The Pass

This review is of the bar only.
Wifey and I went for some pre-​dinner drinks at The Bar at Pass and Provision. They have a really nice outdoor seating area. I had a couple of Manhattans and she two glass of white which were both on the happy hour menu which is every day from 4 — 6. We did not plan to eat here, but the end up having some oysters which were super legit as was the mignonette sauce and freshly grated horseradish that comes with the oysters.
Service was on point. Waiter was knowledgeable about wine and checked on us but not overbearing.
Self-​parking behind restaurant.

The Pass is a beautiful tasting restaurant in many ways. The dining room is elegant, the view of the kitchen is electric, and the bathroom is remarkable. But when it comes to the vegetarian menu, which one might say is half The Pass’s menu, the Pass falls short from what appears to be a lack of effort.
I was visiting with four friends. The restaurant was quiet for a Thursday night. At most, ten other patrons from 7:30 PM on joined The Pass for dinner.
Each individual vegetable, each part of each course, was quite good. The service was good too. Our server had a charismatic balance of fun and knowledge.
But for $ 200, the thought, «That was a great carrot,» or «That was great cabbage,» is not redeeming enough. Individually well cooked vegetables don’t make a $ 200 dining experience. The whole experience was less than the sum of its parts, which may seem mathematically impossible. The Pass somehow manages it.
The vegetarian menu looks like a completely separate menu from the traditional menu. The title of the dishes are different, tricking the customer into thinking it’s unique. The Pass might as well admit that its vegetarian menu is mostly a watered down, meatless version of the traditional tasting.
The third course: Sweet Potato. The dish, a delicious pata cabra (a cheese) with sweet potato, was the same as the traditional menu course, but without chorizo. The chorizo was the centerpiece of the dish, and there was no substitute.
The four course: Turnip. The dish, three pieces of turnip that everyone else had, was the same as the traditional menu course, but without octopus. The octopus was the centerpiece of the dish, and there was no octopus substitute. Just three pieces of turnip.
The seventh course: Cauliflower. The dish, a cold cauliflower base topped with grilled cauliflower, was the same as the traditional menu course, but with grilled cauliflower instead of mackerel. That grilled cauliflower tasted like, well, grilled cauliflower. Is using grilled cauliflower instead of fish an impressive culinary accomplishment?
The eighth course: Smoked Cabbage. The dish, a pureed purple potato topped with cabbage, was the same as the traditional menu course, but with cabbage instead of steak. It was the best cabbage I have had in more than three years. But is a dish with cabbage substituted for ribeye truly impressive vegetarian cooking?
Don’t even get me started on the sixth course: Beet. A few courses in, the server brought out a bowl with a beautiful piece of beet, fruit slices, spices, and herbs. She sat it at the center of the table. It was, by design, a mystery. For everyone else, the purpose of this beet, a few courses later, was made clear. She poured an Erlenmeyer flask of broth into the bowl with the ingredients, and then strained the new beet-​infused broth into everyone’s dish at the table. The presentation was magnificent, but, as you might have assumed by now, the broth was only for the other dishes. My sixth course was meant to be the lonely pieces of beet with some shaved horseradish. See the picture.
The vegetarian menu didn’t even have different wine pairings. Here again was a sign of incredibly low effort. My first course, a beautiful broccoli dish without a hint of truffle, was paired with the exact same wine as the traditional menu first course, a black truffle dish. Trust me, broccoli and truffle don’t taste the same. Does uni taste like carrot? Do grilled cauliflower and mackerel have the same flavor profile? If everyone’s eating ribeye and I’m eating cabbage, should we be drinking the same red wine?
I don’t mind the vegetarian option being different. I don’t want attention for choosing to not eat meat. But this isn’t me going to Beck’s Prime and asking for the salad without the bacon for $ 12. The Pass asks for $ 200 for an electric dining experience, and offers one that falls flat.
As a result, the experience at the Pass felt fraudulent. The Pass puts forth a vegetarian menu as a stand-​alone offering, and can certainly do better.
If The Pass wants to continue making its vegetarian menu all about substitutions, I would remove the vegetarian menu, and add an asterisk to the current menu saying that there are vegetarian and gluten free substitutions.
If The Pass wants to actually make a vegetarian tasting and charge $ 200 for it, I would create separate dishes that aren’t based on the absence of meat. As my close vegetarian friend mentioned, where was the umami in those nine courses? Instead of replacing meat with a grilled vegetable, work to develop a vegetarian dish that uses a vegetarian protein source, like tofu or legumes.
And if you must give me pure vegetable flavors, give me something unique and interesting. Give me something I’m not eating every night, or transform the ingredients I’m accustomed to. The first two courses, Broccoli and Heirloom Carrot, show that The Pass knows this, and can deliver.

