Tony's

Attended the Kamen wine dinner last evening. Really was disappointed with the food. Seems that virtually the same sauce was on everything. Very small portions. Actually left rather hungry after a $275 dinner. The only draw to the wine dinners at Tony's are visiting with the other people attending. What a group of characters! It makes it almost worthwhile even with the lousy food. more

Perfect for a date, birthdays, romantic ambiance, great service, the flavor of the food is perfect. more

Outstanding food, wines and spirits delivered in an elegant dinning room. Tony manages continually to hit home runs, as he has done the last forty years or so. more

There's a reason why Tony's was named one of the Top 5 Italian Restaurants in America. The food is incredible and the service is the best! I have dined in NYC, LA, Paris and London, and Tony's is in the same league as the world's best. I have tried almost all the dishes and never been disappointed. They aim to please and don't worry if it's not on the menu, they'll make it for you! more

I remember Tony's being fabulous in the 80's and 90's so we go back for a celebration Birthday dinner for a friend. WHAT HAPPENED TO TONY's????? It was the biggest waste of money! The food was not only ""bla"" but the portions were so tiny! We had to get the manager (and he was a joke!) to bring our Birthday girl another serving of her fish because it was like the size of a 50 cent piece in the middle of a huge white plate with nothing else on it! My seared tuna was awful. I could have thrown together better Lobster Bisque! WHAT A JOKE!!!!! more

This restaurant is way past its prime. My wife and I had not eaten there in many years and we decided to try it once more to see if it had improved since the last time we were there 5 years ago. Unfortunately, we will not be dining there again. The service was okay but the food was not worth the price. My wife had the filet mignon which had no flavor for $39 and I had two small pieces of veal medallions for $29. The side dishes are all $8 and full of butter.\r Spend your money at the bar and eat somewhere else. Pros: decor Cons: food and price more

On July 14, 2010 a business associate and I had lunch @ Tony's. We were celebrating my birthday and doing business as well. We had lunch at many 5-star restaurants in Houston but our first time at Tony's. I was so looking forward to this experience. However, we were really disappointed to say the very least. The decor was OK, the service was better, but the meal was the horrifying part. Our lunch started out OK, not superb but OK. After we had our meal, my business associate order champagne and Tony's served us a piece of cake to share for my birthday. We split the dessert and after two bites, I pulled out a long string of hair from my mouth from the cake!!!!! It was disgusting!! I spent about 5 minutes of vomiting in the restroom before we left. The manager was very kind and apologized profusely. He then gave me Tony Vallone's business card with his cell number on it and said Tony wanted to speak to me. I called him later that afternoon and I expected a nice apology and kind words to smooth things over. I was shocked at what I heard!!! Tony Vallone was rude, and kept calling me Lady instead of by my name. I didn't expect this because everyone told me he was a really nice man. He certainly was not!! He said the manager had already apologized what more did I want!! My birthday was ruined, and my business associate didn't enjoy watching me pull hair from my mouth from a cake we both share. Couldn't have been my hair, the string was longer than my hair, which is very short. I left the resturant with a sore throat from all the vomiting and sick stomach. Needless to say, we will never be back! ! !\r \r Pros: The manager, John Silvestro provided good service Cons: The resturant didn't measure up to it's reputation more

I love to dine at good places, and this was a place I wanted to take some of friends. To my surprise, as the hostess approached us she looked at my friend up and down (he was wearing tennis shoes - a very humble person) and said how can I help you? I told her my name, she looked up the reservation, said hold on a minute and went and talked to I guess, the manager, who looked at us then nodded. The hostess returned, completely ignoring us and just asked the people that entered what name their reservation was under. The Manager said :""How many? 4?"" and said ""Right this way"" he walked us to the bar area were no one was sitting and sat us there. I tried to make the most of it for my friends, but I have never felt so insulted in my life! I was very disappointed with this behaviour and attitude. I think a simple, polite statement such as ""Sir, I apologize we do have a dress code"", would have been appreciated. Tony's has lost my business for this hostess's and manager's attitude. Pros: Looks nice outside Cons: Hostess rude, Manger rude more

The food is the chief problem here. I have no idea how they could take an admittedly lovely cut of meat, add truffle oil, butter, and veal stock, and make a completely unsavory dish. It was like something out of a grocer's freezer. The little potatoes with it were flavorful but cold. I had some mushrooms, and I love mushrooms--usually. These just didn't taste good and seemed to involve tons of butter. I wouldn't seek out this food at any price, let alone the exorbitant rates charged.\r \r The service was a mixed bag. Occasionally, they were very attentive, but, especially at first and towards the end, there were frustrating periods of neglect. I wasn't offered dessert and had lost interest in the 20 minutes that passed after I finished my meal. As for the tree of strawberries, it was a nice gesture. But the berries were essentially flavorless, and it just reinforced my ideas about the flippant attitude toward quality and flavors here. Pros: fairly quiet dining room Cons: food, price; odd service more

