Rouse Craft Cooking is a newly opened restaurant located in the new Chifley Hotel.  The objective of this restaurant is to tell the story of Houston. Serving up Asian, Mexican and Texas food.

I checked in at the concierge and valet parked my vehicle.

I headed inside and checked into my room with the front desk.

Once I was settled into my room, I headed to lunch at Rouse Craft Cooking.

Rouse Craft is a beautifully decorated restaurant with a modern style vibe.

The Chifley hotel itself is a really nice hotel. At the end of this restaurant review is a complete video of the Chifley Hotel.

I was greeted by a hostess who seated me immediately. She asked me what type of seating I preferred and allowed me to choose my spot.

She handed me a menu and I quickly began perusing the menu. It didn’t take me very long to choose the seat that I wanted.

I started with a delicious mocktail, Rouse’s Ruse. This Mocktail drink was pinkish. Beautifully presented with dragon fruit. Really pretty and tasty.

I started with the Carrot Soup. The carrot soup had was gorgeous. They was a drizzle of chili oil on top with grilled shrimp and sprouts. A well balanced soup. The portion size for a starter was large and reasonably priced.

I decided on the Crab Cakes. I’m a Louisiana girl so I always gravitate to the seafood dishes. The crab cakes were huge with fresh crab on a bed of slaw. That was tossed in a little vinaigrette. With a sweet potato purée.

Honestly in my opinion the purée seemed like an after-thought. It was good but to me didn’t belong with this dish.

In my opinion a nice aioli or sauce over the top would have been really  nice.

After lunch, I explored the Chifley Hotel a little more.

The restaurant was even nice enough to make me a cup of hot chocolate which was an off menu item.

It was chocolatey and delicious. Perfect on a rainy day.

After about 40 minutes or so I headed to my room to relax and enjoy the room. Be sure to check out the video below for more on the room.

At about 7, I headed downstairs to order take out. This hotel advertised room service on their website but there was no room service. I made sure to mention my disapproval that they would advertise it on the website but it not be available.

For dinner I ordered the Rouse Burger. This burger was a dry aged angus beef burger with aged cheddar cheese, pickles, lettuce, house sauce, fries with wasabi aioli.

The burger was good. I ordered it medium well. The burger was well seasoned. The wasabi aioli was different but paired nicely with the burger. The fries were seasoned and fried to perfection. It didn’t have any house sauce as stated but it was great with the ketchup.

Overall the restaurant is beautiful. A really nicely decorated restaurant. The service was great. The waitress was very attentive.The food to me was average, but I know that the hotel is just opening and the chef is getting his footing so in time, hopefully it will get better. I ordered several things and nothing wow’d me, so I would definitely recommend that the chef chooses his menu items carefully and being able to execute them flawlessly especially at the price points.

Here is the link to the youtube video of the Chifley Hotel.

 

The Rouse Restaurant is located inside of the Chifley Hotel. The Chifley is located within minutes of Uptown Houston’s affluent River Oaks neighborhood and three blocks from The Galleria, the largest shopping center in Texas.The Chifley 2400 W. Loop S., Houston, TX 77027.