We had a layover in Houston and we were starving and tried here. Pretty expensive but my fiancé and I loved the food. The bacon breakfast sandwich was huge and so delicious. I'm not sure what kind of bacon they use but it was amazing. My fiancé had the steak and eggs and he loved it. We were able to wait for our flight and fly back home without being hungry. I honestly still think about that sandwich a lot and can't wait to go back to the Houston airport just to eat here again. read more

I was excited to spend an hour here when I read the menu board. My drink was good but the food here is horrible! Since you have no server you have no service. Up to 5 bartenders and servers talking behind the bar but no one asks how you are doing. I know Alison is getting serving shifts and even her best friend doesn't know. If the food was executed correctly and anyone checked on you this place could be better. My hour here is over. Won't stop in again. Good luck! read more

Looks good but they are still working out the kinks. I had plenty of time before my flight and ordered right away via the IPad... which is fine. A lot of people seems confused by that process. Waited 45 mins for food that never came. They said the would comp it but who knows cuz you pay in advance. Waited around for the manager to confirm, and I finally had to bolt so I could board. The lady. Ext to me waited for an hour and still did not have her food when I left. Definitely do not stop here unless you are on a 3 hour layover! read more

Where to start- iPads shoved in your faces, you have to order through them and pay tip upfront. Food was bland and overpriced. Place is a mess and servers don't care. read more

Not a good experience. Very little human interaction. You order on an iPad and a long time later, someone drops off food at your table...that is if they have it. Great beer list but they were out of half of them. Burger was dried out with few condiments and fries were limp and overdone. Very expensive for subpar food and service. Disappointed. read more

After waiting 40min for my breakfast order, asked the waitress where it was - her reply was "they're frying the eggs right now"

Service was not horrible, just non-existent. Their touch-pads to order and pay are not user friendly. Probably the worst bloody Mary I've ever had. Their mix is watery. Spicy should include a little more than adding a couple of drops of Tabasco. Have they ever heard of worsterchire(sic)? Nice tap beer selection. Hate the auto 18% gratuity. I almost always tip 20% but not if the servers are just food runners. read more

Tablet ordering is a mess as not all options are on tablet. Service is poor likely to patron having to tip ahead and they dont care bec they know that they have already gotton their tip. Lastly food is subpar and overpriced. read more

Horrible experience. $43 for 6 wings and 3 beers. The wings were good but the service was terrible. Not even 10 minutes later, I notice that this restaurant charged my card 9 different times with purchases adding up over $400. I had to ask for the manager twice and he just gave me his email (which I could barely read) and no contact number. Thankfully my bank declined these purchases, however I had to shut my card off right before leaving to Vegas. read more

The food never came. They said they would issue a refund. They did do that. It's an airport. Prepare for the worst. My daughter's food was not bad, though. So I guess if the food comes, it's edible. (edited to indicate that a refund was issued.) read more

TERRIBLE service! I would not waste your money here your better off at Wendy's right around the corner. The servers don't smile and act like robots. The iPads are dumb cause you can't make any changes to your meal. I never review any restaurants but this one was so bad I felt it necessary to save others a bad experience. The restaurant looks cool but that's about it. read more

DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD. I have been receiving emails of someone else's receipt over 20 times a day for over a week. I contacted corporate headquarters and received no response. Their payment systems are not secure or reliable. They do not respond to customers. I'm glad I paid with miles when I visited here the day before their nightmare autosend emails started or I'd worry I was being charged over 20 times a day for the same order. read more

