Artista

We have dined here twice now this time for dinner (early, pre-​show) and previously for lunch. The restaurant is inside the Hobby Center, upstairs with a very nice view of Downtown. A potential disadvantage to the location is that parking is pricey unless you are combining it with a visit to the theater (in which case you would be paying $ 12 to park or $ 20 to valet anyway).
As I said the view is great, it is light, spacious and airy, well decorated and quietly oozing class without being snobby. Service is outstanding and the menu, while pricey, is good and tempting at all stages.
We were dining with two TUTS celebrities who will remain nameless. We skipped appetizers (which I had had the lobster bisque :() and went straight for entrees. My wife had the red snapper which she oohed and aahed about and left her plate as clean as a plate might come out of a dishwasher — in other words she loved it and inhaled it! I had a seafood special (feeling greedy) with a 4oz lobster tail, scallops, shrimp, red snapper and another fish that I can no longer recall. It was good but some things (the snapper, the scallops) were better than others (the lobster tail) — so for me lesson learned, stick with the regular menu and have the red snapper that you had intended to get in the first place! They are well known for their steaks and so I am sure they are good…
We accompanied this with a bottle of a (for me) new Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon — Megahertz. We really enjoyed it — excellent wine over dinner.
I succumbed to the desserts and went with the tres leches — this was to die for (and my low carb diet died for it!!!)
A really good prelude to a really good show — Bridges of Madison County the musical. We sure are blessed with our Theater District in Houston!
Review #11 2016

The best thing about this restaurant is that it’s inside the same building as the theatre — convenience.
We came for dinner as guests of VIP Donors for the Hobby Center. We were seated at a booth towards the back and the booth seat was uncomfortable. It felt lumpy and sagging at the same time.
The cocktails (5 out of 8) need to be returned. Cosmopolitan has 4 (vodka, cointreau, cranberry juice, lime juice) ingredients, I really don’t know how anyone can mess it up but they ended tasting like cherry cough syrup. The sazerac is more tricky so I can understand. Manhattans are okay and you can’t mess up beers because you just need to pour it out into a glass.
Foods are average — Red Snapper, Salmon. Those came out luke warm instead of hot and the flavor of the citrus buerre blanc sauce is so-​so. Spinach with the red snapper is okay and so is the risotto with the salmon. Their trio special is the worse with the small lobster tail tasted like someone pour copious amounts of salt. It’s like eating a spoon of salt each bite. Lobster bisque has small chunks of smoked cheese and Caesar salad is decent — lightly dressed.
Got the Rombauer Chardonnay.
Toffee pudding is okay and they even messed up on the latte. It came out already sweetened and when asked, the server said someone sweetened the milk. So weird!
Service is average.
I wouldn’t recommend eating here. The prices are outrageous for the foods and service. So sad because it’s so convenient!

We have been going to Arista’s for several years. Tonight was a total disaster. First off the food was average. The lobster bisque is tomato soup. The spice in the bisque was way over powering. 2 of us had chicken which was fine. One of our party ordered the steak. I’ve seen bacon with less fat! The steak was covered in pepper, but due to the poor quality of meet I guess they had to do something.
Add to the poor food was a very bad table clean. We were seated in one of the double benches. Basically this is a bench with a small divider between the 2 tables.
After the previous party finished the bus boy started cleaning. He then proceeded to add a new table cloth. He shook the new table cloth, which actually had hair and other crap in it. This went all over our food.
Yep, gross!!! We all stopped eating. Dinner was now ruined.
The manager attempted to make things better with a 25% discount. Great … $ 100, well $ 75 … for a dinner covered in dust, and crap. Never going back.
And for the part we did eat it was just ok. There are many other restaurants in the area but they are LESS EXPENSIVE but you will get better food :)
DON“T WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE! Heck, buy the packaged sandwich in the Hobby Center over anything from Arista.

Food was great and I love the ambiance of the restaurant. I’ve been about 4 times for lunch and I’ve never been disappointed. I love the plantain crusted chicken and Cesar salad.

