Polo's Signature [Closed]
This entry was posted on 1/1/2007 10:47 AM and is filed under New Openings, Casual Chic - Jeans Allowed, closed.
We'd been monitoring the construction of this new strip center on the Southwest Freeway between the Mercedes dealer and Lakewood Church and had noticed that a new restaurant was going in. Hadn't heard much about it but thought we'd give it a try after seeing that it had opened. Polo's is named after its chef, Polo Becerra, a very genial guy who greeted us at our table, who was formerly the chef at Post Oak Grill. The room is very lovely, evoking thoughts of its neighbor, Tony's, with an elegant, warm, contemporary feel. Although perhaps a little more casual than Tony's given the open kitchen across the back. We wouldn't wear jeans to Tony's, and we felt fine with our nice jeans on here. The prices are also slightly lower.
The food is the ubiquitous upscale, contemporary, new American. There's a decent selection of wines by the glass that are not excessively priced, which is refreshing in today's world. (The bar area also looks quite inviting.) The service was attentive, although a little lax in places, which leaves room for improvement since there were very few tables filled. A very nice touch is the bread basket, baked fresh for each table. Like many, we try to limit our carb intake, but we couldn't resist the delicious selection served with an herb butter.
We started with the seared foie gras, which was served on top of a daikon radish salad. When it arrived at the table, the foie gras was lukewarm, but it was quickly replaced by a hot version. The combination of foie gras and radish didn't work for us -- each one separately was good (and a generous serving of foie gras given the $15 price), but not together. Plus, the cold salad likely contributed to the cooling off of our first serving of foie gras. However, the small glass of sauterne was a very nice touch. As was the complimentary intermezzo of a champagne granite. Not sure whether the sauterne or the intermezzo are regular items, so we appreciated the special effort made.
For entrees, we tried the seared tuna and lobster. The tuna was high quality and appropriately cooked, but it needed something extra, and the red chili sauce, although sounding like it would add that oomph, wasn't particularly flavorful. The lobster was a very good dish -- a shelled 1 1/2 pound lobster (missing one claw) was served with baby vegetables in a light cream sauce, atop couscous. This may seem picky, but the tasty sauce was absorbed quickly by the couscous, which was unfortunate.
We dropped in on a weeknight after the restaurant had been open about a week. We understand it's already hopping at lunchtime. Other than the aforementioned Tony's, there's nothing similar in the busy Greenway Plaza area. We wish Polo's the best of success. If we were professional restaurant critics, we wouldn't be reviewing a place that had only been open for a week. So, we'll be back, but we'll give it some more seasoning time.
3800 Southwest Freeway
713/626-8100
