Open City

This is a nice little place for Thursday steak night. The patatoes are overly seasoned and crunchy… which I love. The salad that come with the meal is delish. Overall a great meal for 13 bucks.
Service leaves alot to be desired. I have had my drink order messed up at least 50% off the time I have gone. I always ask for several slices of lemon for my beer, and they seem to forget and bring one, then they never come back till they bring the food. So I have to go to the bar and get my own lemon. Normally this would stop me from returning but I really like those patatoes.
Normally during the week the place is pretty quite, so if you are in the area try it out.

I found out that this place has steak night. Steak night is on Thursday night. (This place is perfect before going salsa at Sky Bar *hint* *hint* so its like only 5 miles away) Okay, so this is $ 15 dollars and you get salad, and 15 oz. ribeye steak, and also roasted potatoes. I had my steak medium to medium rare (just in the middle). Its good but I think we were the only table that was there for steak night. Other than that, I wouldn’t go to this place because it doesn’t seem like a happening place. Plus parking bites here…
If I do go dancing again, then I would want to come here to get my strength up to go dancing. Hehe…

Well I just had to try it for myself even after ALL of the not so flattering ratings. I just thought it couldn’t be that bad, and being local I thought I’d give it a chance.
Well unfortunately I should not have bothered and listened to my Peers. What a waste of time. First of all when we walked in at 6:45, we basically stood there with no one wanting to either seat us of serve us a drink. However once seated, the waitress was very attentive, but didn’t know what was off the menu as my wife had to re-​order seeing as the Crab Cakes were off. How hard is it to keep canned crab in the cupboard?
Anyway, we ended up ordering the Grilled Shrimp, Black and Blue NY Steak, and the Bone in Cowboy Cut Steak. 3 of us. I ordered the later RARE, and seeing as it was $ 29 I was expecting something special. (all other meals were a max of $ 16) Well as far as RARE, CSI Miami would have had trouble finding a blood sample from it and it would have to be without a doubt the toughest thing that resembled meat I have had since moving to Houston.
And the drinks, well average, reasonable price but given I couldn’t tell if they had and Tequila in the Margaretta’s, I’m not sure if they were reasonable.
Overall, won’t be back until I see a better trend here.
You may ask why I didn’t complain? Well yes I probably should have, but then I’m not really into have the meal sent back with spit added as tenderizer!!!

So for a place called «Open» City it sure did look like «Closed» City. There was literally maybe 10 people in the whole place on a Friday night.
They also claim it to be a bistro bar rooftop, but the rooftop is also closed?
Total FAIL.

This review is strictly for Open City on a Saturday night. I have never had the food here or been to Open City any other night.
The past few Saturdays (I’m not sure when they started it) have been South American Night. They initially had it on the rooftop deck, but moved it down to the lower level since it’s really hot outside now. There’s a DJ (who also happens to be a salsa DJ in Houston) playing a variety of great Latin music ranging from salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton, rock en Español, and Spanish pop.
The downstairs area has a large bar. There are tables to sit at and a dance floor in the middle. The downstairs patio area is small but nice too. There is also a bar here but less seating area. Drinks are kind of small. My friend ordered a rum and coke and it came in a tiny plastic cup. I think it was about $ 6 – 7 for it so that’s pretty steep for like 4 sips of rum and coke.
I must say that the rooftop deck is very nice. There’s plenty of seating room and 2 bar areas. However, since the party has moved downstairs, no one really goes up there now. Plus the stairs are REALLY steep to go up/​down there, I’m not sure how people manage to climb it in heels and drunk.
The Latin crowd that comes here is pretty attractive, but I’m not sure how friendly they are. And even if you’re not Latin (I’m not), you’re still welcome to come here if you enjoy Latin music. Cover is free and I’ve never seen a wait to get in.

Oh what a sad place! Despite the recent bad reviews I still picked Open City Friday night just to see. I honestly believe they have potential for greatness.
Located in a great spot, incredible layout and pretty much what I was looking for in the way of food selection and price. Maybe if they didn’t make it so inconvenient to be there, there would be more than 10 people in the entire restaurant at 9pm on a Friday night. The rooftop is fantastic, and I think, a great reason to go. But they are missing the point, when the downstairs area is filled with servers standing around staring at the empty tables yet they don’t have servers upstairs, where people want to be. You have to go to the bar to get a drink and even though they tell you, you can order food upstairs the bartender give you such an insane runaround when you try, that you give up and go downstairs.
I still haven’t figured out if they were just trying to be lazy when I ordered roasted lamb sliders and they brought me ground beef. I asked her and she said she was pretty sure it was lamb. They brought me out the right ones as we were ready to leave, they were actually very good, but not worth the trouble it took to get them. I really hope they turn it around because it really is a fantastic little spot.

