Octane Coffee & Wine Lounge

It has been in my neighbor hood so long that I had to try it, even though it is not my first choice of surroundings.
I was saved, it closed.

Location is great. Much needed in this section of town.
Unfortunately the execution is poor. Cold coffee and day old pastries won’t compete with Antidote and Catalina.

Octane is on the drive home from work for me, so I’ve been trying to make it a point to go in on Fridays to start my weekends off with some pep. I’m pretty easy with my coffee beverages, and usually go with an iced americano. As far as americanos go, I don’t see it getting much better than this!
I’ve yet to delve into the pastries, sandwiches, or alcoholic beverages, but what puts this place over the top for me is the atmosphere. I love an establishment that you can walk into and feel accepted and welcome right away. The walls are adorned with local art and the music is tasteful and at an appropriate volume to enjoy your conversations or literature. I’ll be coming back for my Friday rounds, join me!

Very nice place wasted on a horrible, ugly location. It sits between a dog kennel and oil change garage. Coffee drinks are too weak also. Pastries were stale and served in a bowl. The two keys to a successful coffee shop are location and product. This place will not be around long. However, I hope the owner learns from these mistakes, and tries again in a better location.

Have been to Octane a few times now and have loved it! They have free wi-​fi, so I really enjoy going there during the day to study. The tea and coffee selection is really great as well. It is also a fun place to go in the evenings for dinner. Their roast beef sandwich is crazy good and they have great beer and wine specials! Finally, they just hired a pastry chef and she is awesome… fresh baked goods are delish.
Will definitely be back soon!

Oh, Antidote, it feels like I have cheated on you.
I went to Octane because it is close to where I work. I walked in surprised I was the only customer inside and asked for my normal drink, a triple latte with 2% milk. The barista looked at me and said we do not have 2% only whole or skim. Trying not to look at her like she is an idiot, I said ‘could you mix the whole and skim milk together?‘
After several tries of making a shot of espresso, I eventually got my cup of Joe. But my experience was not over yet…
I walked outside to be in a sand storm of a dude blowing the sidewalk. Once safe in the car I took a sip of my coffee and to my surprise coffee went all over my shirt. There was a hole in the lid (look at picture I posted).
All in all, the coffee did not have a lot of flavor and I was not impressed with the barista staff. I will never cheat on Antidote again.

Octane really has a lot going for it, with elements of some of my favorite coffee shops in town. Not only do they serve Katz coffee drinks but also a small but eclectic selection of wine and beer, and they have cheese plates from Houston Dairy Maids, pastries from Kraftsmen, and handmade sandwiches, paninis, and quiches. There’s also a Pink’s Pizza next door in case you need a crack brownie fix.
While it has a small storefront on the end of a strip center, that means there’s plenty of parking, and once inside, the exposed brick and loft-​like interior is filled out with funky furniture in comfortable sitting areas or bar-​heights tables and chairs, some local artwork, and industrial looking light fixtures on pulleys. The retro and vintage style patterns of the walls, tables, and fabrics are done in warm colors, which contribute to an inviting atmosphere, and a small patio on the side would be great for nice days.
I’m not sure this Garden Oaks coffee shop has quite caught on yet, because it doesn’t seem all that crowded, but that makes it a nice alternative when the parking lots are full at other places and there’s nowhere to sit. I look forward to visiting Octane regularly to fuel up.

Octane has all the right moves: nice interior, good vibes, spacious patio. It is a visually hip standout in an older neighborhood.
The two people working there were extremely courteous and tried to be helpful. However, their good will did not make up for the many problems I had with the establishment.
I ordered a soft drink and a tea. When I gave the employee my credit card, he said their system was not connecting to my bank’s server. A debit card was presented instead which resulted in the same error message although the cash drawer popped out. Using a mobile app, I was able to figure out the charge did go through, but the business was unable to generate a receipt or proof of sale on their end. Very strange.
The friendly employee told me he would bring my tea out to me. 10 or so minutes later, he finally arrived with the most bitter and darkest green tea I have ever ordered. I politely took it back inside and told him it was bitter. He asked if I wanted to choose another tea to which I replied that the bitterness was due to either too many tea leaves or the steeping time. He told me he would make me another one, but it would take 3 – 4 minutes. After seeing the crazy amount of tea leaves used, I asked him to steep the tea for 2 minutes. The result was still pretty dark in color but an improvement. I am currently wired on caffeine like it was black tea though. rrrrrrrrr: D
We ordered some food: a flatbread and a cheese plate. I could not figure out why their used balsamic vinaigrette on the flatbread as it was too sweet. The cheeses were quite good particularly the coffee/​lavender and the goat cheese wrapped in an herbal leaf.
I would like to see this place improve as the people working there have a good attitude and the space is enjoyable. But they have a ways to go.

