Petrol Station

If you love IPAs, Petrol Station is your place. They have other beer styles also, but it's usually always at least 75% IPAs. So this is where I learned to like IPAs because I would play beer roulette, order a random beer, and almost always, it was an IPA. Anyway, come to Petrol and get an IPA. Or some other beer. They have plenty of choices.

And get some food. The food is pretty good. I usually go for the TBA (Turkey, Bacon, Avocado sandwich) or a burger. The Mushroom Swiss Burger was the best. But unfortunately it was taken off the menu (RIP). The sandwiches and burgers are massive and loaded with plenty of toppings. And if you get fries, top it with Pesto & Parmesan. You won't regret it. Oh and the spinach and artichoke dip is really good too!

The ambiance is also very relaxing.. But beware, it's mainly outdoors. They do have some indoor space but it's pretty limited and fills up fast. But if it's nice weather, enjoy the backyard, front yard, or back backyard.

I used to love Petrol Station, but have been really disappointed in them lately.

Their entire menu has really gone downhill. They've removed most of their best items and are out of a lot of things. They also don't seem to have nearly as large of a beer selection and to top it off play sh*tty music so loud you can't even talk. And I love well-played irreverence as much as the next guy, but the level of attitude from the bartenders was a bit much.

It would be sad to see this place go under, but I don't see how it will be able to survive with such better options close by. Sad to say that the downsides just don't outweigh the amazing patio.

I've been meaning to come by here for a burger for a long time and yesterday I finally got my chance. On that Saturday, I arrived at about 11:45 a.m. and there were about 4 diners sitting inside on a hot day.

I ordered the Pub Burger which is their standard beef burger that comes dressed and with fries for $10. My food came out in less than 15 minutes and everything looked really good. I asked them to grill the onions which they did. First, I dug into those beautiful french fries and they were as good tasting as they looked. Homemade, hot and lightly salted they were quality fries with that great potatoey flavor. My burger was large with what looked like a 1/2 lb. patty nicely dressed with lettuce, tomato and pickles. The patty was very juicy and drippy however flavor wise it was just a-ok. It was a great looking burger but just average in taste. It surprised me that it wasn't better tasting. Perhaps the beef patty wasn't seasoned enough? The burger was a 3 and the fries were a 5 but I would order both again if I return. For $10 it was a reasonable value. I give the meal a 3.5 overall but will round up for Yelp purposes.

Other things to know here, it's counter service at least inside. Also, parking is available around the building in dedicated spaces along with street parking. They also have a wide selection of craft beers.

We live in a world that becomes ever more chaotic, divided, and worrisome. The cure for that is Petrol Station. The great selection of beer on tap will take away the chaos in your life. The delicious burgers and fries will unify us and undo the division around the world. The smiles and friendly service will take away any other worry you have in life.

Ok enough of the speech. All the burgers are great. As all the other reviews mention, the burgers have a great meaty flavor and the fries have been nicely seasoned.

I recommend sampling all the beers on tap as they go perfectly with the food.

If you're here for lunch or dinner and plan to have a burger along with 1-3 beers, figure you will pay between $25-$40 per person. The service is great here. Lots of smiling faces, jokes, and friendly neighbors.

Great beer selection and amazing burgers. A lot of local taps and some others. Burgers and fries are delicious. Also tried the salads and they are good.

The patio / garden area is nice and dog friendly.

Not a lot of parking in their lot but the side streets and nearby park are available.

The only downside is there's no servers so sometimes you stand in line for a bit to get a beer.

I tried the TBA. The sliced turkey was moist. I didn't like the onion marmalade as it was too gummy for my taste. The bread was normal. It was a standard sandwich. The orzo and arugula side salad was pretty good. The ingredients tasted really fresh and crisp.

Why 4 stars? Because the Rancor was a solid burger.

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I recently just wrote a review to similar to this one about a restaurant in OKC. My experience at Petrol Station follows the same basic principle:

Giant burgers with a lot of toppings that are individually awesome, don't always equal the sum of their parts. If the following items are scored as such,

Beef patty = 1
Bacon = 1
Cheddar Cheese = 1
Fried Egg = 1
Lettuce = 1
Tomato = 1
Red Onion = 1
Pickle = 1
Mayo = 1
Bun = 1

The burger does not necessarily equal out to a 10.

I think I'm officially changing my status in life as a professional burger eater to: "Less is more."

That being said, I don't want to come off as overly-negative about my experience. It truly was very solid. I think the Rancor just fell victim to its own hype, for me. I'd wanted to try it for years, and finally made the trek up during my last visit to Houston.

I loved the vibe of the place - a gas station retro-fitted to somewhat of a dive bar, with great burgers and local beer. If Petrol Station was in Tampa, I'd be a huge champion for them.

This is a hidden Houston gem! The place has been around for decades but maintains its profile as a neighborhood / backyard bar with a low key vibe .
When I walked in with a colleague on a Tuesday after work, the crowd was a mix bag of folks that had just finished a football game in the nearby park, or folks that just casually walked in during their evening stroll or just locals catching a breath after work. No suited up folks at all.
That being said , don't expect low key when it comes to food. They have some of the best sandwiches in the area. Yes a tall order but totally worth it . The menu is limited , so is the service (you gotta stand in line and order) but the sandwiches we ordered were delicious ! The beers were cold and the vibe was great if you want to lay low and chill .
I would visit again for sure :) this dog friendly and kid friendly place definitely got my attention!

Looking for a great place for a Friday night
PTA meeting? Look no farther than the Petrol Station.

This place is teaming with kids under 6. You might even bump into them in the bathroom, dangling their legs on the pot and relieving themselves after a long day in daycare. (Note the Kid's Grilled Cheese, next to the Drunken Reuben. OR, another favorite, Kid's Sacklunch.) These kids need to be at home having a real dinner, instead of being dragged to their parent's watering hole.

We used to love to come here for the great cold Craft Beer and MarysLamb burgers. Now, it's like the parking lot at Disneyland. Their beer selection is poor and limited. We waited forever for our food. Then they served us lukewarm French fries and cold burger. We won't be back.

Petrol Station was our attempt to find some interesting beer and burgers during our trip in Houston. While the first bite of my mushroom burger was excellent, further bites revealed the meat to be overcooked, under-seasoned, and a little dry. The actual great flavor was coming from the very tasty cheese and mushrooms. In the end, it did balance out, but my friends had mixed results as bacon and other items didn't do enough to cover up the lack of seasoning and dryness in the beef.

Their beers are varied and interesting, the selection mostly consisting of local micro brews and such.

One very tasty thing here is the Parmesan fries. They use huge amounts of freshly shredded real Parmesan and they were absolutely delicious.

Prices are decent here, if not slightly pricey overall. Oddly enough, their tip buttons are like 25% and up (I think the highest was 50%?). You can put a custom amount, but it feels awkward and greedy to ask for that kind of tip in a walk-up and order, food-in-baskets type of place. Especially when it is up front and not after you deliver my burgers 45 minutes later. At least we were just hanging out and not in a hurry. We did have an order of fries come out like 20 minutes before the burgers at least.