The ten toughest reservations in Houston
It can be tough to score a reservation at a hot new restaurant. Others have been difficult for years for those prime weekend times. While a few places are simply small and don’t have that many reservations to go around. Below are restaurants that will likely take some advance planning before visiting.
Updated on January 26, 2024.
Little’s Oyster Bar – Seafood – Pappas Restaurants did something it’s never done before with this spring newcomer, hire a top chef to head one of its kitchens, when it enticed Jason Ryczek who had been the executive chef for several years at Farallon, one of San Francisco’s leading seafood restaurants, to move here. Bringing a fresh and seasoned perspective to the space that housed popular Little Pappas Seafood House for over three decades, it now boasts one of the very best seafood restaurants in the entire Gulf Coast. Possibly the city’s top raw bar does expert duty with oysters including an actually enticing cocktail sauce made with a pomegranate molasses that offsets its dull mignonette companion. Cold platters large and small include a deconstructed Crab Louie with delectable plump pieces of lump blue crab meat. And Ryczek’s past with caviar ensures its service might be the most impressive in town if you can indulge in that luxury and skyrocketing the bill at already expensive spot. A star among the warm preparations is the Texas Redfish served skin-on with an Italianesque salsa verde featuring Castelveltrano olives. Another is the chicken fried snapper with a tangy sauce ravigote. Resolutely a seafood restaurant – and a destination-worthy one at that – but a pricey Prime dry-aged steak or a white truffle risotto, or even some of the compelling vegetable sides, might satisfy those in the group who desist from the ocean’s charms. Wine offerings reach to the deep Pappas’ cellars for a list that is rather unusual, lengthy, and heavy on Champagne and Burgundy. The wait staff is trademark Pappas attentive, accommodating and forthright. Start with a cocktail, something chilled, and about anything else to continue, probably getting some help with the wine, and it be tough not to be impressed here. Montrose
Katami – Japanese – Chef Manabu Horiuchi, Hori, of Kata Robata acclaim is one of the very best toques in Houston regardless of cuisine, and the enchanting, grand new space that opened in October, long home of the Italian-American Vincent’s, is a fitting setting to shine even more. Imbued with a Japanese design ethos, this “sushi, wagyu and sake-focused restaurant” features clean lines, blond woods interspersed with black, a separate ebony colored bar and over 180 seats along with a few dozen more in a somehow tranquil patio near busy W. Dallas. But it’s the food that’s the star. With the most wide-ranging regular selection of nigiri and sashimi around, it includes a number of items flow in regularly from Japan, all fashioned and served in optimal fashion. Hori has some fun with the makimono, the rolls, like the Southern Smoke Roll with fatty tuna belly, uni, caviar, shiso, wasabi and soy sauce, or the less opulent Texas Hamachi Roll filled with fried shrimp, spicy tuna and yellowtail with yuzu juice and topped with slices of fresh jalapeño. And others such as the Foie Gras PBJ Milk Bread. The lengthy menu has much more than sushi, with plenty of hot preparations including A5 beef from two different prefectures and two types of cooking methods. It might be overwhelming, but you can make it easier by ordering the sashimi or two or chirashi, sashimi over rice, or the kitchen’s choice of ten pieces of nigiri. It seems like it’s tough to go wrong here, and the plentiful staff will be sure to explain and encourage exploration, which can cost. Montrose
Neo – Sushi – Another omakase concept from alumni of Uchi, this is more than sushi and fish. The setting is also different, in a menswear showroom. It can be tough to get a ticket and that will cost $260 for the twenty or so courses, drinks and tip, along with something to brag about, if successful. Montrose
