Balboa Surf Club

"Putting a seafood restaurant’s burger on this map feels a bit bizarre, but Balboa Surf Club is deserving. Known to make nearly all of its ingredients, the Post Oak Boulevard restaurant offers a patty made with beef chuck ground in-house, topped with jack cheese, crisp lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, and its Channel Island sauce. For an equally tasty burger with a different spin, head to its sister restaurant, Il Bracco, located across the parking lot in Post Oak Plaza. Toppings, including aged provolone, Calabrian chilies, and a refreshing padding of arugula, fennel, and red onion, ensure the beef in it truly shines." - Brittany Britto Garley

"If you’re in search specifically of chocolate cream pie, Balboa Surf Club has one of the best in the city and is a perfect way to end a holiday evening. Made with a chocolate cookie crust and rich whipped cream, this pie is available by slice for dine-in or to-go at the restaurant and for pre-order on its website." - Brittany Britto Garley

"Dive into the Pacific at this newer addition to Uptown’s Post Oak Plaza. With decor inspired by a 1970s surf bungalow, Balboa serves several seafood dishes, including King crab hand rolls and Thai shrimp sushi rolls layered with papaya made freshly in its open-air sushi kitchen. Its jumbo lump crab cakes, the crispy grouper sandwich, and Pacific Northwest miso salmon, fileted in-house daily, are also standouts." - Brittany Britto Garley

"Like its sister restaurant Il Bracco, all dishes at Balboa Surf Club, including its desserts, are made in-house. While a chocolate cream pie can seem basic, there’s something about Balboa’s that makes it hard to stop eating. Maybe it’s the simplicity — the chocolatey cream base is framed by an Oreo crumble and topped with a healthy heap of whipped cream. Whatever it is, it’s hard to put down. Fortunately, Balboa’s pies and cakes, including its coconut milk-drenched Cuatro Leches, are available in slices and in whole form." - Brittany Britto Garley, Megha McSwain

"Balboa Surf Club has the right components for a date night, as long as you plan to eat mostly with your eyes. This River Oaks restaurant looks like a mid-century modern living room and is only missing a conversation pit. It's also dimly lit, so snuggle close to your date in plush booths covered in shades of emerald green that we’ve only seen in the land of Oz. But the seafood menu falls flat—the slightly soggy $40 crab cakes, swordfish doused in too much lemon, and unbalanced palomas leave you with a spot best for a glass of wine poured at the bar. But Balboa is a stunner. We’d still come back to share a bottle of champagne and a plate of coconut shrimp (the only thing that's good here) just to be somewhere this beautiful. photo credit: Balboa Surf Club photo credit: Balboa Surf Club photo credit: Balboa Surf Club" - Gianni Greene