Houston’s dining scene defies easy definition. In a city of more than 10,000 restaurants — from sushi counters and taco trucks to steakhouses and white-tablecloth destinations — good meals are never far away, and opinions about what’s “best” come with passion and plenty of debate.
This year’s Top 100 Restaurants marks a new era for the Houston Chronicle’s food team. For the first time since former critic Alison Cook created the list in 2012, we took the reins — driving the miles, logging the meals and paying our own way, from The Woodlands to Kemah and everywhere in between.
Our mission: to highlight restaurants that define Houston dining right now. We weighed not just the food, but hospitality, consistency and a sense of place. A well-run taco truck can stand shoulder to shoulder with a fine-dining restaurant.
While six of our Top 25 spots call the Heights home, we found standouts across the region: in strip malls, neighborhood mainstays and buzzy newcomers well beyond the Inner Loop.
Creating this list underscored what we already know: running a restaurant has never been easy, and lately it’s only gotten harder. Yet Houston’s chefs, cooks and restaurateurs continue to deliver exceptional food with creativity and heart. The 100 restaurants that follow show why Houston isn’t just a city that loves to eat. It’s a city that thrives on it.
This Rice Village dining room glows in coastal blues and warm light compared to the Bludorn group’s other restaurants boasting a cozy bistro vibe. But the more minimalist design here is an idyllic setting for seafood that’s cooked with precision, restraint and sometimes a little indulgence. A crudo of hamachi, cool and silken, finds balance in papaya’s sweetness and the faint heat of yuzu kosho. The Caesar salad is sharpened by filets of anchovy next to almost laughably large croutons the size of golf balls (if they were airy and glistening in butter). Even a humble fish sandwich gets the fine-dining treatment: a crisp fillet tucked into a soft bun with house pickles and tangy caper aioli sauce. Seemingly simple dishes — the Dover sole filleted tableside and glossed with brown butter — can reveal the kitchen’s meticulousness. The lobster ravioli, slicked in Madeira butter with a sprinkling of chives, is one the most indulgent bites in the room. Simply put, it’s one of the best seafood-centric restaurants in Houston.
What to order: Oysters (raw, fried and baked); clams casino; Caesar salad; spaghetti vongole; lobster ravioli; fish sandwich; Dover sole.
Tip: “Oyster Hour” is 2-5 p.m. daily, with $2 oysters, $10 martinis and other discounted drinks.
Five years ago, chef Aaron Bludorn, his wife, Victoria, and business partner Cherif Mbodji took a risk: opening a restaurant mid-pandemic in the former Pass & Provisions space. Victoria Bludorn hails from Houston’s restaurant-famous Pappas family, but Aaron Bludorn and Mbodji arrived as outsiders with New York City credentials. The Fourth Ward restaurant quickly felt like it had always belonged, blending French-leaning cooking with Gulf Coast ease. Still, it’s the service — warm but never over-familiar — that has set a new standard as the Bludorn group expands across the city. Customers might drop in for a dry-aged burger at the bar or brunch on laughably large, downy-soft buttermilk pancakes. Or they can settle into a multicourse dinner of expertly shucked oysters, tarte flambée oozing taleggio with a shower of lardons and pierogi brightened with salsa macha from chef de cuisine Alexandra Peña’s Mexican heritage. Even a classic prime rib feels fresh here, slow-smoked Texas style — an apt metaphor for how Bludorn makes fine dining feel like home.
What to order: Oysters (raw, fried, roasted); tarte flambeé; pierogi; smoked prime rib (Wednesdays); buttermilk pancakes (brunch only).
Tip: The popular lobster pot pie isn’t on the fall menu but is available for Thanksgiving takeout.
