Balboa Surf Club

Mixed Feelings.This place offers an amazing ambience. Its giving modern, upscale, seafood shack. There's a massive open-seating bar upon entry, and the dimmed lights inside the restaurant bring a sense of intimacy and privacy. We had a girls night out here and it was a great location to do so. Although, I did enjoy the menu, It was underwhelming. The menu is small and although a lot of items look good on their own, they don't fit together cohesively together on the menu. To start we had the seafood cocktail, guacamole, and fried oysters. The fried oysters had to be our favorite, crispy on the outside and crispy on the inside. and the tostadas that came with the guac were heavenly. The seafood cocktail and guac didn't really stand out. It made me wonder if they were really worth the price. I ordered the Nigiri Plate with Uni for my entree and thoroughly enjoyed it. Simple and fresh. I also ordered a side of grilled peppers and didn't really like them. The texture and flavor just wasn't doing it for me. As for the drinks, I stuck to their Espresso Martini. Only thing was, when I got the bill, I was charged almost $30 per drink. I never would've guessed it'd be so expensive seeing as the other cocktails on the menu were only $17. Talk about a jump scare. On the bright side, the service was amazing. From the moment we walked in, all the way until we left the restaurant. Maya, our server, was awesome. Please request her. Overall, although I really enjoyed some aspects, I found other aspects really disagreeable. The vibes were there, some of the food was there, and I'm glad I tried it out. However, I'm not sure if I'd do a repeat.

Love, love, love this place! From the ambiance, to the food, to the service this place is top notch!! I actually visited twice in one weekend. The first time I had the seafood cocktail, and tuna sushi. The next time I tried the fried oysters and crab cake. My boyfriend had the salmon sushi and grouper fish sandwich. Everything was delicious!! My favorite drink is the Gold Rush! I had 3 the first time and 2 the second!

Came here as a last minute alternative for Brunch. They do not offer a brunch menu, just fyi. I really wanted Corn Chowder, so I came to the first place I found online. Ambiance is gorgeous. I wasn't as impressed by the food, but I would definitely come back to have apps and drinks. The bar is so inviting and the focal point of the venue. App: Corn chowder (best bite) Entree: Wedge Salad & Louie Salad The corn chowder was piping hot, creamy with chunks of crab and potatoes. Salad was okay, typical wedge. I'm not a big pork person and the large chunks of bacon was a bit much, but that's a me issue. My husband wasn't crazy about the flavor of his salad, but he raved about how fresh the crab and shrimp were. Our waitresses were attentive, polite and efficient. They tagged teamed our service, which was admirable. Doubt if I will be back, maybe if I'm in the area around Happy Hr. Enter freely and tell me what you think, I'm still on the fence.

I really liked the aesthetic and design choices here at Balboa. The mid century modern vibe with an upscale twist felt inviting and elevated. Plenty of different textures placed inside and a quite grand entrance, all set the tone for a nice meal. The service was friendly, but we came for a weekday lunch and I think it ran a bit slow for my taste during a business lunch. I don't need fast casual in and out style of wait service, but the pacing of the meal here was a bit too prolonged for the type of food being served. Shouldn't be sitting for an hour and 45mins for some sandwiches and salads, nothing bad just a thought. I enjoyed my fried grouper sandwich, El Pescador. It was pretty tall and a little tough to get your whole mouth around, but the Fried Fish was soooo good that I definitely finished. The breading on it was fantastic. The rest of the menu is touch uninteresting, I'm glad I liked what I picked because I felt like I ended up settling when I placed the order. Nothing on the menu is differentiated from other restaurants nearby or locally, so I wasn't quite sure what was their signature type dish. The half sushi half New- American style menu didn't really leave me knowing what was surperior here as opposed to other options that I know probably do one or the other better. Food is overall good, but a little pricey for what you get and unless something changes I'm not becoming a regular I think. I'd like to see a menu with more choices that you couldn't get somewhere else.

Located in the uptown/ Galleria area, Balboa is a modern take on an upscale seafood establishment. Parking is available with their valet but we opted to park in the public lot next door and walk over. The interior is heavy with dark green hues and a consistent, dark woody design on the roof. Great job to the designer on making green work for the concept.The menu is quite small and focuses on seafood (and had sushi for some reason?) with some steak and chicken options as well. Their menu is quite limited in my opinion and lacks personality and signature dishes. The price point is also quite premium; their crab cakes, scallops were all in the $35-40 range. Their sides were $8 and from what I saw, their fries weren't very impressive.We got the crispy oysters and handrolls for apps. The oysters were fine but slightly bland compared to single serve oysters that we've had at B&B Butchers. The scallop hand roll was fine but wasn't going for the traditional Japanese hand roll style. I got their seared scallops for the main. The dish had a bed of creamed corn (most of the dish was creamed corn) with 3 scallops that were grilled on top. Honestly the scallops were cooked very well and were tender. The sauce was good too but there was just so much corn on the dish, it felt like a filler. Overall, this is a solid 3.5/5 spot for me. The ambiance is A1 and done well compared to other spaces but the menu lacked a bit of personality and for the Houston fine dining space, I feel like there needs to be some standout dishes (apps or main) that are executed well that represent the restaurant amongst their peers. The dishes were slightly lacking for the price point and at that price point, the current dishes make it difficult to stand out.

