kylejack Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 McCormick and Schmick's is trying to charge premium prices for mediocre seafood that doesn't even seem like its seasoned properly. Even if prices were equal I would prefer Mambo's to McCormick and Schmick's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 McCormick and Schmick's is trying to charge premium prices for mediocre seafood that doesn't even seem like its seasoned properly. Even if prices were equal I would prefer Mambo's to McCormick and Schmick's.Interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahiki Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I went to the bowling place at the Houston Pavilions last weekend... Lucky Strike. Fun! Nice lounge area with fun music and comfy chairs, good drinks. Nice bowling area, too. Waitresses come to the lanes to take your drink orders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Andalucia and Mia Bella opened quietly this week in Pavilions. About to go check out Andalucia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALMSP Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 is it a possibilty to come back and end up building condos/apt at a later date?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Andalucia and Mia Bella opened quietly this week in Pavilions. About to go check out Andalucia.Let us know how it was.Also, is Yao's open? It looked complete inside the other night when I drove by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 (edited) Let us know how it was.Also, is Yao's open? It looked complete inside the other night when I drove by.Walked past it tonight, and yes, Yao's is open. Another quiet opening, not mentioned on their site or HP's.Andalucia's was great! There were many many inconsistencies with what the menu said and what I got, but the flavors were all there. It was a great meal. A huge matador mural on the wall, a great band with a flamenco dancer, and after the band was done they played some Spanish guitar music. This place is going places. I'll work on a full write-up. Edited November 21, 2009 by kylejack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 is it a possibilty to come back and end up building condos/apt at a later date??Not on the footprint of the existing project. There is inadequate parking to accomodate that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 This is what I posted on Yelp about Andalucias. In short, I liked it, good meal, good band, but some serious consistency issues.I stopped in for dinner on a Friday night. The restaurant is all dark wood, with the stage on the left as you enter and the bar on the right, with tables stretching back to the back wall, which features a mural of a matador fighting a bull. There was a band playing and a flamenco dancer on the stage (this is featured Thursday - Saturday, I believe?). I sat at the cocktail table, a T-shaped bar counter in front of the bar, serviced by the bartender.I ordered El Jinete, which is described as tequila, agave nectar, lime juice with a sea salt rim and a jalapeno stuffed olive. It didn't have any salt on the rim and the olives were standard cocktail olives, but the drink was good, a pleasant marriage between the margarita and the dirty martini. $10The tapas were all $4-$10. I ordered Croquetes de Potatas y Queso, described as "potato and goat cheese croquettes served with raisins and caramelized leeks". They were very good, just what a croquette should be, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside topped with a tasty sauce, but there were definitely no raisins or caramelized leeks. At $5 for 4 croquettes it was a good value, but I sure would have liked some leeks. Empanadas de res ($6), 3 beef tenderloin empanadas, was mediocre. The flavors were good, but it wasn't all that crispy, with the puff pastry shell slightly chewy. Finally, the braised oxtail ($7) was fantastic. This rivaled oxtail I've had at a very good tail-to-snout place on Westheimer. The meat had been cooked perfectly and just fell apart when I dug into it. The band quit around 10 and they played Spanish guitar music after that, which was nice.The bartender was tied up making drinks at the bar and the manager or something came by and asked me if I needed anything, so I ordered El Matador ($10), described as a habanero infused Bloody Mary with a pickled veggie skewer. She brought me another El Jinete rather than the Matador. They straightened it out. El Matador was alright, though they really need to kick up the spice on it, and rather than a pickled veggie skewer it was the boring cocktail olives again. When I closed out, they had overcharged me $2 on the oxtail.I'm giving them 4 stars because the food was mostly great, the staff was friendly, and I liked the atmosphere and the band, but they really need to shape up their game and deliver what the menu promises both on drinks and dishes. I'm happy to pay ten bucks for a cocktail if its something special rather than something typical. I want my pickled veggie skewer! If they improve these things, this is the type of place I'd love to bring some friends on a Friday or Saturday, or a good place to knock off work for some happy hour specials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Who has been to a concert at the HOB in the Houston Pavilions? Thinking about going to see Yes there but if it's like the HOB in New Orleans then I will pass. Had a miserable time there. The staff was rude and there was no seating so it meant