I enjoyed my stay at this restaurant a lot. Consider it an upscale version of Churrasco’s (since they are both owned by the same company). The environment is really nice and elegant, with comfy leather couch-​style chairs and white tablecloths. The restaurant has huge floor-​to-​ceiling windows which give guests a grand view of the buildings downtown. The view and ambience are amazing, and the waiters are very friendly.
The first time I went, I went with my family. We all enjoyed the plantain chips as well the three sauces. We all loved the white sauce which was bleu cheese based.
My family ordered the lobster bisque soup as an appetizer and it tasted really good. The soup even had lobster chunks on the bottom. For my appetizer, I ordered the goat cheese salad. I really enjoyed the salad, which consisted of huge lettuces candied pecans, goat cheese (of course) and raspberry dressing. The raspberry dressing was a bit too sweet in my opinion but it was good in small doses.
For my meal, I ordered the seafood paella and I really really loved it. It came with a whole variety of seafood – like salmon, scallops, a tempura lobster tail, and mussels. The Spanish rice was also good, and it had a little bit of a kick of spice.
My brother ordered the filet mignon with a side of Parmesan fries. The steak was very good and soft and tasty. The fries were also good too and tasted unique and different (in a delicious way!). The only qualm my brother had was how small the portion was (It was only 8 oz.). He felt it was too small for the price (almost $ 50).
My mom and stepfather ordered an off-​the-​menu item which consisted of a trio: the Churrasco steak, lobster tail, and a tilapia filet. They said it was very filling and tasty.
For dessert, I ordered the tres leches. It was delicious and my favorite part of the meal!
I recommend this place to anyone watching a show at the Hobby Center and wants a good meal in a very convenient location.

All appetizers were ridiculously good. The staff was incredibly helpful knowing we has a musical and were quick with our orders. Will be coming back!

Excellent meal! Great atmosphere and superior service! Also a hot spot for lunch. Go, you won’t be disappointed!

Ambiance was wonderful! Decent sized portions. Good service. Great food.

I came here for lunch again…
Mixed Green Salads (⁵⁄₅) — The cilantro dressing is out of this world!
Bacon wrapped shrimps (⁴⁄₅) — The bacon wrapped meat and shrimp tasted decent but the sauce was what I loved!

Food: This place has good food. I had the striped bass lunch, and it was very good, served on a bed of rice with a tasty sauce. It was not cheap at $ 18, but you get what you pay for. It was served with a salad (or soup). I had the side salad option, and the salad was average.
Service: typical for this type of higher end place. We got there early, and it wasn’t full; the server was attentive.
Atmosphere: this place was unique, with a second floor dining room and a huge wall of windows looking into the high rises of downtown Houston. It was elegant, with cloth napkins, tablecloths and even chair coverings. Upon first walking in, it reminded me of a ballroom. Since the place is near the theater district, it had a theatre feel and theme about it too.

I went here with my mom before catching a TUTS production of Cinderella. (I give that 5 stars by the way!) We were underwhelmed by the overall experience.
We gave them checkmarks for prompt seating and service! Our waiter was kind and friendly. The plantain chips and assortment of dips were delicious! Plus, you can’t beat the ease of dining in the same place as the show!
However, my mom ordered the seafood paella and was not thrilled. She said some aspects of the dish such as the lobster and shrimp were yummy but the fish was «disgusting.» There was just so SO much rice on the plate. I had the scallops and barely risotto, which was good, but not necessarily worthy of the price taste-​wise. The worst part was dessert. We planned on ordering the butterscotch crème brûlée, but before we could order the waiter suggested the Tres Leches. We were both very disappointed! It was a «very» corner piece, mostly edging with little cake. Perhaps because of this, I found it very dry for a cake that should be exceedingly moist, and the whipped cream on top was thick like icing and much too sweet. Definitely should’ve ignored the waiter, as kind as he was!
We go to shows quite a bit so we may give Artista another shot, but there are a lot of restaurants in the area that can better please our palettes with just a bit of an extra walk!

