Dude, I am totally in support of students!!! So I'm like heck ya let's do this!!! All tables pretty spaced out, cool, cold atmosphere, window into the kitchen- all the students are doing their thing in the kitchen!!! Jazzy Restaurant music gave a really nice touch.. Some dishes were super bomb!!!! Like the fried risotto ball... and they only give you ONE... cries inside... Seafood rizo -it was ok, the whole thing taste like shrimp ...... In the cup, the chocolate with fruit on top was soooogood!!!!! It's $35 per person if you didn't find it on Groupon... I highly recommend you DO get it... I can go into more detail about the food but .. bottom line is... they are students and some are a complete hit and some could be a light L... you're not gonna get super top notch service this isn't a fine dining establishment so just understand that when you walk in. They have some sodas, in addition to water... i was expecting super creative dishes like siriacha pomegranate sauce, but menu changes up. I am glad I went to this experience today, but I don't think I would be returning. Thank you for the experience! read more

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Dinner tonight has an Italian inspired menu. I would recommend having the tomato soup, the Osso buco, glazed carrots, fettuccine & mashed potatoes. The chicken was also good although the portion is a little in the small side. Avoid both desserts, they are not worth even a taste. Salad was so so as well as the calamari relleno which composed of 3 tiny squids. The main complaints I have with the Osso buco are 1) the sauce/ gravy was too salty ( had to take a bite of the carrots & mashed potato each time to remove the saltiness) 2) the meat is more on the tough side. The intermizzo was at room temperature which made the concoction sickeningly sweet. They should have both the glass container & the concoction cold ! Remember, these are culinary students so they are newly trained to attend to your needs as a restaurant customer so we were patient when water was not refilled without us flagging one of them all the time. read more

Delicious!! 5 course meal at a super reasonable price. It has a great and relaxed atmosphere. My friend and I went for dinner on caribbean night and it had me feeling caribbean vibes! We had jerk chicken skeweets, delicious soup, mahi mahi and amazing deserts. I must come again read more

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My wife and I went here for HRW 2013. The menu they had sounded fantastic and we both knew we would regret not going here if we didn't give it a try. It feels weird walking into a school knowing you are going there for a nice meal. The decor is very minimal and nothing fancy at all. We were greeted at the hostess stand and shown to our table. There are only about 20 tables at most in the place. Our waitress we had was not good at all. She didn't ask us for our drinks, took forever to take our food order and just was really bad through the whole dinner service. I know these are students and they are learning, but she needs a whole lot of work still. The food was better than the service at least, well some dishes were anyway. The amuse bouche was not very good and I would skip it next time. The bread they bring out is pretty good though and we were hungry so it went down well. 1st course was the lamb meatballs and the pork belly. The lamb meatballs were very good and one of the best things from the meal. They were very tender and had nice flavor. The tzaziki sauce went well with the meatballs. The pork belly was cooked well and had good texture and flavor. The langostine it was served with was delicious. It was nice and tender and not overcooked. 2nd course was the grilled pineapple and quail salad for us both. This one was a fail all the way around. Do not get this if you see it on the menu. For entree, we had the veal osso bucco and the ribeye. The entree portions were huge and my wife could not finish hers. The veal was melt in your mouth tender and had great flavor. The ribeye was a little tough, but had a good taste. It was served with french fries and grilled asparagus. The veal was the better of the two dishes. For dessert, I had the sticky toffee pudding and my wife had the homemade vanilla bean ice cream with toasted lemon pound cake. The sticky toffee pudding was extremely sweet. Very rich and heavy. The ice cream and pound cake was a lot lighter and a nice ending to the meal. I am glad we came and gave this place a try. About 1/2 of the dishes we tried were good the other 1/2 not so much. I probably will not return. read more

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This was our third attendance this year. Week one and two were ok. This week not only was the menu outstanding, we had over and above awesome service from Stephanie! We will be back and definitely ask for Stephanie read more

