Restaurants >>

• Best New Cafe (1 Comment)
  Byzantio Cafe Ilias Giannakopoulos gutted his house on West Gray to make room for the European flourishes omnipresent in this hip new cafe, where he and partner Dora Manolopoulos keep the Greek tradition of hospitality alive day after day. Inside you'll find a smorgasbord of Hellenic delights:... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Spot in Montrose
  Cafe Brasil The perfect microcosm of Montrose, Cafe Brasil does it all. It has great ambience, a lively, diverse crowd and surprisingly good food. The scones, baked on-site every morning, are miracles of flaky, buttery deliciousness. It's one of the few places in town where you can order an... More >>
• Best Italian Restaurant
  Da Marco You'll get the best pizza and pasta dishes in the city at this intimate and unassuming little Montrose restaurant. And you'll also find cutting-edge fare such as tuna tartare salad and an appetizer of cold lamb's-tongue slices served with the Tuscan mustard-brined fruits known as... More >>
• Best Drive-Thru
  Becks Prime If you really want your burger your way -- say, mooing on the inside, black on the outside -- this is your place. Huge juicy beef patties -- made with a half-pound of mesquite-grilled, ground chuck -- as well as fresh toppings make this one of the best burgers in town. Thick fries... More >>
• Best Socioanthropological Study
  Captain Benny's Half Shell Oyster Bar This small tugboat-shaped eatery, nestled almost out of sight off South Main, is a happy docking place for a diverse array of diners with a lust for crustaceans and other fare from la mer. Folks know that if it's fried or on the half-shell, it's fresh. And... More >>
• Best Greek Restaurant
  Mykonos Island Restaurant Forget the freezer. At Mykonos, every day is a shopping day for fish, shrimp and snapper, so the seafood is never more than 24 hours old. The baklava and custard are made every morning, too. The Greek sampler plate comes so heavily laden with Mediterranean favorites... More >>
• Best Steak House
  Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse Nearly two inches thick, the USDA Prime New York strips here strike a perfect balance between flavor and tenderness. The three-pound Maine lobster, which comes split and shelled with a bowl of drawn butter sitting atop a candle-heated warmer, is spectacular. The salads... More >>
• Best Tex-Mex Restaurant
  Larry's Original Mexican Restaurant Larry's cheese enchiladas actually have a lot in common with their spaghetti mexicano. They're both relics. The difference is, Larry's cheese enchiladas taste as good, or better, than modern Tex-Mex cheese enchiladas. The viscous yellow cheese swirls around... More >>
• Best Brunch
  Backstreet Cafe The recipe for a successful brunch should include the following: excellent food (particularly egg dishes), great drinks, great atmosphere, live jazz and stellar service. Backstreet Cafe delivers on all of these. Plus, you have a choice of where you'd like to enjoy the best meal... More >>
• Best Pizzeria
  Star Pizza Star Pizza has been turning out perfect pies since 1976, and they do it every way possible: Chicago-style thick crust or New York-style thin crust; whole wheat or regular; vegetarian or meat lover's; single topping or the kitchen sink. Because they sell so much of the stuff, the... More >>
• Best Vegetarian Restaurant (1 Comment)
  Shiva Indian Restaurant From the saag paneer to the rice pudding, this Rice Village spot and its Sugar Land cousin serve up some of the best vegetarian Indian food around. Fun Indian decor and soothing music, along with good spinach pakora, creamy curry with rice and fresh-baked nan add to the... More >>
• Best New Restaurant
  T'afia T'afia, the starkly minimalist Midtown restaurant run by star chef Monica Pope, is named after a Mediterranean beverage that's made by marinating fruit in a mixture of wine and spirits. The bar offers several varieties of these innovative cocktails, and they're incredibly refreshing. So... More >>
• Best Ethiopian Restaurant
  Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant Once the only Ethiopian eatery in town, Blue Nile now has some stiff competition. The new guys in town, Addisaba on De Moss Drive, are serving up some awesome yedoro wot. They also have a bar and a big-screen television set. But Blue Nile holds on to the title,... More >>
• Best Thai Restaurant
  Kanomwan It's like stumbling across a great noodle shop in the middle of Mexico. This East End legend offers no finery (plastic tablecloths, bare-bones walls) and barely there service, but the gai pad prig phao is some of the spiciest chicken and rice you'll find anywhere. Stir-fried chicken... More >>
• Best Jamaican Restaurant
  Caribbean Cuisine When the kitchen door swings open and a cook carts out another tray of patties, all eyes are on the pies. The golden-brown pastries with pungent meat-and-vegetable fillings are as much a staple of the island nation as is reggae music. Patties come with every dish at Caribbean... More >>
• Best Middle Eastern Restaurant
  Cafe Lili Lebanese Grill One reason we like Cafe Lili better than the strictly halal Middle Eastern restaurants over on Hillcroft is that you can get a Heineken or a glass of wine with dinner. But that doesn't mean that the food is any less delicious. In fact, there is a homemade quality about... More >>
• Best Bistro