Navy Blue – Seafood – The most impressive entry onto the Houston dining scene is this beautiful blue 7,000-foot-plus seafood place, palace, from the folks at Bludorn that opened around Thanksgiving following plenty of anticipation. It immediately became the best restaurant in the eatery-laden Rice Village. The moneyed set quickly followed from Bludorn, and reservations have been very tough since doors opened. Executive Chef Jerrod Zifchak arrived from New York where he was the last one at the Michelin-starred Café Boulud on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, succeeding Aaron Bludorn in that role. Notably for the cuisine, Zifchak also had four years in the kitchen at Le Bernardin, widely regarded as the top seafood restaurant in the country. There are other impressive CV’s on staff here, which quickly shows upon entry and with the first drink, as service is noticeably professional – unusually so for just opening and for the city in general – solicitous, knowledgeable, accommodating and friendly. The menu is actually quite approachable, ranging from oysters and clams (and caviar) to start with crab cakes, a mussel bisque en croute, fresh pasta preparations and fish. There is a swordfish steak served in a green peppercorn sauce, and an entire Dover sole is fileted tableside. With that and the lobster, you’ve got options; almondine, Oscar and Provençal for the former. A French accent is found in other items, too, a good thing, plus there are a couple of nods to our area with a blackened red snapper and a different-tasting take on seafood gumbo. Rice Village
Street to Kitchen – Probably the most unique and maybe ambitious of the local Thai restaurants, this is has moved from its initial gas station location further east on Harrisburg Boulevard to the much more attractive spot that had housed Louie's. If you can dine in, the still-quaint space is packed tight with noticeably happy customers; both because of the food and that they scored a reservation. The hospitality of the extremely affable husband of the married couple that own and operate the place helps, too. Portions are also on the small side, but are usually quite flavorful with a menu that changes regularly. The Pork Panang Curry and Red Curry with Chicken have been excellent in the past, and we can hope for their return. Those and the Green Curry Fish Balls are on hiatus and there are more restaurant standards like laarb, green papaya salad, Drunken Noodles, and green and massaman curries today. East End
Hidden Omakase – Sushi – Led by an alumna of Uchi who’s cooked in Spain and Thailand, this offers only set courses with two seatings of no more than eighteen folks nightly from Thursday through Sunday, which are $175 a head, for just the food. You need to bring your own wine or sake, BYOB is $20 per bottle. It will be fifteen courses of sushi with flavors that can go well beyond Japan. The terrific Burger Chan located nearly adjacent won’t be open when you depart, unfortunately; though delicious, you might need a burger after dinner here. Galleria Area
Bludorn – New American – Since opening in 2020, the monied set has beaten a path for comforting fare done upscale and quite well from Aaron Bludorn, a former executive chef at the Michelin-starred Café Boulud in Manhattan, who has paired with a experienced team to aptly satisfy diners of a certain ilk. Freshly made pastas, fish, steaks, and more with those luxurious additions, foie gras, sea urchin, truffles and caviar, finding their ways to a fair number of tables. Fourth Ward
Nancy's Hustle – New American – Though this could likely fit in seamlessly in the other top restaurant cities in the country, but it is also perfectly suited for the present-day Houston led by a very experienced and talented crew, which is quickly evident. The quickly boisterous and nicely casual set-up in a comfortable strip center coupled has a serious kitchen churning out delectable dishes with flavors ranging from the Mediterranean on either side of the Bosphorus to stateside, most designed for sharing, and an expertly chosen array of wine, well-crafted cocktails and even beers to complement the evening. It's one of the city’s best. East End
BCN – Spanish – Set in a handsome older house, this provides locals with a very well-executed glimpse into Spanish fine dining that is both contemporary and deeply rooted in the traditions of Barcelona. The kitchen is headed by Chef Luis Roger, who had years of experience in kitchens in his native Catalonia including a stint at El Bulli. Before proceeding to think much about the entrées and something from the excellent all-Spanish wine list, it’s a great idea to start slowly here, with one of the nearly fifteen or so tempting pintxo-esque appetizers like seared bluefin tuna, crispy baby artichokes with romesco sauce and boquerones and one of the fun, revelatory gin tonics like the signature BCN: Hendrick's gin, Indian Fever-Tree tonic water, juniper berries and cucumber. A few of the tempting mains are: Spanish hake with bomba rice cooked in cuttlefish’s black ink, baby squid and scampi, suckling Ibérico pig “a la Segoviana,” and grilled duck breast served with quince, Idiazábal cheese sauce, pine nuts and balsamic vinegar reduction. Then there are desserts…. Montrose
