With a population of five million in its metro area, Houston is America's fourth largest city. Seafood from the Gulf of Mexico is famous in the South, and you'll find plenty of it in Houston. While certain upscale seafood restaurants require formal attire, most are quite casual and welcome families with young children. Whether you're looking for fresh gumbo, spicy Creole shrimp or zesty fish tacos, Houston's many casual seafood eateries have just what you need.
This southern-based seafood chain has locations throughout Texas, including this one at the Kroger shopping center in Houston. Committed to helping local communities, Fish City Grill has a First Tuesday Benefit in which each of their restaurants gives 15% of the day's profits to a local charity on the first Tuesday of each month. Fish City Grill's creative seafood menu features starters like oyster nachos topped with fresh pico de gallo, honey chipotle popcorn shrimp and fried dill pickles with ranch dressing. Main courses include fried catfish tacos, classic fish and chips with fries and slaw, and creamy Cajun shrimp penne pasta. The restaurant's atmosphere is casual and family-friendly.
Fish City Grill
Buffalo Speedway
5172 Buffalo Speedway
Houston, TX 77005
713-668-0197
fishcitygrill.com
Founded by brothers Danton and Kyle Teas, this famous seafood joint in Houston's Museum District has won many awards including Click2Houston's 2009 award for the best seafood restaurant in the city. Danton's casual decor features historic photos of Houston from the 1920s, antique maps of the Gulf Coast and other nautical memorabilia. All menu items are prepared daily using fresh ingredients from the Gulf Coast area. Starters include Danton's blue crab claw meat crab cakes, BBQ shrimp and fresh seafood gumbo loaded with crab, shrimp and oysters. Entrees include signature Gulf classics like shrimp etouffee, baked crab Balinese and stuffed farm-raised red fish. Danton's also has a kids' menu with chicken fingers, fried seafood bites and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Danton's Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen
4611 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, TX 77006
713-807-8883
dantonsseafood.com
No list of Houston seafood restaurants is complete without mentioning this award-winning eatery, named as the number one seafood restaurant in the United States by Bon Appetit magazine, as well as the city's best restaurant in the Houston Press's Best of Awards 2008. Despite its acclaim, Reef remains a casual, friendly place. Among its most popular dishes are the steamed mussels with toasted ancho and shiner bock, crispy skin snapper with tomato butter and chard, and the roasted grouper with braised collard greens and pecan-shallot cracklins. Reef also offers a number of fresh raw appetizers like snapper carpaccio with grapefruit agra dulce and ceviche of blue crab, coco-lime broth and orange. Desserts include molten chocolate cake and thin lime tarts with charred meringue and raspberries.
Reef
2600 Travis
Houston, TX 77006
713-526-8282
reefhouston.com
