Catalan Food & Wine Bar   5555 Washington Ave Houston TX 77007 713.426.4260 You might also be interested in these:     Spanish Restaurants    Tapas    ZIP 77007   Add Review       MY REVIEW: My first review never showed up. Catalan is getting mixed reviews b/c they are mixed. Some food is excellent (my friend had the steak and it had great flavor) and some is not (I had the pork chop and it was mainly fat with no flavor). We had reservations but still had to wait about 45 min, BUT they did make up for it by giving us a complimentary app. The bar was too crowded and bartenders and wait staff alike seem annoyed to be serving you. Atmosphere is great but it IS loud and I'm 30. I think its a great place for a small to medium size group so you can be loud and no one will notice. Desserts are interesting but expensive. I will not be going back b/c its not spectacular... NAME: Gemma SUBMITTED: 8/12/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 3-2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: What's with the Houston fixation on valet services? At least have the decency to leave the spots near the restaurant for the customers who do not wish to valet their cars. I find it maddening to see 10 empty front row spots blocked off with cones so I can't park in them. What valet parking does is make me wait to drop off my car, wait to pick up my car, and cost me money for the inconvenience. Isn't valet parking supposed to be a convenience for the customer? This Houston epidemic is really frustrating! The last time I went to Catalan, I refused to wait in a line to drop off my car, so I moved a cone and parked my car myself. The valet tried to get me to move my car but I wouldn't -he was pretty rude. Aside from the maddening valet experience, I really enjoy the food at Catalan. The service is impeccable and the food is always interesting. I think the portion sizes are perfect - not too much, not too little. It is a bit pricey but I don't think the prices are out of line with the quality of the food. NAME: Eater SUBMITTED: 2/17/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: Feb / 2008 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times MY REVIEW: I was there a Saturday night. I have to wait for almost one hour at the bar drinking a couple of a very expensive cup of glasses of an inexpensive wine ($11 each). I had a pork chop, 1/3 was bone, 1/3 was fat and the rest meat. The seasoning wasn’t that wonderful, it was Ok, a lot of butter. It came with 2 little boiled carrots, 2 pieces of green asparagus and mash potato with parmesan cheese, nothing fancy ($30), a rip off. Service impeccable. I have a Spanish heritage and we don’t have this kind of dish down there. I don’t know why this restaurant is under the Spanish category. NAME: Armando Rivera SUBMITTED: 1/16/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Unusual decor. Food is good but if you are hungry you will be disappointed. Fried smelts were an off the menu treat and were very good. Wife had cauliflower puree with her salmon and both were tasty. Lamb porterhouse was good but 3 bites at most for $30 - rip off. Banana split was good but for $12 they should be embarrassed. NAME: Larry Reese SUBMITTED: 1/12/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Food is unusual and tasty. They do a special birthday treat with an oversized martini glass filled with cotton candy and a sparkler- nice touch. Fish stew is wonderful- so is the Gulf shrimp, grits, Cabalase au gratin... The weak points is that it is very noisy, the piped in music is too loud, it is too dark to read the menu if you are middle-aged and older...My table mate ordered the pork chop on the menu and it was unevenly cooked. It was so noisy no one at the table could hear each other or hear the waiter when he came over to discuss the specials, or talk to us. I have been there for lunch and the ambiance and noise level is much saner. The dessert menu is very limited but again unusual and creative. NAME: Houstonfoodie SUBMITTED: 12/21/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: December/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: We were extremely pleased. We both had the specials - I had the venison and my wife had a fish from Hawaii. Both were spectacular. The salads we picked also had some unique and home made cheeses. I think that is what makes this place stick out - interesting, unique and fresh combinations. Very high quality ingredients. Service was very good and a great, reasonably priced wine list. Agree with others that noise is too much. One complaint - I have a problem with a restaurant that blocks off all the spots in the lot and then have valet (with no nearby parking). NAME: erioladastra SUBMITTED: 12/9/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Service very attentive. Food outstanding. Wine bottle price marked up suprisingly small amount. Noise level-unbearable. NAME: Pablo C. SUBMITTED: 10/11/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: October 2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: What a find! I had read many great reviews on this restaurant, so for a friend's recent milestone birthday we decided to try Catalan. Based on other's suggestions here, we got early reservations (6 pm) on a Saturday. We were the second group to be seated, but