Urban American Kitchen — Restaurant in Houston

I want to start off by saying the staff and atmosphere were great. I came here with my partner, and the ambiance was spot on for what feels like an "urban kitchen".

Buttt we of course came for the food. And I won't lie, and can't lie... the food was bad. But what made it worse was the price-to-bad ratio.

$20 For pork tenderloin with 2 sides is a standard meal for a night out. Although: $20 for a chewy, unseasonably, unseared, non-rested small piece of meat was not worth it. The fact that sides cost $6 bucks by themselves is fine, and mine was included in the $20 price. But taking a $1 broccoli floret, cutting a 4th of the actual $1 worth, and charging $6 for it is insane. I am sharing a photo of the actual portion size - it really was that small like in the picture, and this was without any bites.

My partner got the fettuccine alfredo which was $15 bucks, with chicken being an upcharge of $8 bucks. Was already skeptical cuz I was like "who charges 8 bucks for extra chicken for a pasta". Needless to say: The pasta was bland, basically a cream sauce with salt or pepper not added at all. And the chicken was a simple small breast I'd say 3 oz total, which followed the trend of no sear or season. And for the $8 upcharge? Not at all worth it.

The Italian place right by the restaurant serves a fettuccine alfredo with a sauce to die for. Rich, creamy, flavorful, and unique compared to others i've tried. The chicken is included in the price and while theirs isn't the best either, it has far more flavor. Oh, and it costs $18. I got the opportunity to try that earlier this week, and comparing both is like night and day.

But the biggest thing that I find odd is that the risotto urban kitchen has seems to blow whatever I said out the window. The rice used was very tender and creamy, and had a wonderful taste. Like melt in your mouth heaven. That to me was a 5 star, 10/10 dish and well worth the $6 price. Heck, despite the portion size id pay even more for it to be honest. It's like the level of time, seasoning, and ingredient prep went all into the risotto and the prep for the rest of the food was just tossed aside. It's the only reason I'm giving 2 stars instead of 1 for a rating.

All in all, despite my love for the risotto we won't be coming back here. If a small portion of food is going to be served on a big plate and to charge that much for it, that food better all be on par with the quality the...

I cannot say enough wonderful things about this place. The food was enjoyed by everyone in our party and there was 25 of us! We had searched trying to make reservations to celebrate birthday for three of our friends and everybody had issues with a party that size we could not be accommodated we had to pay for party rooms we had to split into multiple tables have single check for the entire group all kinds of restrictions and stipulations that made it difficult for us to the accommodated. The owner / manager and chef here at Urban American kitchen were very pleased to accommodate us and kept asking if there was anything else we needed or anything they could do ahead of time that we required. Our group had pretty much decided that we were no longer going to go out to eat as a group because of the difficulty of being accommodated but we now know that if we ever want to go out to eat again as a group we will definitely go back to Urban American kitchen. The menu selection was varied and great choice. They had no problem giving us individual tickets the staff was very engaging and accommodating I just cannot say enough it was absolutely a wonderful experience and I was very surprised. Definitely a hidden gym you...

I’m surprised this place has such high reviews. Maybe we caught them on an off night. Our friends had been wanting to give Urban American Kitchen a try, so we came out for date night. We ordered the Urban flatbread as our appetizer and that was delicious! The pears were hard and salty.. but overall yummy, although I think it would have been better with softer, sweeter pears. As for entrees, I ordered fish and chips, my husband ordered the creamy pesto pasta, and the kids cheese pizza for our daughter.

Fish & Chips: The fries were delicious. The fish was so heavily battered, they were cakey and oil-logged. I was nauseated eating my meal, but ate most of the fish because we were with friends and I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

Creamy pesto pasta: So gross. This dish was basic at overcooked noodles in a pool of oil. The oil dripped from the noodles with every bite. Not good at all.

Kids cheese pizza: This wasn’t pizza at all. It was a flat bread with cheddar and mozzarella. No sauce.. no crust. Our daughter didn’t eat it. The orange juice she was served was bitter. She didn’t drink that, either.

Good prices, less than mediocre food. We...