Oxbow7 Restaurant & Bar

The name of the restaurant is now Zutro's. With a short menu it's result is the chef focusing on getting the most out of all the cajun flavors and ingredients. Eveything I tasted was simple in concept but complex in execution. The atmosphere of the restaurant does not feel like a hotel restaurant, but that of any other contemporary american dining experience. The service was great too. Highly recommended.

The place is located within minutes of accessible parking, the symphony hall and many other great locations for downtown Houston. The drinks were delicious, the staff was super friendly and the food was out quickly. A group of us shared the cornbread which was delicious and then we decided to order their dip that had ghost pepper caviar. That itself was just ok. I had the country fried pork chop which was decent. The desert we had was about average as well. Prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is pretty laid back. I'd go back for some drinks to catch up with friends if we just happened to be around the area.

Interesting space attached to Le Méridien, but thankfully it doesn't give off the "hotel restaurant" vibe. Good range of original and classic cocktails, decent beer selection, and quite a wine list. Menu is arranged by number instead of name, but progresses as you would expect: lite bites up top, larger apps, soup/salad, on to entrees then desserts. Seafood is their strong point as the dry aged steak my wife got was not anything special, though it was still cooked properly. Definitely worth checking out!

Great higher end lunch spot for those Fridays. The food is unique and will be coming back to try their other options. One thing to note is that the lunch menu seems to be different than their dinner menu. The lunch menu entrees are serving more lunch orientated food like sandwiches, burgers, but does have the gumbo (no pork chop or stuffed quail as I was hoping). The service is great as well with a very personable waiter that checked on us and was prompt with refills and the check. I will come back again to try their dinner selections.

We had a friend visiting from out of town, who was friends with one of the chefs, so for his last night in Houston, we visited here. Looking at the menu, it is never something we would have picked out for ourselves, and in fact upon arrival, we spent about 30 minutes perusing the menu at a loss before letting the chef pick for us. Everything that was brought out was wonderful. We started with the cornbread and marmalade, which was the perfect combo of savoury and sweet, and moved onto the gumbo--the broth was amazing. I usually don't like gumbo because it relies on a thick heavy roux but this broth was almost like au jus. Wonderful! I ordered the popcorn shrimp with roasted cauliflower and shared it with the table but 2 bites in I wished I'd kept it all to myself. We finished with the pork/pesto dish and the quail. The quail was good but the pork was the highlight of the night. They brought us three desserts to sample. The soju tart was good, but I really enjoyed the devils food cake mousse. All in all--not what I was expecting but I was absolutely delighted.