Feast

It's the Pig's Knees... ear... foot... belly... etc.

by Long Thai

We swung through here recently during Restaurant Week after hearing so much about how great this place is... well I have to say I was generally impressed. The pork belly is everything and the proverbial bag of chips... served atop a bed of red cabbage, it all tasted so deliciously as if the pig died and went to heaven in my mouth.

Definitely more of a homestyle feel to the atmosphere, it is definitely much warmer and more inviting than a lot of the uppity snooty upscale places in town. Some of the other dishes were hits and misses but overall I was happy with our meal here. For appetizers, we had the mussels (decent) and the cheese crusted pig's ear cake (interesting). For our desserts, we had the sticky toffee pudding (by far our favorite), the spiced peach sorbet (2nd place), the bread pudding (strong with bourbon flavor... like really strong), and the lemon pastry (ok).

I'm a fan in general of pork belly, and this place served up a mean dish of pork belly. Color me a fan of Feast!

They've made a sow's ear out of a silk purse

by nativehoustonian

now understand the reason why people either luv or hate this place. First it is very noisy; if you want to converse with ur companion this is not the place. The out put from the kitchen is uneven at best. We had 2 orders of the pork belly and potato cakes at our table. one looked and was good the other ; pork was way over cooked and the potato cake was burned on one side and raw on the other. The kitchen is very slow. We sat down at 6:30 and got our entrees at 8:05!! I had the lamb shank and it was Ok; I've had much better at Damien's. Our server was Claire and she was very pleasant but was obviously over worked. The desserts were excellent I highly recommend the sticky toffee pudding. Honestly dont understand the glowing reviews they got on their website. We would only return for dessert but doubt that will happen.

An Experience not worth repeating

by dtslottke

My wife and I joined four friends here for dinner last week. We had wanted to try this place for some time as we appreciate unique food experiences. I read the reviews and picked my courses from the online menus (selection of the day and "always" available). We tried three of the extras: Welsh rarebit, Exmoor toasts and pork rillions. As others have mentioned the rarebit was dominated by Worcestershire sauce, and nothing like the picture of rarebit in Wikipedia. The Exmoor toasts were fine, and the pork rillions dish was well liked by most of our party, me included. I had an appetizer of mussels, which was cooked very well in a tasty white wine sauce. We also had the fish soup, scallops and Albondigas. The soup lacked both substance and taste, the meatballs were good, and their were no complaints about the scallops. I had anticipated having the cassoulet with rabbit for my entree only to be told that it was not available, as it is today off the online menu as well. Instead I had the poached seafood, containing mussels, prawns, shrimp, and tile fish in a broth with veggies. The only remarkable part of the dish was the garlic aioli. Everything else was very bland, and the fish was overcooked. The only other entree I can comment on was the pork belly. It received mixed reviews at the table. I didn't care for the fatty texture of the bite I had, which was the only impression I got from it in the restaurant. Later, since my wife couldn't stomach much of it either, I got to try the meat cold and found it tasty, but I would not order it again. Desserts were the best part of the meal. The bread pudding is good, but with a distinct taste of alcohol. Also sampled were the molten chocolate and lemon cakes. If you must go to Feast to try it, go, but be forewarned.

Horrible Experience, Unacceptable Service

by longhorn00

Went to Feast with a large group (8 plus) b/c of the multiple great reviews about both food and service (IE: 10 best new restaurants in America - Bon Appitit). When called for reservation, was told they would only seat a group as large as ours at 5pm - no later. I asked if they could bump that at all and they bumped it to 5:30pm... a little bit earlier than I typically eat, but was willing to overlook. Everyone in our group was there either early or right on time. Those that arrived at 5pm to grab a drink 1st, were made to feel as if they were putting the owners & wait staff out. We all were sitting at a long table with 4 on each side, with the 9th person situated at the very end (little to no room for plate & drinks) and against the wall. Before this person had even gotten their 1st drink, he walked up to the hostess (also one of the owners - unbeknownst to him) and asked if she would be willing to either move the table away from the wall or add a small table to our table. She promptly said no, with ZERO explanation and would not elaborate. He was a little perturbed by her shortness, and tried to explain what he wanted. She refused, and he asked for her name and came and sat down with us. Within 2 minutes of his sitting down and briefly explaining what had happened, the chef/owner/husband asked my friend if they could speak. My friend got up to speak with him. 5 minutes later our friend called us to say he had been asked to leave the restaurant! He said for us to stay & finish the meal and would meet us later for drinks. We ended up staying, after a lengthy discussion amongst the group. Neither the hostess/owner or chef/owner ever walked over and explained what had transpired in their view to myself (who made reservation) or anyone else at the table. The food was neither remarkable or bad. The dessert (sticky toffee pudding) was excellent, best thing by far had by anyone at the table. Our waitress overall was good, but no explanation or acknowledgement from wait staff / hostess / owners as to why our friend was asked to leave. We were there for Houston Restaurant Week which is a 3 course meal for $35 per person. FYI - we ended up spending over $70 per person by ordering drinks and a few dishes off the normal non-restaurant week menu. My family has owned many restaurants in the Houston area over the years, and I have also worked in the industry in younger days. I know my friend well and believe he took no actions warrantying being asked to leave the restaurant (at this point he had ZERO alcohol and being belligerent is not in his nature). Unacceptable conduct by the OWNERSHIP to not even explain to the table their version of what had transpired. I also had to wait for 20 minutes for valet after dinner. I eventually went up to valet with $3 & asked for my keys, with which I went & got my own car.

• Pros: Decent Food
• Cons: Unacceptable Service

A good deal and a GREAT meal!

by txfoodie2009

We recently tried Feast for the 1st time, and we'll definitely be back. You sit VERY close to other diners (the person next to me kept asking me about every course I received), but even this reminded me of Paris bistros. The food was excellent. I had pork belly, and my husband had cassoulet. Both were excellent. I'd give the nod to the cassolet, but it was very rich -- luckily, we split both. But the best part of the meal was the dessert. We had sticky toffee pudding and it was out of this world good. We also shared a scallop appetizer, and although good, it wasn't up to the level of the rest of the meal. In the future, I might forego appetizers (the entrees were very large). An appetizer, 2 entrees, a bottle of wine, and dessert was less than $100. And the service was wonderful -- friendly, laid-back, and with opinions that seemed genuine and without regard to the prices on the menu. I'd highly recommend this little Montrose jewel!

• Pros: fun, quaint building; incredible food; great value
• Cons: mandatory valet that isn't free