Laurier Cafe & Wine Hours: See Profile   3139 Richmond Ave Houston TX 77098 713.807.1632 You might also be interested in these:     Bistros    Outdoor Dining    Sunday Brunch    ZIP 77098 Profile Description: Laurier Café & Wine is a New American, neighborhood bistro. Our focus is fresh, seasonal, high quality foods prepared to let the ingredients shine. All-natural, hormone free meats. Fresh fish flown in regularly. Award-winning wine list (Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in 2003-2007; My Table Magazine's Top 10 Wine List in 2005; The Houston Chronicle’s Ultimate Wine List in 2003) Laurier also offers a full bar.   Add Review PROFILE     MY REVIEW: A friend and I decided to visit for the first time and we were really impressed. We arrived after 7p.m. and were seated promptly by the friendly hostess. The patio was very attractive but we decided to stay on the inside..Our server was very polite and answered all questions deligently and accurate, the flounder the was mentioned in the special was spectacular and the pom frites get 2 thumbs up...This has to be the best wine list in town by the way! This place is a gem and we will most certainly be back...Kudos to the waitstaff for spoiling us! NAME: Carol Shultz SUBMITTED: 4/6/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 4/5/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Visited on a saturday night, not extrememly busy but had a nice crowd...The host/bartender seemed under the weather but the waitstaff was very attentive to our needs. Goat Cheese Salad is to die for, its a must try item! Will be back certainly to dine on the patio. NAME: txy SUBMITTED: 4/3/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: March 2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Having read both good and bad reviews I decided to try this restaurant on a Saturday evening. I called and tried to make reservations for 7:30 but was told by the hostess that she had only 7:15 or 7:45 so I took 7:45. We arrived at about 7:15 thinking there would be a full house. The place was maybe 1/3 full but the hostess acted like it was a great imposition that we had arrived before our appointed time. The evening went way south after that. My companion wasn't very hungry so she decided on the crab cake appetizer which was quite good she said. I did not taste it. I ordered the arugula salad andd the mussels with frites and aioli. The salad, at any price, was practically unedible, the greens were not fresh, the dressing tasteless and the reggiano acceptable but not great. I could only manage about half of it before giving up. The mussels were steamed properly and were big, very big, and juicy(note, I prefer the smaller PEI's but these were good). However, the broth just wasn't there, bland to the point of almost tasteless. But, the worst is yet to come. The frites and aioli were served ON TOP OF A STEAMING BOWL OF MUSSELS! What is up with that? The aioli was good and the frites would have been also except that I don't like soggy frites. They would have been much better if served in the traditional manner. Dessert was also a dissappointment. My companion ordered the profiteroles which were nicely presented. The filling was good but not great and the pastry was limp and tough - again not fresh. The service was good and I have no complaints about that. My recommendation - there is better food of this type at better prices elswhere in Houston. NAME: foodie-anon SUBMITTED: 1/26/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: Jan/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: A friend and I went for dinner and ordered the same thing - steak medium to medium rare. When the food came out hers was medium and mine was extra-well to shoe leather - black all the way to the center. I mentioned it to the very attentive waiter and he said he'd wondered about that when he was bringing it out. He took it back without further question. The replacement steak was medium well at best and the pommes frites were totally over cooked and cold - as if the chef had pulled them out of the bottom of the fryer from last night. I was not willing to be a repeat complainer, and no one asked how it was, so I ate the middle portion of the steak and the 4-5 fries that were closer to tan than brown. After we'd paid our bill I thought I should say something, so I told the waiter how dissapointed I had been and that truely the food was sub-par. He walked away and I could see that he was discussing, if not arguing, with the bartender. We waited about 5 minutes and then gave up. On the way out I saw a man in chefs clothes behind the bar. I asked if there were a manager I could talk to and he said I should just talk to him. As I described my evening he just said "yeah, yeah, yeah." At the end he said, "so the problem is that your waiter did not bother to tell us you were unhappy with your food?" I tried to re-explain that the service was actually good (perhaps the highlight of the evening) it was the food that was the problem and furthermore, sending back the first plate should have been warning enough. His next statement was "so what do you want from me?" I simply replied that I thought he would want to know that the food being served was frankly unacceptable and that we would not be returning. At no point was anyone at all apologetic. Pass on this one - there are better places to eat in Houston. NAME: Katy SUBMITTED: 11/24/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 11/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: We've been here three times in the last 6 months and have fabulous meals and overall experience. The short ribs with greens are delicious. Same for the duck. Although it wasn't on the menu last night, the braised pork if to die for. The Applewood Bacon Salad is perfect. One of the best salads I've ever had. We did not have a problem with the wait staff at all. In fact, they are very professional. I do not want to be best friends with my waiter. I just want efficient and unobtrusive service. The wine list is also quite good. They serve Gruet by the glass. A sparkly wine from New Mexico that is not on many menus. There are also a variety of half bottles. We had a Rhone that was delicious. I love the fact