Brazos Restaurant

Late dinner «snack», Caesar salad and bowl of Gumbo. Both were very good and the service was excellent from the staff. The drinks were mixed well and served promptly. A good time overall…

On our way out stopped for a few cocktails.
Service was good, our bartendar was very friendly and quick.
Just a chilled out bar area. Did not eat just had cocktails.

I ordered the Crown Plaza Breakfast while staying here for business — it was 10x better than my expectations. Executed perfectly! The woman who delivered it, Vicky, was absolutely the sweetest. I asked for butter & jam, and ketchup with my meal. everything came the way I ordered. I’m very pleased.

This place has a lot of good offerings, however I tried the shrimp quesadilla 1) because it was on the cheaper end ($ 11) and 2) because I didn’t want the usual burger or chicken.
I must say that I’m not impressed and disappointed. The quesadilla was fine expect that it was horrible. The shrimp tasted like they came straight from the freezer. No taste, no flavor, no color, no nothing. It honestly of course ruined the entire meal sadly enough.
Also the restaurant itself is FREEZING COLD! Everywhere I moved to 4 way vents were right above me.
I must say my host/​server, Devon was awesom!!! Very attentive, friendly, and funny

I’ve eaten here about once a week for the last three years, due to the fact I work in the adjacent building which is connected to the Crowne Plaza via a sky bridge. I have been here for breakfast, lunch, and happy hour drinks, but never dinner because, let’s face it, I don’t want to stick around too long after my work day ends.
The food is consistent and service is quick. The waiters really try and get to know you if you are a regular customer. The breakfast buffet is GREAT, and I would highly recommend it. For $ 15 you get unlimited coffee, juice, and trips to the buffet, which includes: scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, seasoned potatoes, pancakes, raisin french toast, oatmeal, lox, veggies, boiled eggs, fruit, pastries and muffins, breads, and more. It is very fresh and the servers are very good about replacing items that have been sitting for too long. They will even cook you fresh eggs to your liking if you do not like scrambled eggs.
During lunch Brazos offers a daily soup and salad bar for $ 10, with the best days being Monday (loaded baked potato) and Thursday (creamy tomato basil) for the soups. The salad bar is stocked with various lettuces, tomatoes, carrots, celery, onions, olives, boiled eggs, pasta salad, chicken salad and/​or tuna salad, croutons, cheeses and dressings, etc. Sometimes they offer extras like caprese salad or hearts of palm, but it just depends on the day. There is always a nice selection of desserts on the soup/​salad bar, too, including: cheesecake, tiramisu, pecan pie, key lime pie, etc.
The burgers are GREAT, very large and juicy (without being soggy) on a buttered toasted bun and served with fries for $ 10. You can add premium toppings like avocado, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, bacon, and cheese for no additional charge. I usually take advantage of this and order my burger with all of them… :-/​They have sweet potato fries too and do not upcharge for the substitution.
Anyway, you really can’t go wrong for lunch. In addition to the burgers and soup/​salad bar, I’ve had entrée salads, chicken tenders, the club sandwich, fish & chips, quesadillas, pastas, the gumbo, and more. Everything is pretty good and the prices are reasonable, especially for a hotel.
On Tuesdays through Thursdays during lunch there is a buffet feature for $ 14 (an extra $ 4 over the standard soup/​salad bar price). Tuesdays is Mexican (made-​to-​order quesadillas or burritos, cheese enchiladas, rice and beans in addition to the usual salad buffet). Wednesdays is Chinese — custom stir fry and seafood soup + salad buffet. Thursdays are definitely the most popular because of the custom pasta bar, which also includes breadsticks, grilled veggies and the tomato basil soup I mentioned earlier.
If you dine on Tuesdays — Thursdays, I would suggest going on the earlier side of lunch (say, 11a –noon) as the custom station is located in the middle of the restaurant and it can start to get sort of stinky in there when the chef is cooking several dishes at once.
Pro tip: Crowne serves Douwe Egberts coffee, which is, as far as I’m concerned, the smoothest and most flavorful coffee I’ve ever found. There is always a carafe with cups, sugars and cream sitting near front entrance to the restaurant, so feel free to grab yourself a complimentary cup. Don’t be afraid if you aren’t purchasing anything else. Just make some small talk with the hosts and wish them a good day, and enjoy your free pick-​me-​up. If you’re feeling guilty about this and it’s during breakfast time, ask for a small cup of oatmeal to-​go ($ 3), which comes with perfect portions of cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins, craisins, slivered almonds and candied pecans. For $ 3.25 incl. tax, you’ve got breakfast and the perfect cup of coffee for far less than you’d pay for the same at Starbucks.

