Mimo — Restaurant in Houston

Worth seeking, the focus is on the FOOD not the frou-frou. MIMO is located near the intersection of South Lockwood and Telephone Road and I couldn't see it from the street, so ended up driving around the block with the navigation voice chastising me until I realized "Aha, it's inside of this mini shopping mall". So, if coming down S. Lockwood, prepare to turn right just BEFORE you reach Telephone Rd. Realize that you won't be able to see the restaurant until you actually turn in. Parking was plentiful and convenient. Ambience tends to the minimalistic but, hey, I'm OK with that. The dining room tables are nicely spaced and the chairs have some serious heft to them and feel like they weigh about 100 pounds each, so my first thought was "ain't nobody going to be swinging these around in a bar fight", go figure. I went there on Friday night with a business associate and we were immediately made to feel welcome. Dinner menu appears to be well thought out and varied with about 5 or 6 choices each in Appetizer, Primi and Secundi. Chef must like lamb, as there was Pappardelle with Lamb as well as Lamb chops on the menu, which we ordered for sharing. Our starter was the sweet potato drizzled with olive oil, crunchy nuts, cheese and bitter greens. Portions were more than enough to share and each dish was flavorful and well prepared and arrived quickly. The wine list was short and reasonably priced. I didn't ask about BYOB and corkorage fees but that might be a way for this fledgling restaurant to gauge what it's diners prefer to drink in order to expand the wine list in the future. We loved the food and felt it was a great value. Since I was sharing plates with a business partner and had informed our server that we were doing so when ordering, I would have preferred more utensils and plates for sharing, please. I would have liked a big spoon with the Papardelle (even if not sharing) and that the two rib portion of lamb chop be sliced into two in the kitchen (might also be a nicer presentation) and that the Panecotta (which was great) be served with two extra dishes or bowls for sharing rather than the one serving bowl and a couple of spoons.

Overall, a noteworthy place that I plan to go back to. Will be interested to see what MIMO does for a seasonal ingredient menu or their daily specials as time goes on. Will be interested to see if beef appears on the menu (short ribs or hanger steak, please) or fish (not branzini, maybe cod or even farmed catfish - might be something interesting to work with).

Thanks again for...

First off the atmosphere of this “Italian” restaurant is no where to be found when you walk in. From the moment you park, you can tell that this once was a different style of restaurant. Our first guess was Mexican. However, after reading up on the restaurant, we found it used to be a Thai restaurant. The new owners just pulled up the old carpeting, painted the walls and ceiling in a very uninviting color palette. The chairs are very uncomfortable, so even though the menu says to sit back & relax, not in those chairs are you going to relax. The walls have pictures in Americana motif and in no way can you tell that you are in an Italian restaurant. Ok, I’m good with that if the kitchen is going to impress me🤔. First, our waitress was attentive, but not overly so. And this is the second restaurant in a week that forgot to bring our wine when ordered. After we reminded her, she brought it quickly. The wine selection is small, priced ok, but there were really no high quality wines to choose from. We ordered the bread service, the bread was underwhelming & needed some salt. The olive oil & balsamic vinegar mixture for the bread was good but again, needed some oomph to bring it over the top. My husband, who is Italian, ordered the spaghetti & shrimp. He said that the pasta was cooked a tad too much, but the flavors were good. Not great, but good. I ordered the sweet potato appetizer & it was spicy,had a nice presentation but it needed salt. For dessert we ordered the pana cotta & it was a nice portion size but WAY TO SWWET! The pana cotta was creamy & good, but the sauce on top killed the entire dish; it was so sweet we couldn’t eat it after a couple of bites. Overall impression, didn’t like the atmosphere, thought the food was just ok. As far as an Italian restaurant, not so much. Maybe Italian influenced, but...

I’m surprised that this restaurant isn’t filled with customers- especially during happy hour. Mimo has some solid deals for both food and drinks during 5-6 pm!

When you first roll up to the area, there is plenty of parking here so that’s always a relief! I love the restaurant’s exterior with the pink gates and plants. And when you walk inside, it feels very cozy. Although I didn’t get a chance to check out the patio, it looks nice from what I saw.

For Happy Hour, I ordered the Crochette, Fritters, and La Pizzetta. And I also got to try a sample of the Amuse Bouche which was super yummy!

Out of the three, the Fritters were my favorite. The corn and zucchini made this dish pretty sweet but it was balanced with the parmesan cheese on top. I loved how it was perfectly fried- there’s a lot of spots that have a really dense/heavy batter but not the Fritters from Mimo! As for the La Pizzetta, the dough is delicious and made in house! The only thing I wish was different is the texture in the middle of the pizza (it was pretty wet from the sauce/cheese which made the dough soft and the toppings were falling off) but the crust/outer part of the dough was perfect and the flavors were all there. Last but not least, the Crochette! Just like the Fritters, the crochette was fried perfectly and also had the same delicious parmesan cheese on top. The salsa verde sauce underneath gave it a nice kick. In total, I spent $25 for the three dishes which is pretty good!

Aside from the food, the service was amazing here. Huge S/O to Tony and Addison who made my dining experience so welcoming here. I loved conversing and getting to know them while enjoying such good food. I hope to come back soon and I can’t wait to tell more people about...