Astor's Table — Restaurant in Katy

After reviewing places to see where I should go in the Katy area on a dinner date, I decided to come here after looking at the reviews and seeing it so highly rated. It did not meet expectations at all. This is purely a review of the dinner experience, I would think the brunch or other dining times are much better since thats what the reviews I saw are talking about.

I always like to start off talking about the service. The initial service in general was a pleasent experience. I appreciated our server making sure we were taken care of in the beginning and we were all settled in. However, after we got our food, the service went from "great" to just plainly "too much". Let me preface by saying that the restaurant was basically empty except for 2 other tables, so i understand why they had so much time on their hands, but interrupting our conversation every 5-10 minutes does not create a very great experience.

Now lets head to the food. We got the appetizer platter with a mix of south african and latin foods. This, we quite enjoyed. The empanadas looked and were delicious. The south african dried meat and sausage were good snacking foods to have during our time there. All in all though, there wasn't anything to write home out, the food was... basic and there were no flavours that really stood out.

For the entree portion, we ordered the seafood platter which came with shrimp, prawns, mussels, calamari, bacon wrapped scallops, and zucchini with some rice. Let me start out by saying, why would anyone wrap such a soft peace of flesh like scallop in bacon. That is a disservice to the scallop. The scallops were very overcooked and chewy, and was not helped by the fact that the bacon was also chewy and salty. The shrimp was overcooked and also heavily salted for some reason. The prawns were by far the best thing on this plate, they were juicy and had a lot of flavor but even these were too salty. The calamari was ok but looked way too much like onion rings, and the mussels were good. The rice was the south african yellow rice with raisins. Rice was way too dry and a tad too sweet, and funnily enough, did not have enough salt on it.

Lastly, we were excited for the dessert as we are both sweet tooths and decided to get the creme brule. Imagine my surprise when the bowl we got was a round bottom glass bowl... The brulee was done nice, had a nice crack to it when we went in, but then came out overcooked creme. The texture was more of a cake and was definetly overcooked. It was sugar so all in all still tasted ok but if you were looking for nice creme brulee, this is not it. We also got some tea with the dessert and even that was some basic grocery store tea. I mean at least try to give us tea from latin america or south africa.

I might just be what we got on the menu that gave such a bad expereince. Maybe if you get the braised goat or oxtail or even the steaks it would be better. But, in my opinion a restaurant should serve everything with quality so making one or two things really good cant cut it.

I personally cannot recommend this...

We were so excited to try this place based on the reviews and reading up about it and it was unfortunately such a disappointment!!

My parents were visiting from out of the country - we love to travel and eat different cuisines so when they heard about this place - they were super excited to try it out.

Let’s start with the service - I keep seeing reviews about how amazing and warm the service was here and how knowledgeable the staff was. Our experience was quite different.

We were a table of 4 adults, a toddler and a baby and the 2 tables they offered us were right next to the live music - very loud for anyone but especially kids and my older adult parents. We asked if we could sit any any other table (the restaurant was empty apart from 1 other table), and they refused because the other tables were too many seats or too few and they can’t join tables.

Anyways, we sat down and asked the server for recommendations. “Everything is good”. A few items on the menu said “African marinade” or something similar, so we asked the waitress to explain the difference between the items and she said “I can’t tell you the recipe” I explained we’re just trying to understand what type of dish it is so we can decide between a couple. Under traditional African dishes there was an option to have it Nigerian or ghanaian - we asked the difference and she said there’s no difference. Certainly not the kind of service I expected based on the reviews.

Moving on to the food:

Calamari: quite basic, similar to most lower tier restaurants. A bit rubbery 3/10.

Peri peri shrimp: pretty decent flavor. Came out cold though even though they were in a skillet type dish 5/10

Mussels: sauce was good but definitely expected a bit more sauce as usually is the case with mussels. Served cold as well. 5/10

Chakalaka: the one item that was served hot. The server said it was spicy - we eat A LOT of spice. Think lots of Thai chilli, habanero etc. but this was just SPICY. lack of flavor. Super runny not many beans. Not served with mashed potatoes as described or shown online. Server said they don’t have mashed potatoes not sure if they ran out or just decided to stop serving them. 4/10

African goat curry: pretty underwhelming. Presentation was very unappealing which I think just put everyone off in the first place. Ok flavor 6/10

Beef espetada: super chewy, completely red on the inside. We didn’t even eat it. Came with rice that tasted like someone spilled a can of cinnamon on it. 1/10

Drinks:

Wine: okay this place prides itself on wine. I got a glass of Cabernet and it was one of the worst wines I have had since maybe my college days. Tasted akin to terrible boxed wine.

Appletini - mediocre. Nothing amazing about it.

Very disappointing experience. Did not live up to the hype we expected.

Oh kids ordered a pasta which looked and tasted like it was from a box or frozen.

Would not personally...

My friend and I decided to have lunch over brunch. We arrived near the change over time. The Brunch Menu looked nice but I wanted my first time dining to be lunch or dinner.

The inside is warm and inviting. It is a cozy atmosphere which gave casual fine dining. The price point was reasonable and it was quality food. The setup was for fine dining.

I forgot that Houston Restaurant Week just began. The chef came out to the table and welcomed us as well as ensured that we received the specialized menu for HRW. The waiter, Perry, was very attentive and pleasant.

My friend and I each got an item off of the HRW menu. We decided to share an empanada. Both were flavorful, nice texture to the fried pastry. It was not oily and the right combination of softness to crunch. Sadly, we were so excited to consume it that I forgot to grab a photo. The beef empanada was flavorful that with each bite you wanted more until it’s fully gone. You definitely forget that you’re eating just ground meat. The African Peri Peri Spicy Chicken Empanadas had a kick baby. It was good and I couldn’t stop eating it either . I would just sip my water and actually wanting a shot of milk lol. The dough was just the same as the other.

For my second course, my friend had the goat curry. They definitely give you a two person size portion. She said everything was great in tasting. I chose the Fish and Chips, South African Style. the fish was breaded perfectly!!! The lightness of the fish with the crust was perfect. The sauce was a good addition to it. I don’t know what type of sauce I wanted but I wanted more something to bring a little more punch to the fish. The Fries were nicely fried and plain flavored. The Salad was a mixed greens, diced tomatoes and julienned purple onion and carrots. It was quite light to balance the fries and breading of the fish.

I’ll probably be back to just eat empanadas and try other dishes. I chose to try a dessert. I asked Perry what was made in house. He stated the gluten free lemon cake was egg free and made in house. It was rich, thick and reminded me of a pound cake but in a muffin form. I needed a side of cream or ice cream to balance it out in my mouth.

Overall I loved the atmosphere, the staff and energy in the space . So pair that with the options on the menu, I...