This place is like a retard hot girl. At first you walk in and you like the way it looks and you’re all excited to be there. Then you start to get to know the place and you’re instantly turned off by it. I went from midnight to 6 o’clock in 2 seconds flat.
We started off up stairs because it has a great view. Sat down and was waiting for a server to come around. Apparently, if you want service, you have to be downstairs. Whatever, fine, we’ll get some drinks, chill and chit chat. I decided to go a little bigger right off the bat and ordered a Scotch on the rocks. I guess OC doesn’t have any Scotch… WTF?! What bar doesn’t have a booze staple like Scotch? I instead ordered a 7&7 which was the worst one I’ve had. The guy barely put any booze in it and used club soda instead of 7-​UP.
We got hungry and went downstairs to eat. There was no one in this place and it was around 8:30 at this point. I ordered the crab cake sliders which tasted like something you’d buy in the frozen food section. Not good at all. Our waitress was nice, but she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. I can see her walking down the street for 4.3 miles because she’s following something shiny. She also tried telling Ashlee M. that what she brought out to her were the lamb sliders she ordered, but in fact were beef sliders. She did bring out the lamb sliders which made it apparent our waitress knew nothing about the food she was serving because they looked so different.
I really liked the look of this place, but it’s so far from what it needs to be to be a cool hang out. I would maybe come back and have a beer on the roof top, but there are plenty of other places I’m going to before I come back here.

I’m sure this place varies in coolness depending on the time of night and the day of the week, but it sure wasn’t hopping when I was here. Granted, I did visit for HH, but still… it was dead.
In any case, the cosmos here are super sweet. They must use a mix. The bartender upstairs spent most of the time looking at himself in a mirror rather than pouring drinks, but the guy downstairs was great. He was hilarious and quite entertaining.
As far as food, it’s ok, but nothing special. The lamb sliders were good, but the bun was stale and tasteless. The chicken fingers were decent, but they seriously could have bottled that gravy. It’s some «special» sauce according to the bartender (I always hate when they say that…“special” could mean lots of things, several of which I don’t want to associate with food) that they make on premises.
So if you end up at Open City, skip the drinks unless you’re drinking beer, forget the food, and just order up a big vat of gravy to go.

Nice joint that turns into a lounge after dinner’s over.
We only stayed for dinner, but next time will try out the lounge scene.
Usually I don’t drink Cosmo, but their drinks were pretty good.
For the food, my friend and I shared a Alfredo Pasta, pretty bland. but decent price.
Cons: you are better off to valet or make sure you find a secure parking spot. or else your car will be towed. If you are lucky to stop the tow guy from towing your car, don’t think you are safe. because the cop will give you a $ 65 parking ticket.

I may have made the mistake of trying to go here on Thursday night which also happens to be steak night. However, the place was ridiculously loud, crowded and full of rude waitstaff.
In my opinion, this place is way over hyped. I would have been very inclined to return another night and try the again out but the bartender gave me an attitude when I asked her about seating and menus. No one was helpful in introducing new comers to the restaurant… so I went ahead and marched my happy butt over to El Patio.
Open City = FAIL.

I’ve been here a couple of times with friends and though I’ve never eaten downstairs, I am a huge fan of the upstairs patio. The seating is comfortable and plentiful.
The best part is happy hour. $ 2 beer and half priced appetizers and the food was actually good. A cool little spot to stop by on the way home.

