Plonk! Beer & Wine Bistro

Great wine selection. Scott is the cats pajamas!
Burger is excellent, the beer selection is second to none other than Plonk. We always have a plonking good time.

Plonk is in a shopping area. Looking at it, you wouldn’t think so much of it until you step inside. Inside it’s a bit more chic than the outside. The owners were really helpful, attentive and appreciative of thier customers. I had the redfish wish was delish. I would definitely come back again.

Love Plonk. Enjoy the thoughtful food and well curated beer. Redfish is great, burger is very tasty. Very friendly service.

I love Brie. I love Beer. I love Plonk.

This was my first experience here with my friend for after dinner snacks and wine.
The good:
Super dog friendly on the patio, even gave a water bowl! I heartily approve!
The wine and beer selections were good, apparently on a rotating basis, also cool
We just ate apps, all of which were perfectly cooked and presented well. Their menu had a nice selection of food and some vege options.
The service was wonderful, I never had to search for anyone to get what I needed
The bad:
Why do I have to give up my card when I first order? I don’t get that. It doesn’t seem like a standard bar, so I was weird about that.
One ladies bathroom, what the hell?! It loses a star on this basis. But I will say it was wheelchair worthy.
On the patio when it got dark, the lighting was a bit poor. I like ambiance, buuuuttt I can’t find my drink on the table, not cool.
The ugly:
I really didn’t have anything so disgruntling that it put me off the place.
I would defn go back.

My husband and I visited Plonk! last night and are so glad we did! The service was great– super friendly and attentive staff. The food was just down right good. We started with the Mediterranean Trio, which had the tastiest whipped herb feta. We then shared the lamb chops and short rib, based on the manager’s rec. They were both stupid good!
I was kind of curious as to what the atmosphere would be, as it’s in a strip center, but the restaurant itself is super cute inside. We sat on the patio and I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was, no road noise at all!
We’ll definitely be back!

I used to love this place, and it still has a good wine menu, though a bit pricey.
However, the beer menu has evolved into mostly bitter ales. The food menu has evolved into micro bites on large plates.
Just had a tiny (2″ diameter) burger on a large bun (5″) with undercooked sweet potato fries and a low end glass of red. $ 55
Like I said … used to love this place.

I have been to over 150 restaurants in Houston and this was hands down my worst experience. The food, while decent, is certainly not worth the price like many people here have already pointed out. But the worst aspect by far was the service: they make it a nightmare for parties greater than 4, and LECTURE customers on what is appropriate to tip despite the waiter clocking out in between dinner and leaving his party unattended for 25 full minutes. (Last I checked, even the best of tipping habits, are discretionary!!). I will never return there, and will strongly recommend against it moving forward.

I’ve been coming to Plonk for a long time, and it is even better now than it was when I first started coming. Plonk is beer and wine ONLY, but the selection is always excellent. Lots of great hidden gems in the wine cellar, and the servers always have good recommendations.
Now for the menu — Plonk used to have a massive menu, but recently they have shortened the menu. It is almost a concept change, in a way. It used to have a section on the menu for sandwiches, a section for main dishes, a section for appetizers, etc. Now the menu just has a list of dishes — the waiter told me that the top half of the menu is generally recommended to start the meal, and the bottom of the menu is generally recommended for an «entrée.» I hate to refer to the menu items as «small plates» because the portions are larger than what I would consider a small plate. It’s just a lot of fun to go and order a bunch of stuff off the menu and share with your date, or your friends, or whatever.
Now for the food — on my last visit, we started with the baby belletoile (baked brie) served with honey, hazelnuts, roasted garlic and freshly baked bread. It was out of this world. It was the first item that they brought us, and it was actually a very large portion. If I was responsible, I would have exercised restraint and not eaten it all, but it was too delicious. Piping hot, melty brie spread onto the warm bread topped with FRESH roasted garlic and honey. I couldn’t stop. It was gone in no time. We finished the brie before we could finish the bread, so we had fresh bread to sop up the sauce of the rest of our dishes.
The next dish that came out was sashimi-​style tuna with sesame seeds, serrano, watermelon radish. It was a very light and refreshing dish — balanced out the brie very nicely. This was one of my favorite items that we had on the evening. Unfortunately, it was only featured on the Valentine’s menu, so there’s no guarantee that it’ll be there if you go!
After that came the mussels. I order mussels a LOT, and nobody does it as well as Plonk. My favorite mussels dish EVER is the green curry mussels that Plonk does in the summer. Garlicky, coconutty goodness with soft rolls to soak up the sauce. Apparently in the winter, they have done away with the green curry mussels and are now doing mussels in a Spanish chorizo broth. It was delicious. perfectly portioned sweet mussels in a spicy, smoky, tomatoey sauce served with crispy toast for the broth. The broth also had large chunks of stewed tomato and big pieces of bacon. Very nice dish — when the mussels and the toast were gone, I used the leftover soft bread from the brie to soak up every last bit of bacon and sauce. I’m getting fat just writing this.
Next, we decided to order an entrée. My date ordered the ravioli with truffle oil, and I ordered the 72-​hour short rib with cheese grits. The waiter recommended the HOMEMADE ravioli, and it was a great recommendation. My date was getting full and wanted a smaller dish, so his recommendation was perfect. Unfortunately, this dish was also only available on the Valentine’s menu. It was awesome.
My 72-​hour short rib was great. Normally, I order the «Hangar Steak» (because it’s delicious) but on this night, they subbed it out for the short rib. Both of these dishes are awesome. The short rib was served on a generous helping of cheese grits and it just fell apart as soon as I touched it with my fork.
Believe it or not, I also ordered dessert. The V-​Day menu offered a «Wolf Cake» — a yellow cake with chocolate buttercream, served with HOMEMADE raspberry ice cream. My date couldn’t stop raving about the ice cream, and the ice cream was good, but my attention was directed toward the fluffiness of the cake. Easily the best cake I have ever had from a restaurant — perfectly moist and light with homemade buttercream frosting. The scoop of raspberry ice cream paired perfectly with the cake. As good as everything else was, the dessert was the highlight for me. We capped off the evening with some dessert wine. This is exactly what a date night should be. great food, friendly laid back staff with awesome recommendations, relaxed atmosphere. I’ve always liked Plonk, but the past several times I have been I have been more and more impressed. This is quickly becoming my favorite spot in Houston — what started as a fun neighborhood gathering spot has morphed into a foodie’s dream. It’s not what you would expect when you consider the location, but this little place has become a culinary mecca in a city that has so many great restaurants. There’s nothing quite like Plonk.
PS — try the Guanciale Burger. This has been on many burger brackets over the years and is probably the only item that I have ALWAYS seen on their ever-​changing menu. It’s worth a try.

