Very nice setting with the outdoor patio and wine wall inside. However, we had very poor service that included forgetting about two I our food dishes until we reordered them and a waiter that was nowhere to be found when we wanted to order more wine. Overall, good place just slow service.
Review Source:Look... I'm not going to lie. Â I don't know jack about wine and even less about goat cheese.
The only reason I'm offering up a review is on the venue itself. Â It seems like the place to go on a date that's a little classier than a bar. Â Great location... the Centre is full of walking entertainments... but this is about TTR, isn't it?
Nice venue... but cold. Â Maybe that's a wine bar thing and I'm just ignorant... but I was freezing. Â I didn't care for the high tables and high chairs. Â The outdoor seating was pretty nice. Â The waitstaff was good. Â Dim lighting and tasteful decor is spoiled by halogen pendants.
The piping overhead leaked on me. Â Drip. Â Drip. Â Drip.
Would I go back on my own? Â No... and yet I gave it three stars. Why? Â My date liked it, and so it served it's function well.
I Â giving this place 1 star because the waitress is trying really hard to make ip for this place being such a mosquito infested swear house . Ugh! I came here for an event and they shoved us to their mosquito infested patio. It was so hot out here, I would slip out to Charming Chatlies across the street to cool off. Fortunately I had bendryl in my car to ease all my bites and mosquito repellant to put on so that i could suffer through this horrible event at the Tasting Room. I really wanted wanted to like this place because I live nearby. The Vine Room is much nicer and no Mosquitos
Review Source:I went here for HRW since I've been wanting to try new restaurants in Houston. Since my friends and I made reservations for HRW we were sat in the back of the restaurant in a corner. We were a party of 4 at a 2 person table. When we asked if we could move they said all the tables were reserved. With the restaurants slow service we were there for over 2 hours and no one ever came to sit at the "reserved" tables. When we began to order, my friend and I asked for our salad dressing on the side and we were told that the chef changes his menu for no one. Seriously??? We just wanted dressing on the side! After dinner the waitress overcharged us and instead of dealing with the slow staff, we just paid and left. I definitely won't be going back to this location. Â The food was ok....nothing spectacular.
Review Source:So I been here a few times and the staff has always been nice. We stopped in today for Houston restaurant week and were treated no differently. I ordered the chicken and biscuits and it was deceptively filling. Over all was good, I don't drink wine so don't look at me for suggestions or tips. Mimosa was good you get to order a bottle and a juice from the juice bar.
Review Source:My husband and I had a nice dinner here. Â We did a tasting of bold red wines throughout the dinner. Â Was really pleased with the wines the waiter selected for us to taste. Â The food was all good. Â Between us we had the wedge salad, grilled cheese, pork chop, skillet chocolate chip cookie, and key lime pie.
3 stars because the place is noisy and though it may have just been where we were seated, it was FREEZING. Â We were also seated at a table with bar stool level seating, though we were surrounded by tables with nice cushiony chairs. Â I just expect a nicer position in the restaurant when I make a reservation ahead of time.
First visit to The Tasting Room. Very nice restaurant. Top notch staff. The pork chop was a bit tough. The manager had another chop grilled. It was better but still a little difficult to cut through. There were 5 of us. Everyone else ordered the ribeye. It was outstanding. I will order the ribeye next time. The grilled cheese appetizer is quite tasty. The tomato preserves on the grilled cheese was out of this world. The spicy ranch dressing on the wedge salad was different in a great way. I ordered a blueberry cake for dessert. Whipped cream and blueberries were excellent. Blueberry could have been more moist. The overall experience was very good even though there were two minor negatives. I will definitely return.
Review Source:My first time to the tasting room was with  a group for happy hour. The truffle fries & pepperoni was my favorite.
I thought it was one of the coolest wine bar place to be... Because it was my first. Â But after venturing out to other wine bars Sonoma is my favorite for happy hour & dinner. The cheese plate at Sonoma is way better value than tasting room.
