Gravitas

Hip restaurant, innovative foods
Cons: parking is impossible
Wine is $$$
Their perogies not so authentic
Pros:
The menu is legit, we had the lamb and filet, butternut squash soup and Brussels sprouts. All were life changing.
Wine selection is like one and a half midget thumbs up.
Service was friendly
If I walk out and find my car towed, score drops a star.

Dinner was pleasant. I love the dining room but I must admit that the food is just average. It is however, consistent. I don’t see Gravitas as being on the top of my list but I’m definitely going for happy hour. The bar menu looks terrific.
I can recommend the salmon though. I had to send it back because it was virtually raw. It came back perfectly cooked and seasoned. Delicious.

I came here for a friend’s bachelorette dinner last week, and my main dish [salmon, served on a bed of spinach and crispy rice] was amazing. The salmon was crispy on the outside, mouth-​wateringly tender on the inside. Totally worth th $ 24 price tag.
My salad was… possibly the most sour salad I’ve ever eaten. It was hearts of romaine with fried bleu cheese, and while the cheese was a little more pungent than I was expecting, it was the dressing that nearly knocked me out of my seat. Really, really sour. Not so worth the $ 12 price tag.
We were one of the only tables there, because it was a weeknight and quite late, but when I think ‘dark’, I don’t think dark like this place! The waiters had to use little flashlights while they put pepper on my salmon, it was so dark! But when someone in our party asked them to turn the lights up a it, they were kind enough to oblige.
The waiter was also kind enough to lend me their massive candle lighter when I went outside for a cigarette, which looked ridiculous, but got the job done. Thank you, nice waiters!
If I lived in the area, I would definitely like to try this restaurant again as a date spot.

I read some of the review for the place, and for $$$ and only a rating of 3.5 stars, it was a bit skeptical.
My boyfriend took me here for a nice dinner on a Monday night. It was nice and dark, and being the beginning of a holiday week, it was faily empty (onlt about three other couples there).
We started off with the crab cake for our appetizer, and it was delicious. The meat was juicy, and tasted fresh (instead of canned).
For our entrees, I have the ½ roasted chicken which was served on top of potatoes and brussel sprouts on the side. It was delicious; the chicken was juicy and the potatoes to die for.
My boyfriend had a beef dish, and it was delicious also; I preferred my dish though.
This was a delicious meal, and we received great service. Overall, it was a really nice and enjoyable dinner.

I went back and tried Gravitas again last night and once again had great food and this time the service matched. I had received a nice message from the owner in response to my first review which I thought showed a lot of class.
Last evening I was going to cook at home and decided last minute to venture out in the Houston Heat. I arrived at Gravitas about 9:30 and was seated right away. A thing I like about this restaurant is that it is lively and busy on a Saturday night but still likely that you can be seated without a long wait.
The food was excellent again, had the spicy shrimp appetizer which was so good my last trip and this time the salmon with potato cake. Both were excellent and this trip the service was spot on… friendly, attentive without being rushed.
Would definitely recommend checking this place out.

Although I have nothing bad to say about the amazing food and atmosphere (check out original review), I do have a few words to add about a recent event… I would recommend using cash. Apparently they are having trouble with their credit card/​debit card system and some customers card numbers have been compromised. According to management, they are working on the problem, but still a word of caution… because no matter what, it is a pain in the you know what to have to go through that!

I went here with a group of girlfriends for Houston Restaurant Weeks. It was a great choice. They had a prix fixe menu selection with an assortment of great choices.
I started with the chopped salad, and for my entrée, I had the Hangar Steak with mac and cheese and veggies. Everything was great, particularly the steak, cooked to medium rare perfection. I wasn’t a huge fan of the mac, as it was a bit dry for my tastes, but it was still good and had an interesting flavor with chipotle and bacon.
For dessert, I was the lone wolf who chose the Butterscotch Bread Pudding with bourbon icecream, and it was amazing. A cross between french toast and a sticky bun. I tried the flourless chocolate cake with strawberry ice cream that the other girls ordered, and it, too, was heavenly.
With an extensive wine list and an amazing assortment of designer cocktails, this is definitely a place to indulge. Watch out for parking, as the neighborhoods tow, and there is limited street parking. They do valet, so if you want to play it safe, shell out a few dollars for that.

