Welcome to dining at Houston's. It is a nationwide chain. The staff is highly trained and has to meet strict requirements. The staff works on the theory that every table is everyone's table, each waiter is Houston's personified and every customer is Houston's customer. Which explains why you have a fresh glass of iced tea on your table 5 seconds before you finish the one you are currently drinking. They are sales driven - there is a sign hanging over the kitchen for customers to see showing what the sales were for the prior week and how close they are to that dollar amount this week. My husband loves the place and eats there once a week, usually getting the Ceasar Salad (sometimes with the grilled chicken) or the Houston's Hawiian (teriaki beef). If he goes with a bunch of friends they get an order of the baby back ribs and fries as an appetiser (the meat falls off of the bones), their fries are shoestring fries and are some of the best in town. He enjoys their chili and he loves their cobler and the Kaluha Browine. The loaded baked potato is usually large and hot. The spinach dip is good for being mass produced but the side of Pace Picante sauce ruins it. They do a perfect job on cooking and seasoning their Salmon but they don't do so well on their other types of fish. Lots of people love the Tortilla soup but they thicken it with corn starch and it just isn't anything like what you get at a mexican restaurant. Their chicken is cooked just right and the 2 rotiserie/baked versions are seasoned wonderfully. Personally, I refuse to eat there - they charge me 3 times what it costs for me to make the same meal at home (and I do make their entrees at home), for me I am not willing to pay that much just for service. My husband is but that's why he eats there with his friends and not with me. My 2 cents, Natalie
Austin, TX