Vin

I have dined at this restaurant a few times in the last year and have enjoyed it thoroughly. I tried to make a reservation this week and found it strange that no one answered the phone and voice mail simply instructed me to make a reservation through opentable which I did. I arrived there last night only to find a "Closed for Business" sign on the front door. Nor sure how long it has been closed, if this is temporary or permanent. Pros: None Cons: It's closed its doors. more

Nothing comfortable about the atmosphere, interior design does not match menu selections; acoustics? horrid, I really don?t care to hear everything the tables next to us are saying; some of the most unprofessional service I?ve experienced at this price level of restaurant in Houston, no knowledge of menu items and armature wine service; food presentation lacking and flavors not impressive; will not recommend this restaurant even to an enemy. It would be nice if management would refine restaurant as the location is great for nights attending shows within the Theatre District. Pros: location Cons: everything other than location more

VIN is a nice place, fun place with good decor. The food is ok but if they plan to stay open long in downtown, they might want to speed up the service. It is painfully slow. I have been twice and each time I hope it will get better but it doesn't. If you plan on going for lunch, be sure to set aside about 2 hours. No Kidding! They must have 1 cook in the back. I have decided that I will probably just eat somewhere else. Pros: Food Cons: Service more

I went here because we had tickets at the hobby center. The food was awful not worth the money what so ever. We made reservations with plenty of time to spare. I am in the hospitality industry so I am usally very easy going on places. We had reservations at 6 so we had plenty of time. We told our waiter that we had tickets at 8. First off he could not wait to get away from us, if he was busy it was one thing, the place was dead. Never refilled water, or asked us if we wanted another cocktail. He came by as little as possible. He didn't bring us our food someone else did and spilled part my friends dinner down the front of her dress. A large party came in to the back room and how waiter got it. So we did not see him for an hour by this time it was 745 and we had to go so I had to go up to the host stand and say we haven't seen our waiter in forever and we have to go can we get our check? There was a manager there, he came to talk to us for like two seconds, no comp drinks or anything. The one good thing I have to say is the back waiter who was sent to cover for our guy after he abandoned us was awesome, I also loved that breakfast at tiffanys was playing in the bar. Really tough steak, bad flavor combos also. Dont waste your time or money. Pros: Cool place very hip love decor Cons: service food employees in general more

Extremely disappointing. Certainly not worthy of even one star, let alone two stars. On our recent visit, we never felt welcomed, and our waiter was mostly among the missing. Specific problems included the following: We told them that we were celebrating my wife?s birthday when we made the reservation and again when we arrived at the restaurant. They wished her a happy birthday 3 times, but did nothing else. We ordered a bottle of champagne. It took an inordinate time to arrive, and they filled our glasses once. They never returned to refill our glasses. We had to do it ourselves. We ordered S. Pelegrino to accompany our dinner. We went through the bottle by the time we finished our appetizers and sat there with empty glasses, but they never showed up to ask us to order another. They carried multiple cases of liquor through the middle of the dining room not once, but twice. My wife ordered soup for her appetizer. They served the soup but forgot to give her a spoon. Our entrees arrived before we were quite finished with our appetizers. Our waiter was nowhere to be seen as they clumsily cleared our appetizer plates while holding our entrees. We never saw our waiter the entire time we were eating our entrees. No one ever asked us if we needed anything else. We asked about a foie gras appetizer that was listed as ?various interpretation? and as MKT price on the menu. The waiter didn?t know how it was prepared and disappeared into the kitchen for ten minutes before he returned and described it and quoted the price as $12. My daughter ordered it. When the bill arrived it was $18. The noise level and music was so loud you could not hear the waiter or your dinner companions at the same table. Numerous tables were seen to be equally unhappy and complaining to the management. Nothing appeared to be done to rectify it. The wait staff was very untrained and unskilled. We expect that the restaurant won?t last six more months. Pros: Ambiance and nice bar Cons: Service, noise, lack of professionalism more

I had been looking forward to eating at Vin for quite a while since I had read so many great reviews. Considering all the hype I was not impressed. First I had been told to make a reservation but we decided to wing and found the restaurant almost empty at 7 pm on a Wednesday night, I guess the word has got out. I was intrigued by the menu?s ?southern European? influence but found the food itself did not measure up to my standards of Italian and Spanish cuisine. We ordered the artisan cheeses, foie gras and calamari to start. I had heard great things about the calamari but it was a bit rubbery, not tender like it needs to be when grilled. The foie gras was excellent as it should have been for $18 for a teeny portion. The artisan cheeses were excellent but the whole pate was literally three small bites of cheese and a paper thin slice of membrillo, it was almost ridiculous how small the serving was. The caesar salad was decent but a little strong on lemon. I had the striped bass in Spanish ratatouille for an entree and although the fish was nice the ratatouille was bland and a little dry. The bass did come with a fried squash blossom which I thought was a very nice touch and delicious. For dessert I had two of their ?worlds smallest desserts?, the strawberry crisp and creme brulee. I was not impressed with either but was totally underwhelmed by the size of each. They were honestly a bite and a half each and for $3 I felt ripped off. Overall the ambiance and decor were the most attractive part of the evening. It was WAY overpriced and the food had great ambitious but fell really short. For the price of our meal there are tons of other great restaurants I would go to in Houston. You have to give it to the marketing team for trumping the place but too bad it didn?t live up to the hype. I will not be back. more

