Houston · Eat & Drink
Where to eat in Houston
Brisket and pho, Tex-Mex and Gulf oysters, Sunday brunch and late-night tacos. Our guides to eating well across the whole city.
Houston is one of the most rewarding places in America to eat, and the reason is variety. Generations of immigrants have made the city’s restaurant scene a map of the world: Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants along Bellaire Boulevard, Tex-Mex institutions in the East End, Nigerian and Indian kitchens in Alief, Gulf seafood, and Texas barbecue served from trailers and smokehouses all over town.
How to use this guide
Start with our best restaurants in Houston, the editors’ short list across every cuisine and price point. Then go deeper by craving: barbecue, Tex-Mex, brunch, coffee and happy hour. If you are short on time, spend it in Chinatown and Asiatown, the densest stretch of great cooking in the city.
Eating by neighborhood works well in a city this size. Our neighborhood guides list the best restaurants near the Museum District, the Texas Medical Center, the Heights and more. The restaurant directory has hours, addresses and reviews for thousands of places to eat.
What Houston does best
A few things define eating here. Texas barbecue, with brisket at the center, has a strong local school of pitmasters. Tex-Mex is a Houston birthright, from fajitas to combination plates at family restaurants that have fed the city for generations. Viet-Cajun crawfish, boiled and tossed in garlic butter, is a Houston original and the centerpiece of spring. Kolaches and breakfast tacos start the day, and Gulf oysters and seafood are never far away. Few cities offer this much range at every price.
The city also rewards curiosity. Some of its best cooking happens in strip-mall dining rooms with handwritten menus, so it pays to follow a guide and then wander. Our cheap eats guide is a good place to start exploring, and our date night guide covers the special-occasion end of the scale.
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For the occasion
Kids, dogs, late nights and afternoon tea.
Cuisines worth crossing town for
Ramen to pupusas, dim sum to suya.
Houston by craving
Pizza, sushi, tacos, kolaches and the rest of the list.
Local favorites
Crawfish season, taprooms and beer gardens.
Start with these guides
The best of Houston, by craving.
Eat like a local
Follow the seasons
Crawfish in spring, brisket all year, Gulf oysters when the water cools, and patio season whenever the heat breaks.
Our guides track the dishes and neighborhood spots Houstonians come back to, season after season.
Houston restaurants
A rotating selection from the directory.
More food and dining guides
The best mac and cheese in Houston, from Lucille's baked truffle mac to Blood Bros. smoked gouda and Killen's fried version in Pearland.
The best mariscos in Houston: Mexican aguachile counters, Peruvian cevicherias with leche de tigre, and the dish to order at each of 11 verified spots.
The best enchiladas in Houston, from Molina’s 1941 chili-gravy combination plate to Hugo’s three-day mole negro, with 10 verified open spots.
The best cafeterias in Houston, from Cleburne's 1941 tray line to Luby's revival, Treebeards' red beans, and soul food steam tables across the city.
Best catfish in Houston: soul food plates with collard greens, Cajun fillets with hush puppies, and Original Timmy Chan on Scott Street.
Nine Houston spots for Gulf blue crab — Viet-Cajun boils, fried whole crabs, stuffed crab and Cantonese preparations — plus when peak season runs.
Best milkshakes in Houston: a soda fountain since 1938, late-night Montrose shakes, boozy Carvel soft-serve, and Asian-inspired black sesame and ube.
The best ceviche in Houston, from Andes Cafe's Peruvian leche de tigre to Caracol's coastal Mexican and La Fisheria's Gulf aguachile. Ten verified spots.
Best paleterias in Houston: 10 shops for paletas, mangonadas, horchata and aguas frescas from East End to Cy-Fair — with a Save-this checklist.
Find borscht, pierogi, pelmeni, and kolbasa in Houston at 9 verified Eastern European restaurants, delis, and markets, plus the Czech-Texan kolache trail.
Houston's best Jamaican restaurants: Reggae Hut, Cool Runnings, Jamaica Pon Di Road, and six more confirmed open spots for oxtail, jerk chicken, and roti.
The best empanadas in Houston — Argentine baked, Colombian corn-masa and Venezuelan masarepa — at 9 confirmed-open spots sorted by style.
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