Picnic

PROS: Truly delicious sandwiches.
CONS: Poor service, limited hours, and staff that shows little excitement or concern for repeat or customers who place large orders.

For those who like to have a boxed lunch prepared for them, Picnic is your place since they specialize in doing the work for you. It’s really a great idea and convenient if you want a picnic boxed sandwich lunch that comes complete with your choice of a sandwich, side, and cookie. The price point, on the other hand, is a little steep for a semi-​custom boxed lunch especially when the quality is a little hit and miss.
Picnic is tucked along the quaint street of Bissonnett with its oversized oak trees, original architecture homes, and local shops. Even the name itself has been infused into the seating inside of this little deli style eatery with the picnic tables squeezed in tight. The floors are hard concrete and the walls are a drab whitish gray color with the menus, written in chalk by hand, being the only thing possessing any color on the walls.
It’s a semi-​custom type of ordering where you can select a sandwich of your choice from their menu and have any type of bread and fixings put on it. They don’t advertise this, nor do they make it easy for customers, but if you insist you want to create a more custom sandwich, they’ll give in. The sandwiches are overpriced for what you get. I ordered a tuna sandwich on sourdough and it wasn’t any better than what I could have made at home, but it cost me nearly $ 10 for my boxed lunch.
The rest of the boxed lunch came with a spear pickle, which I wish I would have asked for extra ones, a choice of one side and a choice of one house baked cookie. I chose the potato salad for my side option, which wasn’t any different than what you can buy from the grocery store, and my chocolate chip cookie was not only stale, it was also hard. The cookie was so terrible that I only took a second bite to ensure that it really was bad enough to throw away.
I ended up paying nearly $ 10 for a mediocre tuna sandwich, potato salad that was very average, and a cookie that was awful. The worst part is that unless you eat your boxed lunch in Picnic, you don’t know if you’ve gotten something that is old, tastes off, or isn’t what you ordered. You end up being a victim to a potentially bad boxed lunch for quite a bit of money. I’m really not crazy about their limited hours either; a place that’s only open from 10am-​5pm really limits themselves on anyone needing to pick up boxed lunches early for a road trip or any of the after work crowd that may want a quick dinner.

I’ve managed to catch breakfast here a few times and have been so pleased every time. Their apricot chocolate scone is PERFECT, and the blueberry tea is great. Lovely ambiance, chill and great for writing. I wish they were open earlier so I could come more often!

This weekend I offered a Desire Map weekend women’s retreat in downtown Houston. Picnic was recommended to me for their boxed lunches — I’m so glad! We had 28 women choose between sandwich and salad options in advance and placed an order of various selections — including special instructions for some vegetarian, dairy-​free and gluten-​free requests — about 48 hours in advance. On Saturday we received 28 box lunches — **with individual names on them!!** — exactly on time! The lunches were perfectly as ordered, and abundant with fruit and cookies and chips and rolls … So nicely prepared! Lunch for 28 women for about $ 300, delivered to our door, individually labeled and just as requested: five stars, easy! Tasty, satisfying, and more than enough: will absolutely return my business here. Especially enjoyed: chicken salad sandwiches and Greek salads with chicken. Full recommendation for your event or gathering. Thanks, Picnic folks for your excellent service!

I’ve never actually been inside Picnic, but it was catered for one of my work events and I got the classic box lunch. Usually I’m just eh about those kinds of catered sandwich lunches (unless it’s Jimmy John’s, they’re in a whole other league) but my Picnic box lunch introduced me to probably the best egg salad sandwich I’ve ever had. It had green olives and a special basil mayo — I don’t know what else they put in there but it was heavenly. The chips on the side were just Lays, so nothing special, and the cookie wasn’t anything to rave about, but I did like that the box came with a fruit cup, too. And it was quality fruit — strawberries and blueberries and pineapple, not just the cheap melon mixes you get at a lot of places.
I love the concept of the restaurant, and though I initially thought $ 9.50 was a little steep for a sandwich, chips, fruit, pickle and cookie — especially since that’s a pretty easy and cheap lunch to prepare for yourself — if you think about it, buying a 6 inch sub, chips, cookie, and side of fruit from Subway or someplace like that would be just as much, if not more, and Picnic’s quality of food is substantially better. You can also get the sandwich on its own for just $ 6.25, and I would totally take advantage of that just for the egg salad.
I wish every work event or meeting I have would use Picnic because it’s been by far the best quality food I’ve ever had at a catered event. Whether you’re looking for your next meeting caterer or you’re actually going on a picnic, Picnic should definitely be up on your list!

