Damian's Cucina Italiana Hours: See Profile   3011 Smith St Houston TX 77006 713.522.0439 You might also be interested in these:     Business Lunches    Italian Food Restaurants    ZIP 77006 Profile Description:   Add Review PROFILE     MY REVIEW: We went as a party of 7. 3 of us had the special of the day, the seafood pasta, and all of us had a horrible meal. The pasta was undercooked and the lobster tail was very rubbery with a membrane that ran through it that was inedible. The others had very good meal and the service and everything else was fabulous but the seafood pasta should be taken off the menu if that is how they prepare it. NAME: Gbateman SUBMITTED: 8/27/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My husband and I have enjoyed the wonderful ambiance and food at Damian's since discovering it over 2 years ago with friends. We travel in from the suburbs of Katy often to enjoy all the fine Dining this Italian Rest. has to offer.An all Italian wine list to satisfy all.Wonderful homebaked breads, excellent appetizers(fried calamari w/marinara our favorite as well as their bruschetta). Salads are fresh and tasty, esp. Insalada Mista (classic Italian) and the Mona Lisa as well as the wonderful tableside prepared Cesear Salad. We have our favorite entree's that are consistently great...excellent fish dishes (Halibut&Flounder daily specials)Perfect Filet, Pollo Menichino(Balsamic Glazed chicken w/sundried tomatoes & goat cheese) & EggplantParmasean. They will kindly substitute pasta with their homemade Marinara instead of fettuccine if you desire. Please save room for great Cappucino and dessert... to die for Italian Cream Cake and for Chocolate Lover's do not pass up the Infusione de Cioccolato. Undescribably decadent!! For the most personal, friendly & professional service anywhere ask for Reuben's table. He will guarantee you a Dining experience that you will not forget and you will continue to come back for more as we do. Well worth the money and drive time to get to Downtown. Valet parking is convenient as well as shuttle service to the Theatre District. This is our favorite in all of Houston for any occassion, esp. special ones. "Thank You" Damien's and Rueben for all you do to make all of our Dining experiences so enjoyable. NAME: Mrs. P SUBMITTED: 4/3/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 03/2008 FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name... MY REVIEW: We enjoyed attentive and efficient service with excellent food. The serving size was more than adequate. Don't miss the Verde Gorgonzola salad. It is tossed with a zingy dressing and mix of bitter greens that accompany the creamy rich cheese very nicely. Desserts (gelato and sorbet) were the low points of the meal, but only relative to the excellent taste and presentation of our entrees: osso bucco and veal marsala. NAME: samadhi SUBMITTED: 9/21/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My husband and I celebrated out 13th year anniversary at Damians... I have nothing negative to say. It is not very loud, we were well taken care of by the wait staff, and the food was amazing. We both had the Filet cooked to our liking. Everything was wonderful and we will go back!!! NAME: REM SUBMITTED: 9/6/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Wonderful! It was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary and we invited family and a few close friends to the "Chef's Table". Because we were a group of 11, we were not actually in the kitchen. We were,however, placed in our own little area. The waiter proceeded to bring us course after course.....we never knew what would come next. Many of us have been to fine restaurants. We were all impressed with the selections and the concept. It made for a memorable evening. Our waiter was always there, but it was as if you never noticed him. Superb service, great, interesting selections. I would do it again in a heartbeat. NAME: Jennifer SUBMITTED: 5/29/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: May/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My wife and I had a wonderful dining expereince. From the service to the food to the ambiance, we enjoyed it all. Our watier was excellent, not pushy at all, but always there when we needed something. The pork chops we some of the best we have ever tasted along with the veal marsala. BOth were wonderful dishes and large portions. Though an upscale place, nieither of the dishes was over $21 and they were amazing and worth it. I would recommend. NAME: SC SUBMITTED: 4/30/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 04/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: For my wife's birthday, I reserved the chef's table at Damians. We had seen the