Okay I’ve usually head over to this place mostly for their Sunday Fundae libations. But on one Wednesday night around 8:30 I decided to have dinner here. When I drove by and peeked in the dining room, I thought they were closed. There were no one inside. Hmmm, how early do they close? I thought it was 10PM?
Anyways, we saw the bartender/​server was smoking outside and so we decided to pull in and ask. He said they were indeed open and to come on in.
Okay… as we walked in there was only one other table. We didn’t see them as we drove by because they were seated outside. This is not good, a restaurant with only one server and bartender staffed for the night. Hmmm… my radar is telling me turn around and get back in my car. But with so many good reviews from my fellow Unilocalers, this place can’t be bad right?! Ehhh, wrong! There is a reason why the place is slow on weeknights. The food is priced too high for mediocre food.
I ordered Chicken Fried Chicken over a bed of mashed potatoes. Every item on it was waaaayyyy oversalted. Their buttermilk dressing on my chicken… I wasn’t too crazy about. I could barely eat ¹⁄₃ of my plate. Luckily my super sweet Rasberry lemonade helped me wash down and counter the saltiness of my entrée.
One friend had the Hazelnut Crusted Trout. She thought that would be very good… however, the hazelnut just didn’t seem to work with the fish. I tasted it and it just didn’t taste right. I can’t find the words to describe it… I just wasn’t feeling it.
My other friend had a Cali Burger (½ lb burger with a crab cake). She wasn’t found of the crab cake… but the fries were good though! It was a boat load of it.
One other note, my friend wanted to substitute her mashed potatoes, that accompanied with the fish, to green beans. Our waitress said it was not a problem. So when her dish came out it still came with the mashed potatoes. Umm, we pointed it out to the waitress and so she brought out a bowl of green beans (that too was salty). That’s fine, but we noticed an extra charge of $ 6 for green beans on our bill. When asked what the charge was for… she said we wanted an extra order of green beans. Nooooo, she wanted it to substitute it for the mashed potatoes. Clearly there were some miscommunication. We requested to take it off the bill, she stated she can’t being that we got both sides. Aaarrgghhh she didn’t want the potatoes in the first place. Whatever! Rather then gripe it anymore, it came out of her tip.
This place is the place to be currently at night on Sundays. Lots of good people watching. However if it’s food you want… save your money and eat somewhere else.

Technically, this would be a 2.5 stars for me. It is mainly a service issue and I couldn’t figure out what kind of place it was trying to be. When we arrived, we asked for a 3-​top and they asked us to wait in the bar «so that we can push some tables together for you». They must have the world’s tiniest tables!
We waited about 10 — 15 minutes or so. The restaurant portion of the place was near vacant, but the bar was packed, making it nearly impossible to get a drink in that time. Made no sense as to why we were waiting. When we were finally seated upstairs, it was at just one table. Odd.
The server recommended everything very highly. My husband said the hummus was so-​so, not nearly as good as Niko Nikos (but what is?). The crab cakes were good and had a nice Old Bay flavor, I cannot say as good things about the sides. All three of our plates had mountains of mashed potatoes, quantity over quality is never a good thing. The green beans were overly oily and sweet, not sure how they got that way, but it was not tasty.
When we went to pay our check, we asked if the check could be split into ¹⁄₃ and ²⁄₃ over two credit cards. The server made a huge production about how that was against their policy, but she would be able to accommodate us. If you can do it, why tell us about the policy? Only makes your tip go down. It isn’t like we were three people splitting one entrée or something, we had bottles of wine, appetizers and entrees. We didn’t want split checks or anything fancy, just the total bill to be spread over two cards.
It is an odd little place and I am pretty sure I won’t return. Too many good places are in the same area (Reef, Ibiza, even Cyclone Anayas) and everyone of them is willing to split my check.

I reserved my review of this place after revisiting it since the Unilocal Elite event. I had raved to my friends about this place… now they think I’m some sort of VIP in Houston because of the wonderful service we had (haha!).
We got there sort of late in the evening, and as expected, the rooftop bar was full, but that didn’t bother us too much. We wanted a proper meal so we sat downstairs. I was particularly wow-​ed by the hazelnut trout and the famous bread pudding… we didn’t let a bite go to waste. The sangria wasn’t the best I’ve had (my friends and I have our own recipes that’ll kick your booty silly), but it was decent. The buffalo calamari was rather underwhelming, which was a surprise to me. My friends enjoyed the crabcakes and the chicken fried chicken… between bites of silence, I’m pretty sure they were impressed with their entrees. :)
I’m happy that there is a sophisticated place like Open City in Houston where friends can gather, have a drink, and enjoy decent dining – which is unexpected at a lounge like this.
P. S. I spoke with the owner briefly and she explained to me what happened to Ms. Emily (who I presumed is the situation she was referring to since there are high marks all around from others)…while I can’t vouch for the owner or validate Emily’s experience since I wasn’t there, she told me that she wrote an email and apologized for letting her party fall through the cracks. If that is true… now that’s service!

Why do I like Open City?
Well, I can’t say I’ve had their food, but I have had their sangria. And it’s damn good.
I remember when Open City was first opening, and there was hype about their rooftop bar. I actually got to go up there, and its nice. Heat lamps abound, and it’s a great, breezy place to hang out with friends. Also, you get a great view of the downtown skyline — it’s all lit up and you feel like you’re in a real city!
I’ve also heard great things about renting out the rooftop area for parties, and the comfort food is supposed to be fabulous — I’ll need to go back for some chow soon.

We met friends for a bite to eat and drinks at Open City on Friday. The staff was great and so was the food. We sat outside on the roof and had great service.
Be sure to check out their «reverse happy hour» when you order from the bar (see their website for details).

