Kim Son Restaurant

Foods was on point, not the best but great enough to eat for buffet. Service was excellent, fast , efficient, best buffet service I've ever seen. 62/ person is a bit stiff, not for everyone but I think it's worth it to try variety of Vietnamese foods . It's a bit noisy, not a romantic place, but the good thing about the noise is , nobody going to know or care of what your conversation is

It is an open buffet with various Vietnamese dishes. The street food section, the soup section, the seafood, meat, side dishes, and desserts. When you arrive you will be presented with a dish of blue crabs and shrimp (enough for two people) to share. Overall, plenty of endless food to cater to your tastebuds!

Ate here on weekends and they’re hands down the best “authentic” Asian buffet in all of southern USA. I might not have eaten at every single Asian buffets from Texas to Atlanta but I’ve ate at quite a few and the popular ones and there’s no true Asian buffet as good, authentic, and uses FRESH food ingredients as this place. And to everyone who says it’s expensive, you pay for what you get and you get is true authentic, fresh Asian food, something many other buffets cannot claim. Service and atmosphere is good for the average buffet.

Kim Son, Bellaire... The food was very tasty and fresh. Lots of options in a buffet style. I liked that they serve you on your plate, vs spooning it yourself, much more sanitary that way. All sorts of options. Lots of Vietnamese dishes. They also have a grilled section, and dim sum too, even a soup/noodle station, with many options, Hot Pot, bun bo hue, pho and more. Sushi, spring rolls, clams, chicken, fried rice, banh xeo. Deserts, and drinks, like green teas, sugar cane and so much more. The options are almost endless. However, there was a wait time to be seated, 30 to 45 minutes. You're given a ticket number and wait around until your number is called. Lots of people. This place is pretty big. Things did move fast though. Service was great. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves and will be returning. Just come hungry and expect a bit of a wait time. It's worth it, in my opinion.

Amazing vietnamese buffet for a really good price. Here you can try multiple varieties of their noodle soups, spring rolls, street food, as well as desserts. Make sure to come hungry as you will definitely be leaving super full. We arrived around 11:30 on a Thursday and were seated right away. Although this is a buffet, all dishes are served by a worker from behind a plastic barrier for hygiene purposes. But there was hardly ever a wait, and the overall process was quite fast. Even the removal of dirty dishes from your table was exceptionally fast, as there were workers walking by constantly picking up the dishes. Had a great experience and staff were very friendly. Definitely worth it if you are interested in trying their wide selection of food. My favorite had to be their curry chicken, which was so creamy and full of flavor. They also gave you bread to dip in the curry, which picked up all the rich flavor that left you wanting more.

Funny thought about Kim Son: The buffet is in a canteen style where a dedicated staff member would spoon each pre-defined portion of the dish for you rather than you getting it yourself. There's also a noodles bar and small plates, so everything ends up looking like how it is in fine dining: Lots of small portions with a couple bites each. With some careful reframing, perhaps this could make for a budget-oriented "tasting menu". Anyway, if you are reading this review you probably already know what Kim Son is. It's the huge, almost celebrity-like Vietnamese buffet that anchors Little Saigon, and they really do have all kinds of Vietnamese food over here. (Including "KFC" - Kimsơn Fried Chicken, of course. KFC - the Kentucky kind - is unironically big in Vietnam.) And what do you know? There are all kinds of taste ratings I could give for each dish as well, all the way from my Tier E to a couple high-B (I don't there was any A-tier dish, no). Overall I think they did their steamed fish best (it was also the most popular item), and the desserts and skewers were reliable. There was a couple of Huế-style small plates that were good (the bánh đúc and bánh ít trần in particular), but the noodles bar, the bánh xèo, and the banana-leaf small plates (bánh bột lọc and bánh nậm) left much to be desired. Most of the hot foods aside from the steamed fish were also just okay. So, is Kim Son worth it? Well, it's "good for a buffet", all considered. But honestly, for something that's all over Vietnamese media, being merely "good for a buffet" is somehow not enough. In a vacuum though, I do like it better than most. The one prevailing thought I had throughout my lunch was how much better Paradise Buffet (Indiana) was for the same price - adjusted for local cost of living - but you do get a lot of interesting cuisine for the amount of money you paid here. TL;DR Recommended if you strongly identify with being Vietnamese or curious about Vietnamese food.

Extremely busy, lunch time wait was one hour+ for us. I understand the hype, but the selection of dishes on the way we went was kinda mid...There were some winners but also some options I would rather not touch again. Perhaps a visit when better options are out would be worth a second shot. Tips: Join the waitlist ahead of time to avoid the long wait