I’ve been to the Marq’E Entertainment Center about three times this year. The Houston retail development has been around for 27 years, and it’s a prominent landmark for drivers heading in or out of west Houston on the Katy Freeway. But lately, it’s been a place that more and more I’ve been iffy about visiting.
See, the Marq’E, which is an open-air mall of different restaurants, shops and entertainment venues, used to be a hopping place when I was a kid. But take my three recent visits: My May excursion to burger chain Red Robin, which anchors the corner of the complex, was fairly dismal. On a second trip, my family and I discovered Dave & Buster’s was a madhouse, Sloomoo Institute is hella expensive, and the Aviator Pizza next door is just average. And then came my recent late lunch at Warehouse 72.
Warehouse 72 is both a direct and spiritual successor to the old Spaghetti Warehouse, which in Houston was located at 901 Commerce St. The old Downtown Houston location was a popular destination for school field trips, largely owing to its accessible Italian-American menu, and possibly partly because its 1912-era building was reputedly haunted. Hurricane Harvey put an end to the business in 2017.
But in 2019, the Dallas parent company of the Spaghetti Warehouse chain relocated the business to the Marq’E at 7620 Katy Freeway under a new name: Warehouse 72, which alludes to the year of the chain’s founding. The restaurant still approaches an accessible Italian-American sensibility, but it has expanded that culinary aperture to include more global flavors. Meatball parmigiana, shrimp tacos, charred Spanish octopus and Peruvian chicken find themselves close, if not odd companions on the tall menu.
When I visited Warehouse 72, nobody else was there, save for its staff. It was dimly lit with an open kitchen, sleek leather booths and tables with shiny wood finishing furnishings. The walls evoke a modern cool aesthetic with an exposed brick-like pattern and street art-style murals. The lack of people drew me to the outside patio, which sported casual couch seating, soft pillowed seating and, more importantly, shade from the hostile sun.
The food I ate at Warehouse may be a reflection of the Marq’E as a whole: accessible but lacking a bit in execution. The tomato bisque was a hearty though excruciatingly hot bowl of tangy and creamy orange broth with croutons and tiny basil leaves. The chicken parm was a well-cooked piece of bird surrounded by, unfortunately, a mealy crust and a too-sweet marinara sauce. Plus, the chocolate hazelnut torte was a party-sized slab of thin cake, eerily reminiscent of a Little Debbie’s Cosmic Brownie though far more subtle and ethereal in its sweetness. The prices are a little steep for what I got, and it’s something that, so far, has been reflected across my various trips to the Marq’E.
On a positive note, the trip instilled a renewed vigor to cook at home. My travels to the Marq’E have yet to conclude, and there’s more to see and eat. The worry I’ve yet to shake is that I’ll never get to reclaim whatever childhood spark the Marq’E used to hold.