Dined here on Friday evening with my spouse and a friend. We all live in the neighborhood and wanted to go somewhere close to catch up and have some wine. This was our fourth visit — we are new to the neighborhood.
The good: the wine list is decent if they have what is listed in stock. It’s an average to high markup depending on the bottle but decent selection for a neighborhood wine bar. The décor is nice inside and it was relatively quiet since the restaurant was pretty empty. Patio seating is nice.
The rest: Avoid this place if you have any food allergies or dietary restrictions. The owner and staff will not accommodate any substitutions or alterations. Our neighbors had warned us about this but we really wanted to give the place a chance since it’s so close to us. My friend was trying to avoid meat for lent and my spouse has some allergies to certain types of cheese. We asked the server to substitute a different cheese on a burger or leave it off, also asked to leave off meat on a pizza. They flat out refused and the owner said this is due to their «award winning» menu and that substitutions would change that. He made such a huge deal out of it that it made me wonder if everything is pre-​made/​processed in the back. They had a chef come in from Napa to help them in the summer… I think she needs to come back! We stayed to finish our two bottles of wine and were able to find some other dishes to try. They ended up bringing the burger out without cheese and sent out another dish for us to try. I wanted to like it but overall the food was just mediocre. The quality was unfortunately similar to our other visits.
Bottom line: there are too many other options in the neighborhood with better food and owners who understand the importance of good customer service. We will not be back and neither will our neighbors and friends.

I have mixed feelings about Plonk. It’s in a shopping center by Kroger on a corner of the strip. Location is convenient, no problem.
The venue offers both outdoor and indoor seating. However, careful where you sit inside because if the doors are open, as they were when I was there, you get slammed with the cold (or I’d imagine heat) in a big way. It’s inconvenient. You’ve got a mix of high tops and tables, with ample room for those that like to sit at the bar. Like me. The décor is somewhat inviting. The neutral tones give it the upscale feel it wants, but then you have this massive I don’t know what to call it… banner? It’s not a canvas. Your have to see it. It’s a lady on a chariot led by 3 dogs. I think it’s very neat and dear to one of the owners, but it doesn’t fit with the rest of the venue.
There are a few fellas that were there and I couldn’t tell who was the GM or the owner, but it felt like they were both. They treat/​take the restaurant and the patrons very personally, which is nice. There is good and bad to that though. When you feel like the people who run a place are going to be sensitive or protective of it… you wonder if they’ll take feedback constructively or personally.
I’d go back here to try the food, which did look tasty, but this isn’t my bar atmosphere. It doesn’t have its identity well defined quite yet.

