Flora — Restaurant in Houston

On the occasion of my graduation dinner, coincidentally falling on the eve of Mother's Day, we opted for Flora as our venue of choice for the evening meal. I was already foreboding potential inconveniences given my husband's choice of attire; jeans. Our previous experiences indicated a pattern of being relegated to outdoor seating whenever our dress was more casual than formal. Nonetheless, the allure of Flora's exquisite cuisine was enough to persuade us to acquiesce to this minor inconvenience. However, the ordeal we faced this time was markedly more egregious due to the behavior of the host.

We had made a reservation for five o'clock, yet we were only seated half an hour later, ostensibly due to the presence of a young child in our party. This appeared to be viewed as an inconvenient disruption by the staff. Ironically, they were not discreet in their discussions about this issue, even while we were within earshot. If the establishment prefers an adult-only clientele, it would be more appropriate to explicitly state this in their policies, rather than resorting to such passive-aggressive tactics.

The young host, whom I can only describe as a misguided aspirant to preppy sophistication, was the primary source of our discomfort. His lack of social grace and obvious arrogance were baffling, especially in a hospitality context. His attire, seemingly borrowed from a sailor or an Eton alumnus, bore no relevance to his proficiency, or rather, his lack thereof. After enduring twenty minutes of standing near the entrance with a rightfully impatient and hungry infant, it was only the intervention of a woman, possibly his manager or mother, that finally moved things along. In response to her questioning our lingering presence by the door despite the availability of multiple tables, he pointed to our baby and lamely attempted to use him as an excuse.

Despite his claims of inconvenience, it should be noted that a child is as much a customer as any adult, and in our case, contributes a substantial amount to the restaurant's revenue. His unwarranted disdain left me wondering if the presence of another 'baby' in his vicinity was perceived as a threat to his job security.

The air of superiority he projected was misplaced and laughable. This is not the Polo Bar, nor is it The French Laundry. The host's role is not that of an elitist arbiter of aesthetics, especially in a moderately-rated establishment furnished with unassuming teal stock chairs. His inflated self-importance was frankly unbecoming.

Regrettably, it appears that young individuals such as our host are so engrossed in the façade of old-money refinement that they neglect the essential tenets of decorum and hospitality. Adopting the trappings of the elite is meaningless if one's manners are devoid of the requisite courtesy and respect.

0 stars for the host 4 stars for the food 4 starts for...

Let me begin by saying I had my graduation dinner here a few weeks ago and the food and service was exceptional. However, unfortunately, I cannot say the same for our second experience here. We went just to have one drink. We were sat at a table near the bar area. I had noticed that we had caught the attention of a man who was standing near the bar (the reason why was not apparent to me at the time but he was clearly watching us.) when we got up to leave, that same man who I now to be the manager - name: Davis - followed us out and stopped us right outside the door. Davis then accused us of not paying for our one drink and asked us to wait right outside the glass doors while he went back inside to “verify” that we had provided proper payment. Appalled and extremely embarrassed, as this whole encounter was very visible to other customers, we agreed to wait for verification of our payment. Davis then returned and told us “the bartender said you paid, you’re free to go” - no remorse, no apology, nothing. I decided to go back inside to confront Davis as to what his reasoning was for this accusation. When I walked back inside, I found Davis at the hostess table - where I introduced myself and confronted him with my question. Davis ignored my inquiry and told me I would have to wait to speak to him until he seated the people who were waiting BEHIND us. I waited again. When Davis returned, I asked him why he believed we had not paid….was it because we were dressed in a more casual manner than other patrons? Did we say or do something? Was it because of our appearance? Davis then said that he noticed us because we had “left abruptly.” I expressed my dissatisfaction and discontent, which was now very apparent to everyone in the vicinity - and Davis did not say a word. As we left, we were followed out by a server who had observed the encounter. He stopped us and apologized profusely for the behavior of Davis. We later received a phone call from another employee who witnessed the encounter and further expressed their apologies. I include this to say that my dissatisfaction is not with all employees of Flora. It is with Davis and whoever is in charge of employing such an unprofessional, disagreeable, morally mute person…and as a manager at that. All of this to say - if you are going to Flora, spare yourself the embarrassment and DONT...

My boyfriend and I went to Flora recently for a date night. We enjoyed the food albeit it was overpriced for what it was - I guess you’re paying for the view. Besides the lights that were flickering for our entire dinner and uncomfortably far set dinner table, my biggest qualm is that the waitress brought us a $300 bottle of wine when I was trying to order a $30 bottle. I told her that my boyfriend and I were inexperienced wine drinkers and we “did not want anything too fancy”. She never doubled checked that I was intending to order a $300 bottle of wine. Our entire dinner was $80, so I’m really not sure why she thought we (25y) were looking for a wine that was 3x the price of our ENTIRE dinner. We were in a rush to leave and my bf gave her his card without looking at the check. When we noticed the charge on his card the next day, we immediately contacted the restaurant to figure out what happened. The manager was extremely rude and off-putting telling my bf “I don’t know what to tell you. You’re GIRL ordered that bottle of wine”. I also tried to call to explain the situation to the manager, as I am unemployed in medical school (hence I can’t afford a $300 bottle of anything), and he dismissed me as well. He said the best he could do was credit a food item from our bill (which he never did). Whether it was blissful ignorance or a straight up scam, I’m not really sure. Maybe I’m just young and stupid, but I really thought there would have been some sort of system to double check that I really wanted a THREE HUNDRED DOLLAR bottle of wine (which is 1/3 of my rent for reference). My bf and I were just trying to have a nice date night and this has quite literally ruined our...