Adrian Reviews

RESTAURANT REVIEW: The Marigold Club

A disclaimer right off the top: I am historically not a brunch guy. There are a number of reasons for this, the biggest probably being that I don't normally eat breakfast. To me it's a bit preposterous to have three savory meals a day... sure I&

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Zaranda

I've extolled the virtues of legendary Houston restauranteur Hugo Ortega in the past, but I have yet to review any of his restaurants since starting Adrian Reviews. Before getting into the nitty gritty on his newest spot, allow me to do a quick ranking of his existing venues

BIG SKY RESTAURANT REVIEW: M By The Alinea Group

It's often said that men think about sex every seven seconds, though recent studies (of course someone studied it... this is what's at risk with NIH research cuts) show that the average is actually a mere 19 times throughout the waking hours. For me, that stat

RESTAURANT REVIEW: The Henry

The term "greatest" is thrown around more and more these days, often with impunity and hyperbole. There are GOAT debates (MJ vs LeBron, Ronaldo vs Messi, Beatles vs Stones, The Wire vs The Sopranos, etc..), and some unimpeachable superlatives (e.g. everyone agrees that Nic Cage is the

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Aga's

Alright y'all, this is the one you've been waiting for. Aga's was ranked the #1 eatery in the city by the Houston Chronicle in their 2025 Top 100 Restaurants list, a subject which I have previously devoted several paragraphs to. I won't

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Josephine's Gulf Coast Tradition

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BAR REVIEW: Bar Moon

When I learned that a new cocktail bar in Uptown was being named after my friend, former roommate, and marketchasers.com founder Justin Moon, I insisted on making a reservation as soon as humanly possible. Sadly, it turns out that the Moon they were referring to was in fact not

JACKSON HOLE RESTAURANT REVIEW: Teton Tiger

Long ago, before Adrian Reviews was even a twinkle in my eye, I used to compile a list of my favorite Houston restaurants that I would email to interested friends every once in a while, which was later to expanded to include bars, and eventually some non-Houston establishments. The very

DENVER BAR REVEW: Mezcaleria Alma

In my delusional fantasy world where people care about my opinions, folks often ask me: "Hey beloved internet sensation food and drink critic Adrian, you seem like you are something of an alcohol enthusiast... what is your favorite type of spirit?" And my unhesitating answer is, of course,

BOULDER RESTAURANT REVIEW: Frasca Food and Wine

Note: this was originally planned to post on December 31, but that was overly ambitious considering I was on holiday, so please forgive me pretending it's still 2025 in the introduction. It's been a massive 2025 here at Adrian Reviews, especially considering that the site didn&

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Maximo

ADMIN NOTE: Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a new page on the site: Future Reviews. This is a long list of restaurants and bars that I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting, but intend to check out and write about in the future. If you're wondering

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Barbacana

ANNOUNCEMENT: I know many of you follow me on social media, but for those who don't, I am delighted to reveal that the name of this site is going to forever remain Adrian Reviews, and we now have an actual URL! So whenever you want to share with

AUSTIN RESTAURANT REVIEW: Nixta Taqueria

Austin has always been lil' bro to Houston on a number of levels, from sports to fine arts to – most prominently – cuisine (if you're wondering where Dallas fits into this analogy... it's not even in the same family). While I certainly wasn't doing

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Burger Bodega

Every Houston kid of a certain age (read: Millennial) has memories of late nights spent at House of Pies. Whether it was after a concert (who, aside from 99% of my readers, can forget the iconic "HOPE" balloon after an incredible Polyphonic Spree show in 2007?), a late-night

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Nobie's

In lieu of a traditional introduction, I'd like to give my overdue feelings on this year's Houston Chronicle Top 100 Restaurants list. It was unveiled a few weeks ago, but I thought that my recent New York reviews were an inappropriate venue to comment. This year

NEW YORK BAR REVIEW: Double Chicken Please

New York's alright (if you like art and jazz), but one thing that is absolutely maddening is the difficulty to secure a reservation at any remotely popular establishment. This is the case in other cities as well, but the Big Apple is one of the worst offenders. Seemingly

NEW YORK RESTAURANT REVIEW: Semma

People often ask me what is my favorite type of food, and I struggle to answer, because I like all the foods. But if pressed I usually answer Indian, because it's such a vibrant cuisine that features so many incredible spices and seemingly endless regional variations. Or maybe

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Lucille's

Southern food is not really one of my go-to cuisines these days; it's certainly not bad, I just generally prefer a different flavor profile, and the dishes often tend to be quite heavy and one-note. I don't love the term "comfort food", as, in

BAR REVIEW: Refuge

A quick(er) one today. It's been a few weeks since my most recent visit to Refuge, and my mental notes are starting to fade, but I know you are only relevant so long as you continue pumping out content, and I am nothing if not extremely relevant,

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Belly Of The Beast

Folks, I'm not going to bury the lede... this restaurant is FANTASTIC. Don't worry, I'll get to my usual expository bullshit in a second, but just wanted to say up front that this is one of the best Houston-area places I've reviewed

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Alora

A peculiar thing happened last November when the inaugural Texas Michelin Guide was announced... one of the Bibs Gourmand (not sure how this should be pluralized, so I'm going to treat it like coups d'état) was given to Nikki Tran of Kau Ba, a plucky little

BAR REVIEW: Diversión

PERIODIC REMINDER: Make sure you're getting the full functionality of the site! If you aren't a subscriber, you can enter your email in the box at the bottom of any post to get email updates whenever there's a new review, as well as the

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Verde Garden

We in Houston are so incredibly spoiled for choice when it comes to Tex-Mex that we take it for granted (my sister who recently moved to Colorado is surely lamenting that decision, at least from a queso perspective). Just within literally an 8-minute drive from my house there are outposts

BAR REVIEW: Nickel City

As much as I downplay other Texas cities' culinary scenes when compared to Houston (which is BY FAR the best in the state when it comes to food and drink), I'll begrudgingly admit that Austin (Uchi/Uchiko/Loro, Hopdoddy, Pluckers) and even very occasionally Dallas (Rodeo Goat)

PIZZA REVIEW: Tiny Champions

I can say without question that pizza is my #1 favorite food, with quite the gap over everything else. Not only that, it's pretty hard to argue that it isn't objectively the best food: the ideal combination of starch, dairy, meat (unless you're a