One of the worst dining experiences we have ever had. I would give this place negative stars, if that were possible. We arrived on Sunday evening, April 8, 2018, as we were connecting to our flight home via Houston. We chose this restaurant because the menu seemed appealing - offering food for vegetarians and kids, as well as non-vegetarians. Like most airport restaurants, it is very expensive. We placed our orders with some difficulty as we learned how to use the tablet ordering system; and, to get the card scanners to read our credit cards. Then we waited for our meals. The service was lackadaisical and disorganized. Orders were not delivered as a single entity, but in bits and pieces/individual portions. The waiters did not know to which table they should deliver the food, but instead walked around announcing what they had to serve and asking who it was for. The restaurant was severely understaffed. When we inquired about the status of our orders, we were told that the kitchen was "backed up" and that the food was coming out to the tables as soon as it was ready. When we asked the bartender (who was also serving meals) about the status of our drink order, he advised that he was the only bartender on duty and that he had too much to do. We asked if we could speak to the manager, and he told us that the manager was busy serving food. When we inquired further, he told us that he had communicated with the manager and that the manager would be coming out to see us. This never happened. Eventually, as we were running out of time and needed to get to our flight, we sought out the manager ourselves. By this time, we needed to cancel the remaining undelivered parts of our order so we would not miss our flight home. The manager cancelled our orders, but in our haste, we forgot to have one of our 3 orders cancelled. The restaurant was so overwhelmed and under-equipped that they ran out of wine glasses and began serving wine in regular water glasses. Hardly suitable for a presumably good restaurant. And, they did so without any prior warning to the customer, as in "By the way, we're out of clean wine glasses, do you mind having it in a regular drinking glass?" Of course, the iPad ordering system does not provide 2-way communication or a means to cancel or modify your order, and there is no human interaction when you place your order, so it is no effective feedback loop to provide this type of advance warning. Instead, their approach was to deliver the wine to you in a regular drinking glass, apologize (as in "Sorry, but this is all we had left to serve you your wine. I hope that's OK".) Overall, an abysmal performance. read more

Horrible service! They use iPads for ordering and you end up tipping before your food arrives. Turns out we way over tipped!!!! Didn't get half the things we asked for and when we asked they said "Oh we are out of that. We will adjust your bill." Had to go to Wendy's to get ketchup and mustard. Save your money and go somewhere else! read more

Beth, you are awesome. Thank you for your help, patience and recommendation! People, order the $17 burger, it's delicious.

Made the mistake of stopping at this place after a long international flight. 50$ for two no frills mediocre salads and a beer. None existent service since you order from an iPad at the bar top. Save your money find anything else. read more

Second visit. First time was breakfast, let down with cold food, average Denny's fare. At least they replaced my cold eggs with hot. Now, stuck with a delayed flight. Wine is 5x retail. Selections for that price are weak considering they have several steak cuts on the menu. Ordered the steak, waited almost 30min for a med rare daily special ribeye with mustard demi. I finally got a well done ribeye half the thickness in the menu. Sent it back. At least they redid my order with no fuss, hence 1star . $39 Steak was just ok, service was decent. Will not come again. Very disappointed. read more

Harsh to give only 1 star...but I had a bad experience that resulted in me paying 3 times for a meal I never got. I was at the Houston airport and had about 30 mins before my connecting flight. I went to Ember, sat down and ordered a drink and an appetizer dish. However, the card swipe wouldn't take my card. Note that I am completely comfortable using this type of system. I requested help from a server. She tried as well...inputting my order at two other seating positions adjacent to mine and trying the card swipes. She couldn't get it to work. Given that almost half of my connecting time was now wasted...I left in a hurry to grab some other food. No big deal...except I was charged $26.83 three times. That's right three identical charges yet i got no receipt each time ...and no food. Now I'm having to deal with a time vampire...all to get three amex charges reversed. Ember...this is absolutely brutal. read more

The whole concept sucks. Ordering from the I pad is confusing. They put a 18% tip on almost automatically. The food portions on the computer pics are much larger than what shows up. The very small ceaser came out with wet lettuce. They occupy all of the spaces in this part of the ho uston C terminal. Then the I pad shoves advertising down your throat. Never again! read more

