VIN Bar

Happy hour drinks are the best deal. Otherwise stick to beer it’s pretty over priced. We tried the happy hour Kobe dogs in a blanket… They took a ridiculously long time and were nothing special swimming in mustard. No complaints about service. We went for lunch too, as we were staying at the hotel, much better experience and the service was great. I had a salmon Caesar and the salmon was cooked perfectly! My boyfriend had the turkey BLT that came on waffles, it looked legit and I heard no complaints from him!

Best happy hour! The $ 8 hangover burger is not only huge and the best deal in town… It may be the best burger I’ve ever had in my life!

We went to vin bar for dinner last night because my friend had found a Groupon. The man who seated us was pretty rude and treated us differently because he found out we were Groupon users. Service was okay — there was never ice in our drinks and we had to continuously ask for refills.
Now for the food. We had $ 75 bucks to spend so we wanted to try a lot of different things. Nachos Derek was good, covered in smoky cheese sauce (almost too much). Kobe pigs in a blanket was probably my favorite thing on the menu. It is only on the happy hour appetizer menu.
Entrees. Sea scallops were overly salted and it was noticeable. They were cooked perfectly but too salty. Bacon wrapped shrimp served with grits — shrimp were great, grits had no seasoning and there were pieces of pasta in it. Perhaps it was supposed to be cheese but it didn’t melt. Fish and chips were greasy and the fries were soggy. The coating fell off the fish — not impressed.
Overall I would probably not go back to have dinner. I would go back for drinks and light bar snacks.

It took FOREVER for us to get a waiter/​waitress at our table! The service is horrible, and the food is too. Highly disappointed considering it in inside Hotel Derek. Definitely wont be back to this place unless it is for a drink.

Get the Derek burger with double cheese!

Made a stop at this restaurant inside Hotel Derek with some friends and family during Houston Restaurant Week. Aside from being DEAD on a Saturday night at 7:30pm, the waitstaff seemed a bit confused all night.
The menu selection was pretty good which is what drew us in — there were calamari, steak, and scallops. The food was decent overall but the exception of the scallops on a bed of quinoa that the entire table agreed was too salty. The calamari fries would be my favorite part of the meal — crispy on the outside and very tender. The dessert was underwhelming at best. The most frustrating thing was how SLOW service was.
The crowd did pick up at around 9pm — mostly for the bar. I guess the location is the reason but the crowd did seem a bit pretentious — and the drinks were overpriced and average. $ 14 for a sparkling cocktail that I could’ve made at home…
Were it not for HRW, I probably wouldn’t have stopped by and will likely not stop by again. The crowd and slow service is enough to turn my away from a place with average food.

First off, other reviews have said they validate parking here. This is wrong. They discount valet parking which comes to $ 7.00.
Anyway, I don’t write many reviews. When I do, it means it was really good or really bad.
I dine out a lot and this was the worst overall meal I have had in a very long time. This is an example of a high-​end place that likes to change one or more things about classic dishes. Sometimes it works but in this case, all dishes were a colossal disaster (in our opinion).
We started with the calamari. This is basically corn-​meal fried calamari with fried capers and thousand island dressing for a dipping sauce. If you like corn-​meal, you might actually like this dish b/​c it was edible and probably the best dish all night (maybe we were just hungry?).
For my entrée, I ordered the ribeye. Who douses a bone-​in ribeye with BBQ sauce? My steak was served with fried onion rings and what I believe were mushrooms on top of the steak. I tried to scrape off as much of the BBQ sauce as I could but it was pointless. This was a good piece of meat and cooked well but all you could taste was BBQ sauce. It could have been duck, pork, fish, chicken but you could not tell by taste because all you could taste was BBQ sauce. Horrible and not even sure my dog will eat it?
What’s wrong with cooking a good steak with salt/​pepper and maybe a little butter. If you are going to douse a ribeye in BBQ sauce you should describe it that way on the menu.
She had the scallops which came with veggies and quinoa. This entire dish was doused in soy sauce. The quinoa was floating in soy sauce and black in color on the bottom of the dish. This dish was sent back and they brought back some quinoa (without) soy sauce and it was light-​yellow in color. The scallops were cooked well but when you douse it in soy sauce it really doesn’t matter.
We were both still hungry because we could not finish half of our entries. We ordered the crème brûlée. Initially we thought thus was good but on the bottom was a chocolate mouse. It wasn’t terrible but I don’t like chocolate and if you are going to put it in your crème brûlée then disclose it. They don’t have a desert menu so the waitress tells you what they have.
The service was good and the décor was nice.
Bottom line, the best thing I had at this place was the decaf coffee with desert and the calamari and that was probably because we were very hungry.
Houston has so many good food options but this place is NOT one of them.

