Blue Onyx kind of gave me the blues.... sheeessh! I sooooooooo wanted to love this place, but I just cant..can't... Sheeeeeeesh! Location: This restaurant is located on Richmond near 610. Can't miss it. Parking: This restaurant is in a huggggggggge lot and it is a Friday night, so I was afraid this place would be valet only or hard to park. It wasn't. Parking was easy peasy! Ambiance/Decor: This restaurant is gorgeous on the outside. Looks soooo swanky... almost as if when you drive by you just know you have to pull over and go inside. The Food: We went for restaurant week and thought we'd try something new. We all ordered something a bit different according to their Restaurant Week Menu. The food was just okay... Okay enough that I don't have to go back. The Service: The service was a bit of a doozy! We were a group of 7 and initially got one energetic Server who was great at first. He did a great job of trying to connect with us. That was appreciative; however, things took a turn when (before even taking our food order he asked about split checks). We were couples and a guest, so we noted one check per couple. He further explained that if the party wanted to split checks, there would be an extra 25% fee, but if we didnt there would be an wxtra 10% fee. Please note that I was steaming, so I can't recall if he said extra fee or gratuity. Either way, I didn't care for it. Sooooo... that is the first time I have ever heard that in my life. I almost felt like that fee was screaming... "Hi I'm Blue Onyx and I'm doing you a favor by letting you dine here. Anything else you want so I can nickel and dime you." Please note that I am not a restaurant owner and have no desire. However, I do know numbers and quite well enough to know that the overhead for a restaurant that is not packed on a Friday evening is quite costly. I felt like this was a blatant "pass this inflation fee along to the customers fee." It may just have been the way it was explained to us and we didn't want to shoot the messager, but when we asked to speak to the manager about this unbelievable fee the Server attempted to talk us out of it. The whole experience was weird and unnecessary. Some of the members of our party felt as if we were treated differently because we ordered from the Resturant Week Menu. Well, we will never know because we will not be back.Altogether this restaurant has beautiful aesthetics and the Servers that they sent later were super nice and accommodating, but it's just not for me. I hope this information is helpful to someone in hopes that you have a way better experience than me! Happy Yelping!!!
Carmen S.
Visited a few weeks after Houston restaurant week and due to popularity, they still had the restaurant week menu. Drinks: Bartender (Forgot his name but he said he was fairly new) did well with the drinks... Old fashion, Manhattan & was comfortable creating a drink on request, a Hennessy strawberry lemon drop martini. He nailed all 3 drinks! Appetizers: Takoyaki (Octopus) was a server recommendation but I wasn't expecting it to be so bready & so little octopus so it was only 'ok' for me. Ravioli appetizer was in a rich, flavorful sauce & was good. Entrees: The table had 5. King of the seas (japanese sea bass with lobster) had such great potential to be fabulous. It was beautifully plated but unfortunately we had 2 orders of overcooked sea bass. The lobster, the crab filling & sauces worked so well together but it's hard to get around sea bass that requires a knife to cut. We also had seafood pasta (shrimp, scallops,, snapper, clams) which was a bit bland & again, the seafood was overcooked. The 2 best dishes were the red snapper where the fish was cooked perfectly & paired well with the shredded veggies & sauce. As requested, the butter was substituted for olive oil and the taste was still spot on. The lamb chops were tender & very flavorful, cooked perfectly. They.Dessert: Bread pudding was ok. I ate it but it was eggy & not impressive. We told them we were celebrating a birthday ( mine!) so disappointed they didn't have any special gesture for that. I didn't remember until I got home that my birthday wasn't acknowledged!Ambiance: Inside setting is a cool vibe, dimly lit with red & blue lights at the small bar. It was pretty empty on a Saturday night. Nice that there is ample parking in the parking lot. Overall: With 3 seafood dishes overcooked and 2 dishes cooked perfectly, perhaps something in the kitchen was just 'off' this night. I'll give them another try at some point.