My second visit was brunch with my girlfriends.
The mimosa they offer, we got a bottle & the waitress was able to flavor it for us. We had blood orange & peach. Delicious bubbles. The waitress was friendly & very helpful with our selections.
As for the food I was really disappointed in my truffle fries . I really Spoke highly about them to my friends. They were so soggy & not well seasoned. So embarrassing when I saw the look on their face. Â The pizza was a little burnt. We had the chicken biscuit, good portion but very rich & heavy. The goat cheese was not so great.
I think this location serves more food than the other locations.
Good luck on parking!
This place is a refreshing surprise and a great place to relax. My wife and I spent our evening there last Wednesday and had a great time. The band was friendly, played great music and the service was awesome. I believe our waitress' name was Jessica and she couldn't have been happier to help us choose wines and cheese. I asked about a few cigars and they even sent out their "cigar guy" to give me his opinions on the cigars; how awesome is that? Â We will be back when Potbelly plays the 24th!
Review Source:Nothing happy about their happy hour. A few coworkers and I came here after work on a Monday night.... How can I describe this... You ever been to a store at Harwin and had their employees watch you like a hawk cause they think you're shoplifting??
It's kinda like that except they want you to hurry up and decide what you want to eat and drink. I think we had 2 servers and like 5 busboys. Maybe because they had so little guests?? Not sure. The wine was good. The chicken lettuce wraps were terrible and the pizza was okay. I don't think I'll be coming back. Happy hour prices didn't really make much of a difference.
I love the ambiance here. Â The server was very nice and helpful. Â We ordered the tacos, duck, burger, fries and crab cake to share. Â The truffle fries were so much better than last time. Â It was crispy this time. Â The duck was tender and flavorful. Â I loved how the hamburger meat was very hot, because it made a huge difference when I took my first bite. Â Great place for a date, girls night out or any celebration.
Review Source:I went again on Sunday because I was really craving the mini grilled cheese. I saw somewhere on Google that they closed at 11. I arrived at 9:35. We were promptly approached by a waiter advising that he could give us a menu but last call was in 10 minutes. He did not seem to be happy at our late arrival and was not very kind so, we left and I missed out on the yummy grilled cheese.
I just believe that if the staff cared about our patronage, they wouldn't be so quick to dismiss guests who arrive just a little late and would still welcome us. I felt very unwelcomed and that's a sad statement.
I've been here quite a lot at night time to split a bottle or two with friends, but after my most recent experience I will not be going back any time soon. I met a friend for the Tasting Room's happy hour two weeks ago. We arrived around 3:30. There were maybe 15 customers in the restaurant at the time, and we had to wait at least two minutes before someone finally came over and acknowledged us to seat us. A bald man showed us to a table, slapped some menus down, and left. He did not say a word to us.
It took a long time to even get water, so we also quickly ordered a couple beers while we had this waiter's attention. I read their special happy hour menu and noticed they have 4-5 special happy hour menu food items. I ask the waiter for some of the fries listed on the menu. The waiter tells me that the restaurant is on a "limited menu" before dinner, and he would have to check if the fries were available. The fries were. on. the. happy. hour. menu. How could they not be available? He takes his time getting back to us and says that we can have the fries. I did really love the fries, that was the only highlight of the afternoon. It took twenty minutes to get our check after we asked for it. That is not an exaggeration. And then the guy charged us full price for the happy hour fries. We were so fed up that we didn't even ask the waiter to change it. So disappointed.
Bottom line: good food, good wine, but the service is atrocious and I will not be going back. Sad since I am at City Centre at least three times a week.
We started and ended with the wine which was nice. In the middle we decided food might be a good idea (necessity perhaps) and that was good also. This may be like a small thing, but the tomato was outstanding - almost seemed like a mf heirloom tomato to me.
Great place for an casual gathering after a long day at work. Did anyone get the number of that Malbec?
