Mouthwatering French in Houston

Ruggles Black

★★★★☆ 3.9 (824) • $$

"What a treat! I'be had this spot bookmarked for a while now, and passed on another occasion due to the valet line being so long. This time, we made a reservation, valet was accessible, things flowed smoothly, and we made the most of our first visit.The flavors are spot on, and RB is a top tier Houston dining experience. Everything is delicious. The fried chicken was moist and the accompanying sauces were perfect. The seafood ramen was delicious also. The empanadas and the butternut squash soup hit the spot as well. All in all-- Ruffles Black was fire and I can wait to return! Note: $5 valet required. Cheers!"

Brasserie 19

★★★★☆ 3.7 (729) • $$$

"My friends and I had a lovely dinner here!We all partook in the Houston Restaurant Week menu since it was all our first visit, and it was overall delicious. I got the deviled eggs with caviar, the hangar steak with au gratin potatoes and Cafe de Paris butter, and the lemon pound cake with rosé ginger berry sauce. The deviled eggs were rich, the steak was perfectly juicy, and I adored how subtly sweet the lemon pound cake was. Our table shared a bottle of sparkling wine and it was the perfect accompaniment to our meal. Service was good although it was a busy Friday night, and they turned down the lights after sunset for a more intimate mood. Would return again for a special occasion!"

Etoile Cuisine et Bar

★★★★☆ 4.2 (537)

"Mes compliments au chef!This place was recommended by the passport lady at the French consulate nearby and she specifically said to try the moules marinières. So i did and I wasn't disappointed! The mussels were huge and so well cooked and tender. The only surprise was the creamy sauce rather than the typical wine sauce but it was nonetheless excellent.I ended with an Ile flottante with pistachios and again the chef or his pastry chef are showing that they know their stuff.Will be back when I am in Houston."

Le Colonial - Houston

★★★★☆ 3.7 (649) • $$$

"A friend of mine selected a restaurant for NYE '23 and chose this fancy, Vietnamese-French fusion. I typically don't go out or dine out for NYE but thought it'd be a nice change to do something fun. Reservations were made ahead of time. Location is in River Oaks. Valet parking is available, and there's an app that will inform you when your vehicle is ready. Walking in, I saw patio seating outside, but it was a chilly night, so no one was out there unless you were valeting. Check in at the hostess stand right at the door. Not much space between that and the staircase when there's a line to check in. You're not seated unless the whole party is present, which includes a part of 2. I was early, so they told me there was a seat upstairs at the bar. I ordered the Le Violete gin cocktail that was tasty and topped with egg white, which I'm a fan of. It was around $20. When my friend arrived fashionably late as usual, we were seated at a small table for two. There were small, gold and white balloons floating at the ceiling. Every time one would drift down, a waiter would casually grab it by the string and walk off with it. It was a bit comical. The island decor and dark interior/fixtures reminded me of Tommy Bahamas restaurants.So for the food, it was a prix fixe menu, unbeknownst to us since their website didn't advertise it. I look at menus ahead of time, so I was thrown off and disappointed that I wouldn't be able to try a few dishes I wanted. You choose an appetizer, entree , and dessert for $115. I had the pan fried chicken dumplings, shaking beef with salad, and the creme brulee. I ordered the garlic noodles as extra ($10) to try. The meal itself was ok and NOT worth $250 with 18% gratuity added and another small percentage of alcohol/food gratuity added. I really only liked the cocktail and creme brulee. The chicken dumplings were slightly soggy at the bottom because they put the soy sauce at the bottom of the plate instead of on the side for dipping. The shaking beef was filet but wasn't as tender as I expected. It was also a little sweeter but ok paired with the vinaigrette salad it came with. The garlic noodles were underwhelming and did not taste garlicky and was also on the sweeter side. The creme brulee melted in your mouth like butter. I think it's one of the best creme brulee's I've had. The little madeleines it came with don't really add to the dessert. Plus, traditional Parisian madeleines don't really taste like that. It was a hint of lemon and dry.It was a busy night, and the place was consistently being seated as people came and went. I personally wouldn't come back because I could have really good Vietnamese food elsewhere for less than half the cost. It was a decent experience for NYE. The least they could've done was throw in a glass of champagne since it was NYE."

Croissant-Brioche

★★★★☆ 3.9 (451) • $

"I was a regular in the late 60's and in 1994. I have not lived in Houston since. I had so many good friends who would meet up there. glad it is still around. there are not too many places that made a nyer feel at home in texas"

Toulouse Café and Bar

★★★★☆ 3.5 (549) • $$$

"Toulouse was absolutely divine and a fantastic culinary experience! We didn't enjoy full entrées, but had a couple of appetizers along with some amazing wine. Highly recommend the zucchini chips, they came out piping hot and super crisp and the crabcake, which is fresh, light and delicious! We were able to enjoy outdoor seating for this evening, highly recommend going on Wednesday when it's not as busy and you can enjoy the beautiful lights. Our server Janelle (always hope I spell names right) was the kindest human and super knowledgeable with her recommendations; especially with the drink menu! I'll def be back soon."

Fig & Olive

★★★★☆ 3.9 (436) • $$$

"The perfect place for a weekend brunch or romantic dinner. The ambience and service were excellent. It's connected to the Galleria mall. There's parking in the garage or valet in front of the restaurant. The French food was delish. We had a great time throughout the night.They also have outdoor seats which would be perfect with good weather. I love the vibes here. It's very mellow but also very romantic. Would highly recommend if you're in the area."