March – Mediterranean (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) – This is the best of breed of the quartet of pricey set-menu-only restaurants that came on the scene in 2021. The most ambitious offering in the Goodnight Hospitality Group (Rosie Cannonball, Montrose Cheese & Wine), and one of the most ambitious around, March is staffed by a very capable and broadly experienced team led by executive chef Felipe Riccio that can pull off Michelin-starred-quality creations inspired by top restaurants around the Mediterranean. It’s only dinner here in six- and nine-course meals that begins with snacks of the fanciest kinds and drinks in the lounge area. A seafood escabeche cooked in piquant harissa sofrito and aided with Jamón Ibérico, and blood sausage paté with black currants are a couple of past items. The food is exquisitely rendered and served in a nicely understated setting along with informed and attentive service to make this one of the premier dining experiences in the city. One of the two wine pairings might be the easiest way to proceed but if you want to use the wine list you will be rewarded: a hundred pages put together by Master Sommelier June Rodil has plenty of Burgundy or Bordeaux, but also lot from the finest cellars in Piedmont and a number of wines from top Italian and Spanish producers like Quintarelli, Fontodi and López de Heredia. Montrose
Uchi – Japanese / Sushi – Serving a creative take on modern Japanese food and known for its sushi and sashimi preparations, this is a version of the most acclaimed restaurant in Austin that won Chef Tyson Cole a James Beard Award several years ago. It quickly became part of the restaurant firmament in Houston after opening in early 2012, and remains a top destination for sushi and seafood, period. Terrific service, too. Montrose
Steak 48 – Steak – The glitzy Houston outpost of this upscale steak chain from the Mastro brothers has been a hot spot in the River Oaks District since opening in 2016, attracting diners both for the ambience and well-executed contemporary steakhouse menu. River Oaks District
Updated on January 26, 2024.
Little’s Oyster Bar – Seafood – Pappas Restaurants did something it’s never done before with this spring newcomer, hire a top chef to head one of its kitchens, when it enticed Jason Ryczek who had been the executive chef for several years at Farallon, one of San Francisco’s leading seafood restaurants, to move here. Bringing a fresh and seasoned perspective to the space that housed popular Little Pappas Seafood House for over three decades, it now boasts one of the very best seafood restaurants in the entire Gulf Coast. Possibly the city’s top raw bar does expert duty with oysters including an actually enticing cocktail sauce made with a pomegranate molasses that offsets its dull mignonette companion. Cold platters large and small include a deconstructed Crab Louie with delectable plump pieces of lump blue crab meat. And Ryczek’s past with caviar ensures its service might be the most impressive in town if you can indulge in that luxury and skyrocketing the bill at already expensive spot. A star among the warm preparations is the Texas Redfish served skin-on with an Italianesque salsa verde featuring Castelveltrano olives. Another is the chicken fried snapper with a tangy sauce ravigote. Resolutely a seafood restaurant – and a destination-worthy one at that – but a pricey Prime dry-aged steak or a white truffle risotto, or even some of the compelling vegetable sides, might satisfy those in the group who desist from the ocean’s charms. Wine offerings reach to the deep Pappas’ cellars for a list that is rather unusual, lengthy, and heavy on Champagne and Burgundy. The wait staff is trademark Pappas attentive, accommodating and forthright. Start with a cocktail, something chilled, and about anything else to continue, probably getting some help with the wine, and it be tough not to be impressed here. Montrose
