Happy hour Deals

Where to drink and eat on the cheap: 12 new happy hour deals offer great bargains at top restaurants

Happy hour is nothing if not an excellent excuse to cut out of the office early, particularly this time of the year when the weather is so beautiful, and score delectable bites and delicious sips for a bargain. Speaking of which, we’ve got a serious hankering to try out some of the newest happy hour deals in town. From a chic new Montrose eatery to a fave established sushi spot, here's where we're headed for happy hour.

Riel
During happy hour (Monday-Thursday; 5 pm-7 pm) at new fast-favorite Riel restaurant, sink your teeth into seriously-good eats, from the MTL smoked meat sando (with brisket, pickled mustard seeds, and French's mustard; $8) to tempura cauliflower (covered with shaved daikon and drizzled with spicy kimchi sauce; $8). What’s more, you’ll also save on drinks, including wines by the glass ($7), beer ($4) and classic cocktails ($8). 1927 Fairview St.; 832-831-9109

Tony's
Tony’s has been serving up luxe spins on American and Italian dishes to the city's socialite set for decades. Now, the Greenway Plaza spot offers a new happy hour special (Monday-Friday; 4 pm-6:30 pm) complete with wines by the glass, specialty cocktails, and a handful of fancy bites (think mini Wagyu cheeseburgers and baked gnocchi), all for just $5 each. 3755 Richmond Ave.; 713-622-6778

Arlo's Ballroom
East side dance club Arlo's Ballroom's take on happy hour features killer drink deals (Tuesday-Saturday; 8 pm-10 pm). It’s down the hatch with $3 well drinks, $1 off all beers, and $4 (bartender’s choice) mixed shots. Leeland St.; 713-489-1899

Agu Ramen
Items on the happy hour menu (Monday-Sunday; 3:30 pm-6:30 pm) at casual Hawaii-based newcomer Agu Ramen include sake ($4), a roster of global beers ($2.50-$4), and creative cocktails ($6) from the Yuzu Gimlet (with sparkling sake, vodka, mint leaves) to the Tiger Lilly (vodka, raspberry liqueur, pineapple juice). Sink your teeth into ahi poke ($6), Agu Gyoza (Japanese-style dumplings with ground pork, cabbage and chives; $3.50), Kurobuta pork sausage ($5), and more. Multiple locations

The General Public
An extensive roster of whiskeys is a big yes in our book, but The General Public at CityCentre ups the ante by offering them up for 50 percent off during happy hour (Monday-Friday; 4 pm-6 pm and 9 pm-11 pm). A duo of half-price burgers round out the menu. Choose between a hearty bacon burger and the Aristocrat (topped with arugula, glazed shallots, and muenster cheese). 797 Sorella Ct., Suite 118; 832-690-4450

Relish
Make the most of your afternoon with the specials (Monday-Friday; 3 pm-5:30 pm) at Upper Kirby restaurant Relish, where you can score discounted craft beers ($5) and classic cocktails ($6), along with $1 deviled eggs and a hamburger with fries combo for $10. 2810 Westheimer Rd.; 713-599-1960

Kata Robata
At popular hotspot Kata Robata, regulars routinely stop in for the standout sushi, Japanese specialties, and a can’t-miss, recently-revamped happy hour (Monday-Saturday from 5 pm-6:30 pm; Sunday from noon-5 pm). Our picks are the yuzu salmon carpaccio ($8), fresh catch ceviche ($6), and Longhorn roll (fried shrimp and fresh water eel with avocado, spicy mayo, three kinds of fish roe, and unagi sauce; $9). Pair your fare with hot sake ($4), Japanese beers ($3-$5), wines by the glass ($6), or a specialty cocktail like the spring caipirinha (Brazilian white rum, lime, and muddled strawberries and peaches; $6).

But the drink deals keep on going. Daily drink specials include half-off glasses of wine on Mondays, half-off sake flights on Tuesdays, and on Wednesdays, the special is the bartender’s choice. Knock off 50 percent on Asahi drafts on Thursdays and Saturdays, on Fridays the Ashi 1,000-ml cans are half-price, and mimosas are $3 on Sundays. 3600 Kirby Dr.; 713-526-8858

Good Dog
Good Dog knocks it out of the park during happy hour (Tuesday-Wednesday from 11 am-11 pm; Thursday-Friday; 3-6 pm) with $4 mini gourmet hot dogs, and daily specials including 50 percent off Texas beers and wines on Tuesdays and half-off wines by the bottle, glass and draft on Wednesdays. Get the weekend started with half-price Texas wines and beer (by the bottle and the can) on Thursdays and Fridays. 903 Studewood St.; 832-800-3647 and 1312 W. Alabama St.; 346-800-3647

Fusion Taco
Bring your appetite for happy hour (Monday-Sunday; 4 pm-7 pm) at casual taco joint, Fusion Taco in the Heights, and load up on your choice of lamb keema, fried oyster, and tempura shrimp tacos ($3 each). Draft beers ($3) and frozen margaritas ($3) are also a steal. 4706 N. Main St.; 713-422-2992

Lucille's
Save on select wines by the glass and beers ($5), mocktails ($7-$9), and cocktails from classic ($10) to creative like the Swift Kick Fiz (with whiskey, Italian liqueur, lemon juice, ginger, turbinado sugar, and frothy egg white; $12) during happy hour (Tuesday-Friday; 3 pm-7 pm) at Lucille’s in the Museum District. Also on the menu are snacks from fried oyster sliders ($2 each) to fried green tomatoes (five for $4). On Fridays, Lucille’s goes big with a reverse happy hour (7 pm-9 pm) and live music via local bands and DJ's (6 pm-9 pm). 5512 La Branch St.; 713-568-2505