that it is not in a strip center and is in our neighborhood. NAME: S. Walker SUBMITTED: 6/6/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: June 2007 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Great food made with fresh seasonal ingredients. Great patio. Service & wine list are OK. NAME: Thomas SUBMITTED: 4/6/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 3/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Waiters are still stiff and uninteresting. Food is just okay especially for the price. Chef is pretentious, and I personally hate pretenious food. Enough pretentious people in the world to deal with. Not worth the trip NAME: Debutante Debbie SUBMITTED: 10/20/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/17/06 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Ambiance is great if you don't plan on reading the menu.It's dark, other than that it is a pretty restaurant. The food is worth another try we had two arugula salads there was no dressing on either one we brought it to the attention of our order taker twice he proceeded to seat another table and take there orders.after the dry greens were consumed we ran our finger over the plate it was bone dry. We had a tuna plate it was cooked perfect I had a hook steak which seemed to be like a thick flank steak it was very tasty. The bread pudding was very good, over all the food was OK. The wine list offered a wide variety of medium priced wines. I fell sorry for who ever owners the place the have the worst wait staff I have seen in a long time our order taker would fit a J*ack in the box well. NAME: Doc SUBMITTED: 9/1/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 09-01-06 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Good food, nice atmosphere, a good place to entertain clients for lunch. This might rate a fork in a Michelin red book (if one existed for Houston) NAME: akusadi SUBMITTED: 8/4/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times MY REVIEW: We live just down the street from Laurier, and have been wanting to try their Sunday brunch. Everything was fairly good...We started by sharing the goat cheese salad, which I loved. Then, my boyfriend tried the rare tuna filet and I got the vegetable tart. Both were fine, but the serving sizes were fairly small and it was nothing really extraordinary. THe bottomless mimosas were a big plus, though :). It was a bit pricey for the small serving sizes, but it is a nice atmosphere with a stiff wait-staff. I would recommend it with some reservations due to the cost and waiters. NAME: lkloyd SUBMITTED: 3/13/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 3/12/06 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Laurier Cafe & Wine is nothing special. The wine selection is excelent, but the food was mediocre at best. The chef was stiff and so was the rest of the staff.(especially the woman who greeted us at the door.) Overall, not worth it. Houston has too many restaurants that are far better and I will not bother with this cold atmosphere again. Not a good idea to bring clients that you are trying to impress. NAME: Houston Business Guy SUBMITTED: 2/24/2005   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/2004 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Visited Laurier on a Tuesday night. I loved the decor and atmosphere. The service was appropriately attentive and friendly. The dishes were beautifully presented. While the food was good, it was not great. Perhaps the chef forgot the sauces and seasoning that night. All of the dishes I and my companions got were bland. We had salmon, snapper, penne pasta and risotto. The sauce on the pasta tasted like plain, pureed sun-dried tomatoes. Both fish dishes had nothing noticable to perk them up. The goat cheese salad was exactly like what I serve at home. When I eat out, I want something I wouldn't ordinarily prepare at home. This restaurant has possibilities but needs some serious seasoning. The chocolate cake desert was good, but the others ordered were just ok. NAME: Kathy G. SUBMITTED: 7/23/2004   LAST VISIT WAS: July 2004 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I am not sure where some of the people providing reviews dined, but Laurier Café & Wine is one of my best dining experiences. Then again, Laurier Café & Wine is for the discerning, delicate palate that recognizes and appreciates sophisticated ambiance, elegant cuisine and fine wines. Laurier Café & Wine is a sparkling gem in our hometown crown. Service is great and the staff is very friendly. Whether dining indoors amid artsy, stylish decor or outside on the patio, Chef Fuller's tantalizing dishes can satisfy even the most discerning of palates! I say bravo to his succulent pork tenderloin cooked in a chipotle/citrus marinade accompanied by mouth-watering potato mash. I raise my glass to Laurier Café & Wine's excellent and attractively priced wine selection!! And I can never get enough of my very personal favorite: a best-of-its-kind-in-Houston-sinfully-addictive rich, soft warm chocolate cake served with crème anglaise! NAME: Veteran Diner SUBMITTED: 4/16/2004   LAST VISIT WAS: April 2004 FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name... MY REVIEW: still a seriously boring place. I am sorry but I want a place that has some character and people that are animated. This place ( the chef)wants to be T*ony's and can't get there...lighten up! NAME: karen SUBMITTED: 11/13/2003   LAST VISIT WAS: 11=15=03 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: This is a great bistro and I’m having trouble understanding the negative comments previously posted. Our waiter was attentive, knowledgeable and personable and the food was very good. It wasn’t the most incredible fare in town but for a price/quality ratio it is easily in the top 10 in Houston. They get high marks for a not ridiculously marked up wine list, quality starters, solid entrees (Pork and Steaks were good but could use a bit more seasoning) and a good atmosphere. This is a good place to try and I’ll be back… NAME: finnadat SUBMITTED: 11/3/2003   LAST VISIT WAS: Nov 2003 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Strong points: nice outdoor patio but needs some shrubs, greenery or water