After months of construction, the wok stations are firing again at Lucky Village Chinese Buffet, the Westheimer Road institution that just reopened with fan-shaped ceiling coves, cascading crystal pendant lights, and a hand-painted chinoiserie mural in its main dining room. The 20-year West Houston staple unveiled its renovated space the week before publication, trading its old buffet-hall look for something closer to upscale restaurant design while keeping its hundreds-of-items, all-you-can-eat format intact.
According to CultureMap Houston, the buffet at 10755 Westheimer closed earlier this year for a lengthy renovation before reopening with a second dining room featuring floor-to-ceiling glass, cognac leather chairs, and a matte black ceiling. Lucky Village partner Jenny Xie told the outlet that the restaurant has meant something to the community for 20 years and that the renovation honors its history while giving it a future. A state project filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, registered in December 2025, estimated the renovation cost at $213,000 for the 12,800-square-foot facility.
A Seven-Month Overhaul Behind the Scenes
The project ran longer than originally planned. Design firm Tinggi Design says interior construction began in mid-January and wrapped with an official soft reopening on August 21, roughly seven months later, though state filings had originally targeted completion for mid-July. WhatNow Houston reported that state permit records listed Aixiang Xie as a primary contact and described a venue built around live wok cooking stations and multi-level seating.
Tinggi Design is the Houston-based firm behind the redesign, and per CultureMap it builds restaurants across Texas and Louisiana. The company worked alongside sister firm Golden Town Materials to source and manufacture many of the renovation's features, an outgrowth of founder Ting Geng's family business, Golden Town Design, which Rice Business recognized as one of Houston's fastest-growing Asian-owned companies. Geng launched Tinggi Design after 15 years in global finance, including a stint as an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, before returning to Houston to focus on restaurant architecture, according to Voyage Houston Magazine. The firm has completed more than 450 restaurant design projects across 29 states and China, per its own account.
What's Still on the Buffet Line
The renovated space still runs on the same all-you-can-eat model that built its following. The buffet includes a seafood section with shrimp in lobster sauce, sweet-and-sour shrimp, kung pao shrimp, boiled shrimp, and crawfish, plus a sushi station with nigiri and maki. Chicken dishes include sweet-and-sour, almond, and black bean sauce preparations, while beef options run from pepper steak to Mongolian and kung pao styles. Appetizers include dumplings, egg rolls, and chicken wings, soups include wonton, hot and sour, and egg drop, and the line also features fried rice and egg foo young.
New Look, New Prices
The glow-up came with a cost adjustment for diners. Dinner now runs $18.99 on weekdays and $19.99 on Saturdays and Sundays, with lunch priced at $15.99 and lower rates for lunch and for children. Facebook pricing records reviewed for this story show the dinner buffet priced at $14.60 in late 2024, meaning the weekday dinner rate has climbed several dollars alongside the aesthetic transformation.
Lucky Village sits in West Houston's Westchase District, a Westheimer Road corridor that has long served as a hub for the region's Asian dining scene. Nearby, Feng Ling has operated in the area for more than 40 years, according to a Constant Contact newsletter that placed Lucky Village's two-decade run within that broader neighborhood history. Community discussions on Facebook, described as historical accounts from former restaurant management, indicate Lucky Village once operated additional locations on Fountain View Drive and near Hillcroft Avenue before consolidating to its Westheimer Road address.
Regulatory Backdrop for Major Remodels
Renovations of this scale don't escape state oversight. Under Texas administrative code, privately funded commercial building alterations must undergo a mandatory inspection by a Registered Accessibility Specialist within one year of construction completion, a rule that falls under 16 Texas Administrative Code Section 68.52 and applies broadly to projects like Lucky Village's dining room overhaul.
For now, the restaurant is serving under its new chandeliers and mural-lined walls while holding onto the buffet format that built its reputation over two decades. Whether the higher price points hold as the space settles into its new identity remains to be seen, but the reopening marks a rare full architectural reinvention for a Houston buffet institution that has mostly stayed under the radar until now.
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