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Jonathan's The Rub

MY REVIEW: Friend wanted to go for his birthday. I had read some reviews and was hesitant. I am glad I gave it a chance. We had crab cakes to start and they were to die for. I ordered the ribeye steak and my wife ordered the sea bass and both were amazing. All in our party were very happy with everything that was brought to the table. Jonathan the owner came to the table and was a wonderful host. The service and staff were as attentive as the food was good. Thank you Jonathan.

NAME: Eddie
SUBMITTED: 2/19/2012   LAST VISIT WAS: 02/18/2012
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Think experience and quality of food. This was my first time eating in the new dining room, great space, very nicely done while remaining cozy. Still very busy which tells me no matter how much space they add it will always be busy. I tried a Monday and it was less wait, less crowded. This time I tried the Tilapia Special with a House Salad and as always the food was scrumptious, light enough and very filling. The service was phenomenal and the new Wine list offers quality and variety. Thumbs up, they get a 5!!!

NAME: Spa Chic
SUBMITTED: 7/13/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: July/2011
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Jonathan as well as his sister and some of the wait do recognize me when I come in, because I try to go there once every two weeks. Sometimes it's difficult to find parking.

I really wished more restaurants adopted the practice they utilize in their waitstaff in serving the customer. Sometimes the patron is verbally told the wait staff is a team and anyone can be summoned for anything needed by the customer. Any of them will fill your drink, if needed or bring you more bread or whatever you need as they pass by. More places who split their tips among their waitstaff should do this in my opinion.

Getting to the meal, I ate one of the lunch specials Fish-N-Chips. Accompanying the fish-n-chips, one is allowed a side item. I chose the mac-n-cheese. What was brought to the table was bowtie pasta and cheese with bacon...yum. The fish was properly breaded and served hot and was very tasty. I asked for tarter sauce, which they didn't have but they do have a remoulade sauce which is the same thing kicked up a notch. The cost is less around $10 and is well worth it. I left their restaurant full and satisfied.

NAME: nothing_but_the_facts
SUBMITTED: 6/30/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: 06/2011
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...

MY REVIEW: My husband has had lunch here several times and loves the gumbo and says the hamburger is terrific. We decided to take a guest for dinner. We went early, just after 6:00, and we got the last available table inside. Service was good. My husband had the steak asida and loved it. Our guest had the stuffed shrimp, and that dish was excellent. I had the lamb chops, and they were so awful I couldn't eat them. Overcooked, not hot, tasted like they had been cooked before then warmed in the microwave, and the seasoning was overpowering. Mac and cheese was good, not great. Crabcake and gumbo were outstanding. We will return but will definitely stick with something other than the lamb.

NAME: b&gbigadventure
SUBMITTED: 8/19/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/10
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Great food! We had crab cakes to start. My husband had the Filet Asada and I had the Filet with Lobster. Even the sides were excellent. Loved too that we could bring our own bottle of wine. Went on a Wednesday night and there was no wait.

Our only problem came with the bill where we were overcharged on both our entrees. After pointing it out, the server corrected the charge.

We'll be back.

NAME: westhoustondiners
SUBMITTED: 8/12/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 8/10
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: I love this place, it is great for special lunch with friends. Sheila Partain Sweet Sourdough bus for the burgers..YUMM. Last time I had the Fish and Chips off the lunch menu. Fabulous.

NAME: Vicki
SUBMITTED: 7/27/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 07/2010
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Jonathon's the Rub was recommended by friends who had eaten there once before. My reaction is mixed. There is a long wait, even if the place isn't full or it's an "off hour". Be prepared to wait! We had a fried shrimp appetizer. I ordered the steak au poivre, my wife the chilean sea bass. My steak was done medium well rather than medium rare as I requested. I did not experience the rudeness from Chef Jonathan that others have referred to, probably because my steak was so obviously miscooked. My wife's bass was acceptable, although a bit on the dry side. I was brought a new steak, which was much better than the first.

