Cafe Moustache

Food here was good, went on a
certificate. Not surprised it went out of business, only one other table had people the night I went. Was quite pricey but food was delicious.

I went with friends for a girls brunch one Sunday, and I was pleased with my experience here. The interior is nice looking, somewhat upscale without trying too hard.
I suppose it wasn’t difficult to get my order wrong – I went with something kind of simple and had the french toast. Everything was good – the toast, the bacon was nice and crispy, and the strawberries were fresh and ripe. It wasn’t something to rave on and on about, but it was good. I’d go back again.

The first time I went to Café Moustache was about a year ago. Dinner was OK (maybe 3.5 on taste), but given what we paid, we could have eaten at almost any restaurant in the city – and the food was nowhere near up to that standard. It struck me as a neighborhood bistro charging fine-​dining prices.
A few weeks ago, I was lured back to try the happy hour specials: $ 5 glasses of wine and $ 4 appetizers from 4 – 7, including Friday and Saturday. The wines were a great deal, and I would go back for those. But the appetizers were, in a word, tragic.
–«Crostini» was toast topped with two slices of Roma tomato and a sprinkling of hard Italian cheese «melted» on top.
–Salmon profiteroles combined store-​bought frozen pastry with an overload of creamy dill sauce.
–Fried calamari was criminally overcooked.
It makes me sad, because this place is so cute and has so much potential. But once you start eating, you realize why it’s always so empty. I don’t expect much from a $ 4 appetizer, but it needs to be better than the snacks I make for myself drunk at 3 a.m.

The interior surprised me. This is a nice little upscale place that’s a short walk away… and easy to miss. Who knew?
We elected to sit outside and take-​in the gorgeous weather. I’m not so sure about a sidewalk patio off of Westheimer… but, overall, it was pleasant. The service was excellent. The owner is very personable and ensured that we had a nice evening.
Vegetarians should just bypass this place. Well, excepting the pommes frites (French fries) — they’re garlic-​flavored and just better than crack (be warned — they top them with cheese). Sadly, I only had calamari (excellent) and escargot… so, it’s hard to comment on the food… but I enjoyed all that I ate. They seem to have an impressive offering of wines.

I came here for restaurant weeks lunch. Their lunch had three courses. First of all the service was very good. The owner greeted and sat us. I started with the fried quail. It was fried to perfection and deboned so you could just dig in. For my main course I had the crab cake. The patties were full of lump crab meat and the two different sauces were very good. My friend had the flat iron steak which was my favorite. We ended lunch with fried blueberry pie and ice cream. Café moustache is a must for restaurant week. Can’t wait to go for dinner.

I went here for the first time for Houston Restaurant Week 2011.
I just got back from a wonderful dinner at Café Moustache and it was w.o.n.d.e.r.f.u.l. If you haven’t stopped here for restaurant week, you must come here!
The place can be a little hard to find if you don’t keep a look out for the blue or red umbrellas. When you enter, it has a quaint feeling to it. The hostess stand is to your left with a full bar on the same side. The full bar is decorated with their wall of wines they carry. The tables are set up nicely with white linen, wine glasses, silverware, and red napkins. Parking is limited but there is complimentary valet.
We were seated right away with no hassle. it was wednesday night so it wasn’t busy at all. We were greeted by the waitress and were automatically brought with water, bread, and butter. We ordered off the Prixe Fixe menu for restuarant week.
Appetizer:
I got the Soup of the day which was Chicken and Duck soup. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It was a delicious soup with chicken, duck, corn, rice, some mushroom in a beefy stew sauce. My bf got the House Salad which he enjoyed but he was eyeing my soup.
Entrée:
I got the Steak Au Poivre, cooked medium rare w/​mashed potates and Texas squash. OMG it was AMAZING! the presentation was beautiful and just savory. The mashed potatoes were placed on the plate in a cute curly design with a Texas Squash that looked like a square cake. All complemented each other well.
My friend got the Seared Pork Tenderloin which I got to try was delicious too. It was topped with a creamy mushroom sauce and capers. Both entrees I would recommend. They were sliced evenly and topped with their cooresponding sauced.
Dessert:
Just sweet, decadent, and gorgeous desserts. We tried the Fried Blueberry pie. It was a small triangular, pocket-​like, blueberry filled pie that was friend and topped with blueberry sauce and scoop of ice cream. It was also sprinkled with powdered sugar and basal to complement.
I got the Chocolate Pot Au Crème. Pretty much chocolate mousse in a cup topped with whip cream, strawberries, and raspberry.
All in all, the dinner was wonderfu. I am glad we chose to go here. I will definitely be BACK! and recommend this place to others. This is a cute place for a date.
I did notice the manager and owner walked around to check on the customers. They are continuously comminicating with their staff to make sure everything is pleasant for the customer. The manager even assisted my friend in selecting a wine for him and his suggestion was spot on. They really care and try to provide a perfect and comfortable experience.

