Tangra's Daughter — Restaurant in Missouri City

Tangra’s Daughter in Missouri City – Houston is one of those places that shows up all over Instagram, and I’d heard plenty of hype from friends. Naturally, I was curious to see what the buzz was about.

Our first visit was during Ramadan—just me and my 6-year-old son, who was fasting as well. We arrived around iftar, and even though it was after Maghrib and several tables were visibly open, we were turned away. The waiter—who seemed to be acting as the host—was dismissive and a bit rude about it. We prayed Magrib with others that were praying… thinking that the host would see anyone that would be coming for iftaar should be there after Magrib. There was zero effort to accommodate, and honestly, it left a bad taste, especially considering the time and circumstance.

Good food, disappointing service.

We decided to give it another shot on a later trip with our whole family, this time for lunch. We were seated right away, and—ironically—had the same waiter. While he was slightly more polite this time, the overall attitude still felt cold and unwelcoming.

To make matters worse, we weren’t allowed to order from the lunch menu, even though the menu doesn’t mention any day or time restrictions. I literally overheard another waiter at a nearby table offering someone else items off the lunch menu, so the inconsistency was frustrating and felt unfair.

Thankfully, the food really was excellent. We ordered Singapore noodles, Thai soup, masala lollipop, masala chop suey (a favorite), sesame chicken, beef Manchurian, masala dumplings, and beef fried rice. Everything came out fresh, flavorful, and well-prepared. The Indo-Chinese fusion flavors were bold and well-balanced, and the presentation was spot on.

The ambience was nice—clean, well-decorated, and comfortable for a family meal. But it’s hard to enjoy good food fully when the service feels indifferent at best.

One more thing to note: they automatically add a 20% service charge, which isn’t mentioned anywhere on the menu or posted signs. With the level of service we experienced—especially on two separate occasions—it felt undeserved and poorly justified. Mandatory gratuity should be matched by attentive, welcoming service… which unfortunately wasn’t the case here.

In short: the food is worth trying, but don’t go in expecting warm hospitality. If they ever put as much care into their service as they do their kitchen, this place could...

We are a group of 4 celebrating our friend’s birthday and one of us tried the buffet and other 3 ordered from the menu. The soup and spring rolls are good in the buffet but the chicken Manchurian, kung pau chicken and sweet fish had more salt and not cooked properly and hard. The egg fried rice and noodles are bland. Buffet is not worth the 24.99 plus tax plus 15% service fee we are charged. So 24.99 plus 23.75% tax 😳.

They messed up the steamed momo’s we ordered and made a fried momo’s when we specifically told steamed, when we asked the waiter about it he said he was pretty sure we ordered fried and we did not like the way he answered rudely even though he said he can change it to steamed later but the way he put the words initially like we were lying was not good at all. Then we got the check which has 15% service fee included in it. Also the dessert we ordered to celebrate my friend’s birthday was charged too unlike other restaurants who waive it normally. That is not much of a concern for us but the other issues are. We are surprised to hear we can not split the bill on not more than two cards and the owner said if we pay by cash he would give a 10% discount but the 10% was on the subtotal and the tax and 15% service fee was still added based on the original subtotal, the owner is very intelligent to rip off customers this way too not only by just charging the 15% mandatory service fee.

The portion sizes of appetizers are too small and the serving bowls and dishes were not appetizing too. They did not serve water until we asked and no paper napkins too. I am surprised how this restaurant had a 4.3 rating, it might be the staff or friends of staff. Except for few appetizers I feel it is not worth considering the behavior of the staff and service fee of 15% included in the bill even for buffet is something not ok and a rip off. It is charged only for a big group FYI and here there is no service done properly, no water or paper napkins too unless asked, I would not recommend this restaurant and will not go back. Please stay away. This restaurant might not survive longer since they might not have returning customers unless they change these issues mainly service fee, portion size and food quality, only new customers based on the fake 5 rating reviews might go like how we went. Adding this detailed review so that it can...

Must read before going:

The positives:

Momos: The vegetarian steamed momos were perfection: texture, flavor, seasoning was on point. Our taste buds were delighted. Yummmmmmm! Must try. Seriously!!

Vibe: It has festive decor with touches of gold, navy blue and island rattan light fixtures. The location is convenient: on Hwy 6/Dulles in between Missouri City and Sugar Land. Our waiter and servers were polite too. It was a busy packed restaurant which is always a good sign. Their meat is halal and they are a Chinese Indian fusion restaurant fyi.

The negatives: Gobi Manchurian - it was underwhelming on all fronts. I’ve had this dish at several places and this was just not working.

Tangra masala chicken- I was pretty excited to try it but on the first bite I was accosted by an overly heavily breaded chewy consistency coating. That ended being my only bite and the staff help were able to switch it to boiled chicken strips instead. Despite that issue being quickly addressed, the sauce was not as flavorful or zesty as I expected. Maybe it was an off day.

Helpful diner note: according to staff - all their meats are heavily breaded. Some are written in descriptions but majority don’t note that. It’s definitely not lightly breaded: it’s heavily breaded and creates a texture that to me distracted from the meat. They also only serve breaded meat in all dishes apparently. I prefer stir fry. Though good thing is you can apparently request for them to switch to boiled chicken. Lastly there are very limited vegetarian options. Prices are a tad above average for portion sizes but they are a NYC based restaurant just entering into the Houston scene so I’m sure they may adjust. The tips are automatically included so don’t double tip.

I’ll be back to try different items without the meat and of course for the killer momos that I’m already...