This place is a freakin’ JOKE!
I visited Open City (aka Open Sh***y) last night and had the worst service of my life. I was there for a networking event after work, then a couple of girlfriends showed up and we decided to stay for dinner. I had to go up to the bartender and ask for menus and a waiter. 15 minutes go by… no one… fine so then I go ALL THE WAY upstairs to the second level dining room to tell the waiter up there that we were completely being ignored downstairs. 15 more minutes go by and AGAIN I ask the bartender for a waiter. Then a hostess comes over and asks me how we are… I told her horrible, that I have asked for a server and menus twice now and it’s been 30 minutes! Honestly we were about to walk out and just go around the corner to El Patio.
So she comp’d glasses of wine for my friends and dessert. When she was picking up the dinner plates she asked «so are we all less cranky now that we’ve eaten»? I told her I’d be less cranky if it didn’t take 30 minutes to get menus and I had to keep getting up from the table to ask for service.
Funny thing is the food was actually quite good (I had salmon risotto), not sure if people will discover that since it’s likely they will leave in frustration before a waiter appears at their table to take an order.
Needless to say, I did not bother to leave her a tip. Gee… I wonder if she’s «cranky» about that?

After hearing rave reviews from Fayza and Stephy, I knew I had to check this place out soon. We were actually on our way to another restaurant when we drove by and we came to a screeching halt and pulled a quick u-​turn.
When we walked in, it was pretty empty, but very friendly. The owner came up to us and greeted us immediately and just like Fayza said, we felt like family immediately. We were seated at a booth in the middle that allowed for us to take in the scenery. The first thing that drew my attention was the bar with all the intricately set up bottles. They definitely have a well stocked bar that would be very helpful for any nighttime events. Evidently they’re opening up the roof (partially covered for this crazy Houston weather) and they’ll have a DJ on the weekends. Very nice.
Since it was the middle of the day, we ended up just getting one drink each – which turned out to be more than enough! My sangria was delicious and wine-​y without being overpowering. My hubby’s French Kiss martini (hey, there was no one there to judge him for his girly drink!) was strong! I’m generally not a fan of any «blue» drinks, but it was pretty tasty.
Then came heaven in a basket. Okay, the bread really didn’t matter nearly as much as the amazingly delicious (and surely fattening) honey butter that came out. And after talking with the owner, we found out that it was homemade. Homemade, people. Who know that ambrosia came from Open City?! Delicious. And no, I’m not exaggerating. Go for the butter if nothing else. Yum!
Okay, enough salivating. I ended up with the cheese steak which was pretty good. The cheese was nice, but not the star of the sandwich. The steak was cut into thick slices (well, thick for a cheese steak), but were tender enough that I wasn’t gnawing at a table like a caveman (no Geico jokes, please). The fries were nice and crispy with just enough seasoning to make me happy. Oh, and they paired it with a side of ketchup and homemade remoulade sauce. Yep, they’re all about the homemade goodness here.
Besides the honey butter, my other foodgasm came from their mac’n’cheese. They did it with a blend of smoked gouda and gruyère which hit the spot. I really hate when people use too mild of a cheese in their dishes because then it just tastes like you’re eating plain noodles! Best part of the day: having a 10 minute discussion with the owner about the horrors of finding the perfect noodle for her mac’n’cheese. Awesome. I love when people actually care enough about their job to do it that well.
I actually want to give Open City a 4.5, but only because my hubby’s steak was a tad bit overcooked. I think it is because the steak wasn’t evenly cut so the ends were thinner, making it obviously cook faster. Again, the owner being as personable and humble as she is, took the blame and said that she’d been encouraging him to cook steaks longer since most people don’t like theirs raw and bloody – yep, my hubby is one of «those» people.
In the end, this is definitely a place to come back to often. I think the prices may’ve been a bit high for lunch, but for the quality and amount, I’m not complaining.
Also, I felt very «Mission Impossible» sticking a «You’ve Been Unilocaled» card into the check since I knew that the owner was a Unilocaler, but didn’t want her to know who I was until I left. Yep, good food AND adventure all at Open City.

