Brasserie Max and Julie   4315 Montrose Blvd Houston TX 77006 713.524.0070 You might also be interested in these:     Bistros    French Restaurants    ZIP 77006   Add Review       MY REVIEW: We love Max & Julie's, and it's mostly due to the ambiance of the place. It is a very lovely, but casual and relaxing place to dine. We get there before 7:00, and have always been seated promptly. We usually stay at least 2 hours, and never feel rushed. Some of their food items are better than others. The rabbit confit is fabulous, as are the beef tips with 3 different dipping sauces. Best bernaise sauce ever, and we love to dip the pomme frites into the bernaise! Their wine list is extensive, and they have plenty of affordable wines to choose from, as well as some pricier ones. Also, this is the one place I really don't mind having to valet park due to the very friendly and sweet valet. He is a gem, and will take good care of your car. My only complaint is that they seem to have a high turnover rate on their waitstaff. Each time we go, we see different waiters, and as a result, they always seem a bit inexperienced. I wish they could find some really good help and stick with them. However, this is not enough to turn us off of this great restaurant. The manager is always on the floor to oversee the staff, and take care of any mishaps or help with a wine selection. Overall, just a lovely dining experience every time. NAME: Luv 2 Eat SUBMITTED: 8/22/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 06/08 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times MY REVIEW: A MUCH better place to enjoy a good meal than the previous A*ries that used this space with dismal results. Went to Max and Julie's for dinner last night with my partner. Being used to the Bay Area California food scene as well as extensive travel to Western and Eastern Europe, it sure was a blessing to find good French food right here in Houston. The only complaint I had was with the Foie Gras Maison which was more akin to a "terrine" style foie gras. It would be much better if they used WHOLE pieces of goose liver. I had the Lapin Confit which was very juicy with just the right touches of mushrooms, carrots, onions and a lite sauce. The wine list is more than adequate, allowing you to enjoy a nice '05 Chateau L'Ecuyer, Pommerol for around $80.00 or choose to splurge on an '04 Chateau Desmirail Margaux for a cool $700. Keeping in mind that the French Bordeaux wines are what people think of when they envision "French Cuisine", a cheap $80 bottle will be just as satisfying as the $1,200 bottle of '05 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. Another misnomer would be calling Max and Julie's a "bistro". This place is a true French "brasserie", through and through. NAME: BuddhaBoyz SUBMITTED: 7/11/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 07/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I can see how the mix of good and not so good reviews below seem accurate. The drive out for two for saturday lunch was $200, but that included $70 in wine and the wine was very good (self selected). Onion soup was delicious and piping hot. Oysters were delicious, but why not serve local oysters rather than east coast varieties @ $25 per dozen? Steak tartare was excellent, good texture and seasoning, although I much prefer hand cut fries. The beef bourganion (that is misspelled, but it is french beef stew) was very good and enough for two, particularly with that good bread. Desserts were a little lame as cheese plate was too small and baked apple was just ok. Our waitress was very good and service was relaxed and timely. I think I would go back, but not when the owner's 6 year old is running through the dining area and kitchen. NAME: face of downtown SUBMITTED: 2/17/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: The food is living up to it's expectation for sure... everyone at the table cleaned up our plates. The waiter, however, is a better sommelier than a waiter. He had us and 3 more tables and things seems to take a long time in compare to another veteran. 2 of the friends did complain it was hard to fine. But, the Duck Magret was great, the rack of lamb is as good as it sounded. The fish was fresh and we asked our waiter to check w/ the kitchen. Even the rice was delicious. Definitely will return. NAME: WannabeFoodie SUBMITTED: 2/12/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/12/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Our first visit was wonderful. Our second one was a disappointment. I think it's great that the waitstaff is from around the world, but they need to understand our requests. Our waitress obviously didn't. We ordered the ribeye with frites and it came with potato puffs. My husband and I ordered the fish special and his fish portion was twice the size of mine (at the same price). We were told it had 5 clams on it, we each got 3. When we told the waitress she just looked at us and didn't say or do anything. Our wine glasses were empty for more than 5 minutes and when we asked her to get our wine bottle, she couldn't find it. We had to wait for the sommelier to come upstairs to locate it. The ribeye that we ordered was large and flat. The table next to us ordered it too and it was large and thick. They need to be more consistent on their size portions and perhaps hire another waitperson to help out. NAME: bdug SUBMITTED: 2/3/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/08 