Vargo's

11/27/09

DO NOT waste you time and money

by Leslie Humphries at Citysearch

Went to brunch for Birthday celebration. Service was just terrible!! So slow, and an obvious language barrier. Very limited selection on buffet. Entrees came before we finished salads, could not get a re-fill on a cup of coffe. Constantly having to ask for more creamer, more this and more that... Then entre came out cold!! and it tasted funny! Just so dissapointed... I heard the place had gone down hill, but just would not belive it till i saw for myself. Used to love this place,, now I will not return.

• Pros: is beautiful
• Cons: service is poor and food is mediocre to poor

06/25/09

Awesome Experience !!

by rizingstar14 at Citysearch

We went on my wife's birthday... they made her birthday real special ! with Jazz Music in background.. seating by the View of Lake and gardens was breathtaking alone.. They played Happy Birthday Music and announced her name when the cake was brought with my wife's name on it !! Food was also delicious !! I had filet Mignon and my wife got Mixed Grill with Crab cakes that were excellent !!

• Pros: Beautiful Place, Beautiful Gardens, Peacocks, Ducks, Lakes,
• Cons: None

06/13/09

Great Place For A Magical Evening!!!

by mslayton at Citysearch

My girlfriend and I went to Vargo's for a special romantic dinner. We drove up through the white gates into the ample parking lot and immediately the gardens outside took our breath away. We were an hour late but got seated immediately by the large floor to ceiling windows. We had a spectacular view of the gardens. There is a lake, and trees, and foot bridges, peacocks, and a beautiful lighted gazebo.

The service was attentive and not intrusive. Fresh rolls with two different kinds of butter and water were brought immediately and there was no rush for us to order.

I ordered the pecan encrusted red snapper with creamy lemon butter sauce. It tasted wonderful and the portions were so big I couldn't finish! My girlfriend had the rib eye steak which was cooked to perfection. The manager himself went around to each table to make sure everyone was having a good time. That was a really nice touch.

Afterward, we went out into the garden and walked up the path to the large gazebo. It was truly magical walking up there at night. I asked my sweetheart to marry me as we sat there. She said yes as the birds chirped in delight. It was one of the best nights of my life. Thanks Vargo's!

• Pros: Ambiance, Spectacular Garden Views, Fine Dining
• Cons: None

05/28/09

Another Houston legend bites the dust - what a shame!

by texasbell at Citysearch

Our experience on this recent Mother's Day was shameful. Who thought it would be a good idea to cover the chairs in a cheap version of white satin and never clean them? Ewwww! It looks like they are prepared for a wedding using "Dollar General" items - no kidding. Carpet is disgustingly filthy & the entire place smells of mildew. If you can get past that the food is fine. Service; however, is a companion to the tacky atmosphere. Who serves a salad and then returns less than 2 minutes - no kidding here - only to plop your entree down in the middle of the table? When told that we would prefer to eat our salad and have our entree later - the waitstaff huffed and then plopped it down on the trays next to the table. I know the original owner sold it a few years back - what a shame! So much for quality and tradition!

• Pros: Food was ok
• Cons: ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE

02/10/09

Hostile management ruins this experience - hold on to your credit card!

by Laker3 at Citysearch

A night to remember! (although I don't remember the food). It was near the end of the meal that I gave the waiter my credit card, in advance of the bill, and waited for him to return with a credit slip. He returned with the bill, but no credit slip and no credit card. Where was my credit card? He said I never gave it to him. I begged to differ and sent him back to search for it...no credit card. This went on for 20 minutes at which point the owner came over, unsympathetic to my situation, and accussed me of trying to get out of paying. I was incredulous and accussed them of stealing my card, at which point she (the owner) went to call the police. As we waited, I continued to ask the waiter to check his pockets, etc. He finally returned, rather sheepishly, and handed me my card along with his apology, which I graciously and thankfully accepted. The owner on the other hand had nothing to say, no apology, no offer of a free dessert, nada. The scene was unreal and her behavior was unforgivable. What a shame - Vargo's is an incredible spot, currently being managed by a ignorant slimeball witch who has no business in the restaurant business. I felt sorry for the waitstaff working under her and await a time in the future when Vargo's returns to decent management.

01/17/09

Wonderful ending to a perfect day!

by rivendale at Citysearch

We celebrated the marriage of our son and daughter-in-law at Vargo's with a very intimate reception for 10 people. The setting was magical, with a window view of the beautiful gardens, the service was top notch and the food was an epicurian delight. We started with a seafood appetizer of crabcakes, shrimp, smoked salmon and more along with the perfect wine. Each of us in the party had different entrees, and each one was presented as beautifully as the next. The food was delicious, as well as perfectly heated, and served very promptly. The wait staff was delightful and friendly and seemed to enjoy serving us. The prices for the entrees were very reasonable. I have been to restaurants that charged extra for any side dishes but we received three sides with our meals and they were nothing short of delicious. Although I am a native Houstonian, this was my first visit to Vargo's. It will not be my last. I look forward to a lunch time visit so that I might enjoy the grounds during the day. Thank you, Vargo's, for making our son's wedding reception so lovely and memorable. You've made a loyal customer of us!

