Ocean’s

This review is for the new Saturday night party at Ocean’s with DJ Alex C. I’ve been twice now and both times had a great time. The music is mostly house with a Latin flair. The venue itself is very pretty with a beautiful outdoor patio. We were able to reserve a table with bottle service and our hostess was very attentive. Our group had a great time and we hope to be back soon for dinner service.

Ocean’s has potential but needs to work on a few things if it is going to merit any lasting splash in Houston’s dining scene. The restaurant itself is a charming space, done with class and simple elegance. The patio in particular looked very appealing with large modern furnishings and a fountain that – in less oppressive weather – should invite customers to linger al fresco over cocktails and appetizers. Except that a margarita is $ 9 and up, and frankly that’s a bit close to highway robbery in a city like Houston where you can get great margaritas all over the place in the $ 5 – 7 range.
Food was decent but not really remarkable enough to warrant the prices on the menu. Thankfully we were able to get a slightly better deal through the three-​course prix fixe menu offered during August to benefit charity. For $ 35 apiece we each got a ceviche appetizer, main course and dessert. All three of us at the table enjoyed our ceviches, and our main courses (two had chilean sea bass, the other a small lobster item) were not bad. Desserts (two peach crepes and a tres leches) were quite good.
No, the problem here wasn’t the food so much as pricing and the spotty service that came with it. We were told the chef might or might not be willing to mix two types of fish on our ceviches depending on his mood. Being new customers, we hoped to sample both the salmon and grouper being touted by the waiter. And they did accommodate us though not exactly gracefully as you can tell from that disclaimer on the chef’s mood. As to the waiter, he genuinely was attentive and pleasant, but just couldn’t seem to get other things consistently right. Orders got confused, clarifications needed a few times, and the wrong wine served to one of my friends. (The restaurant insisted they got the wine right when we were all but certain they hadn’t. My friend who ordered the wine saw the bottle they poured it from). Perhaps this was an off night for the waiter, maybe he was new. But we were the only table in the entire restaurant, and it really couldn’t have been much simpler than serving a single table with a prix fixe menu, could it?
Sadly the food couldn’t save our impression of Ocean’s once all was said and done. Only one of our three thought a return visit would be warranted, and I wasn’t him. But don’t let that stop you. See if you do any better at Ocean’s than we did. I hope you will because there are reasons this place should succeed… just not enough reasons yet.

Checked this place out for the first time after seeing photos of the beautiful patio. It was all as lovely as depicted, but very very empty!
Food was fantastic. Wine list was great. Portions of the ceviche were small, but tasty. I would recommend, but perhaps to try for Happy Hour when there may be more of a crowd.

Visited this place for the first time. No one there — only a grad party in the patio. Took a while to get waited on. The food needs alot of work !! Servers need to be trained. and the guy acting like a manager — should not be walking around with a beer in his hand and talking to customers. Please don’t tell your customers you buy your wine from Kroger. LOL its such a pretty place !! hope it turns around

Great expansive /​fountain featured outdoor patio, limited menu but good ceviche, expensive for what you get.
Waiter apologized for menu choices and said they were expanding. We just had 2 8×14 plates of hamachi and yellowfin ceviche (served sushi style). (i guess that makes it sushi come to think of it?)… anyway. their salads and seafood risotto are supposed to be more filling.

We LOVED our dinner tonight. My husband and I were looking for a place to sit and talk, in a romantic atmosphere and got exactly what we were looking for.
We shared a nice bottle of wine, (which was not hiked-​price wise)
had the Ocean’s salad for an appetizer, and split the seafood risotto and the sea bass. All of which were amazing.
We couldn’t believe this restaurant was not busier than it was! We didn’t mind though, since we had amazing service…
Bottom line– if you appreciate the beauty of Montrose you will appreciate Ocean’s.

