Pesce

A restaurant named Fish, where the best thing on the menu is duck, is not going to hit the highs necessary to meet the price point necessary to pay rent on this piece of property.
How you can extract that much flavour out of a snapper is beyond my comprehension, and then maintain the same lack of flavour with the sauce.
Please don’t put fruit on the crème brûlée, it defies the raison d’être of the dish, but do make sure that the custard isn’t gritty.
One upside, having been dragged there again, is that they are now closed without warning.
No doubt a new concept will take the space, but hey, at least this overpriced version of Red Lobster has gone.

After having a poor experience the manager Eric was so nice to welcome us back, «secretly», and take care of our bill. He said he addressed all the issues that my husband and I had. He really did. It’s by far the best customer service I’ve seen. To me that’s the ideal manager.
Fresh bread was brought around to us. DELICIOUS! This time the bread guy (sorry I don’t know his actual title) told me the butter was made with smoked tuna. This was so nice because I have to be REALLY careful with tuna. This at least gave me the option to ask for regular butter, which I did. This did not happen last time, so PLEASE keep that! You never know who could be expecting!
We started with the kobe sliders. They are AMAZING! I could totally have this as a dish and be SO happy! They were delicious, juicy, and the sweet potato fries are probably the best I’ve ever had. I had the stuffed shrimp again. This time it was SO good I ate the WHOLE thing. The shrimp were seasoned well, with not too much salt and they actually had a little heat to them which balanced nicely with the pasta and cream sauce that came underneath. There were nice chunks of crab with no shells and the stuffing was delicious.
My husband had the grouper that was on special. Apparently it was good because I looked over and it was gone! Thankfully I was able to sneak a taste of the shrimp risotto. It was very well seasoned. I think I like my risotto a little more tender, but it’s a personal preference. According to my husband, he really liked the combination, a little salad, risotto, and the fish. The fish was well cooked and seasoned. It had just enough heat.
We also had the au gratin potatoes again. We did not eat them once again. they were creamier with less oil, but still very salty. I think they are made with parmesan reggiano, which made the dish too salty. The texture was great though!
I am so thankful Eric invited us back to give them another try. I was so impressed with the changes and his hospitality!

We liked it very much. Showed up near closing and were welcome.
Great food. Had the red snapper and lump crab special, it was delicious.
Would highly recommend this restaurant to any seafood lover.

I used to be a hostess here but please don’t think I am biased and my 5-​star rating is only due to my past relation with this restaurant!
Before I dive in to what I personally recommend, let me talk about the service here. This is a classy restaurant that caters to all types of occasions. There is a party room in the back fit for large birthdays, corporate diiners, etc. The service staff is very well trained and if there is any concerns Eric, the General Manager, will make sure to resolve the issue right away and have you leaving a happy customer. Every now and then Chef Holley will even come by to see how you’re doing and if you’re enjoying the food. They really take care of you here.
As for recommendations, you NEED to get Lenny’s Seafood Gumbo. I don’t think gumbo in general is anything spectaculiar, but after working here, I have a new outlook on it. Gumbo is still not spectaculiar, but at Pesce’s it is! My mouth is starting to water now that I’m thinking about it…
The menu has changed a bit since I’ve worked there but the Thai Style Fried Flounder and their crab cakes are definitely something worth trying if you’re having a hard time trying to decide. And if you don’t see anything on the menu that fancies you, just go in for happy hour to grab some small bites and get some bread with their tuna mousse (complimentary) –seriously can’t find this anywhere else, it’s sooo amazeballs!
Keep in mind of their hours:
Mon-​Thurs: 5:30−10pm
Fri/​Sat: 5:30−11pm
Sunday: closed
Happy Hour starts at 5pm

Went here for dinner the day after Christmas with no reservations.
Great décor. Get a booth table if you can.
We did a round of multiple appetizers and I will say the muscles were superb.
Happy Hour prices helped. Ensure that you ask for the Happy Hour menu, it was not initially provided.
I’ll be happy to return!
Seafood all the way!

I had really high hopes for this restaurant as my fiancé and I had been talking about going for quite some time.
The ambience was nice, but rather cold and better for a business meeting than a date. The service was superb. If I were rating on service, Pesce would get a five star. The waitstaff checked on us often, and our water was refilled frequently.
I saw some people loved the bread & butter, but I didn’t think it was anything to write home about. We started off with wines (I had a Sauv. Blanc which was just okay) and the Seafood Martini. I very much liked the crab in the seafood martini, but it was a rather expensive dish for it mostly being a coleslaw-​like salad. There was really only one sliver of avocado in it.
For my entrée I ordered the Grilled Salmon which was cooked very well, however, it was lacking a punch of flavor that I enjoy from salmon. It was almost… bland? The side of vegetables was a nice variety, but very oily. My fiancé ordered the Thai Flounder, and I thought deep frying took away from the flounder flavor. But the thai sauce was quite good.
This might be considered an upscale place for a business dinner, but I found it pretty overpriced and nothing particularly special.

