Elephant Garden

No doubt my family and I were fans of Elephant Garden but this location had been shut down for a while; the last time I went in late November 2015, the restaurant was no longer in business. Anyways, on a brighter note, it seems like that the owner has joint-​ventured and re-​opened business at the «Wing Kee» restaurant on Wilcrest x Bellaire because I have seen over there the previous staff of Elephant Garden and also that most of the menu items off of the formerly Elephant Garden’s can be found in the current menu of «Wing Kee.» Excellent food quality and the low prices remain unchanged.

Is this place still open? We decided to try a different Chinese deliver today instead of our usual. We placed an order online today and got a confirmation email saying to expect delivery within 45 minutes (clearly an automated reply). After 55 minutes, we decided to call, but repeatedly got an answering machine. We determined that, despite the posted hours and functioning online ordering system, that they must be closed. We decided to go pick up a pizza from a restaurant across the street from this restaurant, and Elephant Garden was clearly not open today. Not sure if they’re open at all, but we won’t attempt it again.

I love the Kung Pao & the Vegetable Egg Fried Rice. Excellent tasting food. I am always looking for good Chinese food & the new management and cook are excellent!

I was craving chinese food and after a quick search decided on this place due to the recent positive reviews. We took our food to go and realized when we got home and saw the menu they had included in the bag that if we had dined in, they have a dinner special. Items on that list come with a soup, crispy spring roll and fried rice. Oh well — good to know for next time.
We ordered the mongolian beef and house fried rice (has chicken, shrimp and pork). Both were really tasty and were decent portion sizes. Im sure it’s pretty bad for us but hey it’s chinese food right? (As I dab the oil/​butter off my lips)
Their website wasn’t listed on Unilocal and I called them for it to see the menu:
I would return to try other dishes.

First of all, this is not the same Elephant Garden it was before the new owners took over maybe 12 – 18 ago. The old 2 sets of owners, the first one was the family that opened this restaurant 5+ years ago, and the second being a lovely couple they sold it to. Both sets were exceptional in everything they did, and this was, without sounding cliché, the best Chinese restaurant in Houston. The new owners came in and disregarded all old recipes and techniques previously used and now it is about as good as your average grocery store Chinese take out place (or Panda Express). I guess, to be fair, it should of gotten 2 stars, but I am comparing it to what it used to be and what it is now.

Had a good dinner here tonight! The manager Johnny suggested good dishes to us, like mongolian beef, salt and pepper shrimp, hunan chicken and Singaporean noodle, all is good. They have a new chef, the best Chinese resto in Sugar Land so far!

This place is under new management. I really liked the Korean black bean noodles, but alas they don’t make it any more.
Right now, I come here for lunch every once in a while to get the Orange chicken. Nicely breaded white meat chicken with orange peel sauce. Plus it’s very convenient to where I live. I’m not sure that I would come out especially for this place though.

I believe this place is under new owner and management again and is definitly better the previous life. The manage told us the new chef used to work for Jade Garden. We ordered salted fish and chicken fried rice, special pan fried noodles, salt and pepper pork chops, and beef with gai lan. All were very tasty and reasonably priced. The menu is about 65% American Chinese and 35% authentic Chinese. I think I don’t need to go to Bellaire Chinatown when I am in the mood for real Chinese foods. Elephant Garden will do since it is so close to home.

Zero stars. Came by myself for lunch and was the first customer to arrive @ 11am. After waiting 10 min, a group of businessmen came in, were immediately sat & their drink orders were taken. I waited patiently for a server to take my drink & lunch order but no one looked my way. I finally decided to leave, but not before telling the owner/​only server on the floor she overlooked me for the businessmen. The look on her face read she could care less.
I use to love this place but will NEVER be back.

Very friendly and personable staff! Generous portions and quick service! This was our first time coming and will definitely return.

See recent reviews below they are accurate, unfortunately I didn’t realize this restaurant had recently gone through ownership change til I sat down and ordered.
DO NOT order, now off the menu (1^st red flag) Korean/​Chinese dishes especially jajangmyeon. The noodle has off putting fragrance not found in traditional jajangmyeon. Literally, took two bites and asked for the check. I think it was combination of the actual dish and the side dish (yellow pickled daikon) that made me lose my appetite. While waiting for the jajangmyeon (took approx 20 min) the lady brought out the daikon on a little dish. Instantly, I asked for vinegar and she brought me soy sauce (2^nd red flag). I requested again for vinegar, «the clear stuff» by this time she understood. Then, she insisted on pouring the vinegar on the daikon (3^rd red flag). She sat the vinegar bottle on the table and walked away. This is where it gets disgusting and health hazardous. I immediately noticed little particles floating in the vinegar bottle. After closed inspection it was dead bugs, appeared to be mites of some sort (not a entomologist). I waved the lady over to show her the finding. Her response to my amazement «I guess you want me to change the daikon?» That was horrific ordeal that I don’t care to repeat. Hope this review was helpful to next diner.

DO NOT EAT Jjajangmyun & Champon & tangsuyuk here. Just DO NOT. Not worth your time, money, and your beautiful sense of taste. They do not know how to make it. They just have it because the previous owner had it and it was the money maker.