The food wasn’t significantly better than Max and Julie or Café Rabelais, but I think it had the most «French» experience of any of the others. Mostly because the restaurant is small and intimate (but very modern), and the owner/​chef walk around and talk to the customers. One sat down and had a heated conversation with the people sitting next to us– they ate desserts, drank wine, and discussed politics and finance. How very French.
I had the rainbow trout in a lemon butter sauce, which was tender, but like the other French food I’ve had, not very flavorful. The flavor is all in the sauce, but none of it gets marinated into the fish. The real winner of the meal was my bf’s mussels. Less than $ 20 for a large plate of maybe 20 – 30 mussels. The sauce was salty, but really delicious, especially for bread dipping.

The rainbow trout tastes much better than the duck… like 10x better. Actually, I didn’t like the duck much at all as it tasted rubbery. I really enjoyed their risotto and spinach was delish!
My favorite dish by far was the escargot. You only get 7 snails but they’re so freakin’ tasty. I’d definitely order that again (and again, and again, and again).

We came here this past Friday for Happy Hour. We got there around 6 and the place seemed pretty dead… maybe 4 other tables dining inside but there were a few people out on the patio. We tried the escargot, deviled eggs, and spicy sausage pizza. Escargot was ok… dark tiny suckers drenched in lemon butter… who doesn’t like that! Deviled eggs were good… as for the spicy sausage pizza… I would pass on that… unless you’re just looking for a filler. Similar to a Totino’s pizza but I prefer Totino’s. :) Kinda wanted to try the duck pâté… but didn’t have room in my belly. Oh, and for dessert, my bf ordered some banana chocolate crêpe… gross. Don’t get it… trust me…$ 4 for HH appetizers isn’t too bad… quite a few selection but I’m a picky eater so selection was limited for me.

Decent wine prices and they make the best risotto.
Check out the $ 4 dollar happy hour menu!

Café Moustache would be a great place for ‘Baby’s First French Cuisine Experience’. They got the atmosphere of a high class restaurant down, and they even have a live piano player on the weekend. However, the food wise would still have a long way to compete against other French restaurants in Houston.
We were a part of 5 and was seated at the booth closest to the window. Our waiter greeted us promptly and ordered our drinks, which was a round of ice cold water on the house. The waiter then told us the soup of the day, the specials for the day, and asked if we have any other questions. We ordered the truffle fries and escargots as starters and shared with each other. The escargot was garlicky and buttery, which is great for people who doesn’t want their snail to taste like dirt. The truffle fries was pretty good but I wouldn’t really pay $ 9 for it.
They refilled our bread bucket pretty fast as we munch those away either with the bread butter or the left over garlic butter on the escargot plate. They also refilled our water in good time without needing for us to flag a waitstaff down just to ask for more water. Our entrée came out in good time and while we’re waiting for our food to come, we were playing a game of «Guess the song the piano man is playing». The pianist played a range of songs from Broadway musicals to Disney classics.
I ordered the mussels and it was pretty good. I also took a bite of my friend’s duck and I even liked it better than my mussels. My mussels also come with a side of fries sans the truffles on top. My other friend ordered the sea bass and the taste reminds me of the Chinese style snow fish, with nice soft white meat on the inside and crispy crunchy breaded skin on the outside. In the end, we were all too full for any desserts but the poached pear did sounded good.
The waiter gladly assist on splitting the checks up amongst us through the POS system and provided the correct copy of the checks back to everyone except he forgot to scan my card for payment and provided me a copy of a check from another table. I told him this is not my check and he took it back and thank me for my honesty and got my check resolved. Again, the customer service is great even for a busy weekend but if you really want to really, really, really impress your friends or date base on the food, it would be best to try another French restaurant.