Seafood Martini was a Cabbage Martini with a few pieces of fish and one piece of avocado.
Two stars because the shrimp & grits was delicious. The Amberjack and Orzo was tasteless. The bread was also delicious but the bread guy hardly ever came around.
Definitely not worth the money. Will not return to Pesce.

Ok so, shortly after reviewing Pesce, I received a message from the owner, Eric, in regards to my review. He offered me and my friends to come back to the restaurant, for a happy hour, food on them. How could I say no to that!!!
So, this past weekend my friends and I went for our happy hour. Let me just say … im-​press-​ive. First, I arrived and an area by the bar was reserved for all of us. Drinks were delivered promptly. As for the food, I expected to get like, 3 – 4 small happy hour sized dishes since it was free and all. Nope. A full platter of an assortment of their best apps on the happy hour menu, and THEN 20 minutes later the manager comes out with, I would suspect, a $ 60 – 70 plate worth of sushi for us to munch on. AMAZING. Food was wonderful, everyone consistently asked us how everything was, drinks were never empty, and thereby this restaurant completely redeemed itself and then some. I would like to thank Eric AGAIN for the wonderful experience.
Just for this, I will most definitely be back to Pesce for dinner with guests. I’m sure a lot of restaurants in Houston could learn a thing or two about customer service from this place!

Professional and still friendly warm. Pleasantly light Oyster Damien, boldly sweet and tangy Asian Sticky Ribs, magically saucy Simply Grilled Pesce, fruitful savoury Herb-​Crusted Gulf Grouper, nut-​ilicious Chocolate Brownie Sundae, magically creamy Panna Cotta. The sauvignon blanc pairing was surprisingly good with the grouper and brownie sundae. Slight mishap with the dessert, but servers were very professional about it. Portions were satisfying (I can eat 2 Chipotle burritos if I didn’t care about my fluffy figure).
Suggestions: bring small bills for «free» valet; reservations are good; small groups may be better

A friend and I went here for restaurant week, only to find that their HRW menu was quiet boring compared to their daily menu. Soooooo, we ordered the 4 course meals from their regular menu, which was only $ 4 more than the HRW prices.
Pesce lived up to everything I’d imagined. The chef was sweet, came by our table & introduced himself. The general manager, Eric, came by twice & had convo w/​us. The redfish sopa was DELISH! Escargot was very comforting. My friend had the black&white mussels & they too were tasty. I ate the MahiMahi, it too fresh & seasoned just right. There was a side of veggies with the MahiMahi: aspargus, carrots & brussel sprouts. I’m not fond of brussell sprouts, but these were very scrumptious. They tasted like mini cabbages!!!
What’s a meal w/​o DESSERT?! We ordered crème brûlée & the brownie for dessert!!! WOWzers both were amazing & rich in flavor. The crème brûlée was my absolute fav of the two!

Awful service! I wish I could comment more on the food, but our service was so terrible when ordering drinks that I declined to give them any more of my money.
I came here with a group and was seated in the bar area. Our inept waiter took two of the six persons’ orders and then disappeared to fill them. He returned with food and beverages for them and THEN proceeded to ask the rest of the table what we wanted! (This was after we waited for a server to show up for probably 20 minutes after being seated). All in all, I was furious by the time we finally received our first round of drinks. I will not be returning here or recommending this place to anyone.

This place was exactly what I was hoping for; a glass of great wine with a light seafood dish, and an environment comfortable enough to read, but busy enough to encourage me to come back.
I had the Holly Roll which was great. The fish was fresh and the portion was just right. The sake sashimi, on the other hand, was absolutely mouth watering. Fresh and perfect, I allowed it to entice me just enough to keep me wanting more.
I think I’m coming back tomorrow — mission accomplished!

I really enjoy this place… alot. I’ve been 4 times and each time I really enjoy the food and the service. It can be pricey though. My favorite dish is their scallop appetizer. I believe its 18 $ for 3 scallops, but they are some of the best scallops I have ever had. I also enjoy their shrimp and grits, the grits are very tasty and the shrimp are large and cooked well. I dont think I would order the sushi again, It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. Ask for a cocktail list, they have some great martini’s, my favorite is the raspberry.