Ramen Tatsu-ya
Sip while you slurp at Ramen Tatsu-ya in Montrose. Happy hour here (Monday-Friday; 2 pm-6 pm) includes $1 off draft beer, $2 hot or cold sake, and $3 house cocktails (we recommend the Kimchelada made with spicy kimchi Bloody Mary mix, Japanese spice mix, and Sapporo beer). 1722 California St.; 512-893-5561

Third Coast
During social hour (Monday-Friday; 3 pm-7 pm) at Med Center eatery Third Coast, imbibe well drinks ($6), house wines by the glass ($6), and select beers ($4) and dig into eats like margherita pizza ($10), glazed pork belly bao ($9), and poutine fries (fries topped with cheese curds and green onion, and drenched in savory truffle brown gravy; $6). 6550 Bertner Ave.; 713-749-0400

Mini Wagyu cheeseburgers at Tony's.

Houston, new happy hour deals, March 2017, Tony's mini cheeseburgers

Courtesy photo

Mini Wagyu cheeseburgers at Tony's.

happy-hours

Here's why a top Texas pizza team makes a yearly pilgrimage to New York

Photo courtesy of Missy Davis

In late April, some of the Home Slice team took a field trip to New York to bring authentic NYC flavors and service back to Houston.

There's a saying in the pizza world: "smooth is fast." No yelling, no chaos, no sprinting across a kitchen. Just calm, practiced movement, one pie at a time. It's a philosophy Home Slice Pizza has tried to bottle since its very beginnings. Every year, to make sure this message lands, the team flies to the Big Apple to watch it in action.

In late April this year, 17 Home Slice employees including kitchen managers, front-of-house staff, server trainers, and lead servers boarded flights from Texas to New York for four days of eating, walking, subway rides, and the kind of bonding that only happens when you're crammed around a table at a legendary Brooklyn pizzeria at 9 pm on a Monday. The trip includes employees from the store's Houston location in Midtown, and Home Slice is busily working on its new location in the Heights that will open this fall.

"You can serve New York-style pizza," says Sara Ronder, who has made the trip more than a dozen times. She works as an executive assistant to founding owners Terri Hannifin, Jen Scoville Strickland, and Joseph Strickland. "But there's a whole other level you just soak in when you go."

The tradition dates back to 2006, a year after Home Slice first opened its doors. The restaurant's founders, Hannifin and Strickland, met as roommates at NYU. New York pizza was a way of life for them. They had no idea at the time they'd open a New York-style pizzeria in Austin one day. But after they did it, they knew bringing the team back to where it all began would be important. The team has made the trip every year since — minus a few during the Pandemic.

The itinerary this year was a masterclass in eating: Rubirosa for lunch on arrival day, a sunset Staten Island Ferry ride, then dinner at Lucali in Brooklyn to kick things off. Day two brought a full pizza and sub crawl — Prince Street Pizza, Faicco's, Joe's Pizza, Lucia Pizza of SoHo, L'industrie Pizzeria, Upside Pizza, and Regina's Grocery — before a sit-down dinner at Roscioli.

Wednesday opened with breakfast at the classic Ukrainian diner Veselka, then split the group into teams fanning out across the boroughs: Brooklyn Bridge walks, a Roosevelt Island Tramway ride, Patsy's in Harlem, the Museum of the City of New York, and stops at Juliana's and Angelo's Coal Oven Pizzeria. The trip closed things out with lunch at John's of Bleecker Street, then led back to Austin and Houston.

Dividing up a slice in front of Joe's Pizza. Photo courtesy of Missy Davis

Lucali kept coming up as the runaway favorite. Karen Flores, assistant kitchen manager at the North Loop location, was transfixed watching the pizza maker work the room, stretching dough, stacking pies, drawing little heart shapes in the air for appreciative guests, and never breaking a sweat.

"It didn't matter how busy it was," Flores says. "There was no hecticness. Everybody was just kind of doing their things nice and calmly."

For first-timer Matthew Stoughton, a front-of-house employee at the South Congress location, a highlight came from Lucia Pizza of SoHo, where a server named Maria remembered the group from a visit eight months prior: what they ordered, where they were coming from, how the night went.

"She was amazing," Stoughton says. "There's a group of 17 people in this tiny little bar, and she was just totally crushing it." Or as the Home Slice Ethos puts it, "smooth is fast."

Kelly Ball, a front-of-house server trainer and lead server at the original South Congress location, says the trip recalibrated her relationship to high-volume service.

"It's the comfortability that people have being in close spaces together; the way that they move around each other, and you even find yourself kind of hustling at first, just to match the vibe," she says. "And then you realize that you're the one hustling, because everything is actually just kind of going. So I really enjoyed that part."

Between meals, the group played scavenger hunt bingo around the city, snapping photos of classically New York sights for prizes. They sought out things like rats in the subway, pigeons wrestling with too-large food items, campaign sticker art, and sidewalk cellar doors.

Johns of Bleecker Street The whole group at Johns of Bleecker on their last day in New York.Photo courtesy of Missy Davis

And of course, aside from coming back with inspiration on how to prep and serve the best New York slice in Austin, the team has also come back a whole lot closer.

"That whole saying, a 'New York minute' — I'm so confused about what that actually means now," laughs Ball. "Because in New York there's so much happening in a minute, but also it just flies by. So it's just that general sense that we're all doing this together, we will get there, we're gonna do it as a team, and it's gonna be awesome."

Plus, now that they're back and have tasted the pizza that inspired it all, when a New Yorker comes into Home Slice and gives praise, it means all that much more.

"When somebody says, 'I'm from New York and this pizza is legit,'" Flores says, "we made that happen. I made that dough. And at the end of the day, I think that that is a beautiful thing."

home slice pizza new york pizza