The Black Labrador

It’s a great place to meet friends and family where you can have a glass of wine, a beer, or a cup of coffee. There is something there for everyone. We were there a few weeks ago with extended family after a visit to the Menil. The outside chess set proved to be an entertaining experience.

My family has known this restaurant for over 17 years. Today was the absolute worst food and service we have ever had. I brought my mother here for Mother’s Day along with my family. We sat at the table for quite a while. Finally a waitress came and asked if there were others that were joining us. I said no, we are waiting for you to take our order. When we received our food, we had ordered the baked brie which included a small amount of brie on a small white piece of bread. I ordered bubbles and squeak. The tomato was raw the cheese was cold. My husband ordered fish and chips and his French fries were cold. The service was shoddy and atrocious. We were there for an hour and a half. Only six out of seven waters were served. After asking multiple times. We never got the condiments that were asked for. I would say the overall food quality was low especially for the prices. Unfortunately the only thing we can recommend for this restaurant is the chessboard outside.

This is a nice British style pub and restaurant in the Montrose area of Houston. Parking is difficult out front, but there’s a substantial parking garage in the back that’s shared with the adjacent café and the library. Of course, the library closes by 7pm, leaving the garage mostly open for dinnertime service.
The menu runs the gamut of familiar items (Fish & Chips, Ploughman’s Lunch) and authentic British dishes including Beef Wellington, Scotch Collops, Steak & Kidney Pie, Sole in its Coffin, Bangers & Mash, etc. The price points are higher than you’d find at a lot of other places for British food, but very reasonable for an upscale night out.
If you’re ordering from the bar, drinks are going to be more expensive than you’d find at most other restaurants and bars. If you want to order a split drink (like a Black & Tan or a Snakebite), do NOT order them as is. Rather, order the component drinks and a spare glass and instead of getting one $ 9 drink, you’ll get two drinks worth for $ 12.
The service at this place is always lacking. I was originally curious about the all-​female staff until a couple of friends who used to work there informed me that the manager hires waitresses based on «how they look walking out the door.» Sure enough, those friends have very nice behinds. As a result, you end up with a less experienced and skilled wait staff, but they’re nice enough and service is reasonable if you have a lot of time to spare.
There’s also a giant chess board on the patio where you can play. It’s usually occupied by kids who have no clue what they are doing, but if it’s free and you’ve already had a couple of drinks at the bar, it’s a great time to step out and try your skill against a friend.

New to the hood we ventured out to the well known Black Lab. In terms of décor it overdoes the British theme a touch but it is pretty authentic. I had some bottled Sam Smith nut brown ale which was great! We had bangers and mash which comes with baked beans and fish and chips which are more like fries. However both were enjoyed and very good. As we had just moved house we decided to have a desert each. Apple pie which was good and substantial and trifle which was more like a sponge but very tasty — but not really recognizable as a British trifle.
All in all a great experience for a jolt of «British» pub food and drink. A four to five star experience. We will be back!

I just had the fish sandwich, and it was awful. You’d think a British pub could figure out how to prepare battered cod. The beers are obscenely overpriced for being so low in alcohol content. The service (bar and waitstaff) is slow and uncaring. The only thing I like is the cheese soup, and I’m sure it comes to them frozen.

It’s been a few years since I’ve been here. I was so excited to bring my date here only to be severely disappointed. The food was horrible and overpriced. A bottle of angry Orchard is $ 6.75. The salad looked like it was out of a bag. The burger was bland and didn’t even come with condiments. We had to ask for that. My fish was way overcooked and it was overall a bad experience. My waitress got the couple behind us order wrong and told them at least it looks good. So he ate it. I can say I’ll never come back here again. Service was damn near dead, just like the customers. We were one of three tables. There are too many other options in Houston with better service and way better food.

Had a great experience here. My friend and I sat at the bar where we received excellent service.
Most brag worthy of our visit was the stellar Beef Wellington. I’d go as far to say it was ‘picture perfect’, true to our expectations, and most satisfying in all regards.
Will definitely be back!