A group of girls and I went to Gravitas for ChickFlick night to watch Mean Girls — great movie! We were offerred a 3 course meal and a complimentary cocktail. Some of us called ahead to voice our food allergies and they were really respectful of them and adjusted the menu accordingly. We had a great time.
My only complaint are:
— I wish the TV screen were bigger
— ChickFlick occurred often rather than seasonally
— no valet parking but there is a lot in the back and plenty of street parking

Neat place to come for a date — nice setting, good wine selection, classy food.
Came here for the Groupon special, and they had a separate set menu. Their crab cake is one of the best I’ve ever had. Almost zero breading, huge chunks of crab meat, and they make it with a tex-​mex twist by adding tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro. For the entrée, I tried the seared sea bass which was a tad overcooked but still flavorful. My friend tried their lamb and it pretty much fell off the bone. And I don’t even like lamb!
Dessert wasn’t bad either — tried the bread pudding and the cheesecake. Delicious!
Again, nice place to come to for a date or to try something new, but it wouldn’t be a place i’d come regularly. Somewhat pricey for the quality of food.

8pm dinner reservations on Sat night and the place was full. We asked for a quiet table so we seated away from the main din of the room. Unfortunately, this table was also directly in front of the bread service area, where waiters would go to cut the bread and then loudly scrape the crumbs off the block. I don’t know why this wasn’t closer to the kitchen.
We started with a Ginger Girl Martini for me and hubby ordered a glass of wine. My drink was great but he said his tasted like the bottle had been open too long, when we asked for a replacement, the manager came over to apologize and comp’d both glasses. He also opened a new bottle for us. They definitely get another star for the service because that owner came over to check on us several times and our waitress for excellent.
We started with the cheese board which was just ok. Only 3 selections of cheese, some walnuts, apple slices and bread. The owner also wanted us to try this new Risotto appetizer that I didn’t see on the menu, It was fried risotte and brie balls, with some sort of jam on top, very good!
I ordered the Trout which was also excellent, very well seasoned and cooked. He ordered the Veal Cordon Bleu which unfortunately wasn’t that good. It was covered, drenched, in a weird soy/​ginger sauce that overpowered the meat and even the veggies.
We took the waitress’s recommendation for dessert which was the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Whiskey Ice Cream! OH MU GOD! This was the BEST dessert! I will go back simply for this item!
The owner said they had just taken over the restaurant in May, so that may explain the change in reviews. They are also going to be remodeling so I look forward to seeing the changes!

I’m totally a fan! I was hesitant to come here after reading the reviews about the noise level, and don’t be fooled, it can get loud. We were lucky that the night we went, the place never got more than 25% full. At its peak, the place was noisy, but not unbearable. At full capacity, I can’t imagine the noise level, I’m glad I didn’t experience it. We went on a Friday night during spring break, so I think Houston was all gone on vacation.
The hostess was friendly, especially as we waited for our very late dining companions to join us. Our waitress at the table was great and very attentive. I can only fault her that she didn’t refill my soda without me asking, otherwise she was very good.
The bread they bring out before the meal is good, but the herbs in olive oil have absolutely no taste. It was weird to see all that color and taste nothing. Most of us ordered appetizers. I had the butternut squash soup. I’d had the same type of soup at Bistro Alex and was hoping that the Gravitas version would be good. It was! It wasn’t quite as good as the Bistro Alex version, but it was still very good. It came with a huge sage (slightly sweet) biscuit which was also good but could have been a little more salty to balance the sweet of the soup. Main course for me was seared scallops which were very good. I prefer my scallops to be more well done, but for what they were, they were very good. My husband had the pork chop and he really liked it. My friends had the lamb which was so tender it was falling off the bone. It was a little under seasoned but still very good. Someone else had the potato gnocchi and enjoyed it.
We sat there for so long, we made room for dessert. The sticky toffee pudding was VERY good and I’d highly recommend it. My husband enjoyed his bread pudding but it was just ok, nothing special. One of the sorbets my friend had had a slightly strange taste.
I also loved that the waitress offered to split our check without us asking and it wasn’t a problem for her. I love that attention to detail. For that, her tip was just a bit higher than normal :)
Overall, my food was very good. I’d absolutely go back. When making future reservations, I would definitely pick a quiet night, because I don’t like the noise level. and next time, I think I’ll just get two bowls of the butternut squash soup as my entrée. It’s that good!

