again to Hillcroft. No apologies for the severe mistake. No sincerity in tone as he talked with my wife and father. No humbleness to rectify the situation and give a second chance.

I was truly excited about eating from here since I love food but after this, I can’t trust anything from here and that quickly lessen chances of me or my family or our friends coming to your restaurant.

Please take my review as opportunity to humble yourself and take care of...

The review encompasses trying their menu three times.

First experience: Uber Eats Ordered food through Uber eats and was surprised how quickly it was ready. A thumbs up for that. The packaging was good and the meal was hot when it was delivered to me.

The burnt garlic fried rice with chicken was delicious. It was very well made and I enjoyed it. The only quibble I would have is that it had a little too much oil. While Chinese cooking certainly uses oil, because of the fast, high heat cooking, the dishes are not greasy. But this fried rice was more greasy than normal. Again, small quibble.

I also had the green chilli chicken. This a unique dish that I have not had before in Indo-Chinese restaurants. I guessing this is a fusion dish inspired by the Indian dish hariyali chicken. The dish is interesting and well cooked. It was just not my style as I am perhaps more of a purist and don’t take to fusion easily. Nothing against the dish. Just not my style. I am deducting no stars because of that.

Over all, my first impression of Monk’s was a positive one. The fried rice was excellent and the green chilli chicken well made. I am concerned about a restaurant that tries to do everything - from biryani to Hakka chowmein. I shall try more of their menu and post my reviews. But so far this place gets a thumbs up!

Second Experience: Dine in The chicken momos were decent but not great. The best momos have a pillow like softness in the filling and the wrapping. These did not have that quality.

The murg angar bedki had a nice spice mix, but the kebabs were dry. Chicken kebabs are the hallmark of any tandoor grill as they can be undercooked or overcooked in a span of 30 secs. These were overcooked and chewy.

The chilli pepper chicken was quite nice.

The burn garlic fried rice was again fabulous!

The badam milk was decent but nothing to rave about.

We did notice a couple of empty tables with soiled plates. Not a huge issue, but more of an eye sore. But since this is a new restaurant open during the pandemic, and they get so many take out orders that the staff keeps busy, I shall let this pass.

Third Experience: dine in

Mr Francis was very hospitable and welcoming.

The Manchuria chicken was ok, but was under salted. This made the flavors lacking, and specially flat when had with the accompanying rice.

The wok tossed Hakka noodles were quite good and enjoyable. The noodles were of a thinner dimensions, and were ever so slightly soggy. But now I am getting into the minutiae. I personably prefer the Hakka chowmein of Aling’s. The chowmein there is thicker and a little more toothsome. Aling’s overall has the better indo-chinese cuisine in my opinion. But The Monk’s is closer to my place and I shall continue to patronize it.

Fourth experience: disaster We order party pack for 31st eve. Once we go to collect the order at 8:00 on as agreed upon the previous day, they can't find the order. Later when the find the order they say they need another 15 mins. They finally deliver the order at 9:00 on. At the party the appetizers were good, but the entrees and fried rice /noodles were very ordinary. We were very disappointed either their service...

TL;DR both the wok tossed hakka noodles and green chili rice were amazing! pass on the szechuan fish

More accurate rating would be 3.5 since there were some dishes that really stood out and ones that were okay. The Monk's special momos were good as an appetizer even though this style resembled dumplings more than momos, but I can appreciate them making it their own style. We were asked whether we wanted dry or with gravy gobi manchurian and asked for dry, however this gobi manchurian was definitely saucy. Not sure if we got the wrong order or if this was actually their dry gobi, but it was okay. Gobi was a little too raw and could have been cooked a little more. Also we asked for maggi noodles and were told that it was cooked from the packet and was for children. Not sure why it was in the adult section of the menu as the description seemed to indicate an elevated dish but glad we were told this before we ordered it. Szechuan chicken was definitely a miss. Usually szechuan or sichuan brings an expectation of spice, but this was incredibly bland. No spice whatsoever and just got a tomato sauce taste. Now here are the dishes to note: the hakka noodles and green chili rice were excellent!! There was so much flavor in each dish and the hakka was not overly oily as is normally the case in my opinion. The green chili fried rice has so many rave reviews here which it completely deserves!! I have never tasted anything like it before. The rabdi with gulab jamun was good but too sweet for...