Very overpriced. Unhelpful Staff. Terrible experience. Owners and "Award winning chef" should be ashamed to have their name attached. PRO: Great beer selection I typically avoid writing lousy reviews because running a restaurant, especially a "nice" one in an airport is pretty difficult. However, Ember has completely missed the mark and earned its poor reputation. We had an absolutely terrible experience. I thought the iPad 'thing' would be fun with the kids and know that many restaurants are going toward this totally impersonal route. Servers/Wait Staff are now just Food Bringers. I'm sure someone will have had a good experience at Ember, but we did not, and it was totally avoidable just by having ANY staff that actually cared what they do for a living or who work for owners who do. * You must swipe your credit card just to get started (I actually wanted to pay in cash but the explanation the food bringer gave me seemed pathetically complicated - you buy a gift card with cash, which requires the manager, yada yada) - more on this later. You then go through a self-service kiosk-like ordering system. That part worked fine, I think, but can't be sure because of how the staff reacted (or didn't) regarding our order. * We placed our order for four people. Food came out fairly quickly, but only three meals. Then one of the bringers asked "Is there anything else we can get you?", to which I responded, "Yes, her (my daughter's) Mac-n-Cheese?" pointing to the empty space where a dish belonged. He looked at me like I had 3 heads, and I suspect it was because he believed the computer was infallible. I don't know what he said but he responded in some way that he'd look into it. * He never returned. 5 minutes went by as we waited to eat our food for our daughter's to arrive. It didn't so I flagged someone else down who walked by. I said, we are still waiting for our food and since this is an airport, don't have a lot of extra time to kill trying to figure out what's happened. She gave a bizarre explanation about various foods taking different times to prepare and that THAT was probably what happened. The problem with that explanation is that our order was for a BTO Burger and 2 Shrimp Po'Boys that are served cold (pre-made filling, it seemed). I suggested that they then wait until all the food is ready to serve rather than bring 3/4 of it and ignore the remaining meal. I really felt like the mac-n-cheese had been "lost" in the system and because we didn't have any assigned wait staff, no one even knew what we had ordered. She asked if I would like to speak to the manager and I said yes. * Many more minutes passed and no one came back so I got up and headed toward the kitchen looking for a manager, which I found. I told the manager that we'd spoken with 3 staff, asked for the manager, had been waiting for the rest of our meal and that no one seemed to care. She said she would investigate. * 2 minutes later she came back with a Mac-N-Cheese and not the $9 French fries side she ordered. Those took another 2-3 minutes. I calmly explained to her that their "technology experience" is very poorly executed and that by removing the human engagement in the service, they have created an un-enjoyable, detached restaurant visit, devoid of any employee responsibility and one that was very expensive for literally not getting any service whatsoever. She nodded along, hearing me out and not saying anything in the typical "When will this guy just shut up and fly home?" manner. She then told me that the meal would be comped because we had been having such a difficult time. Honestly, I didn't ask or expect that from her but would have expected the mac-n-cheese to be comped at least. * We finished our meal and used the iPad to check out to be sure we hadn't been charged. Our bill, which tallied up to about $107 was zeroed out on the payment line. So we left the restaurant to go get our flight. I decided at that point to just let it go and not tweet about it, write a negative review or complain any further, because in the end, the manager had made things right and I felt it fair not to blast them online for such an unfortunate dining experience for us, and one I thought management had rectified. Then, like a kick in the gut this morning, I checked my bank only to find that my card had been charged more than $120 for the "comped" meal. I don't know how the $107 meal was charged at $120+, but it is irrelevant because we were told there would be no charge. I have since read several reviews and it sounds like nearly everyone agrees: * "Need to tackle servers if you need/want anything. Forget using the app to call them over...you don't exist." * "Mac&cheese was overdone and tasteless" * "Very expensive for the quality of food" I would add "deceitful and hoping you won't notice since you probably don't live in Houston" read more

Not happy at all with our meal. I had a spicy chicken sandwich and it was so fried that there was no meat left. The burger with brisket was tasteless. The service was fine. read more

My excellent server, Chris, whipped up an amazing BBQ sauce, thanks! My burger was cooked to perfection and the location was a great stop between flights. read more

This place looks nice but lacks customer service. You have to order from an Ipad and basically have no interaction with the waiter/waitress. I ordered steak for $30 and had to cut it with a plastic knife! What a joke...ordered 2 hamburgers and steak for $90 and you'd expect better service. Go next door and eat at Wendy's for a better burger and service. read more

