Upper Kirby Bistro - Houston

The food and service were excellent, and the atmosphere was decent. There was limited parking on the street, so we had to use the valet. It is worth noting that the restaurant is part of Five Central, which confused us at first because of the signage. Despite this, we would definitely return to try their dinner (we only went for brunch) and also check out their wine bar, Elie.

Brunch was wonderful food great, waitresses great but bartender in red room vibes was not good at all

Pt. 1 By far one of the worst dining experiences I 've had in a long time. This was my second time visiting this establishment and like the first I was very disappointed. From the food to the dogs being paraded throughout the dining room this place needs a complete overhaul!!! From the moment we walked in I had a feeling we were about to be in for an interesting evening. The only thing we got timely and without incident were ironically the free items which were the waters and oxtail empenadas. We asked for the jalapeno queso (item on the printed menu) and were told that it was an old menu item and to get the nachos. So we took the suggestion and order the nachos which happened to be made table side. The gentleman came so close to the table preparing these nachos that my cousins hair almost caught fire (no lie). The nachos weren 't bad but they were nothing the brag about. We also orders calamari and aside from the flavor of the batter being tasty this was one of the worst appetizers I 've ever eaten in my life. The actual calamari was about the size and texture of my hair tie in my head (no exaggeration) and on top of that there was a random shrimp mixed in. No bug deal right?? EXCEPT this piece of shrimp couldn 't even be cut with a knife and fork. So like any patron would do, we flagged down a waitress (not ours) and asked to speak with a manager then it just so happens that our waitress whom we hadn 't seen for at least 20 minutes comes to the table to ask what 's wrong . We tell her the issue and she takes the plate of seriously overcooked calamari back to the kitchen only to return a few moments later with the same plate and says, we can 't take this back because you 've eaten most of it. No mind you, there are 5 of us dining and we we all took a piece and left the rubber band, hair tie textured pieces on a plate in the middle of the table. At that point we asked to speak with a manager cause she clearly wasn 't interested in understanding where we were coming from.

Horrible parking! There's street parking and $20 for valet. The food was beyond gross, mustard greens were served instead of collards as listed on the menu, and this information was not given upon ordering. The chicken seemed to have been pre-cooked and dropped back into the grease when ordered, and that $10 frozen waffle was laughable. The place was loud, urban, and not the type of establishment(s) I prefer to frequent. [And] to add insult to injury, as we were leaving, the COH parking division were out ticketing cars parked on the street. Mind you this place is nestled in a residential area. This was my first and last visit.

Food was excellent!! I love this restaurant! Service was excellent!!