unimpressive exterior many times as we brunched at Brennens. A review in here at b-u made it sound worth the chance. Eating out is our vice and only real hobby, I mention this only to let people know that we are aware of what makes a fine restaurant. From T*ony's to M*axim, Cafe A*nnie, La R*eserve, and such. I cannot remember our having a better dining experience in Houston. Ruben, our waiter was fantastic. His enthusiasm for the restaurant and his job was refreshing. The breads were freshly baked on site and when my wife commented to Ruben that she loved the special basil pesto on the ravioli appetizer, he rushed off to get us a second appetizer having the pesto as an ingredient. Soup, great. Salad with grilled shrimp great, appetizers were great, but then came the entrée, a beautifully done fillet and a fantastic sea bass, both were of entrée proportion ny themselves. We were encouraged to move about the kitchen to watch every stage and station. We met many of the staff and one thing that we could not help noticing was the cheerful attitude in the kitchen. At times, they were very busy but they always worked efficiently and cheerfully. Bravo Damian’s, bravo. NAME: Stan & Beth SUBMITTED: 4/7/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: April 2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Went to Damian's with another couple this Saturday for our once a month pick a restaurant we haven't tried dinner. Picked Damian's since the reviews were so good and it was our Christmas gettogether. What a disappointment! Even with a reservation, we were stuck in the side room between two large (20+) tables at a table right on top of a door (which made for very cold dining - at one point I had to put back on my coat and I did have a sweater on). Waited an hour for our entrees and when they arrived they sat on the serving table with covers for 5 minutes. Needless to say our dinners were lukewarm and fettucine alfredo side was pasty. My husband's "straw and hay" had unidentified dried pieces of some vegetable in it (joked that this was probably the "hay") Oh and only when you get there do you find out that they "don't do separate checks". We've been doing the once a month dinner for 5 and a half years and have rarely ran into that, unless it was a newer restaurant. Will probably be our first and last visit.... NAME: Clair SUBMITTED: 12/11/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/9/06 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: We selected the chef's table at Damian's to celebrate our anniversary this year. The chef's table is in a small, private room in the kitchen. The door is glass so you can close it to block the noise and still see everything. The view is actually straight down the line so you see all the action. Our server, Ruben, took amazing care of us. He really took time to get to know us and visited us just often enough, but not too often. Perfect. After selecting a wine, we had our first visit from Chef Napoleon. He had this quiet confidence about him that made us really look forward to what was to come. After sampling an assortment of fresh breads from their bakery upstairs, we tasted our first course...a delicious lobster soup in a bread bowl. Next came a salad of fresh grilled begetables in field greens followed by a sorbet. The first main course had cherry tomatoes and potato gnocchi in a spicy marinara. At this point, Ruben showed up with aprons and hats and we joined the line to make our own dishes. I cooked up some of Damian's signature shrimp and my wife put together a shrimp fettuccine in spicy marinara. Their spicy marinara was excellent! Then it was time for main course number two...lobster and filet mignon stuffed with gorgonzola and covered in a port wine reduction. There was also an eggplant puree served in a large tomato. It was all so perfect. Chef Napoleon visited and told us some of his experiences while cooking in Italy. We were then taken into the dessert area where we just pointed at whatever we wanted. Simply amazing. I had a tiramisu and my wife had a lemon tart. We were also given some fudge cake with chocolate sauce, some Italian cream cake, and a tray of fresh cookies to go. They also gave us a chicken fettuccine alfredo for the babysitter. We left with two bags of food! Absolutely amazing. Most highly recommended. NAME: Boyd SUBMITTED: 11/20/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 11/06 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: One of my absolutely favorite restaurants. I used to live in Houston and would go there whenever I got the opportunity. I always ordered the same dish - Shrimp Damian. In fact, I would even get it to go after work when I had to work late some nights. I also loved one