(713) 526-5460

2243 Richmond Ave (Greenbriar Drive)
Houston, TX 77098 29.7341 -95.4139

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Neighborhoods: Greenway/ Upper Kirby, Central

MYHOBBITCAFE.COM

Hours:

Mon-Fri 11am-9:30pm

Sat 10:30am-10:30pm

Sun 10:30am-9pm

Price:

$$

Last updated 1.15.12

Category:

Cafes, Restaurants

Payment Methods:

Check, American Express, Discover, Visa, MasterCard

Restaurant Special Features:

Brunch, Outdoor Dining

Cuisine:

Traditional American, Vegetarian

Smoking Permitted:

No

What People Are Saying About Hobbit Cafe

Featured Review

Contributor

Contributor

The Scene – Don't let the white picket fence that surrounds Hobbit's quaint, Tudor-style exterior fool you. The snug interiors, dotted with mystical artwork and washed in terra-cotta and mossy colors, are as earthy as the former site, which opened 26 years ago. The whimsical driftwood chair at the entrance and branch-handled doors take you back to the forest. – – The Food – If you're not a health nut, don't despair--you'll still be able to please your palate. There are strong vegetarian choices, soothing homemade soups, enchanting sandwiches and bountiful salads (note…

Editor's Tips

The Extras:
Hobbit Cafe's popular Sunday brunch is served from 10:30am to 1:30pm. Lunch menu is also available during brunch.
ambiance
90.4800033569336% positive
  1. loved the atmosphere here!
  2. it has a really nice atmosphere.
  3. It is very unique place with great atmosphere,and friendly staff.
  4. From full meals, to wonderful sandwhiches, and the atmosphere can't be beat!
  5. They need to get their parking lot fixed, they need new chairs, they need to take care of the rodent issue, seating is cramped, and their bathrooms are gross!
  6. I'd hate to say anything bad about this place, because I love it so much - the quirky ambiance, excellent patio, nice staff
  7. The patio is pleasant, the food is healthy and delicious, and the location is convenient.
  8. Great food, relaxed atmosphere and service with a smile.
  9. Fun and good location
  10. With that aside, I still enjoyed my meal mostly because of the service and ambience.
  11. cozy joint - great for
  12. am a huge LOTR fan and the ambience and food are great.
  13. would go there again because of the location and its just a nice little place near my home.
  14. The walls are painted in cozy colors (mossy green and dusty mauve) with charming pictures on the walls.
  15. It's a fun and tasty place to eat.
  16. ENORMOUS portions, cozy, wonderful food.
  17. Quirky decorations inside, and a wonderful, shady patio outside.
  18. think that the restaurant makes excellent food that's good for you, and it offers a nice atmosphere along with it.
  19. The atmosphere is unique & homey, but very crowded every time I've gone for lunch.
  20. The atmosphere is cool and comfortable- it's a great place to go to catch up with friends.
  21. Great food, great service, great atmosphere
  22. You're never too sure what to expect from a LOTR themed eatery, but this is far from a fantasy nerd hangout - its a quaint and comfortable cafe with a great menu and fantastic tasting food.
  23. The food is great, the wait staff are friendly and efficient, the atmosphere is very magical/hobbity, and if you are a fan of Tolkien, the owner's family was a good friend to the Tolkien family.
  24. really enjoyed this place as a fun change of pace from regular lunch spots.
  25. If you go during the week, you have an opportunity to get great parking.
  26. Our waiter was not very attentive and the place has a crowded atmosphere.
  27. Good atmosphere, great food.
  28. Always a relaxing, fun lunch with good food--hugh portions and really nice ambience!
dessert
100.0% positive
  1. The best appetizer I have had there are the cream cheese shrimp rolls.
  2. My pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream tasted just like my mother made it--and that's good!
  3. It was novel to see our favorite characters' names on the menu, but the food attached to the names was off the mark considering it focused on a people that rely on sausage and kidney pie.
drinks
88.88999938964844% positive
  1. They also have good iced tea!
  2. like the herbal tea the best.
  3. Very friendly wait staff kept our drinks filled and were very pleasant.
