Roost — Restaurant in Houston

I normally don’t review anything, but I had such a poor experience here that it has bothered me even though it has been four days.

I went here with my wife and 1 year old son for my birthday dinner. It blows my mind that Zagat rated this place a four for decor, the stuff on the wall was the type of kitschy Knick knacks that you see at a Cracker Barrel.

We were greeted pretty immediately and found our table. I didn’t have a problem with the service (until after the tip). We ordered the drinks and a couple shareable plates, the strawberry salad, the fried cauliflower, and the pretzel. My wife was really excited about the cauliflower since people had a lot of good things to say about it.

The salad was delivered first, and for a ten dollar salad it had a handful of argula, a few candied nuts, and literally one starwberry sliced up. The vinaigrette was probably the best part... the pretzel came up next, it was good, not much to say besides that the kimchi mayo that was served was interesting and we all enjoyed it. Finally the cauliflower was delivered. The presentation was definitely nice, with the Bonita flakes on top, but after the initial wow moment was over we found that the cauliflower was definitely lacking. They tasted more baked than fried and the curry sauce that was on it really only covered the bottom few florets.

After the mediocre meal, we asked the waitress to pack up the dessert “coffee and donuts” and for the check since the one year old was getting restless and we figured we could finish the rest of the meal in the car. The check came and we left with the dessert to eat in the front parking lot.

We get settled and we noticed that the to go meal didn’t come with any utensils. I nipped back in and asked the bus boy who was cleaning the table if they had any togo silverware, he said they did and directed me to the back where the waitresses took call orders and plug in orders at the computer. Now this is the point that irked me and brought me to write this review. The bus boy grabbed the waitress that was helping me and I asked again if they had a disposable spoon. She claimed that they didn’t “do” to-go utensils, I explained that we were just out front and if i could borrow a regular spoon and we would bring it right back. She laughed at my question, told me to ask another waitress and answered the phone. I was pretty dumbfounded that this exchange just happened, the other waitress that got pulled in was clueless as to what the question was, and I just decided to leave.

We got home and ate the ice cream that tasted like smashed chocolate ice cubes with a too large of a grind of coffee sprinkled on top (basically drinking a pot a coffee after the filter broke). The dessert was trash.

After all this I still can’t get over how a restaurant doesn’t have disposable spoons, it’s not like they were going for the green angle, they served the dessert in a hard plastic Tupperware container and the ice cream in a plastic to go...

When you find incredible, inspired food, paired with an enthusiastic, entertaining staff, set in an unpretentious, intimate environment... surely you must be at Roost.

We went with a group of 6, allowing us to try just about everything on the menu. Here are a few of my favorites:

Fried Cauliflower: The cauliflower was so epic that I have made it my mission to recreate it at home. Because I showed up late, I didn't get to witness the dancing bonito flakes that I see in all the pictures. Beware... once your try these you will become a straight Roost cauliflower junkie.

Fried Cod Ball: Anything shaped like a ball and fried is generally good. Well, the fried cod ball, not shown on the menu, is melt in your mouth, roll your eyes back good. Again, I was late, so I didn't get to see it in its full glory. There was some kind of chorizo sauce on the plate that I eventually scraped up with my tongue. Have your waiter/waitress tell you about any off the menu items.

Louisiana BBQ Scallops: This is the serious one... I've had my share of frou frou seafood and grits dishes around Houston. Let me tell you, these scallops are some of the best I've had, period. They had a beautiful brown crust and the texture inside was luxurious and tender... The white corn grits were not gritty; they hit me with just the right amount of cheese, then melted away into my taste buds. My friend saw me have a food-gasm and a very awkward "When Harry Met Sally" moment ensued.

Elote-style Dessert: This dessert is definitely not for everyone. Some people don't like savory flavors intruding on their sweets... If that's you, then stay away from my sweet corn ice cream dessert. MINE! When our amazing waitress said, "It's like Mexican street corn... but dessert style" I was sold. The ice cream was actually nostalgic for me (Filipinos eat crazy ice cream) and the ancho chili, micro cilantro, and queso fresco flooded me with emotions. I have a pretty bad elote addiction.

Those are just the things I loved, but everything was great. The foie gras is good, however I prefer mine served a differently with a few less sweet notes. I also couldn't help but notice that the liver wasn't cleaned that well. The tomato basil soup ($5, STEAL!) was packed with flavor and had a little heat to it. I liked that it was a little spicy, but it was also a little salty. If I were to order it again, I'd take it to go, add some cream, and triple my portion.

Our waitress, Heather, was quick, non-intrusive, knowledgeable, and equipped with a great sense of humor (without being unprofessional. I couldn't have asked for a better server. HECK, I really couldn't have asked for a better dining experience. Roost is a place that I will return to over and over again to get my fix, despite its horrible parking... and yes, the parking is rough, so get ready to circle the streets like a vulture or get there in a...

This was the WORST experience and ruined our celebration of 2 birthdays. We were very excited to try Roost and it did not even come close to being a nice dinner. When we arrived we were seated and completely ignored for at least 10 minutes. Nothing. We ordered the bread service (pretzel) but couldn’t order wine for a while because our waitress would keep disappearing or not look our direction. We got the stuffed mushrooms and they were okay but very oily. It took a long time to get our waitress’ attention to finally order entrees but we had the duck breast and 3 gnocchi’s. When the plates arrived, only 3 came and my meal wasn’t there. The waitress gave my dad a knife for his duck and disappeared. No fork. Everyone wanted to wait for my plate so theirs got cold in the meantime. I had to physically get up and walk over to the bar where the waitress was standing and get a fork so my dad could try a bite of his food while they waited for my plate. His duck was completely hard and tough. Terrible. What was crazy is I told the waitress I needed my plate and my guests were waiting for me, but she continued to deliver plates to other tables and didn’t even make it a priority. The waitress comes back about 10 minutes later with my plate and said they only placed the order for 3 entrees and the kitchen got my plate order after another table. How would that even happen?! I had to send back the duck breast for my dad which took forever to wait for another dish. We asked for the check and didn’t even get an entree comped, which at the very least should have taken place. When we paid, I told the waitress that it was sad that we were celebrating 2 birthdays and it wasn’t even acknowledged. She said “oh yeah, I saw the notes about that. What- did you want a dessert?” She said they usually bring a dessert with a candle complimentary. We had already paid and said no at that point. This was beyond shameful and a TERRIBLE experience. We will never...