that quickly changed. Within an hour the entire restaurant was full, and the bar area was overflowing as well. We were seated promptly at a table in the back next to the wine storage wall. Richard was our guide during this culinary adventure. He was very knowledgeable of both the menu items and the off the menu specials for the evening. He was able to bring out a couple of appetizers with extra portions so each one in our group could sample one (a great suggestion) and even brought out a couple of samples of some interesting ice creams that were accompanying other dishes (vidalia onion, bacon) so we could taste them. We told him that this was our first visit, and he recommended we try the Crispy Pork Belly (bacon lollipops, as he called them), and the off the menu Alligator boulletes. Both were great suggestions and we thoroughly enjoyed them. My wife and one of our other guests put the by the glass half pours to good use, sampling several wines throught the course of the meal. I think their favorite of the evening was the Argentinian Malbec. For our "Big Plates", we chose the shrimp with bacon sage grits, a thick berkshire pork chop, and a couple of evening specials - a sea bass dish and a de-constructed venison wellington. Everyone was very happy with their selections and we all sampled from each other's plates. Everything was great! Somehow we saved room for dessert, but I think we were spoiled by the previous courses. We had the trio of creme brulees, the white chocolate bread pudding, the chocolate caramel tart (the salt on top was just a bit odd), and a fig dessert. The white chocolate bread pudding was probably the best out of the four that we ordered, but I think we were too full and happy to really care at that point. We had a great experience and will definitely be back! NAME: HabanosNV SUBMITTED: 8/13/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I love, love, love this place. I've been twice in the within last week. Once on Friday night and the other on Thursday night. The wine list is extensive and there are plenty of options. The food is amazing Yes, it's trendy so dress appropriately. It is a great date place. I would make a reservation for weekend nights. Some of the tables are a bit close to one another and it can get loud. Friday night was busy and we had to eye our waiter once but otherwise it was fabulous. On both of my visits the manager stopped by and inquired as to how our dinner was. The really notable dishes are the sausage, spicy garlic shrimp, and arborio dusted calamari The gnocchi is unbelievable-it's a must. We also had the crème brule trio and warm cookies for dessert, both were excellent. Again I can't say enough about this place, I love, love love, it. NAME: mary SUBMITTED: 6/22/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 6/20/07 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Strong points for us the food and the service was very good in terms of attentiveness and timing. I have one big complaint in that they need a decently priced "house" cabernet. My experience has been that when you order a "house" wine you are requesting a low priced wine. We found out when the bill arrived that the house wine was $14 a glass! My friend would have ordered a mixed drink at $8 if we would have been forewarned. I think that is wrong and we felt that we were caught in a game of "gotcha." We complained to the waiter who agreed and said that's the only wine we have. He complained to management for us but management did not visit the table to address our complaint and it stayed on the bill. I have money to spend and I am a frequent diner. The food is very good. Will I go back? Who knows, but they don't care. NAME: FF SUBMITTED: 6/3/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 6/2/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: The variety of menu items was nice, and there were numerous yummy options. Our waiter was very helpful since it was hard to choose which tapas to try. We had the gnocci, sausage, spicy garlic shrimp, grits, and fried pork belly all of which were superb. My absolute favorite, however, was the gnocci! Creamy & delicious are the perfect descriptors of the dish, & I had to force myself to stop eating it. We also enjoyed a nice half bottle of wine that came highly recommended by the waiter though I can't remember the name of it. Typically, waiter advice is a dime a dozen, but these were excellent recommendations so either he's a foodie like us or everything is THAT GOOD! We'll be back. NAME: Food Is Love SUBMITTED: 6/1/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: May/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: One of my co workers also works here and gave me a heads up on what to order. First I love the wine list and the two size of by the glass pours. I was able to experience a Cabernet Franc without having to buy a whole bottle and my friend was able to have a wonderful Pinot Noir to taste. She fell in love with a German Riesling they had by the glass. The food was fun. First ordered the Salmon with the Fennel salad. