Red Board Tavern & Table — Restaurant in Navasota

We haven't gone out for Valentine's to eat in over 5 years, but decided to do so this year due to the convenient location (we live in Hempstead) and the potential of reduced crowds. I made the reservation on February 8th, for two at 7:30, through the OpenTable app. Upon arrival, we were seated upstairs in what is basically a meeting room at a table for at least 6 people, facing the wall. There was only one other couple in the room the entire time. We ordered drinks, only to receive them an hour later ( we were told they broke the glass on the first attempt). We ordered the Lobster Bisque and a Salad. The entrees (Ribeye Steak and Price fix medallions and scallops) were brought out to us first, and then were confused that they might belong to the other table, so they were directed there. The waitress then came back and apologized saying that that WAS actually our entrees. We told her that we wanted our drinks and bisque/salads first. Eventually the drinks showed up, followed by the appetizers. The "lobster" bisque was merely soup, it had no trace of any lobster in it at all. The salad was fine. When the meal came out , the spinach/artichoke was drowned in sauce and was room temp at best. My steak, which I ordered medium rare, was cooked beyond medium, almost medium well. The medallions, scallops and risotto were again, swimming in sauce to mask the bland taste. We had to salt and pepper heavily to add flavor. By this time we weren't even hungry anymore and basically just packed it to go. My dogs enjoyed the steak this morning for breakfast.

The entire evening was filled with apologies from the minute we sat down, so I became skeptical early on, and it proved to be so. I understand that event's like Valentines Day, Mother's day, etc, add additional stress to wait staff and cook lines, however, as a business that charges premium prices for its services, the responsibility falls on you to produce an environment/product that equates to the rates that are...

We decided to try the Red Board Tavern because we heard about its chef, Chef J. Payton. It some bigger towns we have been in it was common to hear about a new top chef coming to town of you were into that kind of thing and read the restaurant rags. Since moving to College STATION there is no inside scoop. So we were surprised to hear about this chef and in all places Navasota. So we made a reservation and headed out. It turned out to be a rainy miserable night and there was a parade that evening. All this was a rather negative foreboding. However, we were greeted warmly they took our wet putter clothing and apologized even for the weather and thanked us for braving it and the traffic. The food was fantastic and deserves much more detail but phone died after the first picture so darn we are going to have to visit there again. The chef even visited the table to check on food and service. In general terms each dish was composed of delicate bit complex flavors with an amazing depth. I had the cioppino. The broth was deep and rich the seafood was tender and fresh. All too often the seafood tastes like it has been simmering for hours and gets tough but this was definitely constructed to order. My first impression is that if you intend to try it you should do it soon because I am sure prices will be going up. Compared to some offerings in college station this is higher quality and at a deep value to a restaurant like Christopher’s.

I am going to do a follow up review. I will have more pictures and details but I want to get...

I hate to say this, the first time I went in late 2022/early 2023 it was super good! However the second time going I made a reservation for 6 people and while they had many tables empty I believe they had a huge party upstairs that wasnt properly planned for in kitchen staff even thought they pushed advertising going there for graduation lunch/dinner thr day before and all of the lower seats suffered due to the kitchen not being able to keep up and what they did turn out after 1 hour plus of waiting was poor quality food with missing ingredients sadly. It got so bad our poor server started avoiding his tables. The fix the restaurant decided on was 2 sets of dessert specifically 8 cookies and 2 glasses of milk without considering dietary restrictions of tables. I will say the cookies were the saving grace and reminded me of how their food used to taste when I had been there before. I appreciate them offering something in apology but after a lot of thinking on the matter I still decided to write this as I am very sad that a restaurant I raved about chose to overwhelm themselves to as bad of a degree they did and let their brand of quality food stoop to such a low level. I don't honestly know what all went on but I wish they had just told us in the beginning or kept up eith communicating and we would have found another place to eat or known that is what we were to expect. On a side note, I had bartenders with me and they were badly shocked at the state of the alcoholic drinks served, I have no clue for what...