Is this place even still open?
Okay the star is for location and venue. The place is beautiful.
I was lured here under false pretenses. I was promised «really good Mexican Ceviche.» Let me begin by saying I do love Peruvian ceviche, but it seems like everyone makes it in the Peruvian style because it is simpler and easier on the palate, esp. if one isn’t used to lime cured seafood.
The ceviche was pretty bad. The rest of their menu was almost non existent. It was soooo limited. The wine selection was pretty horrendous. We were offered, I believe a Chardonnay to start off with our ceviche. Who the heck does that? That’s like offering someone milk to drink with their pickle.
The waiter didn’t know what he was doing. He seemed young and inexperienced. I can’t blame him for that. The experience was horrible.

All I have to say is this restaurant needs to pull it together or they are toast. Hell, I might as well blast them as I did drop a bill in here and walked out feeling like Edward Norton when he dropped the soap in American X. First, our waiter was a spiritless kid, about as worthless as tits on a nun, he brought us 2 wines by the glass ($ 15 each) and they were both stale, had no fresh mint for a mojito, the margaritas were too tarty, he forgot one of our entrees, brought the appetizers out same time as the other entrees, failed to tell us they only had salmon ceviche that night, brought 2 of our entrees out cold, did not ask the 2-​minute «how’s everything?», and I $hit you not, we were the ONLY table in the restaurant. And… And they didn’t even comp anything or give a free desert, nothing! On top of that they played this chingy indian trance Muzak that made me want to off myself. Hello, I am trying to decompress here! So many things were just wrong about this place and its a shame because it’s a simple elegant dining room and quaint courtyard but the ambiance is all wrong. I know they are going for the chic yuppie vibe with their lobster tacos and fusion fare but it’s just not cozy like a restaurant with a comparable setup like say Backstreet Café. They need to leave the pretension to the fancy restaurants with deep pockets because it just comes across cheasy here. One other note, can I please just get some hot fresh French bread with my mussels because the cold grilled bread that was served was not complimentary. But what should I expect, lobster tacos, might as well stick a filet mignon in a hot dog bun while you’re at it. The owner must sleep upside down because he’s bat $hit crazy if he thinks this place is going anywhere… here’s the secret Mr. fancy pants, great drinks, hot fresh delicious food aptly served in an interesting relaxing dining room is all there is to it. Try that before you serve you lobster tacos with glow sticks. On a positive note, once the food was reheated, the linguine was good and the risotto was great, but not great enough to overcome my feelings of being ripped off when the check came.

The Lobster Sope is outstanding! The Sirloin Migas is the best choice for Sunday Brunch. and their Mimosas are made with Fresh Squeezed OJ. Delish! Beautiful outdoor patio dining area.

The place itself is gorgeous, there is no debating that. The patio area makes you feel like your in a little garden oasis, while the inside décor is simple and elegant.
The food is fairly simple and the menu was small. I have to agree with the other reviewers in saying that the portion size feels a little small for the prices. We had the Ocean’s ceviche, the Lobster Sope, the salmon carpaccio and the Oceans Salad. I enjoyed everything… especially the salmon carpaccio.
I haven’t tried the drinks there, but it might be a nice place to pit stop at with a date for an app and a glass of vino or champagne?

If I could give Ocean’s 0 stars, I would. I’m really surprised this place is still in business.
Their ceviche tostada and taco dishes are essentially the same dish: a hard tortilla with a few measly pieces of poorly seasoned beef or shrimp. Wait… with the taco, you got a few drops of sauces on the side too.
If your restaurant has the word «ceviche» in it, then the «ceviche» better be good. El Rey has a better ceviche than this place.

I don’t get why this place has bad reviews. I think the food is good and the property is beautiful. How could you not love to sit outside on the patio and enjoy…
The ceviches may not be your typical ceviche and more just reminiscent of a sushi dish… But it’s good! Fresh melt in your mouth fish, what could be better?
The seafood risotto with scallops and shrimp is to die for! Risottos are difficult to make and this was perfect, as if I have made it myself. Yum, yum! This is a crave-​able dish.
The Margaritas could be better. A little to tart but def drinkable and enjoyable. Just not my favorite margarita in town.
I like this place and will be back!