of their salads, insalada mista. Service is also excellant! Anyway, I would recommend the resturant to anyone. NAME: Lisa Moran SUBMITTED: 1/14/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 2004 FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name... MY REVIEW: I've always had a wonderful time here with my parents. We believe that the food here is reasonably priced.. especially for tuscan italian food.. and there really are a lot of choices in the Houston area. The ambiance is intimate, and not noisy like some places. I had the Snapper Nino Jr this time, but on a previous visit.. the fish was even better. Not to say that this time, it was horrible.. but that there could have been some more pizazz to it. Other than that.. my younger sister seems to love the Fettichini Alfredo.. NAME: bluefish SUBMITTED: 5/12/2005   LAST VISIT WAS: May/ 2005 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: I come to Houston 5 or 6 times a year from San Diego. On other trips I've been to H*ouston's, B*irraporetti's, and V*ic & Anthony's, to name a few. Damian's was by far the best experience yet. Not only was the service and the ambience impeccable, but the food was very, very good. Every bite of every serving was awesome! My friend and I split a Mona Lisa salad that we both loved, and it kept getting better and better as the wine, entree's and dessert came. I will tell everyone I know traveling to Houston about this restaurant. Truly a great experience. NAME: Tom - San Diego SUBMITTED: 2/1/2005   LAST VISIT WAS: Feb-05 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: An inexpensively priced fine dining experience with outstanding fare. The wine list has good breadth with a fair number of inexpensive choices for the cost conscious. On my 3rd trip, I enjoyed a veal stuffed half-moon pasta with a lemon-sage butter sauce. Others in the party of 4 enjoyed a very generous portion of pasta with lobster (reasonable @ $23 and the most expensive item on the menu) and a rolled pasta with asparagus. Deserts were all FANTASTIC. The best part of the entire affair was the check. $140 included a $40 bottle of wine, one additional $7 glass of wine, 4 salads, 4 entrees, and 4 desserts. Very reasonable for a dining experience of this caliber. Reservations essential for weekend engagements. NAME: S SUBMITTED: 8/27/2003   LAST VISIT WAS: August/03 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: My girlfriend and I decided to try out Damian's for our 3 year anniversary recently. We were impressed to say the least. Our waiter was on top of our every want and need, and his knowledge of the menu was remarkable. It was as if was the one who made up all of the recipes. I had the stuffed veal chop, topped with a mushroon marsala wine sauce, and it was among the best veal dishes (if not all dishes) I have ever had. My girlfriend had the featured fish of the day, and loved it. Sure it was a bit pricey, but that is to be expected for such a nice restaurant. Atmosphere was homey, warm, and romantic. Highly recommended. NAME: Russell Wallace SUBMITTED: 10/17/2002   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/2002 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My husband & I were in Houston celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary & decided to try Damian's. The service could not have been any better & the "Chillian Sea Bass w/scallops & crawfish was "out of this world". We will definitely make Damian's a "definite" any time we are in the downtown area. We are recommending it to all our friends. NAME: Nancy & Robert SUBMITTED: 7/1/2002   LAST VISIT WAS: July 2002 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I forgot to add to my last review on this restaurant that we had calamari for an appetizer. It was really bad! Rubbery, no flavor, and a very small portion for the price. NAME: markh SUBMITTED: 1/27/2002   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/02 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: This is a very pricey restaurant. The service is excellent, but the food does not live up to the prices. We had stuffed "jumbo" shrimp which had to be the smallest jumbo shrimp I have ever seen. There were 4 shrimp stuffed with a crab meat dressing, which was "okay" tasting, but not fantastic. Others had spinach ravioli in a crawfish sauce with blackened scallops. The scallops were a little too blacken for my taste and the plate was loaded with more ravioli then any thing else. The food was not bad, just not great, with outrageous prices. NAME: Markh SUBMITTED: 1/27/2002   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/02 FREQUENCY: Visited once ©Copyright 1991 - 2008 B4-U-EAT.COM. All rights reserved. Design and database by B4-U-BUY