  4. had the merlot wine which was wonderful.
  5. When the waiter placed the drink on the table I asked him if he could move it further away so the baby would not get it (my hands were full).
  6. We didn't have to wait long for our drinks, and we ordered burgers, black and blue burger was my favourite!
  7. The daily herbal fruit tea was very refreshing and and sweet enough not to need any sugar.
  8. ... and due to our spontaniety, we ended up finding one of the best wines ever!
  9. Their sandwiches are a delight and fresh fruit drinks are joyful.
food quality
90.0% positive
  1. Great food, attentive service, and helpful waitstaff
  2. It was novel to see our favorite characters' names on the menu, but the food attached to the names was off the mark considering it focused on a people that rely on sausage and kidney pie.
  3. You're never too sure what to expect from a LOTR themed eatery, but this is far from a fantasy nerd hangout - its a quaint and comfortable cafe with a great menu and fantastic tasting food.
  4. The best appetizer I have had there are the cream cheese shrimp rolls.
  5. Prices are very reasonable, food is prepared to
  6. started off with the fresh fruit salad- it was incredible.
  7. Great Atmosphere, pretty good food
  8. wash down my wonderful meal with a fresh fruit smoothee.
  9. However, the sandwiches and burgers are excellent.
  10. Absolutely a great place to go for burgers or to test the taste buds of the picky vegitarian.
  11. For a surprising meal, with great menu choices and wonderful service, check the Hobbit out.
  12. Very good food
  13. Perhaps my most favorite fruit (well, the jackfruit competes with it), maybe I'm easy to please when it comes to a dish with avocado involved.
  14. the service isn't top notch, but i love the food.
  15. It is by far my favorite sandwich.
  16. My La Crucia was delicious as were the Spinich Quesadillas that my mother ordered.
  17. The sandwiches are creative, but wayyyyy too big (even the smaller size order).
  18. The sandwiches are fantastic, and come in two versions.
  19. Really fresh veggies on the burger and I got mine with black beans which were very good.
  20. It's a fresh piece of tuna cooked how you want it, topped with fresh greens, purple onion and a delicious sauce.
  21. We didn't have to wait long for our drinks, and we ordered burgers, black and blue burger was my favourite!
  22. Good atmosphere, great food.
  23. There were lots of healthy food options and the food is very tasty.
  24. Service can be a little slow, but the food is generally worth the wait.
  25. Generous portions, their fish tacos are wonderful - they are very conscious of food allergies / special requests.
  26. If you like salmon, this salmon portion was huge and our waiter got it grilled just to our specific request as we described.
  27. My friend had a fruit smoothie and Jamaican-jerk burger that were both excellent as well.
  28. The Jamaican chicken is great, out of this world hamburgers.
  29. Excellent service, great food, family friendly
  30. Then we enjoyed fresh fruit to start and a selection of delicious breakfast choices.
  31. ... but, man, I wouldn't recommend the cooked cuisine.
  32. If you're a Hobbit/Lord of the Rings fan and wish to have an authentic Middle Earthian experience this is not the place.
  33. am a huge fan of the Martinique burger.
  34. The also serve Mexican dishes (I guess Hobbits are from Mexico) and smooties; both of which are pretty tasty.
  35. guess because they use wheat bread other reviews thought the meal was good for you.
  36. The food here is decent, and I really enjoy some of their sandwiches and burgers.
  37. am a huge LOTR fan and the ambience and food are great.
  38. the fries were great, i'd recommend those if you feel like having some.
  39. My girlfriend is a veggie and enjoys the food a lot, whenever I go with her it's good.
  40. order the slim sandwiches.
  41. highly recommend the fruit salad and Smaug's Delight.
  42. But all of the staff are approachable, and you will always find this place so relaxing with tasty food.
  43. Quaint and Delicious; great fries
  44. But, really, everything is delicious.
  45. The nacho's were huge and not bad but the burgers were terrrible.
  46. love the Chicken salad.
  47. Sometimes service is a bit slow, but the food is always excellent.
