Downtown Aquarium

My husband and I visited this aquarium a few weeks ago while we were in town for a wedding. The aquarium itself was average but the décor and atmosphere was unique and charming. Such a treat to see the while tigers (who, for the record, looked perfectly well taken care of). There were neat opportunities for photo ops, and the staff were all knowledgeable and friendly.
Especially fun was the stingray petting pool and the shark tank, although the line for that took a looong time to get through. The cost of the aquarium was reasonable and parking was easy.
The highlight for us was the restaurant upstairs.
Gorgeous atmosphere and the food… oh my gosh the food. We had a crabmeat dip appetizer that was heavenly and for dinner I had seafood manicotti of some sort and my husband had the salmon, all perfectly cooked and amazing. For dessert was crème brûlée complete with a cookie fish in the middle… to die for. The waiter was funny and took time to tell us about the fish in the tank and took the time to snap pics of us, remaining patient even as my battery ran out and we had to swap cameras. Pricey ($ 120 for appetizer, two entrees and dessert) but completely worth it!
Definitely will return next time we are in town, for the restaurant at least.

This Aquarium was not impressive. It is small and does not offer nearly as many species and exhibits as other aquariums I’ve been to. Petting and feeding the stingrays was cool. The rides were more for kids and not adults. Checked out the restaurant and bar area which looked really nice and offered a different, relaxing place to have dinner and spirits in Houston. Luckily I had a BOGO deal, because I was thoroughly dissappointed :-(

Do not usually leave reviews, but we were really disappointed to show up at 6:00 pm on a Saturday night with intentions to see the sights, ride the rides, and EAT. Our 6 yr old was hungry, my husband was thirsty for water and there was not one refreshment stand open to obtain either. Just a restaurant with an hour an 45 min wait, a Coke machine selling cokes at $ 3.75 a piece, and a water bubbler on your way out. Also no games or other venues open. Really hope management takes heed so others that spend 20 bucks a pop won’t be as disappointed.

Not sure how to begin. As an aquarium, this place is awful except for the smallest of children. It’s cute but there is really nothing to see. Like the others, all I could think about was the miserable white tiger. He looks like he just wants life to be over. The restaurant actually has the best view of fish. We had very low expectations but was surprised. Excellent service. Ordered a sampler platter of appetizers. The dip was as good as anyone’s. We had mixed drinks. Very expensive but at least they were top notch. It was actually nice to watch the fish and relax. It was a pretty place to have dinner. Perfect for a date night. Of course small children were ecstatic. 3 alcoholic drinks and an appetizer sampler was $ 77.

We went to the aquarium restaurant last night for my sister in-​laws Birthday. The atmosphere is very relaxing, not too loud, and it’s very entertaining to watch the fish swimming across.
We shared a delicious fried calamari appetizer. For dinner my husband
ordered and loved the lobster mac and cheese, my brother in-​law got the chicken and mashed potatoes, his favorite whenever he and my sister in-​law go, and my sister in-​law and I got the herb crusted salmon.
Hands down, the best salmon dish I have had yet. The fish was flaky and melted in your mouth, plus, no fishy taste. It tasted so fresh! It comes with mouth-​watering asparagus and mashed potatoes as a side. It was so good I ate it for lunch today, cold!
Service was excellent as we had someone with a shellfish allergy, the chef personally came to our table to help her pick out a menu item that she normally would have hesitated to get, and just get steak or chicken.
We didn’t get to experience much of the park portion but because of the great experience we had we definitely plan to go back!

Those poor tigers! They’re kept in a tiny concrete cage and switched out. I can’t imagine their conditions behind the wall where we can’t see. It’s incredibly sad to witness what’s happening to those majestic creatures. I had no idea they would be there and feel so terrible I passively supported animal cruelty.
Don’t go here! If you want to see animals up close, take your children to the Houston Zoo where they’re at least cared for.