I admit, I like this spot. Â It's a great place to convene with a group of people. Our waiter which also seemed to double as the bartender was attentive but not overbearing. Glasses constantly refilled with more wine or water either by him or another helping hand.
We ordered many glasses of wine, beer, baked goat cheese and double hummus. Â Both of the apps were absolutely delicious, especially the goat cheese.
Word of advice: Make sure you bring your purse, wallet, checkbook, sugar daddy, and your newborn cause you're going to need them all to be able to really afford this spot.
The wine selection is incredibly broad, which is where the 3 star rating comes from. Â Lots of space and places to sit, no feeling of being cramped. Â The food is alright. Â The service at this location can be hit or miss though. Â I will have great service one night, then go again and feel like I was seated and forgotten about and have to stare someone down to get a drink. Â This location is much closer to my home than the Uptown location and wouldn't mind frequenting this place, but the service is too inconsistent and makes me second-guess going here when debating on a place to sit, drink, and eat.
Review Source:The best of the Tasting Room locations for atmosphere, food and service this place is an easy date. As in, you don't have to try too hard to impress with this one. An older guy with a young lady who looked concerningly like one of his sugar babies sent our table an order of beignets. Odd, but the point is that the atmosphere is very social and interactive. The live bands make this place worth a repeat visit.
Review Source:Came in for drinks after having brunch @ Flora and Muse and noticed that they have a GREAT brunch menu!! We already ate so we didn't order any entree but luckily they had a bottle specials on champagne! Two bottles of champagne and a cheese plate later made it an awesome Sunday!! Definitely will be back for brunch!!
Review Source:Loved it! My college friend had a great time eating different cheeses and salumi meats and other things. My favorite for the night was the potato chip nachos. They were very flavorful. Â I am not a big wine drinker, but I enjoyed the Pinot Grigio I had. My friend, who is a winey enjoyed hers as well. Â The music and atmosphere was very relaxing. You could hear the music and your company. I can't wait to go back.
Review Source:For some reason the kitchen closes at the worst time, usually before midnight. This is Houston! we eat like no other city on this map! Other than that theres always something here for me that keeps me in good terms with the Tasting Room, food and drinks alike. It's the assortment of wine, let's be direct. My wife will observe the atmosphere and she's right when she describes it as 'a checkpoint for a romantic evening.' There's a patio when weather permits to enjoy the smoggy air and vino (just being honest). Â After a sweet meal we've come here for their sweet reds. My wife points out also that their wine glasses are unique and somehow makes the wine more delectable. My pinky ain't up so high, so i could care less about that.
Great for friends to order a bottle or two and may the conversation be elating and insightful.
Dined here for Valentine's day and without reservations but was lucky enough to snag a couple seats at the bar. Food was good, service was fine. What I hate about dining out on v-day are the pre fixe menus. We asked if they were offering the regular menu items and was told no by the "bartender" but saw numerous items coming out of the kitchen that weren't on the pre fixe menu. Hmm..
Review Source:The Tasting Room is a fun place for connecting with friends or hanging out on a low key date. The atmosphere is relaxing and charming for a West Houston area establishment. My friends and I enjoy coming here because it's close to our homes and we don't have to drive all the way in town and worry about parking. It meets our needs for service, wine selection and food variety. I believe the prices are fair and I have always had excellent service. It can be busy at times like any popular Houston hang out. Also, the truffle fries and burgers are pretty darn good.
Review Source:We enjoy the Tasting Room in City Centre especially on patio days. Â They have a variety of wines to choose from so you will be able to find something you like. Â They also serve beer. Â They are a little on the expensive side compared to other wine bars in the area.
Any of the food we have ever ordered has always been top notch. Â We have had most of their cheeses and also eaten brunch here. Â They will often have special dishes for lunch or the weekend and I have liked every one I have had. Â
On the down side, I do not like that they allow smoking and cigar smoking. Â Even though it is outside, smelling that while trying to eat cheese or anything for that matter is not at all appealing. Â It also does not mix well with any of the wines I have had here.
