Aperitivo — Restaurant in Houston

This place sucks. I’ve visited Aperitivo twice now. I thought the first time might have been a fluke but it wasn’t. The second time was worse.

Visit 1. We had a reservation and were promptly seated at 4pm on Sunday. Several of us had hats and t-shirts. No problem (wait for visit 2). The upstairs is decorated nice. The view is not at all as advertised. You can only see the skyline if you lean over the edge. Otherwise, you see homeless encampments along the bayou and a sea of white townhomes. There are places in the same neighborhood with much better views. When our waitress came over, she informed us it was last call! Why were we be allowed to make a reservation at last call?! We ordered a round of drinks and around 30 minutes later we got our 4 drinks and a sparkling water. The bar was dead. We were practically the only people there so 30 minutes for a drink is ridiculous. The drinks were subpar for $18. The price point isn’t an issue, I don’t mind paying that price for a cocktail if it’s good. These drinks were just fine. Since it was apparently last call, we went ahead and made a reservation on the spot for another visit where we would have time to “enjoy” this new east side spot close to our house.

Visit 2. We showed up for the reservation we made on our last visit and the rude front desk staff claimed the reservation didn’t exist. Ugh. Great start. Took a while but we eventually convinced the front desk that our reservation existed even though they didn’t have it. The front desk staff also told us we didn’t meet the look even though we were wearing a similar fit to our first visit. I had to turn my shirt inside out to be allowed inside. Just my opinion but an inside out shirt looks trashier than what my shirt originally had printed on it. Enough edits were made to our fits that we were allowed up. When we got up, I was surprised to see other people with hats. Kind of like it was selective as to which people were allowed to wear hats. Hint, be white and wanderlust. Also hilarious that I had to adjust my fit to get in but the upstairs was loaded with ill-fitting, falling apart, wrinkled Zara. : / Anyway, we tried to shake off the unwelcoming welcome and ordered drinks. Drinks took 45 minutes to arrive! And 1 in our group never got their drink after an hour of waiting. By this point we were over it. So we closed out early and went to the neighbor dive bar for better cocktails and better service.

End thoughts. This place isn’t the vibe. Unwelcoming, rude staff, bad service, and inconsistent rules are not for me. It desperately wants to be bougie but doesn’t meet the standard....

Racial profiling! We recently visited Aperitivo in Houston, and unfortunately, our experience was disappointing. We completely understand and respect dress codes, but the way it was handled left us feeling uncomfortable, disrespected, and racially profiled. We checked Instagram and the OpenTable reservation email before our visit, and neither mentioned any dress code. Upon arrival, we saw a sign indicating a dress code, but since we requested and booked to seat outside, we presumed there might be more flexibility due to the heat. We also noticed two gentlemen inside (white aka French as manager stated) and one seated outside, wearing caps without any issue, which made us think exceptions were being made.

Before we ordered food and drinks, we spoke to the manager, Rico, and asked him for a photo. He didn’t mention that my husband needed to remove his cap. The owner, Sebastian, who also acted as the manager, didn’t say anything either when he brought us drinks. However, when the hostess later came to our table, she insisted my husband remove his cap. Rico and Sebastian were both staring at us at this point, which made the situation feel even more uncomfortable.

We pointed out that others were wearing caps, and the hostess seemed understanding, but when we addressed Rico, he explained that the man wearing a cap inside was French and someone he knew, which felt like an unfair explanation, especially since the individual was also White. He also stated that he was only staring at us because he assumed we wanted a tour of the location while we were eating.

To make matters worse, when we spoke to Sebastian (aka the owner), he didn’t offer an apology or explanation. Instead, he asked our daughter what she did for a living lol, as if she weren’t qualified to question the policy.

If there’s a strict dress code, it should be enforced consistently from the start. The inconsistency in handling the situation, combined with how we were approached, left us feeling racially profiled and disrespected. Our plans were to enjoy the afternoon, after this we felt completely uncomfortable we asked for our check and left. We will not be returning.

Additionally, I noticed a recent photo on your Instagram page that appears to show multiple guests wearing a hat. This does not seem to set a consistent example of a strictly enforced dress code and adds to the confusion we...

I had a reservation yesterday, Sunday, for 19 people for my birthday. The hosts were rude at best. Just sent us upstairs with no direction, no one knew where we were supposed to be seated. So about 10 of just stood in the way by the bar until the seated us. I reserved two large couch sections and specifically asked for the umbrellas to be up for shade. They weren’t ready. Once we finally sat, we had one server who was very nice but completely overwhelmed. The drinks took FOREVER to come out. I had to ask several times for menus and napkins before we finally got 3 menus for 19 people and a small stack of cocktail napkins. When my daughter arrived with balloons, they wouldn’t let her up. At no time did anyone tell me that balloons weren’t allowed. I spoke to them several times on Friday and specifically said it was for my birthday. It wasn’t until the manger got involved that the service improved. I can’t remember his name but he was great. Lastly I was told specifically that they close at 3:00 to reset for dinner. Then while there they were decorating around us for an Aperol event. That would have been nice to know. It sounded fun and we might have stayed if the rest of the experience hadn’t been disastrous. I am in the hospitality business and I strongly recommend they start with the host station and work on improving from there. Your hosts are your guests first and last impression and this was a disaster in that respect. Not welcoming in the least bit. All of that to say, the view is amazing, the drinks and food were just ok. For the amount of money we spent, we could have gone somewhere with much better service. I will...