The Best Places to Eat and Drink in Houston

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

A colorful mural marks this East End taqueria, where the breakfast taco is taken seriously and the line on weekends is not a rumor. Chorizo, potato, and egg; bacon and egg; barbacoa on Saturdays when the patience holds out. It's a cash-and-plastic, paper-plate kind of spot, which is exactly the point. Show up early or budget time to stand around looking forward to it.

1. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Tacos in Houston

Grab a tray at the door, that's your cue that this is a self-serve Mexican panadería where you pile on what looks good and sort it out later. Conchas come in vanilla, chocolate, and shades that suggest a piñata had input on the color palette. Bolillos, marranitos, and empanadas round out the case. An old-school Houston institution with several locations, this Airline Drive outpost is the one to know for a tres leches cake when the occasion calls for one.

1. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
2. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread

El Bolillo is a Mexican panadería where you grab a tray and tongs and build your own haul, which tends to end with far more bread than you planned for. The conchas come in shades that look like a unicorn sneezed, and the tres leches cake is the one locals order when a birthday is on the line. It's an old Houston favorite with five locations, and the whole thing runs on a few dollars and a loaded tray.

1. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
2. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread

El Bolillo is a Mexican panadería where you grab a tray and tongs and build your own haul, which is how a quick bread stop turns into a bag of conchas, marranitos, and empanadas you swore you didn't need. The conchas come in unicorn-adjacent colors, and the tres leches cakes are what people bring to birthdays. It's cheap, it's loud with families, and there are several locations around town.

1. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

El Bolillo is a Mexican panadería where you grab a tray and tongs and build your own haul from the shelves, a system that works until you realize you've been cheerfully collecting for twenty minutes. Conchas come in pastel shades that look like they belong to a unicorn, alongside marranitos, empanadas, and the bolillos the place is named for. It's cheap, casual, and busiest right when the bread comes out.

1. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

El Bolillo is a Mexican panadería where you grab a tray and tongs and shop the shelves yourself, which is how a quick errand turns into a dozen pastries. The conchas show up in unicorn colors, the bolillos are the namesake, and the tres leches cakes keep the birthday-party crowd loyal. It's cheap, it's fast, and the line moves with the confidence of people who've done this since long before you arrived.

1. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
2. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

The queso flameado arrives still bubbling, and that's the right way to start at this Tex-Mex cantina with deep roots in Houston's Ninfa's family tree. The menu runs the full Tex-Mex spread: big crispy tacos, cheese enchiladas, fajitas, fresh guacamole. Order the combo plate if you want a little of everything, which most tables seem to. The margaritas have their own following, and for good reason.

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

The menu at this old-school Tex-Mex cantina names dishes after the regulars who inspired them, which tells you something about how long people have been coming back. The Berlys Burrito, the C.W. Special, the Williams Special: each one a standing order that became permanent. It's the kind of place where the margaritas are a serious matter and the chili con carne shows up on everything for good reason.

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

Molina's Cantina is a longtime Tex-Mex family restaurant, out in Fulshear's strip-mall sprawl, where half the menu is named after actual customers. Somewhere a regular is eating a burrito with his own name on it, smothered in chili con carne, and trying to look casual. It's sit-down enchilada-and-fajita territory with Houstonia nods for both its margaritas and its Mexican food, so jeans and an appetite will do.

1. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
2. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Sushi Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Tacos in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

Cuban bakery on Westheimer where the coffee comes strong and the pastries come sweet, which is exactly what the name promises. The capuchinos, spongy yellow cones soaked in spiced syrup, are the thing to know about, along with flaky pastelitos stuffed with guava, beef, or cheese. A cortadito or café con leche keeps things civilized; a café Cubano does not.

1. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread

Seafood flown in daily from Tokyo sets the pace at this sleek River Oaks sushi bar, where the menu runs from delicate nigiri to a flaming king crab roll that arrives with some theatrical intent. It's the kind of polished Japanese spot where the fish is the point and the room knows it. Maki, hand rolls, and omakase-style nigiri fill the card alongside a few non-sushi detours for the table purists inevitably dragged along.

1. Houstonia The Best Sushi Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

A sweet shop and vegetarian Indian lunch counter on Hillcroft, Bombay Sweets keeps more than a hundred varieties of mithai behind the glass. Jalebi, barfi, gulab jamun soaked in rosy syrup, the kind of selection that turns a quick stop into a longer conversation with whoever's working the counter. Grab a box to go or eat in; either way, the sweets are the reason.

1. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread

1. Houstonia The Best Margaritas in Houston

Anthony Bourdain ate here, which tells you more than a star ever could. Burns Original BBQ is an old-school Houston institution serving smoked ribs, links, chicken, and sides in portions sized for people who skipped lunch and possibly breakfast. The 10-pound baked potato feeds 15, which is either absurd or inspired depending on your group. Multiple locations around the city, and somehow you can also grab it at Kroger.