I prepared a surprise bday party for my husband's 30th. He had no idea that all of his close friends were gathering there. I picked this place since it was relative;y close to where we live and look like a popular place. I handed the bday cake to one of the friend who would go to teh place earlier and gave it to the waiter. The waiter brought the bday cake to my husband directly without any candles. He did not even tell us he is bringing it. The service was very slow and he was not very kind. So if you are big group and celebrating sth, do NOT GO this place. SERVICE is slow and waiters are UPTIGHT
Review Source:A bunch of friends took me here for my birthday and I had a blast. We ordered a good amount of food and 3 bottles of wine and had a really good time. We came early and were the last ones to leave. By the end of the night we had all lost our voices from talking all night and trying to hear each other over the live music they had playing that night. I think if I had to pay for this birthday celebration I would have given this place 3 stars (it seems expensive) but since I got the perks of being a lady and having amazing guy friends, I really appreciated being wined and dined by my buddies.
The wine menu is extensive here and the food is tasty. We ordered french fries, wild mushroom risotto, a meat and cheese platter, a bottle of Tortoise Creek Vineyards- Pinot Noir "Les Oliviers," 1 bottle of Uppercut- Napa valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and a bottle of riesling to top off the night. My favorite food was the mushroom risotto. It's creamy, and really hits the spot with a great mushroom flavor. The meat and cheese platter is large enough to share, and comes with a variety of meats, cheeses, pickles, spreads, bread, crackers, and fruit. Yum!
This is a great place to have fun, relax, and laugh and listen to good music. Don't forget to tip the musician! The atmosphere is loud yet cozy and if you want to get out of the house to have a glass of wine with friends, I'd recommend coming here. Just make sure to bring $$$!
Home of the Mmmms! Moscato, Mimosas, and mouthwatering mini grilled cheese sandwiches.
While it's well within the hustle and bustle of City Centre, it seems a world away from the crowd and noise. I usually sit at the bar and the service is always attentive and the bartenders are armed with information. After the first glass, I head outside and relax on the patio. They usually have a guy on guitar, if you want to see some live music. The brunch is great as well, with some amazingly tasty salad and biscuits.
Mmmm Mmmm Good!
HRWs.
service was good. attentive. good selection of wine.
1st
Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches: decent. taste like crab ragoon?
Seafood Campechana: good! lots of pieces of shrimp, and fish. i really didn't taste any crab at all...
2nd
now, this part, the waiter did a great job of switching my meals. i originally ordered the sliceburg salad but was wanting soup at the last minute. so i ask if she could switch it out. at first, she said it was already ready, so she couldn't, but after a little wait, she pulled it off and brought out a bowl of Chicken Tortilla Soup.
now for the soup itself, it might've been the worst chicken tortilla soup i've ever had. it was so plain, it's like the chef did not put any salt of any flavor into it.
3rd
Orange Marinated Pork Tenderloin: huge disappointment, tenderloin was so plain and tasteless. there was suppose to be ancho chile bbq sauce on the tenderloin some where, but it was no where to be found with each bite of meat. tamale-filled roasted corn and poblano sauté was presented in a cute little tamale boat. its accompaniment made the dish a lot better.
Grilled Spice-Rubbed Hanger Steak: beef fajitas. 'nuff said. classic potato salad with bacon was not your traditional potato salad. where's the mayo? sour cream?
4th
throughout the entire HRW menu, we looked forward to Pistachio Pound Cake. however, they ran out.... so instead...
Mexican Chocolate Icebox Pie: taste like regular chocolate cake.
Citrus Zeppoles: good. raspberry marmalade dipping was my favorite. lol. not the zeppoles, but its dipping sauce.
overall, this restaurant was a huge disappointment for me. there was nothing that was out of its world. most of the dishes were not up to par. will not try again.
