The Room
Common Bond Brasserie opened on Westheimer in 2018 — Common Bond's first full-service French-American dining room after the success of the bakery group's pastry-cafe operations. The dining room runs all day, with the format shifting from a casual-cafe morning through an afternoon pastry-and-coffee programme into a serious evening French-American service.
The Houston Press has held Common Bond in its top-twenty Westheimer rankings since opening. The brunch programme is one of central Houston's most-photographed weekend services. The bakery's pastry case at the front is the way in for many first-time diners.
The Food
The pastry programme runs through the day — the croissants, the kouign-amann, the seasonal pastry case run from 7am. The dinner menu is brasserie-classic with American influences: the steak frites, the seasonal Gulf snapper, the duck confit, the rotating pasta. The brunch service runs French-American with the bakery's full pastry programme.
Wine programme is French and American. Cocktail bench runs classic-French. Service is informed and warm, in the bakery-cafe-extended-into-restaurant register.
Best Occasion Fit
First Date: The bar at Common Bond is a casual first-date alternative for the diner who wants the night to register as Westheimer-warm rather than fine-dining. The pastry programme is the natural opener, the cocktail bench is the second move.
Birthday: Birthdays at Common Bond are warm, French-American, candle-on-the-pastry affairs the room handles with the practiced ease of a bakery-extended-into-dinner operation.
Solo Dining: The counter at Common Bond is one of the better Houston solo-dining seats for the all-day register. The pastry programme handles the daytime, the dinner menu handles the evening.