01/12/08

Food is excellant, service is lacking

by mbs119

My husband and I recentley visited Tony's for my 30th birthday. This was our 3rd visit. The food was fabulous - but we left dissapointed about the service. We waited for quite a while for them to take our dinner order, we actually had to flag someone down and let them know we were ready to order. Twice they brought us the wrong drinks. We had to request bread and butter. We had to request that they remove the wine glasses from our table. There were 4 of us dining and we ordered 2 desserts. They only brought one of the desserts that we ordered. It was pretty much one bad mistake after another as far as the service goes. I will think twice before I spend $400 plus at dinner for bad service.

02/14/09

Excellent muscles; wish their waitstaff used more of them...

by foodiefann

My boyfriend and I were both servers and medium to high end restaurants, and must say that we left disappointed about the level of service we received. Normally I wouldn't care, but at such a high end place, it is worth documenting. Instead of talking about valentine's (2009), or how amazing the food was, our conversation was dominated by our headwaits menial service. I know reading this review won't stop you from going there (didn't stop us either), but what other reviewers have said is spot on. I always figure people who write such reviews are super picky or whiney, but I can assure you we are not that type. (first review)

1) We are both 25ish being served by a 25ish waiter who obviously did not "have time" to wait on us, though he powerwalked by our table about 15 times

2) Took forever to greet us, never introduced his name or title, asked us for drinks wo presenting wine list

3) We asked him about two of the 'highly recommended' wines (only about 8-15 on the list) and he said he hadn't tried them so he couldn't tell us. That right there is a big clue that there are management issues. If you are recommending a wine, come on! Servers must be able to talk about them!

4) We ordered muscles and a caprese salad. (Highly recommend both of them-they give you about 12 huge muscles). He clocked us for 2 caprese salads. Not a huge deal, but... like we'd order two of the same thing? We didn't say anything, but perhaps we should have.

5) Main courses: Filet Minion- 12 oz that was actually more like 16 oz and to die for!, veal chop (good, smaller portion), and au gratin. Never came to see how our meal was. Lucky for him he had excellent Junior waitstaff who at least asked me to cut into my filet

6) We wanted to order a glass of red with dinner, but he was never around to take the order

7) Never told us about this 'souffle' that takes 45 min to prepare, so we couldn't order it. Needless to say, we skipped desert and

hopefully he read through his 15% tip

• Pros: Ambience, Cuisine, Jr waitstaff
• Cons: Service, Obvious discrimination towards young people

12/25/08

Easily the best restaurant in town

by yesman007

Tony's continues to impress with both its' food and service. If you want to experience their best service try them for lunch when it is less crowded and order off the menu or from their dinner menu. When they are full in the evening it can be a bit hurried, even for regulars. Their dry aged rib eye is the best in town. I say this after having many steaks at all the possible contenders in the area. When they are not too busy the kitchen enjoys a culinary challenge. Put them to the test.

• Pros: best food, and best service
• Cons: Friday and Saturday nights can be very crowded

12/16/08

Tony's New Chef is Outstanding

by didihines

i recently dined at Tony's, WOW! what a great new chef! The braised short ribs were simply devine. The waiter suggested a bottle of Barbera D'Alba to accompany the short ribs and at $65.00 it was the perfect marriage. We will be back soon. The addition of the new chef has made Tony's better than ever!

11/28/08

Overpriced for what you get

by pnaybabae

We decided on Tony's based on their menu selection and looking for somewhere fancy to dine for our 5 year wedding anniversary. If you're looking for a pleasant anniversary dinner experience, this isn't the place to get it. There are much other restaurants that give you better service for special occasions.

Ambiance was nice. The guy in the suit who took our order I wasn't pleased with. Right off I could tell he knew we were new customers. We didn't even get an explanation of the menu. Later in the evening the couple next to us (regulars I presume) were given an explanation and even made small talk with them. Maybe it's because me and my husband look so young, but that's certainly not the way any customer should be treated.

For starters, we ordered the Lobster Bisque. This was actually pretty good. My husband ordered the Tenderloin saltimbocca...which was just OK. He wasn't impressed. I ordered the Sauteed Gulf Flounder. It was OK as well. At least the there was plenty of lump crab meat.

