Ocean's

I dined at Oceans Restaurant with my family on two occasions during a weekend visit to Houston. What a gem! For dinner, I started with the house specialty, ceviche. The ceviche was simply the freshest, most delicious I have ever tasted. A touch of citrus and spice complemented the fish perfectly. I also tried the mussels, prepared in a parsley tequila mixture. The mussels were also fresh as can be and I loved that the broth was not heavy. Instead, the flavors were just right with the mussels. Next I tried the scallops in mole. It was a perfect portion - the scallops were large and mole was again, one of the best I have tasted. For dessert I tried the tres leches cake . It was divine: moist, light and not too sweet. For drinks I ordered the house margaritas made with top shelf tequila. I am a margarita snob and Oceans made one of the best hand-made margaritas I have ever tasted. Oceans uses sea salt on half of the glass, which I thought was a nice touch. On Sunday morning my family and I returned to Oceans for brunch. I ordered an omelet that was laden with mushrooms, avocado and tomatoes and served with dollops of spicy red and green sauces on the side, which were all delicious. As it was a vacation, I had to try to the bloody mary's. They were handmade as well and top notch. Oceans is housed in an old, two story white home with a very large outdoor dining and lounge area. Inside the decor was clean and modern with tables on the lower half and plenty of comfortable chairs and couches upstairs. From the beautifully prepared, delicious food to the gorgeous decor and attentive service, dining at Oceans was quite simply one of the nicest dining experiences I have had in years. I am so incredibly sad that I do not live in Houston as I would be at Oceans all of the time if I could! Oceans is fine dining but not stuffy; modern but warm and inviting - a perfect place for family gatherings, romantic dinners for two or a friends' night out. more

I have never written a restaurant review, but felt compelled to do so after our meal last night at Ocean’s. We had a coupon from Houston Tidbits that was set to expire, so we decided to pay a visit. I have always known and admired the old building the restaurant is in, and when we walked in I was immediately impressed with the renovation work they had done. The place is beautiful, clean and well decorated. It was a hot night, so we were hesitant to sit outside. We walked out to test the temperature, and actually found it quite pleasant with several fans enhancing the breeze. The patio really is one of the nicest in Houston, spacious with great tree cover and an attractive fountain. We were one of just a few other tables, so I figured the food and/or service was sure to be poor. I was wrong. Our waiter Juan, kind of a do it all type and friend of the owner Jorge, brought us a fresh squeezed Margarita and a Bellini to start. The Margarita was one of the best I have had, and I have had a few. What I was envisioning as a one drink Thursday ended up as four. Needless to say, they were obviously top quality – I am writing this hangover free at 6 AM the following morning. We asked Juan the history of the place and he explained it had opened 10 months prior during restaurant week, and the place had been packed. I imagine they had trouble with service early on, as many restaurants do, when they are not ready to handle big crowds. Juan told us he had to return to Mexico about a month after the opening, and just returned two weeks ago. Upon his return, the place was a mess – I presume leading to some poor reviews below. He has set out to return the place to its original concept and is not going back to Mexico this time. He and the owner Jorge are the servers right now, and though there weren’t many people there when we visited, the service was fantastic. And most importantly, the food was superb. We shared four dishes, the Ocean’s ceviche, the tequila mussels appetizer, the scallop salad special (main course), and the shrimp tacos. The food was simply delicious (even the French fries, of all things, were awesome – and a surprisingly tasty complement to the seafood). Come to find out the chef – his name escapes me – was the chef at The Rickshaw in its glory days. Reminded me of the fantastic tuna tartar nachos (on wontons) I used to love getting there. And the prices. They seemed a little heavy at first glance, but they aren’t. The portions are solid and we were pleasantly full after the four dishes. It ran $35/head for two dishes per person, which is quite reasonable given the quality of the food. And I figured the margaritas would be $12 or so. They were $9 – very reasonable, given the quality (they use Cuervo silver, perfect for ritas). On our way out, we looked at the bar upstairs. What a beautiful and unique spot – perfect for a private function or happy hours. Speaking of happy hour, if you are on more of a budget, they are offering some very attractive happy hour prices on food and drink. If you have visited Ocean’s in the last 6-8 months and were disappointed, try it again. If you haven’t been before, certainly give it a try. If there are just a few other people there, don’t let that dissuade you – stay and enjoy. You will be glad you did. more

Excellent ambience, nice place, nice food, BUT bisedes the fact that I was in the worse date of my life...;) The service of the place was HORRIBLE! The owner was cut up with one single table all night like if they were they president of the Unite States, bad bad mistake! Being a great host apparently is not what he has in mind for all his guests. He needs someone that knows what they are doing management wise, waitress were a mess, music was horrible, and no one greed me at the door. We were sitting 25 min. before someone even came to ask us if we were being help after that 3 different people came and every kept saying I will send someone that will take care of you....It has potential, he just needs (owner) someone that can run the place like a pro and he obviously can do it! .....what a shame! more

