El Meson

Salento Bistrot is an upscale Spanish–Latin fusion restaurant and wine bar in the heart of Rice Village, Houston, serving delicious, healthy, flavorful house-made food since 2003. Best known for their brunch, signature paellas and handcrafted empanadas, Salento pairs elevated cuisine with a wide, carefully curated wine program featuring top local and international labels available by the glass and bottle. The experience is defined by weekly live performers—often acoustic musicians playing Spanish guitar and other styles—creating an elegant indoor setting and an ambient, music-filled patio. Ideal for date nights, celebrations, and private events, with a private dining room and indoor and outdoor seating. Walk-ins welcome daily.

Black Walnut Kitchen & Bar, is a local family-friendly restaurant chain serving American food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in addition to weekday happy hour specials and a weekend brunch. Our Rice Village restaurant is conveniently located in the Village shopping mall near Rice University, minutes from downtown Houston, Medical Center and the Museum District. Blending the easygoing efficiency of counter service with the thoughtful precision of our award-winning chef, Black Walnut offers an elevated dining experience that makes the most of your time without ever compromising freshness or flavor. We're your place, at your pace!

For more than 35 years, D’Amico’s Italian Market Café in Rice Village has been known as Houston’s own Little Italy. While the always-bustling spot is well known as a full-service Italian restaurant, it still comes as a surprise to some to discover it’s also an Italian market. As diners indulge in both traditional and innovative Southern Italian dishes like handmade sandwiches, fire-roasted pizzas, house-made pasta and an array of seafood, other customers are shopping the shelves for imported olive oils, Italian peppers, fresh pastas and more. It’s hard to find a place that feels more Italian than this.

At Mendocino Farms, your favorite food experience awaits. Our creative sandwiches, salads and more take you on an unexpected culinary adventure with fresh ingredients and fearless flavor combinations. We first opened our doors in 2005 as a family business with the vision to offer much more than great food—we wanted to build a welcoming gathering place where happiness is always an order away. And we’ve been inviting our guests to Eat Happy ever since.

Rice Box is a Chinese takeout bar from the future, serving classic, old-school American Chinese food. The Rice Village location opened in 2023 as our largest and most experiential build to date, featuring our first exoskeleton detail and an infinity-space glass ceiling. Wok-fired plates, crispy fried chicken, house-made dumplings, and crab Rangoon are scratch-made to order. Noodles, fried rice, dumplings, and the takeout you grew up on, built to travel. What launched as a Houston food truck in 2011 now serves guests across Houston. Order ahead on the Rice Box app or by phone, with dine-in, pickup, and delivery available.

We have been proudly serving authentic Turkish-Mediterranean dishes since 2004 under the same ownership (Family Owned) at only location in Rice Village. Pasha has been recognized and awarded by the prestigious magazines and critics such as Zagat, Texas Monthly, Houston Chronicle, My Table Magazines...

Cafe Rabelais is a charming French cafe in the heart of Rice Village serving the highest quality French food and wine in a cozy, casual atmosphere for over 20 years. Guests say it feels like stepping into France without having to take a plane.

The Gypsy Poet is Houston's home for artisan wood-fired pizza — a studio where food, art, music and poetry collide. Every pizza is handcrafted from fresh dough, baked in our wood-fired oven, and topped with quality ingredients: house tomato sauce, fior di latte, prosciutto di parma, truffle oil and more. Pair your pie with a curated selection of wine and local A life traveling around the world made me develop an exquisite taste for food, service and good entertainment. This is my studio where all my life-experiences collide into my place of creation. I express my art through many ways; paint, architecture, colors, music, poetry and pizza. Is a Chef an Artist? Is a Poet a Chef? Is my oven a canvas or is it the paintbrush? This is my Story.