The Best Places to Eat in Houston, by the Record
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Rank 179. Winnie's
Cocktail Bar
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Rank 210. Brothers Taco House
Mexican
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.
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- Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread
- Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
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- Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
- Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread
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Rank 210. El Bolillo Bakery
Mexican Bakery
- Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread
- Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
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- Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
- Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread
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Rank 210. El Bolillo Bakery
Mexican Bakery
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.
- Houstonia The Best Mexican Restaurants in Houston
- Houstonia Best Bakeries in Houston for Pastries, Cakes, and Bread
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Rank 210. El Taconazo
Mexican
The hood of your car doubles as your table at this late-night taco truck on Fulton, where the line forms fast after the bars close and moves just as fast. Fajita tacos with Oaxacan cheese and a creamy green salsa that bites back are the reason to show up, along with a Mexican Coke cold enough to justify the wait. No seating, no frills, just the sidewalk and whoever else is hungry at this hour.
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Rank 210. El Tiempo Cantina
Tex-Mex Mexican
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Rank 210. El Tiempo Cantina
Tex-Mex Mexican
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.
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Rank 210. Gerardo's
Mexican
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Rank 210. Laredo Taqueria
Mexican
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Rank 210. Molina's Cantina
Tex-Mex Mexican
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.
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Rank 210. Molina's Cantina
Tex-Mex Mexican
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Rank 234. 5Kinokawa
Sushi
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Rank 234. Alamo Tamales
Mexican
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Rank 234. Atchafalaya Crawfish
Cajun & Creole
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Rank 234. Azucar
Cuban
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.
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Rank 234. Azumi
Sushi
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.
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Rank 234. BOIL HOUSE
Louisiana-style Cajun & Creole
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Rank 234. Bombay Sweets
Indian
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.
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Rank 234. Booza
Dessert
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Rank 234. Burns Original BBQ
Barbecue
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.
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Rank 234. Buttermilk Baby
Dessert
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Rank 234. Cajun Craven
Cajun & Creole
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Rank 234. Cajun Kitchen
Cajun & Creole
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.
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Rank 234. Cantina Barba
Mexican
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Rank 234. Cheaters Creamery
Dessert
A converted ice cream truck that traded wheels for a walk-up window on Washington Avenue, this scoop shop keeps a short, rotating roster of flavors that leans well past vanilla, think black sesame, cookie butter, and vegan mango sticky rice. The Dough Boy, a scoop pressed between a warm powdered-sugar doughnut, is the order that ends up in everyone's photos. Call ahead to confirm your flavor is in stock, or risk making choices you weren't prepared for.
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Rank 234. Chilosos Taco House
Mexican
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Rank 234. Cloud 10 Creamery
Dessert
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Rank 234. Cooking Girl
Sichuan
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.
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Rank 234. Crawfish Cafe
Cajun & Creole
Real butter and sugar go into the crawfish boil here, which tilts the whole thing sweeter than the standard Cajun approach. This Viet-Cajun seafood spot on Bellaire runs a long roster of sauces, from garlic butter to Thai basil, and lets you mix them into something entirely your own. The menu does what it promises and little else, which in this corner of Houston is plenty.
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Rank 234. Delicias Maya
Mexican
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Rank 234. Dessert Gallery
Dessert
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.
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Rank 234. Dichos Taquería
Mexican
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Rank 234. Don Pepe
Mexican
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Rank 234. Double Bayou Crawfish Farm & Boil House
Cajun & Creole
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.
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Rank 234. Duck n Bao
Sichuan
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Rank 234. EaDough
Bakery
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Rank 234. Eight Row Flint
Cocktail Bar
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Rank 234. El Patio
Mexican
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Rank 234. El Tiempo Taqueria
Mexican
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Rank 234. Fat Cat Creamery
Dessert
An ice cream shop that partners with local breweries and roasters to build flavors you won't find in a freezer aisle, Fat Cat Creamery scoops things like milk chocolate stout made with a local oatmeal stout and a cold brew cream tied to a specific Houston roaster's seasonal batch. One brick-and-mortar location in the city, plus a spot at Hobby Airport, with scoops popping up at bars and coffee shops around town.
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Rank 234. Flower & Cream
Dessert
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Rank 234. Fluff Bake Bar
Bakery
Rebecca Masson, the pastry chef Houstonians call "the Sugar Fairy," runs this bakery out of the Heights with the kind of conviction usually reserved for savory kitchens. Expect elevated childhood nostalgia: snickerdoodles, layer cakes, and the Couch Potato, a single cookie that somehow fits potato chips, pretzels, cornflakes, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. It's a lot, in the best sense.
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Rank 234. Flying Idlis
Indian
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Rank 234. Fung's Kitchen
Cantonese
The live seafood tanks near the entrance set the agenda at this Cantonese dining room, where the kitchen has been turning out Hong Kong-style crab, lobster, and fresh fish for Houston since the family arrived from Hong Kong decades ago. Weekend dim sum draws a crowd that knows better than to sleep in. It's a big, bustling room, and the sweet-glazed barbecue pork alone tends to settle any argument about where to sit.
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Rank 234. Hachi
Sushi
Tucked into the base of a Galleria office building, Hachi is a sushi restaurant that splits its personality between an 18-course omakase and a full à la carte menu, so you decide how much of a commitment the evening becomes. The chef walks each omakase course to the table with its story attached, which sounds precious until it isn't. The nigiri is the thread either way.