Houston Street Bistro

We ate here before trekking down to the Tobin. I like how the menu items are named with theater references. The food is pretty good. I had the chicken cordon bleu. My sis had the shrimp with angel hair pasta.

The sour note of the evening is that only one server Jessie, was on the floor. While he was trying to hump it, it was a struggle for him. Good grief Bistro- you've got events in the Tobin, Majestic and the Aztec. Expect some folks to drop in for eats. And it's Downtown Tuesday, when people are encouraged to venture downtown.

The Bistro did a disservice to themselves and Jesse. He did the best he could, which was pretty good.

My friends and I stopped here for dinner before seeing a show at the Majestic theater. It's literally right next door so it's very convenient if you are seeing a show. The service was prompt and the manager was very nice . He always made a point to stop by our table to check
In. The shrimp appetizer tasted like thaw and peel shrimp but the sauce was good. I also ordered the chicken gorgonzola. The sauce was good but the angel hair pasta was very overcooked and the chicken was a bit dry. The atmosphere and decor is very nice . Can be good for a romantic dinner or maybe a glass of wine after work. The food needs a little improvement though.

If dinner prior to a show at the Majestic is your plan, this is your place. We have been here three times and find it consistently good. Ambiance is very nice for a small space. Reservations on show night are advised; we were able to get a table calling a couple of hours before.

They had a three course show special for $36, but we ordered one entrée and one large crab salad and each ate half--perfect for about $30 each, including two glasses of wine, generously served in "big girl" glasses.

We had reservations at 6:30 and got to the show with time to spare.

Best service (thanks to Terrence our server) that we've encountered in San Antonio AND that's saying alot because we ate everywhere! SA is great place to be especially since the city was celebrating their 300th year evident by endless decorations throughout! There was about a dozen of us from the conference and decided to go downtown for dinner and someone made reservations here. Great move! Wine selection was good and we ordered bottle after bottle. Oddly enough the restaurant wasn't as busy, maybe because it was late and it was a weekday, but people may be missing out! Service was excellent - Terrance was absolutely super, so attentive, so sharp and on point. Compliments to the cook and since the food was so delish, we asked for the cook to come out. Bashfully in a modest fashion the cook peeked out and made it midway out the kitchen pushing through the white double doors and received our applause. We had a great dinner all around, thank you!

Thank you for great food and superb service. The family and i came in for dinner Saturday night. Started off with some delicious calamari and crab cake followed by our entree. The food just flowed out of the kitchen one right after the other. Mo wait time in between
A must try is the chicken Gorgonzola and the salmon ! Great flavor and enough portions served ! Pictures don't do it any justice
Thank you to our awesome waitress and manager that continued checking on us. Will be back ....

I had lunch here during a weekday. It's a nice and quiet atmosphere. The menu isn't too big but it's got a pretty good selection. There's a daily lunch special--each day has a selected menu item that is served for $12. Today, Tuesday, was meat loaf with steamed vegetables. The meat loaf was good and I really liked the steamed vegetables. They were barely cooked and still nice and crispy, the way I like them. It was also served with mashed potatoes that were also good. I honestly thought the warm bread served before the food came out was the best part (not that the food was bad, just the bread was that good). I'd go back for the bread alone.

All-in-all, the food was slightly above average, the service was very good, the place is nice and clean, and I'd go back.

Great service on a Theatre Night. We asked the waiter for the best tasting meal they had that was quick and he brought us Chicken Gorgonzola and for an appetizer my guy had the Salmon. We washed it all down with a glass of La Crema Chardonnay ....all very yummy with the not so gluten free hot sourdough bread!

The disappointing thing about the night was that the restaurant had a special offer listed on Yelp that gave Veterans a 10% discount if we checked in on Veterans Day, which we did. When I asked our waiter about the discount, he said " We used to do that but we no longer offer that"! I told him if it wasn't going to be honored, they should remove it from Yelp. He said he'd bring it to management.

1. Shame on you for not offering the discount any longer...most restaurants offer a discount to Vets on November 11th as an honor to their service.

2. If you offer a special discount on Yelp, you might want to honor it because I can hurt your business as much as I can help it and I rarely take the time to write a bad review unless it's deserved. This one was deserved for not honoring what you failed to remove from Yelp as a specific discount on a specific day before that day arrived.

3. How hard could it have been to just empower your waiter to accept the discount offer because your management made a mistake? Any good business knows the value of goodwill!

This restaurant is just a block away from the River Walk so we decided to dine here because it was a departure from the typical BBQ, Mexican and chain restaurants like Rainforest and Hard Rock Cafe.

We got there a little early so we were the only one in the joint but soon enough, the lunch crowd started to fill the room with a ton of locals. We were starving after our workout and early morning stroll along the River Walk so we ordered the following:

--Fried zucchini - I love anything fried and zucchini is most excellent when fried. The slices were thick and they had a great crispy layer to them. The batter could've used a little bit of seasoning though. The ranch dressing this comes with is a must to add flavor.

