Americas

12/30/07

Go for the decor (and somewhere else for exceptional food)

by z_man1025 at Citysearch

This has to be one of the most inspirational designs of any restaurant my wife and I haev ever been to. in total, we've eaten at Americas about a dozen times in the last 2 years and have taken many visitors to the restaurant with the same "wow" expression from all of them. Our most recent visit was in December 2007 when my mother in law visited from out of town.

Offsetting the magnificent decor is very average service. We have yet to be seated on time, despite always having a reservation adn always confirming the time in advance of our visit. On our most recent visit, we were left to wait in the bar for 45 minutes past our booking time - this was either incompetence or a very crass attempt at getting a higher bar tab!!! If it asn't already very late, we woudl have left for somewhere else. The hostess at the front desk was bordering on useless and very unhelpful - "what can I do" was the last response I had.

Saying that, when we were finally seated, the waiters were professional and the food was it's usual good quality and well presented (we had the churasco and Ahi tuna on the last visit, both of which were excellent). The wine list is very good but not spectacular adn our waiter helped us select a good South American red.

Overall, a great "experience" restaurant but not somewhere I'll rush back to - putting up with bad service when there are so many other options in Houston is not worth it.

• Pros: Restaurant design is world class
• Cons: Service is below average