The atmosphere is the best thing about Vin but unfortunately my first time to experience will be my last. Mediocre food (which I could have forgiven) and a bad service experience make it a place I will mark off my list. After a just "ok" dining experience in which the waiter had been somewhat surly and non-responsive, our party of six received our check and were notified to please note "gratuity was included". The "included gratuity" was 20% on the entire check of $600 which included $300 of wine. To add insult to injury, the gratuity charge was hand-written on the check, not system generated and there was no mention of this automatic gratuity on the menu. We paid the check without dispute but none of our party of six will ever return and in our opinion neither should anyone else. It's too bad as they have an awesome private room and other attributes in a quite convenient area of downtown. Rather short sighted of the restaurant management and the waiter to take 20% of one $600 check as their total compensation from six people who frequent fine restaurants for both business and pleasure. more

Ok Houstonians, if you want to be treated like Kings and Queens then VIN is the place to go to. We decided to drop in for appetizers before our show and were wowed by the friendliness, attentiveness and overall complete satisfaction from the Staff. When you go there you MUST ask to speak to Suzanne who for now is the Assistant G.M. Her knowledge, kindness and auora are second to none. She and the Staff truly made our dining experience one that we all will remember for a long time and we can't wait to go back and have another experience like we did this evening. Thank You to everyone at VIN! You've made 4 people very, very happy!!! Mike, Tony, Alex and our Queen Michele! Pros: EVERYTHING!!! Cons: NOTHING!!!! more

Had plans to go somewhere else last night, but we just walked by VIN and thought, first, that it looked cool, and we decided to try it on a whim. The service was almost perfect (it took a lil long to get our starting waters and cocktails) But outside of that, the whole evening was amazing. The cocktails were some of the most well made I have had in houston. The starting bread was outstanding! The appetizer chosen as well as the Ceaser salad and Salmon main dish were out of this world good. We eat out often and @ higher end places looking for this type of experience and it was a bullseye. After eating food your whole life, tasting new flavors and excellence leaves a lasting impression. I hope that this place survives and continues to wow people. I would highy recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for the best. Pros: Bar. All food courses. Cons: Cost (but u pay for what you get). Downtown parking. more

I've been twice for lunch and eachtime the service was average a best. The food quality is high and the restaurant is beautiful - so is the restaurant manager (she's a Hottie). You'll defiantely need a reservation for dinner becasue ots popular. Hands down the best restaurant in that entertainment strip. go somewhere else for lunch like TreeBeards, MaBella's or Azumas. more

The decor is very impressive and modern. The service was excellent. I had the lamb, my friend had the sea bass. The lamb was amazing, the sea bass was only slightly above average. For appetizers, we tried the flat bread, that was also really good. The wine was a little pricey at about $15/glass, but it was good as well. Overall, this is a nice date spot or place to go for drinks. I would highly recommend it. Pros: Fresh food with excellent presentation, nice ambiance Cons: drinks are a little pricey more

I had the pleasure of sampling Vin's shrimp bisque at the Houston Grand Tasting in Sugar Land earlier this year. It was the first booth to run out of food. So it was with eager anticipation that I returned to Vin, hoping for another taste of that delectable bisque. The $35 prix fixe pre-theater menu was just the ticket, a must try - the bisque, a salad, nice bread, tenderloin, dessert. Not so great were the flat bread appetizers, which look better than they taste. We had the Bianca, which was lump crabmeat over zucchini and tomato. The crabmeat was not lump, it was beaten, and stinky. It tasted more like bad tuna. Vin needs to work on the service as well. The hostesses are clueless, as are the waiters. My waiter didn't know which end was up - we took our desserts to go - when I got home and opened the bag, I found out he forgot to give me one dessert and gave me what appeared to be someone else's left over banana pudding. The decor is a beautiful, modern, lush, very tastefully appointed in deep red hues. It has a very metropolitan vibe, and feels more like a restaurant you'd find in NYC or Hollywood. This is a great place to impress a date or if you don't mind the bumbling staff and not-so-consistent fare. Pros: Hip, metropolitan decor Cons: Hostess, service, inconsistent food more