Ok, granted this is a culinary cooking restaurant. However, I figured for students who are about to graduate , the food could have been much better. Don't get me wrong......... SOME of the courses were good...but not "over-the-moon". First things first. This meal is 6 courses...YEP..that's right, SIX ! The Appetizers :: We had fried calamari , as their black mussels were not up to par to serve..so only fried calamari was served. ( no problem ) However, the batter was falling off, and looked as though they were fried with corn meal. They were *meh*. The Soup:: We had Pasta Fagioli.. basically penne pasta with italian sausage meatballs with cannelloni beans in a tomato broth. VERY tasty ! The Salad :: Mixed greens with red and yellow cherry tomatoes, walnuts, and feta cheese served inside a red cabbage leaf..and dressed with a creamy vinaigrette. YUM ! The Pasta :: Langostino with linguini, served with herbs and parmesan cheese. They serve the pasta with langostino meat already incorporated and also with one whole langostino aside the pasta. Nice looking presentation. The pasta was ok.. not great , but not bad either. The Intermezzo :: ( palette cleanser ) Raspberry sorbet with orange liquer. Nice. The Entree :: ARE YOU FULL YET ?!......... I am ! LOL The Entree :: Husband had Veal with gnocchi in a brown gravy. It tasted very much like "Beef stew ". It tasted good, though. I had the seared Tuna Steak served over a mashed butternut squash. The tuna steak had chimichurri on top which I loved. The steak was seasoned well, but it was so heavy.I ate a few bites of it and was done, but I finished the squash. and finalllllllllllyyyyy The Dessert :: Tiramisu *sigh* Not only was it not good looking, but it didn't taste worth a thing ! The lady fingers were drenched so heavily in brandy, that they were mushy . I found a piece of the second cookie that wasn't loaded with brandy and it was crunchy...but overall, the dessert was not good ,,AT ALL ! All in all, I can't complain... We had a 6 course meal for only $35.00 per person..so $70. bucks for the husband and I , and we were beyond FULL ! I would go back..and I would recoommend this spot to others. Each week is a different menu, so why not ! I will get a chance to try all kinds of culinary cuisines for not a lot of money. read more

Courses - Mixed green salad @ Art Institute Courses Restaurant - New American Near Me - Houston, Texas

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Well, I wasn't expecting perfection because I knew these were students that were learning, but some of the food was inedible. Luckily we didn't pay much for our meal, thanks to Groupon. The FOOD: - Bread and Butter: The butter was so salty that you could feel the salt granules in between your teeth. I took one bite and literally, could not eat another crumble. Rating: 1 - French Onion Soup: Pretty good, very flavorful and hearty. Rating: 4 - Haricot Vert Salad: You could tell this was pre-made, sitting in the refrigerator, served on a cold plate. Not very good. Rating: 2 - Coquille St. Jacque: Not sure if it was the preparation or the quality of the scallops, but they were watery and fishy. I couldn't eat more than one bite. Rating: 1 - Salpion of Wild Mushrooms: This was pretty good! Rating: 4 - Lemon-Lime Sorbet: this tasted like an Italian Ice. It was ok, just too lemony for me: Rating: 3 - Duck a la Orange: This was by far the thing I was most impressed with. Usually duck can be very dry or very gamey. This was nether. Kudos to the chefs on this one. - Vanilla Bean Éclair: No. This was very dry and the cream was not tasty. Rating: 1 - Cream the Dream: This was way better than the Éclair, but still not top notch. Rating: 3 The SERVICE: The wait staff was very friendly, but not well versed in table service. Our table was set for 4 and with only 2 of us there, I was expecting the other 2 table settings to have been removed. They were not. Also, we had to ask for refills on water a lot. The ATMOSPHERE. The atmosphere was very cold and not too welcoming. Some of the plates were dirty as well. OVERALL: We probably won't try this experiment again. Follow me on my way to Foodietown! http://britneygfoodie.yelp.com read more

