Sorrel Urban Bistro

We just discovered this place tonight. Sadly, they will be closing on December 31, 2014. They were pretty much out of everything but service was good, if a little somber. Wish we had time to explore more of their menu and beverages. Their location will be turning into a Pizza joint sometime next year. Sounds great (sarcasm). As Bryan Mills would hear/​say, «Good Luck».

This place is amazing!!! My roommate and I went in pretty late last night to check the place out for dinner. Walking in the place is you immediately notice the wall of wine in the back of the dining room, next is the little quaint and open kitchen. We were welcomed by the owner of the joint. Didn’t really speak much to him, but he seemed like nice guy. Our server, Ross, walked us over to a table right in front of the kitchen, awesome. Looking around I noticed a TV by the wall of wine, it had a live feed of the kitchen! How cool is that?, to be able to see the kitchen in action? Sign me up!!! Ross came back with what looked like the personal library of Sorrel, a wine list, a cocktail menu, a happy hour menu, a HRW menu, and finally the dinner menu. Half the table was full of menus!, but I digress from my evening. We started things off with the Lamb Lollipops and the Ceviche. The lamb was perfect, cooked medium, so juicy (my napkin can vouch for me, lol) on this little garnish of shallots and greens dressed with a savory vinaigrette. My roommate had the most beautiful dishes I had seen. While we were waiting for our appetizers we noticed one of chefs meticulously prepping a large plate, it was as if where watching an artist make the final touches on his masterpiece. She was overwhelmed with joy when she saw that it was her ceviche. A mix of various fish and mussels with pickled thinly sliced carrots, sticky rice rolled in sesame seeds, watermelon radishes, and beet purée. Now deciding on a main course I opted for a cup of soup and burger. I had chicken and vegetables soup, great choice it reminded of home cooking. Lastly I switched my burger to a duck poutine. I would go into greater detail but this review is getting out of hand. Bullet points: homemade fries, lots of garlic, duck (no shit), gravy, and some good cheese (forgot, what are you gonna do?). Ahhh-​mazing!!! Finally… desert! Nutela cheesecake with homemade chocolate ice cream with marshmallows in it. I’m just gonna ended on that note. They could have served me a Salisbury steak first, then serve that desert and I would rate all the courses 5 stars automatically.
Shout out to our server Ross and the chef that looks like E.R.‘s Anthony Edwards (or «Goose» from Top Gun to jog the memory) for the evening. As-​salamu alaykum.

Fresh.Local. Organic eats for a great price. Hurry in as they are closing their doors this December to make room For Dubrow’s New York grill. Go get some before they go!
We visited for dinner and enjoyed ourselves. The Lamb lollipops and scallops are worth starting with. select craft beers on tap pair nicely with any item.
Starters range from $ 9 — $ 16
Entrees range from $ 22 — $ 32
They also have dessert but I didn’t get a chance to review it.
Sorrel is closed on Monday’s.
They close each day at 3pm and reopen at 5pm for dinner.

We enjoyed our lunch at Sorrel. Service was friendly. Soup was excellent as was the Red Snapper. It’s a nice place to sit outside, when the weather is nice. I know it’s closing soon, so I am glad we had another chance to have a meal here.

I went here with a girlfriend of mine because she was raving about some signature cocktail they had. Needless to say… they didn’t have it «in season.» The dream killing words to a foodie! We sat at the bar. We stayed to give the other drinks a shot because the bar tender insisted the other drinks were just as good… they weren’t. My friend ordered something called a Southside… it’s like a mojito without the crushed mint. IT WAS THE BEST THING I HAD THERE— drink wise. THe bar tender made me 3 drinks and all were boo boo… I just didn’t have the heart to return it again…
I did have an appetizer because I wasn’t that hungry but could snack on something. I had their Crab Cake! Note to those reading… I’m not usually a big fan of crab cakes… something about it being too bready when I want Crab… but the bar tender insisted to try it. That was the ONE Good recommendation he gave, otherwise I would have gave this place 2 stars. Crab Cake= 5 stars for having more crab and scallops than breading! Drinks= 1 star. Service= 4 stars for effort :) Ambience=4 intimate atmosphere and wasn’t crowded when we went. Pricing=3 overpriced for what we had.