I ordered a chicken sandwich and a drink in the late afternoon of 2/27/2018. The drink was served very quickly after ordering. I was with other people and they had ordered food within 5 minutes after I ordered. Their food came out in a timely manner. I waited until they were finishing there meal and asked a waiter where my food was. She said my order was last, they were behind and it would be a few minutes, I ask how many minutes? She came back and said 20 min. I asked if I could get a refund, she offer a free meal and to make it a to go order and I said I will wait a few minutes. Being's that I am in business and understand retail, I knew it wasn't her fault she was young and obviously didn't have a clue on how to handle the situation. I hand time and just coming from a long flight, I remained patient. FINALLY my meal came after I questioning her one time. My hour and 10 minute wait was over, I received my food. When it was delivered I was told by the same young gal that I would receive my meal at no charge and I thanked her for being so kind to waive the charges. I am only writing this message because I honored a 18% gratuity BEFORE receiving my meal (since it was ordered electronically). Bottom line: Poor service was one thing but being LIED TOO, is UNACCEPTABLE!!......NO CREDIT WAS EVER HONORED ON MY CREDIT CARD. Advice: Never over promise and under deliver to a customer! read more

Looked interesting & 3 of the 5 of us wanted steak...Only option for steak in the terminal. Should have had plenty of time to order, eat & get to our gate. WRONG! Thier ipad ordering system kinda sucks. You have to pay before the order is started before your service is provided. Paying the tip before the service wound up being the wrong thing to do. Wish I had not added one at all. The 2 guys ordered sandwiches. 3 women ordered the filet mignon, 2 med rare, 1 med well. Sandwiches arrived & not steaks. Tracking down waitstaff to get an ETA on the steaks was difficult. Guys about a 1/4 way finished with their meals by the time they did. What were supposed to be med rare were med & med well. Already running well past comfort zone to make our connection so sucked it up & moved on. Asked for salt & pepper - none on the table. Asked 2nd waitstaff for salt & pepper. Finally arrived - about half way through my meal. Starting to get nervous because our 3rd steak still had not arrived. Again searching for waitstaff to ask about it. Everyone else was almost finished eating. When we did it still took quite a bit of time for that 3rd steak, remember, med well. WELL WELL DONE!!! How the hades can a restaurant that charges $39.00 for a filet mignon screw up cooking not only 1 but all 3! I asked to speak to a manager but low & behold they couldn't seem to find him! (While waiting we overheard another patron complaining about their steak being over cooked as well.) The manager never showed up & we had to rush to get to our gate. Bottom line is that this place does not really have to rely on repeat customers, but the occasional fly-bys. I will NEVER EVER eat at this place again & will tell anyone & everyone I know of my experience there. STAY AWAY! STAY FAR FAR AWAY! Honestly McDonald's would have been much more enjoyable & far less money. read more

This is one of a very few restaurants in this terminal. It looks nice but all orders are done through a tablet and paid for in advance. In my party of 4 only one got their 1st choice beer they were out of the 3 others we wanted. It is overpriced and lacks human (server and customer) interaction. Food was just ok. We got burgers and wraps. Service was friendly but very slow. Good point was the beers were big. read more

Order through an iPad, however iPad had 3% battery. Arrived at 8:30 AM, ordered breakfast (omelet and yogurt parfait). 1 hour later the omelet came out and no yogurt parfait. Had to ask for it to be put in a "to go cup." because we had a flight to catch. Never filled the water cups, never asked how things were, no salt/pepper at tables. Horrible service, food was just okay. Would not go back. read more

This was a horrible experience. First, the iPads are annoying and dirty. We could not share an appetizer because there were two disgusting iPads between us. In trying to place the plate in between us, one of our drinks got knocked over. We could not order another drink from a person, had to do it from the gross iPad. Disorganized. I feel sorry for the people who work there, trying to manage the computer centric ordering system. The food was bad too. Really hated the iPads all over the place. Could not find a place to sit and read my book - anywhere in the terminal. The OTG experience is awful read more

The food wasn't bad, but nothing spectacular either. And I had to wait for more than 30 minutes for one thing I ordered for lunch, which made me almost be late for boarding my flight. No reason for it to take that long at all read more

Here for dinner during long layover. Worst service and food- overpriced. Took over 45 minutes to get a drink and food.

