Masraff's — Restaurant in Hedwig Village

WEDDING CATERING: Masraff's is one of the five approved caterers we could choose for our wedding reception at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS). I thought from planning my sister's wedding we'd be all in on Cafe Natalie, but when we compared our tasting experiences at both... Masraff's was WORLDS ahead of where we thought we could land in our price range. There was simply no comparison. Brooke, the Masraff's Catering Director, was so accommodating, and we were blown away by the service and treatment we received at our tasting. The owner even came over to meet us and our parents! Joe, the HMNS Events Manager, told us not to write off Masraff's, which I was tempted to do since their online presence doesn't show much on their catering front - they're not listed on the Knot. But his friendly advice was right, along with his helpful recommendation to try the chicken roulade that wasn't included on their set catering menu, but available upon request.

At the tasting we tried... Hors d'oeuvres - Tuna tartar tacos, figs in a blanket, bacon-wrapped blue cheese dates, mini brie en croute, grilled cheese bites, mushroom risotto balls, short rib egg rolls // Salad - Chopped Boston, West coast spinach, Masraff's wedge // Entree - Crispy chicken roulade, Meyer lemon chicken chop, roasted shrimp served with garlic pesto, Barolo braised short rib // Sides - Potato puree, truffle mushroom orzo pasta, Brussels sprouts

Brooke was very friendly and sat with us throughout the tasting collecting our feedback on the food and encouraging us that we could always ask the chef to make changes as we desired! We ended up tweaking the west coast spinach salad to add a mix of lettuce instead of all spinach, which can be hard to eat without making a mess of dressing on your face. Everything was delicious and it was hard for us all to come to consensus on what was our favorite.

We ended up serving... Passed hors d'oeuvres - tuna tartar tacos, bacon-wrapped blue cheese dates, risotto balls, braised short rib egg rolls // pre-set salad - west coast spinach, Bibb, and arugula salad // seated dual plate dinner with chicken roulade and braised beef short ribs with truffle parmesan orzo pasta and crispy Brussels sprouts. And their focaccia bread is to die for!!

Masraff's also cut and served our cake and provided a coffee bar and ice cream bar (since my husband prefers ice cream to cake!). They were also very accommodating to provide nut free, gluten free, and even dairy/gluten free options to our specific guests with those needs.

They also handled our bar service. I can't recall which bar tier we went with - maybe Tier Two (it was the one with Monopolowa Vodka). We subbed one of our beer options for Topo Chico Hard Seltzer and served French 75 as our specialty cocktail, which was included because their package included all its ingredients already. We also had them set out/serve bottled waters for a half hour after bar service ended.

We had our reception in the Paleo Hall at the HMNS with about 150 guests on June 11. We chose to have the dance floor in the middle with tables surrounding. Brooke suggested high-top tables for the back walkway, which we placed our younger guests at, and it worked perfectly! Service the night of was prompt and friendly! And inevitably, someone broke a glass on the dance floor yet I hardly noticed because Brooke herself was cleaning it up as soon as it hit the floor. They swapped to plastic after that too - I suppose that was the sign we were have too much fun!

Nearly all of our guests commented on how it was the best wedding they've ever been to, and I contribute that all to Brooke and the Masraff's catering team and Joe from the Museum. I could just go on and on about how Masraff's was the absolute right choice. My husband and I could not have been happier with how the night unfolded. If I could give them more than five stars I would! We've already been back to the Masraff's restaurant for several special occasion dinners and plan to return for our one year...

OK so before you read all this, let me warn you I'm going to take my time to review this restaurant. This will be a lengthy review !

We (my husband and I with our 5 yrs old son) went there last night (10/23/2014) to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. First off.. the entrance seemed a bit "hidden". As we walked in we were lead in to a dark hallway but was greeted with a friendly smile and with a lot of courtesy. To be seated, they lead us into a room with impressive floor to ceiling built-in shelving, stacked to the brim with bottles upon bottles of alcohol.

We being Muslims, were not very comfortable surrounded by so much alcohol so I requested if we could be "seated somewhere where we are not surrounded by so much alcohol" (those were my exact words). The greeter was graciously accommodating to us and took us into the main hall and asked us to make sure that the seating was to our satisfaction. It of course was.

Then we were greeted by David (he only gave us is first name). He gave us the menu and we started looking through it as he told us about their specials for the day.

As I listened I realized that almost everything, including seafood dishes had either alcohol or broth in it. I informed David that we have very strict dietary requirements and follow strict Kosher (Muslim) rules in what we can and cannot consume.

He listened with infinite patience and told me he will speak to the chef and see if the 2 seafood entrees we liked on the menu could be made in accordance with our requirements. He came back within minutes and told us they can !

5 starts right there !