Man do I love the chicken salad sandwich at Picnic! I’ve had a few other sandwiches, but the chicken salad is the star of the show as far as I’m concerned. The sourdough bread compliments the creamy chicken salad perfectly. I get the box lunch, which includes chips, a fruit cup, a cookie (get the pecan chocolate chip) and a pickle wedge. It’s a perfect lunch at a very affordable price. Service is fast and friendly. I could eat there several times a week.

Solid, classic sandwiches. No frills. Relaxed atmosphere. Would consider doing the «boxed lunch» with the family someday. Sounds fun.

Nothing fancy about this sandwhich shop, but I would pick this place over a chain any day.
Lots of parking. Casual. Fresh bread in the window. Very cheap and simple sandwhiches. I got the turkey, which was just that, turkey, cheese, lettuce on wheat. For $ 6.00 good portion of meat. Not too bad. I would come back and get a quick something togo again. I also grabbed some of their granola, which was a plus.
They also have salads kinda like local foods or a while foods. And they sell local honey, I love that.

First time here, this is a great little place to have lunch at! I must have driven by it a thousand times and never noticed it until yesterday but I’m definitely going to start stopping by for lunch more often! They offer a wide variety of sandwiches and salads as well as lunch boxes, I had a ham and swiss sandwich which tasted delicious with some chips, next time I’ll have to try one of their salads too!

Never fails. Hands down the most delicious chicken salad sandwich! They have great box lunches as everyone has mentioned that includes:
— the sandwich (big enough that could sort of be split into two portions)
— a fruit cup
— a sour pickles slice
— a cookie of your choosing, pecan choco chip, PB, and others
— condiments and utensils
I mean, who could resist when it serves to fulfill your daily servings of all the goodies. The service is quick as much of it has been previously prepared. They have a wide variety of drinks that they trust you enough to let you help yourself after you’ve paid. It’s corny, but my boyfriend and I gotten picnic to have picnics, heehee.
Do drive on by to the cute little place and enjoy yourselves!
P. S. he ordered the spicy shrimp sandwich and enjoyed it.

I’ve eaten here multiple times in the past, but haven’t been in a few years because it was just meh and there were better options in the area. I remembered the chicken salad and pork tenderloin being my go to sandwiches. It was way past lunch time and I was driving down Bissonnet and craving a simple sandwich so I decided to swing by and grab a sandwich. After much deliberation between the ham and pork tenderloin, I decided to go with the pork tenderloin.
Maybe it was because I am a hungry pregnant lady and it was already 2pm and I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast, but I inhaled that sandwich! It had a good amount of pork tenderloin, sourdough bread was nice and soft, and the ancho mayo and pickled onions perfectly pulled the sandwich together.
It was so good, I decided to go there again the next day. Today I got the ham sandwich. It was very disappointing. The bread was hard and not soft and fluffy like the previous day and the Dijon mustard overpowered the basil mayo, all I tasted was the mustard. The sandwich could’ve used more ham, there were parts of the sandwich without meat.
I’ll be back to get the pork tenderloin sandwich because it was pretty darn tasty and to give Picnic a few more tries before I take it off my lunch rotation.

Very relaxed spot with good, unpretentious sandwiches and light fare. The service is very fast and friendly. I think their chicken salad is some of the best. The chicken is poached (what was that about unpretentious? but still), and includes bits of sun dried tomatoes. Its really good. The price is right on too.

I went here once and I’m already hooked. Their turkey sandwich is just so delicious. Pretty good sized sandwich. The lunch box including chip, sandwich and a cookie is about $ 10.

A hidden gem! I love their grape and melon fruit cup. It comes with a hint of cilantro. What a great combination. Sandwiches and cookies are also very good.