I reserved the private dining area for my birthday and we were treated like nothing less than VIP. I loved the experience. For the private dining area you are only allowed a maximum of 10 guests. Our two waiters were the best; they provided nothing but exceptional customer service. They were very knowledgeable of the menu and even offered great suggestions. I ended up bringing my own birthday cake so when it was time they took it to the back and sliced everyone a piece. They even offered complimentary champagne for the birthday girl :-)
I had a great time; would definitely recommend Valentino to someone wanting to have a private dining experience.

Is just ok. I wouldn’t say is bad, but is not really good… I had the portobellos and they were good. The salads were small for me, even when I do not like big portions. The service was very friendly and the ambience was good as well…

Service was amazing! Person came up to greet us within 15 seconds of us walking in and sat us down at our table. We were actually in a semi-​private area so it was nice and quiet. The décor of the place is a ¹⁰⁄₁₀. Looks amazing. Great place to take your date fellas! I ordered a 14oz blue cheese rib-​eye. It was cooked exactly as I wanted. The potatoes with it were great. The girlfriend ordered fettuccine w/​tomato basil sauce. She requested chicken instead of the shrimp listed on the menu. She seemed to really like it. For dessert had a chocolate pecan cake. It was nice and warm but a bit dry. Still it tasted good. The pricing is not bad at all compared to lot of other fine dining venues in Houston. I would definitely go here again or at least recommend it!

Amazing, out-​of-​their way service from the manager, Jorge, and the three nice gentlemen who waited on us. Even though our bachelorette party (which started at 10), shrunk down to a sad three people total, they treated us like a large VIP group and let us sit in the private dining room. The food, of course, was excellent. It was the incredibly customer-​focused service we received that will keep us coming back! Thank you Jorge and everyone else!
P. S. This restaurant is inside Hotel Derek, but originated as a stand-​alone restaurant in Vegas, and definitely does not have a hotel restaurant vibe.

Ok, we may have been a party of 10, but really? 75 minutes after we ordered until the food came out? I’m not even sure how many party fouls that counts as. But that aside — large wine selection, unique menu. Atmosphere is spacious, colorful, and modern. I swear an Ikea designer was involved in the interior design.
And the food was overall not bad — but nothing spectacular. I was impressed was the crab cakes as well as the crusted salmon though, which was cooked just to the perfect pink. Desserts are also delicious.
A good place to go to try out, but wouldn’t really choose to come back here again, not for the price and especially not for the wait.

I must say it is an interesting restaurant located in Hotel Derek. The décor is pretty nice. I like how they have a hall of small restrooms instead of one big restroom… hey I’m easily pleased sometimes… lol! Even though it’s nice, it gives me more of a hang out type spot than a nice restaurant to eat. As I was looking around I was thinking it’s more that goes on here besides what I see…
Lets talk about the service — i was here for a business lunch and we were basically the only people there for a while and it still took a long time to get our food. I was puzzled by that. The wait staff was very nice and pleasant
Food– i ordered the cheese steak sandwich w/​mushrooms and cheese. It was good but Nothing to write home about. In other words, I won’t be rushing from Katy to the galleria area to get a cheese steak sandwich!

BY FAR THE ABSOLUTE WORST SERVICE IN HOUSTON!
I say this after 4 tries thinking they were having an off night… but EVERY TIME is an «off night» or is this the same excuse you give all guests?
BOOOOOOOOOOO…I GIVE THIS HORRIBLE PLACE A –10.