Best restaurant in Houston. I’ve been probably five times and was never disappointed. The food is always innovative, well-​thought and expertly prepared. I loved the dessert cart and pre-​dinner champagne cart!

This place is definitely an experience, I give major credit where it’s due. The décor is immaculate/​clean, and getting to this portion of the restaurant is entered through a special door — right off of Provisions. Now the interesting part… the food. All of the food presentation was spot on BUT the quality lacked. My palette appreciates diversity but there is a thing called «too much», and they did it on almost every dish, all textures and flavors didn’t go well — complex yes but not consistent. We had the 9 course valentines day menu.
Food: The black truffle sauce in the middle of the truffle wasn’t good — the base was off, the uni texture was unique but flavor needed improvement, the sweet potato bread was delicious but the soup could have been better, the octopus dish wasn’t flavored correctly, boudin dish didn’t need the foam — the red sauce was good alone to compliment, the liver needed flavor (try marinating it), cauliflower dish was bland but the caviar was good, the beef dish was ok – the potato purée was tasty but the wagyu needed major seasoning, & the ricotta dessert was extremely bland. The moscato was great & the ginger mule. I appreciated the palette cleanser before the last dish, very thoughtful.
Service: You’re treated like royalty as you should be while dining here. Great service hands down.
Conclusion: Please don’t sacrifice flavor for concept & presentation. Customers spend a hefty penny on this restaurant & ill never mind, as long as quality and flavor profiles are spot on.

I ordered the magnificent seven, which I expected to be modern spin on an old fashioned. The drink was well mixed and boozy, but was delightfully refreshing and not alcohol forward. We ordered one appetizer and four entrees for three people, but we probably would have ordered one less. The description of the dishes sounded fantastic, but it didn’t translate to what we were served. The mushroom pasta was unique but far too earthy and creamy. Brussels sprouts were tasty, but could’ve faired better with less sauce. Overall, Provisions had excellent service, but the food didn’t quite meet my expectations.

I wish I could recount all the food I enjoyed but my experience was months ago… I now have that longing feeling of needing to go back because of how amazing it was. The overall experience was once of a lifetime. Top 3 meals I’ve ever had… And I’ve gone to a ton of great places. If you have a special occasion to celebrate in Htown I highly recommend The Pass as the place to have that unforgettable moment.

It was so far one of the best restaurants that I have been in Houston. We tried the menu of 8 different courses with a menu of wine pairing.
Our experience was really positive, good service, good wine selection and beautiful environment. But for the price we paid, we had higher expectations. Anyways, We’ll definitely go back!

