HOUGuide
The Best Steakhouses In Houston
photo credit: Richard Casteel
In most towns, a steak dinner is often reserved for celebrations, special occasions, or significant milestones. But this is Houston. Any random Tuesday in this town could call for a textbook-sized slab of marbled meat. From wild game spots, upscale KBBQ restaurants, and old-school chophouse institutions, these are our top picks for when nothing else will hit the spot quite like a beautiful hunk of sizzling steak.
THE SPOTS
Let’s be clear, the original Pappas Bros. Steakhouse near the Galleria (not to be confused with the location Downtown) serves the best steak in the city. Aged for 28 days in-house, Pappas sears every cut of beef until a crisp black-pepper crust forms, with only a light seasoning of butter and salt, with each bite nutty, juicy, beefy, and rich. The restaurant lives up to the steak by leaning into every tried-and-true steakhouse trope: extremely dark lighting, servers in starched shirts, walls of wine, deep-set booths, massive side dishes, and a flamboyant display case stuffed full of meat. When choosing a spot to feel and eat like royalty, Pappas tops our list.
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Bust out your best threads to head to Karne, a Korean steakhouse in The Heights. While KBBQ might be the pull of what brings people to this spot, make no mistake—Karne takes the meat seriously. There’s even a dedicated dry-aging room on display. Get a hanger steak or a cut of filet mignon to be grilled tableside, or, get the karnivore platter and get five cuts of the best meat that Karne has to offer (and cross your fingers that the smoky rib eye makes the board). And after a meal as fancy as this one, you might find yourself floating to your car.
There’s beauty in keeping things classic, and no one understands that like the folks at Killen’s Steakhouse. The Pearland restaurant is built for all things special occasion, and anywhere around the room you’ll see anniversaries, birthdays, and work promotions galore. The smoky dry-aged steaks are impossibly tender, and tender cuts of filet mignon get served by the flight. Plus, all the sides are served family style and actually come with enough to share with the entire table.
Brenner’s On The Bayou is part of the Great Landry’s Empire (‘sup Tilman?), and also happens to be an exceptional steakhouse. Built into a bayou slope, the multi-level terraced dining room has so much hand carved wood you might think you’re dining in the roots of a giant tree. The menu has all the steakhouse classics: shrimp cocktail, buttery crab cakes, a roquefort wedge salad, and multiple thick cuts of well-seared steaks, including filets, ribeyes, and special selections from local ranches. On a cool night, grab a reservation on one of the large decks to look out over the bayou.
photo credit: Quit Nguyen
Doris Metropolitan in Montrose is a steakhouse with a Mediterranean bent from the folks behind Hamsa. Dinner here might feel a little like eating steak with your coworkers—everyone is almost also filing in from an office somewhere—but the food is certainly more refined than your average work party, especially given the steaks are aged in-house. We suggest sitting at the bar where you can gaze at the chandelier inside the aging room, watch folks meet up and awkwardly shake hands, and (most importantly) get swift, laid back service. Start with a fresh tomato salad before digging into a tender wagyu classified cut—essentially just Doris Metropolitan’s proprietary nine ounce slice of beef—served over a savory root puree.
Bungalow, the Downtown steak and seafood restaurant, might resemble a fantastical, Gatsby-esque fever dream. Everything here is over the top: the free flute of sparkling wine when you walk in, impossibly plush booths, a gigantic whole-fried snapper, and a truly unhinged (and delicious) 32 oz prime tomahawk ribeye. Order one if you’re in the mood to drop a couple bags. Smother that thing in one of Bungalow’s fancy butters, like hickory or foie gras, and enjoy it between bites of lobster macaroni and cheese.
POWERED BY
If your definition of a steakhouse expands beyond beef to, say, antelope, bison, elk, or venison, then Rainbow Lodge in The Heights has the meat you crave. Centered around a log cabin recreation, the restaurant not only boasts enough wild game busts to make an animal lover a bit faint, but also a picturesque view of live oaks sloping down to the bayou. Take in the scenery (something you can’t say in Houston all that often) while tackling a bowl of smoked duck gumbo, a lamb ribeye, or grilled elk loin.
photo credit: Andiron
Every inch of Andiron, a ritzy steakhouse off Allen Parkway in Montrose, smells like money (and smoke from the open grill). From the kitchen walls of solid copper to the suit-sporting wait staff, everything here is capital-F fancy. Including the menu, which takes the framework of a steakhouse and retrofits it to feel more upscale. Mostly that means, other than the grilled steaks, appetizer and side portions are considerably smaller. The steaks, however, are impeccably cooked. Whether you want a petite filet, a bone-in ribeye, wagyu, kobe, or a thick cowboy cut, Andiron will grill it up, add a little smoke flavor magic, and deliver a beautiful piece of beef.
First Ward steakhouse B&B Butchers offers one of the longest lists of prime steak cuts in the city. Both dry- and wet-aged steaks, including a mouthful of Japanese options, come a la carte, and can be joined by other cuts from the butcher shop, like the appropriately named and plainly served $18 sizzling thick cut bacon, and sides of garlic mashed potatoes or grilled asparagus spears so massive you may feel inspired to take up jousting. Open for lunch and dinner, B&B Butchers is a great spot for a solo meal at the bar.
photo credit: Liz Silva
If you are looking for a great steak with a side of Texas history, Taste Of Texas is the only spot to go. Filled to the cavernous barn roof brim with Texas memorabilia, photos, and actual antique weapons, Taste Of Texas serves a classic steakhouse menu. Not only do the steaks, including a tender prime rib, taste fantastic, this spot also offers an all-you-can-eat salad bar with fresh bread and giant slabs of cheese. Great for birthdays, for letting your kids roam around and look at old photos, and for those out-of-town friends who need to know why Texas is the best damn state in the union. While you think of the Alamo, remember Taste Of Texas.