Overall: Good, but a bit on the expensive side
Service: Excellent. Attentive and nice. Listened to my preferences on wine and offered a perfect selection. Let me taste a couple of selections too. I, too (like other reviewers), was puzzled at giving my card prior to order. Made me wonder if they have a lot of runners?
Food: We had the baked Brie — yum! Baked Brie in honey and comes with a warm baguette, hazelnuts, and a roasted head of garlic — heaven!
Had the salad with pears — pears were too tart. But rest of the salad was good. Had a pizza — yum! Crust was crispy and flavorful. Fresh toppings!
One of us had a burger — which was good — would have preferred an option of regular fries, but came instead with sweet potato wedges — too heavy and sweet.
Atmosphere: Comfortable. Sort of an industrial flair. Nice music and lighting.

Italian red wine and P-​funk pizza… just eat it! Trust me Im a Doctor… not really but seriously have your taste buds slapped with some awesomeness!
Nice place, nice people, very cool décor, indoor and outdoor seating. They play cool stuff on tv and I love nature and the other travel vids they play. Music is fun that they play too.
The menu changes based on the season and other things but so far everything Ive had so far has been delish!

After my one bad experience, I have been back.
Their service, wine, and food is what brought me back! I love the fact that the owners are always there and are down to earth! I also love that they can recommend any glass of wine or beer.
This last time I had some delicious cab. I had some firecracker pizza which was awesome! My brother had the pepperoni and mushroom pizza, and the tuna sashimi. He enjoyed both.
It’s one of the better places in the neighborhood if not the best!

This is my third time here. Once again, everything was delicious! I started with the grilled Brussel Sprouts (what I was craving from my last trip here) and then I had the firecracker pizza which was phenomenal! The staff is very friendly and very knowledgeable about the beers and wines they carry. I live about 20
Minutes away but it’s worth the drive! Definitely will be back again very soon!

Plonk is a much needed refuge for well prepared, savory food in a sea of fast food along Ella Boulevard north of the loop.
In true wine bar fashion, plates are small and best to order several and share between a few people. The eggplant involtini is a tasty dish, smothered in rich red sauce with crispy parmesan to add some crunch. New Zealand half rack of lamb was flavorful alone but also included a smoky, barbecue-​chili-​style sauce on the bottom of the plate. The individual rib chops were small but the exterior had a crackling layer where the cap is removed that was delightful and topped with flaky sea salt.
Wine by the glass is always more expensive than I want it to be, but the Pinot Noir and Barbaresco we had were complex enough to warrant the price tag. The wine selection is great and they have free wine tasting events (join the newsletter), I’m just going to stick to a single glass when the prices are $ 10-​$ 13+.
The long bar main room is fun and classy. The outside patio is nice and they do a good job to block the scenery of the surrounding buildings. Just beware, the lights from the parking lot are harsh. Twice I’ve sat in the wrong spot along the bar and had to adjust from the glaring overhead flood lights and car lights coming through the front door. Overall, Plonk has some really great food and drink, and the people are always inviting and nice. However, the prices prevent this from joining the regular rotation keeping it as an «already-​in-​the-​neighborhood occasional» restaurant.

This place was a really good find. We drove about 15 minutes to get here from our spring branch neighborhood and it was well worth the drive despite lots of good restaurant options in our own neighborhood.
The photos on Unilocal don’t show how cool the place is, but it’s got a very cool feel to it that appealed to us. It was very upscale without being stuffy.
It’s inside a higher end retail shopping center in Oak Forest so you have to study the map a little bit to find it, but otherwise it was pretty simple getting there. Once you walk in, you immediately feel like you’re in a completely different location, in a good way. You have to see this place really and you’ll understand it, but it’s definitely one of a kind in Houston in terms of the atmosphere.
The food is first class dining. The menu was great. There were a lot of really fantastic options under 20 dollars. If you’re really hungry, get the brussels sprouts to share as an appetizer. Typically I’m not a fan of brussels sprouts but they really cooked them well and and these were a great appetizer. For an entrée, I had the pork chops ($ 16) which were quite good.
In terms of price, it’s very competitive with many high quality dishes under $ 20. The quality of the food and the venue is right up with anything as nice as you can find anywhere in town. So, all that makes this a very good find as a neighborhood restaurant. We will be back, despite not actually living in the neighborhood.
The whole staff was very friendly and clearly wanted you to enjoy the experience.

3^rd time going there. Close to home so thats a plus. Plenty of parking. Firecracker pizza was great. Wine list is good. Waiter was nice. Owner is grumpy. Even if you go to dine they will ask you for a Credit card as soon as you order… I find that weird. Then they push to put the entire bill on that card even if you plan to go dutch with a friend. Ackward. Has huge potential but just not sold on going back.

OK, this place is pricey and that’s the only reason I don’t give it 5 stars. My cheap ass factors in price, in other words the food would taste so much better if I didn’t have to sell my plasma to buy it.
That being said, you can’t go wrong with anything you order because it’s oh so good. The burgers are probably some of the best in Houston. The pizza is great, not amazing, but great nonetheless.
Patio would be awesome if you weren’t staring at the side of a Kroger building, easy fix if you turn your chair around and face the Wells Fargo… but if you turn it a little bit more you will face like two trees and a neighborhood.