Elaine Chai
We had husband’s 50th birthday celebration at bistro. To be honest I am a little disappointed. At first the waiter told us it is $20 per bottle corkage fee, 10 mins later, he said sorry, it is $35 per bottle…. Then the food I ordered was disappointing. Good presentation but…I ordered King of Sea, the sea bass was totally over cooked, it is so hard to chew on. We had a party of 12, it takes me several times to remind waiters to bring the bread come with the order. Overall, I won’t recommend this place for a large party event. Maybe a few friend to hang out and don’t order their sea bass.
Brandon Alarcon
I would have given it 5 stars, but my veal was well done and had no flavor. They replaced it with an amazing Chilean Seabass. It was so light and flaky! The bacon wrapped quail was good. The white chocolate bread pudding was ok, I've had better most other places. The waiter was very nice and helped me fix my meal. One of the other waitresses was not so sccommodating and told me that's the way they cooked the veal. Over all, I would be careful what you order if you come here.
Asia
I came with my best friend for Houston Restaurant Weeks and this was our first stop. I don’t remember my first course, but for my entree I had the veal & lobster tail and my friend had the halibut I think. The flavors in the sauces were great, the only problem is I started to feel queasy about halfway through the meal. I had the bread pudding for dessert, hoping the sugar would curb my nausea, but it didn’t. The bread pudding was still delicious, would recommend. The service was quick and friendly, no complaints there. I also had a dirty martini to drink, which wasn’t nearly dirty enough. Four stars overall, which I think is generous.
catherine hsu
Sine we have group, they have arranged private room for us, make sure we are not too "loud"??We had restaurant of week menu on Sunday lunch, only 2 courses, but calamari and soup was good dinner size which fill you up...no doubt ?Will come back for dinner again!
Jessica M.
This place was really nice, the decor was nice and the building was pretty, the outside was really pretty. I loved the lights inside and the chairs were very modern looking. Service was really good, we were greeted and sat immediately. We were given the HRW menus and their regular menu as well as a drink menu. My son and I came to try the HRW week. We love trying new places then. We both got the shrimp bisque on the lunch menu and I ordered the chipotle redfish and he ordered the Hawaiian flounder. We then got the white chocolate bread pudding. The food was just ok. The bread they brought to the table was really good though. I doubt we would come back but I'm glad we tried it!
Latrise Lee
I booked a reservation online for 7/22/23 @8:00pm which was my 36th Birthday. I was so excited about the opportunity to have this dining experience and celebrate along with my Husband. We were all dressed up for the fine dining occasion. We arrive about 30min early traffic wasn’t bad. So my husband went inside to ask the host could we be seated early or just wait for our reservation time. The host looked stunned as to how he even was able to walk through the front doors and confused about why we were even there. The host said “Look around we’re NOT taking any reservations or regular outside guests. Due to a WEDDING reception booked the entire restaurant for the evening/night. Therefore shutting it down to the public. This was very disheartening and disappointing because we’ve heard so many great things about this place. The owners or technicians should have more control over the website, Google/reservations to not allow people to book if they’re not vacant. There wasn’t even anything outside the doors to let the public know a wedding was taking place, decor etc. No “We’re Closed” actually the OPEN sign was still on (red light). And due to booking with this location everyone else was booked for the night Mastro’s, Steak 48 etc. We ended up making the best of our night and limited options, but due to how we were greeted and disorganization we’ve crossed this place off our list.
Wade Griffin
Staff was friendly and attentive. Meal came out hot and fresh. The Gulf Snapper with Chef´s Spicy Sauce was a bit overcooked, but the flavors were unbelievable and more than made up for it. I'll no doubt be back.
KC O
My party went on a Thursday night, so it was pretty calm but the food, service & ambience was on point. Extra points for the drinks too. Our waitress Hannah did a very good job! ? thank you again :)
The best crab cake of my life!!! The reason I did not give this place 5 stars was because my mom ordered the blue onyx’s pasta and it was super thick. But the service was great and the atmosphere was beautiful.
Vicki L.