The food is a bit underwhelming and the service my first night staying at the crowne plaza was confusing. A server who looked very rushed walked quickly towards me, said, «oh!» like he forgot something, and then went back to whatever he was on a mission to do. I called out after him that i would just sit in the bar/​lounge area. Don’t worry dude, I can seat myself I guess.
In the bar/​lounge area, even though its much smaller and less aesthetically pleasing than in other hotels ive stayed in while in houston, the service, particularly by marco, was impeccable. I would give him alone 5 stars, but the rest was a little off.
The potato soup is redeeming, but not sure i would seek out the restaurant.

Its a Mexican restaurant, and i had the beef tacos. The beef for once was really well cooked and it came with guacamole, sour cream, cheese and rice at the side. Great dish for a not so light not so full dinner.
In addition to that had good buffalo wings. Quite a reasonable restaurant I say!

I came here again to celebrate a welcome lunch for a team member and got the ahi tuna salad. Another great dish and lunch spot I still recommend going if you’re in need a of lunch spot.

The food is good but the service was outstanding I was at the crown about two weeks and had great service every time I ate there, which was probably 15 times or more. That type service will keep me going back.

I have eaten here for lunch about 8 times; the space is large so I’ve always been able to get seated even without a reservation. Service is good, and the food is decent.

Good restaurant for breakfast service. Stopped in before starting a conference and found a well stocked buffet with a good selection. Service was good enough for the hotel experience, but as always, I am never a fan of when the bill gets dropped down on the table. It just says, «ok, I am done with you, here is your bill»… before you have even gotten started.
They eared a solid three star review, but could have easily been a four star review had the service been just a bit more on the classy side.

I wasn’t the hugest fan of Brazos Restaurant, but be forewarned — I do not like all-​you-​can-​eat buffets.
For what it is, it is exactly valued for the price. The lunch buffet inside the Crowne Plaza Hotel gives you a modest all-​you-​can eat buffet of one soup du jour, salad, breadsticks, and dessert. You can get a cooked-​to-​order pasta that has more selection than seemingly for the salad bar. It was quite delicious.
Of course, they don’t give boxes to-​go, so for me, the delicious and hugely portioned pasta was wasted.
At $ 18 for the buffet and an Arnold Palmer, I would sooner look to other nearby establishments for a very nice lunch. This place has the benefit of being able to accommodate larger parties for the $ 20/​person price point.

Ah… a rainy night, a lazy me, and good reviews of the restaurant downstairs. I’ll try it.
So…meh. Some good and some not so good.
I started with a Caesar salad. Sadly, among the worst that I’ve had (the worst had soggy lettuce, which, thankfully, did not plague this one). Drenched in dressing that also tasted too strongly of vinegar.
My main dish was one of their «2013 Winter Specials,» grilled Tilapia tacos. The tacos were quite good – I’d give them a 4 out of 5. Not sure why each had 2 corn tortillas, but that was not a minus, as they were fresh and I like fresh corn tortillas! The tacos came with rice and refried beans. The rice was lukewarm and the beans only a bit warmer (I didn’t have any quibbles or raves about the taste of either)
I’m glad they got the tacos right, but it’s really only 1 of 4.
Service was attentive and friendly. Décor is about what you would expect at a restaurant at a Crowne Plaza – bland.