My experience here was great! The aquarium itself was a typical aquarium… Not many selections compared to other known ones. However, it’s really the only aquarium in Houston. But my experience here was really fun because the sting ray interactions plus the shark tank. I would recommend buying the all day pass if come here. That way you can enjoy everything at your own pace. The rides were fun and a great way to relax. I even took a small walk into buffalo bayou and walked back into aquarium for second round.
I loved loved loved my experience at the restaurant though. I went during happy hour at the bar, and Imber was the bartender. He was the best! Very friendly and detailed with our orders. Explained the food menu since we weren’t sure what to order. And let me tell you… The happy hour is amazing here! I ordered the cheese bites (mozzarella cheese sticks) for $ 3 and it was yummy! Then also calamari (huge portion! Just like a appetizer at a restaurant size) for $ 5. Waikiki wings (around 8 small wings in a mango/​sriracha sauce) was very different and tasted great for $ 5. Friend ordered the sliders (2 sliders with onion rings which was filling) for $ 5. Buffalo shrimp bites (one of our favorites… the shrimp was very soft but breading makes it crisp) for $ 5. Will definitely come back for the happy hour menu and also the entire experience as a whole!

We were in town for a wedding and looking for some fun that wouldn’t take too long because we had family events to attend. This was a perfect way to spend a couple of hours. There were 6 of us, the youngest was 19 and the oldest was 53. We all had a great time. Loved all the sea creatures, loved the tiger, train ride was fun, carousel and the lighthouse dive we did twice. We pet the stingrays too. Very reasonably priced!
The next day another family from our group went and they also had a wonderful time. Parking on site was convenient and was $ 7.00.
The only negatives were that the Ferris Wheel and the Frog Hopper rides were down.

I brought my niece & nephew here, because they really love this place. The atmosphere is good, large space, and impressed décor. However, for me, I pay more attention to their foods. In my opinion, I can have better at this price.

First of all I’ve noticed some reviews complaining about how small the aquarium is. This is a themed restaurant so of course the aquarium won’t be like the Galveston or Texas State Aquarium. That being said you are definitively paying for the experience of dining with the fishies so It’s a place you go to eat at for special occasion and not an ordinary meal. Food was good but not amazing. I ordered the crab and avocado salad for dinner and It wasn’t the flavors I was looking for (totally my fault I should have ordered the stuffed flounder which looked amazing). I mentioned this in passing to the waiter and he removed it from our bill even though the fault was on me. Talk about customer service!

Honestly, I’m not from the area so this definitely gave me something to do when I came to visit my family. It was a great attraction seeing the lovely fish tank built right in the middle of the restaurant. I really enjoyed our view of the large tank during dinner. They had a variety of beautiful fishes. It was great to see something like this and it also included parts of the amusement where you could pet sting rays and ride rides (which I didn’t do, but it sounded fun)
Dinner was pretty pricey but that’s what I would expect from somewhere downtown. The food was good, nothing spectacular but it wasn’t bad. Glad I got to visit her during my stay in Texas!

I have been to the Aquarium downtown and the one in Kemah a few times. This is a good place to bring the kids, because of the things they can do.
The aquarium itself is pretty cool. It adds to the nice atmosphere. The train rides/​ferris wheel/​etc are pretty good and priced accordingly.
Now for the food… I have had better. The food is okay at best. Sometimes its all salty other times it lacks flavor. Also I have tried some of the holiday buffets, like Thanksgiving. Selection is okay, but could offer more items because of the price.
Between this and the one in Kemah boardwalk, I like the Kemah one better. Food seems to be better and more activities/​shops/​etc.