I think the biggest problem was that the online menu didn’t match the menu when I got there. And I had waited to book reservations until there were 8 items that I thought justified the trip. The caviar was swapped out with a black truffle dish. The replacement was good, but I would have picked caviar given a choice. The veal was replaced with a beef trio. I have no clue why there was a beef course at all. A moderately competent human could have replicated the beef course with ease. And it’s beef. The only thing that would have angered me more would have been if the veal turned into chicken. The desert went from a fruit based pear dish to ice cream and parsnip cake. I don’t eat cake or ice cream. 3 of 8 dishes were different (or 2 of 5). I would not have done this meal if I’d known about the changes. I just checked today and the menu is STILL wrong. The menu should be current so that I can cancel reservations if it changes into something I don’t want.
Second problem: Way too much food if you are doing 8 courses. The sweet potato course was actually sweet potato bread (crazy dense) and what amounted to goat cheese queso with chorizo. It was good and all, but that one dish alone was itself a meal. I was full at that course and had to force feed myself the next 5 courses. (One of those next 5 had a risotto foam with cream and some sort of heavy cuttlefish layer under that. Again, that alone was a dinner.) If I am going to pay for 8, I want to be able to enjoy all 8, and finish them as well. I should have halved everything and asked for to go containers. (Though my guess is none of it would have held up to the next day.) Portion control guys. I was in pain and wanted to leave after course 5. I suffered through the beef. I couldn’t touch the duck beyond a taste. (And it wasn’t good anyway. The freeze dried horseradish was a miserable flop and the gob of foie gras was sour. I was happy to not eat that dish.) I had to get my desert to go. The staff could tell I was not happy, because every person that walked by commented on the look on my face.
Third problem: You can’t get a drink with the food or you will fill up even faster. I have no clue who orders the pairings. I got a single beer and had to stop drinking it after about 3 ounces. (Which angered me because they charge for a single bottle what the store charges for a 4-​pk. And they were twice as expensive as any other beer bar in town. They made Hay Merchant look cheap. I wouldn’t have cared much if I had been physically capable of finishing the drink, but every sip of beer I took was a bite of food I couldn’t take.) Again, I was in actual physical pain.
Fourth problem: Nobody warns you that you don’t stand a chance of finishing if you go for all 8 courses or you go for a drink. Maybe a line backer could have ate everything, but anyone on here complaining about there not being enough food must weigh 400 pounds or be a professional athlete. My waiter could have taken one look at me and known I shouldn’t have got a beer, and that I shouldn’t have gone for all 8 courses.
I give three stars because there were some really good dishes. Half of them I genuinely liked. One was the sweet potato/​glorified queso dish. That probably belongs on the bar menu. It was good, but it felt like a cop out and weighed me down. But it was good. I will not go back now that I know you are rolling the dice on the menu, and that the place has no concept of portion control. I’m glad I went, but I wish I had just gone to Oxheart instead. Oxheart had a current menu, the portions were perfect. Every meal was good. It was just better.
Oh, and for anyone who cares about that desert cart, it’s been removed, though they didn’t announce it. Not that I had room for anything, but it’s gone.

HUGE disappointment. My husband reserved this for our 5^th year anniversary and it was one of the worst meals we have ever had. the only meal that was semi eatable out of the 8 course was the duck .We both got so sick the next day and we called them to let them know and they just said no one else has reported the same and they are sorry and that is it!.!

Had the 5 course tasting menu
Caviar (²⁄₅)
— nice presentation. broccoli and veg bland. reconstructing egg yolk messed it up (you don’t get the richness anymore). caviar is caviar
Sweet potato (³⁄₅)
— bread perfect, slightest crunch and pillow-​soft insides. chorizo/​cheese soup okay
Boudin noir (⁴⁄₅)
— sausage tasty. sauce complements well. bottom layer tastes like ketchup at first bite but you get used to it
Duck (¹⁄₅)
— duck bland and rubbery. beets taste… like beets. toppings add absolutely nothing texture/​flavor-​wise. presentation: a flat pile of beets covering a pile of duck. you not gonna at least stack it up to make us feel better about paying 20 bucks for this? shit
Asian pear (¹⁄₅)
— you ever mix crushed ice with yogurt? no, because it’s pointless and doesn’t work. like this dish

Incredible service and staff. The food was pretty bland and we left hungry. The atmosphere was good, made for good people watching. We also enjoyed the view of the kitchen. The chef and cooks look like real artisans. Our meal with a bottle of wine came to $ 300 for the two of us. And then we ended the night having a pizza delivered to our hotel room because we were hungry. So the cost is high but it was an awesome experience. Won’t be doing it again though.

came here for my best friends birthday last night, the experience and service was excellent. our waiter was very professional and thoughtful. the food wasnt AMAZING, we had the 8 course tasting menu, enjoyed the duck and scallop. like many other said, it is more like an experience, i had higher expectation for the food. 4 stars for the service, environment and experience. three star for the food.

Must go for both the food and experience! And to see the secret door. Would definitely go back for special occasion.

We had heard so much about the pass that we had the highest expectations. For the most part, the expectations were met. We had the 8 course tasting menu with wine pairings.
The savory courses were all interesting and well prepared. Even foods that I don’t normally care for were prepared in a manner that made them fun to eat. The highlight was a thin sheet of pressed, smoked veal breast over fried sweet breads and celery root purée. It was wonderful and innovative. The masutake with broth was also terrific and a great way to start the meal.
However, as soon as the savory courses ended, the meal went downhill in a hurry. The intermezzo was bland and did not achieve the faux egg finish they sought, the post dinner treat featured a butternut squash cookie that was tough to bite through. And the main dessert was — I believe — the worst dessert I have had at a fine dining restaurant. It was unappealing visually and its taste was not much better. It was just a blob of white yogurt, with a pear and ginger granita and I think fried whey. Wow! It was terrible. This place is in a dire need of a pastry chef.
But, service was perfect throughout. The wine pairings were very nice. The room was stark to the point of seeming unfinished, but it was comfortable.
Overall, we enjoyed the meal and would like to get back the next time we are in Houston.

