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House of Blues

MY REVIEW: Thanks to a gift certificate, some friends and I decided to try HOB for lunch. The place was practically empty around noon on a Monday, which was a surprise. We shared an order of the rosemary cornbread, which was so sweet; it could have been a dessert. My friends liked it but I did not care for it. For our entrees, we ordered the fried shrimp with cheese grits, the shrimp po-boy with sweet potato fries and the crab cake sandwich with garlic parmesan fries, respectively. I also had a cup of the chicken and sausage gumbo. My friend enjoyed her shrimp po-boy and we all loved the sweet potato fries she ordered to accompany it. My other friend found the shrimp and grits dish very salty, though the shrimp were fried perfectly. She also found the pairing of the cheese grits with what was basically a marinara sauce to be strange with the flavors not really going together. As a Louisiana girl, I can tell you not to bother with the gumbo; it reminded me of soup out of a can with a lot of cayenne added to it. The crab cake sandwich was salty with a very greasy bun and as a whole, really didn’t work for me. We all agreed that the garlic parmesan fries that came with it were very tasty. We finished off our meal with an order of the white chocolate bread pudding, which one of us found so-so but the rest of us thought it was pretty good.

All in all, we had terrific service but mediocre food. Maybe we will try HOB again…but not anytime soon.

NAME: Food Diva 47
SUBMITTED: 8/1/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: 08/2011
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: This place has amazing customer service, we had been walking around downtown for hours, and they gave us water in a togo cup with no questions asked, AND at no charge........THEY WERE GREAT!!

NAME: yohmomma
SUBMITTED: 6/11/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: 6-11
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: I went to the House of Blues for the Steve Miller Concert and I could not have been more disapointed. They sell hundereds of general admission tickets. So there are literally hundreds of people looking for a place to sit. They work their way into stairways and walk ways, seats that do not belong to them, stand right in front of your seat that you reserved and paid for at a rate of three times what they paid and nobody from House of Blues does anything about it. They have like 3 security people and thousands of violations. I have seen most major rock bands in my life. I have never had a time where the performer stopped the concert to scold a person in the audience, however Steve Miller stopped the whole concert to tell a person that his behavior was unacceptable. I will never go back to House of Blues.

NAME: tm
SUBMITTED: 3/2/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: 2-25-2011
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Bought a coupon from restaurant.com and used it on a Friday evening. I was pleasantly surprised that we were seated right away and waiter did not miss a beat when taking our drink orders. I must add that he was also charming and personable. Promptly drinks arrived and order was taken within minutes. I ordered the Grilled Flat Iron Steak Salad and my husband ordered Creole Seafood Jambalaya. Order came in as ordered with steak medium over a crisp mixture of lettuce and other greens. A satisfying meal although the meat did require a little chewing. Husbands order was cooked and seasoned to perfection with a large enough portion that was enough to eat some there and then have some for later. With the restaurant.com coupon, those two meals, a diet coke and a beer was about $21 dollars and with tip $28, an affordable price for both good eats and good atmosphere in the downtown area.

NAME: Cache
SUBMITTED: 5/31/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 5/28/2010
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: I read the previous reviews AFTER I purchased 7 tickets and almost decided not to go at all based on the negative feedback on this site. HOWEVER, we had a great time and thought the Gospel Brunch was well worth the money.

We took 4 adults and 3 kids - everyone had a blast and grandmom ended up on stage for a blues version of Happy Birthday. You can't get that at any high dollar place in town. This is not a 4-star restaurant and you should blame TicketMaster for the seating problems. I bought tickets at the box office to avoid convenience fees and HOB put our group in the perfect spot!

This is the House of Blues, and we enjoyed the atmosphere and appreciated the effort that goes into planning this every Sunday morning after concerts the night before. The food was good, including the best fried chicken I have eaten in Houston. Lots of desserts and cash bar. IGNORE the other posts that clearly have an agenda.

NAME: Gospel Brunch Fan
SUBMITTED: 5/2/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 5-1-10
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: I have been to House of Blues in New Orleans and Las Vegas and now in Houston. I've got to say that the service at the Houston location is far superior to the others. The waitress was on top of us the whole time and super friendly, even telling us of some downtown hotspots for afterwards. We went to see a show and to have dinner before the show. We got there at about 6:30 and were excited to find that they had the best happy hour in town. One dollar domestic beer and two dollar imports and half price appetizers. I have to say that the Voodoo Shrimp with rosemary cornbread is to die for. We ordered one and then another. For dinner, because we were getting full from the shrimp, we split the chicken fried chicken. Awesome breading and gravy served with home made mashed potatos. Excellent! We are planning to go back for more food and more shows.

