Tart Café

I have been visiting tart café since it opened a dew years ago. i love it! the décor is cute, it’s a darling little modern space. The staff is always friendly, the menu is very savory. If you crave something rich and decadent, this is the place. my favorites are the goat cheese and artichoke tart, the chicken poblano tart, and the chocolate raspberry tarte and the mushroom leek tart. Their salads look pretty good too, but who the heck goes to a place called «tart» and eats a salad?! their snazzy champagne cocktails are also very yummy. I love that they participate in the Aids Foundation Houston’s Dine out for Life event. The only con, and it’s a small one– is that they aren’t open enough! their hours are a little slim, and they aren’t open late most days.

I had such high hopes of this place and have been wanting to try it for years. Oh what a disappointment…
Went there with a female friend around noon on a weekday. There wasn’t many people inside except a couple and two students studying. I was thinking yes score! A nice place that my friend and I can catch up on gossip and the latest scoop in our lives. I was really digging the artwork inside of the café too.
After debating between the mushroom leek tart, corn poblano tart, and tomato pesto tart, I settled on the corn poblano. Menu description: Fresh cut corn, red bell peppers, poblano peppers, and cheddar jack cheese in a cumin crust. Mmm tasty…
Wrong! It was just ok. The fresh cut corn was definitely a very nice touch but the corn was swimming in tomato sauce. Or maybe it was pureed red bell peppers but the taste was kind of off. I just wasn’t a fan. I actually liked the side salad with the walnut vinaigrette dressing better than the tart.
I would have given this place 3 stars but then a very large group of people for the size of the establishment came in, and it got immensely loud inside. My friend and I had to shout in order to hear each other and I started to develop a pounding a headache. We left shortly afterward.
Maybe I had hyped up the place too much in my head but I didn’t think the $ 9.95 price was worth it for a meal that was just okay at best. The atmosphere was nice until it got so loud inside that you can barely even hear yourself think.

Went here for lunch today and was pleased but not overwhelmed. Parking is available behind the building fyi.
I got the BLTA on ciabatta bread which had a LOT of ranch on top that was nice and tangy but a bit overwhelming of the crispy bacon and tomatoes — in fact I couldn’t even taste the tomatoes for all that ranch.
The side salad was a pile of mixed greens with a lonely onion and tomato covered in generic balsalmic.
For $ 9.99 not too bad and enough food (ranch) to keep me full, but certainly not a revelation as far as sandwiches go.

Mmm I’ve been on a bread kick for the last few days. Dumplings, pasta, it all sounds so tasty. What better time to try out Tart Café? Bread for lunch and dessert! ;)
I ordered the Chicken Artichoke Tart — shredded chicken, artichoke hearts, roasted walnuts with goat cheese in an herb crust though its name has changed to the MyTable Tart after the magazine. They baked it while I waited so I got to smell and anticipate my lunch. :P~~~(me drooling as I wait). Since both artichoke and goat cheese are heady flavors, I could have done without one of them or had less of one of them. The crust was amazing though! Flaky, tasty, and just the right texture.
For dessert, you can order a large tart or bite size versions. I opted for the Chocolate Raspberry Bouquet — chocolate almond mousse in a sweet crust topped with a chocolate covered berries. This was sublime!!! Again, the crust made the flavor that much more enjoyable.
Tart Café shares the building with a number of art galleries — Anya Tish, Peel, Wade Wilson as well as having installation art in their space. How can you wrong with ART and TART?!! (=

Cute little café! Perfect lunch date spot. I had the tomato pesto tart while a friend got the chicken artichoke tart. If getting a tart, I would recommend that you order two with a friend because the flavor can become overwhelming. Good to have two to keep your taste buds from getting sick of one flavor. Will need to go back to try the sandwiches!

Very, very disappointing. We actually never got our food! We went on a Saturday around 1 p.m. Plenty of tables (several not bussed), noting that we had to wind around a photoshoot to get to the door and noted an incredible cumin aroma as we walked in the door. We placed our orders at the counter for some stuff that sounded really good, and waited, and waited, and waited. A formerly lanky but not so much anymore model type came in and ordered soup without croutons (God forbid), and her food was trotted out to her immediately. 2 other couples arrived, ordered, sat, and waited. Eventually food came out for the other 2 couples, but nada for us. Apologies all around, no offer to comp us for our inconvenience, so we asked for our money back and left. So many great restaurants in Houston, why go back to a place that can’t figure out how to make sure that 2 of the 6 active customers get their food?

