Leo's River Oaks — Restaurant in Houston

I was excited to try out this new steak restaurant in the River Oaks Shopping center, but was ultimately pretty disappointed. We had a reservation for 4 people for Friday night at 7:15. At 7:16 I received a text saying that our table was ready and to reply 1 if we were on our way. We arrived at the restaurant at 7:18 and upon checking in were told that we needed to wait in the bar for our table to be ready. Normally I don’t mind having to wait for the table, but it was a touch more annoying given I had just received a text saying our table was ready. It was another 10 minutes before we were shown to our table.

We were seated in the upstairs dining room which was lovely and a little quieter than being downstairs next to the piano. Upon being seated, we received menus and placed our water order which didn’t arrive until after we placed our cocktail/appetizer order. Our cocktails then didn’t arrive until after our appetizers. From the time we sat to the time we finally received a cocktail it was over 20 minutes.

With regard to the food, we really enjoyed the burrata and the risotto appetizers. The butternut squash risotto was probably the best dish of the night. The bread was fine, but not worth ordering in my opinion. For mains we ordered Truffle Agnolotti, Roasted Chicken, Whole Fish, Cauliflower & Potato Dauphinoise. Our waiter also tried to talk us into the lobster Mac & cheese but I don’t eat shellfish so he suggested we also order the Gnocchi. He said it was a special gnocchi with no potato (which should have been a red flag). To be completely honest, the only dish I enjoyed was the Truffle Agnolotti. The gnocchi was entirely too soft, the cauliflower was roasted well but the flavors were unappealing. The chicken was also cooked well but I didn’t like the sauce. For dessert we had the orange ginger soufflé. The flavor was great but there was a layer of oil towards the bottom of the ramekin and the interior texture was… not correct.

This is a new restaurant so maybe they just haven’t found their sea legs yet, but for a very expensive meal neither the food nor the service was where I would...

I am not one to usually post a review, but I am compelled to do so after my dining experience at Leo's last night. I had cancelled a reservation at another established restaurant in order to try this one. I wish I had not.

While the food was good, everything else unfortunately was not what one would expect from a fine dining venue. While the restaurant was slightly dimly lit and lacking any bustling atmosphere, it was both the service and lack of customer service on behalf of management that I had the most issue with. It is not normal to ask for a simple bottle of still water three times before having it delivered to our table. It is not normal to order a bottle of Sancerre and after asking about its whereabouts more than 30 minutes later, we kept being told that the staff was trying to "locate the bottle". As for the Entree, we ordered a simple medium cooked Porterhouse dish and had to wait well over 35 minutes to get it, only after the waitress flagged a manager to have him look into it. The worst part was the manager finally brought the main dish over without even the slightest apology for the delay. Not to mention that half the dish was undercooked, and we had to send it back. At the time of dessert, as the waitress distributed the menu, she offered the table a dessert on the house - what she did not specify was that it had to be a dessert of their choosing that was actually not even on the menu (a pecan pie). I opted out of the complimentary dessert and chose 3 elaborate and appealing desserts on the menu. After waiting over 25 minutes for the desserts to finally show up, we were missing one. Waitress whispered to me that it was "unavailable" (not even sure what that meant). By that point, I just wanted to pay the bill and leave.

For me, the most disappointing factor was that management was not on top of it. You would never get this type of nonchalance from management at other high-end establishments in Houston. I was told by previous diners that it was not "that great" but wanted to try it out for myself. I will neither return...

Tried this restaurant tonight. Walked in and were greeted right away. Restaurant wasn’t empty on Monday night at 6:15. That was good. The restaurant is pretty, art deco style but the lights were a little too bright for the ambiance. Food: starters. ordered kale and Caesar. Kale was overly dressed and super tart. I had to ask for another salad with 25% less dressing and they sent it back with dressing on the side. Sigh. Ceasar was good! No issues. We ordered the bread and it was ok. Sour dough that had good flavor but was very tough which I guess is normal. The other bread was kinda like croissant bread so kinda weird I thought. Ok bread. Wouldn’t order again. Main course: filet mignon was a 4 out of 5. I think it just sat a little too long and would have been better served warmer. Not steakhouse good but good. King salmon was excellent! Cooked to perfection with a nice crispy crust. The sauce was a tad too salty but could overlook it if I didn’t put too much on my bite. Almonds were a nice touch to the sauce. I’d order it again. Dessert: Mille feuille was ok. The layers were big and the sauce in my opinion needs work. Maybe too much liquor flavor? Not sure but I wouldn’t order it again. Overall we give it a solid 4. Room for improvement and the r service.. SLOW!! I think it’s still new and needs to work out some menu items, service and kitchen issues but I think they will pull it together with some more time. My husband laughed cuz I went against my rule of waiting 8-12 months before trying a new restaurant. I was eager to try this one but I’ll be waiting to return next...