Sam Houston Race Park

Doesn't Recommend

EchoJulietDelta

Joined 5 years ago

New Years Eve 12/31/08. The Sam Houston Race Park will NOT be hosting a New Years Eve celebration this year due to damage caused by Hurricane Ike.

Recommends

trackjack

Joined 5 years ago

Most exciting dining place. I love this restaurant inside of Sam Houston Race Park. First of all, you get the best view of the track and with reservations can get seating right on the finish line. The buffet is wonderful and for 25 bucks you cannot beat the value. I bring my family out to the track a c3 or 4 times a year and my kids love the buffet and the horses.

I also have been to the Winner's Circle a couple of times for a guys night out and we had a great time as well. Since each table has it is own TV, we would watch the Astros between races and change back to the race 5 minutes between post. It was a great 5 hours of fun

Doesn't Recommend

psl55

Joined 6 years ago

Avoid. Reservations were made, this was our first visit. The visual presentation of the advertised "gourmet cuisine? we rated a 4 on a scale of 1-10, (ten being the highest rating) and that's being kind, for the visual atmosphere was cold and institutional feeling. The hot trays were not hot but barely room temperature. Marvin Zindler would have had a field day. Meat choice was pork and beef, both over cooked, dry and room temperature at best. Fish (salmon) was dry and room temperature. The cooked vegetable selections were limp, overcooked and tasteless. The salad bar was acceptable, with fresh wild greens and fresh cut veggies but the salad dressing was served in an open bowl, in the open air, uncovered and unprotected by sneeze/hair guards and use of the dressing , I felt ,would have been risky. The seafood offered was boiled shrimp; they were satisfactory. The dessert bar was the highest rated at about a 5.5 because it's hard to screw up ice cream. The service- it was non-existent. We waited twenty minutes for our first cocktail, we never received the ice water we requested even after two hours of waiting for it, our dirty plates were never removed from our table, nor was anything else for that matter and only upon hailing the waiter vigoriously did we get acknowledged at all. When we were ready to leave we requested the check and waited 45 minutes for it and it never arrived. We complained to the "HOST" He never brought our check either. Ends up dinner was free and the price was still too high to pay. Have dinner BEFORE the horse race or concerts - off track- because the Winners Circle Restaurant is anything but a winner! This was our first visit and our last.

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

If horse racing is the sport of kings, this race park is Houston's jewel in the crown.. In Short
There are live thoroughbred and quarter-horse races about 150 days of the year at Sam Houston Race Park. SHRP simulcasts every day of the year except Christmas. Throughout the air-conditioned facility, you'll find 125 manned betting machines, 100 self-service machines and 22 voucher machines. Grab a bite to eat at the Winner's Circle Restaurant before you join the other 20,000 fans in the uniquely modern grandstand for the race.