Places to eat/coffee in Downtown Houston

October 11, 2008 2:15 PM

What are some good coffee shops and lunch places in Downtown Houston?

I'm thinking about meeting friends and business contacts for lunch or coffee in Downtown Houston. This is a mid-day (11am-2pm) or afterwork (4:30-6pm) type thing.

This would be fairly frequent, once or twice a week, so it would have to be affordable for me. I have a budget of $10 for lunch and $5 for coffee.

They have to be downtown, since I take the bus to work. Ideally they should be walking distance from the light rail line. I work at the County Courthouses on Franklin and Caroline.


I'd prefer to pick places that are local (not Quiznos) and have places to sit and talk. I'm not really sure what I'm going to talk about, but supposedly it's good to get out and touch base with people.


It actually doesn't even have to be a food place. I just can't think of any public spaces in Houston setup for socializing.

posted by abdulf to food & drink (8 comments total)

Have you been down in the Tunnel? lots of interesting places to eat/ get coffee down there.

Set about twenty feet below Houston's downtown street system, today's seven-mile Tunnel is a series of underground passageways which, with above-ground skywalks, link office towers to hotels, banks, corporate and government offices, restaurants, retail stores, and the Theater District. Only one building, Wells Fargo Plaza, offers direct access from the street to the Tunnel; otherwise, you must enter the Tunnel from street-level stairs, escalators, or elevators located inside a building connected to the Tunnel.
Just about every service - with the exception of a major supermarket - is available via the Tunnel. In addition to several major food courts, you will find dry cleaners, shoe repair shops, sandwich shops, quality restaurants, snack bars, gift shops, specialty shops, clothing boutiques, copy and printing services, post offices, express mail services, banks, flower shops, dentists, doctors, clinics, drug stores, optometrists, eyeglass centers, beauty salons, and barber shops. The Tunnel is also connected to the Theater District's performance halls and Bayou Place, as well as to downtown's only shopping mall...

Also, the Zoo is one of the stops off of the light rail. If you got a membership you could go in for lunch every day and have great scenery. Many people do that.
posted by fogonlittlecatfeet at 2:54 PM on October 11, 2008

Haven't been there myself but my supervisors are big fans of the Rising Roll which is in the medical center off...Macgregor, maybe. It looks pretty charming.


Seconding the Zoo, too.
posted by Neofelis at 3:41 PM on October 11, 2008

Med Ctr: The aforementioned Rising Roll is good, but overpriced. Inside the Smith Tower of Methodist, there's a little burger place called Miller's that serves up great food.

Downtown: I hear Treebeard's has good Cajun food (only open for lunch)
posted by chrisamiller at 5:59 PM on October 11, 2008

You might want to check out this thread. In it I recommended Givral's off the McGowen rail stop and Tacos a GoGo off the HCC stop, both are in Midtown and super cheap but not cheap looking places. Givral's sandwiches are $2.50 and up and wonderful, plus free wifi. There's another location downtown on Congress (Preston stop)

If you like tacos, Cabo on Travis (Market Square) is good and not too expensive. I'll second Treebeards that was mentioned above - also on Travis in Market Square. Franks Pizza is also right there - cheap fun easy. Preston stop on the rail. El Rey on Main (Preston stop) also has good reasonable food. The cantaloupe juice is really good too.

I haven't tried them yet but there's a new coffee place on Travis near Market Square, Don Diegos, which is a cool space. The Franklin Lofts off Main has a coffee shop in it's lobby too that looks interesting. I guess I end up spending a lot of time off the Preston stop when I go downtown. Inversion Coffee is supposed to open up a location in the downtown library but they haven't yet.

b4-u-eat is a good resource for regional eats, with visitor reviews that usually give you a good idea about the place.
posted by dog food sugar at 6:36 PM on October 11, 2008

Oh and don't forget about Discovery Green Park when the weather's nice. Good for socializing. Sometimes there's free music, and usually good people watching.
posted by dog food sugar at 6:40 PM on October 11, 2008

I am not sure what their lunch traffic is like, but the Flying Saucer has good sandwiches and such. The bratzel (pretzel w/ bratwurst, cheese, and scallions) is my wife's favourite. Also, if you're willing to go just a bit outside of downtown you can go to Kim Son at Chartres and Jefferson. I haven't been disappointing by anything they make be it chinese or vietnamese.
posted by bsx at 6:44 PM on October 11, 2008

If you work near the Harris County Courthouse, the Market Square area has several good lunch joints within easy walking distance: Les Givrals on Congress (you can get out of there for $6 at lunch) for tasty Vietnamese, Market Square Grill on Travis (burgers, salads, sandwiches, in an old building with lots of dark wood, high ceilings, and nice back patio), Yapa Kitchen on Franklin (bright and quiet cafe with some of the best gelato in town in addition to the tasty sandwich/salad cafe stuff). Right next to the rail stop is El Rey, but it can get kind of loud during lunch. For just coffee/drinks, you might try the Franklin St. Cafe.
posted by *s at 8:16 PM on October 11, 2008

Downtown: I hear Treebeard's has good Cajun food

Seconding Treebeard's on Market Square. I can attest that it does have great Cajun food, provides quick cafeteria style service, and won't break the bank. They can get crowded at the height of the lunch hour, but plenty hospitable for casual meetings.

Also, check the tunnel (as above).
posted by GPF at 12:07 PM on October 12, 2008