The Den — Restaurant in Houston

I went to The Den yesterday evening with a few of my friends expecting to have a good time and just chill. One of the bartenders comes up to us and explains that if anyone at the table wants to drink, everyone at the table would have to be ID'd and some of us were underage, so that wouldn't be possible. Keep in mind, the table next of us was a group of guys and a couple girls (who were white) that we knew (from asking and previous interactions with them) were under 21 and had been served alcohol. Those of us that were underage decided we would order fries to go and ended up waiting almost 40 minutes for a basket of fries. We had seen multiple other people who ordered after us receive their food before us and approached the bartender Byannkha about it, only to be met with attitude and told they ordered before us. When we finally received our food, we left and the friends that didn't leave with us told us that Beeanca looked at the other bartender after we left and pumped her fist up in the air in a celebratory mood. Like she was glad that we left. I think it's important to note two things, 1) all of us at the table were POC (mainly black and hispanic), and 2) at no point did we ever verbally argue with the employees/bartenders or show any aggression whatsoever. The only time we interacted with them was to order food and ask how much longer it would take before out fries are ready. So in my eyes, the celebration after we left and the 40 minutes it took for our fries to be ready, was extremely unnecessary and actually very rude. For these reasons, I do believe The Den (or at least these two particular employees, Biyanka and another male) is a discriminatory establishment I will no longer support. I would give them no...

Their menu is right, these wings are AMAAAAZING!! I didn't get a picture because they were gone so soon, so the picture is just fries. I got the traditional (bone in) wings, BBQ, wow steaming hot and delicious. The menu says you can get 5, 10 or 15, and I got just 5 with fries, and they gave me 6 😊 the fries are really good too! They're flat, so they're crispy but still soft inside. The ranch was thiccc and deliciuos too. We went in a Tuesday when they have a happy hour for long island iced teas and buffalo chicken sandwiches and YES those are DELICIOUS TOO! The buffalo sauce they use is a little spicier than compared to, say, Pluckers buffalo. They were also gone before I could get a picture haha I will say that the service is nothing exceptional, but nothing bad which is fine with me!

Dietary things: There's nothing marked as gluten free on the menu, and I asked if there were gf options and they said no. They have "crispy or grilled" options for chicken sandwiches so they could probably make something grilled without the bun and without cheese if you need to avoid dairy. I'm not allergic, just sensitive to a lot of things, and I ended up getting the bone in wings and fries. Will update later if...

The food is much better than it has any right to be.

Since this is a college restaurant, pub type place, I wasn't expecting much. Most places like this don't feel the need to try. The food usually only has to he adequate because hungry coege kids will show up regardless.

That is NOT what's going on here. It's very clear that these guys take pride in their food. And it's often the small things. The texture, flavor, crust of the bread for their sandwiches for instance, excellent.

Everything was really good. I especially want to point out the fries. Most places have mom's of the same fries, but the fries here are very different. In a Great way. Fries, good fries are supposed to have the right amount of the following qualities - Salty, crispness on the outside, softness on the inside, the subtle sweetness from the Maillard reaction and the flavor you can only get from good potatoes. They UNDERSTOOD the assignment. Some of the best fries I've ever had and I don't even like fries that much!

The food, the prices, all great. Mr Chucho who waited on us was superb. Attentive, courteous, humorous and personable.

Don't dismiss this place for what it seems to be. Give it a try. You'll...