Some friends and I stopped in here for some after-​dinner drinks, on a Friday night. It was quite and not very busy. They have a good selection beer, wine, and coffee drinks. It is a casual, order at the counter, type of place. I had a glass of wine and my friends had coffee drinks. The wine was good, but my friends said the coffee was average. The place is good for having drinks and conversation. The background music was not overwhelming and you don’t have to yell to be heard.
We didn’t have any food, but it was available. They have paninis and a cheese plate that I want to try, with cheeses from the Houston Dairy Maids.
I think this place just recently opened and they may still be making adjustments. Octane seems to have a lot of potential and I will try it again.

This place gave me a headache.
1. I order the girl scout cold drink (peppermint mocha or something) with an extra shot. It was ok… but not really?
2. The iced caramel coffee… which came out hot.
3. What cakes do you have today? We are out of cake… «oh… ok, well what about cheese cakes?» We sold the last one… Other not so smart girl back there says… what we do is get cakes on Monday and then sell them through the week until we run out… «Oh, wow. good to know… just the drinks then»
4. 15 $ «Wow, really?» You had 3 drinks right? «Nope… just the two…» Oh cause when you ordered you said We will have the girl scout and then the caramel coffee.
Seriously? ok well if thats the one thing that you picked up on during the 3 minute ordering process then ok…
Then to top it all off the drinks were not even freaking good. Ugh
I will not return.
I must add though, the space here is freaking awesome… love the décor and such but really lets work on the staff and maybe consider a second cake order mid week? It’s sad too I was really hoping this place would be awesome.

Small but nice beer and wine selection. Cool décor. They did a great job of complementing the old features of this building. Delicious looking food and treats though I didn’t try those out this time. Nice selection of teas and coffee custom made to your taste. Fantastic staff (owners?). I will definitely be back.

I haven’t tried the regular food here yet, but the muffins are good and the coffee is too. The interior decoration and music are fantastic. The coolest place to hang out in at least a 1-​mile radius.

Stopped by for a first try. Service was good. Music was very nice. Cool atmosphere. The food and drinks are way overpriced. Will not eat there again due to pricing. I do hope they make it but some price reductions are needed.

Octane is/​will be a great addition to the neighborhood-​if/​when they get it right… My wife and I have been there about 8 – 10 times now and we have yet to get a consistent coffee product. We really want this business to do well (walking distance from home) and that’s why we’ve given them SOOOO many chances. Just today (Sunday morning) we thought to give it another try and when we walked over with our dogs around 10am and the place was closed until 130pm «for inventory»… Really? Are you freakin’ kidding me! The mis-​management at Octane is a joke.

I stopped by Octane for the first time yesterday. The service was friendly and very welcoming. This is a counter service type of place, which seems to be the model for the newer places in the Garden Oaks/​Oak Forest area. It makes for a casual atmosphere, and that’s no bad thing.
Octane has a small but thoughtful beer selection. I didn’t pay much attention to the wine selection and haven’t tried the coffees, so no comment there. Paninis are good, particularly the turkey-​chipotle panini – good for lunch, a light dinner, or late night.
The place is not huge, and the seating is not specially efficient. There’s an outdoor area, but the amount of traffic – and the accompanying petrol fumes – would seem to make it a bit unattractive. That said, the staff at Octane control what they can quite well. This is another welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Made it here twice so far and I will keep coming back. Love the managements research and desire to source most of their food locally when possible.
I am a big fan of places like Houston Dairymaids and local bakeries, and they are working with those businesses. Awesome. The place is small, but comfortable. I have been for a mid evening dinner on both occasions and had various menu items including a panini, cheese plate and some respectable wine by the glass values. The Ham and Cheese (made with Serrano Ham) was really quite nice.
Great addition to the neighborhood. Keep it up!