Stopped by here for a late lunch so the restaurant was empty but the food and service was impeccable! I tried the truffle scallop pasta and I think it's one of the most delicious pasta dishes I've had. The scallops were huge and had the perfect soft and chewy texture. This was my first time trying truffle shavings but they gave the dish a unique kick and I couldn't get enough of it. My partner got the Korean steak and he loved it; We saw the dish on the menu on their website but it wasn't on the menu they gave us so we asked if it could still be made and the waiter happily obliged.The interior was modern and clean and would be perfect for a date night. I'd love to come back and try some of the other things on the menu!
Traveler49555209414
This is by far our favorite restaraunt in Houston! It is absolutely beautiful--incredible lighting.See pic. And the food was delicious. The service superb. I had the Hawaiin Flounder w crabmeat. See pic. The presentation is wonderful, with an orchid on top-and great portion. My hubby had the Truffle Scallop Pasta. He loved that. This restaraunt is AMAZING! Oh, and let's not forget the Chocolate eruption cake. Awesome and huge for sharing. Easy location, lots of parking. Oh, and if you have a really big party, they have a beautiful separate glassed room. This restaraunt is our go to when we visit Houston!
Charles C.
Great Place! I would go back and we went when it was just getting started and I only hear it has gotten better! can't wait to go back and enjoy another meal there.
Leah E.
Blue Onyx has a great location, in the loop just off of 610 & Richmond Ave. This is a great place to host a medical center event because of the easy access and parking was also so easy for us. One of my friends had this on her list of places to try as well, so we did! We arrived during the earlier part of Happy Hour(HH) and I had their HH Pinot Grigio while my friend opted for the a HH Mango Martini, no complaints on the drinks whatsoever AND the options for HH are plentiful, both food and drink-wise. We enjoyed HH calamari and the ravioli dish (4 pieces). The ravioli dish sits in a delicious bowl of cheeses and sauce joined by just the right amount of flavor- makes you want to lick the plate, buuut- just grab some bread to sop up the remaining sauce!! I think the food prices are very fair and the portion sizes of our dinner where nice- we both had food leftovers to take to go! I had their redfish dish that was topped with crab meat and another delicious sauce with a small side salad that had an Asian twist to it. My friend selected the fried shrimp and her food looked tasty as well.This place was chill and I'd say more so for adults, the ambiance is relaxing and the seating, even the bar seating options, all seem like you can't go too wrong. Service was impeccable and attentive.
Blue Onyx kind of gave me the blues.... sheeessh! I sooooooooo wanted to love this place, but I just cant..can't... Sheeeeeeesh! Location: This restaurant is located on Richmond near 610. Can't miss it. Parking: This restaurant is in a huggggggggge lot and it is a Friday night, so I was afraid this place would be valet only or hard to park. It wasn't. Parking was easy peasy! Ambiance/Decor: This restaurant is gorgeous on the outside. Looks soooo swanky... almost as if when you drive by you just know you have to pull over and go inside. The Food: We went for restaurant week and thought we'd try something new. We all ordered something a bit different according to their Restaurant Week Menu. The food was just okay... Okay enough that I don't have to go back. The Service: The service was a bit of a doozy! We were a group of 7 and initially got one energetic Server who was great at first. He did a great job of trying to connect with us. That was appreciative; however, things took a turn when (before even taking our food order he asked about split checks). We were couples and a guest, so we noted one check per couple. He further explained that if the party wanted to split checks, there would be an extra 25% fee, but if we didnt there would be an wxtra 10% fee. Please note that I was steaming, so I can't recall if he said extra fee or gratuity. Either way, I didn't care for it. Sooooo... that is the first time I have ever heard that in my life. I almost felt like that fee was screaming... "Hi I'm Blue Onyx and I'm doing you a favor by letting you dine here. Anything else you want so I can nickel and dime you." Please note that I am not a restaurant owner and have no desire. However, I do know numbers and quite well enough to know that the overhead for a restaurant that is not packed on a Friday evening is quite costly. I felt like this was a blatant "pass this inflation fee along to the customers fee." It may just have been the way it was explained to us and we didn't want to shoot the messager, but when we asked to speak to the manager about this unbelievable fee the Server attempted to talk us out of it. The whole experience was weird and unnecessary. Some of the members of our party felt as if we were treated differently because we ordered from the Resturant Week Menu. Well, we will never know because we will not be back.Altogether this restaurant has beautiful aesthetics and the Servers that they sent later were super nice and accommodating, but it's just not for me. I hope this information is helpful to someone in hopes that you have a way better experience than me! Happy Yelping!!!