When I arrived this portion of the restaurant was hidden behind the wall which I thought was pretty cool. The seating area is not big, maybe accommodate a dozen couples. The open kitchen in the back added to overall environment, we picked the 8 course with cocktail pairing. The dishes were very innovative and held up to expectation for a fine dinning establishment. Service was impeccable and servers were all very polite and knowledgeable of the dishes. Would love to come back again to try different menus the restaurant comes out with

It’s small and cozy but the atmosphere is great.
Would definitely come here again!

The entire experience was phenomenal. Take the a moment to watch the chef carefully plate the dishes. The chef is truly talented and everything was amazing! (Dish 7 is actually dish 8)

I would say eating at The Pass side is more for the experience. We received great service but only enjoy 3 courses out of 8. And for the desserts cart, there was only one item we liked. The sparkling wines cart before the meal and the liquors cart after the meal were decent. It’s a one timer for us but we are glad we experienced this place.
1. Tomato — it’s different
2. Tilefish — delicious
3. Squash — delicious
4. Octopus — disappointed
5. Dried Sausage — disappointed
6. Garganelli — the pasta was so al dente that it tasted raw
7. Beef — delicious
8. Asian Pear — very strange; but we took two bites
Husband paired his 8 courses with cocktails and I did the wines pairing. Do not come here hungry or you will leave drunk.

My boyfriend and I came here back in March for my birthday with high hopes and expectations. We decided on the 8 course meal with cocktail pairings, and unfortunately, we left drunk and hungry.
We were seated right by the kitchen and got to see the chefs work their magic. The food they construct really is art and a nuanced treat, but it just wasn’t up our alley. When the chef came out to greet us for the evening he wasn’t smiling or enthused– it almost seemed burdensome to present us our course. Our waiter, however, was wonderful and extremely knowledgeable about our food and beverage choices for the evening. The Pass was and was not what we were expecting. It was more of a disappointment than a delight and I honestly don’t feel I had a $ 420 dining experience (thankfully the eight drinks took away the pain of paying for this overpriced meal). It was a good evening, but unless gastronomic is your flavor I would highly suggest spending your time and money elsewhere. Definitely not «Houston’s Best».

This place is superb! Hands down my favorite place to go for a special occasion. I have been here 3 times for dinner and all 3 times were memorable.
We always do the 8 course experience to make sure we don’t miss out on anything. They also have a 5 course for those who have a small stomach or if you are watching your budget. The wine and beer pairings are ok. but we seemed to do better choosing our own drinks. So we only did the pairing once.
To start. The improved Moscow mule to get the party started. They have an extensive list of wines and some at decent prices. So we typically get a bottle for the table.
The menu changes frequently but always seems to vary with a gazpacho or soup/​broth dish. A seafood. And a meat. The pasta dishes are incredible! My favorite thing was the caviar with pork crackling. All the items are small so I always feel just perfect or a tad bit full when done.
Next is the artfully presented dessert. Always something more earthy than sweet, but such a soothing cleanse to the pallet.
Lastly, the kolaches. Usually not worth having. They come with dipping sauce that is pretty good but I usually am anxious for the dessert cart so choose to skip and save the bagged bread to take home.
The dessert cart is heaven! Tons of petite sweets and you can get as much as you want :) the Orange suckers are my favorite.
Overall, expect the hefty price tag but know it’s going to be a memorable night and full of fun and adventure. Usually spend between 200 – 300 when we come.
They also leave you a nice scone for breakfast the next morning.
Don’t forget the French press coffee throughout your meal! It keeps you energized and is so good :)
Dinner typically ranges 2 – 3 hours. So plan accordingly.