Ceviches
Of
Differening
Origin. Tostada with pommes frite??? Kinda f’edUp taste with a crazy touch sauce.
Just saying.
Not for the lack of attention the wait staff give to service, that’s amazing! Our waiter was fabulous and attended to our every need. I’m disappointed that there was no entrée dishes available tonight. Boo!
I’ll be back on a more popular night but tonight was not a good review for my maiden voyage.
We tried 4 of the ceviches — all good but those with the least amount of sauce best offers the taste of something special IMO.
Ocean’s offers a great wine selection and some great flash, but there’s no spark in the pan IMO. Gee, I hope it gets better.
My opinion, give it more time to incubate in the womb, the menu offers a lot of potential, but hope they can deliver more.

Located in a beautiful 2-​story house in an eclectic neighborhood, this place oozed fabulousness! Their patio is really great although on a hot Houston day — no place is safe from the heat.
I went for brunch a few Sundays ago and had their margaritas which were very tasty and although migas was not on the menu — Chef Edwin was gracious enough to hook a sistah up! It was really good! I also tried their fruit salad — which anytime any fruit and blue cheese is incorporated — I fall in love!
Took a look at their upstairs bar — super nice — I’ll just have to check it out at night. *Also, since it’s locally owned they can do whatever they want basically and the waitress told me they usually stay open really late on the weekends just to accommodate late night goers. Woo Hoo!

Food was ok, but was so over priced that I can’t imagine that they will be open for much longer. Menu was overall pretty sparse. My taco had four mini shrimp that were clearly frozen packaged shrimp. For $ 10 you would at least expect two tacos, but no… one very small and under whelming taco. And the margaritas are supposed to be a big deal, but they were no more impressive than you can get at any decent mexican restaurant in town, in fact, they were almost too tart. It’s a nice looking place with a great patio, but in general our entire table wasn’t impressed and no one felt like they would go back.

I went to Oceans today for lunch and was very disappointed.
From the 5 staff that were too busy gossiping at the bar to properly wait on our table of 2, the hip hop music blaring from the kitchen, to the incredibly expensive meal that was lackluster at best, all in all a poor experience. The poor yellow fin was of good quality, but completely drowning in balsamic. The fruit salad was a spring mix with 4 grapes and a medallion of goat cheese. The margarita was decent, but took 20 from order time to reach the table.
The setting is beautiful, and the patio very nice, but I don’t give it long.

If «Margaritas» is in your name, you should offer more than one variety. I suppose if you just offered one, and it was so deliciously awesome that no one would want any other margarita ever again, you might get away with having one variety. Ocean’s margarita is not that good.
Also, the food is not that good. One of the two Ceviches we tried was good, the other was not (the Asian one).
Other than that, you can order tacos, which we did, but I’m not sure why (why they have them or why we ordered them).
I would have rather either seen Tapas style selections or actually entrees, but the single taco (with fries!?) just didn’t do it for me.
The service was also worth mentioning. We entered in the back door, through the lovely patio, and made our way to the hostess. She opened the front door to let us out, not realizing we were coming for a table. Not sure why she didn’t realize — it was an early dinner and we were the second party there. Thinking back, I should have taken her up on her offer and walked right out the front door.
The waiter seemed tentative — like he was surprised we actually were eating there. There was another waiter who tried to take our order right after our first waiter already had. Later, I asked her a question about the food and she was unable to answer.
All in all, this was a very disappointing experience. The place has an awesome outdoor area and the potential for a quaint ambience inside, but the whole concept, menu, and staff need to be revamped.