Visited a few weeks after Houston restaurant week and due to popularity, they still had the restaurant week menu. Drinks: Bartender (Forgot his name but he said he was fairly new) did well with the drinks... Old fashion, Manhattan & was comfortable creating a drink on request, a Hennessy strawberry lemon drop martini. He nailed all 3 drinks! Appetizers: Takoyaki (Octopus) was a server recommendation but I wasn't expecting it to be so bready & so little octopus so it was only 'ok' for me. Ravioli appetizer was in a rich, flavorful sauce & was good. Entrees: The table had 5. King of the seas (japanese sea bass with lobster) had such great potential to be fabulous. It was beautifully plated but unfortunately we had 2 orders of overcooked sea bass. The lobster, the crab filling & sauces worked so well together but it's hard to get around sea bass that requires a knife to cut. We also had seafood pasta (shrimp, scallops,, snapper, clams) which was a bit bland & again, the seafood was overcooked. The 2 best dishes were the red snapper where the fish was cooked perfectly & paired well with the shredded veggies & sauce. As requested, the butter was substituted for olive oil and the taste was still spot on. The lamb chops were tender & very flavorful, cooked perfectly. They.Dessert: Bread pudding was ok. I ate it but it was eggy & not impressive. We told them we were celebrating a birthday ( mine!) so disappointed they didn't have any special gesture for that. I didn't remember until I got home that my birthday wasn't acknowledged!Ambiance: Inside setting is a cool vibe, dimly lit with red & blue lights at the small bar. It was pretty empty on a Saturday night. Nice that there is ample parking in the parking lot. Overall: With 3 seafood dishes overcooked and 2 dishes cooked perfectly, perhaps something in the kitchen was just 'off' this night. I'll give them another try at some point.
We had husband’s 50th birthday celebration at bistro. To be honest I am a little disappointed. At first the waiter told us it is $20 per bottle corkage fee, 10 mins later, he said sorry, it is $35 per bottle…. Then the food I ordered was disappointing. Good presentation but…I ordered King of Sea, the sea bass was totally over cooked, it is so hard to chew on. We had a party of 12, it takes me several times to remind waiters to bring the bread come with the order. Overall, I won’t recommend this place for a large party event. Maybe a few friend to hang out and don’t order their sea bass.
I would have given it 5 stars, but my veal was well done and had no flavor. They replaced it with an amazing Chilean Seabass. It was so light and flaky! The bacon wrapped quail was good. The white chocolate bread pudding was ok, I've had better most other places. The waiter was very nice and helped me fix my meal. One of the other waitresses was not so sccommodating and told me that's the way they cooked the veal. Over all, I would be careful what you order if you come here.
I came with my best friend for Houston Restaurant Weeks and this was our first stop. I don’t remember my first course, but for my entree I had the veal & lobster tail and my friend had the halibut I think. The flavors in the sauces were great, the only problem is I started to feel queasy about halfway through the meal. I had the bread pudding for dessert, hoping the sugar would curb my nausea, but it didn’t. The bread pudding was still delicious, would recommend. The service was quick and friendly, no complaints there. I also had a dirty martini to drink, which wasn’t nearly dirty enough. Four stars overall, which I think is generous.
Sine we have group, they have arranged private room for us, make sure we are not too "loud"??We had restaurant of week menu on Sunday lunch, only 2 courses, but calamari and soup was good dinner size which fill you up...no doubt ?Will come back for dinner again!
This place was really nice, the decor was nice and the building was pretty, the outside was really pretty. I loved the lights inside and the chairs were very modern looking. Service was really good, we were greeted and sat immediately. We were given the HRW menus and their regular menu as well as a drink menu. My son and I came to try the HRW week. We love trying new places then. We both got the shrimp bisque on the lunch menu and I ordered the chipotle redfish and he ordered the Hawaiian flounder. We then got the white chocolate bread pudding. The food was just ok. The bread they brought to the table was really good though. I doubt we would come back but I'm glad we tried it!