Amen to Fayza and Stephy cause they are spot on about the place! We headed there before a night in midtown and it was the best meal I’ve had in a LONG time!
First, the atmosphere was conducive to a night out, lots happening. The music was great but the acostics may need to get looked into because it was a little loud.
We ordered a couple of iced teas and some cocktails. My drink was very strong! So much that my cranberry and vodka was pink, not red like at the club!
Our waiter was very busy with a large group that needed all separate tickets, so he wasn’t exactly attentive. But other waiters checked on us occasionally. This usually would have cost them a star but I just can’t do it. The food was that remarkable that they earned it back!
I had the herb crusted trout. I’m a bit of a seafood groupie since my dad has been a fishing captain and we always had the freshest seafood. My fish was fresh and delicious. I don’t know what they did with it, but it was the best trout I’ve ever had! It came with a nice amount of garlic mashed potatoes which were also great. Everyone else at the table had one of their pastas. One with chicken, another with shrimp, and one of the spicy creole. All were great. (By the way, this is one reason I love Unilocal– I can taste everyone’s under the guise of «research» for a review lol)
But the highlight of the dinner was the dessert! I insisted we order something and split it even though everyone was quite full. They were a little bummed to learn the only choices were bread pudding or crème brûlée. We picked the bread pudding and have been thanking God ever since! It came with a drizzling of a warm caramel cinnamon sauce that was quickly scooped up by us. Oh and it was huge! All four of us got a slice. It was warm and soft and melted in your mouth. Hmmm! You HAVE to try this place!

I can’t even begin to explain how happy, content, full, robust, well rounded, smiley, relaxed and did I mention FULL I am right now after spending a most lovely and warm and friendly evening at Open City tonight.
First of all let’s just talk about the hard working owners. They’ve only been open a mere 6 weeks, but they have already been able to instill such a great vibe to their place that as soon as you walk in, you will feel like family. I don’t know if this is common for Houston or not, but this was by far one of the nicest groups of people from their hostess with the mostess, to our server to the bartender, to the other patrons, just tops in my book.
Now let’s talk about their food. Good Lord, we tried it all tonight and I can tell you that there wasn’t one dish that set up shop in my mouth that I didn’t totally flip over.
The highlights included the bread pudding. It is seriously just all kinds of ridiculous. I have no idea what they put in here… I suspect foodie crack… but I have never had anything so heavenly dance across my palate before. Wow, just seriously, wow.
The chicken fried chicken. Oh to the my y’all. It is a large and breaded breast or two of chicken surrounded by the most perfectly seasoned breading I’ve had in a long time. Not too salty, a tinge of sweet and so incredibly tasty. It’s paired with these deeelish mashed potatoes that really do taste like Thanksgiving or like that warm hug you’d get from your favorite grandma on a cold winter’s night. You know that one, yes, the happy place one.
The wonton fried ravioli. We kidded each other through the meal that this was fat free, carb free and of course, in a perfect world, calorie free to boot. Of course, it’s not really, BUT it is soooo worth whatever pounds you might put on in the process of eating this dish. It’s totally vegetarian friendly and sooo amazing. I would almost recommend ordering this as a fun and different spin of a dessert since it is kinda sweet, but not over-​powering sweet and it really made me think of donuts. Oh sweet donut raviolis of love, mmm mmmmm.
The Buffalo Calamari. It’s so weird that in all of my food savvy adventures in both at home kitchen experimentation and going out that I never would have thought to pair calamari with buffalo wing sauce and blue cheese. Thankfully, they did and it is a most delightful dish that really sang. I highly recommend this one as a starter. Yum!
The creamed corn. I dunno about you, but whenever I see creamed corn on a menu, I get excited. Because while many people make a bland version of it, when it’s done right, and I mean RIGHT, it is so right on and out of this world that you will start getting 4am cravings over it. Happy to report, Open City got it right and with that punch of subtle ginger it is soooo worth ordering as a side.
Did I mention the Bread Pudding :)
Oooh, the Pop Rock martini. How awesome is this lil number. The rim is lined with, you guessed it, Pop Rocks and while it was a bit sweet for my taste, as I tend to go for the straight up vodka with olives kinda dirty martini, I will say that it was really good and if you like girlie fun drinks, order this one.
They also had a really nice wine list and the décor is really neat, because it is that perfect balance of upscale vibe with an approachable and comfortable reality. This is a really hard combo to pull off and I’ve seen other attempts in other cities where it fails miserably, but I think Open City is really on to something special here.
Also the view from the roof and patio area, wow. Talk about the Open City. Just spectacular and even the bathrooms are cool. Loved the bronze bowl sink and awesome tiles used.
I’m telling you, this place is aces and it’s only going to get better with time. They’ve only been open 6 weeks and the menu is still evolving, but what is definitely there to stay are two very cool and humble and welcoming owners that will take the time to really hear their customers and in the often snobby foodie scene, it is truly refreshing to see that kind of down home service at extremely fair prices.
Check em out, I really think you’ll love ‘em!