Grab lunch here on a Friday. Opted for the steak three course lunch. I had the chili which was good as was the duck soup my wife opted for, Steak came out cooked exactly to order. The sorbet was on the money.
Our server was very attentive but not in an overbearing way which is really nice.
Overall a solid lunch

I came to Sorrel for a YP event with the Health Museum. This is a HH review.
The restaurant was squeaky clean and the layout was nice. The event had a happy hour special running with it, but even so, the bar tender hooked it up with whatever you wanted. He did it right. They had some good appetizers as well, mostly seafood. David, the bartender, was all over the place and managed to keep the crowd with drinks in hand. Definitely a good HH spot, I’ll have to go back for the food.
One downside, valet parking. I hate valet. With a passion.

Those of you who know me, know that the only thin I am picky about is food. Sorrel not only have an excellent costumer service, the food is superb. The staff and management together with the owner are always there to make sure you get nothing but first class service. I always make a point to come at least once a week to enjoy a wonderful meal and wine. I love it, they always have fresh produce from the farmer market, you can really taste the spectacular flavor in each dish they prepare.

This place is unique. The food, the staff, the place, the atmosphere, everything is great! Definitely Sorrel is my favorite place in town.
I usually go there for lunch and every day is a new experience. The food is fresh and excellent.
Also I do my company events and I’ve been using their catering services many times and always everything is perfect!
I recommend 1000% this lovely place!

This used to be my «go-​to» place. I loved this restaurant. But, over the past year it has gotten worse and worse. They got rid of their innovations menu at lunch, which is what set this restaurant apart from the rest. They don’t serve bread anymore while you are waiting for the food to arrive. The waitstaff is pathetic for a mid class restaurant. Slow, careless, clueless and inattentive.
Today, I gave this place one last try. I can officially say that I will never return. We waited for over an hour for our food to come out for lunch. The restaurant was perhaps a quarter occupied, so not a busy enough day to explain the delay. Once it came out they brought four of the five plates. The meal that was missing was ordered twice at our table. One person received their meal, the other did not. No apologies, just another ten minutes of waiting. As mentioned the waiter was terrible, I am not sure he even had a brain. When asked questions, he barely responded and he kept trying to take our appetizer before we were done with it. My meal: almond crusted sea bass with endives and quinoa. Let me name it as it should have been named: heavily salt coated bass with endives drenched in high sodium soy sauce and under cooked quinoa. YUCK.
One of my coworkers got the same meal and experienced the same thing. Another got the coho salmon, which, without even having to ask I could tell that it was way over cooked. When asked, it was confirmed.
Sorrel, you are failing, in my case you have failed. I am sad to see that you are no longer what you used to be. I will not recommend you to anyone; instead I will recommended for people not to waste their time with you.

There’s a song by T.I. on hip hop radio now called No Mediocre. «I don’t want no mediocre, don’t want no mediocre, I don’t want no mediocre…» You already know where I’m going with this.
My brunch experience here was exceedingly mediocre (is this an oxymoron?).
I was worried after they served us complimentary cheddar biscuits that were stale and had the most repulsive aftertaste. The entrees themselves weren’t bad, but I don’t want no mediocre. I had the lobster cake egg Benedict. Yes, singular egg. It was poached perfectly, thankfully. There was a decent effort to season the lobster cake. The chicken fried sirloin was again, mediocre. The pork belly hash was amazing. Just kidding, it was mediocre.
We sat close to two people on a first date here (dead giveaways– unnatural mannerisms and nervous laughter). J forced me to move seats so I could eavesdrop and get a better view for entertainment. The girl was displaying SO MUCH TRY, exaggerating her excitement and tilting her head waaaaay back when giggling. I wish Sorrel Urban Bistro had shown half the try in their food.
You don’t get to charge these prices for mediocrity.

