MIKE RICCETTI
  • The best of Houston dining
    • Guinness pours
    • Banh mi
    • Breakfast tacos
    • Italian
    • Pizzerias
    • Sandwiches
    • Steakhouses
    • Wine Bars
  • The margherita pizza project
  • The martini project
  • Musings on Houston Dining
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2021
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2019
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2018
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2017
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2016
    • The dozen best Inner Loop values
    • Dining recommendations for visitors to Houston
  • Italian restaurant history
  • Italian & Italian-American
  • Entertaining tips
    • Booze basics
    • Styles of Cheeses
    • Handling Those Disruptive Guests
  • Wine
  • Beer
  • Cocktails and Spirits
  • Miscellaneous
  • Blog
  • The best of Houston dining
    • Guinness pours
    • Banh mi
    • Breakfast tacos
    • Italian
    • Pizzerias
    • Sandwiches
    • Steakhouses
    • Wine Bars
  • The margherita pizza project
  • The martini project
  • Musings on Houston Dining
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2021
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2019
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2018
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2017
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2016
    • The dozen best Inner Loop values
    • Dining recommendations for visitors to Houston
  • Italian restaurant history
  • Italian & Italian-American
  • Entertaining tips
    • Booze basics
    • Styles of Cheeses
    • Handling Those Disruptive Guests
  • Wine
  • Beer
  • Cocktails and Spirits
  • Miscellaneous
  • Blog
MIKE RICCETTI

THE Best of Houston Dining

An enjoyable journey

Lists of the best

This an attempt to recommend the best restaurants in the Houston area in a number of categories.   These lists might be a top ten, but sometimes there might be more or fewer places to recommend for a theme.  These should be fun, as most "best of" lists are and, hopefully, even useful, unlike most of them.  A terrific amount of eating and drinking has been involved in their creation.  Unlike too many of these lists you find, I've been to every place touted, and a great many more not.  I've been doing this for a while for Houston: I was the local editor for the Zagat Survey from 2007 until 2015 (when owner Google pulled the plug on those roles), and before that, the first edition of my Houston Dining on the Cheap guidebook was published way back in 2002.

The ones in red are done, and have been occasionally updated, but much more to do.  It's been going slowly, but it will get there.

Last updated on May 21, 2022.


  • The 50 Best Restaurants in Houston - 100 was just too ambitious for me....
  • ​Banh Mi
  • ​​Bakeries
  • Barbecue
  • Best Values
  • Breakfast
  • Breakfast Tacos
  • ​Chicken Fried Steak
  • Chinese
  • Cocktails
  • ​Crawfish
  • Downtown Dining
  • French
  • ​Fried Chicken
  • ​Fajitas
  • French
  • Galleria Area Dining
  • Guinness
  • Hamburger Joints
  • Heights Area Dining
  • Houston-centric
  • Indian / Pakistani
  • Italian
  • Italian-American
  • Japanese
  • Kolaches
  • ​Korean
  • Middle Eastern
  • Mexican
  • Montrose Area Dining
  • Pasta
  • Pho
  • Pizzerias
  • Pizza at non-Pizzerias
  • Raw Bars
  • Sandwiches
  • See / Be Seen
  • Seafood
  • Splurge Worthy
  • Steakhouses
  • Sushi
  • ​Tacos
  • Tex-Mex
  • To Take a Visitor
  • Thai
  • ​Trendy / Tough Tables
  • Vietnamese
  • Whisky / Whiskey
  • Wine Bars 
  • Wine Lists
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