The Glass Wall in Houston

Just wanted to post a quick review of a local restaurant we visited with some friends last week. Now, I'm no restaurant critic, per se, but can offer up my opinion on what I enjoyed and can tell you that I'm not the only person who likes The Glass Wall. Located at 933 Studewood in the Heights, the surfer-themed restaurant offers a small but well put-together menu of tasty dishes that seemed to fit our varied tastes.

The Good:

• Great atmosphere - I really liked the surfer-themed approach... very subtle but by no means overwhelming or tacky.
  
• The food was great, albeit a little on the pricey side. As a starter, my wife and I had the night's special - a delicious stuffed tomato - light and tasty. For the main course, she had the rainbow trout and I had the tuna mignon. My tuna was a bit more cooked than I would have preferred but still excellent and the blood orange basil salad was original and tangy - you don't often see blood oranges on Houston menus (though you will in our house). For dessert, we had the pineapple carrot cake - an excellent suggestion from the waitress.
• Valet - Since the restaurant gets packed, the valet is a must. It's free and they're pretty speedy.
  

The Bad:

• The dining room can get a bit noisy but that just goes with the territory when visiting a popular restaurant. Case in point: Gravitas - great restaurant, vibrant scene, excellent food but L-O-U-D. Really, that's not a big deal unless you really want a quiet candlelit dinner.
  
• While our waitress mostly did a good job, she had a really tough time figuring out how to split our bill. Everything was straightened out but it just took longer than it should have. Also, while we dug the "bread waiter" idea, getting him to our table was like pulling teeth.

If you visit, be sure to go with a reservation. Otherwise, you'll probably be out of luck.