Buttermilk Baby — Restaurant in Houston

Great location, cool name, and an awesome part of The Heights that I had no idea was even there. The whole new development area is definitely somewhere I’ll be revisiting—but not for Buttermilk Baby.

From the outside, it has a great look and a fun concept. But stepping inside, the charm kinda fades. The place is tiny. There’s no real “flow” to it, and instead of regular counter service, it’s all done through a self-order system. I’m all for tech-forward spots, but this one was clunky. There were only 3 people in front of us and we still waited about 15 minutes just to put our order in. No one seemed to know how the system worked, and the staff just kinda stood around watching like it was a self-checkout lane at Target. No help. Just awkward silence.

The vibe inside wasn’t what I expected either. It’s clearly aiming for that retro-cool diner feel, but it misses the mark. Feels a little empty and tries a bit too hard to be Instagram-worthy—honestly, it’s not. No menu to look at while we waited in line either, so by the time it was our turn, we were still figuring out what we wanted. And to top it off? The screen asked us if we wanted to leave a tip... for what, exactly?

Luckily, we snagged the last table inside. It wasn’t packed, but the seating situation was justn’t great. There was tons of wasted space, and weird barstools no one wanted to sit on.

I got my milkshake pretty fast, but it was shockingly small for the price and just okay in flavor. Then came the long wait—almost 30 minutes for a hamburger, chicken tenders, and fries. For such a simple and small menu, the kitchen speed was pretty brutal. We weren’t the only ones annoyed, either—other guests started looking around, wondering what was going on.

When the food finally came out, it looked super basic. Like something you’d get at the concession stand of a roller rink. It tasted fine, and the portions were fair but didn’t match the $40 price tag. At all.

The bottom line is that it's a cool idea but way too overhyped. It has no real value, nothing memorable, and definitely not worth a second visit. The area around it is worth coming back for. But Buttermilk Baby?...

Went with the fam on a Saturday afternoon around 2pm- we had 6 adults and a baby- and waited about 45 minutes in line, mostly outside in the hot sun. Dress/sunscreen accordingly! No shade available. Baby and dad waited in the car until we got inside. We predicted this though since it just opened and other reviews mentioned the wait. It was about 5-10 more minutes inside before we ordered and another 10 minutes or so til we got our food. Seating is very limited compared to the crowds that are arriving right now. Lots of groups squeezing into small spaces and having to bring in chairs from inside.

Ice machine broke, ketchup ran out and the lobby girl didn’t know where the rest was kept to refill it. Same with the lids. Seemed a bit chaotic and like they were underprepared for the business they had.

We all ordered burgers and fries, some ordered shakes. Sweet potato fries were pretty good! Regular fries were fine, nothing extraordinary but they were good. Same with the burger. No disappointment by any means. I got a chocolate shake and it was really good, tasted like Freddy’s frozen custard. Tried a family member’s Oreo shake and it was also high quality. But yeah you could get something similar for less money and time at Freddy’s. We were a bit disappointed that we couldn’t come back to the counter with the receipt to get an ice cream after eating and that’s the only reason we got shakes instead of cones/scoops. I know it takes more logistics to do something like that but it would be worth it, I think.

Anyways it was a cute place for fun pics and decent food but isn’t anywhere I’d rush back to or go out of my way to visit. Maybe I’ll return once its novelty wears off and it’s not as stressful finding a place to park and then sit while being stared down by people who are waiting to snatch up your table. It’s definitely not as bad as all these one star wannabe food critics are making it out to be. Once the crowds die down and they find their rhythm I’m sure it will generally improve where needed. I’d give it 3.5 for...

Place is cute and looks clean, I had the party melt and a side of coleslaw(which was disappointing) but I also tried my friends cheese burger, and the veggies burger, burgers were all good, I think prices are a little high but it's ok, I don't mind paying for good food. My problem with this visit was that we were told we had to wait because the kitchen was swamped, so we stood there for a good 20mnts after we chose to stay and give this place a try. Anyway, we ordered two espresso milkshakes which states on the menu it has both, vodka and kahlua, we both were almost done with our dinners by the time they brought out our drinks (which i don't understand why took so long when there were clearly way too many employees floating around just standing). When one of the employees (i think she was a manager but I didn't even ask) came to ask how was everything, we told her my drink tasted like any other milkshake, barely tasted like coffee and it didn't taste like it had any alcohol in it which was weird because my friends drink tasted like alcohol even tho it was lacking of the coffee flavor aswell and her response to this was that that was weird and it can't basically happen because they have a dispenser that pours the vodka same measurement every time, and probably it didn't taste much like coffee because they had run out of kahlua. This really pissed me off because this was not disclosed at the moment I purchased the drink. If I would've known then I would've chose to not pay $14 for a milkshake. Anyway, her solution to this was to give us free ice cream, which I found insulting and refused to take.

Long story short, if you're going there, make sure to ask they have all the ingredients for your drink before you...