NAME: Blues Dude.
SUBMITTED: 2/1/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/09
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: After a pretty good dinner at a different restaurant nearby, 4 of us decided to have a drink. Since our previous experience, I didn't expect too much, but was willing to go along.

HOB wasn't terribly crowded, so we decided to find some seats near the bar. We couldn't get any waitstaff to even come near us. The small tables were full of dirty glasses and napkins. No one cleared any of these tables.

Once again, a terrible experience. I wonder if management even cares? Maybe anyone posting here should also go to the corporate website?

NAME: foodie gal strikes again
SUBMITTED: 12/31/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 12-18-09
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Today is my birthday. I told my girlfriends that I wanted to go to the Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues. We spent $40 each on what equated to be a picnic. My girlfriends and I sat side by side, so there was no talking going on between us. The food was NOT good and the service was ok. I didn't get a good feeling when at 11:05 we were still standing outside (in the heat) for a brunch that was to start at 11:00. All I could tell my friends was, "Sorry guys, I didn't know." And they said, "That's ok, now we know and we'll never do this again." I told them that if we ever come to the HOB again, it will be for a concert or show of an artist that we want to see! But, the Gospel Brunch, I will never spend another $40 on!

NAME: Utterly Disappointed!!!
SUBMITTED: 9/20/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2009
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: I took my wife there for her 40th. Paying $40/head, I was expecting something a little special but we were met with what appeared to be picnic tables that seat about 20 people. We were shown our seats which happened to be in a line on one side only so it made conversation almost impossible. Despite booking well in advance, two of our guests were told to turn up at 11am when our party wasn't to be seated until 1pm. Another couple arrived but couldn't be seated at our table which resulted in us insisting on moving to another table which was one of the few positives about the whole experience.



Having returned from the buffet with a plate of mediocre food covered in a generous helping of grease, I was looking for some refreshments to try to wash it down. The coffee, orange juice and water carafes were all empty and after trying unsuccessfully to flag a waiter or waitress down, had to go and collect the three items from the bar myself.

Conclusion: Take the $500 you would have spent at the HoB and treat your group of 12 to a party in a hotel suite for the day/night ($250), order catered food & drink ($230) and buy a gospel CD to stick in the in-room entertainment center ($20).

NAME: GC
SUBMITTED: 8/3/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 7/26/2009
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: We originally waited 45 mins to be seated when we were initially told it was going to take 10 mins. Ok bad start, but I wasn't going to let that ruin my lunch. After approx. 45 mins we were told that we could be seated "immediately", but it would be around the corner from the restaurant at something called the Foundation Room (supposedly an upscale restaurant, members only deal). We were like shoot we're hungry lets give it a shot, plus they were offering $1 martinis.

Foundation Room! Since it's a part of the House of Blues I’m going to talk about it. Great ambiance, chilled out, almost hallucinogenic with the smell of incense. Definitely a place for drinks, thumbs up! This is about all I can say about the place. I just want to say that I’m a very patient and understanding guy, but this place takes the cake! We waited another 30 mins to be seated. They have a funny concept of "immediately". Anyway once we were seated we were famished, at this point I had lost all hope for this place. Having said that, I promised myself that once I got my food I would judge this place on the quality of the food and I would not let the bad service skew my opinion.

I ordered the Kobe beef burger with their signature truffle fries! I was told the truffle fries "were to die for". Now, I kid you not, the fries tasted like over seasoned M*cDonald fries. I passed my plate around and had every member of my table try a fry... as expected we all drew the same conclusion. The other members of my party were a little more adventurous and ordered the crispy shrimp besides other things. Lo and behold the crispy shrimp plate looked like an appetizer (I don't expect huge portions,but..., arghh enough said), and personally if I owned this place I’d be embarrassed to send this plate out (Gordon Ramsey would of had a field day).

I got to end this review, because I’m so incensed talking about this place. I got to say this place is pretty bad other than the drink specials. Give it a shot, just so you can say "been there, done that, never again."

NAME: sunnyflava99
SUBMITTED: 6/12/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 6/2009
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Don't waste your time or your $$ when it comes to the Sunday Gospel Brunch. This was a complete disappointment where food & service are concerned. Most of the food was extremely overcooked, to the point of being dry. The prime rib was tough, the macaroni was chewy, the bread & biscuits were stale, sausages & bacon were almost burnt. The handles in the macaroni dish were sticky & I mentioned this to the waiter. He wiped them off with a dry towel. You don't get sticky off with a dry towel.

The fruit tray ran out quickly & I asked if it was going to be refilled. I was told 'No', that it was too close to the end of the session to put more out.

