City Orchard — Restaurant in Houston

I really want to review this place higher but it didn't really do it for me. Let's start with the pros: great staff! Super friendly, we all got free samples of one of the new ciders...just because! That's a nice touch! Love the decor, this place is really put together and stylish, especially the big wooden "tree" in the middle of the bar.

Where the experience really fell apart for me was, well...the cider! First of all, the menu was really not that helpful at all in terms of what the different ciders taste like, the menu just says "dry" or "semi-dry" and...that's it. I need a little more to go off of than that! The worst offenders were the ciders that were just named like "City Blend #10" or "City Blend #12"...that tells me nothing! What's in it? What does it taste like?? How do all these blends and ciders differ from one another? Not a whole lot of detail went into the menu and that just made the whole experience way more confusing than it needed to be. I got the Cherry Red cider, which did not taste like cherries but was still really good! My date got the rosé cider and he wasn't a big fan, and then we each ordered a cider sangria and that stuff was really, really not good. I seriously do not recommend it.

Anyway, this place definitely has potential and it could get up to 5 stars for me if they made a few changes to the menu, but as it is right now I...

Best thing to happen to Houston since the space program. When I first laid eyes on it, it was one of those rare seminal moments that will undoubtedly stick with me for the rest of my life, kind of like the birth of my first (but not last) child. I’m pretty sure this is how pharaoh must have felt upon the completion of his great pyramid- ‘This is a place I could see myself chilling for eternity”. China has a wall, France has a metal triangle, Italy has a stadium, and now Houston has the Orchard.

I’m a pinky down kind of guy, so as a man, I have a tough time ordering cider, but if we are ordering flavored soda water with alcohol at bars these days, I figured, why not give it a try. Skeptically, I was expecting a sugar bomb akin to Zima (which one can only justify drinking if one loses a bet), however the four ciders I sampled made that mental barrier vanish as quickly as the contents of my glass. So do yourselves a favor and swing on by, drink the various boozes and eat the food, but most importantly, don’t be on the wrong side of history.

PS- if NASA decides to host a party there, count me...

**Sucks how a bad interaction can ruin a customer experience !!!!! * I wanted to like this place! It's walking distance from my house and I love breweries came on Friday night with my friend. Just thinking we could try one of the many options they have of beer and have a good conversation with him when we get there, they had a standup comedian I respect that but I wasn't there for them so we just grab beers and sat in a corner and were having a good time and keeping the conversation low volume. Why is it that some dude (not sure if he worked there or was in charge of the "comedians") Told us with a very condescending attitude and tone that there was a comedian in front and that we should give our attention to him instead, right away put me in a bad attitude because first of all we're not hurting anyone, we're not doing this disruptive didn't even finished our beer and left that spot really ruined our night and thought the drinks were good and it's a spot that I wanted to make my go to after this interaction I have no intention of coming back...