Overall, I have very mixture reviews of our experience. The ambience is great. it really feels like you were in Palm Springs or somewhere on the west coast. The service was interesting. Everyone was very quick, which I loved. But the servers were VERY uneducated on the menu and drinks. Example: I told them I wanted the espresso martini without Baileys. I then had three people in a row come up with differing answers of if the martini had Baileys or not, which it clearly did. There is work to be done for streamlining staff communication. Now the food. I genuinely thought all of the food was great with the exception of the Baja shrimp cocktail. It just didn't have the right flavor and I could've drank it if I wanted to it was so liquidy. I will say the spicy ahi tuna roll was so good. I could have eaten 3 of them!!The last thing I will say is the menu is strange. There is an overwhelmingly odd amount of scallop options. And I was hoping they would have more raw sushi options.Overall, I would rather come back for a cocktail and an appetizer instead of a full meal. I had an alright experience, just not a great one.

Girls night out. Service - a bit busy for it being a Tuesday but couldn't tell with how well our service was. our waiter Omar (i sure hope that's his name) was very helpful and gave us good recommendations on what to order for the night. Drinks - we both ordered the Gold Rush - which seems to be their take on old fashioneds maybe? i wouldve tried other cocktails but none of them really stood out. Food. Only thing we didn't like was our sushi- we shared the thai shrimpRoll and honestly I've had way better rolls from the grocery store. our waiter did let us know that if you want to customize your roll - you can definitely do that if you insist on having sushi. Corn chowder- GET IT. The pork chop is an underrated entree and I'm glad i went with it here. My friend had the crab cake and enjoyed it as well. I'm not in a rush to come back but i do say check it out if you're in the area.

I've been here twice & the food is amazing!I got the veggie sushi on my first trip which is delicious and the crab cake via my second trip! Also the fries are very good too which normally I'm not a "shoe string" woman, but these were on point. Also I tried the scallops and were perfectly cooked.I'd recommend this plate for a date night or for a late lunch and be sure to check out the drinks as well.

A group of us met here for dinner on a Monday evening. Here are the deets:Pros:--beautiful decor --excellent service--the food was very good, as everyone seemed to enjoy what they ordered. --the cocktails were excellent!! There was something for everyone. --plenty of lot parking. Valet isn't necessary at all. Cons: --any large party (6+) requires you to call ahead, and may be first come first served, as their reservation platform won't allow you to make a reservation online.

I never write bad reviews and I never not tip on a bill. But tonight was terrible. T.I.P.S. Needs to be taught to bartenders and staffers today. I sat at the bar. A young lady bartender I'm assuming was Latin gave me attitude from start to finish. Once deciding on a drink I ordered it but I never got it. Several minutes later she asked if I wanted the Gold Rush. I said yes. What did she miss when I ordered it???I ordered an appetizer. The Seafood Chowder. Which was very tasting. After reviewing entrees, i really didn't like the selections so I inquired about the burger. Another bartender said it was good. Great so I ordered it. My bartender say how do you want it? I said slightly pink. She says with an attitude, you have to give me a temperature! Oh!!! I said Medium Well then. She proceeds to ring it up! I said hold on what does it come with? She says NOTHING. The burger was $27!!!! A side of fries is another $9!!!! I said ok NEVER MIND!!!! That's $36 for a burger????I finished my drink. My receipt was in a glass in front of me. I looked at the bill which was $32. $17 for the Gold Rush and $13 for the Seafood Chowder. I added my credit card to the glass and bill. She took it, ran the card, but tried to slide the burger onto my bill. BUT O caught. The bill was $52. I patiently waited til she finished pretending to be busy. I mentioned to her that she need to rerun my card because I'm being overcharged. She looked at the bill and said you ordered the burger. I said NO I said NEVERMIND if it doesn't come with a side. I also asked her did I receive the burger and finish it???? No!!! She tried to pay confused!!!! Who pays for their bill before the food arrives for a dine in? NO ONE!!! Which means that she clearly was trying to slide the $27 burger on my bill (which was never on my bill at all). She was going I didn't catch it. This is very sad! I knew exactly what she was trying to do.I'm very upset that this has happened. I will not frequent this restaurant ever again!!!!!!