I love a tasting menu, and when I heard about the pass I knew I had to save it for a special occasion. I decided it would be the perfect place for my first anniversary, so I made a reservation. When we arrived we first went and grabbed a cocktail, and then we went to be seated. The theater of seating is fun, and I was really looking forward to the food.
We both ordered the eight course tasting menu with the wine pairings. We wanted the full experience and were excited to be taken on a culinary journey.
The first course came and it was an heirloom tomato. The presentation was nice but there was no real flavor. There was an egg shaped object served with it that supposedly contained vinaigrette. When I broke it nothing came out. My wife’s egg had the vinaigrette. I tried to get a server’s attention but was unable to. I was surprised that was the opener. There was no amuse-​bouche, just this piece of tomato dusted with some spices. It fell flat.
The second course came and it was the shrimp course. It was a piece of shrimp cut into a flat rectangle on top of a piece of funnel cake suspended over a broth that tasted like a bouillabaisse. The funnel cake added nothing other than texture. It had no flavor. The broth was decent. At this point I was starting to panic. The first two courses were mediocre at best, and I was beginning to think I was in for a huge disappointment.
The third course was the Arzak Egg. It was a poached egg with Iberico Ham on top of an asparagus purée. The egg was cooked beautifully, and it was the first dish that did not need seasoning. It was very tasty. This was followed by the cobia which was visually stunning, and it had a nice smoky flavor.
The next dish was my favorite. There were two pieces of lamb served over a bed of lentils with yogurt foam. The piece of lamb belly was the highlight of the meal. Delicious. The rest of the meal continued through dessert and cheese courses. Nothing really stood out after the lamb.
The wine pairings throughout were confusing. Normally one starts in the lighter whites, transitions through rose, and then into the reds. The wines normally progress in intensity, until you arrive at the sweet dessert wines and port at the very end. That was not the case here. The wine journey felt disjointed. For example the excessively sweet Riesling served with the Arzak Egg completely wrecked your pallet for the Chardonnay served with the Cobia. The wines were all delicious, I just am not sure they were really «paired.»
The service was decent. While at the table the servers were very friendly, but twice I tried to get a server’s attention without being able to. Lastly while we were finishing our meal they started changing the linens on the tables around us for the next day. We were eating at the pace the dishes were coming out, and this made us feel rushed.
I love tasting menus, and The Pass is trying to be adventurous. I really appreciate that. There was a lot of show, but the flavors did not back it up. The wine was not well paired, and the rushing at the end was not appreciated. For the money, I expect better.

Summary– One of the best overall dining experiences I have had in a long time. Just fantastic and interesting food, great service, awesome atmosphere, and excellent drinks. Honestly I think some of the negative reviews here are just whiny.
Food– 5 Stars
We opted for the 8 course but did drinks on our own. I’ll keep this as concise as I can, but I also added my husband’s dish names (sorry to the chef in advance).
Course 1– Carrot dish (@Carrot)
I really liked this as a opener. I just love super fresh simple dishes that have the chutzpah to be basic and delicious.
Course 2– Shrimp (Super shrimp rectangle)
I honestly didn’t want to eat this one it was so pretty. It was also delicious, everything by itself was great, but all together it was fantastic.
Course 3– Arzak Egg (Egg Pillow Deluxe)
This was the best poached egg I have ever had by a long shot. Still thinking about it.
Course 4– Cobia (Blackn’white)
The Cobia was perfectly cooked, had a great squid ink sauce, and the oyster mushroom was to die for.
Course 5– Chicken (Chicken Nugget of the Gods)
This was a creative and deceptively complicated little ball of wonderfulness.
Course 6– Lamb (Lambcandy)
The loin was delectable, the belly was even better. Hubby tried to take a little piece of mine, he almost lost a hand.
Course 7– Castelvetrano (Yes, Olive Ice Cream)
There are times when you get something at little wierd and think, it might be good, but in this case it was just pure excellence and creativity mixed together. The ice cream was wonderful as was the vanilla mousse. The Angel food cake inside– I didn’t know that Angel food could be that good. All around spectacular.
Course 8– pecorino Brigantaccio (mmmCheese)
This was the only dish that fell a little flat for us. Maybe because of the dish it followed, or maybe because our tastebuds were flattened, but neither of us loved this one. It felt a little crowded for me.
Petit Fours–
Most were good, some were awesome.
Atmosphere– 5 Stars
Comfy, quiet enough, nicely lit. Who doesn’t like a psuedo secret door?
Service– 5 Stars
Impeccable. There was one moment when we felt a little bit abandoned when it picked up noticeably (around 8:30pm), but overall just great.
I liked getting lollipops and pancake mix to go. The pancake mix was awesome, I made it the next morning.
Drinks– 5 Stars
Great beverages. Loved the Highline in particular.