standing for several hours which I and my wife prefer not to. (They did have a few seats for "members only" which looked to consist of drug dealers and ex-Enron executives). Guess I'm just old school but I don't believe in paying high prices to stand for a concert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 You can buy tickets to seats on the balcony or you can stand down below, up to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtticaFlinch Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 It's standing room only, except at the back bar which, as you guessed, costs extra.As an aside (kylejack), I didn't even realize there was a balcony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 It's standing room only, except at the back bar which, as you guessed, costs extra.As an aside (kylejack), I didn't even realize there was a balcony.Really?? If you're near the front of the stage you can look up and see the people up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 It's not giving me any choice for seating in the balcony so guess it's not available. Sorry $45 bucks is to high of a price to stand for 3 hours. Heck I only paid $5 to see Hendrix and the Doors and I didn't have to stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 It's not giving me any choice for seating in the balcony so guess it's not available. Sorry $45 bucks is to high of a price to stand for 3 hours. Heck I only paid $5 to see Hendrix and the Doors and I didn't have to stand. Balcony seats are 65 and 85. They're still available so I'm not sure what you're doing wrong. Go to the concert page, click Buy Tickets, at the bottom switch Section to Balcony Seating, select the number of Full Price tickets and click Find Tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OkieEric Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Who has been to a concert at the HOB in the Houston Pavilions? Thinking about going to see Yes there but if it's like the HOB in New Orleans then I will pass. Had a miserable time there. The staff was rude and there was no seating so it meant standing for several hours which I and my wife prefer not to. (They did have a few seats for "members only" which looked to consist of drug dealers and ex-Enron executives). Guess I'm just old school but I don't believe in paying high prices to stand for a concert. I saw Peaches a few weeks back, as a friend had some free general admission tickets. He had actual seats but elected to stand down with us as you are so much closer to the band - the balcony actually looked pretty high up. If you think the concert will be crowded I would say it's not worth it, but we had a pretty good time depite standing for a couple of hours as you can get pretty close to the band.The drink prices were absolutely ridiculous, though. $7.50/domestic bottle in the foundation room. We wound up buying the big cans out in the main area for marginally better pricing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Nah, the drink prices are bad there too. A 12 oz can of Shiner is $7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Nah, the drink prices are bad there too. A 12 oz can of Shiner is $7.as long as someone promotes bad burgers at little bigs and then is on houston press promoting the food at feast then we understand why they don't show up at happy hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 (edited) as long as someone promotes bad burgers at little bigs and then is on houston press promoting the food at feast then we understand why they don't show up at happy hour.I was rockclimbing at Texas Rock Gym last night with Bayou City Outdoors, which had been planned for weeks. What about Houston Press, now?You've always been kind of a jerk to me on the forums here, so not really sure why you think I would want to get a drink with you. Edited December 12, 2009 by kylejack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Balcony seats are 65 and 85. They're still available so I'm not sure what you're doing wrong.Go to the concert page, click Buy Tickets, at the bottom switch Section to Balcony Seating, select the number of Full Price tickets and click Find Tickets.Thanks. For some reason that part was not showing up in my browser yesterday. It was a very slow connection and I guess the page was just not loading properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Thanks. For some reason that part was not showing up in my browser yesterday. It was a very slow connection and I guess the page was just not loading properly. Cool! For what its worth I think its a pretty good place to see a show, and the balcony level is not too high in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 (edited) It's too early to say, but at it's current state, did the Houston Pavillions pretty much fall apart? I checked their website and there are dozens of places that are vacant, especially on the second and third floor. Edited December 14, 2009 by Triton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 It's too early to say, but at it's current state, did the Houston Pavillions pretty much fall apart? I checked their website and there are dozens of places that are vacant, especially on the second and third floor.Yes, it opened just after the credit crunch froze everyone, and 2 businesses has already opened and evacuated (Journeys and Lids) but it is finally starting to come online again, I think. Entertainment: House of Blues, Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, Lucky Strike