Ruggles Cafe Bakery

Wandering aimlessly down Rice Blvd. will lead you in either of two directions: into Hermann Park, or to a place where great food, wine and class meet: Ruggles Café and Bakery in the Rice Village. Quite a popular establishment, Ruggles offers some of the best food in Houston and uses the finest and freshest ingredients. The downside of its popularity is that the line is often out the door. Luckily, superb service makes the daunting wait fly by with a quick and accurate cashier staff and a simply amazing cooking staff that turns out orders quickly. On days when the line is doable and the weather is beautiful, customers can take the patio seating and even bring their own wine. The café will provide glasses for free. With a bustling environment that seems more like a beehive than a restaurant, Ruggles is the prime destination for delicious homemade soup and fresh salads. Their soup offerings include black bean with goat cheese and bacon, tomato basil and vegetarian vegetable. Those craving a fresh garden salad can try the satisfying small side salad, the spinach Cobb salad or the award-winning chicken tostada salad. The soup and sandwich combo features half of any sandwich and a cup of soup, for a perfect light lunch. With a price that won't break the bank, patrons are sure to leave with full pockets and, even better, full bellies. Definitely a great deal! The sandwiches range from the simple smoked turkey and Swiss, with cranberry-orange alioli - a mayonnaise flavored with garlic and other spices - on soft sourdough bread, to the elaborate grilled chicken wrap, filled with fresh mozzarella, lettuce and tomato in a spinach tortilla covered in ranch dressing and spicy mango chipotle sauce. Meatier offerings include the 91-percent lean meat buffalo burger with fresh mozzarella on a whole wheat bun, the roasted pork loin sandwich with caramelized onions and mango chipotle mayonnaise and the eight-ounce prime Angus burger. Both time-honored favorites and new twists are delicious, but the selling point of Ruggles is the choice the restaurant offers: All wraps can be made into sandwiches, and all sandwiches can be made into wraps. Sandwiches aren't for everyone, though, and Ruggles also offers an impressive array of pastas. In particular, the southwest pasta is to die for, containing goat cheese, bacon, spicy salsa and grilled chicken, mixed into a pile of fettuccine pasta. It has a delightfully spicy and bold flavor, and customers can add grilled shrimp for a delicious double-meat combination of poultry and seafood. If the meals still aren't jazzed up enough for you, you can create your own masterpiece at the thoughtfully organized and tidy self-service station. Patrons should also make sure to check out the Ruggles dessert gallery. This three-windowed display of sugary delights is a marvel to behold and includes such fares as the vanilla bean parfait with raspberries, the red velvet cake, several kinds of cheesecakes, the German chocolate cake and the berry ripple cake. Try the new strawberry bomb, made with a delicate angel food cake, mascarpone cheese, whipped cream and tons of fresh strawberries. Those who don't want cake may prefer death, and at Ruggles, death comes in the form of four-inch cookies, available in chocolate chip, white chocolate Macadamia, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, double chocolate chip and Reese's peanut butter cup. Definitely save room. Ruggles offers some of the best food and the best variety for the price in the Rice area. Rice University students with a HedgeHopper card gets students a 10% discount on Monday and Tuesday. A picnic basket in Hermann Park will never give you so many options. Pros: Wonderful Food, Great Location, BYOB, Variety Cons: Long Lines, A Little Pricey more

My friends and I love to go to Ruggles before going out to midtown for the night. It is a great place to bring a bottle of wine (there is no corking fee), order a slice of cake, and hang out with friends. We have never had a bad experience. Pros: bring your own wine, yummy desserts Cons: can be hard to find a table more

Ruggles has really good food at decent prices. I go by there a couple of times a week since it's very convenient for me. You really need to try their desserts if you. All of them! lol\r \r The service could be better but it's a small complaint. Pros: good food, prices, location Cons: service more

I am frequently making business trips to the Houston medical center and I almost always find myself coming to Ruggles Cafe Bakery. In fact I ate there just last week. The food is wonderful and the desserts are fabulous. I can see why it is often busy during lunch. I always have a quality meal and look forward to my next visit. Pros: Great food and desserts Cons: gets a little crowded, but for good reason more

I was an almost daily customer of this restaurant until a few months back. This restaurant first attracted me for its fresh food, convenience and price but lately it has been suffering from bad food and service. I went there for almost two years at least 2 times a week so what I experienced is hardly coincidence.\r \r First I had an incident with one of the busboys when he made a comment about me moving to a different table and leaving a napkin on the other one. Something like ?Please, I just cleaned that table?.\r \r I let that go, but then I had several incidents when my food was not ready for more that 20-30 min. For most of last year I got the food in less than 10 min. Several times I had to cancel my order (when it took more than 20 min) because I was paged and had to run back to work. All those times I spoke to the manager about it and the only thing he did was to give me my money back, no apologies no comps, nothing so I did not feel appreciated even though most cashiers and even the cook recognized me at the time.\r \r I have also noticed the quality of their food suffering. The strawberries and orange slices that accompany most of their sandwiches look a day old at best. Their soup is barely warm and sometimes feels old. The burgers feel greasy as of late. The bathroom is almost always smelly. \r \r So I did the only thing I could do as a customer. I will never be back.\r Pros: Nice location Cons: Service, food more