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Sadly, it will be quite some time until I go back. 3 out of the 4 times I have eaten there have been a bit hit or miss. Considering the not-so-bistro prices, this is really unacceptable. I had been so excited to hear that the baby sister of Cafe R*abelais was going to be opening three short blocks from where I live. However, M&Js Brasserie has a long way to go before the quality of the food is comparable. The service has been decent, but between the cold onion soup, Bone of lamb (one sad little chop where a rack ought to have been) and the raw lobster, needless to say my date has been consistently disappointed. The escargot should use the recipe that R*abelais has and some attention to what is leaving the kitchen plated needs to be significantly improved. The bread however is quite good, if one were to exist on bread alone. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they get the bugs worked out soon, but until then, I'll be eating at R*abelais for my bistro fix. NAME: Chelseagirl SUBMITTED: 10/23/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/05/07 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times MY REVIEW: The most authentic French bistro in Houston. Seafood plateau was excellent. My wife thought the shrimps were the best she had had in town. Trout was excellent. Service still developing - friendly but not polished. NAME: FoodMaven SUBMITTED: 10/13/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I have to wonder about people like CFS who contribute nothing to our knowledge about this restaurant but merely criticize someone else's comments. I, for one, found the criticized review informative. I found CFS's review totally useless in judging whether Max and Julie was worth a visit. Happily there are many other reviews which are quite useful. We found the food at Max and Julie to be quite good and well worth many more visits. The service was good and the staff knowledgable about the the menu. NAME: SHF SUBMITTED: 9/27/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: Sept 2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: We did lunch here...there are daily lunch specials as well as the full menu. The menu is great, very regional with lots of specialties. We had the poulet basquaise (basque chicken) and the casoulet toulousain (duck confit, sausage, pork belly and bean) both were delicious. We had some frites (yummy) and the chocolate gateau for dessert. Great service and beautiful atmosphere. Can't wait to go back. NAME: matty fatty SUBMITTED: 9/22/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I have to say that I am impressed. I am not a person that usually writes about a meal,but I believe people should know about this place. This will be my new favorite place. Bone marrow, Sweetbreads, Kidneys, Foie Torchon. I have not gone enough to eat all of the things that I want to try yet. I just can't get enough bone marrow. This is what a French brasserie should be. This is what Houston needs, more places like it. Wine list rocks, Rose by the carafe! Along with really good wines from the Loire and Rhone. Congrats on this place. NAME: c shepherd SUBMITTED: 9/14/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 09/07 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Food was terrific. My husband had the fish stew and I had the pepper steak topped off by a delicious apple desert. Service was excellent. I'm looking forward to working my way through the menu. NAME: Christine SUBMITTED: 9/14/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Excellent replication of a genuine French brasserie like one we've been to in Paris. Good menu - reminds me of Les H*alles on South Park Ave in New York. Staff was still learning, but enthusiastically with good working knowledge of the cooking methods and ingredients. We started with two 1664's on tap! (One of my only recommendations is that they get 1664 glasses instead of typical pub beer glasses.) House pate was great as was a salad. We shared a well balanced cheese sampler to complete a light lunch. Can not get it off our minds, so we're going back tonight to try what looked like an excellent French wine list at very decent prices. Can't wait to try steak au poivre and frites! (And profiteroles!) It is awesome to finally have a brasserie in Houston (vs. a bistro or restaurant to use the French grading system for dining establishments). NAME: MWS SUBMITTED: 9/14/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: August /2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I have to wonder about people who bring children to a French restaurant and then complain that there is no kids menu. Do you expect corn dogs and chicken fingers at a French restaurant? You can get those anywhere! There is no reason that a child can't learn to like good French cuisine if exposed to it. NAME: CFS SUBMITTED: 9/5/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Excited by the possibiilty of escaping the crowds at this restaurant's excellent sibling, Cafe Rabelais, we tried it for the first time on a Thursday evening. Everything, ambience, decor, service, was wonderful except the food. Apple and beet salad was good enough, and my wife really liked her pork chop, but I had two really awful dishes. I tried the Bouef Bourguignon to test the kitchen on this bistro classic and was miserably disappointed. I expected moderate