Houston Restaurant Reviews II

I have been to a ton of new (or new to me) restaurants in the past few months. A lot for work since I eat out so much during the summer, and some personally. Here are my reviews of each.

Rating Scale

* - Terrible
** - Okay
*** - Good
**** - Great
***** - One of the Best Restaurants Ever

1. Artista (****) - In my last post I talked a little bit about this restaurant. It is absolutely perfect to go to before a theatre performance. It is pretty expensive, but the food is very very good. The plaintains they put out on the table as your bread are addicting. I got the bass which was superb, and Blake got some 30 day marinated flank steak. They also have one of the best tres leches I have ever had.

2. Bird and the Bear (*****) - I took my summer associates here for lunch one day. It is the sister restaurant to Ouisie's so of course it was good. I LOVED it. Everything was amazing and unanimously it was one of their favorite lunches this summer.

3. Down House (***) - We have now been here for dinner and brunch. I enjoyed this place way better as a brunch restaurant. It is in the Heights and super hip. It is a coffee bar too so they have great coffee drinks. Go for brunch on the weekends but be prepared to wait for a little.

4. Dolce Vita (****) - Super great fancy pizza joint. Great food, great atmosphere, great wine. GO!

5. Katsuya (***) - I had to go here (double date with Todd and Christina) to check out what all the L.A. fuss was about. I only gave it three stars because while it was good sushi, it didn't stand out as being amazing, and it was SO expensive. I also didn't like the over the top trendy decor. I can do without this place.

6. Le Mistral (****) - I just met my friend, Amanda, here last week for lunch. I was finally able to take a long lunch so I did. It is way out on the west side of town (Eldridge), but was really good. I had been wanting to try it for a while, but dinner was too pricey so I thought lunch would be the better option. I had one of the best chicken paninis I have had in a very long time. This was such a delightful place.

7. Liberty Kitchen and Oyster Bar (***) - We went here on a triple dinner date with Lauren and Jose and Amanda and Brandon about a month ago. It reminds me a lot of BRC or Branch Water Tavern feel wise. I tried oysters for the first time. I did not care for the texture. Ugh, too slimy. It was good, but nothing special. I don't know, I was exhausted this night so maybe that had something to do with it. I would go again maybe.

8. Lucio's (***) - B and I went here a couple weeks ago. It's a hole in the wall restaurant with nice food (think $20 - $35 entrees) but BYOB. We love BYOB places, but most of them are places like Collina's and uber casual. This is a great place to go for a date. The food was pretty good, but probably wouldn't go back if it weren't for the BYOB.

9. Ninfa's on Navigation (****) - I have eaten at Ninfa's probably 30 times in my life, but never have I been to the original Ninfa's on Navigation until this summer. This was another summer associate lunch. For some reason it is way better than all the others. The food was really good. Apparently, they have one of the best burgers in town and its off the menu. I would love to try it for brunch!

10. Sorrel Urban Bistro (**) - Again, I took my summer associates here for lunch. I would say its only okay. I didn't really like the feel in the place and my food was only alright.

11. Tango and Malbec (****) - B and I went here a few months ago for date night. I really liked this place because it is so out of the ordinary. It is Argentinian cuisine. Blake and I got this fish dish to share that was cut at the table. It was so good. They also had live tango dancers that danced around the restaurant every 30 minutes or so. It was so fun!

12. Tiny's No. 5 (****) - I had a women's dinner here for work this summer. If you like Tiny Boxwoods you will love this place. It is in a West U neighborhood and very family friendly. It is bigger than Boxwoods but still decorated the same, maybe even better. Such a great restaurant!

13. Tony Mandola's (***) - I took my summer associates to this new location on Waugh because it looked so nice from the outside. I thought it was good, but not great. The outside of the building makes you think it is a much nicer restaurant than it actually is.