Merlion

Let Us Spice Things Up

What makes it fun

Merlion is the spot for a dinner date that is sure to spice things up. Merlion exudes a cozy and romantic atmosphere, making it an ideal spot for couples seeking an intimate dining experience. The menu is filled with incredible Thai dishes (some with a bit of an American twist) made from a wide variety of proteins including seafood (of course), chicken, beef, and lamb. At Merlion, every dish is crafted to tantalize your palate, ensuring your date night is nothing short of Thai-rrific.

Google Reviews

Merlion

4.5

Based on 905 reviews

Brigitte Treviño

2 weeks ago

Nice setting, but heck no to the people and the food. I miss Mogul's.

D H K

2 weeks ago

josh morgenroth

2 weeks ago

Brock Belmonte

1 month ago

Great food and service! I really enjoy the Pad Thai.

Juanice Tullos

1 month ago

Had a party of 10 for celebration for birthday. Service was horrible. We waited over 2 hrs for our food. Then one person got their food 10 minutes after everyone else did. Our waitress kept disappearing for long periods. I have eaten here several times before and never had this kind of a problem not happy with last night September 18th

Michael Stone

2 months ago

Best restaurant and wine in clear lake. Rad prik is the best on the menu. Went for a birthday dinner and Merlion supplied decorations, champagne, and dessert, all complimentary. The happy hour menu is great value and the service has always been attentive and thoughtful. Recently our server worked to reseat us after a loud group came in adjacent by reading our faces.

kentpohl

2 months ago

Had the red pineapple curry with jumbo shrimp. Amazing. Closer to a 4.7 rated restaurant.

Marisol Medina

2 months ago

Great food!

Gabriela Ad

2 months ago

The entrée, Pla Choapraya, was unfortunately far too salty. It was panko-crusted red snapper in a creamy sauce with crawfish, cilantro, mushrooms, ginger, and an oyster soy-based sauce. The dish sounded delicious, but the sauce was so so 🧂 salty that I could only eat about one teaspoon. I asked the male waiter for a tomato to help balance the saltiness, but he was not very friendly or helpful with me. I had to ask another server, who kindly brought me cherry tomatoes because they didn’t have regular tomatoes. Unfortunately, even with the tomatoes, I still couldn’t eat the dish. I took the entrée home hoping I might be able to eat it later, but it was still much too salty. **No one at home liked it either because of how salty it was.** In the end, I had to throw the entire dish away. It was very disappointing to pay for an entrée that I could only eat one teaspoon of before having to discard it. The male waiter was kind and friendly with some members of the group, but unfortunately, I did not receive the same level of friendliness or service.

Lewis Clements

3 months ago

I was taken here with my family and it’s definitely Thai fusion heavy on the fusion, if you’re used to authentic southeast Asian cooking and flavor this might throw you off, but the service was great!

Jordan Smith

5 months ago

Outstanding experience at Merlion. You can tell immediately this isn’t a cookie-cutter restaurant concept. The atmosphere has real personality, the staff was great, and the entire place feels thoughtfully built from the bar program to the dining experience. The kitchen absolutely delivered. We had the Wagyu Raad Prik, several appetizers, and even a few off-menu items that were fantastic. Everything came out well executed, flavorful, and clearly made with attention to detail. The cocktail and martini program is one of the best around the Clear Lake/Seabrook area. Creative drinks without feeling gimmicky, great presentation, and a menu that actually makes you want to stay and try another round. The reverse happy hour and seasonal cocktails were a really nice touch. What stood out most is that Merlion feels authentic. It has its own identity instead of trying to imitate every trendy Houston restaurant. Relaxed coastal energy with genuinely elevated food and drinks. Big respect to the owners and team. We’ll definitely be back.

Erin Clocksin

6 months ago

We celebrated our anniversary here and did the Chef’s Table experience which included one app, 2 soups, 2 salads, 2 entrees and a dessert! With that, you don’t get to pick your dishes, but you can indicate preferences/allergies. It was a great experience to try new things that I might never have ordered! Everything was delicious. We also had so much leftovers to take home that we basically got two meals! Savannah was our server and she was super friendly and attentive. She answered all our questions since this was our first experience with Thai food. They were very thoughtful in decorating the table for our anniversary and we also got a free dessert to take home with us.

Jeff Baker

6 months ago

Best Thai Food in the state if not the U.S.

Danielle Coslett

6 months ago

joe

6 months ago

Great dinner yesterday--very friendly hostess and staff. Decided to enjoy a nice breeze sitting outside with views of the inlet water across the street, although it looked like a cool vibe inside. Delicious calamari and Dragon Fire dumplings. Great Merlion Peanut Sauce Curry with Ribeye! Very enjoyable experience.

Jo Meyertons

11 months ago

Adaline Chavez

11 months ago

Amazing curry, had the one with the cashews and it blew my mind!!!!

Talysa Borroum

12 months ago

Katie Tello

12 months ago

First time here with my husband. Reservations were smooth, good service from Terri!!!! She was amazing. Our cocktails were refreshing. Terri was very informative with the menu! We will return.

Chie Kamijo (Kittyちゃん)

12 months ago

Staff are friendly but food comes out very slow. Be prepared to wait for 30-40mins for anything come out of kitchen and you have to catch a bartender to make sure it is put in the system and is coming. Font on menu is not suitable in the dark bar setting, it makes reading menu very very difficult. Parking is very difficult. No parking spot anywhere at the building, and I had to park far away and walk there.