Katami – Japanese – Chef Manabu Horiuchi, Hori, of Kata Robata acclaim is one of the very best toques in Houston regardless of cuisine, and the enchanting, grand new space that opened in October, long home of the Italian-American Vincent’s, is a fitting setting to shine even more. Imbued with a Japanese design ethos, this “sushi, wagyu and sake-focused restaurant” features clean lines, blond woods interspersed with black, a separate ebony colored bar and over 180 seats along with a few dozen more in a somehow tranquil patio near busy W. Dallas. But it’s the food that’s the star. With the most wide-ranging regular selection of nigiri and sashimi around, it includes a number of items flow in regularly from Japan, all fashioned and served in optimal fashion. Hori has some fun with the makimono, the rolls, like the Southern Smoke Roll with fatty tuna belly, uni, caviar, shiso, wasabi and soy sauce, or the less opulent Texas Hamachi Roll filled with fried shrimp, spicy tuna and yellowtail with yuzu juice and topped with slices of fresh jalapeño. And others such as the Foie Gras PBJ Milk Bread. The lengthy menu has much more than sushi, with plenty of hot preparations including A5 beef from two different prefectures and two types of cooking methods. It might be overwhelming, but you can make it easier by ordering the sashimi or two or chirashi, sashimi over rice, or the kitchen’s choice of ten pieces of nigiri. It seems like it’s tough to go wrong here, and the plentiful staff will be sure to explain and encourage exploration, which can cost. Montrose
Neo – Sushi – Another omakase concept from alumni of Uchi, this is more than sushi and fish. The setting is also different, in a menswear showroom. It can be tough to get a ticket and that will cost $260 for the twenty or so courses, drinks and tip, along with something to brag about, if successful. Montrose
Navy Blue – Seafood – The most impressive entry onto the Houston dining scene is this beautiful blue 7,000-foot-plus seafood place, palace, from the folks at Bludorn that opened around Thanksgiving following plenty of anticipation. It immediately became the best restaurant in the eatery-laden Rice Village. The moneyed set quickly followed from Bludorn, and reservations have been very tough since doors opened. Executive Chef Jerrod Zifchak arrived from New York where he was the last one at the Michelin-starred Café Boulud on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, succeeding Aaron Bludorn in that role. Notably for the cuisine, Zifchak also had four years in the kitchen at Le Bernardin, widely regarded as the top seafood restaurant in the country. There are other impressive CV’s on staff here, which quickly shows upon entry and with the first drink, as service is noticeably professional – unusually so for just opening and for the city in general – solicitous, knowledgeable, accommodating and friendly. The menu is actually quite approachable, ranging from oysters and clams (and caviar) to start with crab cakes, a mussel bisque en croute, fresh pasta preparations and fish. There is a swordfish steak served in a green peppercorn sauce, and an entire Dover sole is fileted tableside. With that and the lobster, you’ve got options; almondine, Oscar and Provençal for the former. A French accent is found in other items, too, a good thing, plus there are a couple of nods to our area with a blackened red snapper and a different-tasting take on seafood gumbo. Rice Village
Street to Kitchen – Probably the most unique and maybe ambitious of the local Thai restaurants, this is has moved from its initial gas station location further east on Harrisburg Boulevard to the much more attractive spot that had housed Louie's. If you can dine in, the still-quaint space is packed tight with noticeably happy customers; both because of the food and that they scored a reservation. The hospitality of the extremely affable husband of the married couple that own and operate the place helps, too. Portions are also on the small side, but are usually quite flavorful with a menu that changes regularly. The Pork Panang Curry and Red Curry with Chicken have been excellent in the past, and we can hope for their return. Those and the Green Curry Fish Balls are on hiatus and there are more restaurant standards like laarb, green papaya salad, Drunken Noodles, and green and massaman curries today. East End
Hidden Omakase – Sushi – Led by an alumna of Uchi who’s cooked in Spain and Thailand, this offers only set courses with two seatings of no more than eighteen folks nightly from Thursday through Sunday, which are $175 a head, for just the food. You need to bring your own wine or sake, BYOB is $20 per bottle. It will be fifteen courses of sushi with flavors that can go well beyond Japan. The terrific Burger Chan located nearly adjacent won’t be open when you depart, unfortunately; though delicious, you might need a burger after dinner here. Galleria Area