If I could give half-​stars, I’d give this place a 2.5 stars but I’m feeling nice, so I rounded up.
My friend and I came here on a Tuesday night to use my Groupon– I spent $ 35 for the $ 70 coupon and it was the last day that it could be used. I made a reservation for 7:30pm, but when we arrived early around 7pm, we were told that we wouldn’t be seated until after 7:45pm. Aggravating, right? So, we opted to sit in the bar area instead– it was louder but whatever, I didn’t come for ambiance.
Our waiter, Michael (I think that’s his name), was great. He was very attentive and helpful. We were afraid he might not let us order a bunch of appetizers and make us get an entrée since we were using the Groupon, but it wasn’t a problem at all! In fact, we were allowed to order from the bar/​tapas menu. This is what we ended up getting:
* Prosciutto San Daniele: Thinly Sliced Prosciutto with Cantaloupe Melon
($ 15)
* Beet Salad with Goat Cheese ($ 6)
* Eggplant Parmigiana Gratin ($ 6)
* Griddled Crab Cakes with Squash Spaghetti & Caper Tartar ($ 9)
* Lobster Half Moon Raviolis with Spicy Vodka Sauce ($ 9)
* Grilled Beef Tagliata with Balsamic Mushrooms ($ 9)
* Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops with Braised Onions ($ 9)
* Baby Back Ribs Slow Cooked & Basted with Homemade BBQ Sauce ($ 9)
After applying the Groupon and tax, our total was about $ 5! Not bad at all. Especially since the portions were a decent size.
The Prosciutto San Daniele was good but it’s so simple, it would be difficult to mess up. Beet Salad was also good, also simple. The waiter said good things about the eggplant parmigiana but I thought it was just okay; however, I took some home for leftovers, and it tasted pretty darn good reheated! Crab cakes– just okay. Flavors weren’t bad but I was expecting lump crab and it tasted more like the claw meat. I was really excited about the lobster ravioli but there was such little filling, you couldn’t tell it was lobster. The beef tagliata was alright. Lamp chops were good. Baby back ribs had a yummy, spicy sauce.
Overall, it was generally underwhelming. I can’t say I really loved anything here. We were originally going to order the full size Lobster Half Moon Ravioli but I’m really glad we only got the tapas size.
Would I go back? Eh, if someone wanted to go for happy hour (I think the tapas dishes are only $ 5 then), I’d go, but there’s a lot of other restaurants I’d rather try than return here.

Another TravelZoo voucher holder here. It was a fantastic deal, you were allowed one appetizer or pasta dish, one entrée and one dessert each. I had the lobster ravioli which was made with a delicious zebra pasta. The scallops were perfectly cooked, but a touch over salted. I was so stuffed by the time dessert arrived, I only had a bite or two of the chocolate tart. It was rich and decadent.
It was annoying to have to wait at the bar for a table on an 8:30 reservation, especially when tables were obviously open. I was also irritated that the host did not offer to carry my martini for me when we were seated. I was dealing with my clutch, scarf, coat and the cocktail. Valet parking was free, which was nice.
The wine list prices vary wildly. Bottle of Piper Hedsick is $ 55, bottle of Veuve $ 150…whaaaa?

[ Food: 3.5÷5 ] [ Ambiance: ⁴⁄₅ ] [ Services: ⁴⁄₅ ]
Prices $$$ (avg $ 25/​person)
Came here with the Travelzoo deal, $ 59 for 2×3-course dinner. There were 2 choices of each and we both tried one of each, they were:
Valentino Martini $ 16: very refreshing and just the right concoctions of grey goose and 4 other fruits (sour apple, watermelon, pineapple & cranberry) liquors.
Crab cake was ok. A little mild on the seasoning and the shredded zucchini was a delicious touch complementing the otherwise, heavy cake.
Three pieces of medium size, plump, beautifully seared & marinated shrimp. The acidity from the lemon & caper sauce really complement the overall dish.
A reasonable piece of grilled chicken breast stuffed with asparagus, though a little firm, the meat was tastefully marinated with a touch of the aroma from the grilled asparagus. A side of creamy & smooth mashed potato that went well with the white wine cream sauce.
Two pieces of medium size nicely grilled and moist mahi mahi. The cherry tomato caper sauce really works on the otherwise, tasteless fish. Taste similar to the sauteed shrimp appetizer.
Tiramisu & the warm chocolate tart was a little dry, nothing special.
Overall, a great deal with great ambiance. Services were efficient and friendly. The Travelzoo deal is still going and its better deal than the Houston Restaurant Week… Recommend for a romantic dinner. The restaurant will validate your valet parking at Hotel Derek.