--Tomato basil bisque - Small serving but was tasty nonetheless. It would've been nice to get a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream on top but was still very good.

--Cobb salad - This came with a generous amount of chicken that was flavored with a cajun seasoning. Chicken was cooked perfectly but there was no way I could've finished all of it. The salad ingredients were plentiful and it was a great salad overall - I could've had more of the salad and less of the chicken though but it was delicious.

--California green Salad - My husband ordered this salad and he really enjoyed this dish. It had apples, mandarin oranges, tomatoes and walnuts served with a raspberry vinaigrette. He cleaned his plate but agreed, the salads were on the smaller side if all you were eating was a salad for lunch.

Our waiter, Ernesto was a crack up. He was really nice and had a goofy kind of humor but we thought he was awesome. You don't have views to the River Walk but you can still do some people watching as people pass through Houston Street.

FYI - we dined here on Friday for lunch but over the weekend, we passed this placed numerous times throughout the day and the restaurant was never seen open again. It didn't have the hours posted but I'm guessing this might just be a weekday lunch and dinner spot.

3.5 stars

Houston Street Bistro is a great place to go before a show at the Majestic....it's literally next door, cute & charming inside, service & food is fast. I personally loathe Acenar and Luke so I will return if I'm not in the mood to big pimp it at Bohanan's.

We made 6pm reservations, but it wasn't necessary as 3/4 of the restaurant was empty. Our server was excellent - friendly, great recommendations, and he gave us complementary chocolate cake!

They DO offer a 3-course menu daily...you get a soup or salad, their selected entree of the night, and dessert. I decided against it as I wasn't feeling the blackened mahi mahi, but, definitely a good, cheap option if you DO want the offered entree of the day.

I started with the tomato basil soup. It was fairly tasty...more acidic than I like; I prefer mine creamier. But, solid and good. I ordered the gorgonzola chicken for dinner...yum! A chicken breast smothered in a creamy sauce with veggies like mushrooms, zucchini, sun dried tomatoes, etc. A small chunk of the chicken was a bit too dry and stringy but otherwise I waxed it off. Beside it was a buttery, garlic angel hair pasta that was a nice compliment to the chicken. My friend ate the same thing and commented that it was TOO much garlic for her liking (I say there's no such thing as too much garlic, ha!). Good dish, I'd eat it again.

Another friend had the vegetarian pasta and raved about it. The other had the steak and said it was good and perfectly cooked.

I'll be back if I'm in the area, but I wouldn't make a special trip, ya feel me?

I've been passing Houston Street Bistro almost on a daily basis on my way to Starbucks since I moved to San Antonio over a year ago. The main reason that held me back from trying this place out was the prices. Then along came a Groupon and I jumped on it.

My husband and I stopped into the restaurant on a Friday night and were greeted happily at the door and seated by the window.

The restaurant itself is pretty classy as well as the waitstaff but me in my maxi dress and my husband with his khaki's and work shirt felt totally comfortable in the environment.

I have to say in all honesty every thing that we had that night from start to absolute finish was phenomenal.

I'll start with the bread...fresh out of the oven, crunchy on the outside and soft and doughy on the inside. The pepper infused olive oil for dipping....loved it...it's little things like this move a restaurant up a notch in my opinion.

We ordered the salmon for an appetizer. Huge portion of fresh salmon, capers and eggs. Delicious.

My entree was the Seared Tuna Salad. I have been on a hunt since I moved to SA for a good Seared Tuna Salad and had just about given up but this place made it to perfection. The Tuna was shockingly enough just seared not cooked to a grey mass like most restaurants do in this city.

Dessert was half a stuffed pineapple flled with ice cream, pistachios, with a cherry brandy sauce. Oh My Gosh....HEAVEN! Shear heaven.

The wine I had that evening was also delicious.

Our server was polite and very friendly. We had a nice chat about changes that were being made in the downtown area of the past few months. We asked for a lunch menu to take with us so the manager photocopied the menu for us. Here's a tip money wise...their lunch options are about half the price of their dinner options. So if you want to check them out first without blowing the bank head their for lunch.

Sadly my husband and I will be moving in a few weeks out of SA but we hope to make it back to Houston Street Bistro for at least one more visit.

The Good:
:: they are off the riverwalk on houston street, so you don't have the obnoxious tourist crowds to deal with. bonus!!!!!!
:: lots of outdoor seating
:: very tasty drinks. go with recommendations from your server
:: food was delicious! snapper was served in a zingy spicy sauce, mashed potatoes were made from real potatoes, veggies were cooked perfectly, creme brulee was yummy
:: service was fantastic. our server was very friendly, helpful, and quick
:: next to the majestic theater, which makes it good for anyone coming out of a show and needing a place to have a nightcap before heading home

The Bad:
:: none

The Ugly:
:: none

Would I go back? Without a doubt...it's one of my favorite places to eat, drink, be merry, people watch, and sit outside now in San Antonio.

This place is IN.