  48. Great for vegetarians, with alot of options but also more traditional casual food.
  49. The burgers are the BEST i've ever had.
  50. They have fantastic food, great service, and though it is a little cramped, u.
  51. ENORMOUS portions, cozy, wonderful food.
  52. The brown rice was good as well.
  53. My favorite soup is the gazpacho and I love the wrap with the 3 salads in it.
  54. There were lots of vegetarian items, which I appreciated, and the wild salmon burger was very good with lots of quality greens and a yummy dill sauce!
  55. However, the food was so bad it was unedible.
  56. My pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream tasted just like my mother made it--and that's good!
  57. went to The Hobbit at the reccommendation of a friend, who said that the La Crucia sandwich would surely become a favorite dish of mine.
  58. was really excited to go to Hobbit Cafe for lunch because I love vegitarian, healthy but tasty food.
  59. Great food, relaxed atmosphere and service with a smile.
  60. am always in search of restaurants that have fresh, healthy food on the menu.
  61. The last time I was there, I could not enjoy the meal at all.
  62. Outstanding sandwiches and tex-mex offerings.
  63. Their sandwiches are a delight and fresh fruit drinks are joyful.
  64. had gone here before and liked the food even the the place was rundown and dirty and a bit dark.
  65. Unique Atmosphere and tasty veggie treats !
  66. This is the place to go if you are on a budget but want good food.
  67. My friend got the buffalo burger and we shared, I thought the buffalo burger was really good, I think I am going to get it next time.
  68. Salmon burger is great!
  69. Great food and it's somewhere you can always go with your vegetarian friends.
  70. My fave was the Chicken and Beef Fajita meat Nachos.
  71. He got an avocado (Gandalf) sandwich which looked like it contained about 5 avocados and a tiny little bit of bread, while I got the Thorin Oakenfield tabouli sandwich which was not so tasty.
  72. Always a relaxing, fun lunch with good food--hugh portions and really nice ambience!
  73. Great food, great service, enjoyable experience!
  74. This place is full of six legged creepy crawlies, my husband loves their burgers because he doesn't like spicy things, I think this place is too bland.
  75. The service is friendly - generally staffed by some of the local college attendees - and the food is simple, but fresh - fresh - fresh.
  76. We just thought the food was a little pricey for a whole in the wall place.
  77. think that the restaurant makes excellent food that's good for you, and it offers a nice atmosphere along with it.
  78. Best Vegetarian food in Montrose Area
  79. And good food!
  80. usually I get it with chicken, but the tuna is great, too.
  81. We also ordered other items like black bean nachos, the hobbit wraps, and also the carribean salmon entree (among other burgers), which came highly recommended by our waiter.
  82. The fries were good as was the salsa and chips.
  83. No one in my party really enjoyed their meal.
  84. The SLIM is a regular sized sandwich, while the CLASSIC is huge.
  85. First, my friend and I didn't like our sandwiches at all.
  86. It's a fun and tasty place to eat.
  87. The prices are great for the amount of food that is served.
  88. That was awful and my scrambled eggs had huge chunks of EGG SHELLS!
  89. mediocre food
  90. really like the fish tacos here.
  91. The food is great, the wait staff are friendly and efficient, the atmosphere is very magical/hobbity, and if you are a fan of Tolkien, the owner's family was a good friend to the Tolkien family.
  92. If you are looking for a relaxed place and an excellent meal I would absolutely recommend the Hobbit Cafe.
  93. By the way, they got the best cuisine in town.
  94. Great food, great service, great atmosphere
  95. think it seriously had as much fresh avacado as it did beef.
  96. With that aside, I still enjoyed my meal mostly because of the service and ambience.
  97. My salad had limp, warm lettuce.
  98. Although portions match a Hobbit's appetite, the food itself would disappoint even a Sackville Baggins.
  99. The food is great.
  100. The service was very good and the food was great.