Two birds with one stone — used an «about to expire» Groupon and took a friend out for an early bday dinner :)
I had been wanting to check out Valentino anyway since I had been to a couple of the previous Hotel Derek restaurant incarnations. Here’s the rundown:
Valet — complimentary with validation at the hostess stand (a def plus).
Ambience — contemporary with a glossy red glass accent wall, comfortable booths with lumbar pillows. It can be a bit noisy, but when they have a band in the front there are pocket doors to close off the dining room that helped a lot.
Service — Note: they will not seat an incomplete party, so tell your people to arrive on time! We were sat without being greeted by a server for quite some time. No menus, no water, no bread, just dishes and a candle. When we finally did get a server, he seemed new — not knowledgeable at all. Fortunately the floor manager/​wine steward? was monitoring the dining room and came by to discuss some drink options and checked on us periodically throughout the evening. When the menus finally arrived, one of them was missing the entrée page so we shared instead. Server forgot part of the specials — noted a green sauce, and when I asked if it was pesto, he said no, he thought it was prosciutto (which makes zero sense), but then looked at his notes and gee, yeah, it was pesto. Throughout the evening though it at least he seemed like he was trying.
Food —
Bread and butter — not generally worth mentioning, but the butter was really good…
Started off with a smoked stuffed quail appetizer. Served rolled and sliced (so no dismembering of little birds which was nice) on a bed of baby asparagus. The smokiness of the quail had a ham like quality, which I did not prefer. Liked the asparagus more than the quail personally.
Also shared a penne carbonara. Carbonara is always good of course, I mean, it’s pasta with bacon… and other stuff :) Their rendition uses pancetta, which can make it heavy on the salt, but the sauce was not the creamy, drown every piece type, keeping it from being too heavy. Pasta was the perfect al dente texture.
Entrée 1: simply prepared shrimp and vegetables. Very good quality jumbo shrimp, just salt and pepper I believe. Steamed mixed veggies on the side.
Entrée 2: pistachio crusted lamb chops with red potatoes. Lamb looked slightly overcooked (medium-​medium well, but then again, the server did not ask how that was to be prepared). Crust was good, but overall dish may have been slightly dry as there was no sauce. Very basic sliced potatoes on the side.
Entrée 3: buffalo tenderloin with asparagus and pearl onions. Server did ask how to cook the tenderloin, and I went with a med rare. Very tender and the sauce reduction went well with it. The asparagus was the same as before and the onions were slightly underdone for me, a little too crunchy.
Extra side: potato tart. This was quite good. Like mashed potatoes and bacon formed into a little pie with a creamy sauce underneath.
We were contemplating dessert, but it took so long for the waiter to come back that our stomachs had settled and we decided against it.
After looking at reviews on various sites, it seems what is most lacking here is good service. This is really too bad, since the food is pretty darn good. But you know, we have LOTS of options for pretty darn good food that might be a better value and have better service. I think I might give it another shot, but it’s not spectacular enough for regular return trips.