Bludorn – New American – Since opening in 2020, the monied set has beaten a path for comforting fare done upscale and quite well from Aaron Bludorn, a former executive chef at the Michelin-starred Café Boulud in Manhattan, who has paired with a experienced team to aptly satisfy diners of a certain ilk. Freshly made pastas, fish, steaks, and more with those luxurious additions, foie gras, sea urchin, truffles and caviar, finding their ways to a fair number of tables. Fourth Ward
Nancy's Hustle – New American – Though this could likely fit in seamlessly in the other top restaurant cities in the country, but it is also perfectly suited for the present-day Houston led by a very experienced and talented crew, which is quickly evident. The quickly boisterous and nicely casual set-up in a comfortable strip center coupled has a serious kitchen churning out delectable dishes with flavors ranging from the Mediterranean on either side of the Bosphorus to stateside, most designed for sharing, and an expertly chosen array of wine, well-crafted cocktails and even beers to complement the evening. It's one of the city’s best. East End
BCN – Spanish – Set in a handsome older house, this provides locals with a very well-executed glimpse into Spanish fine dining that is both contemporary and deeply rooted in the traditions of Barcelona. The kitchen is headed by Chef Luis Roger, who had years of experience in kitchens in his native Catalonia including a stint at El Bulli. Before proceeding to think much about the entrées and something from the excellent all-Spanish wine list, it’s a great idea to start slowly here, with one of the nearly fifteen or so tempting pintxo-esque appetizers like seared bluefin tuna, crispy baby artichokes with romesco sauce and boquerones and one of the fun, revelatory gin tonics like the signature BCN: Hendrick's gin, Indian Fever-Tree tonic water, juniper berries and cucumber. A few of the tempting mains are: Spanish hake with bomba rice cooked in cuttlefish’s black ink, baby squid and scampi, suckling Ibérico pig “a la Segoviana,” and grilled duck breast served with quince, Idiazábal cheese sauce, pine nuts and balsamic vinegar reduction. Then there are desserts…. Montrose
March – Mediterranean (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) – This is the best of breed of the quartet of pricey set-menu-only restaurants that came on the scene in 2021. The most ambitious offering in the Goodnight Hospitality Group (Rosie Cannonball, Montrose Cheese & Wine), and one of the most ambitious around, March is staffed by a very capable and broadly experienced team led by executive chef Felipe Riccio that can pull off Michelin-starred-quality creations inspired by top restaurants around the Mediterranean. It’s only dinner here in six- and nine-course meals that begins with snacks of the fanciest kinds and drinks in the lounge area. A seafood escabeche cooked in piquant harissa sofrito and aided with Jamón Ibérico, and blood sausage paté with black currants are a couple of past items. The food is exquisitely rendered and served in a nicely understated setting along with informed and attentive service to make this one of the premier dining experiences in the city. One of the two wine pairings might be the easiest way to proceed but if you want to use the wine list you will be rewarded: a hundred pages put together by Master Sommelier June Rodil has plenty of Burgundy or Bordeaux, but also lot from the finest cellars in Piedmont and a number of wines from top Italian and Spanish producers like Quintarelli, Fontodi and López de Heredia. Montrose
Uchi – Japanese / Sushi – Serving a creative take on modern Japanese food and known for its sushi and sashimi preparations, this is a version of the most acclaimed restaurant in Austin that won Chef Tyson Cole a James Beard Award several years ago. It quickly became part of the restaurant firmament in Houston after opening in early 2012, and remains a top destination for sushi and seafood, period. Terrific service, too. Montrose
Steak 48 – Steak – The glitzy Houston outpost of this upscale steak chain from the Mastro brothers has been a hot spot in the River Oaks District since opening in 2016, attracting diners both for the ambience and well-executed contemporary steakhouse menu. River Oaks District
