Restaurant reviews and ratings are inherently subjective. But, some reviewers are usually more accurate, and typically more informative than others. I usually enjoy reading others’ opinions on the restaurants and the local restaurant scene, especially from respected and experienced reviewers such as Robb Walsh in the Houston Press and Alison Cook in the Houston Chronicle. Both have long and laudable track records, and are very knowledgeable about the Houston restaurant landscape. As some sort of affirmation of their quality, each contributes to respected national publications, such as Gourmet . I might not agree with all of their assessments, judgments or palates every time, but I respect their insights and look forward to their new reviews and other articles. A favorable review from a respected source like either of them will usually get me excited about visiting a new restaurant. Conversely, I tend to get upset when I believe it is misrepresented, whatever the source. I like to have the Houston restaurant scene portrayed accurately.
The Top Houston Restaurants According to Several Publications
Out of this curiosity, I have compiled ratings from six publications that have
reviewed and given ratings to most of the broad array of the area’s restaurant
scene: Houston Chronicle, Houston Press, Texas Monthly,
Gayot, an on-line publication that reviews restaurants and other entertainments
in cities across the country, and the Fearless Critic - Houston Restaurant Guide
, which was published in late 2007 by a group that has produced similar guides
for Austin and a couple of areas in Connecticut.
Each of the publication’s ratings has been normalized and a listing compiled for
their top twenty-five restaurants. These are shown alphabetically by
publication in the first two tables below. The listings for the Chronicle,
Press and Texas Monthly were based on educated guesswork from
their scanty compiled reviews, other fairly recent full-length restaurant
reviews, and restaurant-related articles. The key critics for each will likely
have different lists if pressed for such, but I believe that these are fairly
representative. Gayot assigns a number out of twenty (e.g. 15 / 20). The Fearless
Critic assigns a grade and provides an overall numerical listing. You
will notice that no fine gradations could be provided for the Chronicle, Press,
Texas Monthly and Gayot, just groupings based on a rating. For example,
there is just first, third and sixteenth place for restaurants in the Chronicle
’s list, and just A+, A, and A-.
To help quickly identify those restaurants that are listed in the majority of
the publications, these are colored red, blue and green, whose significance is
further explained below these two tables.
| Fearless Critc | Gayot | Houston Chronicle | ||||||
| # | Restaurant | Rating | # | Restaurant | Rating | # | Restaurant | Rating |
| 1 | Da Marco | A+ | 1 | Café Annie | A- | 1 | Da Marco | A+ |
| 2 | Indika | A | 1 | La Colombe d'Or | A- | 1 | Tony's | A+ |
| 3 | Tony's | A | 1 | Mark's | A- | 3 | 17 | A |
| 4 | Dolce Vita | A | 4 | Backstreet Café | B+ | 3 | Americas | A |
| 5 | Le Mistral | A | 4 | Bistro Lancaster | B+ | 3 | Brennan's | A |
| 6 | 17 | A | 4 | Catalan | B+ | 3 | Café Annie | A |
| 7 | Vic & Anthony's | A | 4 | Da Marco | B+ | 3 | Catalan | A |
| 8 | Himalaya | A | 4 | Fung's Kitchen | B+ | 3 | Dolce Vita | A |
| 9 | Nippon | A | 4 | Hugo's | B+ | 3 | Hugo's | A |
| 10 | Reef | A | 4 | Ibiza | B+ | 3 | Indika | A |
| 11 | Udipi Café | A | 4 | Kim Son | B+ | 3 | Kiran's | A |
| 12 | Gravitas | A | 4 | La Griglia | B+ | 3 | Mark's | A |
| 13 | Catalan | A | 4 | Little Pappas Seafood | B+ | 3 | Noe | A |
| 14 | Pesce | A | 4 | Masraff's | B+ | 3 | Reef | A |
| 15 | Café Pita+ | A | 4 | Massa's Seafood Grill | B+ | 3 | t'afia | A |
| 16 | Rioja | A | 4 | Mia Bella Trattoria | B+ | 16 | Artista | A- |
| 17 | Top Water Grill | A | 4 | Mockingbird | B+ | 16 | Café Rabelais | A- |
| 18 | Ibiza | A | 4 | Nino's | B+ | 16 | Churrascos | A- |
| 19 | Doneraki | A | 4 | Olivette | B+ | 16 | Fung's Kitchen | A- |
| 20 | Sasaki | A | 4 | Pesce | B+ | 16 | Mockingbird | A- |
| 21 | 100% Taquito | A | 4 | Prego | B+ | 16 | Pappas Bros. | A- |
| 22 | Peking Cuisine | A | 4 | Rainbow Lodge | B+ | 16 | Red Onion Seafood | A- |
| 23 | Pho Danh II | A | 4 | Taste of Texas | B+ | 16 | Shade | A- |
| 24 | Café Rabelais | A- | 4 | Tila's | B+ | 16 | Strip House | A- |
| 25 | t'afia | A- | 4 | Tony's | B+ | 16 | Vic & Anthony's | A- |
| Houston Press | Texas Monthly | Zagat | ||||||
| # | Restaurant | Rating | # | Restaurant | Rating | # | Restaurant | Rating |
| 1 | Café Annie | A | 1 | Da Marco | A+ | 1 | Mark's | A+ |
