Market Square Bar & Grill

Who: bf & I
When/​where: downtown, Friday night
What: chickpea fries ($ 7), pitcher of 8^th wonder beer ($ 12)
Why: I love sitting at the bar, enjoying the upbeat crowd, and ordering lite bites and beer at Market Bar. There’s often free performances happening on stage (we went during a free standup comedy event). This place can get loud and crowded, so sometimes the staff gets frantic and confusing orders. The price on beers and awesome menu selection make it worth the wait though. Try the chickpea fries and a pizza for sure!

I visit this establishment about once a month for Lunch. Service is always great. GREAT Mushroom Swiss Burgers! They are fresh and have the right amount of juicy fabulous flavor! Patties are 1″ thick! The mushrooms are freshly chopped. I get grilled veggies as my side and that consists of fresh yellow squash, zucchini, carrot, red bell pepper. Yummy! Décor and atmosphere — has a great New Orleans feel as it is a historical building with dark wood trim, exposed brick, and courtyard in the back. My kind of place!

Kudos to this eatery! A special shout out to Kimberly! After my husband was thwarted by Barnaby’s (which I will NEVER give another chance again) he was determined to find me something. I wanted grilled fish and veggies.
Being the go-​getter that he is… he put on his thinking cap. Ah-​ha!!! He see the Market Square Bar and Grill. He has gone there to get a salad I LOVE and burgers for us (burgers totally rock). He saw a grilled fish po-​boy. He wondered. Hmmm could he get it without the bun and maybe with veggies. Knowing this is totally off menu and he is industry he did not want to be «that guy.» He asked Kimberly. «Sure, no problem.»
Now that my dear reader is service. That is how you treat a customer. She even remembered that he ordered Lone Star when he waits for orders. Pretty damn cool, huh?
For all the places that I point out that have horrific service, this place is a MODEL of how it is done. He shared his story of Barnaby’s being closed. She seemed to sympathize with him and it seemed that this was not the first time they received those that have been thwarted by the stupid hours.
Rest assured, when I have a hankering for whatever, the menu I will turn to FIRST is the Market Square Bar and Grill. Their food is consistent, fresh, and very tasty.
High five you guys!
100 Halley puppies circle Kimberly and dance with wagging tails then ask to be scratched and petted by her because they think she is super cool.

My Boyfriend and I love this place! Never have we had a bad experience. Burger are on point snd Beer are Cold! Friendly Staff and I always go when Im on town. But they do close early say 10 but stop cooking earlier than that bit it’s ok .they still aerve you beer!

Loved this place! Came for Steak Night on Tuesday and loved not only the food but the service and atmosphere. A must try if you haven’t yet.

Saw this place mentioned in an article about another burger joint, and since we were going to see Blazing Saddles at Market Sqaure across the street, we decided to take care of our burger craving. Two birds. One stone.
Carol was our bartender and was friendly, helpful, and professional.
When she «shushed» a woman who was extraordinarily loud and drunk for 6pm, we decided we were definitely coming back.
Inside is low key with fun, old architecture… and the patio out back is very cozy.
Oh… the burger. We loved them. The patty was the star of the show, but the sourdough bun threatened to steal the spot light.

The food was mediocre, at best. There was no toilet paper in the bathroom, just bar napkins. Need I say more?

I’ve been to this place probably 10 times or so in the past few years– for lunch only.
I really enjoy the salads and burgers. Often they are running a lunch special– two sliders or tuna steak sandwich. So, be sure to ask! The burgers and buns are cooked well, and the burgers often range from ok to great– depending on how they are grilled, etc. They offer many sides in addition to fries with the burger, so if you are feeling like you want something lighter like sauted veggies– they are good too. The fries are frozen and would be much better if fresh.
The salads are really good as well. Dressing is always on the side, and the salads are served in stainless steel bowls. The serving size is good. It’s a great low carb or healthier option for lunch. I haven’t been disappointed.
The service is good, but not great. The servers have a tendency to leave you alone, which is nice if you are meeting with a friend or for a business lunch.
They have a really nice courtyard, which makes you forget you are downtown.
I’d love to sneak out of the office for a burger and beer one Friday for lunch, but it’s unlikely to happen.
I’ve never had a problem with splitting the check myself (i.e. giving them multiple cards with amounts). I am sure that I’ll be back sooner rather than later.