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the flavors to blend like I expect in a combination. I tasted either all Salmon or all fennel, but never the two. Now, the Arborio Dusted Calamari was impressive. It is so lightly breaded it never got heavy to eat. Calamari is tough to do well, but this was good. The cheese plate was an adventure with the sheep's milk, cow's milk blue and aged goat's milk cheeses. I love the blue cheese with the quince paste and almonds. We sat outside. It was intimate but two things need improvement. First maybe some more lighting. After sunset it was hard to read the menu. Second is the view. How romantic is it to have a view of a foreign car repair shop when you know the Houston skyline is right behind the box drugstore next door? I wonder if it would be possible to have a roof top patio someday? Our server Adrian was very helpful and the manager was joy to speak with. A good experience over all and I will be back. NAME: Etype Lover SUBMITTED: 2/25/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Superb wine list and food items. We arrived early, 6PM and the place was full by 7PM. We absolutely enjoyed our wines and the food. The "shots" of gazpacho were perfect for us and we adored the asparagus and the crabmeat appetizer. The atmosphere is sophisticted but not pretentious. I really love this place and plan to visit again this week! NAME: MissMeister SUBMITTED: 1/15/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Chilly diner: Maybe its because they want to keep the wine at a decent temperature? The cost of a cellar for the amount of wine they have would be astronomical? Anyway, the food here is outstanding and the wine list is about as good as it gets. NAME: jscarbor SUBMITTED: 1/15/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/07 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: We had lunch here today. The food was fabulous. The wine was great, as well. The atmosphere is bussling and exciting; however, it is a bit noisy. Overall, our experience was good. The shrimp with grits was excellent; the salmon with cauliflower puree was superb; and the skilled seared chicken with risoto was very tasty. Everyone inside looked like they were having a good time. Good food. Recommend. NAME: Ginny SUBMITTED: 1/11/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: January 2007 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Enjoyed a fabulous dinner and wines ... but, let's face it, the place was FREEZING COLD! What's the point in serving delicious hot dishes which rapidly cool off before you can enjoy them? Not to mention the discomfort level of the dining patrons. My date had to leave our table to retrieve a jacket from his valet-parked car ... and during his absence, our small plates arrived from the kitchen. (Recommendation: Hand out warm blankets at the door if they continue to keep A/C on max ... presumably for the comfort of the rushing waitstaff?) NAME: Chilly Diner SUBMITTED: 1/8/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: December 2006 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I have mixed feelings about my visit to Catalan. First, we made reservations (for this past Friday night), and were seated right away. We did go early, however, and it was totally packed by the time we left. Second, the service was inconsistent. Our server was nice, but various waitstaff members kept bringing food to our table that we didn't order. They seemed very disorganized, but were nice about it. The food was fabulous, albeit a little overpriced, in my opinion. I had two of the small plates; the salmon with fennel and satsumas, as well as the seared tuna, and found the tuna to be especially delicious. I also tried a shot of the sweet potato soup, which was their nightly special. The wine list was staggering, and I found a nice rioja for a fair price per glass. When we got the bill, they had added an item that I didn't order, which was one of the items they tried to bring to our table. Also, on the bottom of the menu, it says that 19% gratuity will be added to table of 6 or so. I was with a party of four and they added 19% gratuity. I thought this was pretty ridiculous, and was frustrated by the ambiguity of saying "6 or so". Catalan was fun for people watching, and the food was good, but I don't think I'll go back. I think you can have just a good a meal, with half the hassle and half the bill elsewhere! NAME: Jelu81 SUBMITTED: 1/8/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: January 2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Absolutely wonderful restaurant! Exquiste menu with a variety of dishes that had great flavor to each on of them. The seafood stew is to die for and I liked the ambiance and the way the restaurant was set up. Our waiter was very friendly, I believe his name was James or Jameson and he was very articulate, professional and provided wonderful service. Would truly recommend this restaurant to my co-workers or friends NAME: Spice Lover SUBMITTED: 1/5/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/23/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Stop right here...there are too many GREAT restaurants in Houston to waste your $$ at this establishment. We wish someone would have stopped us from making this our venue of choice for New Year's Eve. The atmosphere was great; we were seated promptly upon arrival; as with Ib*iza, the wine choices were fabulous, as were the prices. Unfortunately, the ribeye was nothing but rubbery fat (but the manager states that