Same thing happened with the smoked salmon. That ran out quickly,too, & was not refilled. Too bad if you weren't one of the first 10 people in line. I told the waitress " You mean I paid $38 for an all you can eat buffet, & I can't eat all that's supposed to be available to me?" She shrugged her shoulders.

Plates were not cleared from our table in a timely manner, so those piled up pretty quickly. Carafes of orange juice & water that were on the table were not refilled.

One of the lead singer in the gospel choir reminded us to be SURE & leave a tip for our wait person. I'm happy to tip were service is rendered in a professional way & where the customer actually comes first. HOB is not that place. The attitude there is "Too bad."

Valet parking is $10, so heads up here so you're not sticker shocked.

Save yourself a lot of money, time & possible aggravation.This is just SO not worth it. Buy a couple of gospel CD's & eat ANYWHERE but this place. I would never recommend HOB to anyone. What a rip off.

NAME: Katy
SUBMITTED: 4/26/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 04/26/09
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: I have eaten here before and liked it, never really had any problems before, I don't really care for their menu, but our friend wanted to go here for her birthday. Today, we arrive to find a packed restaurant, they were very nice and made a table for us in the waiting area. They didn't have extra waiters so the bartender had to be our impromptu waiter. He did the best he could, we knew that. We ordered our food and ended up waiting almost an hour before we were served (yes I know, downtown during lunch that can happen). If it weren't for someone complaining we would probably not have had our food for another half an hour. -- One of the ladies at our table (very outspoken person) complained about the time and that some of our orders were not complete (I think the enjou sauce was missing from the philli cheese steak, and the buffalo wings had no sauce either).

I actually was impressed that they had no problem letting me order just a seared salmon (which was amazing) and vegatables (something that isn't on the menu)

HOB actually comped the entire meal (which shocked me). I let the manager know that it was in no way the fault of the bartender and he was actually very accomidating and nice (he received a very nice TIP).

At the end of the day HOB made their customers happy, I was very impressed, I will continue to eat here.

NAME: Daniel Wilson
SUBMITTED: 4/21/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 4/21/2009
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: As a follow up to the previous review of the gospel lunch, I cannot say that huge disappointment was an UNDERSTATEMENT! 'HUGE RIG-OFF' would have been the better description.

We made the mistake of paying extra for the private room, only to find 'waiters' chatting in a corner without even noticing us, although only one other table was occupied. We had to formally inquire before a waiter could be bothered to come over and to take our beverage order....

The buffet looked picked over and was not replenished. Quality was mediocre at best and the selection was pitiful. Considering the ticket prices, this might be an 'attraction' for some uneducated 'out of towner', but never again for the Houstonian!!!

NAME: Won't be back....
SUBMITTED: 4/13/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 04/09
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: First visit was impressive, I was expecting less due to the previous reviews. A friend and I went to eat an early dinner at 4:30 on a Friday. We were promptly seated, and our waitress was friendly and knowledgeable. She gave us time to decide on our orders, and gave great suggestions when when had questions. The food was delicious! Half way throughout our meal, our waitress had to leave and we were introduced to our new waiter. Although his conversations were part of his job, he did make a great effort to converse with his tables, be playful, and make recommendations.

I recommend the catfish nuggets (which are fresh and melt in your mouth) and sweet potato fries. My friend ordered the rosemary grilled chicken, which we both found to be bland, but the mashed potatoes more than made up for it. The desserts are A++ as well. We ordered the bread pudding, described as the following: "White Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding with Jack Daniels Whiskey Sauce, Whipped Cream, and a Caramel Halo", and the key lime pie, which was drizzled with raspberry sauce. The key lime pie was great, but the bread pudding was fantastic! The serving sizes for the food and especially dessert are reasonable for the prices.

The atmosphere was great, with a bar, a dining area, and a curtained stage. The walls provide plenty of paintings and conversation pieces. Overall, it was a great experience and we will be returning. If you (for whatever reason...) favor the H*ard Rock Cafe, the House of Blue's eclipses them in food quality for the same prices.

NAME: Happy Customer
SUBMITTED: 2/15/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/13/08
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Gospel Brunch on Sunday was a HUGE disappointment. The whole ordeal might last all of an hour. Personally (and I was not alone), I spent 45 minutes of that hour in line waiting for food without so much as a cup of coffee. Add a trip to the bathroom and I would have missed the ENTIRE show. My only consolation was that from what I gathered, the entertainment this past Sunday was lousy too, so I didn't miss much (other than my $40 that I paid for the privilege of waiting in that line).

NAME: Charlotte
SUBMITTED: 1/27/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: January, 2009
FREQUENCY: Visited once

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