Reef

Menu is not very large, however the food was good. Staff friendly. I ate at the bar which has a relaxed atmosphere. Considering the quality, I thought the prices to be reasonable.

I can’t figure out the 4+ star rating here. I frequent all the great places and came here for the first time with friends. Crusted snapper was sent back due to being soggy and flavorless. Redfish was just ok and wasn’t cleaned properly having dark fishy parts. The fried mac and cheese was ok, a little dry. The spinach was the best thing on the plate. As for the oysters, they were also just ok. The cocktail cause was full of vinegar. ??? Not good at all. Oysters tasted good but who ever cleaned them butchered them. The bread was good and so was the pepper jelly that comes with it but no butter is offered. The server was good and polite so no problems there. But the bathrooms. Ummmm. Need some work. the floor of the whole restaurant also needs work. Not terrible if I were in a bar or a place with a lower priced menu. Not what you’d expect considering menu prices. I gave a star for the good waiter that we had and a star for the rolls and good mini adult milkshakes that we had. Those were good. I just cant see giving anymore for anything else. It’s a shame. I had high hopes after reading the reviews.

I’ve been to dinner at Reef twice, one at the 3^rd bar last year and one in the actual restaurant this year. Reservations are needed to dine in the restaurant, however, 3^rd bar area is open for any last minute decision or a spontaneous date night. The food is the same quality in both times but the experience is definitely different. I personally like dining in the bar area much better; laid-​back environment, darker/​romantic ambiance, servers are more attentive and personable. They aren’t rushing between tables so they have all night to chat with you. The actual restaurant experience feels pretentious to me. And perhaps rightfully so since apparently this is the top fish restaurant in the city (but don’t quote me on that). I do like the opening space. I notice this is kind of a trend with seafood restaurants, perhaps because too close of the space can be very fishy very fast. A lot of lighting and tons of wine selections. If I had to pick, i would choose to dine in the bar area. But that’s because I don’t want to be all dolled up to go to dinner. And also, valet parking is complimentary if driving around the block looking for parking space isn’t your thing.
As for the food, we have tried the following dishes below:
— the bread with jalapeño jam was amazing… what an interesting concept. love everything about it, except the fact that it’s empty carbs
–½ dozen raw oysters (LA) (⁵⁄₅): deliciously fresh! there’s not much Reef’s touch to it since the oyster itself is fresh and you can’t really mess that up
–Blue Crab Ceviche (⁵⁄₅): OMG! so fresh and light. Perfect way to prep your appetite for the main entrees
–Redfish on the Half-​Shell, Fried Mac & Cheese (⁴⁄₅): the mac & cheese is super crispy on the outside and lightly fried on the inside (in a cool cute form, which is fun). This mac &cheese is what going to fill you up. The fish was good flavor with some sort of watering sauce in the vegetable, which elevated the dish
–wahoo fish (seasonal): (⁴⁄₅): the food was well seasoning and the brussel sprouts was a nice touch
–grouper with sautee mushroom (³⁄₅): The fish was actually bland for me, i would prefer some of the sauce to make its way into the fish more. It was still good, but i had to dip with the sauce it comes with in order for it’s all to come together. Perhaps that’s the way the chef intended it, but i didn’t care for it. I usually like my protein to be able to stand on its own
–Vietnamese coffee tart (⁴⁄₅): we thought it was weird since we usually drink Vietnamese coffee and not eat it, but it’s actually very good. Not too rich or sweet
Overall, good experience both times but as mentioned earlier, i would come back and chill/​grab dinner at the bar area. Also, their menu changes very often but i think the kind of fish is the same on each menu. The way it cooks and the pairing maybe vary from week to week.

Came here for happy hour (M-​S 4−7pm) and ordered the tarte flambee, tomato mozzarella pizza, pork sliders, and redfish rillette. An incredible amount of high quality and tasty food for only $ 22. Loved the bacon and caramelized onion atop the mascarpone slathered tarte flambee, as well as the flavors of the sliders. Redfish rillette came with a delightful cauliflower counterpart on the plate. Our server was attentive but not overbearing. Parking is significantly more difficult to find on weekends vs weekdays, but there’s a complimentary valet… although it’s a bit on the slow side.