My boyfriend and I were both servers and medium to high end restaurants, and must say that we left disappointed about the level of service we received. Normally I wouldn't care, but at such a high end place, it is worth documenting. Instead of talking about valentine's (2009), or how amazing the food was, our conversation was dominated by our headwaits menial service. I know reading this review won't stop you from going there (didn't stop us either), but what other reviewers have said is spot on. I always figure people who write such reviews are super picky or whiney, but I can assure you we are not that type. (first review)\r \r 1) We are both 25ish being served by a 25ish waiter who obviously did not ""have time"" to wait on us, though he powerwalked by our table about 15 times\r 2) Took forever to greet us, never introduced his name or title, asked us for drinks wo presenting wine list\r 3) We asked him about two of the 'highly recommended' wines (only about 8-15 on the list) and he said he hadn't tried them so he couldn't tell us. That right there is a big clue that there are management issues. If you are recommending a wine, come on! Servers must be able to talk about them!\r 4) We ordered muscles and a caprese salad. (Highly recommend both of them-they give you about 12 huge muscles). He clocked us for 2 caprese salads. Not a huge deal, but... like we'd order two of the same thing? We didn't say anything, but perhaps we should have.\r 5) Main courses: Filet Minion- 12 oz that was actually more like 16 oz and to die for!, veal chop (good, smaller portion), and au gratin. Never came to see how our meal was. Lucky for him he had excellent Junior waitstaff who at least asked me to cut into my filet \r 6) We wanted to order a glass of red with dinner, but he was never around to take the order\r 7) Never told us about this 'souffle' that takes 45 min to prepare, so we couldn't order it. Needless to say, we skipped desert and\r \r hopefully he read through his 15% tip Pros: Ambience, Cuisine, Jr waitstaff Cons: Service, Obvious discrimination towards young people more

Tony's continues to impress with both its' food and service. If you want to experience their best service try them for lunch when it is less crowded and order off the menu or from their dinner menu. When they are full in the evening it can be a bit hurried, even for regulars. Their dry aged rib eye is the best in town. I say this after having many steaks at all the possible contenders in the area. When they are not too busy the kitchen enjoys a culinary challenge. Put them to the test. Pros: best food, and best service Cons: Friday and Saturday nights can be very crowded more

i recently dined at Tony's, WOW! what a great new chef! The braised short ribs were simply devine. The waiter suggested a bottle of Barbera D'Alba to accompany the short ribs and at $65.00 it was the perfect marriage. We will be back soon. The addition of the new chef has made Tony's better than ever! more

We decided on Tony's based on their menu selection and looking for somewhere fancy to dine for our 5 year wedding anniversary. If you're looking for a pleasant anniversary dinner experience, this isn't the place to get it. There are much other restaurants that give you better service for special occasions.\r \r Ambiance was nice. The guy in the suit who took our order I wasn't pleased with. Right off I could tell he knew we were new customers. We didn't even get an explanation of the menu. Later in the evening the couple next to us (regulars I presume) were given an explanation and even made small talk with them. Maybe it's because me and my husband look so young, but that's certainly not the way any customer should be treated.\r \r For starters, we ordered the Lobster Bisque. This was actually pretty good. My husband ordered the Tenderloin saltimbocca...which was just OK. He wasn't impressed. I ordered the Sauteed Gulf Flounder. It was OK as well. At least the there was plenty of lump crab meat.\r \r We read all the raves about their souflee. It was a huge portion and imagined it to be so for $12. It was pretty good. We did get complimentary strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. I'm assuming this was their anniversary gift to us. \r \r I was disappointed of no acknowledgment of our anniversary despite my husband mentioning it to the hostess when he made the reservations. You expect to have a special dinner with exceptional service. \r \r The tab came to be $124. We were willing to pay any price for dinner when it comes to our anniversary. The souflee was $12 x 2...wow $24...when they only cut out two pieces and took the rest back to the kitchen to be thrown away. We weren't even told Thank you as we got up and left.\r \r Tony's is overpriced for what the give you and service is only exception to their regular crowds. Again, if you're looking for a romantic anniversary dining experience with exceptional food, Tony's isn't the place.. Pros: Ambience Cons: Overpriced food, snooty service more

