Mastro's Steakhouse — Restaurant in Houston

I finally understand why Mastro’s costs as much as it does. The owners clearly put thought into every single part of the dining experience. From the weight & texture of the menus to the decorations on the plate of the dessert, this place really puts detail into every single part of your meal. On top of the great meal the seating is amazing and accommodating. Everything about this restaurant is worth the money. And I’m not being biased because I was proposed to here, it truly is just really worth it. — — — What we ordered:

•Coca-Cola - small glass bottle, poured for me. • Jeffersons Reserve Prichard Hill [neat] - served in a cute little glass (Glencairn). He enjoyed it so much he closed his eyes with every sip. •Caparzo - he seemed to like it paired with the steak. •Water x2 - offered the choice of ice water or bottled.

•Calamari - SO GOOD. Had what I would equate to a spicy mayo and seaweed salad on top with a spicy-sweet dipping sauce on side. •Breaded Quail - sooo good. The breading was delish. Tastes similar to a Buffalo wing but way better. Had a similar but different spicy-sweet dipping sauce. •Bread service - so beautiful! An assortment of breads. Cheesy bread, white, sourdough, and rye. Beautifully displayed with spreadable butter.

•Brussel sprouts - served to us. Probably my least favorite part of the dish, simply because they weren’t trying to mask the flavor in the way that most restaurants try do. But still well cooked. Good portion. •Lobster mashed potatoes - I’m not a lobster fan, but this was SO. GOOD. it was a huge portion, too! Waiter presented it to us before he mixed it and then served us a portion on our seasoned plate. •Specialty 22 oz dry aged bone-in ribeye- given the option of being served whole, split, or sliced at the recommended temperature of medium. It was sliced in appropriate sized pieces and was SO tender. I mean, I barely needed a knife. I will say that it seems to me that their medium is what most other places would call medium rare, but I enjoyed it. Yes, our plates were seasoned with oil and oregano [i’m assuming].

Dessert • Specialty Butter Cake - highly recommended not only by our waiter but also by me. He honestly sold it by clapping instinctively when we asked about it, but continued to sell us on it by explaining every bit of the dessert including the raspberry drizzle on top of the vanilla ice cream on top of the almost molten like butter cake that i’d describe as a good balance between savory and sweet. It also came with strawberries and oranges, which I will point out the orange slices were peeled so you wouldn’t even have to deal with the skin on the slices. And of course whipped cream which paired very well with the cake, and mint if you wanted to cleanse your pallet. (Complimentary) — — — Even though I was casual with the waiter he maintained professionalism and was super helpful and nice the whole meal. Normally I give a price of the total meal and everything we ordered but because this was an engagement meal and I was being treated, I was unable to look at the check at the end of the night though I did ask.

I’ve talked a lot about food but I just cannot leave off the fact that we sat water side to (essentially) a blue wading pool and a black stone water wall that enticed me to get in. Even the barrier between the tables and the water was clear as to not obstruct your view of the water. The ambience was probably exactly what you would expect Mastro’s to be. Darker tones, art on the walls (and I mean real art not like restaurant art), every chandelier in every room is different. Even the entertainment that night was good; I wouldn’t have picked him to perform in that space, but he was really good at performing. — — — At the end of the day, I would definitely return to this restaurant and I would definitely not be upset with spending the amount of money we probably ended up spending that night considering we had leftovers of almost everything and were super full & satisfied by the end of the night. It was a great experience and I can’t...

Five years ago, I walked out of Mastro’s twice and thought, “Overhyped, overpriced, and not worth my heels.” Fast-forward to this month’s Houston Restaurant Weeks — I decided to roll the dice and give them another shot. And you know what? I’m glad I did, because they completely flipped my opinion.

Let’s start with service — which, by the way, has always been Mastro’s strong suit. My waiter Sergio? A star. The kind of waiter you’d want at every meal. Professional without being stiff, quick without being rushed, and the man literally sprinted after me with my forgotten credit card like some steakhouse superhero. Later, when I called for my receipt, it hit my inbox almost instantly. That’s not just “good service” — that’s service that makes you feel like a VIP.

Now, my friend strolled in from California wearing sweatpants because apparently “Texas fine dining” translates to “casual Friday” in his head. The manager could have sent us packing, but instead they seated us in a private room so nobody’s Wagyu-and-wine moment was ruined. Classy move, Mastro’s.

On to the food. The bone-in ribeye? Gorgeous. Big, bold, perfectly pink in the middle, still sizzling when it hit the table. The kind of steak you take one look at and know you’re about to ruin your diet. Cooked exactly as I requested — medium rare, leaning rare — with flavor that needed nothing but my fork and a glass of red.

The tuna appetizer? Fresh as in “this fish probably had plans an hour ago.” Bright color, perfect texture, and a clean, perky bite that makes you forget you’re in a landlocked city.

And then… the warm butter cake. Listen, I hate butter cake. I hate the dense, crusty outside. But this one? Soft, buttery heaven with a whisper of apple, topped with vanilla ice cream and a cloud of homemade whipped cream big enough to ski down. I didn’t just eat it. I demolished it. If it’s wrong to fall in love with dessert, I don’t want to be right.

Not everything was perfect — the pork chop was a flop. Supposedly marinated for 14 days in garlic and seasoning, but it came out dry and flavorless. I had to drown it in salt and hot sauce, which I never do to good meat. To their credit, the manager handled it like a pro and made it right.

One warning: this is not a quiet, candlelit date spot. It’s loud, buzzing, and full of energy. Great for a celebration, terrible if you’re whispering sweet nothings.

Valet only — $8 for the garage, $20 to park right up front.

Final verdict: Mastro’s won me back. That ribeye and butter cake combo? Worth every calorie. The service? Still elite. I came back out of curiosity. I’ll return out of loyalty.

P.S the basket 🧺 of bread 🥯is so well worth the $5 bucks😘

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Came here for my birthday and it was by far one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had from the very beginning the server was slow took about 15min to receive menus from then on the evening only got worse our appetizers showed up at different times (hot first and then cold) and then at the time of the entrees as dinner came out our wine bottle never showed up we were already half way through the meal before the server even put down wine glasses on the table. 3/4 through still no wine, so I simply denied the bottle of silver oak cab. the manager then came up and apologized and poured us a glass of their cheapest cab by the glass the duck horn I’m sorry but if your gonna be late on wine service and your going to give out a glass of wine don’t try and replace it with your cheapest glass and think it’s okay. I wanted to refuse it too but he poured and walked a way with out even asking if it tasted good or anything. I ordered the Japanese a5 waygu N.Y. strip which as you can tell by the picture it was not butchered properly which caused some chewiness something which should never happen with a true a5 waygu cut. We also got the lobster mashed potatoes and as I was chewing through I came across a large piece of lobster shell I couldn’t believe how bad it was all just going. Afterwards the manager approached us to see what the issue was and I explained, to which he replied you have to excuse us we are just humans and we make mistakes sometimes we miss a shell or two in our mash potatoes it happens when you use fresh lobster. When you decide to charge someone $38 for a side of mash potatoes you should not be making mistakes or trying to admit that it is okay to make a mistake. He was although nice and decided to give us a dessert which almost made forget about the night except I ordered a cappuccino to go with dessert and the server still FORGOT IT! How do you keep making mistakes it was unbelievable. There was nothing special about their cocktails and really the desserts just fell flat. I can get ten times better service anywhere else. It is a beautiful location but at its price point and their terrible service there are 10 other steakhouses way...