Café Rabelais

★★★★☆ 4 (376) • $$

"Houston Restaurant Weeks menuThe star is the escargot. Sat at the bar and received great service. 1. Escargot 2. Stuffed mushrooms with fried oysters 3. Petite filet, green beans, and mashed potatoes 4. Short ribs and gnocchi 5. Chocolate ganache tart6. Apple tartOrder a la cart another escargot and foie gras. Over all, good dinner and I'll come back."

Brasserie du Parc

★★★★☆ 3.9 (374) • $$$

"We stopped by here for dinner and we had tasted their HRW menu. It was pretty good. The ambiance is nice but someone it could get loud if there are too many customers. The service was pretty good. The food quality was great. I love the beef bourguignon. I wished they can serve the escargot with the shell. The grill octopus was in perfect shape, not taste to raw and or too hard to chew. I will come back here when I m around this area."

Nguyen Ngo French Cafe

★★★★☆ 4 (339) • $

"A no frills banh mi shop that was our FAVORITE vietnamese restaurant in Houston, and better than the banh mis in SoCal (Although this was the only place that beat Cali in our books)--dac biet banh mi: perfectly crusty bread, it had the right amount of pate and surprisingly the shredded chicken (which I had never yet ordered in a banh mi) was also good!The hubby enjoyed it so much he got another one to eat at the airport on our last day in HoustonNOTE: They also do croissant banh mi but we didn't try it"

Lucio's

★★★★☆ 4.2 (268) • $$$

"I have been wanting to come here for years based on the great yelp reviews. There are always some bad reviews for every restaurant but those I chalk up to: psychos, people that are having a bad day, or just don't now any better. They are usually from people that are not doing reviews with any consistency so I ignore those. Fellow Yelpers did not disappoint on the crab cakes. I make crab cakes 1-2 a year for special occasions and I use a recipe that is a Robert Irvine/Tyler Florence amalgam. I don't like to use "best ever" as I could have another crab cake somewhere that is very different but also very good. This was a 10 out of 10. I am not even sure what the chef does for a binder because it's pretty much all crab meat. Also I am going to have to figure out how they are really seared and super crispy on top/bottom but it's not deep fried or again covered in breading. I would have like a little more of the sauce on the plate but we used all that was provided. That was my wife's starter I had the tomato and burrata salad which was super fresh and tasty. It went great with the crab cake also. The bread service is about the only thing that didn't seem inline with the rest of the dinner, we were very hungry when we got there but why fill up on bread? I had also read people rave about the steaks there which is odd to me. I eat a lot of steaks at great steak houses (Pappas, Mastros, Capital Grill, Flemings, Vic and Anthony's......) I would not go to Lucio's to have steak. If you thinking the same way you need to re-think your mindset when going there. The selection of steak is very narrow because it's not a steak house but if you are in the mood for a steak go there. My wife order the filet which comes with some layered potatoes. It was VERY VERY good. Expertly cooked and seasoned. I am not sure what we could have asked more from that plate. I had the short rib which was excellent. The risotto with the short rib perfect pair and don't eat one bit of that short rib without some risotto on the fork my friend. It wouldn't be justice to your taste buds. We also did desserts chocolate brownie and the "bubbles" special. The bubbles is they have it on special is definitely something to have with multiple people and dig in with spoons. Please is of course clean and very welcoming very much a sole proprietorship run by someone that cares about the product and that is present with all the staff. Service was great and not pretencious.Lastly, the place is know to BYOB (its in the name) There is no hard liquor there which probably makes it more laid back. We took some amazing bottles of wine with us that would have been $300+ so I have kids that need to go to college and am not a politician so can't be dropping $300-600 on wine for a dinner for two. They have a corking fee which I did not mind and we had white with starters and red with dinner and took both unfinished bottles back home. They do have a succinct wine list that is very reasonable for restaurant of this caliber so no need to bring wine if you don't want to.Lucio's is great for date night but I also saw groups of friends there having a great dinner. Definitely want to bring some friends there with a couple bottles of great wine."

Bistro 555

★★★★☆ 3.9 (199) • $$$

"Love this cozy place! They have great food and great service! Despite authenticity, the food tastes delicious! We had Pate, Duck confit, and steak. The service was great too! We will definitely come back again!"

La Tartine de Houston

★★★★☆ 4.3 (112) • $$

"Dined in on a Tuesday at 12:30 pm for a party of 4. You order at the counter first and seat yourself. Their baguettes are so fresh and delicious!We ordered:Sandwich au steak: THE BEST SANDWICH! The creamy mushroom sauce is to die for! It came with potato salad which was just ok Traditional Jambon au Beurre: great flavors, the butter is so creamy, we got fries with this and they were crispy goodness! Next time I'll ask for mustard, lettuce and tomatoes to be addedTomato Basil soup: more on the chunky side, no cream, not the bestFrench onion soup: a tad too sweetPistachio cake: good strong pistachio flavor, the cake was so moistStrawberry shortcake: DELICIOUS! The strawberries in the middle were frozen"

Le Petit Paris

★★★★★ 4.6 (69)

"We stopped in for a little mid-afternoon beignet sesh and split an order of 10 beignets for $7. We substituted Nutella for the side of honey. They were delicious, hot and fully! Will definitely be back to try other things."

Paulette Cafe

★★★★★ 4.7 (31)

"In the former Flourish bakery and cafe, there rests a new little French pastry and baked goods shop, Paulette. A delicious menu, fresh and hot coffee, the great staff are sure to make this a success. Their prices are similar to Le Madeline, but their options are so much more elegant, refined, and honest. I cannot wait to return."