Ownership changed. Now just average so so Chinese food. Service wasn’t as good, and the food was not good. Oh how the mighty has fallen. Thankfully there are a few other food options in the area. I do miss the old elephant garden.

Do NOT come here for the jjajjangmyun (black bean noodles) or the jjamppong (spicy seafood stew). My mom and I came here since we were craving those dishes and this used to be our go-​to spot for some Korean/​Chinese dishes. However, we learned that management had recently changed, but we opted to still give it shot… a terrible mistake. I should’ve known when I walked in on a Saturday at 7pm when it was completely EMPTY and the servers were all eating around a table.
The jjajjangmyun was SO SALTY, the vegetables were mushy, the meat was greasy, and the noodles were mushy/​overcooked/​not fresh. The jjamppong was spicy but BLAND BLAND BLAND. It had no flavor. The same noodles as the jjajjangmyun were used so they were equally as bad. The scallops tasted FISHY AND DISGUSTING (I had to spit it out) and the seafood used was just not fresh at all. My mom and I had two bites of our food and couldn’t eat anymore. We explained to the waitresses that the food was inedible. There was no way I was going to pay for that quality of food. ESPECIALLY because the jjajjangmyun and jjamppong were $ 15 EACH. I wanted to just leave, but I’m sure they wouldn’t have let us leave without paying, so they convinced us to order off their Americanized-​Chinese food menu. We ordered their Hunan Chicken and Special Fried Rice TO-​GO (we couldn’t stand being there any longer). It took 15 min, but then they tried to charge us for Cheese puffs that we didn’t even ORDER, so then it took ANOTHER 15 min for the lady to figure out how to work the machine and void a credit card sale. They didn’t seem apologetic and didn’t offer any discount or any consolation. The chinese food we ordered to go was mediocre, but at least marginally better then what we had originally ordered.
I won’t be surprised if management changes again, because I don’t know how this restaurant will stay alive with the food they are putting out there. I really really really miss the old Elephant Garden. :(

Had:
— salt & pepper tofu
— ma po tofu
— eggplant dish
— spicy sautéed green beans w/​pork
— salt & pepper shrimp (eat the shell)
— pork chop Beijing style
Solid food all around, just like you would find in Chinatown. A little pricier but your not losing time with a far drive to and fro. Definitely worth it, especially if for take out.

My parents had the day off yesterday, so instead of Chinatown for dinner, we came here. Heard there was new management and tried it out.
From the get go, my mom ordered vegetarian noodles and asked for that to be made first. She was pretty hungry and isn’t eating meat, so she hoped it would come out quickly. She even joked how much it would suck if it her dish was the last to arrive. Yeah, it arrived about 10 minutes after our 4 other dishes (all but one that had meat or seafood)
I thought the noodles were completely underwhelming. Had a weird texture to it, and basically just sauce and noodles for $ 12.
A weird bit in the beginning, we ordered and requested no msg to be included. The waitress mumbled «ok, no msg, we only use a little bit anyways» trailing off the last part, but I heard it. And I made sure to ask again to confirm no msg, not even a little bit.
I feel very conflicted about giving them only 3 stars, we were the only table the entire time and I want them to do well. But I need to review on my experience.
Well they did give us free soup in the beginning, pretty good.
We’re also used to Chinatown prices, so $ 70 for just 4 of us was a little surprising.

We decided to give this place a chance since it’s near our house, under new management, and had some improved reviews. Visited on a Sunday at 2pm. Place is empty. Décor is lacking and inside is not very inviting.
Egg drop soup has no taste.
Sweet and sour chicken is cut so thin that it’s tough.
Spring roll is gooey on inside.
My husband’s garlic beef was so tough, he was unable to chew it. I asked them to change it to chicken but my husband didn’t even want to bother. It also had some weird black slimy things? I’m hoping they are mushrooms.
Fried rice has no veggies or even egg.
When presented with the check we had been charged full price, even after my husband didn’t eat his food. We asked for that charge to be removed but they said no. That they would only replace the dish with something else.
We aren’t pleased and don’t plan to visit again.

What an improvement!
My wife and I came here once because we heard the Ginger ribs are the bomb, but other then those the food was barely average. Hot and sour soup was too salty to finish, and lo mein was tasteless without adding soy sauce. New management sign just went up, and it was clear these folks knew what they were doing. Ginger ribs are gone from the menu, but the food is outstanding! Mongolian beef was the best I’ve ever had, and hot and sour soup was exceptional.
We will be back.

Very disappointed. The Elephant Garden that I knew and loved has long disappeared from Sugar Land’s dwindling restaurant scene. It has since been replaced by a standard American Chinese restaurant (with some sort of Cantonese influence) that is riding off the reputation of its previous owners.
Not knowing the change in management, I visited recently to order the same dishes that I had previously wrote 5-​star reviews over. It’s bad. It’s all bad.
Restauranteurs beware!

Had to dock 2 stars from my previous review. The food tasted very over seasoned and buffet like.
The Mandarin shrimp went from $ 13 to $ 20 and wasn’t as good.
The ginger ribs were meatless chunks of sticky overcooked bones.
I am 100% sure the take out portions are MUCH smaller than dine in.
To be fair, we did eat the food 30 mins after it arrived but still the flavors were not as I remembered from before.
Disappointed with yesterday’s experience.