  101. loved the shrimp rolls, hobbit wrap and black bean nachos.
  102. We also had mimosas served with fresh squeezed orange juice.
  103. I'm not a big fan of soy, but the soy burger is absolutely delicious (and gigantic).
  104. would actually venture to say that the avocado buffalo burger I was served was the best burger I have ever eaten.
  105. The patio is pleasant, the food is healthy and delicious, and the location is convenient.
menu variety
86.3599967956543% positive
  1. Great for vegetarians, with alot of options but also more traditional casual food.
  2. am always in search of restaurants that have fresh, healthy food on the menu.
  3. The menu has great variety.
  4. When the time came to order the baby grabbed my menu and stuck it in his mouth-ripping it out would have meant loud screaming so I asked if we would keep it-the waiter glared at me and I said, unless you are running low-he said, no-it is just GROSS and
  5. For a surprising meal, with great menu choices and wonderful service, check the Hobbit out.
  6. You're never too sure what to expect from a LOTR themed eatery, but this is far from a fantasy nerd hangout - its a quaint and comfortable cafe with a great menu and fantastic tasting food.
  7. This is a pretty weird place with good options for vegetarians.
  8. The staff is usually very friendly and are helpful with menu decisions.
  9. Then we enjoyed fresh fruit to start and a selection of delicious breakfast choices.
  10. There were lots of healthy food options and the food is very tasty.
  11. It was novel to see our favorite characters' names on the menu, but the food attached to the names was off the mark considering it focused on a people that rely on sausage and kidney pie.
overall
80.0% positive
  1. Absolutely a great place to go for burgers or to test the taste buds of the picky vegitarian.
  2. would go there again because of the location and its just a nice little place near my home.
  3. Seating inside is a bit cramped and sitting outside in Houston is not great for a place that doesn't get a good enough breeze.
  4. The atmosphere is cool and comfortable- it's a great place to go to catch up with friends.
  5. My first impression is that it was a really nice place to kick back and relax.
return potential
100.0% positive
  1. would go there again because of the location and its just a nice little place near my home.
  2. love the Hobbit, and we plan to go back very soon.
service
89.25999641418457% positive
  1. Clearly this is not a baby or family friendly place.
  2. Sometimes service is a bit slow, but the food is always excellent.
  3. With that aside, I still enjoyed my meal mostly because of the service and ambience.
  4. You should not be speaking poorly of one of Houston's most unique and friendly eateries just because you had one waiter that did not bow down to you and your status as mother.
  5. The waiters were nice and casual, and I ordered a sweet, Lord of the Rings themed :) smoothie.
  6. The staff is usually very friendly and are helpful with menu decisions.
  7. Our waiter, William, was absolutely wonderful - a very personable guy.
  8. the service isn't top notch, but i love the food.
  9. The service was very good and the food was great.
  10. The service was great.
  11. If you like salmon, this salmon portion was huge and our waiter got it grilled just to our specific request as we described.
  12. I'd hate to say anything bad about this place, because I love it so much - the quirky ambiance, excellent patio, nice staff
  13. It was novel to see our favorite characters' names on the menu, but the food attached to the names was off the mark considering it focused on a people that rely on sausage and kidney pie.
  14. Our waiter was not very attentive and the place has a crowded atmosphere.
  15. Great food, attentive service, and helpful waitstaff
  16. Great food, great service, enjoyable experience!
  17. They have fantastic food, great service, and though it is a little cramped, u.
  18. the waiter was very nice and he didn't mind splitting our check for us.
  19. By far, this place is amazing & I'm glad the service isn't afraid to stick up to a customer that is ignorant & uncaring about the rest of the world.
  20. veggie friendly hobbit hole