the appeal of this cut of meat???) and the chicken dish was nothing more than 2 ridiculously dry pieces of meat that I could not taste any flavor from, as I could barely swallow it. It's a shame that Washington Ave. is getting a wonderful facelift of great wine venues, but the restaurants leave much to be desired! NAME: notahappydiner SUBMITTED: 1/5/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 12.31.06 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: The food was delicious, the wine list was gigantic with the best prices I've ever seen. This is definitely not a place for children, or parties of more than 4 people. Atmosphere is bustling and romantic. The hostesses were very nice as well as the wine guys. We overheard the table next to us complaining about the valet. It is complimentary, how cheap can you be? My group of 3 came in at 6:30 and were seated promptly. But from 7-9 the place was PACKED- so avoid coming in at those times. Make a reservation early or late or you'll regret it. This really is a happening place NAME: escape SUBMITTED: 12/29/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/22/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: We have been wanting to try this restaurant out since it opened, tried to go on Tuesday night and there was an hour and a half wait! We couldn't believe it! But last night we went earlier (around 6:30) with a couple friends of ours and were seated right away. Our server was very friendly and had great recommendations about wine and could easily explain all of the items on the menu. The wine list is extensive with a wide price range. We each got 2 small plates and shared them, everything came out hot and was absolutely delicious! I couldn't make myself try the pork bellies, even though other reviewers seemed to like them and our server said it was the best on the menu! Some of the small plates are overpriced--the asparagus was cooked perfectly but there were only 5 pieces! The atmosphere was nice but loud. The bar area is too small. Our service overall was great, always there to fill our waters and wine and take our plates away. We will definitely be back, I'd like to try some of the big plates. Oh, and I suggest going before 7:00, by 8pm the place is packed. NAME: Katy SUBMITTED: 12/21/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/20/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Great restaurant. Service was fast and friendly. Food was very good. The gnochi was very good. The seafood stew was suberb in taste, a little messy to eat with the shells in it. Atmosphere was very nice, but too loud. It was difficult to have a conversation without having to shout. The temperature was too cold. Overall great experience. Will be back. NAME: Bon vivant. SUBMITTED: 12/8/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Excellent food and service. We had 6-7 of the small plates and all were superb. In fact, I liked the small plates more than my "big" plate which was a perch-like fish from some godforsaken part of the universe. Don't misunderstand-it was very good but the small plates were so exceptional that it paled in comparison. The cockles small plate was the best. I thnk next time I will just get small plates for my entire dinner. NAME: Bibliomaven SUBMITTED: 11/26/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: Nov-06 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: We got there and we were seated immediately but it took forever to get the menus. The service was not good at all. About an hour later we had some of the small dishes and I had the gazpacho and I loved it. Great flavoring. My sister had the gnocchi and that was wonderful as well. It took about another 45 minutes to get the entrees. I had the special which was great but the skate fish was topped with crab meat and added absolutely nothing to the dish. Would have been wonderful without it. The service took so long that I think our waiter was trying to hurry us up. Never brought us dessert menus, just sort of assumed that we were done after the entrees. That was okay though since we had already been there for over two hours and didn't have the time to wait another 45 minutes for dessert. Oh, and make sure you bring a jacket...it was freezing in there. Overall the food was great but the service was awful. I don't really know if I'd go back again. NAME: Margaret SUBMITTED: 11/25/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 11/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: This is my second review, the first one never showed up. This is not a Spanish restaurant. I have been to Spain several times, lived there, have relatives there. Nobody will top a "tortilla" (egg and potato) with a poached egg! The pimientos del piquillo in the tortilla dish were almost invisible. The garlic soup (with more egg) had nothing to do with the garlic soup in Spain. The chorizo they serve is the real thing, but all the flavor bleeds away when they cook it. You will never find cooked chorizo as an appetizer in Spain. Great atmosphere and service, impressive wine list, but do not be fooled. They do not serve Spanish food. NAME: Clara SUBMITTED: 11/19/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited once ©Copyright 1991 - 2008 B4-U-EAT.COM. All rights reserved. Design and database by B4-U-BUY