| 1 | Da Marco | A | 2 | Indika | A | 2 | Tony's | A |
| 1 | Indika | A | 2 | Pappas Bros. | A | 3 | Brennan's | A |
| 1 | Tony's | A | 2 | Tony's | A | 4 | Cafe Annie | A |
| 5 | Arcodoro | A- | 5 | Bob's Steakhouse | A- | 5 | Vic & Anthony's | A |
| 5 | Artista | A- | 5 | Café Annie | A- | 6 | Pappas Bros. | A |
| 5 | Bistro Provence | A- | 5 | Dolce Vita | A- | 7 | Da Marco | A |
| 5 | Bob's Steakhouse | A- | 5 | Mark's | A- | 8 | Capital Grille | A |
| 5 | Brasserie Max & Julie | A- | 5 | Ruggles Grill | A- | 9 | The Remington | A |
| 5 | Catalan | A- | 5 | Strip House | A- | 10 | 17 | A |
| 5 | Churrascos | A- | 5 | Vic & Anthony's | A- | 11 | Brenner's | A |
| 5 | Damian's | A- | 12 | Artista | B+ | 12 | Chez Nous | A- |
| 5 | Dolce Vita | A- | 12 | Backstreet Café | B+ | 13 | Lynn's | A- |
| 5 | Fung's Kitchen | A- | 12 | Brasserie Max & Julie | B+ | 14 | Fogo de Chão | A- |
| 5 | Glass Wall | A- | 12 | Café Rabelais | B+ | 15 | Ruth's Chris | A- |
| 5 | Goode Co. Seafood | A- | 12 | Catalan | B+ | 16 | Churrascos | A- |
| 5 | Gravitas | A- | 12 | Churrascos | B+ | 17 | Hugo's | A- |
| 5 | Hugo's | A- | 12 | Damian's | B+ | 18 | Reef | A- |
| 5 | Jimmy Wilson's | A- | 12 | Glass Wall | B+ | 19 | Kiran's | A- |
| 5 | Mark's | A- | 12 | Gravitas | B+ | 20 | Indika | A- |
| 5 | Mockingbird | A- | 12 | Hugo's | B+ | 21 | Shade | A- |
| 5 | Pappas Bros. | A- | 12 | Mockingbird | B+ | 22 | Bistro Le Cep | A- |
| 5 | Reef | A- | 12 | Reef | B+ | 23 | Red Onion Seafood | A- |
| 5 | Strip House | A- | 12 | Rioja | B+ | 24 | Glass Wall | A- |
| 5 | t'afia | A- | 12 | t'afia | B+ | 25 | Mockingbird | A- |
Da Marco and Tony’s are justifiably named by each publication, and are shown in red. I’m surprised that it is only these were the only two. Several others including Café Annie and Mark’s are named by five of the six. These are in blue. Those in green are listed in four of the six publications.
What These Ratings Suggest About the Reviewers
Four of the six publications are confirmed to be quite reliable, the other two, are rather laughable in regards to their ratings. You will notice that the lists for Gayot and the Fearless Critic are rather unusual. And, quite inaccurate, too, in my opinion based on visits. How can anyone in their right mind have the following restaurants, with decidedly moderate aspirations, named among the top twenty-five restaurants in Houston: Himalaya, Nippon, Udipi Café, Café Pita+, Top Water Grill, Doneraki, Sasaki, 100% Taquito, Peking Cuisine, and Pho Danh II Is this a joke I do enjoy most of these restaurants. Almost all, with the exception of Topwater Grill, which was outside of my purview, Udipi, which was possibly overlooked, and Doneraki, which has been generally mediocre in several visits in recent years, are included in my book Houston Dining on the Cheap - A Guide to the Best Inexpensive Restaurants in Houston. I especially enjoy Himalaya and 100% Taquito, which garner special mention. But, given the lack of décor, atmosphere, service and the fact that these are by design far from fine dining or destination restaurants, there is no chance I would mention these among the best restaurants in the Houston area. For the same reason these restaurants are not on any of the other lists.
The Fearless Critic deserved some closer inspection because it is so off-base, yet so large (at over 500 pages). Gayot’s reviews of Houston are just one of scores of cities, so its inaccuracy is more understandable. Going through the Fearless Critic , it is easy to criticize for its often odd ratings, the great number of factual inaccuracies, and breadth of coverage both in terms of the restaurants included and geographically. The ratings of restaurants compared to more established guides is almost enough condemnation alone. Its reviews have a limited amount of information in almost every case, often hampered by goofy literary devices like bad poems or, more unfortunately, extended and misguided metaphors like the one about monkeys and typewriters concerning a single aspect of a particular restaurant. There seems to be a lack of knowledge of many restaurants, seemingly because there was only one visit paid, and definitely a lack of understanding of the Houston restaurant scene. Where it shows some familiarity there usually seemed to be an ax to grind. It has been suggested to me that the “undercover chefs” used in the reviews have been fired from several of the restaurants profiled.
From some cursory analysis of the available sources, it’s clear that it’s wise to stick to the tried and true sources when it comes to finding a place to dine in Houston.