  21. When the time came to order the baby grabbed my menu and stuck it in his mouth-ripping it out would have meant loud screaming so I asked if we would keep it-the waiter glared at me and I said, unless you are running low-he said, no-it is just GROSS and
  22. Excellent staff too -- though they seem to keep changing; its a young crew, and I guess gets a rather transient employee base.
  23. We have a 4 month old baby, and we have taken him with us every time we have eaten here, and the staff are very friendly.
  24. Very friendly wait staff kept our drinks filled and were very pleasant.
  25. Great food, relaxed atmosphere and service with a smile.
  26. the staff was friendly and amusing - accomodating our every need (even though we came late, they never rushed us) and provided interesting banter from time to time.
  27. For a surprising meal, with great menu choices and wonderful service, check the Hobbit out.
  28. It is very unique place with great atmosphere,and friendly staff.
  29. We also ordered other items like black bean nachos, the hobbit wraps, and also the carribean salmon entree (among other burgers), which came highly recommended by our waiter.
  30. This is not a family friendly restaurant!
  31. Food is pretty good and service was great!
  32. The servers are really cool and helpful, and the actual restaurant can be described as easygoing and comfy.
  33. The waitress was friendly and accomodating.
  34. Best described as a veggie friendly restaurant.
  35. When the waiter placed the drink on the table I asked him if he could move it further away so the baby would not get it (my hands were full).
  36. Great food, great service, great atmosphere
  37. The restaurant is in a kinda crappy old house, but that is more than made up for by the wait staff, who were amazing- incredibly personable and helpful, friendly, talkative and fast.
  38. The service is friendly - generally staffed by some of the local college attendees - and the food is simple, but fresh - fresh - fresh.
  39. Easygoing with good service
  40. Our waiter was very friendly and attentive, a few of us had specific requests (it gets embarrassing sometimes), but he was patient enough to tend to our needs.
  41. But all of the staff are approachable, and you will always find this place so relaxing with tasty food.
  42. The service is very good as well.
  43. Excellent service, great food, family friendly
  44. great service!
  45. The food is great, the wait staff are friendly and efficient, the atmosphere is very magical/hobbity, and if you are a fan of Tolkien, the owner's family was a good friend to the Tolkien family.
value
77.77999877929688% positive
  1. ENORMOUS portions, cozy, wonderful food.
  2. We just thought the food was a little pricey for a whole in the wall place.
  3. The prices are great for the amount of food that is served.
  4. The nacho's were huge and not bad but the burgers were terrrible.
  5. That is until yesterday as I ate dinner a huge rodent (I cannot use the other word, this site won't accept it) climbed down the wall and stood on a wall fixture about a foot above our table.
  6. am a huge LOTR fan and the ambience and food are great.
  7. The SLIM is a regular sized sandwich, while the CLASSIC is huge.
  8. If you like salmon, this salmon portion was huge and our waiter got it grilled just to our specific request as we described.
  9. am a huge fan of the Martinique burger.
  10. I'd recommend this place to anybody who wants to chill out and not spend a big wad of money.
  11. Service can be a little slow, but the food is generally worth the wait.
  12. Although portions match a Hobbit's appetite, the food itself would disappoint even a Sackville Baggins.
  13. Beer is expensive.
  14. Huge portions.
  15. Generous portions, their fish tacos are wonderful - they are very conscious of food allergies / special requests.
  16. That was awful and my scrambled eggs had huge chunks of EGG SHELLS!
  17. The portions are huge!
  18. Always a relaxing, fun lunch with good food--hugh portions and really nice ambience!
wait time
50.0% positive
  1. Sometimes service is a bit slow, but the food is always excellent.
  2. Service can be a little slow, but the food is generally worth the wait.
  3. We didn't have to wait long for our drinks, and we ordered burgers, black and blue burger was my favourite!
3 Star Rating: Average