We will give Jonathan's another chance, mainly because he comped our dessert and coffee in light of the error.

Stick to the seafood and you'll be OK.

NAME: Erik
SUBMITTED: 7/9/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: June 14, 2010
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Call me jaded, but I’ll get to that later, first my review!

As a consultant, I travel to Houston all the time. I have to eat alone almost all the time, so tonight with the heavy rains, my dinner company cancelled and so I was left looking at b4-u-eat.com. I decided to hit the 100 Most Requested, and found Jonathan’s, The Rub. So here is my review.

I had the Baby Lamb Chops with Mac-N5-Cheese and grilled asparagus and a dinner salad with the house creamy vinaigrette. The chops were cooked medium rare, as they should be, the Mac-N5-Cheese was, well cheesy,(I was slightly disappointed, since I have made a 3 cheese with as much flavor) and the grilled asparagus was nicely done (very similiar to mine at home). All of the food was very tasty!

The restaurant is very small as indicated in many of the other reviews. One thing I missed is that this is a BYOB place, and of course I didn’t BYOB, so I had to go next door to the convenient store and get charged twice the price for a red table wine. Fair warning, BYOB. The interior is very nicely decorated with many Italian themed pictures. The small size does limit the number of people who can be seated. The service, although was very good, the total dining time was approximately one hour, so the limited seating may be an issue if you arrive at the wrong time, which I don’t know what that is, so your guess.

Now for my jaded rant! As stated above, I travel to Houston a lot and eat out all the time. Everyone was walking out of Jonathan’s yelling to Chef Jonathan just how wonderful everything was!!! Don’t get me wrong, everything was GOOD… I just wish I could find a place like this that actually rocked my palate as much as some of my favorite $12.00 dinner places do…

Please go there and give it a try, but be ready for a pricey dinner. Don’t forget BYOB!!!

NAME: Kochie-Critic
SUBMITTED: 7/7/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 06/2010
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: We throughly enjoyed the atmosphere and food. All was perfect. We had the house salad with a great signature dressing. For our entrees we chose the filet asada and stuffed tilapia. Both were fantastic. The broccoli casserole and cheese grits were true comfort food. We will return. The place is small, so we hope it does not get too popular. The small size is what makes it quaint and reminiscent of NYC. Enjoy

NAME: The Redfish Man
SUBMITTED: 4/10/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 4/10/2010
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: The Rub is great in every way, food, atmosphere as well as location. The food, reception & treatment is well worth the wait. Our guests & Friends have never been disappointed

NAME: J & C Moodley
SUBMITTED: 2/21/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 02/2010
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...

MY REVIEW: Loved it! I took some very good clients there last night and everything was delicious. We had the crab cakes, a fried shrimp appetizer, the chicken picatta, steak au poivre, chilean sea bass, and chicken parmesan and everyone raved. The 5 cheese macaroni and cheese was incredible. We will go back!

If they could find a way to take reservations that would be great...maybe they could hold a table for someone with a credit card non-refundable deposit if people don't show up, and that way the restaurant wouldn't lose out completely and patrons could know for sure that they can get in?

Great staff!!Houston needs more family-run places!

NAME: John Durfey
SUBMITTED: 2/19/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/18/2010
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: If you are like me you have read all the other reviews.

From our recent experience you can discount half of all the negative things you might have read. Jonathan's is a dining experience. That being said, if you like this sort of thing you will be more than pleased. To finally hunt down a table some three weeks after hearing about this place was well worth the wait. Think experience. As with any learning curve once you learn the ins and outs of Jonathan's you'll find yourself thinking about your next visit the minute you walk out of Jonathan's.