*UPDATE 12÷16÷15: I got food poisoning the next morning after eating here, so I had to lower the rating to 1 star and I don’t plan on coming back. It wasn’t what I had for dinner because my family and I all ate the same thing and they didn’t get sick.
My friend and I ate here today for a late lunch. Unfortunately I have to agree with the other reviewers that the food is, as one review said, «good, but not great.» Our waitress was friendly, but didn’t seem very knowledgable about the menu. She actually visited us at the right times, which was good. I also think for a restaurant that was not at all crowded, our food could have come out a bit quicker — which I blame on the kitchen.
I had the bangers and mash and my friend had the labrador chicken. Again, the dishes were just okay. Not horrible, but not memorable. I LOVE the décor and the ambience. It’s all wood inside and dimly lit — romantic and cozy. I will probably return another time for appetizers and some beers with my husband, but not for a full meal.
It’s a shame the food is so bleh because it’s a beautiful restaurant in a great location, and the parking is pretty easy — which is a plus in Montrose! Hopefully they can get some new management and make some improvements… or Gordon Ramsay can come in and save the place! :)

Great food and quite. Soups are perfect. Fish and chips a must! Not a bad item on the menu

I give it 5 stars for ambiance, but a generous 3 stars for the mediocre food. It’s exactly the kind of place we were looking for on a cold Sunday afternoon/​evening; we wanted somewhere friendly and cozy with a lot of character where we could have a few pints with some friends. Located next to the old church /​Montrose library, this whole strip is charming, and so is the interior of the pub. It’s spacious yet inviting and sprinkled with lots of wooden furniture. (I imagined I could be in the Three Brooksticks. Anyone? Anyone?)
The service is attentive and friendly, the beer selection is modest, and the menu offers a variety of classic British dishes and some attempts at burgers, salads, soups for the picky eaters. I ventured out and had steak & kidney pie instead of my normal fish and chips; friends had burgers and the scotched beef. The pie was generously sized with a good pastry crust, but I was really put off by the kidney flavor (overwhelming…my mistake). I had chips on the side that were decent, although overcooked, and I tried the scotched beef instead. I feel bad not liking it — it’s like insulting someone’s mother’s cooking — but the beef was totally dry. It may have been okay when it was fresh, but simply left on simmer/​heat too long, and the beef cubes were tough and dry, the veggies cooked to mush. The rest of the gravy and the mashed potatoes were nothing special. Overall, we loved the menu itself but not the cooking. (I’ll stick with fish and chips next time.)
We’ll definitely be back, but not really for the food. I look forward to coming in for a bite and a drink before heading upstairs to Cezanne in the future.

I went here with my little pup and boyfriend on a Saturday morning and we sat outside. The scenery is really nice with colorful doors and plants growing on the face of the building. I love that the place is pet friendly, and we actually saw a couple that was eating there and later saw them at the same dog park we went to.
He ordered the scotch eggs and I got eggs benedict. The food was okay and it came out fast. Our waitress was really nice. I don’t have anything negative to say, but I think it was just okay. I’d love to come back and try something for dinner.

Lets describe the black labrador. Awkward silence, boring, uncomfortable, expensive, 20% gratuity added, and rude.
Safe to say our group of 8 will not be coming back.

We stopped in here for dinner a few weeks ago for an event at MFAH. We hadn’t been here in quite awhile, but remembering it to be fairly good. We opted to sit outside since it was an unusually nice Houston night.
Our waitress greeted us and was as dull as could be. She took our drink orders and seemed confused when we were ordering our meals. They did come out right, but I was worried. She had a few other tables outside, but didn’t seem to keep up with them very well either.
I ordered a side salad to start and man was it SAD. $ 6.00 for something that looked as if was dumped from a premade salad bag and skimpy on the greens for sure! As for our pub food, it was just OK to me. My fish dish was too salty and the peas were clearly frozen. I just wasn’t wowed for the cost of it all. We both left un-​enchanted with our meal that night. Seems like quality and service has bottomed out since the last time we were in. Too bad.

Great outdoor seating, especially during cooler weather days (whatever fall or spring Houston has).
The ambiance and deco inside is very cool as well.
The wait staff is okay. They sometimes looked like they didn’t want to work there but, maybe it was because it was a beautiful day outside and they had to work =P.
The food was not as good as when I first came here awhile back; maybe around 2 years ago. The prices were also a bit steep; drinks and food.
I love the design and outdoor seating but, wish the food was better and better priced.