Next came the dilemma of what can we feed my 5 yr old ? David suggested maybe fish fingers with some sauteed baby vegetables. I asked him if that was possible as I didn't see it on the menu. He told me he had asked the chef if that was possible and the Chef had said yes :)

So we ordered arugula salads for the both of us (My husband and I) for appetizers and Halibut and Ahi Tuna for the main course.... and waited... it took a while but then David came along (and first apologized for the delay) and told me that the Chef and he had decided they were going to send out my son's meal with our appetizers so that we can have our main course in peace. That was what was causing the delay. I didn't mind in least as he kept bringing us fresh and ware bread, butter and marinated olives.

My son absolutely LOVED his meal and practically inhaled it !!

Our food, when it came, was absolutely DIVINE ! the chef had substituted any and all side items on the dish that did not conform to our dietary requirements.

We took our time eating and savoring our meals.. David kept coming back every few minutes to ask if everything was to our satisfaction. He also asked me if this was a special occasion for us and I told him that it was our 15th wedding anniversary.

After the meal, David brought out the dessert menu and made sure (again) that the chocolate in dessert did not have any alcohol or animal fat (Lard etc.).

We ordered the Chocolate Fondant (Lava cake). He came out with it with a lit candle on the plate and writing on it. "Happy Anniversary" with chocolate icing !

It wasn't until I had a look at the charges breakdown when I realized that they hadn't even charged us for it !!!!!!!

After all the demands we had made ... they didn't charge us for the dessert !

Final verdict: The made us feel so welcome, like we were the only ones there. David was SUPER nice and looked after us extremely well. The food was DIVINE and my sincerest and HIGHEST compliments to the chef and a SPECIAL thanks for accommodating our many demands and still make heavenly dishes ! He is a TRUE artist ! and I can say that as I have a VERY fussy pallet and I LOVED the food.

I'd give this restaurant 10 stars if I could and will and already have recommend it to all my family and friends.

THANK YOU Masraff and especially David (our server)...

I want to start off by saying that I typically love Masraff’s - it was my restaurant of choice when I celebrate my birthdays & big events (like my last promotion) for several years now. The food is phenomenal (I love their filet cooked medium rare - it just melts in your mouth). But a big part of it is the ambiance & experience. Mr. Masraff visits each table & until tonight, the service has always been top notch.

Tonight though…Tonight was bad enough that I don’t think I’ll be able to convince my family to come back to celebrate with me at this establishment anymore.

The server was not all there & that took away from the experience, but what really rubbed the wrong way was the way the manager (Mr Masraff’s son, from what I understand) acted. I ordered my filet medium rare but it came out more than medium - there was barely any pink left in the center & well done on the sides. Our server was less than attentive throughout the night, so another server came and took the plate back to the kitchen. The manager came by and said “I’m sorry that happened, thanks for bringing it to our attention.” & promptly walked away. When he brought the plate out again, he asked me to cut into it; this time, it was nearly rare. He took it back to put in the oven a few more minutes & when he brought it back out, just dropped it on the table and walked away. Not only did he not have any pleasantries to offer, but he had nothing to offer; he was visibly annoyed & rude, walking away without a word. Had he taken a moment to ask how the night was going, I’d have told him how much I love their restaurant but the service tonight was less than desirable. I didn’t bother chasing him down to tell him because he ended up being a big part of the unpleasant experience. At this point, my family was done with their meals & I just hurried to finish mine as well.

Now the server. He was nice, but didn’t seem to know what he was doing. I asked about stone crabs, he kept telling me they were out of king crabs, even after I pointed to the menu to clarify. It wasn’t until I asked what they replaced the stone crab on their seafood tower with before he realized. We asked about the pricing & the size; he said he’d bring one to the table to show us & never did, so we just ordered something else. At the end of the meal, he asked if we wanted our leftovers boxed up to go; we responded yes, we would like that. He never brought our food back. I was fed up with having to ask for things at this point, so I just let them have it.

The server left the wine glasses on the table although we didn’t order wine, took our appetizer plates but left the bread plates, left the empty bread basket on the table when he did take the bread plates, left the burnt out candle that was taking up even more space along with all the other items on the table that should have been taken. He didn’t include the order of horseradish butter I requested on my filet, but delivered a side that we didn’t want. When the food came out inaccurately, he was nowhere to be found so another server stepped in to help.

My father owned a restaurant for 20+ years; we know how things can get overlooked when the restaurant is busy. However, it was past 9 pm, so it wasn’t considered busy at all, especially compared to many of the other evenings I’ve been there, all of which had been a much better experience.

(Shout out to the other server that helped us a couple times when our server wasn’t available. He was super pleasant and attentive; he noticed that I was scanning the restaurant for our server & came to ask how he...