This week’s Brunchlust review takes us to the largest city in Texas…HOUSTON! There are plenty of places to do brunch in the city but Hungry’s stood out due to its two area locations and Saturday and Sunday brunch options.
We headed over to the Rice Village location on a Saturday and were greeted with a lively, packed house. Hungry’s Rice Village is a relatively new addition to the Houston brunch scene. It has been renovated and revamped into a vibrant, modern looking space. Parking was a bit of a challenge, but valet and nearby surface lot parking was available. Also making the wait bearable? The mimosa bar offered just outside the entrance, where you could pick your choice of mimosas, featuring freshly squeezed strawberry, raspberry, orange or grapefruit juice. I opted for the strawberry and was NOT disappointed. There were some issues with the iPad for payment, as this bar only accepts cards (no cash), but not a biggie at all.
Shortly after scoring our first mimosa, we were escorted to our table on the lively front patio. The Rice Village location also offers an awesome rooftop patio, called Upstairs at Hungry’s. I’m sure the wait was much longer to be seated there but we were about 15 minutes from turning Hungry into Hangry so we opted for the first available table, which only took about 20 minutes. Plus, Upstairs’ menu is more limited than eating at the regular restaurant. The downstairs patio did not disappoint. It was fantastic, outside of being seated on the portion of the patio that didn’t have shade. Sun, June and Houston without a pool is not a good combination.
The crowd, which was packed, featured parties of 4 generations of families celebrating graduations, young families with small kids and folks just hanging out because brunch is the jam. Menu offerings included everything from traditional brunch style egg dishes and waffles to gyros. YES, GYROS. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I cannot resist tzatziki sauce so I opted for the gyro platter. The other person in my party opted for the Southern Crispy Chicken and Eggs with a side of sausage. The consensus on the food? YUM. The gyro meat was just a little dry but that just gave me an extra excuse to add more tzatziki sauce.
On to the cocktails. We ordered a couple of carafes of the strawberry mimosas. In searching brunch restaurant menus in Houston, I quickly figured out that Houston doesn’t really do the bottomless mimosa thing. And that’s okay. But it’s a lot different than the Dallas brunch scene in that aspect. But Houston definitely does have a love affair with their brunch. Plus, because I also love St. Germain cocktails, I also opted to try a cocktail they had on their drink menu featuring it with champagne. Turned out to be a very refreshing and delicious brunch cocktail, served over ice.
The service we received was great without being too intrusive. We had such a great time on the patio, while trying to dodge the June Houston sun, we ended up leaving after much of the crowd had come and gone. Nevertheless, we had a great meal and a great experience at Hungry’s.
Brunchlust Rating: A- I’m only giving it a minus because there wasn’t a bottomless mimosa option. This is a great option for brunch in Houston though. Already looking forward to returning!
2356 Rice Boulevard
Houston, TX 77005
