Houston's — Restaurant in Scottsdale

Unfortunately, I need to change my original 5 star review to a more accurate 3 star review.

I made a reservation yesterday, upon arrival there was seating at the bar available so decided to sit there instead. Apparently, the B staff was working.

Two ladies were behind the bar. We had just came from the gym. I ordered the jumbo shrimp and it was perfect. I then ordered my usual Thai noodle salad no protein since they no longer offer steak as an option and if I want to add tuna I need to buy the salad and then put it on my plate myself. So strange all the rules they have here.

My Thai noodle salad came out and there was chicken on it, which I didn't order. I actually can't stand chicken. I sent it back and she brought me another one. It looked oddly different than I remember it. One there were barely any noodles, two there was a bunch of shredded iceberg lettuce on it when that was never there before. I asked her if they changed the recipe and where were the noodles. She told me that they did and that she could bring me more noodles. She brought me more noodles but they were just dry, cold noodles. I mixed them in, tried to enjoy and then just sent it back. Please, don't fix what isn't broken.

I then ordered my other usual, which is the cheeseburger, medium rare, no tomatoes and no onions. I requested fries as the side. The dish comes out and the side dish is rice lol like what is this? I told her that I had requested French fries and she said that she would fix it. I also asked why my burger wasn't cut in quarters like it's supposed to be and referenced that, that is what the menu states. She said that if you modify the burger than they no longer cut it in quarters. Again, with the rules. So strange. The kitchen must have been just so excited to have heard a third complaint from me that the Chef came and personally delivered my almost rare burger and fries to me. I am also just assuming he was the Chef since he didn't say anything to me. Not once did anyone apologize or say they were sorry or anything. I decided I wasn't going to give the kitchen a heart attack and send back my burger that was still dripping in blood and ate the majority of it. I'll attach a photo for reference.

I asked for the check since it wasn't in front of me like it should be. The nicer of the two employees said that Michael had picked up our check. I was at first very thrown off because I don't know a Michael. So I just assumed that management had picked it up for all the inconvenience. I said, thank you, that was not necessary. Please let me tip you on my card. I would like to clarify, I was in no way trying to get a free meal. I've been here at least fifty times or more.

She ran my card with my approval for a small amount. However, my friend who was at the bar ended up telling me that he had picked up my check and why are they running my card?! He was not happy about that. BTW, his name was not Micheal lol Had I been told who it was I would have never asked to tip because I know he would've. Here I thought Houstons was doing the right thing for once. ( I have had one other issue here before) But no, that was not correct they didn't apologize for all of the hassles I had to go through and when I was under the impression that management was picking up the check, they were going to try to get a double tip out of it lol

Anyways, I wish I would've had a look at my friends check before we left because he didn't know about the problems that I had. Hopefully, they didn't stick him with the salad that I returned to the kitchen.

I'll be back and hopefully Steve, the greatest employee there will be behind the bar. He is on his stuff and is exceptional. I might even bump...

The food here is always excellent however the service can sometimes be lacking. My friend and I were reconnecting so I decided to take her to a nice restaurant because it had been a while since we saw each other. I spent well over $100 for two salads and a couple of cappuccinos and I don’t feel like the service matched the quality or price of the restaurant. Our waitress never came by to check on us, she forgot to bring me a straw several times and I had to keep reminding her. When she finally brought it over she just tossed it on the table and walked off, and at the end of the meal when we ordered our cappuccinos she says “so just one?” I felt like she insinuated that we were going to share the very small cappuccino that they serve? Perhaps because we were Hispanic it was assumed we did not have enough money for the second $4.50 coffee? Also the cappuccino was way too strong. Should be a perfect ratio of espresso and milk. I’ve had better at Olive Garden! We ordered two Thai noodle salads and those were excellent. The grilled asparagus appetizer was in season so that was available and pretty good as well. But overall to spend that much money for two salads and a couple of cappuccinos was not worth it. I did leave a note on the receipt that I signed and the manager reached out to me -Sarah. However she fell short as well because although she was curious to see where their improvement opportunities were, she did nothing to empathize or make right the experience I had. She even tried to rush me off the phone and her personality was something you’d expect from Dutch bros, exaggerated, fake, hyper and coerced. I should’ve been offered at least some type of compensation whether it be a discount on my next dining experience, or comping a portion if not all of the bill. I think if I had been in her position I would’ve said “we would love to have you come back so that we could have another opportunity to make your dining experience pleasant” and then offer a discount. I was not looking for a free lunch but I feel something like that should’ve been done because no one can take that experience away that we both had. It’s already been done and apologies do very little. I own my own business and the very first thing that I do is to try to make my customers experience right. I always offer to not only fix the issue but I provide feedback to my employees and I always give a discount on the service that they paid for that they were not happy with. That is the way all businesses in the service industry should be run especially with inflation right now -spending that much money on a meal should not feel like this. I still left our waitress a tip in the end but we would have left a lot more had she not fell short in so many areas. There’s a lot of tightening up that needs to be done at that restaurant to be considered...

Is the magic gone?

We lost our Hillstone restaurant in Sacramento (Bandera RIP) several years ago so we make it a point to visit any locations that happen to be in cities we travel to. Today was no different. In fact, after landing in Phoenix and getting our rental car, we decided to navigate to Hillstone Phoenix even though we had dinner reservations at Houston’s later that night!

(I think that makes us evangelists?)

We arrived at Houston’s a few minutes before our reservation and the hostess indicated we would be seated shortly. About 10 minutes after our reservation, we were led to a large, comfy booth.

After another significant delay, our server came to take our drink orders. With drinks in hand our server returned asking if we had questions. My wife and the server discussed the fish options and we asked for a moment to think about what we wanted to order.

After yet another significant delay (this was a trend for the entire night) the server returned and we placed our orders. We skipped appetizers as we were still full of smoked salmon and Dings chicken sandwiches from lunch. Along with the food, I asked for a glass of wine to be served with my meal.

Food service was as prompt as ever (Hillstone really pumps the food out quickly, sometimes too quickly…) but my wine didn’t arrive with my steak. So I waited to dig in to my filet.

And. Waited.

After far too long, our server came to the table and, realizing that she had forgotten to have the wine delivered with my entree, said “Oh,… your wine is coming up right now.”

I said I was looking forward to it.

After another - you guessed it - delay, our server brought my glass of wine. No apology. In fact, from this point forward, I would say our server’s attitude was curt at best.

As far as the meal, the fish was excellent and the steak was well seasoned and prepared to order. The usually reliable potatoes colcannon were oddly sticky in texture, as if we had gotten the bottom of the pot.

After a while our server returned to ask if we were finished. Despite her not offering, we asker for dessert options and ordered the terrific hot fudge sundae along with a nightcap.

At the end we paid our bill and tipped 20% despite not receiving the typical service we expect from Hillstone outlets.

I’ve been to Phoenix four times in the last couple years since my son started college nearby and every time I have come to this Houston’s to enjoy the food, atmosphere and service that we have missed since Bandera closed. Tonight’s experience has me thinking I may not return, and I may not favor Hillstone locations in...