Houston's — Restaurant in Irvine

Gotta give an honest review. I’ve been meaning to be a guest at this restaurant for years and it’s the one place I’ve never eaten before. My fiance and I went here and had some fairly decent expectations. Aside from being seated about 15-20 minutes after our reservation we didn’t let it bother us and we were fully committed to the experience. We ordered drinks which took about ten minutes, since my fiance was a waitress here before she said it’s standard to have drinks back in two minutes. Again, no big deal.

Then came appetizers, nothing surprising as we did king salmon and a salad the resembled a wedge. We then moved forward to the Hawaiian Rib Eye and ribs. For the ribs we asked for a baked potato with everything on the side with doubles of the side, that wasn’t an issue for our server and for the steak we did broccoli and red cabbage.

We asked for medium rare+ which most fine steakhouses understand it’s a step above medium rare and a step below medium, the server said they can’t do that so I stuck with medium rare. When everything came out the baked potato did not have everything on the side, it was all inside and there were no doubles. We made it clear we want double the contents of the baked potato on this side, and double. When I told the lady who brought our meal out it was incorrect, she then said “we don’t put anything on the side”. I personally loathe sour cream but my fiance loves it. We didn’t make a big deal out it, and she later brought us another side of toppings for the baked potato even though she said they do not put anything on this side. Interesting.

Then it came to the rib eye, I’ve been to a lot of steakhouses and this wasn’t even in the same playing field. I’ve been to bottom tier restaurants and had better cuts, not to mention it came out medium and was very tough. There were very chewy fat parts that couldn’t be digested as I do actually enjoy fat on a steak when it’s grassfed etc. There were also tough tendons on the steak and we barely got any decent bites.

The ribs were good but nothing out of this world. In the end, if you are looking for a rib eye, the experience I had was a streak of bad luck on a bad night or this is what they do. I wasn’t impressed with our server or the people helping as things were not organized and we still spent $200 where I’ve had better experiences with a bill half the size. I still tipped but I walked out of there feeling like we were cut short and ended up being potentially my worst restaurant experience of the year. The key lime pie was not good either and we took that home so maybe that had something to do with it but I’ve had cheesecake that’s tasted out of this world being in the fridge for a few days. I share this experience to help someone in my position. My fiance said she would of gotten in trouble to serve in this manner and no manager or anyone offered to make the experience better.

Conclusion, we weren’t seated in a timely manner despite there being plenty of open tables, drinks were delayed, they didn’t have heavy cream for my coffee which any decent steakhouse does, the steak was a terrible cut and overcooked, they didn’t bring out the baked potato as they said and even contradicted themselves by bringing out another side of toppings. The ribs were ok but for the price, we could have been spoiled just about anywhere else you can find good ribs at. The building is really nice, nice bathrooms, nice bar even though we don’t drink booze, nice fire out front. They certainly have the right setup for success but our experience was pretty disappointing and I will never come back to be a customer again. If they attempted to right the wrong, even after complaining of the poor cut and cooking in a respectful manner, this isn’t a place I would take a date too or a place to expect a good steak. When you add it all up, I’m very disappointed and hope they can use this review to improve themselves and figure out how to not let anyone else...

I'm so disappointed with many of the little changes made by this once favorite restaurant of mine. I've been eating at Houston's for about 20 years. I go about 2 times per month on average and that's saying a lot for someone that doesn't have a Houston's in their home state of Nevada.

Years back they decided change their most liked desert and for no good reason ? An American classic, The Hot Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream. They added cherries and coffee bits and ruined the already perfect desert. I had to say farewell to my favorite desert.

Now they have removed their perfectly creamy mashed potatoes for yet another not needed change. They added cabbage and onions to the mash !? Onions list as one of the most commonly disliked foods in America on most surveys and one of the most commonly asked to be removed foods. They then removed their baked potato from the menu !? So if you want to enjoy your steak or fish with a potato dish you have no choice but to eat it with cabbage and onions or have none at all.

I don't know how I feel about coming back ? It's hard to part ways with my favorite resturaunt but just seems like they pressure themselves to make changes in order fulfill some imaginary guideline that checks off a box. A box that makes them think they have progressed with the times. What Houston's ownership doesn't understand is that their success has always been serving American Classics, not American Classics with a twist. If I wanted to have an average progressive American cuisine I could eat at a variety of failing restaurants.

The brownie needs to be restored to its originally glory and the fufu removed.

The baked potato must be brought back. Everyone on planet earth loves their steak with a baked potato. How was that even a choice to remove it from the menu ?

Please get rid of those awful mashed potatoes. No one wants cabbage and onions in their mashed potatoes. Literally no one.

I dare you to hold a taste test and survey. I can guarantee you that your classic brownie and classic mashed potatoes will hand over fist beat out your current concoctions.

So now my dilema. I've been ordering the steak or salmon with mashed potatoes or baked potatoes for 20 years. I can't stand onions and don't care for cabbage. I'm pigeon holed into eating my meal with French Fries if I want a potato starch or not having one at all, or I could stop going to Houston's because they keep making changes that let their customers know that they are no longer the home of the American Classics.

Such as shame to fix something that's not only not broken but working marvelously for 2 decades.

One year later I’m still here - eating regularly at my favorite spot. Guess I didn’t like the change but maybe that’s more me, than them. Love...

My wife and I have been to Houston’s on various occasions. The service has always been reasonable, the food good. Overall, we have returned even despite some missteps because of their overall consistency. Today that changed. My wife and I had a reservation at 3:15 on Sunday 11/03/18. We were running 5 minutes late and were greeted by a small line of guests waiting to check-in. The couple in front of us voiced out loud “so sorry, we don’t have a reservation”. The hostess , a dark haired heavy-set woman, was all smiles and assured them they would be seated promptly. As I stepped up to the counter, I let her know that I did make a reservation. She also assured us we would be seated shortly as well. Much to our surprise, the couple with no reservation was seated before we were. My wife was upset when we got to the table, I was sure it was probably an oversight—a mistake— and made my way to the front to clarify what happened. The heavier-set woman with dark hair and glasses was standing at the counter and greeted me again. I explained to her the situation, gave her an opportunity to make amends, and her response was to say that “our policy is to seat people as they come”. I asked her what the point of a reservation was, she quickly invited me to speak to a manager. I did. The manager was a nice young lady who was clearly new at her job. At no point in their conversation did I make any reference to the fact the my wife and myself were much younger and much less white than the couple that had been seated first. The manager’s first instinct was to reassure us that it was in no way their intention to “make us feel inferior”. This was clearly a veiled reference to our race and age. I did not point out the issue with the reservation because my feelings were hurt, I pointed it out because there was an issue with either (a) their policy to disregard reservations -or- (b) their policy to allow employees to make up whatever policies they want ad lib. Unfortunately I have lost my faith in this restaurant and their high standards. We used to defend Houston’s to our 30-something and 40-something friends as not simply being a retirement home restaurant. Well, it’s clear which clientele they are catering to. Houston’s, you’ve lost these vocal advocates. I’m sure we aren’t the first, and I can guarantee you we won’t be the last as you make it clear whom you want to frequent your establishment. We’ll be going across the street next time we are in the neighborhood. I hear they have better...