size cubes of beef, probably chuck or other inexpensive cut, but cooked forever until it was meltingly tender. What I got was a single five inch square slab of beef about 1 1/2 inches thick. I don't know what cut it was originally, but there was almost none of the connective tissue essential to a tender and moist end product. I would guess this was eye of the round. The top and bottom surfaces were so uniform that they looked like the meat had been cut on a saw while frozen or sliced off a cooked roast instead of being stewed for hours. It was tough and dry as shoe leather and clearly needed at least another two hours cooking. The sauce was okay but was missing that wonderful winey and beefy quality usually associated with this dish. The other major disappointment was the Chocolate Souffle dessert which was nearly tasteless and seemed to have been made with cocoa instead of top quality bittersweet chocolate. The accompanying Creme Anlaise sauce was likewise very short on flavor. The souffle lacked all of the texture and crunch one expects in a really fine rendition of this dessert, such as offered by T*ony's. I understand the desire of the French owners to present an exclusively French wine list for the sake of authenticity, but this doesn't well serve the interests of the clientele. The by-the-glass choices were pricey and mostly mediocre. One exception was a Rhone white which is unusual and my wife found very nice. My regional red Burgundy was nothing special. There are numerous Pinot Noirs from around the world which would have been much better for the $9 price. We wanted so much to like this place which is only a few blocks from our house. The food was so bizarre that I just don't know how to justify going back. NAME: rpenmanparker SUBMITTED: 8/31/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 08/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: We had a group of nine, including 3 children. We were seated in a private room upstairs. The service was very poor and the menu, though interesting for the adults, was far from child friendly. The food, when it finally arrived, was good. I would not bring most children to this restaurant and I would refuse to sit upstairs. The constant pouring of water after each sip was definitely annoying. There is potential here but the waitstaff needs additional training. I will try this restaurant again with a smaller group of adults. NAME: Gafrit SUBMITTED: 8/30/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/29/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Stopped in....nice looking place....interesting menu....uh oh, they only serve wine and beer, no cocktails, I left, so other diners be advised. NAME: faceofdowntown SUBMITTED: 8/15/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: After missing a turn last Friday, we ended up at Brasserie Max and Julie. We fortuitously decided to give it a try. The melieu was warm, our waiter was knowledgable and helpful, and the food was superb. Our waiter told us about the seafood special of the day ,a wonderful, yet simple monkfish stew It was judiciously flavored with saffron. All other ingredients were correctly balanced, so as not to overcome the delicate flavor of the fish. The sancerre, also suggested by the waiter, was a perfect pairing with the stew. It was light and crisp , with just enough flavor to complement the fish. The menu has some unusual offerings for the Houston area. We are looking forward to sampling the pot a feu, blood sausage, and cassoulet. Oh, and perhaps a tarte tatin or dessert souffle ! NAME: pajamacat SUBMITTED: 8/6/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: This restaurant is a great addition to our neighborhood. I always wanted to live within walking distance of a French bistro. (It's not a brasserie in the strict definition of the term.) The menu had a wide variety of very French offerings. We enjoyed the pate and foie gras. The foie gras is not a solid piece, but pressed together chunks; still it is unctuous and mellow. The beef was far better than most beef you get in any French bistro I have ever eaten in. Other entrees were solid. The service was good, although I don't necessarily require that my water glass be filled after each sip. A nice selection of wines by the glass and half bottle. We will return. NAME: omarthe cat SUBMITTED: 8/2/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 08/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Awesome French resturant. The atmosphere is romantic and fun. The food is superb. First place in Houston I have found really good Steak Tartare. I will be going back to sample more of the menu. NAME: W SUBMITTED: 8/2/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/1/07 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Discovered this new gem yesterday. Felt like I was in Paris again! Limited lunch menu, a special each day, but an interesting appetizer and side menu suffice. Escargot for lumch? Oui! Beet and apple salade was excellent, and for fun pommes frites wrapped in paper. Amazing balcony and dining room upstairs, great party possabilities! Waitress was a bit timid, hadn't tried much of the menu, so she couldn't make a recommendation. Pricey. NAME: SH SUBMITTED: 8/1/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 07/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once ©Copyright 1991 - 2008 B4-U-EAT.COM. All rights reserved. Design and database by B4-U-BUY