What did I learn? Jonathan and Staff wants nothing more than for you to be totally pleased with the food and with the service. My party of two arrived unannounced on a Friday night at 7:30 PM. And yes we had to wait 30 (no more that 40) minutes to be seated. The Staff made every effort to make our wait enjoyable. Enjoyable? I know, no one likes to wait, but present your own bottle of wine and the Staff is quick to supply you with wine glasses and pour for you. Gathered around the register (because of the cold outside) , side stepping the staff and others waiting for a table it felt much like a cocktail party, chatting with people you just met and looking for a safe place to set your drink helps to pass the time. Yes, the tables are few (12 maybe 13) and it seems the seated customers that night were in no hurry to leave. I don't blame them all, sitting and chatting after a wonderful meal should always be a part of any dining experience. Once we were seated (Table No. 1) the Staff never got in the way of our meal yet they were never out of reach. The menu had great selection of fish dishes, a good selection of beef (& pork), but I found the chicken lacking variety. We both had fish and were very pleased with our choices. Note to self, next time order the grits. The dessert choices did not impress us, mostly because we got the feeling that they were only served by Jonathan, not prepared by Jonathan. In Jonathan’s defense we truly hade no room for dessert of any kind.

Most of the tables were still occupied after 9:00 PM. As I had mentioned before we arrived at 7:30 PM and as we left we noticed that we were the last customers to be seated that night. Perhaps the cold kept people from showing up after 7:30 PM. After our meal I made my way to Jonathan who was still at the helm, to shake his hand and to thank him. His first words were, "Sorry you had to wait so long". There is something to be said when at the end of a long evening of preparing dishes, instructing kitchen assistants and managing customers Jonathan took the time to make his last customers of the night feel like the first. Looking forward to the grits.

Thank you Jonathan, Jessica and the rest of the Staff.

NAME: Arturo
SUBMITTED: 2/18/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: Jan/2010
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: I don’t cook, dine out all the time. My husband kept mentioning that the parking lot at our local stop n go is always busy since this restaurant opened a few doors down. I went to investigate. Perhaps, maybe we will get a good local place. Well, we have a great neighborhood place, Jonathan’s The Rub. I called a friend and invited her to lunch to try this new secret place. When we arrived she already knew all about it. We ordered their combination plates; I had crab cakes and a house salad. The crab cakes where filled with crab, Maryland style, yet served with tangy remoulade, New Orleans style; the best of both worlds. The house salad was full of tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers and I think there was cilantro and basil mixed in the greens, wonderful with their house dressing. My friend had the chicken and sausage gumbo and salad which she mentioned she has had before and that the gumbo is the best she ever tasted.

The first dinner at Jonathans with my husband - Started with the incredible mussels that we shared, the sauce was garlicky, white wine, so good I thought of taking it home but since I don’t cook.... He ordered the Steak au Poivre, covered with mushrooms and a veal sauce. I had the Chilean Sea Bass. I think it was 10 minutes that we didn’t talk to each other, just ate and made noises that sounded like yum.

We are regulars now, the wait staff knows us by name, and Jessica, Jonathan’s daughter runs the girls and is my new best friend and her Dad is a sweetheart, I guess you can call him my new personal chef.

NAME: jude
SUBMITTED: 2/18/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 02/10
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...

MY REVIEW: We too stumbled onto this place, unfortunately the quality at least on both of our visits was mediocre at best. The menu is all over the place and not in a good way -- dumplings, mac-n-cheese, meatballs, gumbo -- more choices than a G*olden Corral Buffet with about the same finesse. Jack of All Trades - King of None comes to mind. Jessica, our server on the second visit was arrogant and quite rude and that in itself was enough to keep us from returning.

NAME: Annie
SUBMITTED: 2/15/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: Feb 2010
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: You can read all the other positive comments and know I agree with them. Love the food, the staff, Jonathan and BYOB! We are always taking people there and kind of hate that part because they end up telling other friends and we're afraid it will continue to increase in popularity to the point that getting in will be the only problem! Open everyday but Sunday ... timing is important and we fortunately get in quickly most of the time. You should also know they do great catering!

NAME: Trish
SUBMITTED: 2/15/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 01/2010
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...

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