Why don’t I try hotel restaurants more often? I recently had a great meal at Hotel Icon downtown and I think I’m going to be exploring hotels a lot more. Today’s hotel meal was at Valentino Vinbar in Hotel Derek. I met a friend here for a Houston Restaurant Week lunch. as I arrived, I went to valet park. I found it odd that there were 6 men standing out front who obviously worked there, but not one of them came to meet my car until I turned it off and was out of it. Valet parking is free, just make sure to get it stamped at the restaurant.
We were seated in the main dining area of Valentino. I loved how bright and light the interior was. The restaurant was fun with a red and black sleek interior design. It’s a very pretty restaurant. Our first waiter was confused when I asked him for the Houston Restaurant Week menu, I don’t think he knew what we were talking about. He asked another waiter to come over who then went in search of the menu. He finally brought us a sheet of paper and said it was the only one in the restaurant. We shared the menu and noted the misspelled dessert (Tirimisu isn’t the way you spell it). We both wanted to support the Houston Food bank even though there were several items on the regular menu that looked tempting. We both ordered the Chicken Picatta with sauteed veggies. It was an interesting change from the night before at Haven. This chicken was definitely overdone. It was fine, I’d rather have over done chicken then under done. The sauteed veggies were broccoli and carrots. The whole entrée was just so-​so, but i wouldn’t rule out trying some other items off the regular menu. For dessert I had the Tiramisu which really saved the whole experience for me. It was delicious. My friend had the sorbet which I tried and enjoyed everyone one of the flavors. So, I wouldn’t eat off their limited (and hard to find) HRW menu again, but I will go back and hope to have a better entrée off the regular menu.
Service was just ok. I don’t know if they could tell we weren’t in a hurry, but the waiters certainly weren’t.
A note about their silverware… it’s strange. I uploaded a photo of the knife. who designed this thing? It’s just awful. It was hard to use the knife and every time I set it down on my plate it would spin around and fall into the food. It might look cool but it isn’t functional.

Finally an Italian restaurant worthy of being Italian
Food: ⁸⁄₁₀
Service: ⁹⁄₁₀
Atmosphere: ⁹⁄₁₀
Creativity: ⁷⁄₁₀
It is great to see more award-​winning restaurateurs arriving to Houston. PS Valentino Vin Bar has not won any awards yet, but it will.
My wife and I booked reservations for two via Open Table. We arrived at the hostess stand through the hotel lobby and we were impressed with the décor and how they turned the old Moderne Bistro into a very contemporary, almost European, bar and restaurant.
As soon as you walk into Vin Bar, you will get overwhelmed with the amount of noise. There was a wedding party enjoying drinks. Another group standing at the bar talking over beers. The bar area is loud and at first I thought dinner was served in the bar area.
However, the hostess directed us into Houston’s newest attractive restaurant. We passed through two heavy glass frosted sliding doors and we were secluded from the cacophony. Chocolate booths accented with champagne colored cushions line the right and left walls. The softest leather brown chairs are parked at tables lined with modern cutlery. The room is accented in a dark red almost cranberry color that sets your mood for an excellent dinner.
The menu is simple. It is broken up into four sections: appetizers, pastas, seafood and meats. Each section contained four to five dishes to select from. Every dish we ate was good. They were creative and tasted wonderful; I will go into detail to describe them.
I chose pasta to start with and seared tuna to complete my meal. My wife ordered an appetizer with pasta as an entrée. My pasta, Fagottini d’Aragosta, was artfully presented on a warm plate. These are little pasta purses stuffed with lobster sitting on a slightly spicy tomato based sauce. Each pasta purse is great with the sauce. The pasta alone is not worth bragging about because the top of the pasta was over cooked. Almost like it was left in the oven five minutes too long. My wife’s Tortino di Caprino was good as well. You can’t go wrong with a mix of greens, baked beets and goat cheese. But I would have added more micro greens and balsamic on the beets. There was too much baked goat cheese for the size of the dish.
I had to order my entrée, Tonno Tartufato, based on its description: seared tuna with a black truffle crust. The quality of the fish was perfect. It sat in puréed fava beans accented with a tasty yellow sauce. The fish tasted great, but it was better with a combo of the beans and sauce! Again, this restaurant has great presentation. My wife’s pasta was very interesting. Her Bucatini Ripieni is nothing like any dish in Houston. It is a tricolor pasta stuffed with a hint of prosciutto and cheese, truly a unique combination of ingredients. This pasta had the same sauce as my appetizer.
Don’t worry about saving room for dessert. You can enjoy their bar menu desserts which is a smaller (2.5oz) delight.
Dinner with pre-​cocktails, appetizers, entrees, dessert and a bottle of wine will run $ 100 per person.
I would definitely return to PS Valentino Vin Bar. We had no problems with service, food tasted great and I really want to try the bar menu. The bar offers creative dishes including Italian Sashimi. Items such as passion fruit white tuna and venison carpaccio with mixed berries ragu is an incentive to return to this Hotel Derek restaurant.