I read all the awful reviews here on the way to the Aquarium today… And I don’t really see what the fuss was about? Maybe I have low standards. We are a family of four with a 6 and newly minted 5 year old (we came for the little one’s bday that is tomorrow), and we brought grandma along.
First we ate. Yes, the food was average and over-​priced. However, the portions were large, so we could have split meals. We also got the Sharky mug for the boys and souvenir plates.
Then we got arm bands to ride the rides. Yes, they were $ 18 each, however, we rarely waited in line and pretty much had the rides to ourselves. We pet the sting rays, took the train to see the Sharks, rode the carousel and Ferris wheel multiple times, etc etc. we also went through the aquarium (included in the $ 18). We felt like we got our money’s worth.
Also, what’s all the fuss about the Tigers? Yes, it would be best if they were in the wild… But isn’t that true for the zoo? Others said the single tiger was trapped in an empty cement room… But first of all, there are multiple tigers that are switched out, so it’s not like one is in there all the time being bored. Plus the cage is pretty roomy with a littl pool, water fountain, Christmas tree to eat and other toys. It didn’t seem so bad???
Anyways, I’d recommend for a special occasion– maybe too expensive for just a regular family outing. But my boys are happy, full, tired, and had a great day. Birthday boy even got a dessert with a candle, so he’s had a great day. I’m not giving 5 stars only because it is over-​priced (as is pretty much any and every activity we do with and for the kids).

We went on a gloomy day thinking it would be a good way to escape the cold rain. Due to the weather and rain, the outdoor rides were closed for the day. No biggie since we were only planning on visiting the aquarium exhibits.
My husband and I visited the Downtown Aquarium in Denver and assumed the Houston location would be similar to that since they’re made by the same company. The aquarium exhibits here were smaller and the overall experience was much shorter than we had expected. This wouldn’t have been too much of a bummer except there was a huge crowd that day and everyone seemed to be pushing each other around. Not very pleasant when I have my 3-​month-​old across my chest in a carrier and even the adults are trying to push their way through me to get a look at things. The only interesting exhibits were when the octopus was being fed (again trying to compete with a big crowd of pushy kids and adults just to have a quick look), the white tiger (not very exciting if only 1 of 4 tigers are in the exhibit and its sleeping in the far corner), and (if you’re willing to pay a little extra) the stingray experience. Other than that, the aquarium didn’t really wow me. I think they put more emphasis on their restaurant at this location which was not the reason why we visited.

This was an interesting experience. The aquarium itself was rather small. Nothing spectacular about the fish they had. Walking through it took no time at all. There is a white tiger exhibit. While I enjoyed looking at this tiger, I can’t help but wonder how happy this tiger is. He’s kept in an enclosure that has no vegetation, resemblance to a jungle or the wild, and looked almost like marble slabs everywhere. Is this good for a tiger? The one thing I thoroughly enjoyed was petting and feeding the stingrays. Even if you didn’t have food for them, they’d almost jump out the water to get you to pet them. There was some kind of amusement park outside for an additional charge. I was really just confused by the whole thing.

If you ventured to this review I hope that you aren’t too late and didn’t already experience the almost comical thing called Houston’s Downtown Aquarium. This is hardly an aquarium. Let see where do I begin to list the issues:
1. There is a white tiger (the biggest attraction) that is literally stuck inside a glass wall/​concrete floor room with no real vegetation or even much room to roam. I was disgusted with myself for supporting such a poorly designed area.
2. The electric eel there was about 5 feet long and in a 6×10 glass aquarium. Inside was also a medium-​sized stingray and a few other fish. Tell me that is normal and humane to keep an animal cooped up like that.
3. The entire ticket line was completely unorganized. You have three open windows, but absolutely no dividers for each specific window so I stood in one long line for about 20 minutes.
4. The actual aquarium took us MAYBE 15 minutes to go through. So technically I stood in line longer than actually seeing anything.
5. The stingray exhibit is a separate exhibit than the rest of the aquarium but had so many people it was musty and a major cluster.
6. I didn’t see a single shark, yet on the brochure for the aquarium there are giant majestic sharks. Apparently (after I researched other reviews) the sharks are located at a different exhibit that you have to ride a train to get to. I repeat: a train. Which I didn’t see a sign for anywhere. HORRIBLE design on someone’s part.
7. There are amusement rides and whatnot but they all cost extra from the $ 11 you paid for the joke of an aquarium exhibit.
Whoever thinks this aquarium is decent has clearly never been to Moody Garden’s aquarium. Do yourself a favor and save the money, make the trip to Galveston, and go there instead of to this «aquarium.»