I had a fantastic evening at the Tasting Room. Â The wine selections were excellent. Â It offered plenty for connoisseurs and for those with a reasonable budget. Â Atmosphere was very good for an evening drink with a date, and it was very upscale without being pretentious. Â
The service was very prompt and professional. Â Recommendations were spot on, and we were looked after well by our waiter without being intruded upon. Â Overall, I would very much recommend this venue for an evening drink and dessert.
Based on recent experiences I'm gonna have to say that the service is MUCH better here than the Uptown location! Â I was there at a bar table with my beautiful friend Deepa for about 4 hours yesterday! Â During that time (though we did have quite a few different "servers") I have to say that everyone that waited on us was very nice and prompt. Â
Food: Â We got the Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches which came highly recommended - definitely enjoyed these! Â A little sweet for my taste but I think most people would really really love them. Â They were toasted perfectly with goat cheese in the middle and a sweet tomato jam on top. Very tasty. Â
Also got a little jar of the hummus which came with lavash bread. Â The hummus was good - had the right amount of garlic and olive oil in it. Â The lavash I have to say I'm not a huge fan of - it's basically just a really thin cracker and I think pieces of actual bread or toast would have been a better match for the thickness of the hummus.
My first glass was a Max and Jacques chardonnay, which I actually thought wasn't as good as my second glass, the White Blend from the summer special menu. Â Funny because the second glass was about $3 cheaper. Â The White Blend had a beautiful (and more complex) floral taste and wasn't sweet at all which I much appreciated. Â I'm no wine expert, but I always felt like a Chardonnay should be dry.
(Deepa enjoyed her white as well - the St Supery. Â I didn't try it though so can't speak to it)
This is a great Tasting Room - I sincerely hope the uptown location takes a few pointers from the level of service and friendliness at the City Center location!
This was a great Groupon surprise. Having just flown in from the crack of dawn flight this Sunday brunch was what the doctor ordered. There are eggs cooked to order, fruit, pastries, salad, and a nice mix of Mexican influenced dishes to add variety. Â As a vegetarian this was a nice meal choice and of course the mimosa's only made it that much better.
An upscale feel without and overpriced menu, I left satisfied.
I've always wanted to try The Tasting Room, and what would've otherwise been a very pleasant experience was tainted with atrocious service. I had dinner here with two friends a few nights ago, and we were left unattended for almost the entire night. We had to stop other servers and busboys to ask for our server so we could order our food. Of course, he was nowhere to be found when we were finished with our meal and needed our bill. We ended up walking up to the bar so one of the bartenders could charge our credit card because our server did not stop by our table to retrieve our bill after he dropped it off. Who knows how long we would've waited otherwise? Mind you, it was the middle of the week, and the restaurant certainly did not appear to be understaffed or horribly busy in any way.
The food was spectacular ...we shared an Italian sausage pizza, the legendary truffle fries, and the brie cheese and mushroom fondue. Â Everything was fresh and flavorful. I especially liked the fries, the truffle flavor is prominent, but it is definitely a palate pleaser. We all passed on wine since we had an early workday the next day, but their wine list is extensive. We also missed happy hour by just a few minutes, but they have a decent happy hour menu as well. It really is a shame that a restaurant with such wonderful food does not have the service to match.
I came here for brunch and loved it here. They had live music and the group sounded great.
They have $2 mimosas..... yes!! That was awesome. The champagne that they use is good compared to some other places because I did not get a head ache. There is something about champagne which will give me a head ache. I like that I did not experience that here.
The food that they serve for brunch is great. They have a good menu. We had an omelet which you are able to create the way you want; chicken and weaffles, grits and a side of apple wood bacon. The only downside is the side of bacon came out when we were 1/2 through with our meal but the waitress knew that we were waiting on it and kept checking on it to see if it was ready.