I rank this place a 3 for food but 4 stars for service. We had dinner here last Saturday and it was a pleasant experience. While checking in on Unilocal we got a $ 1 Karbach Beer on draft. When it was served, it was draft, but came in a small 4 inch tall glass… lol. really? Sorrel owner/​manager, you really shouldn’t of, or at least offer this for free. How cheap.
Made reservations via Unilocal/​Open table morning of visit. Restaurant is located in an open strip mall type location. Free parking available around the restaurant. Walking in, hostess had 2 tables available, one up front and one in the rear. She was pleasant and we got a good table.
Reading the wine/​cocktail menus, we were a bit shocked to see $ 15 cocktails :-0! Why? Is this Vegas or a fancy location? Not really. That in my opinion was way over priced! Wine was at $ 12/​glass still on the high end for a 2012 Zin or Malbec. So thumbs down on beverage pricing.
We ordered a glass of Zin and Syrah, both tasted good. For appetizers ordered the Braised Oxtail Empanada with Shaved Asparagus, Sage, Fennel Ash and House Cured Gravlax on Crostini with Sorrel Cream Cheese, Gribiche Sauce. The Empanadas were tasty but the Cured Gravlax «Cold Salmon» was meh.
For dinner we ordered the Leg of lamb and the Lamb loins as the menu was not that impressive to be honest. Each of these dishes were priced at $ 34 & $ 32 respectively :-0. The leg of lamb was not too bad, however, the lamb loin consisted of two small pieces, literally 2 bites each (see photos). A total rip off in price for taste ratio. Not impressed at all, way overpriced. Again!
For desert we ordered the Biscuit bread and it was good overall.
Henry was our server and he did an excellent job, taking care of us. Knew the menu well, and gave us some very good suggestions. Another interesting thing is there were TV’s located around the restaurant that were showing the kitchen, it’s not close enough to see what they were cooking, but fixed camera overhead, waiter said they took pride in cleanliness of kitchen, but as I mentioned, it’s too far to see what they were doing… Hhmmm.
We had a Travelzoo deal, and if it was not for that we would have returned the Lamb loin and ordered something else. Overall this restaurant is over priced in terms of beverages and food. I will not come back.

My fiancé and I tried Sorrel last week to celebrate a special event. I had heard about this place through a Unilocal event, and we love to support the local food scene, so we were excited to try it!
We were impressed by the expansive wine list and we ordered the cheapest bottle, somewhere in the high $ 30s I believe. Our appetizer was by far my favorite part of the meal: some sort of seared pork with a sweet sauce and mushrooms! Yum!
Our entrees were good, too. I had to ask a lot of questions about the menu since I could not pronounce half of the ingredients in some of the dishes. I had gnocchi and my fiancé had grilled salmon, both tasty choices! The vegetables all tasted so fresh, which really made an impact. Our service was good, too!
Overall, we had a great experience. For me, it was a nice place for a special occasion, but it didn’t feel fancy and stuffy, which I liked.

Like other Unilocalers we had pretty high expectations, unfortunately they were dashed largely by the lackluster service.
It was 2pm Memorial Day Weekend Saturday — about 5 tables occupied. The place is clean, open and inviting. The kitchen looks very bright and clean, even cameras and a TV so that you can see everything that is going on.
We placed our order — for my wife a calamari salad, for me a small steak on mashed potatoes with a market salad. All good so far.
Then the older server (not the young guy who took our order) walked up to our table without a word and basically threw my salad in front of my wife and walked off. To quote my wife — we serve our puppy with MUCH more love and words than his total crap service. So I took the salad and started eating it as we waited for our entrée’s which were brought by the younger server who was polite. Sadly his mistake was that he never once came back to ask if our meals were good :(. My steak was pretty good, but the potatoes tasteless and bland — no pepper on the tables and no sign of the waiter to ask for the black pepper that I desperately craved. The mango ice cream desert was very good.
Rating:
Overall 3 stars
Food 4 stars (some gristly matter in the steak — and (for us a first) a lump of fat in the calamari — but other than that good. Bear in mind that the calamari is very small — so small we ended up going to McCormick and Schmick for Happy Hour to eat!
Service 2 stars (old guy minus one star, young guy 3 stars (he even opened the door for us as we left — but man, ask the customer if they are enjoying their food!!! «How to get a better tip lesson 101»
Can’t imagine going again

