The Rustic — Restaurant in Houston

Meal: Dinner Day Visited: Thursday Budget: $50 Closest Station: N/A Reservation Needed?: Maybe Payment: Cash; Credit Kid Friendly?: Yes English Menu?: Yes

We loved the atmosphere, generally liked the food, and were disappointed with service.

The restaurant itself is amazing - representing the State of Texas well! Large and dramatic, with a distinctive character! The outdoor stage provides some wonderful entertainment and looks to be a great place to host private parties. The indoor bar and dining room are beautiful and provide a great option for people who prefer the comforts of sitting inside.

Our food was not great, but good, overall. A few of the dishes that hit the nail on the head were the Tamales Three Ways, the Cedar Plank Salmon, and the Jalapeño Spoon Bread - all delicious. We were, however, quite disappointed with the pork and chicken tacos (served family style). We felt like they lacked flavor and creativity and as a featured menu item, should have been much better. This seemed to be a situation where quality may have been sacrificed for quantity. If you like tacos, I suggest avoiding these.

One important area for improvement was the service. Our waiter, Carter, didn’t mention the Happy Hour (3-6 PM) when we were seated at 5:00 PM and even after repeatedly telling him that we wanted to wait to order our entrees after enjoying some happy hour drinks and snacks, kept coming over to our table to ask if we wanted to order. This came off as pushy. Additionally, we had a problem with the check. After finally succumbing to Carter’s persistence and while ordering our entrees, we were informed that the Cedar Plank Salmon came with a side that was included in the price. When the bill arrived, the side appeared to be charged as an extra. Upon mentioning this, Carter confidently informed us that the $6.95 simply showed up on the bill, but was not included in the total (hint: it was included in the total and we had been, indeed, overcharged). After showing him the math, Management ultimately fixed our bill. Carter was appropriately apologetic (laying blame at a recently updated ordering computer system), but it does leave me wondering how many others have been similarly overcharged. An unfortunate end to an otherwise “good”...

It's a beautiful concept. Beautiful inside. Had reservations at 630 on a Saturday night. It was crowded and loud. It's not a place for nice, quiet conversations to try and get to know someone if that's what you're thinking. They have live music there. But they have the sound so loud that the waiter totally messed up our order per se. I got the triple chop. It takes 30-40 minutes to cook. He asked us if we wanted him to bring our appetizers first, then everybody's main meal when my chops were done. We told him yes. That sounds perfect. I ordered a cup of their wild boar chili and other couple onion rings. Rings come out. Chili doesn't. 15 minutes later, everybody's food comes out, but still no chili. I asked about the chili. They bring it...it's not hot but room temp. The food was to come out with the chops like we all agreed so we nab the waiter to tell him and he actually said "That's why I asked you the question I asked...if you wanted everybody's meal to come out with the chop." That's music was so loud apparently he didn't hear us agree to that suggestion. Oh, I had originally wanted the beer can chicken. They were out! At 630 on a Saturday??? Yikes! We had also ordered their deviled eggs with a cracklin shoved on top. Crackling was good, but the eggs were a no-go. Too much vinegar or something. Did not like it. There was a lead person who had come to our table a little bit after we ordered. She told me the chop would be 40 min instead of 30. That was why we got the eggs. Anyway. Short story long... we weren't angry or anything. We just had a bad experience there. The chop, when it did come out, was absolutely delicious. The wait was not the issue. He told me it would be 30 minutes. We were all ok with that. My friend ordered her steak medium, and it came out raw still. So we had to send it back. The lead and waiter were not talking to each other or something, but anyway, she gave us 15% off coupons for our next visit and comped some of the bill because seriously there were alot of snafus on their part. But I don't think I'd go back. It's beautiful there but don't think we'd go back. We passed out the coupons to people coming in to dine when...

This is a great venue for live music! Customer service needs some serious work. It was my first time here and I was impressed with the venue. Not so much with the food cause we did not get to eat! I check web site menu before we went out for a evening to see Mike Ryan. Food looked Delicious but I could not tell ya if it was. We arrived and hostess informed us there was a waiting list to get a table “ Inside” but we were more than welcome to sit on the patio. Perfect cause we were there to see a band anyways. Once on the patio we were seated at a “Table”. They don’t have waitresses out here. There is 2 bars one upstairs and one on patio. All I wanted was onion rings…. I was told you could order food from the bar … I went to patio bar asked for onion rings, he said I can’t order them there had to go to upstairs bar, all he had was hamburgers at this bar. Great do they come with fries or onion rings, chips, anything? his reply was “just burgers, pre made for $16.95, If I wanted anything else had to go to upstairs bar”. I said ok just give me Burger. His reply, we are out of burgers give us 30- min. I said never mind I’ll go to upstairs bar to order burger & onion rings. When I got to upstairs bar and waited for about 15 min, I was informed you can’t order food unless your at a “Table”. I said we are at a table on the patio. Apparently eating off the menu on the patio is NOT a option. Keep in mind it’s the same huge room, the upstairs is just elevated.To order I would have to be put on the waiting list for another “Table” to place a order. I was confused but said never mind I’ll back to down stairs bar and just get the burger. I went back to that bar and they were still out or out again of burgers. I saw others that had ordered them and they did come with a bag of homemade chips. That would have been good to know first time I tried to order. Very cool walkway to patio that allows you to see into kitchen prep area. You can see all the food being made that you can only eat at the upstairs tables. I’ll go back to see a band but I will definitely eat before we go and drink water. $9.50 a Bud light & $16.95 for JUST a burger was a...