I think many Houstonians believe that The Pass is the restaurant you eat at when you’ve «made it.» You have the option to do either a 5-​course ($ 75) or 8-​course ($ 95) meal. You can opt into drink pairings for each course, but I imagine I would be on the floor by the end of the night if I did so.
(By the way: vegetarians, rejoice! You, too, can join in on The Pass, since they have a specifically tailored vegetarian menu.)
Perhaps my expectations were a little… misguided before eating here. I was expecting to have one of the most mind-​blowing meals of my life, but I won’t lie: this meal left me feeling confused and conflicted.
As the menu undergoes seasonal changes, everything will vary, but a common theme at The Pass is that the chefs try to push the culinary boundaries by combining traditional and modern cooking methods, drawing flavors from all over the world.
The problem with this, unfortunately, is that the dishes don’t connect with each other particularly well, so one dish will start at one extreme, and the next will end at the other. Even though flavors are all over the place, everything is cooked perfectly. Of note was a perfectly poached egg, and 2 beautifully cooked pieces of lamb.
The petit fours course is where the meal completely derailed, in which some of the flavors were just… not good. At all. I enjoyed the act of sampling each one, but I did not enjoy eating each one. Some of the spices used for them were not particularly pleasant, but perhaps that’s just my uncultured palate speaking.
I will say that I was thoroughly impressed by the different techniques used during my dinner, which I can truly appreciate. I don’t think I’ve ever had a dinner like the one at The Pass before, so it really is a unique institution here in Houston.
However, would I come back? Probably not. I think The Pass is a little bit (or a lot) eccentric, and you just need to go in expecting that the chefs with dazzle you with their food knowledge to impress you — approach The Pass as an experience, not a dinner.

TL;DR: Regardless of how creative this place is with inventive and challenging techniques and whimsical combinations, I don’t think the price tag fits the food ultimately. Your food should taste good start to finish, and while some parts were declared unanimously fabulous (lamb dish), I was disappointed in this place for my birthday dinner and wouldn’t come back.
I was really excited based on reviews, but I think you should read reviews with a grain of salt and manage your expectations. We’ve done Congress and other places in Austin and tasting menus in Asia and the Middle East, and I’m really not feeling it.
Ambience: ⁵⁄₅ Fantastic. The secret pass is a delight to all. Chairs are comfy, and space is clean and beautiful.
Reservations: We came here for my birthday. Normally they ask you if you are celebrating something special when you go to a super nice restaurant. Didn’t happen.
Service: ⁴⁄₅. Very friendly, warm server and patient with my ADD family interruptions when he was giving descriptions of food and answering questions. Water glasses were never less than half full (or is it half empty?). The only recommendations I have are:
1. To offer your house bread to your guests if you have one. Please don’t make me ask.
2. To offer coffee and tea with dessert or petit four finishers. I’ve never had this not happen at a restaurant with this kind of clout.
Food: We did the five-​course tasting menu, and I really don’t want to piss people off, but honestly… it was just okay. :/​I might have had unrealistic expectations since other Unilocalers were wondering how this place doesn’t have a Michelin star. I’m not James Beard or Paul Bocuse, but this place doesn’t scream «Michelin star» for me.
Carrot with oat and pistachio dust– ¹⁄₅ nothing I would eat twice in my life. :/​Citrus notes were a nice touch, but it tasted like dry carrot that I felt obligated to eat since my mom was buying dinner.
Egg with asparagus– ³⁄₅ My egg white was rubbery on the outside, but everyone else was excited about how well poached theirs was.
Sweetbread with chicken skin– ⁴⁄₅ Delicious flavors and creative. Enjoyable to eat.
Lamb with lamb belly and lentils– ⁵⁄₅ When mixed together, this all tasted absolutely wonderful. Definitely the best dish of the night.
Cake with white chocolate mousse with ice cream– ²⁄₅. My sister loved this, but I gave mine to my brother to eat. The cake was hard and should have been served with a knife. Ice cream was served in a pretty quenelle shape, but the textures were super soft meets super hard.
Petit fours: You know how sometimes food is often so creative that it borders on strange instead of appealing? These petit fours were bountiful and inventive in idea but declared unappealing to eat by ⁴⁄₅ of the table. (Of course we still tried all of them, haha.) Served on a gorgeous heavy slice of tree with flavors that were unfortunately reminiscent of free-​loving hippies and armpit hair. Most of them missed the mark for our table. Saffron marshmallows, white chocolate goat cheese truffle, dark chocolate truffle, biscotti that should have been a wood chip for smoking meats, Indian-​spiced everything in dessert items, toasted rice macaron, coriander lollipop (this one was actually enjoyed). The gentleman serving them was very nice to us.
Random gift: You can tell who my family is when you see other people on Unilocal declaring this an odd touch. A gentleman came to our table at the end with a «gift for the ladies,» which in theory is very nice… but they gave me, my mom, and my sister each a packet of pancake mix to make at home. Um, I would recommend either giving them to everyone at the table (which the gentleman kindly offered after upon discussion) or switching to something like a flower since my mom and sister immediately perceived this touch as quite sexist. Probably want to re-​think this one for being a restaurant so progressive.