We were quickly greeted and told there was a 45 minute wait but we ended up getting seated within 20 minutes.
Lily was our server. She was fun, friendly, and knowledgeable. I ordered the cajun shrimp trio and it was good. We had a party of six and everyone really enjoyed the food and atmosphere! I highly recommend this place.

Food is better than you would expect for an aquarium restaurant. My two year old inhaled his popcorn shrimp and the jumbo shrimp on my salad was excellent. Hubby ordered a burger that was huge and delicious. Our kiddo was entertained by the fish and our servers were friendly and attentive. This is a five star experience for any aquatic lover or for family dining. I subtracted a star because the kitchen took forever to compete our meal; it came out 20 – 30 minutes after my son’s food arrived (which was quickly) yet the restaurant wasn’t very busy.

Who has an aquarium downtown for $ 20 a person? Houston does!
I really don’t see how people can hate on such a beautiful little gem smack dab in the middle of all the concrete buildings! It was a little piece of heaven to us!
We didn’t have too much time to get into all the facilities offerings but we did enjoy the train ride through the underwater shark tank and enjoyed the view from the Ferris wheel. It was about $ 10 per person for those two items, maybe an hour of our time. We got the kid the $ 17 any ride pass as she could enjoy the carousel, the tower thingy and at unlimited trips to everything on the property.
The restaurant looked like a nightmare just like other people said but we simply got free waters from the bar to stay hydrated. There was a fairly large spill near the bar stools that went undetected by any staff members for the entire 30 minutes we were there.
I really felt this business had a lot to offer tourists. Misting machines near the rides, a splash pad, Dj, over priced water bottles and a pretty cool gift shop. The train ride was worth every penny but I wish they had a skip the line option! Just because it was too cool to go through only once.
I’m glad we ignored the bad reviews. I would definitely come back for the train ride and to check the actual aquarium and tiger exhibit.

What a great place to spend a beautiful day with family or friends. Ended up here with 3 kids and 2 adults for dinner, our first stop had a rediculous wait time so we opted for an adventure dinner instead. The wait for a table was the same, about 1-​hr. The difference was that there was so much to see and explore while we waited.
We wondered at the massive fish aquarium in lobby, played with the many riders available, explored the grounds which led down to the bayou. We were actually on a great walk along the bayou when we got the text to our phone that our underwater dining experience was ready. The texting service was awesome because we had wondered off the beaten path.
Only had to wait awesome few moments to get our table when we reported to 2^nd floor. The view was fantastic, watching the sea life swim around as we dinned. The food was very tasty. I had the new New Orleans pasta, it wa SO good! The kids had fish sticks and boyfriend had fried fish with pinapple pico, he just kept raving about the pinapple pico.
We can’t wait to go back and spend more time enjoying all that there is.

Nous avions une table face à un grand aquarium, c’est tres agreable
Le service et la cuisine sont corrects
La carte est tres americano mexicaine sans grand originalite: fritures en tous genres.
Ils ferment à 21h et vous apportent la note sans demander si vous voulez un dessert. etrange

Schade, das ist eher so ein popularisierter Sea Life Verschnitt, als ein wirklich wissenschaftliches Aquarium (wie etwa Monterey oder Chatanooga). Für und mit kleinen Kindern sicher ganz nett, aber für etwas tieferegehende Informationen nicht geeignet. Ich bin zu alt für so etwas. Vor dem Aquarium lockt mich ein halber Rummelplatz auch nicht gerade an, aber wer es mag.
Zu den Exponaten: Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass ein Grossteil der Tiere sich hier wohlfühlen. Es gibt ein PET-​Becken, in dem man Katzenhaie und kleine Rochen streicheln darf, die müssen bei hunderten grapschenden Kinderhänden doch puren Stress haben. Wir fragten eine der betreuenden Fischschwestern, die meinte, dass die Fische das sicher gerne mögen ja sicher, Texas ist ja auch das Land Gottes. Insgesamt gibt es in Texas nettere Aquarien und lehrreichere allemal.
Etwas artfremd wirken dann in einem Aquarium auch die beiden weissen Tiger und ein unendlich lauter Papagei. Muss man nicht machen.