Pappas Bros. Steakhouse — Restaurant in Houston

My family and I dined at Pappa Bros. Steakhouse on Saturday. This was the worst experience we have had at any Pappa's restaurant. After sitting down, we ordered a drink, and after fifteen minutes and no drink, we asked the waiter to check on it. He apologized and said it left the bar but never made it to our table- ok no big deal. Ordering another drink – we waited 20 minutes for it to be served. I asked the waiter if they were short staffed, he replied, “no, we are just really busy.”

Around 7:30, we ordered two appetizers -deviled eggs (which are excellent) and oysters. The deviled eggs arrived at 8:20. The person delivering the eggs was confused on which table to serve them to. We caught his attention to let him know those were for our table. He realized that the oysters were missing and was hesitant to set them down. The waiter took them from him and set them on our table. After another 15 minutes, the oysters arrive. We are now over an hour to receive our appetizers.

Our steaks arrived shortly after the oysters. We ordered 2 sides, which did not arrive with the steaks. After 10 minutes, I finally was able to get the waiter's attention to ask where the sides were. (We knew where the sides were as we could see them sitting on a serving tray on the other side of the dining room.) He retrieved them and delivered them to our table. They were obviously cold at this time.

With the delayed service, we had plenty of time to look around the restaurant. Our table was in direct view of the wine cellar where we observed several employees in the wine cellar drinking wine and something out of a martini glass. At this stage, I have had enough of this lackluster experience and decided to share my concerns with the general manager. After meeting him, I asked him to follow me to the wine cellar to show him that his employees were drinking. He told me that the men in suits were sommeliers, and they were tasting wine. I understand taking a small sip to taste the wine; however, these glasses had much more than a sip in them, and they were turning the glasses up and guzzling the wine. Since someone was drinking out of a martini glass, were they sampling gin and/or vodka?? If this is an acceptable sampling practice by Pappa Bros., I should get a part time job there. What a fun place to work!

I went on to explain my disappointment with the experience. At some point, the floor manager approached us, and the GM asked if he took care of us by comping the drink and the oysters. My perception was that if they comped something, we should be content. I explained to him that I was not looking for anything for free and that I had already paid for the bill. I asked the GM if they were short staffed, and he said, “no - that they were really busy and they were dealing with a leak in the dining room.” Additionally, he seemed rushed and non-engaging. After the leak comment, I told him I was done with this conversation.

I had no intentions in writing a negative review - I felt bringing my concerns to the GM would be suffice. My perspective is that the GM was giving excuses versus being a good listener, showing a general interest in my concerns and letting me know that he will work on improving the success of the restaurant.

There are many customers that complain for the sole purpose of receiving a discount or free meal. I am not one of those. I want a great dining experience and am willing to pay a premium for that.

After reading the lowest reviews from the restaurant, most have come in the last six months. There is clearly a leadership issue. I understand that negative review protocols are to send me a response apologizing for the negative experience and provide a number to share additional details. No need for that- you need to have your senior leadership team investigate the operations of the establishment and make sure they are delivering the exemplary dining experience the Pappas family...

We had a wonderful celebration for our 18th wedding anniversary. We started with drinks and oysters at the bar before we sat at our table. The craft cocktails were exceptionally prepared, and the service was excellent. We enjoyed the piano playing, too.

At our table, they added a small bouquet of flowers and tea-light candles for an extra romantic touch.

Nassim served us, and he truly elevated the entire experience! He embodies Michelin Star level hospitality. He knows the menu and will help you find exactly what you want. He's an expert at fine dining service without being stuffy; quite the opposite: He makes you feel welcomed, wanted and cared for. I cannot say enough great things about him.

The food, of course, exceeded our expectations. We had filet two ways (one with juicy jumbo lump crab in a bearnaise sauce, the other with shiitake mushroom port sauce). Words cannot fully describe the quality, but the steaks were so, so tender and cooked and seasoned perfectly.

The lamb chops, again, were perfectly seasoned and cooked and oh-so tender. They were served with a traditional mint jelly that made for a perfect pairing, especially with the Aregentine malbec that the sommelier, Dillon, helped us find.

The scalloped potatoes? Unbelievably delicious. There is something special going on with that sauce, and the bake is perfect with slightly browned patches on top. We also had tasty onion rings.

I can't remember the name of the dessert, but it had chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache and marshmallows in it with a charred, house-made marshmallow on top. It was wonderful.

The sommelier also helped us figure out the wine menu. We wanted a sparkling white for our celebration, but we knew that wouldn't pair well with the steak and lamb. Dillon listened to us and we settled on two glasses of the best prosecco I've ever had, before the food arrived (in all honesty, it might've spoiled any future, lesser proseccos I may have - ha!). Then we had the bottle of the aforementioned red with the meal. Nassim timed everything perfectly, which I deeply appreciated because we did not want to rush the meal.

During our meal, the manager, Grayson, stopped by our table to see how things were going. He was an absolute delight to chat with, and it gave me the chance to tell him how much we were enjoying the food and the service.

This was our first visit, but it won't be our last. I understand why they earned their Michelin Star.

All in all, the food and atmosphere were perfect for a romantic celebration, but the professionals who work here took our whole experience to another level and turned this night out into a night we will never forget. And for that, I'm...

We had a pretty disappointing dinner here last night. We had a 7:45 reservation and we were waiting for a friend to join, but they seated us even though he was delayed, which we appreciated. We were seated in a small private room to the left of the entrance with only about eight tables.

From there, things went downhill. Our server seemed nice and she explained all the specials. When our our last guest arrived, she repeated them. We ordered a wine which was quite tasty and delivered my the sommelier. I was the only one who ordered a salad but our server kept asking if I was done. A manager in a grey suit kept passing by and would ask other tables how they were doing, but conspicuously did not ask us. When we all received our 12 OZ filets my was slightly overdone (though at blue that’s easy to do). My husband’s medium was on the well side and he was disappointed. By that time, the room was emptied and we were the only table left - about 8:30. Despite that fact, people were CONSTANTLY buzzing around our table and not to be helpful. Grey suit man kept walking by and leering at us. A hostess kept walking past with an iPad. People stood in the corner by us and folded silverware. A busboy or our waitress would come to a table, move a fork two inches and walk away. I started to think we were on a hidden camera show, at one point. We starting timing the intervals between flybys of completely unhelpful personnel. Our waitress came by every 5 minutes asking if she could take our plates. She tried to refill our wine glass, dropped the bottle on the table, spilled about a full glass (at least $20 worth) and never offered to bring more. She laid a napkin over it and congratulated herself on a good catch.

Essentially, the service was extremely intrusive and we felt like we had no privacy, worse it made the pace of the meal feel very rushed. It was almost comical how frequently someone flew by our table as if they were listening to our conversation- no exaggeration, at least every two minutes for the whole meal. Spilling an expensive bottle of wine and not offering a replacement is a huge faux pas, and the gaffe of not properly cooking two of three steaks in a steakhouse is kinda unforgivable.

Overall, it was a really poor experience. For well over $100 a head, you expect much better. I used to come often, but I don’t think we will be...