Montrose remains Houston's healthiest food paradise. This is where the city's elite chefs play, opening big-money concepts that dot Westheimer Road and vie for your evening attention. There's something for every kind of foodie in this artsy Houston enclave, whether that be fancy James Beard Award winners, chic tasting menu pop-ups, or chill spots perfect for those with a hyper-active sweet tooth. Intermixed with it all are some of the city's most beloved stalwarts and comfort-food standbys. No matter your choice, you really can't go wrong through a meal in Montrose, especially if you venture out to some of our top neighborhood picks.

Amore

It’s a classic American Dream restaurant story: Alfredo Mojica left his 20-year tenured position as executive chef at Da Marco to open his own place. Investing his life’s savings and with help from his family, he opened Amore Italian Restaurant to an enthusiastic word-of-mouth welcome in December 2021. The menu at the restaurant plays like his own greatest hits album, from the decadently delicious Spaghetti Harry’s Bar to the red-wine slow-braised short ribs with burrata to the simply grilled whole branzino. A dinner at Amore is a must for any Houstonian who considers themself an Italian food connoisseur.

Barnaby’s Cafe 

Although Houston is home to several Barnaby’s Cafe locations, nothing beats the original one in the city’s historic gayborhood. The cafe, named in loving memory of an extra-special pub, features kitschy murals and framed paintings throughout its interior that pay homage to everyone’s favorite kind of pet. The pup-themed restaurant fittingly sports a dog-friendly patio, as well as a special dog menu featuring meals fit for even the most pampered of pets. When it comes to food, Barnaby’s always delivers. The restaurant is home to some uber-casual fare that is served up in super-sized portions, meaning a meal at Barnaby’s often involves taking a lot of your food back home with you to finish later. Some of our favorites from Barnaby’s menu include the chipotle black bean burger, the grilled salmon filet, and pretty much any of the restaurant’s salad options. Expert tip: if you find yourself ordering a side of fries, make sure to ask your server for sides of the “red eye” and the “bull’s eye” dipping sauces—two delicious and super-secret sauces that aren’t listed on the menu.  

The Burger Joint

When you're in a bind and it's late at night, or when you're coming out of the bars and need a quick beef fix, The Burger Joint is there. It's one of Houston's most beloved spots for burgers, known for its hefty burgers like the Smoke Stack, with pulled pork and macaroni and cheese. If you’re visiting the burger joint, you’ll of course need to pair your meaty meal with a creamy milkshake, and the restaurant has a lot to offer in that area. While we recommend the salted caramel, you also can’t go wrong with the beer-powered rocket fuel shake.  

Candente

Our happy place is sitting down to a plate of Candente’s brisket nachos, shredded, cheddar-glazed, and topped with refried beans, plus a half-pound of meat smoked out back. Maybe yours is there, too, or possibly it's the smoked-chicken verde enchiladas, the crispy tacos served with a taco sauce that seems to ring a certain bell, or the plato épico, which combines all the great things this cousin to The Pit Room does well: enchilada, chile relleno, crispy taco, and a street-style taco el carbon.

Gatsby’s Prime Steakhouse

Gatsby’s Prime Steakhouse is a Jazz Age-inspired steakhouse serving up cuts so notable they might have your inner Nick Carraway reaching for a notebook. It's one of our all-time favorite steakhouses in the city. Located in Montrose near the Museum District, the restaurant serves up some of the finest USDA prime steaks alongside uber-fresh seafood and shellfish. The restaurant’s classically inspired side dishes and appetizers are also notable, and include offerings like foie gras, baked oysters, mac & cheese, whipped potatoes, and a cream corn brulée. The interior of the restaurant in stunning, and features glamorous flourishes like ornate chandeliers, red leather booths, black and gold décor, and sumptuous marble elements. The soundscape of the restaurant is equally lush; Gatsby's often hosts live music, and its set lists are quite heavy on classic jazz, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin.

Georgia James 

A project from beloved Houston Hospitality group Underbelly Hospitality, Georgia James, which just moved into some impressive new digs at Regent Square, ranks as one of our favorite steakhouses of all time. Between the ribeye steak, the Gulf Coast oysters, and the fried mashed potatoes, this Montrose restaurant does it all, and does it well. Bring enough friends and feast on the Baller Board—an off-menu item that features a surprise sampling of food hand-selected by the chef, including a fair mix of seafood and steak components.

