The Blind Goat

In 2012, Christine Ha, a blind Vietnamese-American woman, presented ca kho to - braised catfish - a dish that my mother would make for me on a weekly basis, to the panel of Masterchef judges. And every week after that, twelve-year-old me would tune in to Masterchef season 3 to watch Christine eventually take home the Masterchef trophy. The things Christine achieved on that show were not only incredibly inspirational, but also helped me feel proud of my Vietnamese heritage. I’ve since waited fourteen years to try her restaurant in Houston, Texas. I started with a cocktail - Christine’s Apple Pie-Ball, a highball made with apple pie syrup, inspired by the apple pie she stunned Gordon with on the show. The drink was refreshing, but the apple pie flavor was quite mellow. I wish the apple flavor would have been more pronounced. For our appetizers, we had the thit kho shumai and tom toast. The thit kho shumai really tasted like thit kho, but that was it. It just tasted like thit kho. There was nothing else notable about the dish. It was not plump or juicy as I would expect a dumpling to be, and the flavor wasn’t very strong. It felt like I was left hanging. “...and?” is how I felt about this dish. The tom toast was actually pretty good. The presentation was very neat. The edges of the toast were so crispy it was like char siu. The shrimp paste was delicious and the Nha Trang crab sauce was very good. For our entrees, we had the sticky wings, rose tteokbokki, Texas bbq brisket fried rice, and Viet-Cajun gumbo pot pie. The sticky wings were fine. The brisket in the fried rice felt like a haphazard topping. Although the brisket was fatty and tender, the pieces were far too small and didn’t feel like they added much to the dish. And although the pot pie was constructed well and had a beautiful pastry, I felt like the gumbo was underseasoned. Although I feel like there is room for improvement, I’m still happy I got to give The Blind Goat a try. I still really look up to Christine and even bought her cookbook after our meal! I’m looking forward to seeing what she does next.

We've been wanting to try this restaurant and finally did yesterday when we made it to Houston. I was shocked that we were able to get a reservation right away at the time we wanted. That probably should have been a warning. Restaurant was not busy when we arrived at 5:30, still not busy when we left around 7. 4 in our party including 2 hungry kids, we ordered several appetizers that sounded delicious from the happy hour menu. Oysters - the sauce was just mid, nothing bursting with flavor. It tasted like it'd been made for several days and whatever umami might've been there evaporated long ago. I had an oyster that smelled like the sea and left grit on my tongue. 😒 Pork belly skewers - kids liked it but it's hard to go wrong with it. Wished portion was more generous. Eggrolls - I looked forward to this the most but they came out dry. Very dry. Had to dip it into the nuoc mam several times. Banh kot - low quality shrimp that tasted similar to those frozen bags from Walmart. You know the one, we've all been in a pinch and used 'em. No taste but it fills the void. The batter itself was not tasty either, rather bland. Thit kho dumplings - they didn't look fresh to me at all but the kids liked them. Entrees. Caramelized salmon - overcooked and sauce was sweet, no complexity to it, no depth. My kids love salmon and can't tell a difference so they ate it. I would've sent it back if it were just me. Brisket fried rice - they did this one right. First bite was a punch of smokey beef flavor. We all devoured it. Husband was disappointed that there were only tiny bits of brisket though, pieces that barely had any real substantial volume where you could actually taste the meat. Blistered beans - Perfectly deep fried, good balance of salt and sesame oil. I was happy eating this. Crawfish and garlic noodles - true to description, it tasted like lots of butter. I tried a bite and i could feel my arteries clogging. My husband and older kids loved it though. Dessert. Tres leches - excellent sweetness, too bad the cake was dry. Apple pie - we could taste hints of fish sauce but not overwhelming, very cleverly incorporated. Service was basic. We were seated, orders taken, a rotation of staff brought our food so we didn't see our waitress at our table again except to take orders. We saw her plenty around us her though! Drinks were not refilled, and she did not check in on us, not even once. We are very appreciative of good service and always tip generously but we didn't get that warm and fuzzy experience. We still tipped the standard though, hoping it's shared with the rest of the staff.

First and foremost, this restaurant has some of the most interesting Vietnamese food I've tried in Houston, a city loaded with good Vietnamese restaurants. Everything I tried was first-rate and delicious... The fish sauce vinaigrette was so amazing and probably would be tasty on almost every dish they serve! Unfortunately, the service was not good. The waiter definitely had an attitude about him, and he was slow to bring items that we asked for. I also had a sense that the restaurant was understaffed that evening-- and the restaurant was actually quite bustling. The interior decoration was above average for for a Vietnamese restaurant but the space still felt strangely cavernous. For those looking for a first-rate Vietnamese based lunch or dinner, I highly recommend this place. Sadly, the service I had was below par and hopefully will be improved.

Came here with my wife on a Friday night because of the great reviews. In short: it’s okay, but not as amazing as people say. The mocktails were unique and interesting, but the main dishes were disappointing. While the Viet-Cajun Gumbo Pot Pie had a wonderful flaky crust, the broth was too salty and lacked depth. The Vietnamese Chicken Curry was oily, salty, and lacked the vibrant spices we expected. The pork buns were dry all around. The only saving grace was the Phở Cuốn 10—so fresh and the rice paper roll literally melted in our mouths. The service felt frantic; it was a busy Friday night, and the staff were running around with no time to breathe, which was tough to watch. It was worth trying once, but for the price, you can get a much better and more delicious meal over in the Chinatown area.

Great place to get Vietnamese food whether you need to take on it! My favorite was the pasta, the flavors reminded me of my mom‘s cooking, it was a bit salty, but but overall very flavorful and juicy. Everything else was great, I would probably pass on the banh kot since that didn’t taste anything out of the ordinary that you can get at any other Vietnamese restaurant, the pho cuon was good, but as a someone who has tried that other places, it wasn’t crazy. Overall, the service here was great, I highly recommend and would come back.