So I love this place… as you can see by the 5 stars.
I have been there for lunch, brunch, dinner, whiskey dinner and everything in between. Each and every time I have had something different, and each and every time I have eaten everything off my plate until it looked like it had just been washed. Each and every person that i have met at Sorrel have been so welcoming and warm as well as knowledgeable of everything in the restaurant.
Have I mentioned the food? It is always on point. Favorite dish so far: The Lobster Cake Benedict on the Mother’s Day Brunch Menu 2014.
I implore you go try it out… you’ll love it!

Since my first review, I have been here numerous other times and have been meaning to write an update.
I can now say that its one of my favorite restaurants in Houston. Every single dish that I have ordered has been cooked to perfection, even the off menu items.
This is a place were you can tell the difference between ready made food and made to order food.

It was a dark and icy night, and we were warmly welcomed by this nice little bistro. Thanks to the nasty weather, we came in, sans reservation, and had a wonderful evening. Our great server, Bailey, walked us through the menu, and gave excellent service with a smile and fun wit. The restaurant is a nice take on a modern bistro, with crisp linen tables, earthy woods and candlelight. The TV’s showing the clean kitchen in action were also interesting.
The full service bar has many unique mixed drinks and wines from which to choose. I had their version of the French 75, made with a small orange instead of lemon. While not as sweet as the original, it was still nice. The wine list has many well priced offerings.
Hubby started with the Truffle Potato Bisque soup, sure to warm away the winter chill. Yumm. The homemade bread was tasty. I had the Wagyu Cornflake covered meatballs appetizer which was wonderful and savory. When I asked for salt to add a bit of taste, they brought a nice assortment of three choices which I so enjoyed!
I ordered the special, Veal Chop, that was cooked a nice md. rare to order. The chop was well seasoned, but perhaps a bit more fatty than other veal chops I’ve enjoyed. Still plenty of meat. I admit I was a bit disappointed by the vegetable chef’s surprise I chose which was a bit of over cooked greens served on top of the chop. I should have gone for the mushrooms instead. Hubby had the spare rib which was savory and very tender! For desert, the chocolate cake was a unique, moist, offering. With a texture between that of a brownie and a moist cake, the unique density held the chocolate flavoring perfectly upon the tongue. I really enjoyed it and had to fight for every bite with hubby’s dueling fork.
The owner gave us a warm goodbye, and we can’t wait to return and try more! Only a few minor misses kept this from being a five star review.

Where do I start!
I had lunch here today and the food… DELICIOUS! The chef uses all local produce with lovely spices and healthy options!
I had the power lunch, which for less than $ 20 you get an entrée with soup or salad & a desert.
Power Lunch
I had the Market Fish which came with Risotto and greens!!! The fish was so good paired with the Risotto! If you are into greens I had the Sorrel Salad as well which is full of yumminess! I was so full by the end of my meal I skipped out on the desert and opted for an Expresso instead.
I will be back to enjoy there brunch!
Last but not least, the service is one of the best in town! I loved our waiter!!!

Went for Sunday brunch. Awesome service from the host to our server. Accommodated setting up a table outside since the weather was nice even though they already had a table set up for our 12:30 reservation inside.
The pomme frites were crunchy with a slight hint of garlic. Lobster Benedict was good and not to mention, washed it all down with $ 0.99 mimosas.

I was sorely disappointed by my first and recent visit to Sorrel. The scallops for 12 $ was not worth it. The ensuing entrees were large and plentiful, but the fig glazed duck and veal chop were both tough and not executed well as I left more than half of the entrée on the plate.
Service was excellent and the atmosphere was quiet. However, I would not recommend this place as the bill was 110 (w/​tip — no drinks) and I expected much, much more.