So, when a friend suggested this place for a Girls Night Dinner, one of my girlfriends and I exchanged glances. The mere sound of this name reminded us of both the Price is Right and the word for cheap booze in England. We were pleasantly surprised.
It’s in a shopping center in the Heights off 43^rd Street, and there is plenty of parking. It’s nice and quiet inside with a private room for private parties if you so wish.
I wasn’t drinking that night, so I ordered a gingerale. I was told, «we’re a wine and beer bar, but we do have coke and diet coke,» begrudgingly I took the diet coke even thought I didn’t want caffeine at that hour. But no gingerale?! Minus one star!
Then, we ordered. I am so glad I looked at their Facebook page and learned about the Lamb Special. The Lamb Special is a lovely heirloom tomato salad with buratta, lamb chops with a tomato chutney, and coffee gelato with granita and biscotti. YUM-​MEE! And, here’s the awesome part: 3 course meal = $ 21.00!
What a steal! Individually, if ordered, it would have come out to close to $ 50! It totally pays to be on their mailing list! My friends opted for Char on Barley and enjoyed it, and one of them grew jealous of my gelato and ordered the same for herself. She was pleased she did!
I am definitely coming back here with either a date or a group dinner! A great kept secret!

Clueless about Gluten!
My friend is gluten intolerant and asked what was available. The waiter had no idea so she chose a fish dish, but it came with couscous. She asked for grits, but the waiter said NO SUBSTITUTIONS ALLOWED, but that he could put the couscous on the side. Gee thanks.
They do finally have a sign which took years. Prices are kinda high.

I really enjoyed this place. The beer and wine selections were good and not exorbitantly priced.
The pizza, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower were all delicious. And the staff was pretty friendly.
I’ll be back again, I’m sure! It wasn’t as stuffy and pricey as some wine bars in the area, a nice place I can use for a date night or with friends.
Update: I had the arctic char the next time I came. Oh. My. God. Heavenly. Get it, you won’t be disappointed. It bumped the rating up to 5 stars for me :).

The food here is simply amazing. The cheese and meat board were amazing and that’s all I had planned to order. It was a great assortment of cheese, meat and accoutrements. Then the owner brought us a special dish for the night that he had not even tasted. One of the best dishes I have ever had. Vegetables cook and seasoned to perfection and fresh herbs from old school produce were the best.
Amazing food staff and ambiance
Thanks

I’ve been wanting to try Plonk! out for a while, hearing that it was the origin of the chef that is currently at Main Kitchen at the JW Marriott downtown. Plonk! is most notable for its service, absolutely. We were warmly greeted on the way in, promptly seated at a table labeled «reserved» and left with a menu. Two or three different servers checked on us pleasantly throughout the evening, and yet another silently whisked away plates. It was the service of a 5-​star restaurant with the laid back attitude of a wine bar for biker-​types. Not intuitive, but somehow it worked.
Where Plonk! fell short for me was the somewhat unoriginal small plates. Meatballs with plain baguette were satisfying not but nothing inspired. The Romanesco dipping sauce was spicy and interestingly chunky, but it’s plate-​partner hummus was runny and bland. And its pita-​triangle mode of transportation was thin and made scooping the thin hummus a messy affair. The roasted cauliflower toasty, but devoid of any flavorings and not very memorable.
The wine and beer list were exceptional, the service itself justifies a return. But how about a couple more pops of creativity on the menu?

Tried it today for the first time and we loved it! Love the atmosphere and the food which is hard to find. To those with young kiddos — they don’t have high chairs since they are technically a bar. Either way, everyone was very friendly when we entered and very helpful with our food/​beer selection. The service was great — the bus boys were a little different than the rest of the serving staff but still okay overall.
The drink selection was great… lots of beer and wine to choose from. They carry one of my favorite reislings Kung fu girl.
We started with the brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes. The sprouts were sour and yummy… the sweet potatoes had a pepper and sugar rub on them which made them very tasty! Last we ordered the firecracker pizza without the procutto (veggie) and I really enjoyed it. I would go back and maybe even try dessert next time!

Plonk is our neighborhood bar, located an easy walking distance from my house. Being from New Orleans, I like the that the owner incorporates a lot of the city’s superb music and food culture into the restaurant. I know that I can always count on Plonk for an authentic, roux infused, cup of gumbo and at least once a year, they have the infamous Rebirth Brass Band, straight from the Maple leaf in NOLA, playing on the outdoor patio. They also have a great, and routinely changing, selection of beer from around the world. Most recently, I really enjoyed the Petrus aged pale ale from Belgium.
BOTTOM LINE: A taste of my home town mere steps from my house. How was I so lucky?