Just before watching the year-​end review by the Humphries School students, we (a group of six) met for an early dinner at Artista, and had a very pleasant experience.
The setting is lovely, with white linen tablecloths on each table, huge windows allowing a great deal of natural light, and plenty of space between tables for a reasonably quiet dinner.
Our appetizers included the potato & leek soup, the oyster & beef crostinis, a Caesar salad, and the crawfish taquitos, all of which received excellent reviews. Main courses included the 8-​oz churrasco steak and the salmon, both of which were excellently-​prepared and full of flavor. The only disappointment was that, unlike other Cordua’s restaurants, there is a definite lack of vegetables and carbohydrates served with the main courses – only one per entrée. We ordered a side each of asparagus and the barley risotto (an oxymoron, but delicious) for the table. We also enjoyed an assortment of desserts, most of which were delicious.
Wines IMHO are marked up excessively, but the décor is lovely and the service is excellent. I wouldn’t make the trip downtown just to eat here, but for a pre-​dinner show or post-​dinner dessert, this would be ideal.

We expected a pleasant dinner before watching a show at the theatre. we arrived fifteen minutes early and were seated promptly and courteously. The young server greeted us pleasantly and took our drinks order. So far so good.
I ordered a steak, while my wife ordered a tomato basil soup as a main course, after which we intended to have dessert. The soup arrived almost immediately. My wife asked for some bread to enjoy with the soup. while waiting for the bread my steak arrived. Although it tasted good, it was a bit «mingy» with very little of the listed side potato serving. We were still waiting for the bread. Our server said the bread would take two or three minutes to bake.
Well… twenty minutes later, after I had finished my steak, the bread arrived. By this time the soup was cold. The server took the soup back and brought it back hot.
We were offered a free dessert to compensate for the delay. Fair enough.
In the middle of all of this, a manager came and asked who we were??? They seemed confused.
The poor organization, unfortunately spoiled what should have been a pleasant dinner before the show.
Would I go back. Probably not. Pity, because we enjoy dining before a show and we intend to subscribe to next season at TUTS.

This place is so underwhelming. Mediocre in every possible way.
I’ve been here no less than ten times, despite not being fond of it. This is for two reasons: (i) it is close to the office, and so I take interviewees here, because it is the only «upscale» choice in walking distance, and (ii) I always forget to make reservations for dinner on Symphony nights, and then this is the only place with any availability.
For lunch, I usually order the empenadas for the table (nothing special, but fine, and good for sharing). And I used to get the Shrimp Masala, but it isn’t on the menu anymore. To be fair, it is probably good that it is gone, as it was very, very mediocre (shrimp were usually overcooked, and the masala was oftentimes very dull in flavor). Their red meat is the better option, rather than their seafood.
The best thing, in my opinion, is the complimentary plantain chips and the cilantro-​oil sauce.
Just do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. I’m pretty sure they only survive because of the desperate theatre crowd that can’t get a reservation anywhere else.

I finally had a nice experience here. Has management changed? Hope this is permanent.
Planned on eating at the bar, but when the nice host asked me if I had a reservation (I was sitting at a window seat before they actually opened), and I said no, that I was planning on having lunch where I was, unless they happened to have a table for one, he said «yes, we do,» and I was seated at the table that I had eyed from the bar on a previous visit when I was told they had no tables. Good omen?
Yes it was. I got a professional waiter who took very good care of me. And a number of other people who asked me how I was doing when they passed by.
I also got an excellent meal. As I told my waiter, whoever had the idea of combining wild mushroom risotto, prosciutto, and seared diver scallops is a genius. And the scallops were properly cooked this time, although I would have preferred a tad more brown crust.
The plantain chips were delish — very thin and crispy. (And I actually got them this time, unlike the last time.)
I’m four stars rather than five for a few details, which management might even do something about, since things seem to have changed. (Or maybe I was just lucky today — hope not, hope it is permanent.)
List:
Carpet could have used a vacuum — there were bits of debris at opening time.
I didn’t see one single female server, only a few water-​pourers. Surely they can hire such?
They still have Open Table set so it claims they have no tables when you try to make a reservation for one, but tables magically appear when you up the attendance to two.
Martini was ordered stirred but received shaken. (I heard the shaking in the bar, plus there were ice chips on top — no, no, no!!!) Therefore it was somewhat watered down. This is partly my fault, as I didn’t add when I ordered it that «stirred» meant «not watered down» — I assumed it wasn’t necessary since I was receiving professional service. Well, you know what they say about assuming… Plus people often hear it backward — James Bond was wrong.
The above (well, maybe except for the lack of female servers) are nitpicks — I was *very* happy.