We once again gave Ruggles Cafe Bakery another try. It had been a favorite for so long and we were hoping the last couple of disappointing meals there were just flukes. So here we go again - beautiful Sunday afternoon, sit ourdoors, we planned enjoy a late lunch with our family. \r \r Two of us ordered tomato basil soup. It was lukewarm- at best. Sweet potato fries no where near hot - left that gross film of oil on the roof of my mouth after eating just one. One hamburger and one sandwich ordered with no tomatoes arrived full of tomatoes. My goat cheese salad was so drenched in dressing it was inedible. We were up and down the entire meal trying to get the order right, get the soup warm, etc. \r \r I was trying to overlook my drenched in dressing salad and eat it anyway when my daughter insisted we take it back too. I felt badly about having to go back up to the counter so many times with complaints. \r \r To salvage the meal I decided to go ahead and get a dessert we could all have a few bites of. At the counter I ordered the fruit cobbler. We just could not believe it when it, too, was absolutely a flop. Completely unable to eat it. The crust was wet and soggy and thick....we honestly didn't know what to make of it. It was disgusting. \r \r Very sorry to say something so unflattering. There are so many pluses about this Ruggles. The location is fantastic. It's great to have the option of outdoor dining. It looks charming and inviting. Someone needs to restore Ruggles back to being consistently a good, if not great, place to have lunch or dinner. more

warning to all those Vegeterians going to get your vegetarian vegetable soup, find out that the soup is actually does have vegetables but the broth is beef stock bouillons mixed with vegetables. But if you are a complete Vegan and don't want any animal by product what so ever in your soup, DON'T Get The V.V. Soup. more

Our whole family really enjoys this restaurant. We have been customers for the last several years. The kids love getting to pick out a cookie and decorate it while we wait for our food. We usually sit inside in the ac to avoid the heat but they also have a large patio that is nice in the cooler weather. A few of our usual orders include the grilled chicken aalad (my favorite), angel hair pasta, angus burger and the kids like the pizza dippers and chicken tenders. Their angus burgers are grilled and huge and the rolls they use are soooo good. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it ha! The guy (head cook?) is always so friendly and whipping out our food pretty quickly considering how busy this restaurant gets. Don't be afriad of the long lines. the staff is really good about moving the lines quickly. We like to bring our own wine sometimes since they have a byob policy and no charge. And did I mention desserts? They have so many to choose from. We love the strawberry bomb (lots of strawberries and angel food cake) and the white chocolate bread pudding (comes out hot with ice cream and sauces). Run don't walk over to this restaurant! Pros: Fresh delicious food good value for the prices Cons: They get very busy on the weekends more

The only reason they get a one star from me is for a great VARIETY of desserts... Their desserts are good but not awesome for the price.\r The food is ok, I do not know how kitchen even works there since they have this small corner in the restaurant and the AC OFTEN IS NOT WORKING.\r The staff is OK, and the management is snobby.\r more

This eating establishment is amazing!! The goat cheese salad is incredible. I love all of the desserts. The service is great, and the staff is friendly. The atmosphere is cool and they have a very tasty buger. I give this restaurant ten stars out of five, and recommend it for all eaters!! Pros: Variety, Service, and DESSERT!! Cons: So POPULAR!! more

I ate here on a Thursday evening with a group of 5. The restaurant was PACKED, which I took as a good sign. We all got our food pretty quickly, and my sister ordered raspberry tea, which she said was delicious. Out of the 5, not one of us liked our food. I had a veggie burger that fell apart while I was trying to eat it. I also had creme brulee, which was phenomenol, but everyone else at my table had the chocolate tres leches, and didn't like it. It's an ok restaurant, but not somewhere I'd choose to go again. more

A friend suggested a thai restaurant called patu in the village but the long wait and unorganized seating system forced us to find an alternative and Ruggle's was the alternative suggestion. After the amazing experience we wondered why Ruggle's was not the first suggestion! The staff was friendly despite being very busy, the pastas, sandwiches, salads and soups were delicious and well balanced, and the desserts, everything has been said already but personally i think they are beyond words! White chocolate bread pudding is a must! but we had a difficult time choosing and it was really tempting to try to stuff more into out overstuffed bellies... we will definitely be back to sample all the other menu items! Suggestion take a big group, order all different entrees and just pass the dishes around! more

