Guard and Grace — Restaurant in Houston

I celebrated my birthday celebration at this restaurant on Saturday, February 10, which turned into a regrettable experience. Initially, our party of five was seated at a small table meant for 2-3 people, creating a cramped and uncomfortable dining environment. The ribeye steak I ordered was disappointingly dry and lacked flavor, an opinion shared by everyone at my table. However, to give a fair review my friends enjoyed the sushi. The overall food quality was average, I had watched many video reviews prior to coming to the restaurant and honestly they must have been sponsored or for views because it was nothing spectacular. I regret not going back to Toro Toro were the drinks and food was amazing. However, the most distressing incident occurred towards the end of the evening. When a couple of us went to the restroom (3), meanwhile my boyfriend and 2 other friends stayed behind paying the bill(an extra person showed up towards the end of the dinner total of 6 of us). I came back from the restroom because the girls were taking too long in the restroom. I saw my bf and my other friends signing the check, but I didn’t realize the other 2 girls still needed to pay their bills, although they were still inside the restaurant. I told my friends if we could wait outside until they come back from the restroom because it was very cold inside. We were literally right outside the exit door about to take a selfie with my friend. When the guard from the restaurant approach us like running toward us like we have done something wrong. The server instead of talking to us he called security on us about not paying the check and we told them the girls were still inside the restaurant and that’s when he realized he messed up. Which I acknowledge it’s my fault I didn’t realize the full check wasn’t paid off. But he could of nicely approached us instead of discriminating us like we are delinquents. We were just outside standing. He could of clarified with us or the girls who were still inside the restaurant and it was her bills to pay. I offered to pay while they came back from the restroom since they cause all that scene for nothing. It was just the left overs to pay not even a full check. In retrospect, I acknowledge that leaving the table was my mistake, but the server could have handled the situation more tactfully, especially considering we had people from our group still inside the restaurant. The incident was embarrassing, and the server, when presenting the remainder of the bill, failed to offer any apology, he just looked embarrassed. I cannot in good conscience recommend this place based on my overall experience. This was my first time here and clearly last. Horrible experience from start to finish. For the overpriced food, this place is definitely not worth it. Definitely ruined my...

So this review was harder for me because I really did like this place there were just a few things that missed the mark for me. To start out on a good note very glad they have valet and when we first walked into the lobby my kids were in awe about how unique and beautiful this resturant was. The ladies at the front were very nice and attentive as well. One not so good thing was the floors were very slick for anyone in dress shoes or heels it seemed to be the material of the flooring used and my daughter and I almost slipped. The tables look like they are made of material that can't withstand heat because it seemed like there were plate marks on the table that were lighter circles kind of making it feel cheap, but the seats were very pretty and comfortable with the booths. Our waiter frenando was great he was friendly and very attentive making good suggestions! The resturant was not to crowded or noisy and we sat by the kitchen with no issues. It did not take long for our appetizer and food to come out and it was all a great temperature and portions sizes were larger then other restaurants which was a huge plus. The appetizer we got was the waygu queso which was so very good and the kids loved it. The steaks were phenomenal and the mac and cheese was good, the whipped potatoes were not my favorite and the gnocchi were just ok maybe to much truffle butter and almost doughy and to soft. The Ceasar salad was wonderful as well as the bottle of Moscato we ordered. We did get the Carmel apple cheese cake for dessert, but I was disappointed because I had seen on the website they had a goat cheese cheesecake, but when I asked about it because it was not on the menu we were looking at they said they had the cheesecake but none of the sides like the honey or figs that were supposed to accompany it. I took my daughter to the restrooms and they were nice and clean but the toilets are very low like kid-size height lol. We had to go through the kitchen to get to the restrooms unless we wanted to take the longer way to the front and then walk around, the waiter then yelled guests on the line when we were walking through and then all the cooking staff yelled it back and kind of stood at attention looking at us walk through, not sure if I really liked that lol makes u feel like your a special guest at first then it's kind of embarrassing having the kitchen staff stare at you knowing you are going to use the restroom (like putting your business out there for strangers and it makes you not want to use the restroom.) 😆. All and all it was a nice experience im glad we went, not sure if we will go again, but the food was well priced and the check was lower then I expected it to be with 4...

WORTH THE READ: FRADULENT/THEFT ACTIVITY

Honestly, super disappointed in this establishment. This was my second time coming here (I had been back since I had such a positive experience the first time). First things first, we had terrible service. The waitress came back every 20-30 minutes to ask if if we wanted another drink or water after noticing almost everyone's glasses were empty. They misheard us order our appetizers and we kindly asked that they took one back after first debating on what was ordered. When I got the bill, I paid it. Days later, I look at the charge on my card and there was an additional $80 charged onto it. I simply called to speak to a manager about this issue and they took my info down and said I would be getting a call later on. I never got the call. I tried calling the establishment 5 times and was hung up on or the call did not connect. I work 7 minutes from the place so I decided to go up there myself.

When I got there one manager introduced himself and I explained the situation and then he passed me onto the host who I then had to explain the situation to again. The first manager acted as if he didn't want to help me, which was again, disappointing. After my second explanation to the host, she gave me some weird/confusing excuse saying that sometimes they charge a certain amount and then charge the rest. I've worked in the food service industry and that only happens when you're holding a card, that never happened during the course of our dinner. She also pulled out a binder with, I'm assuming the other people's information who have had similar issues because a lot of them seemed to have been overcharged as well from what I could see (BIG WOW). Then the other manager, Keith, came to assist and I explained the situation for a third time to him and let him know what the host told me about the charge and he said that was not true anymore and he didn't know why I was charged an additional $80. Long story short, I never got my answer. I was offered a partial refund, and to me, having gone through what I did that wasn't enough for me honestly. Charging an additional tip is fraudulent and considered theft. I'm extremely dissatisfied with my service as well as the lack of assistance in this matter. The customer service from the front of staff and management was disheartening and left me frustrated.

Of course, this is just my experience. I had to share it in case this becomes an ongoing issue at this establishment.

9/25/24 - Still no response. 9/26/24 - Manager called and said I should be receiving a refund, let’s see if it comes through. 9/28/24 I was refunded the...