I come here to hang out at night but now I like to come here for brunch as well.
They had live music on a Monday nite!
It was very loud indoors, but outside it was pretty nice.
I still hate the service. The server or manager kept clearing our glasses that still had wine in them... Finally on the 4th glass he grabbed from our table out of nowhere, I told him, "Oh I think my friend's still working on that" and then he put the glass down and walked away. I mean are they running short on wine glasses, or just trying to make us leave ?!?
I sip my wine and do not like to waste any drop, so if there's still 1/4 left and you take it away, I will be upset.
And there was still 2 hours remaining till closing. So I'm not sure WHAT THEIR PROBLEM IS.
:)
I am a huge City Centre fan and have been to every (other) restaurant for HH/dinner/brunch, you name it...at least 5x. Last night I had a friend in town and I wanted to try somewhere new with her for happy hour. What a mistake.
The weather was gorgeous, so we nabbed a table outside. Our server came up within a few minutes (promptly) to take our order, yet we had no menu. (How can we order?) I asked about the happy hour specials and she seemed quite confused and stated that she didn't believe they had any current specials. I had seen the HH menu online, so I asked her to please check with someone else. She brought out "the one happy hour menu in the house" for us to review.
Problem #1- why post a happy hour menu on your website if your staff knows NOTHING about it? Why is there only one menu? Quite strange. We gave her the benefit of the doubt. Hey, maybe she was new?
Problem #2- the menu was completely bogus.
<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tastingroomwines.com%2Fcontent_files%2Fpdf%2Fcitycentre_menu%2FTTR%2520CC%2520Happy%2520Hour%2520Insert_FINAL_9%25208%252011%2520%283%29.pdf&s=3c38ba3b2bf122f176b73cbc624c32d70ada04e7d510af2a24c0aecb8724988c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tastingroomwi…</a>
Happy hour wines: actually there is only one red, one white available. (Isn't this a wine cafe?) We accept the offer for a taste of the red Bordeaux. AWFUL. It tasted like the bottle had been left open, unpumped, for two weeks. I can't imagine anyone enjoying that glass of wine.
Frozen mimosas and sangria listed on the happy hour menu? They no longer have them, or the frozen machine for that matter. That left ONE beer selection and a champagne flight option for $15 (which was not on this happy hour menu). Fine. Champagne flight it is. It was ok and counts for 1.2 of the star I am giving them.
Problem #3- Very disorganized and confused service.
On to the appetizer options from this "happy hour menu." We chose the brie/mushroom fondue, hummus, and calzones. We had multiple people waiting on us at this point (which was highly confusing). After repeating our order twice to one person and waiting 10 minutes, another server came out to ask if we wanted beef or chicken tacos? Considering we didn't order tacos, we reiterated our choices. 10 minutes later and we find out they have a NEW happy hour menu to show us, different appetizers. We stuck with the fondue and hummus, but THEN went with tacos now that calzones were not an option.
None of the three servers that we interacted with seemed to have a clue what was going on.
Problem #4- The food.
Brie/mushroom fondue was soup. No heat, no flame, just a small bowl of soup queso. Brie might be one of my favorite foods, so I was very disappointed in this. The crostinis were good, but even I can make a crostini.
Hummus. I would prefer hummus that I have purchased from the grocery store any day; it was nothing special. Pita bread was very good (the other 1/2 star)
Tacos. Two giant, crispy shell tacos. Now why would you create an appetizer consisting of two huge tacos that is impossible to share? At this point we didn't even bother tasting the tacos; we wanted our check as soon as possible. Thus, I cannot attest to the flavor of the tacos.
The entire situation was laughable and very disappointing. I was embarrassed that I brought  my friend here instead of one of the MANY fabulous options within walking distance. We got the check as soon as possible and headed to Fleming's to have some real food and real service. Not to mention a real happy hour menu.
I had heard great things, but I won't be back.
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