Hugo's

Now in its second decade of operation, Hugo's remains the gold standard in Houston hospitality and consistency, thanks in large part to owner Hugo Ortega's outstanding Mexican cooking. Hugo’s is where Ortega first perfected his upscale Mexican fare, from his undeniable crispy duck in a poblano mole to his uber-decadent mariscos al ajillo (sautéed scallop, shrimp, lobster, mussels, clams, octopus, garlic, quelites, and arroz blanco). After getting your dinner fill, be sure to check Hugo's brunch service off your Houston restaurant bucket list. And you absolutely cannot end your visit without trying the pan sautéed grasshoppers, one of the restaurant’s most unique eats.

La Guadalupana

Here's a very Houston feeling: Grabbing one of those tables in the parking lot of La Guadalupana late on a Saturday morning, preferably after a long night, and sinking into copious mugs of coffee. After a while, the plates come, from those perfect migas and chilaquiles, to a croissant just hammed with all the things—sausage, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, peppers, onions, cheese. While breakfast is the move here, lunch staples like chile relleno and mole poblano hit the spot as well.

Love Buzz

This place—also known as the answer to, “What would a grown-up version of Mr. Gatti’s look like?”—doesn’t have much by way of parking, but you’ll quickly forgive that shortcoming over tempting pizza offerings like the Supreme Team, a meat-laden pie overloaded with bacon, pepperoni, Italian sausage, ground beef, and Canadian bacon. If meat just isn’t your thing, Love Buzz also has plenty of veggie-centric options on its menu like the MF Shrooms, featuring a few fat grams of shrooms, roasted garlic, mozzarella, herbed ricotta, and olive oil. There’s an unforgettable level of kitsch at Love Buzz that is missing from other pizzerias in the area, like how the restaurant, which features many quirky references to illegal substances, serves its sides of red pepper and parmesan cheese in little dime bags.

Marmo

High-end Italian chophouse Marmo debuted in Montrose Collective, Houston’s newest mixed-use development hub, back in April, and it’s already making waves through a robust menu heavy on steaks, pasta, and seafood dishes—the essentials, in other words. Standout dishes on it's stacked Italian-focused menu, which was curated by executive chef Eli Jackson and Julian Marucci, a chef-partner with Atlas Restaurant Group (also the force behind buzzy H-Town spots Ouzo Bay and Loch Bar), include a beautifully plated hamachi, a heavenly squid ink campelle, and any of the restaurant’s 45-day dry-aged steaks, which come in cuts like American Wagyu, Black Angus, and veal. Marmo is one of our favorite Italian restaurants, among many, in Houston.

Nobie's

The hip eatery Nobie’s excels with daily changing menus, mixing up neighborhood favorites with inventive plates. The beer-battered sweet potato tots with harissa and goat cheese, fried chicken dinner with arugula salad, and olive oil cake remain some of Houston’s essential feel-good fare. You can't go wrong with any of the comforting pasta dishes or its many new veggie-centric offerings. The outstanding bar program at Nobie’s produces a constantly evolving list of cool cocktails, though you can never go wrong with a perfectly balanced Negroni or even a shot of Fernet Branca.

Ostia

Ostia is a chic yet down-to-earth neighborhood restaurant from Houston native Travis McShane that presents some of the best Italian cuisine you can find in Houston. Before returning to his hometown to launch Ostia in 2020, McShane spent years as the right hand man of New York City celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman, who is responsible for the creation of the nation’s definitive roast chicken. McShane’s version of that masterpiece, a roast chicken with salsa verde, is the highlight of Ostia’s menu, which includes a bevy of refreshing Mediterranean offerings like seasonally changing gnocchi dishes, fresh pastas, and seafood. 

Paulie's

One of Montrose’s most adored spots for comfort food, Paulie’s is still going strong with homemade pasta dishes focused on unique types, like the frilly, U-shaped creste di gallo—tossed with sausage, chile flakes, and pickled onions in marinara—and tiny, chubby, and ear-like canestri—served with crimini, shiitake mushrooms, and a creamy marsala sauce with garlic and sage. Paulie’s also crafts one of the finer Italian hoagies in Houston, using genoa salami and ham with provolone in oil and vinegar. Don’t sleep on the surprising shrimp BLT, either. Of course, some shortbread cookies make a Paulie’s meal complete.