10/30/11

Pleasant low-key environment

by canwetalk

I enjoyed a leisurely Saturday lunch with friends. We sat outdoors. Unfortunately, the heat lamp over our table did not work, so we had to wait to move until another table was available. Restauranteurs, when things don't work, please fix them! The service was good; prices reasonable. The food wasn't outstanding, but we were just having lunch. Parking is a huge problem, as three restaurants share the limited parking space, and there isn't much street parking. I had a broccoli & cheese omelet, which included toast & potatoes. I would have preferred the option of fresh fruit. All in all, pleasant but not remarkable.

5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

08/06/11

Best Sandwiches In Town

by Moishe1

All the years I've been going the Hobbit Hole and all of it's successors, I have never had a bad experience.

Best egg salad and tuna salad sandwiches in town. I just love this place.

5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

06/24/11

Cozy Restaurant with Always Fresh Food

by AlainHarvey

This cozy restaurant located in a Tudor cottage surrounded by a white picket fence has been around since 1972. The mystical art from Middle Earth adorning the interior creates a somewhat Bohemian atmosphere in which earthy fare is served in a forest-like setting.

Not technically a fully vegetarian restaurant, in its present incarnation the Hobbit Cafe offers many vegetarian selections and is a perfect place to stop for dinner during an Upper Kirby pub crawl. I wasn't aware Tex-Mex and Caribbean inspired foods were the preferred cuisine of Middle Earth, but I do know that Hobbits enjoy their drinking… and the Hobbit has a limited, but great beer menu, including several Texas craft beers on draft.

Soups and salads are the specialty here. Some suggestions to try include their black bean nachos (Monterey jack cheese, pico de gallo, jalapenos and sour cream). The amazing salads like the tropical chicken salad (fresh Spring mix, fruit, toasted almonds tossed in a tropical yogurt dressing topped with jerk chicken and toasted coconut).

Gandalf lives, at least in his namesake sandwich (avocado and mushrooms under melted cheese). So does Thorin Oakenshield and the Strider, in various combinations of tabouli, egg salad, sprouts, tomatoes and guacamole on thick slices of whole wheat bread. Other suggestions include the avocado burger, buffalo burger and black bean burger that are all very tasty. Try the Caribbean salmon, grilled with spices and topped with jerk sauce, mango salsa and toasted coconut, steamed veggies piled high over brown rice and beans. The veggie burgers are as charming as the mystical décor. The fresh fruit-of-the-season smoothies are simply delicious.

A few unhealthy menu options are available such as a hefty hamburger—but vegetarian choices like the spinach and mushroom enchiladas are the true crowd-pleasing items. Other excellent vegetarian choices include soothing homemade soups, enchanting sandwiches and bountiful salads.

The Hobbit Cafe also has a well-deserved reputation for serving delicious desserts, including moist carrot cake and tangy key lime pie.

Outside dining on the shady deck is extremely popular in fair weather.

5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

04/17/11

My very favorite veggie restaurant.

by linnerlulu

I first fell in love with The Hobbit Hole (as it was called then) about 30 years ago when it was located on Shepherd. I still mourn the ambiance of the old place, but the "new" location on Richmond is great in its own way, too.

It was the first place I was introduced to Smoothies, and wonderful vegetarian sandwiches on home-baked breads ... the freshest sprouts, cheeses, vegetables and avocados. And it was always fun to order my sandwiches and Smoothies known by the names pulled from the Hobbit books ... The Bilbo Baggins, the Gandalf, the Mithril Mix, etc.

The service has always been friendly, if sometimes a bit uneven. These are usually young people, often college students working their way through school, and so I feel comfortable "giving them a break" if the service is sometimes a little slow. I don't go there for Fast Food, I go there for the delicious, unusual dishes and the relaxed, laid-back atmosphere.

Unfortunately, I moved from Houston over a year ago, and dearly miss the place, the food, and the people. If you have the chance to visit The Hobbit Cafe, as my rating indicates, "Run, don't walk!" If you give it a chance, you will love it.

3 Star Rating: Average

01/05/11

Response to They Lost My Credit Card

by MissyJ1964

You sound like a real "c" word. Do everybody a favor and stock up on ramen and tv dinners that way you can stay away from people. If I had been at the Hobbit and heard your rant, I would have clocked you. It's people like you that make a waiter/waitresses job a living hell. Drop dead, a-hole. Oh, and you know where you can stuff your credit card!

The Details on Hobbit Cafe

Place Categories:

  • great food
  • favorite little place
  • friendly wait staff
  • great service
  • great atmosphere
  • very nice waiter
  • still enjoyed meal
  • favorite slim sandwiches
  • favorite burgers
  • favorite themed restaurant
  • always enjoyed hobbit cafe
  • favorite fresh fruit
  • favorite friday lunch
  • great fries
  • mediocre food
  • bad recent experience
  • huge generous portions
  • huge nacho
  • really like fish tacos
  • incredible hamburger
  • accomodating waitress
  • great jamaican chicken
  • like blue cheese
  • beautiful shady patio
  • love hobbit wrap
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