My wife and I decided to come here for lunch on a Friday
Gravitas started out well with a very impressive resto on an old converted warehouse, I really enjoyed the layout and design of the restaurant.
During lunch Gravitas has some amazing prices for wine by the glass and we were very happy with how huge the pours were. However, the good stuff stopped there and Gravitas started to show it’s true colors.
Word of warning, the bread and dipping seasonings are presented in galvanized steel baskets. GALVANIZED STEEL??? If you don’t know, galvanized steel isn’t food safe for breads and can lead to heavy metal poisoning. (look up galvanized steel zinc poisoning) If you are to eat here, I’d skip the bread for sure.
For our entrées I had the blue cheese burger, while my wife had a chicken salad sandwich.
My burger came with the standard French fries which tasted like the odd «spicy fries» we all ate in the high school cafeteria, but not as well prepared. The burger itself at $ 14.00 was a huge disappointment, dry, preformed and most likely frozen. The bacon was well cooked, but the type of blue cheese used was very pungent and left the burger very off balanced and unrefined. I think the type of blue cheese selected for the burger was an after though or used somewhere else in the menu to save money, IMO it was the wrong type for the burger.
My wifes chicken salad sandwich was very simplistic and boring. The only thing worth mentioning about the sandwich was the ciabatta bread, which was done very well.
Overall for the price and quality of food, I was far from impressed. I really wanted to like the food here and Kat our server was very good, but I knew something was up when there was only 4 other tables being used during the lunch rush.

I was hoping to find some reviews and suggestions for the lunch here but unfortunately found reviews mostly on the dinners. So here’s the 411 for this American Bistro Style cuisine restaurant for the lunch experience:
This place was a great spot for lunch because it doesn’t get overly crowded. There’s probably a reason for that since I assume people don’t want to stay longer than an hour dining here and spend $$$ during lunch time. I found the prices on the lunch menu pretty comparable to other nicer restaurants I’ve been to. I ordered the smoked chicken salad with fried tomatoes and spinach with salad as my side instead of fries. The sandwich was pretty big so it makes for a good leftover for tomorrow’s lunch or tonight’s dinner and they weren’t stingy on the size of the chicken either! It wasn’t drenched in the sauce which made it a delight to eat, especially for lunch since I did not want to have food coma at work.
Total came out to be $ 12.99 not including tip. Waiter was friendly, well-​mannered and attentive. My coworkers ordered the Nicoise salad (Grilled Tuna, Olives, Potatoes, Green Beans) and they loved it. I also had a taste of the butterscotch bread pudding with vanilla ice cream. I had to resist temptation from eating the whole thing, but it’s definitely a must try.
They also have this special called 3:30 or 3oclock where they serve a 3 course entrée (which can be guaranteed served all in 30 minutes or less to cater to those who don’t have enough time to spend sitting at the restaurant) for $ 19.99. Pretty good deal for those who’d like to indulge for lunch.

Mmmm Gravitas… Most of their rating is dedicated to the food. 3 friends and I went a couple months ago and were all pretty impressed with our meals.
We started out with a steak and tuna tartare to share. The steak tartare was very good, nice lean tenderloin in a mustard sauce with capers and bunch of other stuff. Very nice, well balanced. But the tuna tartare was a standout! Asian influenced, sushi bar style and absolutely delicious.
My braised lamb shank entrée was cooked to perfection! The lamb was fall off the bone tender, well seasoned and finished in a delicious reduction. The parmesan rissotto side order was a disaster though. It was cheez-​whiz orange and it was neither toothy nor creamy. It was also way too salty. Rissotto is a dish that takes time, attention and a whole lot of love — 3 very hard things to spare in a busy restaurant — but if you are going to do something, do it right. Lyonaisse or mashed potatoes would have worked perfectly with this dish, they should have just made it simple. My friends all had different fish entrees and thoroughly enjoyed them.
What’s left? Service and atmosphere. The hostess was a rude bitch. She was hot. That’s cool. But there’s plenty of hot AND nice people out there. Hire one. This isn’t NY where is it’s cool to be exclusive, where snobbery is a virtue. I like friendly people and if you’re rude, FU too, I’m out. The first person I see should be pretty f’n friendly dammit! Our server was completely average. I remember nothing about them. No idea what they looked like, don’t even remember if it was a guy or a girl and they didn’t do anything to make our meal memorable. At the same time, they didn’t do anything to ruin it. Competely neutral.
The atmosphere was odd. The dining room was very dark, a little cramped and there seemed to be a lot of wasted space. With a little better planning, I think they could have used the room to fit more tables and/​or space them out better. Did I mention it was very dark? I’m cool with mood lighting, but I like to be able to see. To make matters worse, the open window to the kitchen was very bright and the contrast between the dark dining room and bright kitchen was really distracting. The bar area was very cool though. The dim mood lighting was welcome in there. They had some nice couches to lounge on and tons of open standing room. I would definitely hang out there again.
Bottom line is that the food carries this place. I may come back. Maybe not. I dunno. But memories of that tuna and lamb sure do make me drool.