I have since been twice to Market Square Bar & Grill. As the name implies, this place is in an absolute prime location in the awesome Market Square Historic District of Downtown. I love the historical building, and although some might think it’s tacky, I really appreciate the awesome Astros memorabilia that decorate the walls. The staff seems relatively competent, and definitely friendly.
However, my complaint here is that when you walk in, you get much more of a bar/​pub vibe than a restaurant one. It’s not really that big of a deal, but I do think it’s important to get some more light into this place (whether it be natural or not), and perhaps even hire a dedicated waiter/​waitress to handle the dining experience. It appears as though this is the bartender’s job as of right now.
The food here is the best part. While it’s not really a large menu, everything I’ve tried here has been great. I definitely like their burgers because you can tell that they use a quality mix of ground beef. Their beers tend to be reaaaaally nice and frosty. I can’t stress to you how great it was to have a Santo at this place.
Price is moderate, but a solid place to bring a couple of friends. I will be back.

Blah. Everything. Blah.

I only saw pictures of burgers which is what they are known for. I had the almond crusted chicken with grilled veggies and coleslaw and wasn’t disappointed. They have a great horseradish /​mayonnaise sauce that was good on the chicken and the grilled veggies. It also came with a bourbon sauce.

Can’t say I’ve eaten anything I don’t like. Easily one of the best burgers in Houston. Good beer and spirit selection, funky interior (love those monkey lamps) and great service. Sara is awesome. Came for the first time for the St. Arnold’s scavenger hunt and watched a dozen people come in and totally do it wrong (run in, snap a pic, and leave). The whole point is to try out these joints you may not have had before. For all you snap and runners, you missed out. I’ve been suggestively steered away from the cole slaw but love their potatoes, fries, and burger. As for horseradish mayo? Just say yes.

We were on the St Arnold Pub Crawl and chose this place as our food stop. Burgers work for everyone. We knew we could each get out for less than $ 15 and continue on our pub crawl adventure.
The narrow bar area was fairly quiet for a bar and clean. Yeah! It wasn’t crowded this mid Saturday afternoon and we wandered to the patio area. We had barely plopped down in the plastic patio chairs when the nicest waitress came up and took our drink order. I’ll be honest their beer selction — expecially for a pub crawl — was really limited. But they did carry local beers like Fireman 4, St Arnold and Shiner along with your regulars like Bud and Corona.
The menu was nice looking bar fare… salads, quesadillas, chicken/​club/​BLT/​tuna sammies, rib eye plates, wings, cheese steaks and burgers. All with a side of your choice. The fries, red taters and slaw were all exceptional for bar food.
I wish we had been given the choice of how we wanted out burgers cooked. They were WAY over cooked and almost dry. They did come with some tasty horseradish mayo and along with regular mustard we got Grey Poupon.
The toppings come on the side and the lettuce was crisp and bright and the red onion was thickly sliced. The jalapenos on the jalapeño burger were big ol’ slices of fire. The bread was very light soft and sweet. I really liked the bread.
You can add extras like bacon, avacado, grilled tomato, salsa or your choice of cheese. And I even asked if they could make me the chicken diablo with a beef patty instead and the reply was «no problem». Win!
They do not split checks.
The service was terrific and the patio took us out of downtown and into a calm place. If it weren’t for the nearly cooked to death beef patty and limited beer selection this definately would have been a solid 4 for me.
But if you just want a Bud and a nice stop downtown for some decent bar grub this is a great place.

Happily surprised by this little hole in the wall. Went by for a wquick lunch and that’s exactly what I got. They served up a great greasy hamburger and very quickly. They know they’re catering to a business lunch crowd and know it’s all about good food and fast service. Will have to try it out for dinner and a beer sometime.

Market Square sure is picking up new businesses and the revival going so far, so good. Then at the same time, there are the oldie restaurants (as in been there for a long time) that sometimes gets overlooked by the new guys in the area. Take this fine restaurant as an example, I feel like Market Square Bar & Grill should be a place that every Houstonians needs to visit at least once for their food. After all, they are next to 2 other well established bars and they’re willing to deliver their food to the patrons in those bars.
First thing first, the bar is decently stocked and have nice share of local beers on the tap. The food you should definitely get here is the hamburger. I have already tried their regular burger (Market Square Burger) and their Mushroom & Swiss Burger. Both are amazing. One thing I like about this place is that the kitchen is an open kitchen and right there in the front next to a window where people can see the cook in action.
Another thing I like about this place is that it has great decors, especially the monkey lamp that’s at the bar. Then of course, there’s also a great back patio for people who wants to get some fresh air. But as you know in Houston, it could get hot and musty outside. The service overall is good, I haven’t run into any issues yet from the waitstaff. Over all, this is a definitely a good place for you to grab a bite before any big events at the Market Square Park.

