Straits Restaurant

Good food, nice atmosphere, but poor service, and lame management response to my complaints more

I visited this bar about a year ago. Beautiful interior excellent food and great barstaff. However when I returned last Saturday I found that the bar had turned Ghetto. Lots of low-lifes hanging around looking ""cool"" nursing a beer or not drinking at all. It seems this is the standard downward spiral for Houston bars that do not charge a cover, have a two drink/ $20 minimum or enforce their dress code. The ""word"" gets out that you can come and hang ""for free"" and the mob moves in. When the poor oriental guy next to me had his girlfriend hit on by Mr. ""Cool Dude"" and an heated argument broke out, I left. more

Rasberry Mojito, & Lemongrass Mojito!! Yes, Yes,Yes! :-) more

This was my first time here and I must confess that I am pleasantly surprised. I didn't know that Straits participated in restaurant week this year. I didn't order the $35 menu though. I ended up with the $55 preset menu for two. What a great bargain because it's 5 courses. The food was great and came out with good timing. This is besides the point though. Midway through my meal, who ends up sitting next to me? Rob Schnieder, mr. duece bigalow himself. That made my night and you bet that I got an autograph too. more

Good food, Good service, Okay drinks..... with lots of beautiful girls. how can you complain? more

I have visited this restaurant twice already and both experiences were highly pleasurable. My first visit was during lunch time on a Saturday and there was a brunch menu available. I found myself drawn to the description of coconut hot cakes. When the plate came, I indulged in crispy bacon with some delicious and green pancakes. Yes I said green because that's the color they were. The coconut flavor was definitely present so I dig the eats. My second visit was with some friends before a night of going out. I got the lemongrass beef. Man o' man let me tell you. I wish my asian friends could grill me some meat like that. I thought it was worth the money but I couldn't get enough. The lollipop chicken was my appetizer, Also a great dish. Since it was a Friday and straits was starting to fill up with people quick, my friends and I ended staying until about midnight before we left because the bar turned into a club itself. All in all, I dig this place and will most likely return. more

Great ambiance throughout the restaurant. This is the place to bring a group of friends for a birthday party. The food tastes really authentic and reminded me a lot of my vacation through Singapore last year. The menu is as diverse as the country with influences from several other neighboring countries of Singapore. The price is a little on the heavier side but it is understandable for a trendy place. Our server was extremely knowledgeable of the menu and timed our courses to come out with perfect timing. My only complaint about this place is the music level on a Friday or Saturday night. The restaurant transforms into a bar and the music level increases towards the end of the night but everything else is still excellent. I would definitely recommend. more

After raving about the Chili Crab that I had while on a business trip in Singapore, my wife, two friends, and I decided to give this a shot. First of all, great location. We were able to sit on the patio and had a great view of people passing by and the green space of CityCentre. Food itself was very good. We started off with the Short Ribs (5 star! Very good!) and the Calamari (average 3/5). Next went onto the Seafood Risotto (5/5!!!) and the Chili Crab (4/5). The Chili Crab is not quite the same as you'll get in Singapore (no fried bread and not quite a full bowl of chili sauce), but still very good. We finished up with the Coconut Fried Rice (5/5!) which was excellent, but a little spicy for some of our diners. We shared a carafe of Sangria and it was excellent. Drinks weren't very strong, but that can be good and bad. Service was fair, but not spectacular. Overall gave it a 4/5 on the strength of the food, great location, and good ambiance. Need a little work on the service (although certainly not bad) and prices could come down a touch. Would recommend to someone looking for a new experience! Pros: Great patio, good food Cons: Slightly pricey, portions aren't huge more

I'm surprised I see poor reviews on this restaurant. I did not know about it until two weeks ago, I went there for dinner with friends. Services was good, even after we asked to be moved twice-our issue, not theirs. We ordered the seafood risotto-out of this world!, also ordered the spare ribs-really good, and the garlic noodles-good too. As far as drinks, I can only speak for mine: lychee martini which was very good too. This is a trendy place, but I also saw families with children eating here. The patio was nice, too bad there were no tables available. Pros: great food Cons: a bit $$ more

we got riped off! drinks were so water down so we asked to make it stronger. All of us got charged $24 for each drink. Food was little but overly expensive. Service was SUPER slow and unorganized. I paid $70 for 4 pieces of beef cubes & 2 mojitos that are STILL water down after being charged at $24 each. Pros: NOTHING Cons: Ripe off drinks and food/ unorganized service. Awful overall more

Had lunch here a couple days ago. The food was okay but my wife and I swelled up afterward as if there was a ton of MSG or salt in the food. We had 2 house margaritas that cost a total of $24. The total bill was over $60. For 2 okay entrees and 2 drinks? Pros: Atmosphere Cons: Overpriced, $12 House Margaritas more

Well we arrived on a friday night around 730 pm half the restuarant was empty so we snuck in. We noticed there was no salt and pepper on the table which is no big deal (Tafia) when they do things right. We looked over the wine list and nearly gasped for air. I know were in a trendy location but to sell a bottle of 2008 Honig Sav. Blanc for $46.00 when it retails at Spec's for 13 and change is ridiculous. We ordered Two shiner's at $6.00 a piece and they came to us luke warm 15 minutes later. I swallowed my beer in order to get over the service, temperature, and price. At the same time we ordered the beer we ordered appetizers roti and corn croquette. Our waiter checked back with us several times to make sure thats what we ordered. That must have been a sign or him telling us watch out. The Corn Croquettes came out first with no salt on them dripping with grease. If something is fried its common to be salted and these things needed salt. The roti then followed another 10 mintues down the line at a snails pace. It was marginal at best. I watched the kitchen and could not figure out what these cooks were doing with the food slaughtering the animal itself. Then our coconut rice came 10 minutes before our entree's came and stood cold. I ordered the indian street noodles with prawns of which two came and my wife got the chicken curry pot pie of which she had nothing good to say. The best part of the meal was us leaving and knowing we wouldnt go back. The bathrooms were also flithy separate stalls but common sinks for women and men. I know this place is trying to be trendy but so trendy its a turn off. They opened the doors four weeks ago the bugs should have been worked out by now. Pros: location Cons: everything else more