My husband and I are in our early thirties and we eat out quite a bit. We've been to Tony's twice (both times were great) but it's been about 3 years. So, we went last night to celebrate our anniversary and had a fantastic experience! They treat you like royalty with many people serving your table, escorting you around the restaurant and making sure your food arrives at just the right time. The menu is always great with unique seasonal specialties and there are many great wine options by the bottle or glass. We splurged and had the white truffle appetizer ($130 but well worth it). Most entrees are around $30-$40. But, the best part about Tony's is that they make you feel special when it's time to celebrate. I've been let down before at other restaurants (Mark's) when I told them we were celebrating but they didn't even say ""happy anniversary"". That will never happen at Tony's. They will acknowledge your occasion and also treat you with their signature cotton candy dessert! Yes, you can spend a lot of money here...but for a memorable occasion...it's worth it! Pros: Fantastic Food and Wine; Great Service and Atmosphere; Great for Celebrations Cons: Pricey more

My husband and I went there a couple of months ago. The food was great and so was the wine. The waitstaff was very snobby. Yes we are a young couple in our late twenties but we were spending $300+. They were much more attentive to the older patrons next to us and we had to wait 30 minutes for our check. Others were asked how they were doing and our food was brought out to us then we sat there for 30 minutes until someone came back around. Good for old people but we will try other finer restaurants in Houston. more

We were pleasantly surprised to have a great dinning experiance with fantastic service. Owner Tori Vallone is working the floor making sure everyone is having a memorable experiance. Ask for table 1 if you are a couple as it is near the piano. The decore is stunning with lots of attention to detail. Be sure to save room for the Chocolate soufle; it is to die for. Our meal for two with a bottle of wine came out to 222 which we felt was a fair value. This is one of the top reastaurants in Houston and does 30,000,000 a year, so they are a big operation. Best to catch them on a non Friday and Sat if you want the good service. It gets plenty busy on the weekends and even on Thursday evenings. Great wine list. Definatly a must do experiance if you like fine dinning. Pros: great service and awsome food more

A group of 7 went to Tony's for a friend's birthday. The service was appalling, we had to wait nearly 1/2 an hour to GET MENUS and then another 20 minutes to order. My boyfriend had to order his drink 4 times before it came. The waiter offered me more champagne and then returned to tell me the bottle was empty. After the food finally arrived, my chicken was so salty I could barely eat it. I was so angry by the time I left that i could barely sleep. more

My husband and I recentley visited Tony's for my 30th birthday. This was our 3rd visit. The food was fabulous - but we left dissapointed about the service. We waited for quite a while for them to take our dinner order, we actually had to flag someone down and let them know we were ready to order. Twice they brought us the wrong drinks. We had to request bread and butter. We had to request that they remove the wine glasses from our table. There were 4 of us dining and we ordered 2 desserts. They only brought one of the desserts that we ordered. It was pretty much one bad mistake after another as far as the service goes. I will think twice before I spend $400 plus at dinner for bad service. more

My wife and I have dined at Tony's on a number of occasions now and have never been disappointed...until the last visit (Dec 07). Although the food was exceptional, wine was beautiful and the ambience great - the service was not up to normal standards. We were hurried thorugh our meal, I had ot get up and pour my own wine at one point and they ""lost"" the bottle of water we ordered. With a meal over $500 for 2, this is not what we have come to expect - one more chance because opf their track record!!! more

The food at Tony's was a breath of fresh air. I went to Tony's after a friend showed me their review in Esquire magazine rating them a top 20 restaurant in America. The menu was very thorough accompanied with a separate menu listing the specials featuring items that are the first in season. I was suprised that a French/American restaurant had several sushi dishes that were both original and incredibly fresh. I had the the Kona Kompachi, a Hawaiian yellowtail, that was accompanied with oranges. I loved the mixture of sushi with fruit. I also had the Sea Bass with black rice as my entree and it was very light. There was nothing heavy about these dishes unlike many restaurants who try to cover their fish in heavy sauces. The waiter we had was very attentive, bringing out cotton candy and miniature cupcakes compliments of the chef, as the waiter knew we were celebrating a friend's birthday. I was able to see the kitchen through the glass window that opens up into the main dining room which is great because it makes every table feel as if they are able to view what's going on in the kitchen. I'm not sure about the previous user's experience, as it didn't desrcribe anything in detail, but our party had a great time and and the chef looked like he was in his early 30's. This surprised me given the skill of his cooking and the expansiveness of his menu. It is apparent that a great deal of thought went into creating our entire experience and I will definitely be returning! Pros: Incredible Food, Great Service Cons: Reservations a must on the weekend more