• Pros: Parking was plentiful and we were greeted at the door promptly.

10/14/08

Great Service! Great Food! Beautiful Location

by rhythmandblues at Citysearch

I had my wedding at Vargos and was extremely impressed. The staff was very helpful and friendly. The decorations were beautiful and the service was excellent. The food display was great and the taste was delicious. My guests couldn't stop commenting on how nice everything looked and how friendly and courteous the staff were. We gave them the decorations for the gazebo and they took care of everything. If I had it to do again, I would have my event there again! And I would HIGHLY recommend Vargo's to anyone looking for a beautiful, worry-free venue for their wedding.

• Pros: Great Wooded & Waterfront View; Friendly, Helpful Staff; Nice Ambience
• Cons: Needs more lake cleanup and updated rugs in the gazebo and meeting rooms.

06/05/08

Horrible Food..Nothing Fresh!

by TXMama at Citysearch

My husband I visited Vargo's tonight and we will NEVER return. I suppose we should have guessed that the food was not going to be any good after we entered the large restauraunt at 7:00 p.m. and there were only two other tables of diners. The restauraunt seemed very dated and unclean, and our table was set with dirty/filmy glasses which was an immediate red flag for me. My husband ordered a dirty martini and it was, in fact , so filthy that it was undrinkable. My lobster bisque appeared to have been nuked way too long, as the bowl was scorching hot and the "soup" was covered in a thick film. It was not even a soup consistency, and was more like enchilada sauce. My husband's shrimp cocktail was served with broken, mushy shrimp that had obviously been frozen for some time. After the first course we decided that we didn't want to risk getting sick and left. The waiter surprised us by completely agreeing that the food was gross and refused to accept any money for the one drink I had consumed. I believe that the location and beautiful grounds of this restaurant are its only redeeming qualities. I'd like to see an investor step in revive this once charming place....

• Pros: Great views and beautiful grounds
• Cons: The food is horrible

05/24/08

Ruined Prom with bad service, gross food, and RUDE RUDE RUDE waiter

by WORSTSERVICEEVER at Citysearch

Vargos is the most ridiculous restaurant ever. Instead of paying for the meal, in actuality you're paying for the location, which is not worth it. My prom group of 16 started out the day fine arriving and Vargos and taking pictures in the lovely gardens, but once we arrived inside the actual restaurant the night went downhill from there. Our waiter forces us to order from the prom menu, even though for some people in our group $50/person was not in their budget. So we split our decisions where half of the group orders from the regular menu while the other orders from the Prom Menu. Our waiter appears to be nice, until we finally make our orders... A person in the group.. let's say MARCUS orders and like a normal person asks questions and changes his mind and decides to order from the Prom Special. A normal waiter would kindly change the order since he was standing right there, but instead stomps his feet and starts yelling at him saying how rude it is to change an order. We didn't realize that adding a salad and dessert to an order was totally out of his way. So the food arrives at totally different times, and my date and I received our salads after our main course arrived, which was pretty ridiculous. MARCUS ordered the salad that never came. All of us who got our food early had to wait for everyone else's food to arrive, which led to our own food getting cold. The food was not that good with steaks not being cooked properly, etc. At the end of the night we get our check, which the waiter did not separate, even though we asked him earlier to. Again, this same waiter attempted to be sarcastic and condescending and began to yell at us mainly MARCUS, which led to us talking to the main manager. It took us almost an hour to figure out the bill since there were charges for food that never arrived, which made us an hour late to our prom... all due to the waiter's incompetence. I suggest for everyone TO NEVER GO TO VARGOS. BAD SERVICE, BAD FOOD, BAD WAITERS.

• Pros: location
• Cons: service, food

03/02/08

Disappointed Prom Dinner 5-5-07

by jaycesb at Citysearch

We were very disappointed with the service, food selection, food preparation and overall experience that our group of 32 had on prom night. The prom menu online was a complete meal with several choices for entrees for $45.00 which included tax and gratuity. We prepaid the dinner the day before and our reservation was for 8 pm. Our group of 32 arrived by limo at 7:40 and we were not seated until 8:30. The menu posted online stated that a 14 oz rib eye was available and when we received menus a 10 oz rib eye was the only steak available. We had one server for 32 people and the table was set for only 30 people and two people were placed in lounge chairs at the end of the table. The dinner was not served until 9:45 and several people received the wrong food. Instead of receiving stuffed chicken they received linguine chicken and were told that it was the stuffed chicken. Most of the steaks were undercooked and it appeared to be done deliberately to get the meal out of the kitchen. Drinks were never refilled and the server was rude. The result of all this cause our group to be late for the prom. The conclusions that we reached were: Vargo's was unprepared for this dinner and if they couldn't meet an 8 pm reservation then they shouldn't have agree to this time. There should have been more than one server for this large group. This is fraud for publishing one size of steak online and providing smaller steaks for the event. If one type of food run out they need to be honest with the customers and tell them. With prom season approaching I can assure you that we will not recommend Vargo's to any other prom group.