  Mockingbird Bistro and Wine Bar Fresh Texas ingredients meet French Provence recipes at John Sheely's neighborhood eatery. Inside the eclectic yet comfy confines of this restaurant, you'll find some of the heartiest and tastiest choices around. "Bistro" generally implies a small cafe serving... More >>
• Best Mom-and-Pop Restaurant
  Express Grocery and Deli Don't look for red-checkered tablecloths or "Mom's Home Cooking" signs at the Express Grocery and Deli -- the family feeling runs far deeper than that at this delightful quick-order grill and convenience store in a corner of the Houston House apartments. Mike Baba set up... More >>
• Best Chinese Restaurant
  Fung's Kitchen Canton Seafood on Richmond, Ocean Palace in the Hong Kong City Mall and Peking Cuisine just down the Southwest Freeway from Fung's Kitchen are all rapidly gaining on the grandfather of Houston Cantonese restaurants. But Fung's remains at the top of the heap, primarily for its... More >>
• Best Taqueria
  Laredo Taqueria The interior of this popular taco joint at the corner of Fulton and Patton is cheerfully decorated with ceramic roosters and Mexican crockery, and it's always spotlessly clean. Sit down for table service, or stand in line for tacos to go. While you go down the cafeteria line, you... More >>
• Best Soul Food Restaurant
  This Is It Soul Food At This Is It, you're likely to see old-time Third Ward residents rubbing elbows with the yuppies from the new apartments across the street, along with a few politicos and downtown suits on the picnic tables. The sheer number of folks here tells you that this is it: the best... More >>
• Best Belgian Cafe
  Café Montrose Family-owned and -operated, this little hole-in-the-wall next door to a launderette is one of those strip-center diamonds in the rough. Short on looks but long on authentic Belgian food, Café Montrose prides itself on to-die-for pommes frites, steak au poivre and desserts... More >>
• Best Vietnamese Restaurant
  Cali Sandwich It's not uncommon to wait for a table at this Midtown eatery. That's because of the sheer variety of Vietnamese food served here, all of it authentic and made with fresh ingredients. Bahn mi (sandwiches), pho (soups) and bun (noodle dishes) are all served here, and nothing costs... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Spot in Bellaire
  Bellaire Coffee Shop The coffee's always hot at the Bellaire Coffee Shop -- God knows how many pots they make each day. The Mayberry-esque '50s atmosphere is authentic here: The waitresses call their customers "hon," and there's a constant hiss from the griddle as the fry cook shoves breakfast... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Spot in the Village
  El Meson Assuming you can find a parking spot in the Rice Village, you'll find the air-conditioned cave that is El Meson a most relaxing treat. Always start with a tangy margarita (they go like gangbusters at cocktail hour). Then decide what you're in the mood for: Cuban? Spanish? Mexican? Here... More >>
• Best Downtown Restaurant
  Bank Jean-Georges Hip, Manhattan-based Jean-Georges Vongerichten is to eateries what Carrie Bradshaw is to shoes. Both are on the cutting edge. We had high expectations when he brought his culinary charms to Houston with Bank at the Hotel Icon, and Jean-Georges has delivered with his artful... More >>
• Best Comfort Food
  Avalon Diner "Justly famous since 1938" isn't just a marketing phrase for this classic River Oaks joint, which has spawned two offspring. The food here is just like Mom's, and it will fill your tummy. Old-style drugstore hot dogs and hamburgers (the drippy kind) crowd the menu, along with thick... More >>
• Best Long Lunch
  La Griglia No longer a Vallone enterprise (it's now part of Fertitta Land), La Griglia is still the extended-power-luncheon hot spot. Its funky decor never distracts from the patrons -- this is, after all, Houston's prime see-and-be-seen locale -- but the food ain't half bad, either. The bread... More >>
• Best Value Best Value
  Bombay Sweets & Pure Vegetarian Restaurant The $4.50 all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet here also includes crispy papadum and bubbly hot nan bread. You can use the straight-out-of-the-oven nan to shovel the luxuriously buttery saag paneer straight into your mouth. The lentil stews called dahls on... More >>
• Best Seafood Restaurant
  Denis' Seafood House There are lots of seafood restaurants in Houston, but most are part of some chain or another. Hence we are served the same salmon, mahimahi and tilapia here on the Gulf Coast that they get in Sheboygan. But Denis' Seafood House is different. Like some of our better... More >>
• Best Cajun Restaurant
  Ragin' Cajun It's only right that our best Cajun restaurant has a giant fiberglass crawdad on its roof. The Ragin' Cajun revels in its Southern shtick -- from the newspaper place mats, to the heaping buckets of spicy mudbugs, to the just-crispy hush puppies and corn bread in red plastic baskets,... More >>
• Best Retro-Mex Restaurant (1 Comment)
  Felix An easel and a poster board have been set up in the lobby of Felix Mexican Restaurant at Westheimer and Montrose. Polaroids of loyal customers and their families are tacked up on the board, and each is accompanied by a caption that tells how many years they have been coming to the... More >>
• Best Late-Night Restaurant
  Mai's The bars have closed, and the munchies have your stomach growling -- roaring -- for something more than just a burger from a drive-thru window. Although late-night dining used to be an oxymoron in Houston, now there are a bunch of spots in the downtown area. Judging by its loyal and lively... More >>