fountain of some sort to block the Richmond traffic and noise. Weak points: First experience excellent (service, food, wine....everything). Second experience, when of course I brought friends,.....bad. Overcooked and/or bland. Service was unacceptable. I will not go back. NAME: Christine SUBMITTED: 9/15/2003   LAST VISIT WAS: August 2003 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: I find the place to be stiff and the wait staff to be unfreindly and untrained. They walk around like zombies! The food is at best average and the prices are over priced for what you get. Not a fun place to dine. NAME: jane SUBMITTED: 9/2/2003   LAST VISIT WAS: june2003 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Most people don't realize how many good, fairly offbeat Bistros there are in the city. I love this style of food... relaxed, subtly seasoned, with a good glass of interesting wine. That being said, I can strongly recommend Cafe Laurier. As a warning, please please call them ahead of time. They do seatings, so if you walk in and expect a table, you won't get it. Call and see when they have a seating, and show up then and there will be no problems. My wife and I have been there twice, both times getting excellent service, great food, and personal attention from the owner. We first found the place around my birthday a few years ago. We had read the article in the Press, and being the steak frites kind of guy I am, went when we could. The menu and the wine list are simple but cover a lot of ground, and they're not scared to put adventurous wines on the menu... so when I saw the 95 (yes, 95) Cline Contra Costa County Viognier on the list for $26, needless to say, all the thoughts of steak went right out of my mind and I cajoled my wife into getting the Neiman Ranch pork that had a citrus marinade to it. Now.... the Cline Viognier is a $15 bottle when you can find it in Houston, and the markup seems to be mid-teens across the board. The wine was an amazing match for the pork, and I was shocked to see how good an older Viognier can be. We even had the owner come over to try the wine with us, which was a pleasant surprise. Now, the menu and style of Laurier I would say approaches Chez Panisse: Excellent ingredients done very simply. They make the best sugar snap peas I've ever had (just barely sauteed in oil and nothing else). I've seen some of the other reviews stating that they needed heavy seasoning, and my response to that is this: Educate your palate. Trust that the chef knows what they're doing and don't drown out the subtle character of the food under a pile of salt and pepper. I know of restaurants that don't even have salt and pepper on the table, and trust me... it's a good thing. The next time we went, I was in the mood for the steak, and lo and behold, on the list was the 98 Domaine Raspail-Ay Gigondas for $42. It's a $30 bottle of wine retail, so needless to say, it was a screaming deal for a producer that's only a Gigondas in name. The steak was exquisite, and the wine a perfect match to boot. I even think I ended up dragging the wine around to other patrons who were having steak, and offered them a glass. The ambiance is pleasant, in a modern way. It can get a bit loud at peak times, but it's not as bad as some places I've been. And you can always sit outside on the patio and enjoy the enclosed space and greenery. To sum up: Laurier's a great place, one of the best restaurant's I've been to in Houston, and certainly a better 'Quality to Price Ratio' than others ahead of it. It's a place to let the chef guide you to find some great food that's simply prepared and some excellent, offbeat, more than fairly priced wine. I strongly recommend it. Thanks, Zachary NAME: Zachary SUBMITTED: 3/16/2003   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/02 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: The best thing about the meal was the bread. I found the food to be overpriced and underseaoned. The service was good and the atmosphere was pleasant. There were four of us at dinner and we all came away very disappointed. Nothing we ate, from appetizers, vegetables to the main course, had any interesting "taste" and all required large amounts of salt and pepper. To say the least, the meal fell well short of our expectations. We didn't bother to stay for dessert. NAME: headhunter54 SUBMITTED: 3/13/2003   LAST VISIT WAS: 3/2003 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I went yesterday with a friend who needed steak. I had read the little blurb of a review in the Houston Press, it had recommended the steak frites as better than in Paris. It's location, across from the Pink Pussycat on Richmond was a former barbecue joint, Shorty's. They have really dolled the place up-it is tres something, elegante, chic or upscale, but very classy. You do tend to upgrade your attitude but it also raises your expectations. It has a small dining room, with only about 4 full size tables and a number of the tables for two on the perimeter (which I hate). The patio has service and is very nice. The staff was pleasant, not fawning and somewhat informed. Our waitperson knew there was something special about the salmon but wasn't quite sure until we asked if it was wild. However, she had obviosly done some prep work for the nite as she knew the menus and the specials. The arugula salad was very simple but excellent. The rubbed steak was a good try but it failed. They forgot Wolfgang's proverb, cooking is 90% shopping because the presumably aged strip cooked to specification was not nearly juicy enough. The frites were very crispy, either they have changed since Allison Cook was here or we have different ideas on crispiness. However, they were the shoestring variety and had no potato taste, tasted like unsalted potato chips. We need more potato taste and salt them as soon as they get out of the fryer, please. The sauteed spinach was all right, I mean I ate it all, but really I thought it could be better. I will go again with a more adventuresome appetite for some of the fish specials. NAME: willoughby SUBMITTED: 11/2/2002   LAST VISIT WAS: 11/02 FREQUENCY: Visited once ©Copyright 1991 - 2008 B4-U-EAT.COM. All rights reserved. Design and database by B4-U-BUY