I have visited the Reef several times over the past few years. I have always been a fan of the food!
Last night with a few girlfriends was no different. We enjoyed many great dishes from calamari, brussel sprouts, friend macaroni, seafood and apple tart.
Our cocktails were amazing as well!
The atmosphere/​décor is great, downtown location is prime and there complimentary valet.
The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is because of the waitstaff. This is not the first time I have had a sassy waiter/​waitress. Our waiter was NOT friendly and honestly seemed put out by anything we asked. For such a great place, I hope they are able to improve their staff so every aspect of the experience is as enjoyable as the food.

When you parlay a very knowledgeable staff with a high caliber menu, you have a fail proof dining experience. I travel to Houston every other week & typically like to try new restaurants but always find myself making my way back to Reef.

Reef is a pretty solid place to eat. Went here for a work lunch today and was very pleased with the pick.
We started out with basically a platter of appetizers — fried oysters, crab cakes, and shrimp spring rolls. The crab cakes were good, the fried oysters were ok, and the shrimp spring rolls weren’t really my thing, but were ok as well. The shrimp spring rolls were basically an entire shrimp rolled in the spring roll wrapping, and I guess I expected more filling of with veggies and the like. They also served bread with a jalapeño jelly which was alright — jalapeños aren’t my thing but I still enjoyed it.
I ordered the crab pappardelle for my entrée with the shrimp. Overall, a very good dish, although I wish there was more actual pasta. The ham is to die for, though. Didn’t get much cheese flavoring, but still a very solid dish.
For dessert, I had some of the molten chocolate cake. It was pretty standard and didn’t really wow me, but wasn’t bad in any sense.
Overall, it’s really good food, but I’m not sure I would pay the prices to eat there on my own dime. Good experience, just expensive.

I took my family here to celebrate my mom’s birthday since she had heard good reviews from. her colleagues and was really interested in trying out the food.
We got there a little bit before our reservation and the staff were getting our table ready. Given that it was right before Christmas and a full restaurant, we didn’t mind the wait. Once we got seated, we waited for a little to receive service while we studied the menu. I was rather impressed with the thoughtfulness of the menu design, since our entire party was quite hungey, we essentially ordered every appetizer they had on menu, warm and cold. Food came. out really quickly ans we all really enjoyed the rather unique combination.
For entrée, our party of 6 ordered 5 different dishes. I, myself, orderef a scallop dish. While knowing that the portion wouldnt be huge, I was plesantly surprised that the scallops were sizable. We also ordered steak and various fish and everyone enjoyed them.
Since the dinner was for a special occassion as I noted in my reservation, the owner actually brought out a set of their dessert shooters on the house as a gift. Those were somw yummy concoctions! We also ordered a vietnamese coffee tart as we were all interested in the dish, I’d say that was one of the most creative deasert I have seen.
Overall, we had a great experience and enjoyed the food. I don’t think this was the best I ever had but I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the menu.
P. S. Parking was kind of a situation. They offer valet, however, we were in a long line in the middle of the street and it was a little confusing.

Very very good place for seafood. It’s a little bit pricey but worth it. We had the sweet potato and mascarpone ravioli for appetizers. It was delicious! Probably my favorite meal of the night. My boyfriend then had the redfish with fried mac and cheese and I had the crab and shrimp pappardelle. It was also very good and despite some of the reviews, the portions were actually quite big. We were both stuffed!
Drinks and service were also very good! The lounge area is nice and quiet. Great place for a date night!