• Best Barbecue Restaurant
  Reid's Bar-B-Que Eddie Reid opened this place with her husband, James Reid, in 1968. James passed away nine years ago, and now Eddie runs the establishment with her son, James, who learned to cook at his father's side. The brisket and ribs are smoked in the classic East Texas African-American... More >>
• Best Deli
  Kahn's Deli Don't plan to get a table -- there are only a couple, and they're always full. But Kahn's Deli is a tiny sandwich counter with a whole lot of history. Here, Michael Kahn carries on the New York deli tradition that his father, Alfred Kahn, first introduced to Houston. Alfred Kahn's... More >>
• Best Atmosphere
  Rainbow Lodge Tucked away on Buffalo Bayou, this once-private home with a pond, meandering gardens and sunroom overlooking a quaint gazebo has a way of making you think you're nowhere near the city. Pick a shady spot on the terrace and lose yourself in the trickling of the bayou below. The... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Spot in the Heights
  Onion Creek Coffee House The Houston Heights is a great neighborhood that's starving for more social spots, and the Onion Creek Coffee House is a prime example of what those hangouts could look like (if more people had the fortitude to battle the prohibition-minded Houston Heights Association).... More >>
• Best Pre- or Post-Theater Restaurant
  Artista The best complement to a fine performance is a fine meal. Lucky for theatergoers, the perfect eatery is right in the thick of downtown. At Artista, on the second floor of the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, every dish is a skilled production. From the ethereally light soft-shell... More >>
• Best Breakfast
  The Breakfast Klub Marcus Davis, owner of The Breakfast Klub, is a God-fearing man. And his food is divine. For two years, this breakfast, lunch and social haven in Midtown has served up consistently fantastic Southern-fried catfish, wings 'n' waffles, pancakes, grits and, oh yeah, lunch items.... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Spot in Midtown
  Julia's Bistro At Julia's, bistro cooking has gone international. The restaurant's brand-new menu features both down-to-earth Mexican and funky Asian fusion dishes -- creations of Artista's former executive chef. Duck taquitos and lobster quesadillas fire up the appetite for some sensational... More >>
• Best Expense-Account Restaurant
  O'Rourke's Steak House Owners John O'Rourke and Sam Hernandez grill a mean steak, but this Museum District eatery also sports some fabulous stuffed potatoes, divine salads and hearty seafood, like Chilean sea bass and Australian rock lobster tails. A fairly extensive wine list, a piano player,... More >>
• Best Indian Restaurant
  Restaurant Indika Indian fine dining reaches new heights at this enchanted cottage out on Memorial across from Town & Country Mall. Owner and head chef Anita Jaisinghani, who once worked at Cafe Annie, changes the meaning of samosas with a crab-stuffed version served with papaya-ginger chutney.... More >>
• Best Korean Restaurant
  Green Pine Tree Bar & Grill This friendly Korean sushi bar and barbecue joint gives you your choice of sitting out in the middle of the action at one of the barbecue grill tables, or hiding away in a private dining nook. The barbecue table has a gas grill recessed into the middle. You cook your... More >>
• Best Meat-and-Three Restaurant
  Avenue Grill Cops, firefighters and EMS types flock to this time-honored cafeteria across the street from Central Police Supply. The cranberry carpet is well worn, and the wood paneling and tile ceiling have seen better days. But the Avenue Grill prides itself on its "greasy spoon" reputation.... More >>
• Best Restaurant for Toddlers
  Skeeter's Mesquite Grill Got kids? Then you're going to love this place. Skeeter's lets kids be kids and moms and dads relax. The crayons are already on the table, and you don't have to worry what the little monsters are coloring on -- the walls here are already decorated with toddler... More >>
• Best Service
  Tony's Tony's is the final flaming star in the celestial Tony Vallone empire. Since the sale of his other restaurants to Tilman Fertitta, Vallone has concentrated on his "baby." And the waitstaff at Tony's is even more attentive, efficient and knowledgeable than it was in the glory days. The... More >>
• Best Cuban Restaurant
  Cafe Piquet The local Cuban community may have been the first to discover Cafe Piquet when it opened in 1996, but today the secret's out about this small, cozy eatery. The menu's not long or extensive -- Piquet specializes in a few traditional dishes that have won the hearts of many, and not... More >>
• Best Mexican Restaurant
  Hugo's Don't ask for chips and salsa, fajitas, nachos or any other of those familiar standards here. Chef and co-owner Hugo Ortega is a Mexican national who worked his way up from a busboy at Backstreet Cafe, and he doesn't do Tex-Mex. At the upscale Mexican restaurant that bears his name, the... More >>
• Best Restaurant
  Aries When the editors of Food & Wine chose Aries chef Scott Tycer as one of the top ten new chefs in the country last year, they pegged Aries as part of a national movement. Highly trained chefs such as Tycer who run their own small restaurants are bringing kitchen craftsmanship to a new level... More >>