Here's a look at the best new Houston restaurants, corporate event venues, hotels, conference centers, and private and party rooms to open for events this summer. These new and renovated Houston venues can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, conferences, meetings, weddings, business dinners, teambuilding activities, cocktail parties, and more.
From former Top Chef Just Desserts contestant Rebecca Masson comes Fluff Bake Bar, which opened in Midtown in late May. An interior window allows guests to see pastry chefs in action, and the resulting creations are available at a counter fronted with wide wood planks. When the bakery closes at night, the concept shifts to a dessert bar and offers plated flights with wine pairings. The bakery includes seating inside as well as outdoors and combined holds 75 guests for receptions.
The Astorian, a dedicated event venue in the Heights neighborhood, has hosted fashion shows, concerts, weddings, and other events since opening in March. Located in a building designed as a landmark by the Houston Historical Society, the loftlike space with 14-foot ceilings blends industrial elements such as concrete floors with Art Deco details. Expansive windows provide skyline views of downtown. The space comprises a 14,000-square-foot ballroom that holds 400 for receptions, as well as a 14,000-square-foot rooftop slated to open in the fall. The space offers amenities such as a stage, catering kitchen, and greenroom/bridal suite.
The Market Square cocktail lounge Henke & Pillot, which opened in January, offers an expansive space for events of as many as 350 people reception-style. Over the next year, the owners are planning to build out the second floor, a balcony, and a rooftop bar. The venue took its name from a grocery store that occupied the space some 150 years ago, and today its interiors combine crystal chandeliers with exposed ducts, exposed brick, and pressed-tin ceilings. Amenities include a full-service kitchen and valet.
The Sam Houston Hotel, which originally opened in 1924 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now affiliated with Hilton as a part of the hotel chain’s Curio Collection. The hotel, which announced the change in June, offers more than 4,000 square feet of event space. Its signature space, Veranda, has a wall of windows that overlook downtown; the 3,100-square-foot room holds about 150 guests for receptions. Two smaller spaces include the 10-person boardroom and the 20-person conference room. For more casual entertaining, the 100-room hotel also has the 17 restaurant and the Sam Bar.
Beckrew Wine House, a wine and espresso bar with space for meetings and events, opened in February in Upper Kirby. Design features include white brick, open shelving, and a marble-topped bar. The entire space is available for buyouts and holds about 120 for receptions. For smaller events, the Lounge seats 20; the Cellar seats 16 or holds 25 for receptions. The Garden Room, which features a distinctive green herringbone tile floor, seats 20 or holds 30 for receptions; glass doors lead to a patio that seats 12. The venue also offers private tastings and other beverage-focused teambuilding activities.
The Phoenix-based restaurant North Italia has come to Houston with a 4,500-square-foot space in the Galleria area that opened in March. It’s the second Texas location of the Italian concept from restauranteur Sam Fox after debuting in Austin. The menu features scratch-made pasta and pizzas as well as heartier entrées. The space seats about 150 inside with another 70 seats on a patio landscaped with citrus trees.
Famed Chicago deep-dish pizza eatery Gino’s East opened in the Woodlands in December, offering pizza as well as some Texas-specific items. The interior design mixes tufted leather booths with red-checkered tablecloths and continues the pizzeria’s tradition of allowing guests leave their signature on the walls. The space seats 200 or holds 240 for receptions.
A second location of the restaurant/tavern Local Pour opened at the Hughes Landing development in the Woodlands in April. With a focus on menu items sourced from Texas purveyors—the “local” part of Local Pour—the eatery serves dinner, lunch, and Sunday brunch. The concept, from Hospitality USA, follows a successful launch in River Oaks in 2013. The 7,500-square-foot space seats 274, including 65 on a patio that overlooks Lake Woodlands. A private dining space seats as many as 30 guests.
Barbecue specialist the Republic Smokehouse & Saloon opened in Midtown in March from the team behind Hearsay on the Green. The 10,000-square-foot space offers three spaces for groups. The Banquet Room, a private area, and the patio bar, another private space, each seats 50 or holds 90 for receptions. The semiprivate Revolver Bar seats 20 or holds 70 for receptions. Buyouts of the restaurant are available; the entire space seats 320 or holds more than 600 for receptions. The venue also has a stage and features live music.
A neon blue key guides patrons of the Midtown restaurant Cook & Collins to its upstairs cocktail bar, Spare Key. The focus of the bar, which opened in April, is on craft cocktails, and it also serves local beers and wines by the glass. The intimate space seats 35 inside and another 10 on a patio that has views of the downtown skyline. The space holds about 70 for receptions and is available for buyouts. Groups of about 12 people can reserve space in the lounge area.