My group in the medical center uses Picnic all the time to cater meetings. The catering managers are extremely helpful and accommodating. We once had a huge mix up with another group who was supposed to cater our 50 person meeting. We called Picnic frantically, and the man who helped us was wonderful and was able to accommodate our last minute request. He even delivered everything himself! He was on time, a little early actually, which I thought was extremely professional (and very different from the other group we were using)!
There are several boxes lunch options for you to choose from, and they are very reasonably priced. I usually order a mix of sandwiches and salads, and the salads tend to be more popular in the group of doctors and hospital staff that I order for and the meetings I attend. Each boxed sandwich comes with a bag of chips, a slice of pickle, a container of fruit, and a cookie. Boxed salads come with a roll, container of fruit, and a cookie, and dressing on the side.
If you’re looking for good boxed lunches for a meeting, I would definitely recommend Picnic.

I’d come back. Here before the lunch rush — lots of sides and desserts to chose from. Fresh bread and ingredients. Nice spot.

I love picnic. The people are friendly ad the food I alway good. I love the black bean soup, the lemon bars, the black eyed peas, and the roasted turkey sandwich. Now that I am recently gluten intolerant though, it is hard to eat here, but the butternut squash soup and black bean soup are really good!

I was quite disappointed with my sandwich. I ordered the shrimp salad sandwich as a box meal to-​go. The shrimp salad consist of mainly celery. I felt they could have up’d the amount of shrimp for the cost. I also wasn’t too impressed with the homemade chocolate chip with pecan cookie. It was burnt on the edges, bland in taste, and had few chocolate chips. Based on my experience I won’t go back.

A really cute little place that has delicious, homemade foods. Wonderful for kids and a calm afternoon lunch. We will definitely return.

If you have not had the privilege of listening to Patton Oswalt’s stand-​up then you might not be familiar with precisely why I WANT ALL THE HAM is uncontrollably hilarious and I couldn’t stop laughing even as I was writing this sentence so it would have been way worse to laugh through this sentence if I was actually talking out loud. His stand-​up is on Spotify and elsewhere so go hunt it down. Well as far as sandwich meats go, I want ALL THE HAM from Picnic.
$ 6.25 for the sandwich only or pick up a pickle, fruit, chips, and cookie for $ 9.50. If you go Full Lunchbox (no, not one of Jay’s flirty pet nicknames for Silent Bob) then that is quite a lot of food clocking in at under $ 10. This is not a weak sandwich, this sandwich lifts bro. It will take off its’ tank-​top and show you right meow.
The ham sandwich comes loaded down with ham slices, a large slice of swiss cheese (way more than Wendy/​fast food ideas on what a slice of cheese looks like,) basil mayo, and dijon mustard on sourdough. The ham is juicy and tasty, this does not taste like it came out of a $ 2.99 package at the supermarket. There is a lot of ham, so much ham. The basil mayo really stands out as being fantastic — and I don’t even like regular mayo as much as Shania Twain — but this mayo is so good if you filled up a bathtub with it I would get in and splash around in it for a bit. Considering how pleasing the mayo is, the dijon mustard was like the unfortunate-​looking friend you bring to bars simply to make you look better in comparison when s/​he stands next to you. I could have lived without the mustard and taken 2x mayo. The only mildly disappointing touch to the sandwich was the pathetic looking tiny piece of lettuce. It seemed so half-​hearted like yeah, here’s a tiny splash of green just cos. The sourdough bread more than made up for it. It was sweet mana baked into the fluffy but edible pillows of the gods high up in the bakery of Mount Olympus.
But my biggest gripe here (and it’s a big ol’ lady of a complaint) is with the fruit cup because the fruit they picked could kill me, and I feel like that was intentional to pick evil fruit like that to go into a fruit cup. But the pickle was segregated far away from the fruit cup in its own little pickle sleeve, so the pickle made up for the fruit blasphemy in the cup of doom. The chips were just the standard Lays Plain Jane flavor. Which I suppose will do the trick if you are starving in the middle of a desert. But having just found out about the Sriracha flavored limited edition Lays chips at Randalls Midtown I was mid wet dream thinking about them, and so the Plain Jane flavor really did not blow up my skirt that much.
Picnic is a decent lunch option. It’s not break the bank expensive for a lunch, and at least you get your money’s worth of ham. Both me and the subject of Patton’s joke are quite enjoying ALL of the ham available as often as possible.