The Pit Room

At this popular smokehouse, you can either spread out with a three-meat plate (always spring for the ribs), grab a patio bar stool and enjoy a one- or two-meat sandwich (the pulled pork is an under-the-radar stunne), or chomp into brisket tacos with melty cheddar, sour cream, and salsa roja. If you have room, the side of rich elote is excellent, as are the heavenly seasonal pies.

Postino Montrose

Although Arizona-based wine bar Postino now has five locations in the Houston area, our all-time favorite location is the one in Montrose. This is due in large part to the history of the building that the wine bar and restaurant calls home. Before it became a Postino back in 2019, the building was the longtime home of the Montrose Mining Company, a historic Houston gay bar that opened in 1978 and was the city’s oldest gay bar until it finally closed its doors in 2016. Postino pays homage to that history through touching design tributes like a wall displaying posters, newspaper advertisements, and photographs taken from its decades as a historic LGBTQIA haunt. Equally compelling is Postino’s food offerings, which include tasty appetizers like crispy cauliflower, meatballs and goat cheese, and smoked salmon, as well as the most expansive bruschetta menu you can find in the city—seriously, the restaurant offers 11 different options for bruschetta. 

Riel

Though the restaurant is named for Canadian resistance fighter Louis Riel and run by Canadian chef Ryan Lachaine, there’s nary a poutine to be seen here. Instead, Lachaine leans toward a more diverse, Houstonian menu, offering empanadas packed with mushrooms, pineapple- and tamarind-spiked crudo, sizzling hot hanger steak (with pierogis, naturally), and kimchi carbonara. Who said fine dining can’t be fun?

Rosie Cannonball

Goodnight Hospitality opened this anchor to its Montrose empire in 2019, nearly spittin' distance from Hugo Ortega's namesake restaurant. Almost immediately, it was clear that Rosie was just as good as those stalwarts. Here, allow yourself to be dazzled through Mediterranean plates like the chicken basquaise, featuring tomatoes, chorizo, peppers, and potatoes; the truly exceptional cacio e pepe pizza; and the lamb alla genovese, featuring maccheroni, lemon ricotta, and a gremolata. The service at Rosie Cannonball is warm, and the wine curation is tremendous, with a mix of harder-to-nab old and new world finds. Dining here is always an experience that will be memorable.

Rudyard's

The so-called “living room of Montrose” would be the perfect place to grab a bite alone, even if the food were just okay. Luckily, chef-owner Anthony Calleo’s cuisine is really, really good. Get one of his loaded 12-inch pizzas—we’re partial to his Who’s The Mac and his Chef Favre–or try a sandwich from Calleo’s 11-strong list of uber-tempting “witches,” especially if you were a fan of his Sandy Witch pop-up from years ago at Grand Prize Bar (people still talk about his time in the kitchen there, and we’ve had two-and-a-half presidencies and one pandemic since he closed up shop). If you’re looking for lighter fare and are someone who is okay with eating a salad in a bar (this is a judgment-free zone), we highly recommend the Not-A-Shitty-House-Salad, which is powered by sheep’s milk cheese and some croutons to end all croutons.

Traveler’s Table 

It’s a must to give credit to Traveler’s Table when it comes to innovation and creativity. Seated in the heart of Montrose, the restaurant speaks to the diversity that is Houston—it’s hard to nail down exactly what cuisine they serve, but we think it can be best described as Tex-Mex meets Asian with a splash of African and Mediterranean influences-type of restaurant. Nonetheless, across the board the eclectic menu has something for wherever in the world your tastebuds land. From the refreshing watermelon and Argentinian provoleta to the Caribbean braised oxtails, executive chef Staton Bundy will take you across the globe from the smallest plates all the way to the desserts. 

Uchi

While we’re quick to praise Uchiko, we wouldn’t dare overlook its predecessor. What Uchiko does well, Uchi did first—spicy yellowtail served cold with chili, ham and egg makimono loaded with beer mustard, and buttery foie gras nigiri make this Montrose locale’s menu stand out among the rest. Don’t just take our word for it: get the chef’s omakase and taste test your way through a ten course sampling of everything Uchi has to offer.