bowling. Retail: BCBG, Forever XXI, Books a Million (which looks starved for business IMO). Restaurants: House of Blues, Guadalajara, III Forks(business looks strong, shocked me. Lots of happy hour folk), Yao (business looks slow), Andalucia (business is looking strong, lots of pre-HOB show diners), Mia Bella.Construction seems to be well underway on the wine bar, Cork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swtsig Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Yes, it opened just after the credit crunch froze everyone, and 2 businesses has already opened and evacuated (Journeys and Lids) but it is finally starting to come online again, I think. Entertainment: House of Blues, Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, Lucky Strike bowling. Retail: BCBG, Forever XXI, Books a Million (which looks starved for business IMO). Restaurants: House of Blues, Guadalajara, III Forks(business looks strong, shocked me. Lots of happy hour folk), Yao (business looks slow), Andalucia (business is looking strong, lots of pre-HOB show diners), Mia Bella.Construction seems to be well underway on the wine bar, Cork.i can say with the utmost assurance that NRG saved the Pavilions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 i can say with the utmost assurance that NRG saved the Pavilions.Oh yeah, I have no doubt. Would be nice to see near-full occupancy on the rest of it in, say, a year's time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 What is NRG? Oh wait... the energy company... nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totheskies Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 (edited) I recently posted my thoughts of Houston Pavilions on SSP...PROs -NRG leased ALL of the Pavilions' office space, so this basically has allowed them to stay alive. And insured that we'll at least have retail space for the future in that area. -The House of Blues Houston is the rock of this development hands down. It's been one of the most successful of the HOB franchise to date, and continues to draw top notch crowds for it's concerts. Don't know how the restaurant has held up, but HOB is certainly not going anywhere. -Forever XXI has a steady stream of retail customers, so it can be counted on the plus side. -Business overall has started to pick up in the restaurant arena. Guadalajara has been a big hit, and has a strong showing of daytime and evening customers. Still a little early to see about Yao, III Forks, Mia Bella and Andalusia, but what I've heard so far has been good. -Houston Pavilions has went above and beyond the call for promoting retail shopping in downtown. They have contracted out pedicab services that go to the Theater District, Discovery Green and Midtown to pick up shoppers and bring them to HP. Most people don't know about this, but it's really handy and (hopefully) is adding to the visibility of HP. CONs-Lidz and Journeys were early casualties... they opened too soon, and were in HORRIBLE locations. The development is just now getting enough "interest" that people are willing to actually walk through it, but at the beginning there just wasn't anything there. -Books-a-Million is (IMO) the crappiest of the big bookstore chains. It doesn't fit in downtown Houston. I applaud them for their bravery, but I think that B&N or Borders (or an ORIGINAL big bookstore!!!) would have been much better for that area. I do shop there though, because I want to support retail in downtown, and their travel guide section is passable. -Pedicabs aside, they still haven't done enough to forge a link with the new "zone of activity" by Discovery Green. There's still way too many people that come to downtown to visit the park, but don't know about HP. They need to be more aggressive with their promotion. I continue to hear that there's "nowhere to eat" or "nothing to do" once people are done at the park. -It's half empty for crying out loud!!!! So frustrating! So for me, HP is still in the plus column by a 5-to-4 vote. We're much better off having what we have of it than we were with 3 surface parking lots, but there's still a long way to go. I think that 2010 is going to be a good year for HP though, especially on the retail side. Edited December 16, 2009 by totheskies 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I think that 2010 is going to be a good year for HP though, especially on the retail side.In what way specifically? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 CON: Houston Pavilions has demonstrated to all would-be developers that downtown retail is a poor bet (even in the heart of downtown and along light rail), whereas office towers can be filled up even in a downturn.Needless to say, I'm also not especially optimistic about the future of HP. If the Park Shops and Bayou Place are eternally underwhelming, it stands to reason that HP will be too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 CON: Houston Pavilions has demonstrated to all would-be developers that downtown retail is a poor bet (even in the heart of downtown and along light rail), whereas office towers can be filled up even in a downturn.Needless to say, I'm also not especially optimistic about the future of HP. If the Park Shops and Bayou Place are eternally underwhelming, it stands to reason that HP will be too.Maybe once the other rail lines come online and getting around by rail alone is more practical...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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