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We have eaten at Courses quite a few times. The food is prepared by students being overseen by a masterchef. In the past the food has always been incredibly good. Tonight however was a bit of a disappointment. The entree options were beef ribs or a Cornish hen. They came and told us and told us halfway through or meal that they had run out of Cornish hens. So we all decided to have the ribs. They came out again and told us that they only had 3 portions of ribs. We were a party of six. So what they did was offer a shrimp plate instead. Although the ribs and shrimp are very good it was a real disappointment not to get what you want. Now for desert! In the options included peach cobbler and banana pudding. Our party of six three of us ordered banana pudding and the other half ordered peach cobbler. She came out with 5 cobblers ia d one one banana pudding stating that was all they had left. Unfortunately, the cobbler had sat under the heat liamp way too long and was totally dried out. The flavor was good but it was like eating a three day old stone. read more

Great effort! We came on vietnamese food night. The pho broth was too marrow tasting and the plaintain dessert was too rigid and tough. I felt the meats were salted a bit much but thats for different tastes. The 5 stars is for the service and presentation. Never left us thirsty and were attentive. Parking was free and each course had its own flavor (besides salt). My favorite part was the palette cleanser. Coconut ice cream! In the middle of dinner? Why not?! read more

My boyfriend and I came here for Houston Restaurant Weeks. We were a little nervous when we first approached, as it didn't seem like many cars were in the garage. We went back and forth saying, "Is anyone else going to be here? Should we have chosen this place?" The answer to both was, "Yes." The decor is very simple: maybe it is because it was at a school, but it seemed like a classroom with table-clothed tables. It's neat that you can look into the kitchen as your meal is being prepared. The waiters (students) were all very friendly and attentive. It did feel a bit odd that service was very formal in an overall casual setting. What you get for the price, quality, and quantity of food is outstanding. The meal began with an amuse bouche of fois gras torchon (very rich and tasty). Next, my boyfriend and I each had the crab cakes (also very good). In between the appetizer and main dish, we were given a lime intermezzo. My boyfriend thought the sourness was overpowering, but it was definitely a palate cleanser. For the main course, I got the duck (breast and confit over lentils with a kale salad and a fois gras bread pudding). The duck was good, but I must say that the bread pudding was the major standout (it reminded me of a fancy Thanksgiving stuffing). My boyfriend seemed to be enjoying his Study of Pork (he finished the entire plate, so I think it is a safe assumption). The portion sizes of the main courses were very generous. I think they could have cut the portions in half, and we still would have been happy. For dessert, I had the cheese and grilled fruit place, and he had the chocolate souffle. My plate was good (the truffled honey really elevated things), but his souffle was amazing! I preferred it to souffles I have had a fancier restaurants, made by veteran chefs rather than students. We were already full when the waiter appeared with a plate of chocolates. Maybe it was tacky (however, we already saw other people doing it), but we asked to take them home in a to-go box so that we could enjoy them later. Overall, we had a great dining experience, and it felt nice to support the Houston Food Bank and student chefs. read more

We enjoyed our meal tonight ... the students created a delicious menu based on dishes from Spain. Heath was our waiter and his service was spot on! read more

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Just had an amazing dining experience at Courses Restaurant!! I've heard about this place from several people and recently decided to check it out for myself. The experience was special on both the food and service level. All members of the staff were exceptionally attentive and courteous - comparable to anything I've experienced at my favorite restaurants :). There was a pan-asian menu theme for our particular meal and every item was authentically prepared and full of flavor. I will definitely be back and would highly recommend Courses for anyone wanting to experience amazing flavorful food with amazing service. read more

As a customer and former student of the restaurant I like it. Good Food for a Good Value. The Saturday night dinners are a must for all...call for reservations read more

