Tan Tan Restaurant in Houston, TX: A Review

Tan Tan restaurant in Houston, TX has been around for over 20 years and is still going strong. Located in the heart of Chinatown, Tan Tan restaurant is a family owned business that serves both Chinese and Vietnamese cuisines. The majority of their customers are Asian but they don't discriminate when Caucasians dine at their establishment (like some Asian restaurants do as we found out first hand). Tan Tan restaurant in Houston, TX was packed on a Sunday evening but that did not prevent the service from being efficient and speedy. The kitchen must have been working in overdrive but I assume they're used to it because customers came and went throughout our dinner and it didn't seem to frazzle the staff. They are the epitome of pros dealing with rush hour in the restaurant industry.

My husband, mother and I were seated immediately despite the crowd. The menu was overwhelming with delicious food choices but we decided to all share the chargrilled beef with vermicelli ($6.95) and the shrimp and beef hot pot ($24.95). The hot pot was the popular item in Tan Tan restaurant in Houston, TX as just about every table had this dish.

The hot pot is where you receive raw food (vegetables, tofu , shrimp, and beef or the protein of your choice) and there is a pot of filled with two different types of boiling broth in the middle of your table. You have to cook the food yourself but that's part of the fun. Unfortunately the beef was extremely tough and chewy despite being thinly sliced. The other ingredients were healthy options like spinach, mushrooms, eggs, and bean thread noodles.

The hot pot came with a side of cooked egg noodles that were delicious. My husband did most of the cooking since the hot pot was too far for me to cook safely so I felt badly that he had to spend his time cooking (as the ingredients cook quickly) rather than eating. I would skip the hot pot next time but it was a novelty worth trying.

Our other dish was Vietnamese and it was delicious. The chargrilled beef with vermicelli was cooked to perfection. The beef was lean, tender and savory, and the noodles were light yet tasty. The fish sauce was savory but of course it was loaded with sodium. Despite my bloat, I would return to Tan Tan restaurant in Houston, TX again and try more Vietnamese dishes.

Tan Tan is located in Chinatown at 6816 Ranchester (although it's really in a shopping strip on Bellaire Boulevard), Houston, TX 77036. Their phone number is (713) 771-1268. The website for Tan Tan restaurant is http://www.tantanrestaurant.com.