I went here on a meetup event. The atmosphere was nice, but the food was just meh, and I thought the prices were RIDICULOUS. $ 7.50/pint…you can definitely do better other places.
The waitress didn’t even try. I would sit there staring at her, waiting, while she stood right near our table texting on her phone for 5+ min straight. Even when I tried to order or pay, she seemed as if I was bothering her. Because I was with a large group, she auto-​charged a 20% tip – perhaps that’s why she was unmotivated.
I ended up spending over $ 25 on one cocktail, a HALF pint of beer, and a very small cup of soup. The baked potato soup wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great – certainly not worth $ 6 for a ~6oz cup. The guy next to me ordered a chicken sandwich with fries. It came out to ~$ 15 and he said it wasn’t very good at all. We agreed that we did not really like the place, and that, if we had some input in the meetup group, we would prefer not to return.

This place has a very cool atmosphere, and based on the one time I have eaten there they have good food.
I enjoyed the Fish and Chips, and my mom enjoyed her chicken salad. You can bring your dog to sit outside on a nice day, or enjoy the really cool british-​pub-​style dining room inside. They have daily specials and a big variety of food to choose from. The service is decent, and there is a good amount of parking now that eatsie boys has closed. There is also some attached garage parking for the pub on certain days, or street parking in the nearby neighborhood.
I’d definitely come back here if I was in the area and craving fish n chips!

A British pub that serves up some delicious food! My personal favorite is their vegetarian bubble and squeak — cakes made of mashed potatoes and cabbage and served with a broiled tomato!
It’s a very charming pub, with low ceilings, old wooden tables, and an enormous chess set outside.
Love it.

Had dinner in the back room for a private event a few weeks ago. Eating while surrounded by Churchill paintings was an interesting experience, for sure. If I were to return, though, I’d probably opt for a spot in the pub area which looked more fun!
I ordered the grilled salmon with wild rice, which was reasonably good but nothing memorable. Observing the other dishes that were ordered, the prime rib looked very good as well as the shepherd’s pie.
The apple pie was my favorite dessert that I tried! Unlike most Apple pies, the apples were cut into tiny bits which I’ve never had before and it was different and so much better than usual.
Prices are for the most part $ 12 and up, and while the food was tasty, this wouldn’t be my first choice for English pub food in Houston.

I use to come here way back when I was a teenager; it’s been around for a long time and I don’t remember the food being so bad. The outdoor sitting is the same, lovely, shaded, green, cozy but the food was amiss; let’s start with the ingredients, the quality is low; minimal at best and the service was worse than the food.
«What kind is bread is served with the baked brie?»
«Just normal bread.»
(well what’s normal I wonder???)
Oddly, the baked brie was melted over soggy stale bread– probably to give you the illusion that you have more cheese for the $ 10.00 charge… I wouldn’t be surprised if they just threw it in the microwave, and it comes with pine nuts but you really only get like 4 of them and the bread, well, it’s like bodega quality baguette. (If the waitress would have told me they took a ¼ of the brie, threw it on slice bread– I wouldn’t have ordered it but she was most than unhelpful).
Also, hesitantly ordered the Welsh Walnut Salad with chicken (damn you starvation)… I knew it wouldn’t be good and I was right, one of the most uninteresting salads I had in a very long time. I think my airplane salad was better to be quite honest.
So, it was nice to go back since I have fond memories of this area but I’m never ever coming back for the food… in fact, the food and service was so bad, maybe from now on, I’ll just relive the memories from a passing car, «Oh, look, the Black Lab, god it’s been a round forever, but damn does the food suck.»

There are much better British food establishments in town. The menu here is quite pricey, and which makes the disappointment of mediocre food taste that much more bitter.
Fish and chips: Not recommended. The fish was greasy and extremely bland.
Prime rib sliders: Mediocre. The two sliders were not particularly flavorful, and the buns had the texture and taste of grocery-​store pre-​packaged buns. Also, the sliders were kind of cold when they were finally brought out. The fries were pretty good, though.
Service was a little spotty but very friendly. The validated garage parking is a nice plus.