Where do i begin? Initially this place looked cool and very inviting, but it was just another mediocre dinning experience. First it took 30 min to get our brunch, which came out cold. There was hardly anyone there, why did it take so long. When they remade the food it literally took 3 min. When the food came back it was good but not great. Two of entrees were supposed to come with salads, never got them. They gave us bread that was soggy, which was off putting. We also saw a bus boy pour a used water back into the communal water pitcher, gross. And the manager came and asked everyone there if every thing was ok except us, I may be a little younger that the rest of the crowd but my money spends the same as everyone else. All in all a disappointing experience.
I would just like to add that our waitress added a ten dollar tip on to our tab, the bill was 42 and we left a cash tip. why did we get charged ten extra dollars? this place SUCKS. it wasn’t even that bad of a cash tip, 15%. After the service we received she didn’t even deserve that. I can’t believe how terrible this place is, GEt YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!

The place has potential but it’s just missing something that I can’t quite put my finger on. Overall experience was average. Not bad but not great. We had a very attentive waiter though, I liked that a lot.
Escargot bourgogne– ³⁄₅
Braised short ribs — ⁴⁄₅: meat was so tenderrr
Crème brûlée — ⁵⁄₅
Duck Pâté — ⁵⁄₅
Red wine flight — ⁵⁄₅
I may come back for the happy hour, menu looks inviting:

I won’t be back. My guy and I ordered two wine flights at the bar while we were waiting for our table. In the six glasses of wine that were included in the flights, two glasses had gone bad. The bartender also had to study the wine labels before she could tell us what she was serving.
While we were drinking, the hostess said that our tables were ready. We asked for a few more minutes to finish the wine. Once we finished, the hostess informed us that we had taken too long, and she gave away our table. We were told that we would have to wait another 10 – 15 minutes… that would be 30 minutes after our original reservation.
What took so long at the bar was trying to flag down the bartender to get our bill. Overall the service was seriously lacking. Couldn’t tell you how the food is since we left after that.

Great restaurant with really friendly waiters! My husband and I enjoyed a restaurant week menu and really enjoyed all three courses. I recommend the duck and the crème brûlée = delish!

Houston Restaurant Week 2010 — Lunch
My waitress had the most beautiful french accent. It was like listening to her sing a beautiful story when she talked about the food. Since the place is new, service was extra attentive and friendly.
Food however, was not exciting.
Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad — it’s a salad. Of course, this was following an exceptional salad from Hearsay, so I think my standards were set extra high. I have nothing to say about this salad.
Truite Meuniere (Rainbow Trout Fillet Sautéed with Butter, Parsley, Lemon Wine Sauce) — perfectly sauteed trout, though instead of «with butter» it should say «in butter». I think there was a puddle of butter left on my fish. It was tasty though. It came with sauteed vegetables and rice. Nothing very exciting about those. And I was left feeling a little greasy from my trout.
Dessert!
Profiteroles (With Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Sauce and Toasted Almonds) — some of the better profiteroles I’ve had in Houston. And THREE.
Chocolate Pot de Crème — it was like eating jello pudding. But better. So much better. So delicious that even though I was full, I refused to stop eating. I wish I had taken the rest to-​go, it’d be the perfect little snack right now.
Still, I wasn’t wowed. And it didn’t feel french. (Besides the waitress.)

Everything was just ok. Nothing special, nothing great, just ok.
I came here for Snday brunch with a few friends. I was debating on the Bleu Burger and the Eggs Florentine. I ended up getting the Bleu Burger, which was JUST OK. haha There just wasn’t anything great about it unfortunately. We also ordered a pint of pomegranate mimosa which was JUST OK also. Let’s just say the food was not memorable and I probably wont be back.