I haven’t been here in 2 years and I decided to come back yesterday because my best friend and I are huge fans of the complimentary jalapeño jam and bread. This restaurant is expensive but their happy hour is pretty awesome. I’ll keep this short and sweet with a few pointers:
–Happy Hour is from 4PM — 7PM. They have a great selection of appetizers like the calamari, pizzas, fried mac n cheese, fried oysters, and more. Their signature cocktails are also $ 3 off. But you can only order happy hour items in the bar area. We ordered a few apps:
–calamari ⁵⁄₅: delicious! full of flavor and the sauce was paired perfectly with the calamari.
this was my favorite out of the 3 appetizers that we ordered
–fried oysters ³⁄₅: i wasn’t crazy about them, but the sauce made it better
–fried mac & cheese ⁴⁄₅: when i came here 2 years ago, it use to be a huge block. now they have 4 – 5 mini blocks of the fried mac & cheese. my best friend said it wasn’t cheesy enough but i thought it was just fine. i highly recommend pairing it with the calamari sauce!
–Complimentary bread & jalapeño jam ⁵⁄₅: Amazing. The bread was hot, fresh, and soft. The jalapeño jam was just as great as the first time. Very addicting.
–Service was inconsistent. We had a girl server at first, but later only the guy with the
beard served us. The service seemed very unorganized and they seemed very annoyed/​bothered. We had to ask our girl server for the complimentary bread & jam, usually they’d just bring it out to us. And our guy server took forever to bring out our to-​go boxes
–Pork chops ⁴⁄₅: My best friend and I split this entrée because it’s huge. Even splitting it in half was still big. It was so juicy and scrumptious, very delicious but it wasn’t the best I’ve ever had. The cherry sauce compliments the pork chop really well
–Brussels sprouts ⁴⁄₅: We ordered this as our side for our pork chops. It was crunchy, flavorful, and very tasty! Highly recommend
–YOU CAN BUY THE JALAPENO JAM. I believe it was $ 5 – 6 but the jar is small. We still bought one to feed our addiction
–If it’s your birthday, they’ll give you a complimentary dessert. It’s just vanilla ice cream with 2 chocolate sticks served in a fancy shot glass. A perfect way to end the meal!
The bottom line: I’d come back for the happy hour and whenever I’m craving the jalapeño jam again.

Probably the freshest seafood I’ve ever had, and I lived in Florida for most of my life.
Seriously. The place is loud but trendy and service is pretty good but the food is def Devine. I love the redfish and really any of the fish. The fish melts in your mouth and I don’t even care for fish, lol!
The oysters were some of the most flavorful and fresh I’ve ever had and I’ve made it a point to go to the best seafood restaurants from California to Florida etc
Must try. You will get hooked!

This is a 3 star review simply as a result of the outstanding service we received. Otherwise, I’d give it 2 stars for sure.
Reservation — We had a party of 20 celebrating my friend’s birthday. Yes. We had a reservation because the group was so large. But the restaurant tried to initially sit us at two separate tables because they didn’t have available seating. What?! Fortunately, the birthday girl complained and they put tables together in the bar area to accommodate the group. Perfect! I don’t understand why that wasn’t an option from the beginning.
Location — Although the Midtown area is popular for its restaurants and clubs, I don’t like the lack of parking. Valet really was the safest option and after my experience I’m not so sure how «safe» it was for patrons. I selected this option and about an hour later, a member of my party told me that a police officer was writing down my license plate number! I was very upset but didn’t see a ticket on my windshield so I’m keeping my fingers crossed one doesn’t arrive in the mail. I spoke with the manager who told me to contact the restaurant if I had any problems. Although I appreciate the offer and concern, I should not have to worry if my car is legally parked or not because the restaurant does not have a private lot for customers.
Food — Because we had to be moved, the Mgmt provided the table with complimentary calamari which was delicious! Nice move. But, that was the only thing that had a good taste. I ordered white sangria which tasted like a glass of ordinary white wine with some apple pieces added, nothing special. My entrée was some type of crab pasta. I don’t remember the name but it was the only pasta menu item. Although it was loaded with ingredients, the main ingredient, crab, was overpowered by the sweetness of the tomato-​based sauce, onions, and pancetta. Two other ladies ordered the only chicken entrée and commented that it was very salty. None of us sent food back because we were starving and no one wanted to put a damper on the evening.
At the end of the night, the manager brought the birthday girl a complimentary Lemon Drop shot. Nice touch! Our party had a good time celebrating her. She was happy overall and that’s what mattered most.

So it’s all about what you order. I had the gumbo and the shirmp po-​boy. The gumbo was excellent with lots of stuff in it but not overly full of rice. The po-​boy was very average. I’m leaning more towards a 3.5 than a 3, but perhaps had I tried something else it would be four. The other thing holding this place back a little is the cost. $ 10 – 15 for lunch is okay, but you can easily end up spending closer to $ 20 – 25 a person as well. Everyone else I was with would probably give this place a four star… so I’ll be «that guy.»

Love their happy hour from 4−7pm mon to fri… just to let you know happy hour is only at the bar, $ 5 drinks and $ 5-​$ 8 for their happy items like calamari, sliders, oysters and etc… excellent quality of food in a fine dining place even tho it’s in the bar area

I came here to celebrate being cancer free. They made it such an amazing experience. We ordered champagne, which they upgraded. Our server made great recommendations. I am pretty sure I could have eaten an entire jar of the jalapeño jelly. Great dessert. I appreciate that they let us sit outside, which involved them setting up a table for us. They brought us beautiful desserts. Thank you for making a great day even better.
Your chef is amazing. Great menu.