Though Ocean’s touts itself as «A Place for Ceviche, Wine, and Margaritas,» it has a long way to go before I would consider it my place for ceviche, wine, and margaritas.
My friends and I went there for dinner this past Saturday at around 6pm. The restaurant is located in a beautiful 2-​story house with large windows that allow for natural lighting in the dining area.
There weren’t many people dining at Ocean’s when we arrived; I’m assuming that’s because this restaurant just opened. This was good for us because it meant that we got a lot of attention from the waitstaff. Our main server was very knowledgeable about the menu and was glad to offer suggestions from what the menu had to offer.
When a place touts margaritas in its byline, I’m thinking that there are a bevy of margaritas from which to choose. Unfortunately, this isn’t so at Ocean’s. They have one margarita on their menu. I didn’t like it. It was more sour than I wanted, and the flavor of the margarita wasn’t great either. It was orange colored, but I don’t know what fruit or what flavor it was going for. I just tasted the sourness.
The ceviches weren’t great either – the presentation was nice but the flavors were not. Check to see what fish can be used in your ceviche. On Saturday, we had the choice of salmon, yellow fin tuna, or carpaccio scallops (read: thinly sliced). We ordered the sinaloa ceviche with the tuna and the oriental ceviche with the scallops. The tuna and the scallops were fresh, but both ceviches were bland to me.
My Tostada Maximiliano was marginally better. Sitting on top of a crispy tostada were fresh and juicy mid-​sized shrimp, which were slathered with a creamy sauce whose taste I cannot distinctly remember. The dish was accompanied with pomme frites (I took a poll of my co-​workers. Three out of three say that calling french fries «pommes frites» on a menu that has no French-​inspired dishes is a bit pretentious). The french fries were accompanied with a spicy red sauce and a creamy green sauce. The dish was pretty filling even though the portion wasn’t a Texas-​sized portion.
We ordered a dessert that was fresh fruit topped with whipped cream and doused with alcohol. The fruit was… ahem…fresh, and I could taste the subtle hint of the alcohol, which is the way I like it.
If I go back to this place, I’m going to wait for them to work out the kinks in their margarita (s) and their food.

Let me begin by saying we are probably 20 years older than the demographic Ocean’s is targeting. I always like to see new places opening up, but Ocean’s has some significant adjustments to make. We went looking for an innovative, refined seafood restaurant, but we got a bar scene with nice décor, and a good but limited menu. They are just opening so I will forgive a number of rough edges, but I was surprised when we called for a reservation and the phone repeatedly went to voice mail at 7 PM on a Saturday night. Although the dining room is formal with nice furnishings and table linens, the noise level is quite high, over 80 decibels (think being in an airplane during takeoff).
The drinks menu consists of a couple of Chilean wines and a limited selection of mixed drinks. We went with the recommended «Ocean’s Margarita», advertised for its citrus flavors, but they were so salty and sour as to be almost undrinkable.
The menu is tapas style which I appreciate because the servings are «right size» rather than the overwhelming portions most restaurants serve these days. Ingredients are fresh and good quality and the presentation was good. The signature ceviche was quite good. Unfortunately some of the other entrées were lacking. The lobster and the fillet mignon were overcooked. We did not stay for deserts.
The wait staff were cheerful, well trained and attentive.
A final point, valet parking is $ 5, a bit on the steep side for the Montrose.

So this place is still in «soft opening» phase, due to officially open on 11 June 2010, but my wife, ever vigilant for the swank, saavy, and scrumptious, found out about this from a review by The Houston Chronicle. Strolled in for lunch today, chiefly for their signature dish: ceviche. They are still putting things together but overall the contrasts were crisp, people courteous, and atmosphere clearly optimistic. The floors and pillars are darkly stained wood, with contrasting white ceilings, and lots of windows. Jorge, one of the owners, showed us the lounge upstairs, which is almost functional, but seems to beg pause and invite relaxation.
We had a few margaritas, watching through the windows as the restuarant prepared for a white party outdoors on the patio. Fresh, light, orange-​colored, I had two! The ceviche (Ocean’s Ceviche for me, Oriental ceviche for her) was more minimalist than I thought it might be, but absolutely delicious. That is, it was not a huge serving, and laid out in an almost deconstructed fashion, on a huge rectangular plate, the type that would be hard to fit more than four on the table. But the flavor was great, and I would go back unhesitatingly. Each ceviche was $ 12, and ritas were $ 9. We closed out the experience with a fruit dish of mangoes, grapes, and strawberries soaked in Grand Marinier and a liquer called «43.» I think they called the dish, «Cuarenta Y Tres.» It was the perfect, easy, light end to a healthful meal. The owners are Mexican, I think, and the whole experience had a sort of European multicultural feel to it. I loved it. I suspect that this place will do very well.
Pros: atmosphere, GOOD ceviche, fresh ritas, light, healthful, clean multicultural feel.
Cons: new and untried by the masses (soon to change).