I was looking for a happy hour place this past Friday and found this place with the help of Unilocal.They have added a few more drinks and bar food than what’s posted online. So let’s see what we had…
I had some drink called «The Pink…» I forgot the last word. Tasted pretty girly… it’s X-​rated with some sprite and something else. Refreshing and easy to drink for light weights like myself. My mister had a mojito… strong! We had the Thai mussels in coconut curry, fish tacos, sticky ribs, bbq shrimp, and the Kirby roll. The Thai mussles were ok. They gave about 8 – 10 mussels in there. Flavor of the sauce should have been more flavorful. Fish tacos were actually a delight. Not sure what kind of slaw was in there but I thought the flavors all went well together. The sticky ribs… pretty sweet and saucy… just a little too sweet I thought. Came with a side of wheat soba noodles. Bbq shrimp came with only 3 shrimps and two pieces of garlic toast. The sauce tastes like you’re eating crawfish seasoning… seriously. So I thought that was kinda weird. The Kirby roll was very simple delight. Nothing fancy about the roll but it tasted very fresh.
Overall I thought the food was an array of flavors… everything was sweet to salty to spicy… suprisingly the bar wasn’t filled up. Usually this area is always jammed packed, so you would think there is never a table. Seems to attract older folks though… maybe they want to keep it that way. Everything on the menu was $ 4 or $ 6 for the cocktails. Our bill came out to be about $ 36…so not too bad for 4 dishes and 2 drinks.

**Happy Hour Review**
I have always liked Pesce. .. It’s been a solid three star (sometimes four) restaurant for me, but I had never tried their HH.
This is a ridiculously good Happy Hour…
They totally had my attention at $ 6 Martinis and signature cocktails.
We ordered two Kirby rolls and two Holley Rolls– both were pretty good for happy hour, and more interesting than your typical happy hour California/​Philadelphia happy hour roll…
We got the potstickers as well, which were okay, nothing particularly special, but dumplings are dumplings. The sauce was very sweet, but it tasted good when combined with the low sodium soy sauce.
The Tuna sliders I don’t recommend. I love tuna, and I love sliders, but somehow they didn’t go so well together on this particular appetizer. Next time I will try the beef sliders.
The tab for two people, 4 drinks, 4 Sushi Rolls and 2 appetizers and tip came out to about $ 50.
Best part. .. If you have a Landry’s Signature card, you can get all the points from your happy hour added to the card.

Over the years since its inception, I’ve been to Pesce on three separate occasions. All were for birthdays and everyone one of them were for parties of 16 or more. Last night was no different. We had 17 in our group and was given the private banquet room.
Now normally, some restaurant establishments charge a a certain table minimum for reserving a private area. This was not the case. So BRAVO to Pesce for not confining our party with such absurdity. We did average a $ 75 check per guest.
Now what gave me a BAD TASTE in my mouth was a $ 20 charge per guest failing to show up. WTH?! I’ve never heard of restaurants implementing such practice. Who does that? I have heard of restaurants taking down a credit card number for reservations… charging a small nominal fee for failure to show up.
So what happened was, our host texted each person attending to verify our status. Reservations were originally for 20. 17 confirmed, 3 maybe. He told us of the predicament and a $ 60 charge (3 not showing up) was just uncool. Pesce didn’t inform him of such policy until the day of the dinner. By then, it was too late to change venues. However, when we received our check… there was no charge. Though I’m glad they didn’t apply the $ 60 charge… what I do frown upon was them bringing up the whole ordeal. Why bring it up if you’re not following it through? *head shakes*
Anyways, getting back to the food review.
***APPETIZERS***
SEAFOOD MARTINI: shrimp, lobster & crabmeat with cabbage, avocado, hearts of palm & kim chee dressing. Served in a big martini glass, too much cabbage and small traces of seafood. I had to fish around for the lobster meat. Otherwise, it had a nice zing and sweetness to it.
APPLE CIDER PORK BELLY: 3 pieces of pork belly, w/​charred corn cakes, braised savoy cabbage, and caramelized Gala apples. Now everyone knows I love Pork Belly. Braised nice and tender. The glazing was a tad too tangy for me. Not too crazy about it.
RAW OYSTERS IN SHELL: accompanied with mignonette & cocktail sauces. Didn’t seem like the gulf oysters kind, not quite sure where. They were a bit small, mild and very clean tasting. I didn’t use any sauce. Just lemon and a bit of tabasco.
ESCARGOT EN CROUTE: mélange of garlic, roma tomatoes & shiitake mushrooms infused with dry vermouth w/​a baked puff pastry (shaped in a shark). This dish was included in my «Chef’s Four Course Menu». Super tender and delicate. Sauce had a nice lite brown color and flavor from the mushrooms. For me, best appetizer.
***ENTREE***
My four course inlcuded the app (previously mentioned above), red sopa, grilled mahi mahi, and crème brûlée. Great deal for $ 40.
RED SOPA: Red fish, avocado, corn, tortilla chip strips. Seasoned well, w/​bites of red fish floating in the light broth.
GRILLED MAHI MAHI: it includes asparagus and some brussel sprouts. Fish was perfectly grilled accompanied w/​a cashew lemongrass vinaigrette. The sauce was a smidgen sour.
OTHER NOTABLES: I tried my friend’s seared flounder (off menu special). Had a nice chewy texture, great flavoring and freshness. The Fried Flounder (according to friends) were over-​fried and salty.
***DESSERT***
CREME BRULEE: custard had a good vanilla taste. Wonderfully thick caramelized top. Custard needs to be served colder.
Overall, our meal was good. I’ve always enjoyed the food here. Service was excellent and attentive… its just, bringing out our food took awhile in between courses; but that’s to be expected for such a large party. I would give this place more stars if it wasn’t for the uncalled «threat» to our host. I won’t forget that! I implore Pesce to drop such ridiculous practices.