This is a poor excuse for a restaurant in an airport that is suppose to service customers promptly and efficiently. I waited over 30 minutes for a salad that was way overpriced. Worse than that most of the wait staff was standing around looking very bored. Hard to understand how a restaurant that was half full could take so long to process a simple order and do nothing to speed things up. An obvious absence of management priorities. If you have tons of time and don't care about getting ripped off, this is the restaurant for you. read more

Interesting concept. I ordered the tavern salad, which was a little bland, but fresh and quality ingredients, just needed a little salt and pepper. Also ordered the filet mignon and onion rings for a side. The steak was fantastic. Couldn't believe I was at an airport restaurant. My only complaint is that the onion rings were brought out first instead of as a side to the steak. The service was prompt and super friendly. They seem to be working out some timing issues, but it was a much nicer airport dining experience than I've experienced. read more

One of the worst dining establishments I've been in for a long time. Although the food was reasonably prepared, once it showed up, the ordering process was nothing short of a disaster. They have a system where every table has an IPad that in addition to Facebook, CNN feeds, LinkedIn, etc., is where the entire menu is. They walk you through a 'quick tutorial' of how to order and theoretically once you make your selection it totals the bill and automatically calculates and adds the tip at 18%. I should have expected issues when there was no option on line to submit a 'special order'. As I mentioned to the server (term used lightly), all I wanted was three eggs scrambled and a cup of coffee. No big deal, right? After struggling through the on line menu I became frustrated and asked the server, "How do I place a order for 3 eggs?" His answer, after struggling through the menu himself" was well, 'it looks like you have to order a fruit salad, then delete it, then add the eggs.'". Stupid me.. I guess that should have been more intuitive.. Once ordered, though, the system quickly calculated the bill and 18% tip and informed me that I could conveniently receive it by email or text. The problem though,was that the order never got placed and perhaps even more apathetic was the fact the waiter never came back. This place will not survive in a competitive environment. One, the ordering process is too complex. Two, once the order is placed good luck ever getting attention from your server again. Third, the system automatically calculates 18% tip for whatever you order. (I actually thought tips were provided after service was delivered to award good behavior) Oh, and by the way. They ended up losing the order despite that the service gratuity and meal were already charged to my credit card.. #somewhereelsenexttime read more

After traveling 12 hours to get back into the country with my family, we came here to eat before our connecting flight back to Colorado. I would love to give this place a better rating for the quality of food but we were not treated well by the employees at all. My sister was wearing a Bob Marley hoodie and I was wearing some tie dye; we all looked pretty rough (we had been traveling all day). All of the tables around us had ice cold water and we were given warm water from the tap. We had to catch the waiter and ask him for refills on water and other drinks every time and he was not attentive. When our food came my sister asked for a side of ranch with her burger and the waiter said he couldn't do that. Later my mom asked another employee for a side of ranch and she quickly brought it out. Because payment is done through iPads, the waiter didn't need to come with a check at the end of the meal, but he never stopped by our table to check in on anything and did not speak to us again. Over all, the food was pretty good but we were not treated well and experienced some discrimination for looking like hippies. read more

Food was good but service was terrible. Even having to use a tablet to order anything, service was still terrible. How is that even possible????? read more

I stopped at Ember yesterday to have a few drinks at their bar. First of all, the restaurant itself was beautiful. I sat down and had no idea you had to order on the iPad in front of me. At the time the bar was really busy. I was sitting on the opposite end of where the only bartender back there was. I could clearly see she was super busy making drinks so I patiently waited for a few minutes. She saw me, walked over and very sweetly greeted me and explained and walked me through ordering my beer, went and got me my beer. I watched her literally start lining up glasses along the beer taps, then just watched her pour at least 10 beers on tap, while servers constantly asking for soda refills, and talking to bar guest in front of her all at the same time! She was nonstop! I told Jodie (the bartender) she was by FAR the hardest worker there! Quite impressive. I hope Jodie's managers and this company realize what an asset she is! When anyone stops for a drink at this bar, ask for Jodie. You will not be disappointed. Excellent customer service! read more

This place is the best. The service is top notch, ask for Alyssa if you need anything! The iPad ordering is an awesome touch and you get quick service with it! It is a great atmosphere if you have a layover in Houston, check them out in terminal C! read more