We read all the raves about their souflee. It was a huge portion and imagined it to be so for $12. It was pretty good. We did get complimentary strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. I'm assuming this was their anniversary gift to us.

I was disappointed of no acknowledgment of our anniversary despite my husband mentioning it to the hostess when he made the reservations. You expect to have a special dinner with exceptional service.

The tab came to be $124. We were willing to pay any price for dinner when it comes to our anniversary. The souflee was $12 x 2...wow $24...when they only cut out two pieces and took the rest back to the kitchen to be thrown away. We weren't even told Thank you as we got up and left.

Tony's is overpriced for what the give you and service is only exception to their regular crowds. Again, if you're looking for a romantic anniversary dining experience with exceptional food, Tony's isn't the place..

• Pros: Ambience
• Cons: Overpriced food, snooty service

10/26/08

Expensive but best place to celebrate! Great food and you are treated like royalty!

by Htown2008

My husband and I are in our early thirties and we eat out quite a bit. We've been to Tony's twice (both times were great) but it's been about 3 years. So, we went last night to celebrate our anniversary and had a fantastic experience! They treat you like royalty with many people serving your table, escorting you around the restaurant and making sure your food arrives at just the right time. The menu is always great with unique seasonal specialties and there are many great wine options by the bottle or glass. We splurged and had the white truffle appetizer ($130 but well worth it). Most entrees are around $30-$40. But, the best part about Tony's is that they make you feel special when it's time to celebrate. I've been let down before at other restaurants (Mark's) when I told them we were celebrating but they didn't even say "happy anniversary". That will never happen at Tony's. They will acknowledge your occasion and also treat you with their signature cotton candy dessert! Yes, you can spend a lot of money here...but for a memorable occasion...it's worth it!

• Pros: Fantastic Food and Wine; Great Service and Atmosphere; Great for Celebrations
• Cons: Pricey

07/01/08

Great Food; Snobby waitstaff

by toothdent

My husband and I went there a couple of months ago. The food was great and so was the wine. The waitstaff was very snobby. Yes we are a young couple in our late twenties but we were spending $300+. They were much more attentive to the older patrons next to us and we had to wait 30 minutes for our check. Others were asked how they were doing and our food was brought out to us then we sat there for 30 minutes until someone came back around. Good for old people but we will try other finer restaurants in Houston.

04/09/08

Great place to impress your date

by mspalding

We were pleasantly surprised to have a great dinning experiance with fantastic service. Owner Tori Vallone is working the floor making sure everyone is having a memorable experiance. Ask for table 1 if you are a couple as it is near the piano. The decore is stunning with lots of attention to detail. Be sure to save room for the Chocolate soufle; it is to die for. Our meal for two with a bottle of wine came out to 222 which we felt was a fair value. This is one of the top reastaurants in Houston and does 30,000,000 a year, so they are a big operation. Best to catch them on a non Friday and Sat if you want the good service. It gets plenty busy on the weekends and even on Thursday evenings. Great wine list. Definatly a must do experiance if you like fine dinning.

• Pros: great service and awsome food
• Cons: none

04/05/08

Bad service, overpriced

by cse1973

A group of 7 went to Tony's for a friend's birthday. The service was appalling, we had to wait nearly 1/2 an hour to GET MENUS and then another 20 minutes to order. My boyfriend had to order his drink 4 times before it came. The waiter offered me more champagne and then returned to tell me the bottle was empty. After the food finally arrived, my chicken was so salty I could barely eat it. I was so angry by the time I left that i could barely sleep.

12/21/07

Great Fine Dining

by z_man1025

My wife and I have dined at Tony's on a number of occasions now and have never been disappointed...until the last visit (Dec 07). Although the food was exceptional, wine was beautiful and the ambience great - the service was not up to normal standards. We were hurried thorugh our meal, I had ot get up and pour my own wine at one point and they "lost" the bottle of water we ordered. With a meal over $500 for 2, this is not what we have come to expect - one more chance because opf their track record!!!