That's what Jorge (the owner) had told me after he read this review and heard that i had misunderstandings with staff, who do not speak or understand English language. Also, Jorge had threatened me on multiple occasions, i don't know with what, maybe he knows better than I since he and his team had already contacted my lawyer. I was very surprised to have learned that, i didn't even know i had a lawyer. Below is the review. ********************* ave read all of the reviews. Wanted to share a view of an employee. 1)The place is completely disorganized. Management's presence is only at evenings; so, if you come in during lunch time, and a server or kitchen doesn't get your order correct, he or she will have to improvise, or you will have to pay for a mistake. 2) The owner dislikes people who raise their concerns regarding their experience. When the issue is presented to him, his attitude is ignorance. For example, yesterday a couple came during lunch, chose to sit in the dining room. Quickly became hot due to the air conditioner out of service. When i raised that issue to the owner, who happened to stop by, he told me following: "Most people want to sit outside anyway. I am not worried about it.". As a result, my customers had finished their meal, thanked me for service very generously, and stated that they will not come back. 3) Priority goes to owner's guests, which not only get better prepared and presented meals, they get them for free. And after a server had spent three hours serving them, the owner tells the guests not to worry about the tip, so the guests leave happily full and intoxicated, and a server leaves with empty pockets at 1am, whereas he or she was supposed to be cut at 10pm. 4) 10% of staff speak and/or understand English language. 5) The restaurant is about to hold a Halloween party which should include from 250 to 400 guests. The maximum capacity of the restaurant is unknown. When i raised my concern over safety, i was told to stick to my server position, when i stated that it is mine and every guests' right to know the maximum capacity, i was told that i "ask too many questions" and now they have to let me go. I was also told not to come to a property due to the fact that a police unit will be dispatched to apprehend me. I can hardly believe it, since this is an unlawful termination. On the bright side - the place is gorgeous, the chef is very good, the food is delicious. That's about it. Verdict: the restaurant is run by an uneducated amateur who happened to inherit solid funds, who chooses to cut corners by hiring incompetent staff for management positions, and what appears to be illegal aliens for kitchen and bus-boy positions . It will eventually go out of business. p.s. The owner had called me few hours ago. Said that his business is 100% legal. Said that I wasn't fired, and it was misunderstanding. When confronted by the fact that his manager really did fire me over no reason, and the fact that he does hire illegal aliens, he threatened me and then hang up. By the way, I was told by him that his is 30 years old and is a big man. Ooohh, i hope INS takes that into account. more

With all of the nouveau reinvented and popular comfort food places popping up all over Houston (eg, BRC Gastropub, Zelko Bistro, Branchwater Tavern) showing some obvious irreverence to the concept of eating healthy with offerings like fried chicken, mac n cheese, duck fat popcorn, the Ocean's menu offers a shining example of how healthy can still be hip. Set in a charmingly renovated old house on West Alabama near the corner of Montrose, Ocean's is modern meets New England-style upscale. I was reminded of a cute place on Newbury street in Boston. Dark wooden floors were offset by soft natural light shining from large rectangular windows framing the main seating area. Lucky us, we were invited to a lunch tasting at Ocean's to sample some of their delectable food last week, and from start to finish, it was one "ooh ahhh" to the next. Every dish we sampled was gorgeously presented. I had so many great photo ops, I couldn't take a bad picture (see uploaded pics) - and these were taken with my blackberry! The Ocean's ceviche was a big hit, beautiful to look at and served on an impossibly large rectangular plate, to be shared among friends. The lobster taco, the lobster sope, and the Ocean's taco (shrimp with parmesan), were served with a side of fries on a square plate, again, gorgeous to feast on with the eyes and palate. And the house margaritas, made with fresh juice, Jose Cuervo tequila, shaken (not iced), were smooth, strong, and definitely worth several reorders (I think most of us had at least 3...). One of the most wonderful things about Ocean's is the excessively large patio, framed by Oak trees and foliage, with a water fountain in the middle. Probably one of the nicest patios in Houston, what a great place to just chill with friends at sunset and beyond. After seeing pics of this patio, my friends actually went there the next day and had such a good time, a 1 hour lunch turned into a relaxing 3-hour chill session. There is a lounge upstairs setup for weekend nights, where you can drink and mingle after dinner as well. Overall, I loved the healthy authentic Mexican (not tex-mex) menu and the cozy yet hip ambience. This would be a great date place AND a great girl's night out place. And if this was Ocean's soft opening, it tells me they are more than ready for the Grand Opening. They told me the menu isn't completely finalized and they will be introducing new items soon; I can't wait. Pros: Fresh, gorgeously presented food and patio more