A friend of mine and I had over an hour on May 1 before having to board our flight and decided to have dinner at Ember, a very fancy and edgy new restaurant in terminal C where you order your meal via table installed ipads. It was a total disaster. The bar tender seemed friendly and helpful but did not deliver our drinks until prodded twice after more than a quarter of an hour ( the restaurant was less than half full). My friend's entree (fish) arrived about 15 minutes after that (i.e., half an hour after we ordered) but my chicken dinner did not arrive at all. She had finished her meal and I was still waiting for my chicken entree. Waitresses went to the kitchen twice to inquire but always returned without any explanation. The cooking staff in the open kitchen seemed to care less, joking, laughing, in no hurry at all. 5 minutes before boarding time, I finally had it. We left and told the kitchen to cancel the order or I would notify my credit card not to pay it because of non-delivery of services. They offered to pack up the dish for me to take on the airplane. I refused and left. I had come and paid to dine in a restaurant not to snack from a paper bag on my knees. They told my friend they would cancel the charge of $41. But 6 days later the charge still is on my visa statement. This restaurant could be a very nice place to grab a bite between flights, but its current staff needs a serious shake-up. Maybe they could work at MacDonald's and a more professional crew that knows something about running a restaurant could be brought in. Since you pay for your drinks and meal BEFORE anything is delivered and specify the percentage of a tip, this horrifically incompetent service is especially galling and I shall pursue my refund although it would be easier to forget about it to save time. Reading the other reviews I notice that I am not the only person who had this experience with the kitchen and the staff in general, and management would be well advised to take this seriously. read more

Wow... don't do it! I wanted a steak really bad, and this looked like a great spot. Should've checked Yelp. :( For a $39 filet, this was most likely frozen. Myself and coworkers ordered the same steak, and all were over cooked as hell. Of course, if you're flying, like everyone at the airport is, chances are you don't have time to wait for another to be cooked. My friend ordered hers MW, and it had absolutely no pink... looked like overcooked well-done shoe leather. Mine was ordered MR and it was more MW. My little "salad", which is ready just a pile of bagged lettuce, no radish as was mentioned in the menu, had a nice dirty grit that crunched into my teeth. We asked for the manager and of course he was no where to be found. We do know that his name is Terry! He obviously doesn't care about customers since there are very few repeat customers by design. Oh... and of course you tip ahead of time, so the horrible service we got was never accounted for. read more

What a nice surprise! We just don't get all of these terrible reviews. When we sat down our server Jasmine came immediately and quickly explained the ordering system and offered water. She was pleasant, knowledgeable and efficient. I found the iPad screens reasonably intuitive with a few minor quirks like missing scroll bars on the menu descriptions but for the most part it was responsive and easy to navigate. The scan boarding pass instructions are not clear but the only other complaint is that the screens are a physical barrier between a two top and we found out too late that you can pick up the terminals and lay them flat. We shared a ribeye steak perfectly cooked rare and nicely seasoned and a side of tater tots in cheese sauce. It was one of the best steaks we have had in a long time and the price was fair for an airport location. I was concerned about the plastic knife (I guess an airport requirement) but it was up to the task. The potatoes were tasty with onions in the mix and the cheese sauce was delicious. The wine list is adequate and fairly priced. We had a nice bottle of cabernet sauvignon. This is not fast food. If you have a tight connection you will not be able to enjoy a complete steak dinner. If you have a few hours to kill at the airport and need to eat in terminal C I cannot think of a more pleasant place. The sound level is described as loud but we were able to have a conversation without difficulty. At terminal E we go to Pappadeaux's for seafood. I have a feeling many people today do not remember what airport food was like in the last century. To Ember I say keep up the good work and if we find ourselves in terminal C again and have the time we will definitely be back. If Ember was a steakhouse in our neck of the woods we would go often. The only improvements I could recommend is to offer some smaller portions. 10 ounce burgers before a long flight are a bit much. My wife is visually impaired and all Apple products are equipped with Voiceover technology that allows the blind to use iPhones and iPads. It would be a nice option to add that capability to the ordering system. read more