Yum

Finally got our groupon here, after reading and rereading the 3-​course menu til I was practically reciting it in my sleep. Unfortunately for me and my raging anticipation, the age-​old dilemma known as Over-​Hype reared its ugly head yet again – and my expectations were doomed to disappointment. Alas, indeed.
We started off with a crab cake apiece. Luscious and tender, the cake was topped with a tasty jalapeño hollandaise (more subtle sweet than heat), and an unfortunately overdone poached egg. The crab cake’s crust was nice, but the crunchy bell peppers inside were a bit of a distraction. And let’s face it – claw meat is like the jester to jumbo lump’s king. And who’s ever said «All hail the jester»?
Second course: beef bourgogne for him, oven-​roasted flounder for me.
The beef was certainly melt-​in-​your-​mouth tender, as promised. And it tasted good. But it wasn’t MAGIC, as weeks of mouth-​watering hype had expected. It was fine. The pomme purée was fine. The asparagus could’ve been cooked a touch longer, but they were fine. And the kicker: the rich decadence of the burgundy sauce wasn’t there. It was a nicely done comfort meal, but nothing special.
Then, the fish. First, I should say, it’s my fault. They advertised it as served with a foie gras white wine sauce, and I struggled ethically. In the interest of not crying throughout my meal, I asked if another sauce could be substituted, and they kindly accommodated. On gravitasrestaurant.com’s dinner menu, the dish comes with a ratatouille couscous and lemon butter sauce, which sounded right up my alley. I should have specified how delicious I thought that would be in my belly, but I didn’t, and I ended up with a miso sauce instead.
Now, I like miso and fish together, especially salmon. But I think it always, always needs some bright, refreshing ingredients alongside it, so that it doesn’t suffer from a one-​note darkness. It came with softly sauteed potatoes, foraged mushrooms, and spinach – but I would’ve loved to have had some bright cherry tomatoes and asparagus instead, and a wedge of lemon would’ve helped tremendously. And while the change of sauce was my bad, the fish itself was overcooked and lacked seasoning, so I was kind of sad.
Luckily, there were three saving graces. A bottle of delicious pinot grigio called Ponzi (I checked with our waiter to make sure it wasn’t associated with Bernie Madoff, but he didn’t laugh. His service was lovely, but really. That was funny.)
Saving graces #2 and 3 – dessert! His chocolate-​pecan tart with créme fraiche ice cream was absolutely, positively, phenomenal. And my lemon tart was cool and refreshing, with a marvelously creamy texture. It was just the right balance – not too tart, not too sweet. I would absolutely go back to enjoy coffee, dessert, and the cozy, low-​lit ambiance.
A math question: My groupon promised half-​off a 3-​course meal; the value was advertised at $ 60 a person, and I paid $ 30 each. Going off of the restaurant’s online menu, however, I’m having trouble seeing how the value was truly $ 60 apiece.
Appetizers: $ 16 + $ 16
Entrees: Market catch is listed at $ 25. The beef bourgogne isn’t shown.
Desserts: $ 7 + $ 7
The grand total, minus the beef entrée, is $ 71. And while it was cooked to perfection, I sincerely doubt the beef bourgogne, which is essentially a pot roast, commands a solid $ 49. My complete dinner was only $ 48. Sadly, it looks like the advertised value was as inflated as my expectations.