Aleena Butler

1 year ago

Edit: As a word of advice, It is possible to not have a good experience at the restaurant. Every single guest isn’t wrong to give criticism just because it’s your restaurant. The professional thing to do is to apologize to the customer, or you don’t even HAVE to apologize, but say something along the lines of “We hope to make things right next time you come!” Or something along those lines that takes some sort of acknowledgement or accountability, not nit-pick the customer’s opinion essentially telling them they’re excessive. I originally said we may return, but after the owners response, we won’t be. We will take our money to another establishment who is respectful of customers. Also, not sure why it’s relevant that you bought cupcakes from my mother in 2010 and that you know my aunt. You would think that makes you want to respond in a professional manner. My review was fair and gave credit where credit was due. But ok. 👍 I will start off by saying, the food is always amazing. However, the service is severely lacking. My husband have been here for an anniversary date before and had a wonderful time. Our server was attentive, the table was decorated, the anniversary/event was acknowledged off the bat, it was a lovely experience. I have also been to merlion over the years with family, and my family knows the owner, so it has been a place I normally recommend to others when they want an upscale Thai dining experience. My last experience unfortunately was not good at all and very disappointing. It was my husband’s birthday last week and we decided to make a visit for his birthday dinner. When we were seated, our waitress did not come to see us for 10-15 minutes. The first old fashion that my husband ordered was fine. I ordered the jalapeño pineapple margarita - which took a long time to come out - and it was absolutely awful. It tasted of absolute straight tequila. My husband’s second old fashioned he got tasted like straight whisky. He is a heavyweight, and he told me, “I don’t think I can drink this. It is literally straight alcohol. I wouldn’t be able to drive us home.” We asked the waitress to send both drinks back and explained they were extremely strong and tasted very off. She did take them back. In between tasks our waitress would disappear for long periods of time. We didn’t even get our food until 15 minutes before closing. We asked the waitress about this and she said they stay open late for people. While we do appreciate this, it seemed a little pressuring and we felt like we had to rush because all the servers/workers around us were loudly cleaning tables, moving lights and chairs around, sweeping etc signaling it was “time to go.” This doesn’t make for a nice experience. There was also a table next to us for the first half of the dinner that was ridiculously loud so that was frustrating. At one point we had to ask a busser to go find out waitress for us because we hadn’t seen her for a long time. My husband and I are very patient people, and understand things happen, but the experience overall was very poor. The food is always great, so there’s that, but with the ambiance you expect a nicer experience. I think this was a waitress issue. Several times we debated asking for a manager when she would disappear for a while. My husband could see her in the back on her phone and just sitting down joking with people. She did at the very very end when we paid our $150 bill ask if there was something we were celebrating (the table was decorated the whole dinner) and we said yes and that it was his birthday. I do appreciate the champagne and the free cake they give for celebrations. Like I said it normally is a good experience but unfortunately not this time. One of the drinks we had to send back was also still on the bill so we had to ask her to remove it again. I’m not sure if we will be back. We are probably willing to give it another chance, but we will have to specially request to not get the waitress we got. I won’t include her name here.

Chesney Colvin

1 year ago

Our server was Maze and she was very knowledgeable about the menu, and made the whole experience wonderful. The food was amazing, my favorite was the goat cheese salad. I’m looking forward to coming back! Maze convinced us to come for Restaurant month in August. Can’t wait!

Daniel Colvin

1 year ago

I absolutely love this place. The entire experience was top-notch. Our server, Maze, was very knowledgeable and accommodating. Our food was unique yet comforting. 11/10 - would recommend.

J C

1 year ago

Candice Gilbert Kane

1 year ago

Clay was awesome! Food and service were excellent! Love this place!

Pandora Peckne

2 years ago

We had the best dinner in some time at Merlions. Shay, our waitress was fantastic and had great drink suggestions. The calamari was the best we've ever had and our entrees were even better. I had the Merlion Thai Peanut Sauce Curry with scallops and my husband had Suara's Fried Rice. We also requested a shot at the suggestion of a friend who is a regular and Pedro brought it out personally. It was an overall amazing dining experience and we will for sure be back.

Ty Robbins

2 years ago

As always, amazing

Amit Gupta

2 years ago

We came here for a friend’s birthday and we were amazed how good the food was. Probably the best Thai restaurant I tried in Houston. Food can be made to your spice level liking and can in fresh when served . Recommended!

Dan Mapes

2 years ago

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and time here. In spite of the busy atmosphere, our service was spot on, and the food was very good. My wife had the tempura soft shell crab appy and I had the calamari. Both were exemplary. Neither of us could remember a better rendition of either appy that we enjoyed more. My main of panco crusted snapper with a 1.5 heat red curry was very good and having half of it saved for today it reheated really well and as good as last night. We both enjoyed our wine and thought the selection was diverse including good selections at a reasonable price. We would DEFINITELY dine here again.

O C Lopez

2 years ago

Food is good

Jason Bentley

2 years ago

Been here many times but last night was very busy so service was understandably a bit slow. Very friendly host & servers though, along with excellent food & drinks!

Brian Baird

2 years ago

Hidden gem, we went tonight and loved the atmosphere and food. We had a ton of appetizers half price during happy hour. We had satay, egg rolls, corn cakes, dragon fire dumplings plus the cheese and crab rolls. All were in point. My beautiful bride was not overly wild over the corn cakes. They were good not great but EVERYTHING else was superb. The peanut sauce was amazing. We will be back for entrees. Can’t wait to try the Panang Curry. Pedro and Desiree did an amazing job taking care of us. Atmosphere is amazing. We will be back.