Betelgeuse Betelgeuse — Restaurant in Houston

If you’re familiar of the character and franchise of the same name then you’ll feel right at home with the vibe of this quirky business of gastro-nomical proportions.

There should be more businesses like this one in Houston for many reasons, the best of all being the food: the pizza is a pizza-lovers creation, and it shows in the best of ways. The crust is toasted to perfection adding a crunchy and delightful end to each slice of pie. If you’re like me, then you usually have a plate full of crusts at the end of your meal resembling bones picked clean by a horde of hyaenas, yes I never lost this tendency from a kid. But at Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse no more do you see lonely crust carelessly left behind, in fact I look forward to the crust here.

There is bar seating, booths, and table & chairs setups. The restaurant can hold about 40 people comfortably. They have a hidden area where the host karaoke events, there is an old school Photo Booth, and even a few retro arcade games including pinball machines. Just like when ya were a kid at your local pizza place asking ye parents for a few quarters to experience that nostalgic tradition of losing a couple of dollars to the programmed villains or wayward steel ball bearings.

The decorations are well suited, cheesy in the most endearing of ways, and very noticeable. The art that adorns the outside of the building is a sight to behold in itself, and a testament to why artists in all spaces should be allowed, and encouraged to transform our world into works of art, without the fear of some tyrant or bootlicker coming to inflict the fullest extent of de law! Some instances excluded of course, but the sentiment remains the same.

There is also outdoor seating right on Montrose in the heart of the museum district.

The staff are very friendly and approachable, you can’t tell if they are the owners or just employees, and the is a real compliment and testimony to the disposition and mindset of this purveyor. More places should be like that because it really showcases one’s love for their craft and gives a business a soul that is devoid in the standard...

ENDLESS BUMMER REVIEW -

There isn’t a Google location for the speakeasy like tiki bar Endless Bummer, but it’s owned by Betelgeuse and so I’m leaving the review here instead.

There is a black door next to the 4600 Montrose sigh (see images) which has a doorbell. You ring the doorbell for access to the hosts.

The Good: We had a reservation for a party of 4 for a table on Saturday night at 10:45 PM. The two hosts were very kind and welcoming, and definitely made a great start to the evening. They accommodated our 15 min late arrival on account of the Uber cancelling. The vibes of the bar are excellent and you can tell they spent quite a while decorating to make the twilight zone like tropical vibe they are going for. The hostess gave us our menus and offered us a small welcome beverage, which was so nice

The Bad: The actual servers / bar staff aren’t very friendly or helpful. They didn’t offer any suggestions or really say anything to us. I had to flag them down after ignoring me to order another cocktail. For an automatic 22% gratuity to all checks, this is not acceptable.

Worst of all, the cocktails range from pretty decent to downright terrible. I have been to tiki bars around the world, and this one probably had the lowest quality drinks I’ve experienced. Something is off, from the ratio of ingredients to the quality of them, you can tell the cocktails aren’t balanced and often have extreme flavors. The Pistachio Mai Tai was way too sour and lacked any other flavor aside from lime. The daiquiri tasted like “baby Motrin blended with liquor” according to my friend, and I have to agree. Way too much xantham gum or something in the mix… the Bitter Bird, Saturn, and Puka Punch were fine, but for $18-19 a cocktail “fine” isn’t ok.

Improve your bar staff training and service, and re-work some of the cocktails, as they all...

Realize they haven’t been open long, but a few probs. First off just one bartender/server for entire restaurant at happy hour. He was super nice, professional, and working his behind off so not blaming him at all. But this resulted in longish waits thru no fault of his own. One gaffe where I asked to be served a wine, he poured me a different wine, and when I pointed it out to him he said they didn’t have the wine I’d asked for. Would have been nice to be told they didn’t have the wine I’d asked for instead of pouring me a different wine I would not have ordered. After I pointed it out he took the wine off the tab. He also poured me a little extra of the 2nd wine I tried, a French skin-contact/maceration orange wine I really loved, while I was waiting for the to-go pizza order, which was nice tho I think he’d forgotten to give to the to-go order to the kitchen.:) Now to the pizza. It’s good. Kinda greasy, which obscures some of the nuances of their thoughtfully sourced ingredients. The cast iron method results in a crispy but blackened-at-the-edges crust. It did not taste burned however. Lots of folks were asking for the Fried Spaghetti and were told they were out, so if you want something in particular you might consider calling ahead of time to make sure they have it. I might come back and try a few other things. It’s on my way home from work. “Kitschy trashy vaguely space monster/sci fi with random plastic baby dolls, sharks, taxidermy etc meets industrial” decor you’ve seen a million times before. Does not do justice at all to one of the few original Montrose art deco shop buildings still standing. But I suppose is loosely somehow connected to the...