I couldn't help but notice the "exclusive" blog. Rather surprisingly, I was also dining that evening after a show. I seemed to come in right around the time the young ladies did and was seated very promptly by an EXTREMELY professional and beautiful hostess. The overall appearance of the restaurant is AMAZING. As I was being seated very graciously, I questioned the hostess about a set of stairs and she very kindly proceeded to tell my husband and I that there were two lounge areas upstairs affiliated with the restaurant and she would be more than welcome have us escorted upstairs after dinner if capacity had not reached its limit. She did inform us that there was an ENTREE minimum per person. Dinner was fantastic! CALAMARI is a MUST! My husband and I both ordered salads and shared a flatbread. For entrees, I had the olive crusted salmon and he had the hanger steak. To say dinner was delicious would definitely be an understatement. I was very impressed with our beyond knowledgeable server! I planned to go upstairs the following weekend with friends- We sat AT THE BAR. VIN is GREAT! That little dark-haired hostess knows what the hell she is doing and sells it! Stop complaining about your $14 glass of wine and $3 dessert because you were obviously looking for a fast way to get to the bars. I see it everytime I go in.. By the way, they keep the elevators locked for escorting purposes, so if someone may "run" after you, it's to save you from falling down the stairs in your stilettos and mini-skirt. Save yourself the embarrassment. It's classy- I encourage young professionals to take their clients there for lunch and dinner both, they will LOVE IT! more

My sister and I dropped in at the bar this past Saturday for a drink. We had just had dinner around the corner and werent quite ready to leave the district area. There was a crowd when we arrived but still room to find a seat at the bar. Our bartender was a female, cute but not that talkative. One of the other bartendars though talk to us and recommended we go upstairs to the lounge. The we met the owner, very nice and attentive; he also recommended we check out RocBar and Mosaic. So we did and we had the best time ever. We lounged on the balcony and had a great time. We will definatly come back. Pros: Nice lighting, great drinks. Cons: Loud more

On Friday, June 29th a couple of girlfriends had a wonderful dinner at Catalan and decided to have a few drinks at Vin. When I viewed their website, I was impressed and was looking forward to going. The interior is very impressive (Vegas style), but the service was really bad! We arrived around 9:30pm and asked if we could be seated at a table for dessert and drinks, the young and obviously unexperienced hostess informed us that we could not since we weren't planning on having entress...I would understand if the place was packed, but it was at most 25% full and given the time, I couldn't imagine that they would need the table anytime soon. My friends and I decided to have a seat at the bar...we ordered a few desserts and each had about two glasses of wine (around $14 per glass). We were told that the bar/lounge upstairs opened at 10pm, so shorlty after 10, we headed towards their staircase to the elevator that provides direct access to the bar. Suddenly, one of the hostesses (also young and unprofessional) ran (yes ran) to block the elevator door...she informed us that since we had not sat at a table, we were not allowed on the elevator. She said that we had to walk outside and wait in line to go upstairs to the bar. I mentioned that we had dessert and $14 glasses of wine, but we just went outside to get in line (there was no line), so we just walked up. This place (or their hostesses) are trying way to hard to create an image of exclusivity and I will definitly not be returning and will discourage others!!! Pros: Beautiful Interrior Cons: Trying way too hard!! more

Almost by accident , we recently tried Vin one Saturday night because we needed a place to eat after a show. Our first impression of the restaurant was that it seemed like an overly pretentious hotspot. Very red and black and angular decor, Casablanca playing on the tv screens, loud music, and many "beautiful people" diners in very little clothing. We immediately thought "we are not the target market here." We were intrigued by the menu, however, and resolved to stay. We got decent, but not amazing service from our waiter at first. I am a huge water drinker, and I don't like having an empty glass for long, particularly when I am eating something spicey. My water glass was empty a lot early on, but eventually the waiter figured out that my glass was constantly empty, and then did a a better job. That was the only real negative. Our meal was perfect. We tried each other's appetizers, entrees, and desserts, and there was not a dud among them. The flavors were interesting and unexpected. Good thing I like spicey food We'd had a disappointing meal at Mark's recently for our anniversary, and we immediately decided to make Vin a new favorite for special occassions. I will say I'm not sure why citysearch has the meal priced at only $$. I ordered the Crawfish Bisque - it was honestly the best crawfish bisque I've ever had - and I am planning to order it any time I go back. I then had the Tartare Diablo, which was also wonderful. Very, very spicey. I went through a lot of water, but I enjoyed it immensely. My husband had the romaine caesar salad, which was one of the best caesars (with a twist) that either of us had had. I had the brie flatbread as my entree - it was good, but I wasn't in the raptures over it I was over the appetizers. My husband had a steak and liked it alot. We finished off the meal with their little bite sized desserts, which were not to be missed. Overall, a great meal. Despite the price, we will definitely be back. Pros: Interesting menu, great food, some really unique flavor combinations Cons: Noisy, a little expensive, mixed service more

Love the decor. It is what initially drew us in. Simple yet sheek. The food was not very good but the service was. The hostesses and our waitress were great. We were seated promptly without a reservation. We did try about five dishes and for the price the flavors were just not there. If I do go back it would probably be for drinks. Pros: Service, Ambience Cons: bad food, overpriced more

Excellent food (as rated by some picky eaters)! We sat outside and had a great meal. Loved the asparagus salad, the (tuna) carpaccio, snapper cioppino and salmon. Service was good -- attentive, knowledgeable. Great combination of flavors in all the food. Loved the little desserts. Just enough to give you "something sweet". We tried three and liked them all. Next to the Verizon Theater and a short walk to Hobby Center, Alley and the Wortham. Perfect for before or after a show. Will definitely return . . .. . Pros: Delicious food more