I have been going to Ruggles Cafe Bakrey ever sience it opened. It is defiantly my favorite restaurant in Houston. I always stop by on my way to work and pick up lunch. They have the best salads and pastas and the absolute best desserts! My family loves going there! We go at least 2 times a week. My kids and husband love it! I always get the goat cheese salad with a cup of the tomato basil soup. My husband usually gets the ranch chicken sandwich with the amazing sweet potatoe fries. But recently my husband has ordered some of the items that were just added to the menu such as the shrimp salad and the Tai salad. My kids love Ruggles just as much as we do they always get the pizza dippers with a side of apple sauce with cinnamon chips. AND DID I SAY THAT THE DESSERTS WERE THE BEST! Don?t get to full with the food because you absolutely have to save room for the best desserts! My family always a variety and we share ( we usually get the white chocolate bred pudding and the domino cake.) WE LOVE RUGGLES BAKREY! Pros: The food, the desserts, the atmosphere more

Ok food, but good dessert! more

I was a first time visitor to Ruggles Cafe with a group of friends last weekend. The manager saw our group come in and immediately helped us pull together a couple of tables. We placed our orders at the counter, the staff was so friendly and patient while we drooled at all of the desserts in several cases. Our food was ready much quicker than expected. I had an incredible salmon special, others ordered sandwiches and salads from the menu. Portions are big so be prepared. Our food was so good that everyone in our group was happy. We decided to stay a little longer and ordered a few desserts and shared them all. The desserts were to die for! Two thumbs up Ruggles. You made our night. We will definately be back again! Pros: Big portions of great food! Desserts to die for! Cons: They closed at 11pm. more

My wife and I have been dining out almost every day lately, so Ruggles cafe bakery was one of our choices and to make a long story short, we have been disappointed in the past few restarants and Ruggles was NO exception . From the service to the quality of the food and not to mention the HIGH PRICE we paid for cold nasty food with an attitude.\r We think the only reason this place has any customers so far, is just because of the RUGGLES name!!!!!\r SORRY RUGGLES, you're NOT worth the time or the money any more!!!!!!!!!! Pros: Ruggles name Cons: Everything else more

My wife and I were excited to try out Ruggles after hearing a lot about it. Unfortunately, we were not impressed. The food is overpriced. After we placed our order, we watched what turned out to be our food sit underneath the hot lamps for about 5 minutes before we were paged. The food itself was alright. The chicken salad is basically chicken and lots of mayo. I'd stick to the coffee and the pastries. Pros: Location, Atmosphere, Bakery Cons: Overpriced, sub-par food more

The desserts look good, and Ruggles seems like a good place to grab a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or if you desire, a teapot. In fact they have the tea in bulk jars kept airtight, which is impressive as long as all that tea and so little ordering doesn't mean stale tea. Unfortunately my visit to Ruggles revolved around food. The prices are outrageous and the food quality is not good. For the price and hype we were expecting awesome food and huge portions. We were disappointed. I got the worst Rueben of my life. First of all, who makes a Rueben with mozzarella instead of Swiss? I asked for Swiss, but they made the sandwich with mozz anyway. They only grilled one side of the sandwich, so that it was slightly toasty on the top and actually soggy on the bottom. Miniscule, drenched in 1000 Island Dressing and served with an only ample amount of fries. It's a sandwich! How can you mess that up? My friends were similarly disappointed with their meals. For a price that's higher than any place in Houston and just about any place in NYC, the quality is dismal. Maybe you would go here to study or something... Pros: Soccer moms, apparently Cons: Expensive with lousy food more

My family and I had not visitied Ruggles Cafe in quite some time - our recent visit reminded us why we have stayed away. Ruggles is located in the Rice Village amidst many fine restaurants and fun shops. It seems that this restaurant apparently survives on its name and/or reputation alone - it's one of those places that people just go because someone said they should. While the desserts look pretty good, I found that the food is at best mediocre. And while that can be acceptable if there are other outstanding qualities or novel items on tap (i.e., Rainforest Cafe or Chuck E. Cheese), none of it works if customer service is poor. And on my last visit, service was absolutely pathetic. From the ordering experience to the getting the food experience to the talking to the manager experiece, Ruggles failed every test. Ruggles appears to be popular, but as I said before, I don't know why anyone would choose this spot when there are so many other, much better places to go (walk a block in any direction and you'll see what I mean). \r \r My advice to Ruggles management: remember that service is paramount. And instill that in all your employees because that message needs to be passed across the entire staff. more

I have been several times to this Ruggles now and have not been disappointed at all. Every single thing I have tried on their menu has been excellent. Last time I was there, a line to the door was prominent for the entire evening....proof, in my opinion, that this place has great food! Pros: excellent food, excellent dessert Cons: you might have to wait in a line for a bit more