Din Ho Chinese BBQ
The barbecue counter is the first thing you see at Din Ho, on the left as you walk in, where the cooks hack roast duck, chicken and slabs of char siu into bite-sized pieces, and Mick Vann called that duck
moist, nonfatty, and covered with a burnished thin crispy skin.2
Why go
Nicolai McCrary scores it 8.0 and puts the room's standing in one sentence: When someone in Austin asks if you want to go grab some barbecue pork or roast duck for dinner, they're really asking you if you want to go to Din Ho, near 183 and Ohlen.
1 Jackie Szeto, who owns it, is from Hong Kong, and the duck is roasted the Cantonese way: the whole bird comes with ten steamed bao, shredded scallions and the house hoisin, and the rack of bones, still carrying meat, is two dollars more.3 Clara Wang, eating her way through the city's Peking ducks for the Chronicle in 2023, found the hot-oil skin a little chewy
with a lingering bit of gaminess
and still a stellar piece of poultry,
and two of them ate enough for three.3 The rest of the menu is long: sea cucumber and duck feet over baby bok choy, hot pots, General Tso's for the table's holdout, and prix fixe dinners for three and for ten.4 The kitchen has traded in the strip center at Research and Ohlen for nearly three decades, and Matthew Odam counts that center among the great ones for Asian dining in Austin, with Julie's Noodles, Pho Van, Ramen Tatsu-Ya and House of Three Gorges under the same roofline.86
Order this / avoid
- Order: the barbecue combo, which is the duck, the sweet-salty char siu and the marinated chicken off the counter together. Vann's half duck, half pork platter was US$7.25 in 2004,
the best in town, and even better than we remembered.
42 - The whole Beijing duck, carved tableside, with hand-rolled pancakes, scallions and hoisin.8
- Alan Lazarus's order:
barbecue pork, roasted duck, salt and pepper lobster, shrimp dumplings in broth, and those sinfully gross crispy shrimp with honey walnuts.
7 - Singapore-style fried noodle, on the flat rice noodle, tossed in a white-hot wok with curry powder, shrimp and julienned vegetables. Vann:
smoky, subtly spicy, and absolutely perfect.
2 - Sizzling beef with black pepper, caramelized strips on a platter that arrives bubbling.2
- Avoid: the shrimp and scallops in garlic sauce, built on sweet chili and ginger, which
left us yawning.
2
What locals & experts say
- Two chefs, one page, 2011. Emmett Fox of Asti and Fino:
Din Ho for Peking duck.
Alan Lazarus of Vespaio named five dishes, quoted above.7 - The Infatuation Austin, Nicolai McCrary, 8 December 2023, 8.0:
It's a name that's become practically synonymous with Chinese barbecue in Austin, and it's one of our go-tos when the craving strikes.
1 - The Austin Chronicle, Mick Vann, 24 September 2004:
The menu is huge and all encompassing, the prices are very reasonable, the portions are large, the product is fresh, and the service is top-notch.
The snow pea leaves that night were overcooked, and he wanted the dried-scallop version back.2 - The Austin Chronicle, Beth Sullivan, 21 December 2017, on the holidays: the family-owned room
told the Chronicle they're exceptionally busy on Christmas Day,
with plans to stay open until sold out.4 - The Chronicle's Tasting 2002 placed it ninth in the city for roast ducks
unctuous and meltingly tender
to grab and go.5
Good to know
- Closed Tuesday. The other six days run from late morning into the evening, in one stretch.8
- Weekend evenings have a line. McCrary's advice is to buy a boba from CoCo's next door and drink it in the queue, then take a big round table with a lazy Susan.1
- Beer and wine are licensed, and the Tsingtao comes in a chilled glass.3
- Prices: the last a critic printed for the counter platter is 2004's US$7.25; the duck's rack of bones was US$2 extra in January 2023. I have not read a current menu.23
- Where it is: 8557 Research Boulevard, Suite 116, at Ohlen, in the same center as House of Three Gorges, Julie's Noodles, Pho Van and Ramen Tatsu-Ya.16
- Hygiene: Austin Public Health scored the kitchen between 84 and 94 across three inspections, the latest on 15 January 2026, facility 2801257, on a scale where 70 fails. The other kitchens at 8557 Research carry their own permits.9
Verdict
should-visit — Bring a table's worth of people, take a round table with a lazy Susan, and order the barbecue combo off the counter by the door plus a whole Beijing duck carved in front of you; add the Singapore fried noodle on the flat rice noodle. Skip Tuesday, and on a weekend night get there before the line does.