I booked a reservation online for 7/22/23 @8:00pm which was my 36th Birthday. I was so excited about the opportunity to have this dining experience and celebrate along with my Husband. We were all dressed up for the fine dining occasion. We arrive about 30min early traffic wasn’t bad. So my husband went inside to ask the host could we be seated early or just wait for our reservation time. The host looked stunned as to how he even was able to walk through the front doors and confused about why we were even there. The host said “Look around we’re NOT taking any reservations or regular outside guests. Due to a WEDDING reception booked the entire restaurant for the evening/night. Therefore shutting it down to the public. This was very disheartening and disappointing because we’ve heard so many great things about this place. The owners or technicians should have more control over the website, Google/reservations to not allow people to book if they’re not vacant. There wasn’t even anything outside the doors to let the public know a wedding was taking place, decor etc. No “We’re Closed” actually the OPEN sign was still on (red light). And due to booking with this location everyone else was booked for the night Mastro’s, Steak 48 etc. We ended up making the best of our night and limited options, but due to how we were greeted and disorganization we’ve crossed this place off our list.
Staff was friendly and attentive. Meal came out hot and fresh. The Gulf Snapper with Chef´s Spicy Sauce was a bit overcooked, but the flavors were unbelievable and more than made up for it. I'll no doubt be back.
My party went on a Thursday night, so it was pretty calm but the food, service & ambience was on point. Extra points for the drinks too. Our waitress Hannah did a very good job! ? thank you again :)
Restaurantji Recommends
The best crab cake of my life!!! The reason I did not give this place 5 stars was because my mom ordered the blue onyx’s pasta and it was super thick. But the service was great and the atmosphere was beautiful.
Stopped by here for a late lunch so the restaurant was empty but the food and service was impeccable! I tried the truffle scallop pasta and I think it's one of the most delicious pasta dishes I've had. The scallops were huge and had the perfect soft and chewy texture. This was my first time trying truffle shavings but they gave the dish a unique kick and I couldn't get enough of it. My partner got the Korean steak and he loved it; We saw the dish on the menu on their website but it wasn't on the menu they gave us so we asked if it could still be made and the waiter happily obliged.The interior was modern and clean and would be perfect for a date night. I'd love to come back and try some of the other things on the menu!
This is by far our favorite restaraunt in Houston! It is absolutely beautiful--incredible lighting.See pic. And the food was delicious. The service superb. I had the Hawaiin Flounder w crabmeat. See pic. The presentation is wonderful, with an orchid on top-and great portion. My hubby had the Truffle Scallop Pasta. He loved that. This restaraunt is AMAZING! Oh, and let's not forget the Chocolate eruption cake. Awesome and huge for sharing. Easy location, lots of parking. Oh, and if you have a really big party, they have a beautiful separate glassed room. This restaraunt is our go to when we visit Houston!
Great Place! I would go back and we went when it was just getting started and I only hear it has gotten better! can't wait to go back and enjoy another meal there.
Blue Onyx has a great location, in the loop just off of 610 & Richmond Ave. This is a great place to host a medical center event because of the easy access and parking was also so easy for us. One of my friends had this on her list of places to try as well, so we did! We arrived during the earlier part of Happy Hour(HH) and I had their HH Pinot Grigio while my friend opted for the a HH Mango Martini, no complaints on the drinks whatsoever AND the options for HH are plentiful, both food and drink-wise. We enjoyed HH calamari and the ravioli dish (4 pieces). The ravioli dish sits in a delicious bowl of cheeses and sauce joined by just the right amount of flavor- makes you want to lick the plate, buuut- just grab some bread to sop up the remaining sauce!! I think the food prices are very fair and the portion sizes of our dinner where nice- we both had food leftovers to take to go! I had their redfish dish that was topped with crab meat and another delicious sauce with a small side salad that had an Asian twist to it. My friend selected the fried shrimp and her food looked tasty as well.This place was chill and I'd say more so for adults, the ambiance is relaxing and the seating, even the bar seating options, all seem like you can't go too wrong. Service was impeccable and attentive.