Always awesome! This place is super laid back and you know exactly what you’re getting into every time you stop in. The sandwiches and burgers are all pretty solid, but what really needs mentioned is their chicken enchiladas that are occasionally on special. I will stop whatever I’m doing in downtown to get these if I see it out chalked up on the sign they have on their sidewalk each day. Pete’s philly is pretty legit as are the cookies.
Finally, they get bonus points and a hi5^ for hooking up free shots one Saturday evening as they closed post Dynamo win!

I have worked downtown for a decade and never once set foot in here. I have lunched at Treebeards so many times you shouldn’t even try to count it out on your fingers. I have sipped uncle’s cough syrup at Charbar with judges, and even more times at Warren’s with friends instead of colleagues. Hearsay, Niko-Niko’s Market Square, ERA (closed,) Macondo Bistro, and the bestest most favoritest La Carafe have all seen a lot of me. Well I reckoned it was time to change things and finally stop in through MSBG. The hamburger came highly recommended to me based on my spongebob squarepants krabby patty list.
It was completely empty when my dining companions and I walked in during peak Saturday night dinner hour. While that might scare some people off, I actually prefer it because I am not very fond of waiting for a table like some poor sap. Having free range of a restaurant pleases me as it allows me to assert my dominance in selecting a table that I would enjoy.
Just like the T.A.R.D.I.S. it is bigger on the inside. I thought it was going to be small just ballparking where the wall is on Treebeards that I have seen many a-​filled tummy lean against and the one in Warren’s that I have seen many a-​drunk lean on. There is also a patio out back for when it is not about to rain and it is not so Houston hot your shoes seem like they are melting.
The menu ranges from salad options (Cobb salad etc.) to hamburgers, sandwiches, and other things. It is primarily bar, not grill, so don’t get your hopes up too much. Since it was primarily bar and not grill I had some high hopes that on a Saturday evening there might be some kind of drink special that would please me. Instead $ 3 Lonestar was the only special, which is total weaksauce for a place that has a primo spot off Market Square. Neither of my dining companions elected an adult beverage so I stuck with water as well, because there was a case of Real Ale’s Devil Backbone waiting a few blocks away after dinner before plans later in the evening — and it had already been purchased on sale, which worked out to a lot less than $ 3 and is distilled from the sweet mana of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s tears, so no thanks for a Lonestar.
The hamburger is juicy, a bit red, on a soft bun and exemplifies the basic functionality of a burger done right. While you can get bacon, cheese, whatever else this is one of those places you go for a burger not to reinvent the wheel, but to remember why you fell in love with the krabby patty to begin with. Are you feeling it now Mr. Krabs? You should be, it tastes like fun in your mouth, but the kind you can do in public and not end up in prison over.
Since I am a pro at eating in restaurants where they are empty I would say it takes a bit of an art form to give some level of appropriate service, yet not be on a whole creepy stalker y u so obsessed with me Mariah Carey level. I would say fail because my dining companion ended up needing to just angrily stand up and go get stuff for himself after having tried to patiently wait for some service. We didn’t have silverware when the food came and the server was walking off nonchalantly until I had to point out the fact that the table had no silverware. Call me high maintenance but I think certain things need to stand out even at a place packed to capacity — does this table have the bare essentials to eat their food without slamming their face into the place and lapping it up like an intoxicated puppy? Yes or No? If no then do something about it.
I can see why it is empty. The gourmet burger places like the Refinery on W. Dallas steal some customer base. Hard Rock down the street has an excellent Plain Jane burger and the level of service is surprisingly fantastic for a chain restaurant. Hearsay requires becoming a bit more dressy for the evening so it might split off a few customers who want to get fancy on a Saturday night. Niko-Niko’s probably takes the biggest swath of customers away because their Nikoritas make everyone happy and since you order from a window and pick up your food from a window, there is no service required so long as the pick-​up window doesn’t throw your food on the ground, call you a jerk, and tell you to pick it up off the ground and not enjoy it.
It’s a food option downtown. Your mileage may vary if you are here on a night other than Saturday.