Went here with a group of friends during happy hour and it was not bad. It was about 6pm and it wasn’t crowded at all. We had the beef skewers which were amazing, shrimp shooters, beef sliders, raw tuna, fried calamari, fried mac and cheese, fried oysters, and 3 different pizzas. Every dish was $ 5. Which is really cheap, you can’t complain about that. Drinks were about $ 11 each and pretty strong. The pizzas were ok, the toppings could be better. My favorites were the fried oysters and beef sliders. The menu always changes. So you probably won’t have some of the plates I had. Oh yeah, the food came out fast too!
If you’re looking for a good happy hour location that isn’t crowded I would recommend coming here.

I love seafood so Reef was right up my alley. The décor is modern and clean. I went on a Saturday evening and the place was packed. Which is always a good indication of a thriving business.
The highlight of our dining experience was the jalapeño jelly! It was perfect on those rolls. We loved it so much that we were glad Reef sold jars of it so we could buy one. I recommend ordering the scallops, they were great!

Thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere at this restaurant. The glass window while the sun is setting can make for one of the most romantic dinners for a couple. I loved that we could see the chefs in the kitchen. The open vibe made me comfortable with the way my food was handled.
The service was fair. Not over the top but we also didn’t have to look for the waiter as they checked in periodically, as a waiter should. One thing that was interesting, when I asked our female waitress (male and female duo) about her recommendation on some items on the menu, she recommended the crab pasta and replied «you can get salmon anywhere» when asked about their salmon dish. Now I don’t know if her manager would’ve been pleased with that response and it definitely caused me to take a moment to process, but I was glad in the end that I went with her recommendation.
The food was AMAZING! I had to crab pasta and it was perfect. There was a significant amount of crab and the pasta was cooked perfectly, not too soft but not underdone. For desert we had the peach cobbler which came in a cute country glass jar. I thought the presentation was adorable. It was a great substitute for not having crème brûlée, which my friend as I love to try at different restaurants.
Highly recommend this place for a cute date night dinner. Get there while the sun is setting!

Anniversary Dining experience with our Rockstar server Jackie.
A very nice ambiance to capture the feeling we wanted to relive. There was no wait and ample parking with optional complementary valet.
We both enjoyed the Fried Mac and Cheese and Jumbo Crab Cake. Both extremely good and worth every penny. The main entrees not so much.
Her-​Red Snapper was really deficient of any flavoring, nothing a dose of salt and lime wouldn’t fix.
Me-​Roasted Grouper on a bed of cor pudding. Did not like the combo of the fish and corn. If you enjoy corn pudding to the max, then this is for you.
We were offered a couple of milk shakes to round off the dining experience.
Nice place to visit, considering the restaurant was featured on the Food Channel. Glad I had a chance to check it out.

I’ve been to lunch and happy hours at reef so when I found out I’d be celebrating my birthday at reef for dinner, I was looking forward to it. Well our server named Albert is terrible. I’ve consistently had great service here but he didn’t even greet us nor introduce himself and went straight to asking if we wanted any drinks from the menu. It was my husband’s first time dining so it would have been nice for Albert to welcome us in, tell us about the restaurant or even the inspiration behind the menu or his favorites — something to engage convo in. All he said when i mentioned the hubby was new to the restaurant is that he said the menu changes everyday. Yes, I get that but he could tell us about the restaurant and some things that don’t really change about the menu or what he recommends.
I don’t know if it’s because we were yuppies compared to the rest of the older clientele and unconscious bias hits in where he probably thinks we won’t tip him well but we didn’t appreciate how we were treated. We also had to ask for the complimentary bread.
Anyways lowdown on dinner entrees:
— ½ dozen oysters: very flavorful and tasty
— grouper with kimchi (subbed out for corn pudding) and salsa: cooked nicely and simple. Kimchi was actually a great combo with the grouper. The rest of vegetables served with the dish was just ok.
–yellowfin tuna with Brussels sprouts and mushrooms: ordered medium rare and it was just perfect. I would highly recommend.
Food and quality was great but service is a huge thumbs down.