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

This barbecue joint grew out of a small operation in Acres Homes and now has several locations, this Katy one included. Anthony Bourdain gave it his approval, and the menu is built for groups, with a baked potato the size of a toddler that feeds fifteen and a rib-and-link special named for the Astros. Chicken is there for anyone dodging red meat, and Kroger sells the stuff too, in case a drive feels like too much commitment.

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

This Pearland outpost of a Houston barbecue mini-empire started small in Acres Homes and picked up an Anthony Bourdain nod on the way to four locations. It's a casual counter-service joint where the baked potato can weigh ten pounds and feed fifteen, which is less a side dish than a group project. Ribs, links, and chicken round out the plates, and you can also buy the stuff at Kroger, in case a drive feels like too much.

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

Crawfish cooked wok-style, the way you'd handle crab or lobster in Chinese cuisine, so every crevice gets a proper coating of spice and oil. This Cajun-Asian boil spot in southwest Houston does mudbugs in flavors like Thai Basil or a butter-garlic-citrus house special, and the heat scale runs up to something called Cray Cray, which should tell you all you need to know about who's ordering it.

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

Cheaters Creamery is an ice cream truck that has the nerve to make you drive to it, which feels like a bait and switch until you're at the window deciding between black sesame and vegan mango sticky rice. You can get three scoops with a cherry on top, a milkshake blending up to three flavors, or a scoop pressed between a warm powdered-sugar doughnut. Call ahead, since the freezer's lineup shifts.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Tacos in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

Flounder served in a hot bath of pepper, cucumber, and ginger is the kind of dish that announces where Cooking Girl stands on the question of restraint. It's a Sichuan restaurant with outposts scattered across Houston, so the odds are good one is nearby. The menu leans into the numbing, oily heat the region is known for, with beef, chicken, and tofu all pulling their weight. A practical neighborhood spot, not a special-occasion production.

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

This Sugar Land outpost is a casual Sichuan restaurant, one of a chain that has quietly spread across Houston until you're rarely more than a few exits from one. The menu leans hard into numbing, chile-heavy cooking, with the flounder in the hot diving fish as the signature, and the tofu section is long enough that vegetarians won't feel like a footnote. Dress code is whatever you wore to work, and so is the price.

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

Cooking Girl is a casual Sichuan spot on Heights Boulevard, one of a small empire of locations spread across Houston, so a bowl of numbing heat is probably closer than your nearest pharmacy. The menu leans hard on chili and peppercorn, with a flounder dish served in a pool of broth that arrives looking like a dare. Tofu and vegetable dishes keep the non-meat crowd fed. Expect an easy dinner at easy prices.

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

Cooking Girl is a casual Sichuan restaurant, and the Westheimer branch is one of a sprawling family that has put a location within a short drive of most Houstonians. The menu leans bold and numbing, with flounder in a chili broth that arrives looking like a small, spicy aquarium. Vegetarians get a real section of tofu to work through, and the check stays friendly. Bring a friend with a high tolerance, or a good water supply.

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

Cooking Girl is a casual Sichuan spot with so many Houston locations that you've likely driven past one this week. The menu leans hard on chili heat, with a flounder dish served in a bubbling pool of pepper and ginger, plus Sichuan beef and a fair amount of tofu for the vegetarians in the group. Expect a counter-service lunch crowd with a high tolerance for numbing spice, and a bill that stays comfortably in the twenties.

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

Cooking Girl is a casual Sichuan restaurant with enough Houston locations that you're probably standing near one right now. The menu runs on numbing peppercorn heat, and the hot diving fish brings flounder swimming in chili broth with cucumber and ginger. Tofu dishes give vegetarians something more interesting to do than watch. It's a no-fuss spot where you wear whatever you wore to work and leave smelling faintly of chili oil.

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Tacos in Houston

A bakery and café that a lawyer-turned-baker opened after deciding the courtroom could wait. The tres leches and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting are the regulars, but the seasonal cupcakes and pecan pie bars keep people checking what's new. It's a proper dessert-first kind of spot, the sort Houston has been relying on for decades when a special occasion needs something more than a grocery store sheet cake.

1. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread

This is a dessert shop in The Woodlands where the case does the talking, and what it says is carrot cake, tres leches, and chocolate-dipped chocolate chunk cookies. It began with a baker who spent years on a path toward law and then wisely got out. The seasonal cupcakes, truffles, and pecan pie bars rotate, and Houstonia has it on a list of the area's best bakeries. Come for a slice, leave with a box, and don't tell anyone how that happened.

1. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread

1. Houstonia The Best Tacos in Houston

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Tacos in Houston

The crawfish come from the fields you can see from your table, which is either the most logical supply chain imaginable or a mild existential moment for the mudbugs. This BYOB boil house sits about an hour outside Houston, and the lines form by six, so early arrival is less a suggestion than a survival skill. Tours and boat excursions through the rice and crawfish fields are available if you call ahead. Order by the pound or go straight for the full feast.

1. Houstonia Best Crawfish Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Chinese Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread

1. The Infatuation The 14 Best Tex-Mex Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Tacos in Houston