The Elements Restaurant

Fresh food, well prepared

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great service and good provided by the owner and team. Washrooms were very clean and well kept. Recommend their food and service!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Having just reviewed the sparse comments by previous diners. I must conclude that both service and food quality have improved considerably. The four of us had three different meals (two of us had LARGE special dinners and pronounced them great!) and there were no complaints. Service and follow-up good, prices reasonable, washrooms clean, parking available, close to main thoroughfare - nothing missing on my checklist

Regular Chinese food. Nothing special. Service was good.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 5

Very good food
Awesome war wonton

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Great service and great food.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Decent spot to stop while on your travels. As far as Chinese food goes it was fairly average but for a decent price. Service was decent and friendly. Will stop by again for sure.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

The elements has definitely stepped their game up. The food is excellent and the service has been great.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Best service we have had in years. Food was great.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

Service was fast and friendly and Food was delicious.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Visited Sunday , was very busy but the service was excellent!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

The Elements restaurant was a great find! We came in about an hour before closing and Nicole was super inviting and kind. The food was great and portions were large! It was perfect for dinner after a long day of travel.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Since our favorite restaurant was closed we thought we'd try the Elements. Big mistake! This was the grossest food I have tasted in a very long time. Enough said. Stay away!

We went here for lunch as it is conveniently just off the Highway 16 heading back towards Prince Rupert. We were fairly hungry as we entered the establishment. The service almost immediately came to accommodate us at the door and showed us our seats. The place looked dated, but it can be explained by the long history the building has been known for since the 1920s. At least it was clean and orderly, most of the customers were seated near the entrance, where you can see the kitchen window where the meals come out from. The washrooms were very clean and decent for weary long highway travelers. The menu includes both Western and Chinese cuisine, fairly varied and has many options. We went ahead and ordered chicken wings to start, breaded shrimp with fries and a chicken cheeseburger. The chicken wings were very good and tasteful. The shrimp were disappointing because they were more batter than shrimp. The burger also lacked some tomatoes, onions, and other fixings that usually go with the burger - save for the slice of unmelted processed cheese and lettuce with some mayonnaise. This made the meal overall decent but not really remarkable. If you are hungry and in a hurry, you can try to opt for this convenient place but we would not recommend going out of your way to dine here.

Ah, The Elements Restaurant! This place has such a rich history, both in the town of Houston and for me personally. The restaurant’s physical space can trace its roots all the way back to 1928 when it was constructed and opened as a garage by EG Bellicini. The building functioned as a garage – with many different owners – for the next 56 years until 1984 when it was purchased by Mr. Chow. Following the sale of the building, and extensive renovations, the space was turned into the Landmark Restaurant. The new restaurant functioned as a social hub for the small town, while offering up both Western and Chinese cuisine. The restaurant changed hands in the early 1990s and was eventually renamed to its current incarnation: The Elements. Every summer, from the mid-1980s up until the early 2000s, my grandparents and I would drive from Northern BC all the way down to Vancouver (and later Chilliwack) to visit family. The excursion usually took us two days, typically with a mid-way stop in either Prince George or Quesnel, BC. We usually stopped in Houston for lunch at the Landmark (Elements) Restaurant, mostly because it offered convenience, being located just off of Highway 16. The food was always decent – nothing to write home about but always good. Over time, we developed a bit of a routine and ordered pretty much the same thing: I’d get chicken wings; my aunt would get a clubhouse; and my grandparents would get wonton soup and/or hamburger steak. Once, we even ran into a “friend” (and I use that term generously here) when my grandmother and I visited the eatery in and around 2001. As it turns out, one of the cooks from a Chinese restaurant at home had migrated to Houston and recognized us. It was kind of a neat meeting. Our last visit to the Elements came in the summer of 2002. My grandmother and I were driving south towards Chilliwack and decided to stop at the Elements for lunch. I ordered chicken wings and my grandmother ordered the hamburger steak. Both items were a disaster: my wings were charred black and the hamburger steak was off – smelly – like it had been sitting in blood for hours before being cooked. The server apologized and we weren’t charged for the meal, but it was incredibly off-putting. Fast-forward 15 years later. I found myself passing through Houston during the early dinner hours. I felt compelled to stop at the Elements purely for nostalgic reasons and, besides, a decade and a half had passed since I’d stepped foot in the restaurant. Surely our bad experience was a one off? Anyway, I walked into the mostly empty restaurant and ordered chicken wings and hamburger steak. The food came quickly. Thankfully, my wings weren’t burnt to a crisp – they were actually pretty decent and had a nice flavor to them. How about the hamburger steak? It was OK. The hamburger was a little dry (the gravy saved it), but my biggest issue came with the massive amount of onions served with the dish. It looked like about 10 pounds of onions atop the hamburger; in fact, you couldn’t even really tell that it was a hamburger steak dish just by looking (see photos). So, overall, I’d say my early dinner was average at best, but it was still nice to stop on by. FOOD: 2.75/5 SERVICE: 3/5 VALUE: 3/5 RECOMMENDATION: The food here was nothing great, but at least it wasn’t as godawful as it was 15 years earlier. As I’ve said elsewhere, “nostalgia brings me here.” Mild recommendation.