Batanga - Houston

This is a late review. Came here on a summer day expected to see their garden with umbrellas. Sadly, no umbrellas! Ut that's fine. Maybe the food can save it. No wrong the atmosphere is really weird. It was lunch time but I barely see anybody. There was a stage for live music I guess. Service was bad. I feel like the employees didn't care much. Food was extremely confusing. The portion is so tiny that we spent so much but didn't feel full. So overpriced. The food was mediocre. Doesn't taste authentic at all. Nobody stopped by to ask my group how we were doing. I will not be coming back here.

Great bartenders on a Friday night! Live music and a packed house! The perfect casual ambience for a first date or girls' night out! The Colombian Chicken Empanadas were delicious! Expect tapa styled dishes (small bites to share) and do make a reservation ahead of time if you want to sit at a table. My friend and I were able to luckily grab some seats at the bar around 7:00 pm before the restaurant became busy. It was raining whenever we went, so I definitely would like to come back again to see the cute Instagram-worthy patio and try some of their drinks!

Don't know why some of the reviews are so negative. This place was good! It did take a while for our food to come out. I'll be honest and say they would look a little understaffed, but the fact that there were only two tables with people sitting in them and just a few people at the bar on a Thursday night didn't make it look like it was understaffed. So, anyways, my entrees took a while and because of this, I ordered extra appetizers. I ordered the mushroom croquettes, empanadas, and cheese bread. The cheese bread was good. Empanadas were ok. Croquettes were good. Nothing too special. My hanger steak was so good especially the elote on the bottom. It's obviously a gentrified elote. But soooo good. I asked for Parmesan cheese with it and it made the whole thing really good. It has bell peppers in it which is a nice spin on the classic. High quality. Steak was good too. Portions are a little small. But I have a small appetite. My family ordered the Paella. To be honest it was not good. The rice was wet and the chicken was so dry. The mussels were the perfect texture and flavor. The sausage was incredibly dry and lacked flavor. The chicken was reaaaaallllly dry. Overall the paella was not good. However the service was great. Servers were laughing, smiling, getting along with each other and us. Our server was very kind. So 10/10 for service.

We sat at the bar and had an awesome conversation and experience. The cocktail drinks were made well and the breakfast nachos were a tasty dish.

Listen to the reviews. This place is adorable has great ambiance, but the food has gone seriously downhill. I used to love coming here. We had theater tickets I thought, that'll be fun, we haven't been there in a while. Made a reservation on the patio. We were seated at one of two unset tables. Hostess said waitress would bring over what we need. She didn't until food had arrived. My husbands soda came out right away. Server didn't show up until our second tapa had arrived I asked the person delivering it to ask our server about my drinks. I ordered a skinny margarita a Topo chico with a glass of ice. I got a bottle of TC with no glass. And the wrong beverage. The Cuban was very good. Everything else we ordered, not so much. One item never came. Nor did the second Cubano we ordered. The plantain chips were burnt tasted like dirty oil. I'm really sad because I loved this place.