FOOD IS AWESOME!!! This place really has some great tasting food, I’ve been here so many times and have never been disappointed. I’m gonna have to agree with everybody else on here about the pasta, it’s sooo good that Mardi Gras sauce is something else! The sliders are also a favorite, along with the fried calamari.
Any burger on here is also delicious, great tasting beef with soft bread and the right combinations of toppings!
Almost forgot about their desserts! The apple crisp is perfect and of course accompanied by a generous scoop of ice cream, comes out so fresh, along with the rasberry tart, to die for!

This is the restaurant in the Crowne Plaza downtown. It’s good food but a little bit pricey. What you would typically expect from a hotel restaurant. Their sweet potato fries are really good and almost all of their salads are must-​orders! You can phone in your order if you’re busy and then just run over and pick it up. Great for convenience!

What a cool little lunch spot with some great service. Service is key, I can’t say it more. No one wants an angry person trying to rush you on an empty stomach and when it happens to me I usually leave the place in handcuffs. Kidding a side, this place is pretty decent for a quick bite with a few co workers.
Came here for a quick bite, the food was OK, but the service was really great which makes for the best lunch as you decompress from dealing with work!

I never would have thought to go to a restaurant in a hotel for lunch because they are usually overpriced. Thanks to a coworker’s pin lunch, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
I got the blackened chicken and penne pasta with a mardi gras sauce ($ 10.95). The chicken was actually cooked pretty tender with a subtle kick that kept me sweating throughout the meal, but without needing to gulp down water. I still can’t figure out what the mardi gras sauce was… kinda sweet, tangy, creamy, buttery, and altogether delicious =)
The lunch buffet looked pretty good too. The food was really made to order, and out in the open so you can see it too. Lunch here would be about $ 10-​$ 15. Granted there are cheaper lunch options around, but this could be a nice alternative for something different.

The food was actually fantastic here and, if you order off the lunch menu, it’s a decent deal!
If you’re looking for something different than your company’s cafeteria for lunch, and you don’t mind paying $ 12 or so per plate, definitely walk on over to Brazos and pick something yummy off their menu.
I had some of their spinach and artichoke dip (yummy) and their grilled chicken and mashed potatoes lunch item (even yummier!)
Next time I come downtown, I’m definitely coming back to try something else.

I ate here twice while on business and staying at the Crowne Plaza. I had the half pound Angus Buger with mushrooms, onions and Swiss cheese and sweet potato fries. It was delicious. I asked to have the leftovers wrapped and when I got back to my room, I saw that the waiter carefully wrapped the burger in plastic wrap and wrapped the remaining sweet potato fries in plastic wrap and then put both in a styrofoam box. Thus ensuring that the hamburger and fries did not mix. I have never had a restuarant do that for me. Very nice.
I took off one star because tonight I went down during their Happy Hour and asked for the Fajita Nachos ($ 3.95 during Happy Hour, $ 10.95 regular menu price.) The waiter politely told me that that was a bar special and so if I wanted it, I would need to sit at the bar. Mind you, I was sitting at a booth 5 ft. away from the bar! Forget that. I ordered a bowl of their Baked Potato soup. It was artfully topped with bacon, cheddar cheese and green onion. It hit the spot.
Waiter offered dessert but I was not interested. Brazos is a very nice hotel restaurant. I recommend it.

If you’re looking for vegetarian/​organic options, look elsewhere.
The options almost all include meat, and unless you go with the (fairly pricey) buffet, you’re stuck with very few options. The salad with cranberry, roquefort cheese and walnuts is basically a pre-​mixed salad with the aforementioned ingredients added. It should not be this expensive.
I did not see any organic options, nor did I see any notes on the menu for vegetarians. Vegans shouldn’t even bother.
I did like the waitstaff, and the seating was nice.