this place is definitely pricey, so be prepared to pay a hefty penny.
we were kind of spoiled with the private kirby room, but it was nice none the less.
very fancy, try not to rock jeans. the service was ok — hard to understand with the broken english. the bread guy was super nice.
we had a big party so we ordered a little of everything.
the house favorite was the thai flounder. definitely try that one.
i liked the sushi. it wasnt super special but its was good. mildly affordable.
the rocket roll is good. try that one.
i also had the hamachi and the spicy scallop roll with was pretty decent.
the southern shrimp and grits — mediocre.
the soft shell crab — they were out of… must have been good.
the halibut — probably pass. nothing special.
gumbo — pretty tasty. not too spicy.
cornmeal crusted red fish, oysters and jumbo shrimp — basically all deep fried finger foods with two onion rings and a small order of fries lightly seasoned.
maybe happy hour will change my mind — i heard its ½ off sushi. ill come back and try again.

We were in the mood to go somewhere nice and decided to give Pesce a try. The restaurant has a nice atmosphere but it is not spectacular.
The service was good, but no better or worse than most other places.
I ordered the Icelandic Char and my GF the Mahi-​Mahi. The Char was grilled and as anything grilled was OK — however, OK to me is worth $ 14-​$ 20, not $ 30. I love fish and had hoped that Pesce would deliver an amazing dish — however that was not the case. The Mahi-​Mahi was also OK but not better than anywhere else. It is not that Pesce is bad, only that I have eaten better in restaurants that do not consider themselves to be high end and for much cheaper.

[HAPPY HOUR REVIEW]
My so called «secret» Happy Hour place or until it becomes popular ;) I love the ambiance and the wonderful food.
WHAT I RECOMMEND:
1. The Tuna Slider. –That first bite was f*cking amazing.
2. Try each of the sushi rolls. The fish is fresh and they don’t stuff the sushi with a lot of sushi rice.
Tip: There are boiled eggs at the bar to eat if you need to sober up quickly.

Wow.
I keep searching for a clever, snarky thing to write about eating at Pesce, and I just keep coming back to «Wow.» Not clever or snarky, but they exceeded my expectations.
I decided to take the GF out for a *really* nice dinner as a way to say thanks for picking up the tab when I haven’t been able to do so, and I walked out of Pesce really happy that I chose it.
It started the moment we walked in. I had made the reservation on Open Table, and they obviously read the comments from that. «I see that this is your first time dining here, Mr. D, welcome.» The hostess didn’t have to do that.
The server paid attention to details, too. We opted for the 4 course chef’s menu (a deal at about $ 40/​person) and as our meal went on, the kitchen was running behind. Without being prompted, the server appeared, explained what was happening, and told us when our next course would be out. We really appreciated that.
And the food was fantastic. My salmon was simply grilled but served with a tart, mustard-​y sauce on the side that was a nice change of pace from the sweet glazes most places pour over that fish. The mussels were superb. Even though the server tried to steer me away from the soup, it was excellent — reminiscent of a Portuguese fisherman’s stew. We each liked our desserts so much that we barely shared a bite. And even though the kitchen was backed up a little bit, slowing this meal down made it more enjoyable. The 4 course dinner was a lot of food, and having a break between the courses kept me from being uncomfortably full.
Pesce isn’t cheap, but it’s worth it.