Oh...I'm dreading to write this review because I hate saying negative things especially when it involves students trying to perfect their craft...but I feel it is my duty to speak the truth and warn others of our experience. My friend and I work in the Greenway area and decided to try this restaurant for HRW..boy were we soooo excited! We've been to several dinners and I've been to one other lunch for HRW but it would be the first for the both of us getting together to catch up since we haven't seen each other in a while! We looked over the menu beforehand and read up on the reviews here on yelp and fairly thought we had made a good choice. First and foremost, leave yourself about 2 hours if you want to dine here because we literally were there from 11:30 to 1! We both made it there promptly for our reservations and noticed only 2 other tables were currently being served...so we thought...cool, not a long wait and considering it's lunch time, we wanted to make it back at a decent time. We sat by the window and were given our HRW menus. Thank God we already looked over the menu beforehand and fairly had a good idea of what we wanted because it literally took 10 minutes for the girl who waited on us to come take our order. Thank God they did give you a roll per person and butter while waiting. The butter was kinda good because it had some sort of chives taste to it.?? Okay...I already know this is going to take too long to give you all the details but let's just say, we literally waited 30 minutes for our salad to get to our table.. SALAD..i tell you! not the main course. My friend and I were so busy catching up that when we finally noticed that the first course took a LONG time to arrive, she looked down at her watch and noted...my lord...it's been 30 minutes since we got here... okay, we both had the watermelon salad...i thought it was going to be something fancy, well..it's greens, 4 cubes of tiny cut out watermelon pieces and feta cheese or something like that.. mine had ZERO dressing..no vinagrette, nothing..it was so unappealing and bland, I didn't bother to ask for any dressing after that. My friend was trying to eat healthy so she ate hers anyway while commented on how little salad dressing she had as well. It was greens so you can't expect too much...a salad is a salad..but no dressing???? Then came our soup...we both ordered the corn soup with shrimp...much to our surprise..we both felt relieved that perhaps things were looking up because it was quite delicious! 3 pieces of grilled shrimp hooked on to the side of the cup of corn..nice! Then we thought...things could only get better from here..WRONG!! We waited forever for our next course....we both chose the salmon, which surprisingly wasn't on the HRW menu or the HRW website. When it finally came out, it didn't smell fishy and it was on a bed of spaghetti squash, which was okay..the fish was bland to my friend. I watched as she loaded it with Tabasco sauce just to "flavor" it up a few times. Boy, I'm usually the one adding the hot sauce! She hardly ever pours tabasco on her food. To see her do this was like...WOW...it must be very bland for her. It's probably the chef's worst nightmare to know that a customer excessively poured tabasco or other seasonings upon their creation...but if you had this fish, you would understand. I didn't hate it so much...just nothing to write home about. Lastly, we awaited the dessert..which after reading the other review, found the bread pudding to be good..and it was, not too sweet or saucy... Sadly, that was the best part of the meal. sigh.... $20 later...we felt like we were given a full course meal..but so unsatisfying. On top of that, the service was so slow and no names mentioned but my friend and I felt sorry for the waitress because we felt she was so timid so much so that she didn't speak up when taking our order and she kept bringing out the wrong dishes to our table. IDK.... if you ask us, take your $20 elsewhere because the food was not that good and the service was so extremely slow. It wasn't like we were at an expensive steak house or something! If it wasn't for our enjoyment of catching up on conversation, we would have been so irritated and pissed off with the entire thing..but we just laughed it off and wished the place well..and still tip the waitress as if she tried. With HRW being offered at so many good places, I would definitely save your $$ and go elsewhere!! p.s. I didn't mention, but we both got water...which probably should have been a bad omen...but my friend kept smelling the glass and commented on how it smelled like....like...like....she was too polite to say it..so I said.. "FEET!!" right?She said OMG we were both thinking the same thing.. p.s Courses-if you are reading this, I'm NOT trying to bash your establishment or efforts, but please....if you are going to serve and charge customers a nice $, please make it worth our while...because $20 is still $20. Good thing for charity. read more

Courses restaurant is a hidden gem. I love the food and the humble service of the Art Institute students. I have dined here several times and have enjoyed every dish. It is a school so please don't expect much of an ambiance. The food is a great value for fine dining. read more

Our wonderful four-course meal started with a friendly greeting from the host who quickly seated us and checked in with us frequently to ensure that we were enjoying our experience. The food was as good as it was aesthetically pleasing. The desserts were to die for, and we received top-notch service. We will definitely be back again for date night. Thank you for the great experience!!! read more