I finally broke the spell at Tart today. I always get the PMS (proscuitto, mozzarella, spinach) sandwich. Today, I got a tart (chicken, artichoke, garlic, roasted walnuts & goat cheese) which came with a side salad. Really, really good on this cold afternoon. As always, Jonathan was friendly and helpful. And I enjoyed the lunch with a good book. If you haven’t gone to Tart, please treat yourself to a great lunch!

Tart Café is a quiet, unassuming, tasty lunch spot in the museum/​medical center. The perfect place for a light lunch and dessert and/​or the perfect cup of coffee, tea, or wine. They specialize in tarts, but also serve sandwiches and salads.
I had the Chicken Pesto Tart. Amazing. It is an herb crust filled with shredded chicken mixed with basil pesto and feta. Delicious. I actually don’t really care for chicken, but theirs is finely shredded white meat. This comes with a side salad of mixed greens and walnut vinaigrette. Perfect. Oh, and the chai latte went well with my meal.
My lunch buddy got the BLT. It looked and smelled wonderful. In fact, I could smell them frying the bacon as we waited for our meals. Made me a little hungry; I was glad when our food appeared.
I was full from the awesomeness that was my lunch, but there desert tarts look amazing. The pumpkin tart with pepita seed garnish on top looked festive and tasty. The Margarita (key lime tart) made my mouth water a little. You can also special order full-​sized tarts for about $ 24.
The restaurant itself is very modest. From the street, it looks like a closed snack bar in the basement of an office building. From the sidewalk, and then inside it makes sense. Minimalism at its most artsy best. Polished concrete walls. Low lighting. Big windows. Lots of tables and chairs, yet we were the only people there. I felt part of a multi-​media art piece. Living minimalist art. I say this because I don’t want anyone to make the same mistake I made the first time I drove past and didn’t stop. All I say to that is, «NO, no! They are open. Really!» In fact, they close at 9pm. Well, on Sunday they are closed.
They have a happy hour M-​F 5−7pm. $ 1 off wine and bubbles and $ 2 off the appetizer menu.
One note: don’t worry about looking for a place to park. There is a lot specifically for the galleries above and Tart Café located to the southeast of the building.

Tart is perfect mix of scale and execution. Chef John Ray has struck the perfect combination… a manageable menu of exquisite dishes that are delivered with consistently high quality and great service at a very reasonable price. What else could you ask for? Well… their very tasteful location in Houston’s museum district offers cool surroundings indoors and al fresco dining to boot. Bonus points.
The sandwiches, tarts, salads and deserts are all worth a postcard home… I love the goat cheese tart for starters and the PMS sandwich.

I love Tart! I often use him for catering events. I’m a huge fan of his chicken poblano tart, which is also one of his signature soups. His chocolate raspberry and margarita tarts are always a hit. If you come in during the winter you have to try his pumpkin tarts! I personally do not like sugar cookies, but his Sissie’s give me cravings. You have to try his PMS sandwich!

Tart’s BLT&A (Avocado) sandwich is my fave! They put some sort of secret sauce on their sandwiches that you’ll crave for days after the first taste.

This place was surprisingly charming and laid back. I had a vegetarian sandwich with pesto, mozzarella, and tomato that was really good. The atmosphere was really nice for a lunch in the middle of the week. The highlight was probably the service. The gentleman behind the counter was really laid back and didn’t rush at all to order or get out or anything. He said we could pay before we were served or after (you go up to the counter and order). The desserts looked good but I was really full after by sandwich on delicious ciabatta bread that was accompanied by some pita chips.

I really hope we get another chance to try Tart soon, because tonight’s tart (tomato and mozzarella with basil pesto) was *not* good. The texture was good, but there was something very off about the flavor. The accompanying salad was pretty meh as well — typical vinaigrette and baby greens fare, which is not quite what I would have expected given the price. Please don’t fail me next time, Tart! You sound so cute!

If you are in the area and have time to stop by for lunch (served all day) or some cookies, you MUST. It’s my new law. (which is enforced as well as the non-​smoking ban). The cookies will melt in your mouth! Soft as cake!
The chicken pesto tart was very flavorful and delicious too.

Tart is a great little café,
soups, sandwiches, amazing cookies and their well known savory and sweet tarts. I eat lunch or drink coffee here nearly everyday, and I cannot recommend it more, John Ray is the owner and is always there, ready to recommend or answer the many questions I have about the way he cooks his food. I would highly recommend trying the Sissies, both regular and Cinnamon, but bring a friend to split any of the sweet tarts, as they are wonderfully rich, and as tempting as they may be, it’s too much to eat alone. If you visit during the day, you’ll probably see me there.
ciao!