I had lunch here today for the first time with close friends. I like the interior décor, with the red patent leather booths and the old time chandeliers. They also have pub style tables, a bar area and some larger regular size tables for groups. It wasn’t very crowded for our 1 o’clock lunch.
It was «Seat Yourself» style, so we chose the booth which was comfy for one, but a little tight for sharing with another person. The waitress was quick and friendly enough, but no big smiles or chit chat, which was ok with me since we were just in for a quick lunch. She also took two credit cards for our check with no complaint or sigh.
I ordered the Jalapeño burger which was really tasty and under $ 10 bucks. The portion of hamburger and fries was just perfect. My two friends and I ate almost everything on our plate. At first I thought it looked a little small compared to other places, but I’m really glad it was not any larger or I would not have been able to finish it.
The Jalapeño burger is served with a spicy ketchup which was good and grilled jalapenos which were not very well grilled and super hot. The combination of flavors was great. The fries were some of the best I’ve had, each perfectly crisp on the outside and slightly tender in the center. And they were perfectly seasoned. I dipped some in the Horseradish Mayo they make — which does not taste very much like horseradish, but is tasty. I ordered my meat «medium» and it did not come like that. There was no pink in the center, but it was still just perfectly browned and juicy, I couldn’t complain.
I loved the patio area, they have umbrellas outside in this terrace style patio. You’d never guess it was out there if you don’t go inside. It was so lovely and I hope to go back when it’s not so dang hot to enjoy the space.
Overall, I really liked Market Square Bar & Grill and I will be back.

A group of friends and I were in downtown Houston after a race and thought it would be great to find a place where we could sit outside, enjoy the weather, grab a few drinks and eat some food. I went to Unilocal and Market Square Bar & Grill seemed to meet all of our needs but in reality it did not.
There were few people in the place when we arrived around 1 and we seemed to get a lot of stares because we were a lot younger than the rest of the crowd. Our waitress seemed to be the only one working that day and she was not in a great mood. She was annoyed when we asked what beers were on tap (she said 6) and when asked if anything was similar to a coffee porter she responded, «This isn’t Washington, you won’t find drinks like that here.»
We placed our orders and twenty minutes later after she visited our table a few times she told us that they don’t have wings. Not sure why she didn’t tell us this sooner but we ordered another dish and somehow it came out with our food ten minutes later. Our waitress forgot some sides and when it came to the bill it was disaster. First they don’t do separate checks which should make the bill very easy for the waitress to ring up but for reason she kept messing it up. Once it was all worked out, it took another twenty minutes for her to bring back the card when at this point we were the only customers at the bar.
I now understand why I venture to downtown very little. My advice, not a a place worth checking out.

I love this place. It is in the same little corner as La Carafe and Warren’s Inn. The building shares the same old heritage as those, though not stuck in the past as much as Warren’s and much more approachable to people from the street than La Carafe. I do love both of those institutions, but they both have their faults. Not saying Market Square doesn’t, just about every place does. Just Market Square hits on all cylinders with me. Anyway, on with the review:
The building is great, a long wood bar along the left. They did an amazing job with the finishing wood work. Thick wood with arched columns. Wonderful old exposed brick, with tables down the middle, booths lining the right brick wall. An amazing outdoor patio in the back. Which is almost completely enclosed from the streets, and the outdoor brick is covered in ivy. A perfect chill vibe outside and in.
You come here for the burgers, then get lulled in by the great chill atmosphere. I had the Blue Burger with fresh (not canned) sauteed mushrooms, and blue cheese crumbles. The bun is awesome, slightly sweet that holds it form with the burger. The meat is cooked medium, very nice. Mushrooms, blue cheese, or Swiss cheese, is as about exotic as it gets. Other than than, just bare bones with lettuce and onion. The rest of the menu is pretty good as well. The specials recently have been BBQ pork sliders and shrimp poboys. The service is always attentive as well. Usually just one or two people behind the bar, though they are on top of everything and do a great job of checking in on people.
I always enjoy some nice Texas beers as well. Just had Live Oak Pilz, that was über fresh. Also Live Oak Hefe, Saint Arnold, and Buffalo Bayou rotates with some Karback.
An amazing outdoor area, great burgers, and a few good Texas beers. All in an amazing home grown pub atmosphere. This is near perfect for me.