Houston Seafood Restaurant Reef Makes a Triumphant Comeback Today

Nearly two years after a deluge of water caused by Hurricane Harvey forced beloved Houston seafood restaurant Reef to close, it’s making a triumphant comeback to the city’s dining scene this week.

The restaurant announced on Thursday that it would throw the doors open for lunch service on Friday for the first time since it was forced to close in September 2017. As Eater reported back then, the damage to the restaurant’s space in Midtown was damaged extensively, forcing owners Bryan and Jennifer Caswell to give the space a major revamp. “[Reef] never lost electricity, but the damage is kind of crazy,” Caswell told Eater in the days after Harvey. “I came in when the rain would let up a little bit and saw the puddles in the floor, the chunks of the ceiling everywhere. The bar looks like it has a disease because the water caused the finish to bubble up.”

Over the past few weeks, Reef has hosted “friends and family” services to prepare for its official comeback. Back in 2017, Caswell noted that the restaurant would also be making significant changes to its menu, but full details on the new dishes that will be on offer have not been made available just yet beyond the fact that the Reef will be serving more than 90 different, freshly-caught seafood species that come straight from the Gulf. If the restaurant’s recent pop-up at Third Bar, the bar adjacent to Reef, is any indication, diners can at least expect chef Bryan Caswell’s famed barbecue crab.

Eater has reached out to Caswell for more details on Reef’s menu. In the meantime, Reef is currently accepting reservations for both lunch and dinner via Resy.

• Chef Bryan Caswell’s Reef Plots Comeback, Major Interior Revamp [EHOU]