Probably as good as it gets in Houston. The pass is part of «the pass and the provisions» restaurant. It is the tasting menu only part of the restaurant.
Price: They offer 5 and 8 course options and a vegetarian only option with 5 or 8 courses as well. Price ranges from the 5 course with drink pairing $ ⁷⁵⁄₁₂₀ or the 8 course with drink pairing $ ⁹⁵⁄₁₆₀. It is totally OK if you want the 8 course. and your lady wants the 5 course. Whats unique is that i say drink pairing because you can have it with wine pairing or miscellaneous drinks/​cocktails. All of the pairings are printed on the menu so you can see which is your style. They do take online res on open table, but require a credit card to make. You can cancel up to 5pm the day of the reservation to avoid the $ 75/​person penalty for cancelling. This is actually very common amongst the high end restaurants in NYC as well.
Food: we opted for the 8 course with wine. For the price point it is on par with the 1 star michelin restaurants Ive had in NYC, The food definitely is on par with those restaurants to justify the price, therefore I will add this place on my michelin snubbed list. I know the Michelin list people dont rate houston, but this place deserves 1 star, It does however fall shy of most of the 2 star places Ive been to, so its not there yet. Nonetheless Im grateful that a place like this exists in Houston, easily the best fine dining place Ive been to in Houston.
Service: average for a high end place, not bad but nowhere near the level of the top places.
Parking: in the back, or valet (complimentary)
Dress code: business casual (not sure if they even have a dress code, but everyone was dressed up in the pass)
Atmosphere: kind of stuffy, but not terrible, the open kitchen concept neutralizes it.
Noise: not that bad considering its right next to the kitchen, easily can have a conversation
In summary: will be back, for sure. Michelin worthy.

We finally got in. Tried many times but even reserving 2 or 3 weeks out didn’t work.
We went over the holidays — party of 5 — and scheduled early (6:15 PM on advice of friends who found early to be quieter and more attentive. They were correct — when we sat down at 6:30 PM — there were only 2 other tables dining. By ~ 8 PM it was packed and you could see the wait staff suffering and scrambling).
We are giving it 5 stars based on the whole experience — venue, service, and food. They scored exceptional on the first two; the last has some issues especially on the food-​beverage pairings.
The space is nice — contemporary, casual, enough space between tables, white table clothes, good lighting, and noise level good.
Service — first rate. Friendly and knowledgable staff. Only hiccup was a bit rushed on serving the 8-​course diners (expect this was due to the others having 5 courses and trying to make it work).
The food — imaginative, creative, and well presented. Two had 8 course with wine. one had 5 course with wine, and 2 had 5 course with «beverages» (beers, cocktails, and mescal). We all had champagne prior to the meal.
I will list the comments from the 8 course (as the 5 course is a subset). Six of the dishes were extraordinary and outstanding; two completely failed (e.g., the «scharfe maxx» — their apple dessert was «crap»). The petits fours served after course 8 (or 5) were plentiful and fun BUT they threw in this ungodly chocolate truffle that wasn’t milk chocolate or dark chocolate or whatever — no one liked it. Portions were small but no one left hungry.
The wine pairings were out there — whites from Slovenia and Austria for example; the reds worked much better. The beverage pairings failed miserably — in fact one of the cocktails was probably not drinkable on its own let alone with food. Both diners with this beverage pick were underwhelmed.
So… Interesting evening but they are not hitting in all cylinders which is what should be happening at a venue like this (big brand, hard to get into, expensive by anyone’s standards). Clearly the tasting menu at Oxheart is better, «funner», and more casual (and maybe in a funkier place). And neither can compare to the French Laundry or others that have been anointed as THE «tasting menu» folks.
Damages were $ 900+ with 20% tip.