A very convenient restaurant to choose if dining prior to a show at Hobby Center because you can literally walk straight from your table into the the Lobby of the theatre! Very pricey menu but decent sized portions. I opted with the snapper and crab over sauteed spinach (for $ 38) which was very tasty. My friend’s scallops and mushroom barley risotto was very delicious! I was lucky and got to sample all my friends desserts :)
The tres leche cake– delicious and super moist
Cocoa Tart– lovely delightful and the coconut ice cream… WONDERFUL
Delirio de chocolate– very rich but very good
Very attentive waitstaff, nice atmosphere, very extensive wine menu. An added bonus, they provide «sippy cups» for a small addition fee of $ 3 to bring whatever alcohol (beer or wine) into the theatre so you can finish it while enjoying your show. All my friends ordered bottles of wine and took the rest in so they didn’t have to wait in those super pesky long lines at intermission.
Would I go back again to dine for a random dinner, no. Would I go back if I were to attend another show at Hobby and wanted to have a nice upscale dinner, absolutely. The convenience of the proximity to the theatre is just unparalleled. Just make sure to book your reservations early.

For a «white tablecloth» restaurant, the food and service are pretty bad. All of the food we had was really greasy – I don’t think a filet should be covered in that much oil. The only food I really liked were the plaintain chips, which I ate a TON of because it took them an hour to bring our food. As for the service – like I said, it took an hour to bring our food, not to mention that our waiter initially brought us the wrong entrees – entirely different from what we’d ordered.
Perhaps it used to be a really nice restaurant, but it’s gone downhill – even the dishes were chipped and old. They can’t charge $$ prices for this kind of food and service.
All in all, I won’t return.

Lack of customer service. We booked with open table, and I physically called the restaurant the day before to confirm my reservation. No problem. It was confirmed. I just received a call from the «hospitality» hostess and he said my reservations have been cancelled because they are full. Now, clearly you double booked tables which is a lack of efficient management. I will not waste my money on a restaurant where they cannot take care of their patrons.
Just FYI. If you plan on attending Artista, call and speak to upper restaurant management when making a reservation. Their hostess staff is incompetent.
The only reason for a 5 star rating is so this review will make it on their Unilocal page.

The lollichops and salad were great! The Buffalo tenderloin was ok, however, not for $ 68. I’ve had buffalo meat in several places and the taste here was very strong — almost to strong.
The bartender asked us to give him a credit card up front, even though I told him we were eating at the bar… that is a first. Then when I asked for cilantro dressing, the bartender said he was unable to give me any. Hmmm, really?! I found that very odd. I’ve been to Artista many times and haven’t encountered any problems like this.

This is my favorite place to go for pre-​theater dining. The contemporary décor and amazing view is a great way to start your evening. I was attending a show at Jones Hall and had to take advantage of their Houston Restaurant Week menu.
I started with a very well made Cosmo and greedily dug into the pile of plantain chips and dips placed on the table. The empanada and tuna taquitos were the perfect size for apps. I wanted to try something else for my entrée, but it was hard to pass up the churrasco steak. It was perfectly cooked with chimchurrii sauce for dipping and a yucca cake with pickled onions. Then came the difficult decision of what to order for dessert. The tres leches is always a winner, but I instead opted for the crème brûlée. I was not disappointed.
Service was excellent as always! I’m looking forward to my next visit.