Last week I needed a new place to take my girlfriend for dinner and came across Café Moustache. Having never been there before, and wanting to find a place for fine French food, it was a natural fit.
I was very impressed with the appetizer. We ordered a nice prosciutto & cheese platter with some wine. It was probably better because it was a little later in the evening and both of us hadn’t eaten since lunch. But even on a full stomach it would have been tasty.
For the main entrée my girlfriend ordered the French Country salad. She loved it. She mentioned that she loved the cranberries. I tasted the cilantro dressing that they serve with it, and if I was a salad kind of guy I’da probably loved it. As far as flavor it was great. Now its a pretty hearty salad and she’s pretty small — she did put that salad down with authority and was all business.
I’m not personally into salad. In fact if I eat any veggies it’s typically on a sandwich. I am a 100% red blooded All American carnivore and was looking for something more substantial then a salad. I ordered the Chicken Dijonaisse — it has a breaded chicken breast, served with a delicious mustard sauce and spinach. Primo. I was in hog heaven.
That, along with the french breads and huge wine selection, lead to a fantastic dinner and a new repeat customer.
I’d give this place a 5 star rating were it not for a little lag time from the wait staff. It was great service, it just took a bit longer for the waiter to return to the table to check on us. Although, he was handling 6 tables on his own, all in different parts of the restaurant, so I think that it was a little understandable.
Parking stinks. You guys need to know that. But what’s new downtown.

OMG. We were among 3 tables in our immediate area that paid for what we consumed, canceled the rest of the order and left! After over 2 hours of being utterly ignored and only being served one app and one bottle of wine, we were ready to call it a night. I want to know what happened to the cheese plate and 4 other glasses of wine we ordered. They never arrived and hello — you don’t even have to cook those! We canceled those as well as our main courses and desserts.
Granted the place was packed but it was absolutely ridiculous. I Practically had to tackle our waiter to get the «free fries» because the 4 gals at my table were wearing berets and that was the promo for their Bastille Day celebration. Where the waiter playing zone defense or something? I never figured out who was helping us last night — I guess it’s because no one was helping us.
When we canceled the rest of the order and asked for our bill at 9:45pm, the waiter said to give them another try because it was their grand opening. Um, no. It’s been SoVino for a couple of years and it’s the same owner and staff so things should be smooth as a baby’s butt. Try to sell that excuse to someone else! Get your act together Café Moustache — horribly tacky name!
OK — my one positive note. I respect that they allow dogs on the patio (or at least they were to busy to worry about the huge, cutie pooch draped across the walkway.)

The new incarnation of So Vino (and still owned by Elizabeth Abraham) is eerily similar to, um, So Vino. No décor changes, much of the staff is the same, and the amazing wine list is intact. Most of the food is very traditional French, though there are a few curve balls in there.
We started with the spicy deviled eggs ($ 5 for four and by far the cheapest app on the menu) and they were good – vegetarians beware, there was a bacon garnish on top. Nothing earth shattering, but not a bad start. For entrees, I went with the veal ravioli which was on a bed of spinach. Perfectly fine with what the menu said was a veal reduction sauce. It was very lacking in the veal, but pretty tasty nonetheless. The hubs went with ribeye and frites and was pretty happy. The steak was well prepared and buttery and the frites were perfect with their mayo.
Unfortunately, I still think that the main reason to come in here isn’t the food, but rather the wine. We stopped by because I’d read on Twitter about their Thursday wine special of 5 wine tastings for $ 15. Such a great deal that I couldn’t pass it up. Except I did. Not that the wines didn’t look fabulous, but more that they had some bottles for such reasonable prices, I just couldn’t resist.
The valet in the front is still there, but we both found parking on the street. We got there a little bit after six and there was only one other group there, but it slowly filled up and was about half full by the time we left at 7:30. We sat at the bar and the service was great the entire time. If you’re a wine drinker, this is a nice departure from a regular wine bar, but not necessarily fantastic enough to win you over based on the food alone.