Just went here for happy hour with a friend this evening. It’s over in the «Side Bar» area. It was nice that it wasn’t very crowded for a Wednesday night, and we sat at the bar with the bartender who acted as our waiter as well since happy hour food and drinks were only served in this area.
We were served fresh drinks — I had a margarita with freshly squeezed limes in it, and my friend had a cantaloupe martini that although there isn’t any cantaloupe liquor involved, the concoction Tim the bartender made tasted just like it.
We ordered off their happy hour menu since we just wanted a sampling of their dishes. I didn’t realize until I talked to the bartender that Gravitas was the sister restaurant of Textile (an amazing French restaurant that recently closed in order to make way for their move into Downtown area in about a year) so I knew their food was going to be good. Also their company owns the Kraftsmen bakery in Montrose area that sells incredible breads.
Anyway, out of the Crispy Pork, Grilled Cheese Sandwich, and Fried Gnocchi dishes we share, hands down GET THE GRILLED CHEESE! Because the bread is from the bakery, it was absolutely divine (with tasty seasoned fries served on the side too!). Thanks for the suggestion Bartender Tim! And thanks for the Washington Apple shots, those were delicious too!
Overall great experience! Workers seemed very knowledgeable and friendly. Would love to go back there again for a normal sit down dinner.

Imagine upscale that feels warm and inviting. Well that’s the concept I grabbed from Gravitas. It reminded me of something you would find in the country or up in a mountain but with modern décor and astounding service.
We had reservations at 6 pm which was an early dinner but I figured it would be hard to get last minute reservations during prime time. I arrived early and was a bit shocked to see no one in the valet spots and plenty of street parking. So we were seated and only 3 other tables were occupied I started to worry if this was going to suck.
Our waiter was very informative with the specials, which included a prix fixe of shrimp salad, bacon wrapped filet, and sticky toffee pudding, or a market fresh fish, which was the snapper with couscous. I opted for the prix fixe and my gf had the snapper. I loved the shrimp salad which had 4 jumbo blackened shrimp, the sauce that was drizzled on top was very flavorful. My steak was good, it was accompanied by mashed potatoes and spinach. I had some of my gf’s snapper and that was amazing. It was ovenbaked and then pan seared with a lemon butter sauce. OMG!!! The sticky toffee pudding was up there with Brennan’s white chocolate bread pudding. And that stuff is ridiculous!!!
It was a great dining experience. Added bonus, there are gift certificates available at

I have eaten at Gravitas several times and like the food, love the décor. It reminds me of something you might find in San Francisco with its exposed brick walls, ambient lighting and chalk board specials.
The food is New American and some of my favorite things to get are their Baked Raclette with Quince Jam (incredible), the Trout Almondine and the Crab Cakes. My husband thinks the Smoked Pork Chop is excellent but often gets their specials. We both looooove the smoked brownies which come with chocolate ice cream (used to be vanilla sorbet), spiced peanuts and a luscious homemade caramel sauce. I’ve also gotten their delicious assorted cheese plate which comes with pear jam and fig bread.
However, there are 2 major weak spots:
1. Service: It is luck of the draw at Gravitas. Sometimes we get an awesome waiter and then at other times, we get someone who seems completely disinterested to be working there. For example, on a recent visit, my entrée came with side salad made of cucumbers which was bitter and inedible. I moved it to my bread plate so the bitter juices would not get on the rest of my food. The waiter saw the clump of uneaten cucumbers and asked what was wrong with it. I told him and he mumbled «ok» then walked away. I would have thought he might offer to bring an alternative side salad but he did not.
2. Parking: The other thing that bugs me about Gravitas is valet parking situation. They take up ALL OF THE PARKING SPACES out front with their orange cones in an attempt to force people to valet park. I really resent this — patrons should not be bullied into valet parking!

Sigh… this used to be my favorite restaurant. Last time was so bad I remember everything…
We ordered the crabcake for an appetizer. It wasn’t that big, and not so crabby. Lots of bread and celery filler.
I got the Tortellini (3 Cheeses, including shaved Asiago i think, Hazelnuts, Arugula, Sage butter, + I added Shrimp) I wanted this to be delicious but the sage butter was just not flavorful and the shaved cheese on top was just salty. The tortellini was okay but nothing special.
My sister and dad got the mussels. They were pungent in odor and somewhat gritty and flavorless. My dad was upset but didn’t want to say anything. The pom frites were good but not enough to make up for bad mussels.
My other sister got the Gravitas Caeser and seemed to enjoy it.
My brother in law got some Catch of the Day or something, some kind of bass I think. Didn’t try it. I think he was okay with his.
We ordered the bread pudding with butterscotch ice cream and caramel. Just by reading that I should have known it would be too sweet. The dessert was not finished or even dented by the 5 of us. It was just too sweet…
And the place is not cheap! I want to hope I’m paying for quality =(
All in all, they used to be better. They have the best Butternut Squash soup I’ve ever had. But try and see for yourself… I still have hope for them.