Deborah N.
Yelp
Choo choo!! Look out, Nan Xiang Express is coming through! The OG spot hails from New York but somehow they perched themselves in our neighborhood of NW Houston! Ample parking meets you in the semi-new plaza by 1960 and 290!
Nan Xiang truly lives up to the word "express" in their name with their walk up kiosk ordering system and condiments and water bar for patrons to grab everything they need! There aren't really "servers," but there is someone at the register and someone who brings out your food.
First time experience was a little bit chaotic because after ordering you have to walk to their DIY station - grab your waters, chili sauce, soup dumpling sauce, napkins and utensils. Nothing is already at the table and nothing else is brought to you except for the food. Outside of using the kiosk, no one really explained or directed us to the station, and on top of that, it was kind of cumbersome to keep having to get up multiple times to grab what I needed.
We ordered the crispy beef noodles, soup dumplings, crispy pork dumplings, and the bok choy with garlic. Bill came out to roughly $45 for those four dishes. I was a bit bummed when they highlighted the soup dumplings, but just after the first bite I could tell it was TOO doughy! Dumpling making is an art and it's incredibly difficult get the thinness ratio correct, and sadly they missed the mark! Same goes for the crispy pork dumplings! I would not get them again here, but the crispy beef noodles were delicious! All the ingredients were fresh, the noodles were crispy, and the bok choy perfectly balanced a heavy meal! It was sautéed just right!
The service was friendly, but they were completely out of soy sauce and I had to ask for more...and tables weren't cleaned right away, so we had to wait for the table that we wanted to be cleaned! Props to the lady who was hustling and doing it all!! She was the restaurant emcee and explained how the kiosk worked, and was bussing and cleaning the tables!
I'd like to come back and try some more menu items, but if they can make the dough thinner on their dumplings, I would be a happy camper!