Restaurant in Houston, United States
Strip-mall Michelin star. Book early, bring wine.
Tatemó holds a Michelin star and a spot on Resy's 2025 Hit List — earned inside a strip mall off Dacoma Street with no liquor license and a tasting menu built entirely around heirloom corn and Mexican technique. It's a hard reservation at the $$$$ tier, BYOB only, and open Wednesday through Saturday from 6 PM. Book 3–4 weeks out minimum.
Tatemó holds a Michelin star and landed on Resy's 2025 Best of the Hit List, which means Friday and Saturday reservations move fast. If you're planning your first visit, target a Wednesday or Thursday opening: demand is slightly lower and the kitchen runs the same menu all four service nights. Reservations are hard to secure regardless of the night, so book as far out as your schedule allows — two to three weeks minimum is not enough buffer for weekends. This is not a walk-in venue.
The address is a strip mall off Dacoma Street in northwest Houston, sharing a parking lot with a brewery and a doughnut shop. There is no signage designed to impress from the outside, and that gap between exterior and interior is deliberate and significant. Once inside, the space shifts entirely: the dining room is intimate, focused, and purposeful, built around a tasting menu format that gives the food room to land without distraction. Seating is limited, the layout is close, and the atmosphere reads as serious without being stiff. For a first-timer, the spatial contrast , industrial strip mall outside, considered dining room inside , is part of the experience, though the food is the actual reason to be here.
This is not a place to drop in for a quick meal. Tatemó runs a tasting menu format with a fixed progression, and the kitchen's focus is heirloom corn from across Mexico. Chef Emmanuel Chavez builds the menu around masa in ways that go well beyond the familiar: riffs on quesadillas, gorditas, and ceviche appear in forms that are precise and visually considered. The standout, based on documented accounts, is a mole negro that arrives under a tortilla made from nixtamalized plantains , dense in color, complex in construction, and unlike what you'd find elsewhere in Houston at this price tier.
Tatemó does not hold a liquor license, which means no wine, cocktails, or beer on-site. The restaurant is BYOB. If wine matters to you on this visit, plan accordingly before you arrive , select something that works with masa-forward, sauce-driven food. This is not a minor logistical note; it meaningfully shapes the budget and the rhythm of the meal. There is no sommelier to lean on, so the pairing decision is yours.
At the $$$$ price tier for a tasting menu in Houston, Tatemó is competing against March and Musaafer for the same discretionary spend. The Michelin star and the Resy recognition give you a verifiable credential that the kitchen performs at a level that justifies the cost , but this is a specific type of fine dining. If you want broad tasting menu ambition (European technique, multicourse luxury service), March is the right call. If you want a tightly focused, ingredient-driven program where Mexican culinary tradition is treated as fine dining material rather than context, Tatemó is the more original and harder-to-replicate choice. The Google rating sits at 4.3 across 154 reviews, which is consistent but modest for a Michelin-starred room , worth keeping in mind if you're calibrating expectations against peer venues like Le Jardinier Houston or BCN Taste & Tradition.
The editorial angle here matters: Tatemó is a tasting menu restaurant and its food is not designed for takeout or delivery. Masa-based preparations, composed plating, and sauce work built around temperature and texture do not hold well off-premise. The mole negro arriving blanketed under a nixtamalized plantain tortilla is a kitchen-to-table construction; it is not a container-friendly dish. There is no evidence Tatemó offers takeout, and the format strongly argues against it. If you're considering this as a delivery option or a meal to take home, look elsewhere , this kitchen's output is tied to the room and the service sequence. The experience is the sitting-down part.
Reservations: Required; book 3–4 weeks out minimum for weekends, 2 weeks for midweek. Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 6 PM–11 PM; closed Sunday through Tuesday. Price: $$$$ tasting menu format. Drinks: BYOB , no liquor license on-site. Dress: No dress code is documented, but the Michelin-starred tasting menu context suggests smart casual at minimum. Parking: Strip mall lot on-site. Address: 4740 Dacoma St Ste F, Houston, TX 77092.
Houston's tasting menu tier is competitive. For first-timers trying to decide where to spend on a single high-commitment dinner, the choice usually comes down to format and focus. March offers broader European ambition and a deeper beverage program (with a license to match). Musaafer at the Galleria delivers Indian regional cuisine at a similar price point in a more conventional hotel-adjacent setting. Tatemó is the most conceptually specific of the three: masa as fine dining, Mexican ingredients as the full vocabulary. That specificity is its strength and its constraint. If you want to see what Houston's Michelin recognition actually points to in terms of originality, this is the room to be in. For a wider view of what Houston has to offer across price points, see our full Houston restaurants guide, and check our full Houston bars guide if you want to plan drinks before or after given the BYOB situation at Tatemó.
For context on how Tatemó compares to Michelin-starred tasting rooms nationally, the closest analogues in format and specificity are places like Lazy Bear in San Francisco or Atomix in New York City , chef-driven, single-focus, high-commitment rooms where the entire menu exists to make one culinary argument. Tatemó's argument is heirloom corn and Mexican technique, delivered at a level that earned it a Michelin star in its second year of meaningful recognition. That credential, in a city without a deep Michelin history, carries real weight. If you're already familiar with what a room like Alinea in Chicago or The French Laundry in Napa delivers at the leading of the tasting menu category, Tatemó operates on a different register , more focused, less theatrical, and considerably easier to access than most of its national peers.
There is no à la carte menu , Tatemó runs a tasting menu format, so you eat what the kitchen sends. The documented standout is the mole negro, served under a tortilla made from nixtamalized plantains. The menu builds around heirloom corn, with riffs on ceviche, quesadillas, and gorditas appearing in precisely composed forms. Your only pre-arrival decision is wine: bring a bottle that works with masa-forward, sauce-driven food.
Yes, with one caveat: you need to want a tasting menu specifically. At the $$$$ tier, Tatemó holds a Michelin star and Resy's 2025 Hit List recognition, which puts it in verifiable company. Compared to March, it's more focused and less service-heavy. Compared to Musaafer, it's more original in concept. If you're spending at this level, Tatemó delivers a kitchen argument you can't replicate elsewhere in Houston.
Tatemó only serves dinner , Wednesday through Saturday, 6 PM to 11 PM. There is no lunch service. Book the earliest available slot on a midweek night if you want the easiest reservation; Friday and Saturday fill fastest given the Michelin recognition.
No dress code is documented, but a Michelin-starred tasting menu in a serious dining room warrants smart casual at minimum. You won't be turned away for dressing up. The space itself is focused and intimate rather than formal, so there's no need for a jacket , but this is not a jeans-and-sneakers room for most guests.
Book 3–4 weeks out for Friday or Saturday. Wednesday and Thursday give you slightly more flexibility, but Tatemó is a hard reservation regardless of the night. The Michelin star and the Resy recognition in 2025 have tightened availability further. Same-week bookings are unlikely to succeed unless you're monitoring cancellations.
It is, if the format suits you. This is not a venue where you can order selectively or eat lightly , you're committing to the full progression. The Michelin star signals that the kitchen delivers consistent execution at this level. The BYOB policy keeps the overall spend more manageable than a comparably priced room with a wine program, which is worth factoring into the value calculation.
There is no documented bar seating at Tatemó, and given the BYOB model (no liquor license), a traditional bar setup is unlikely. The room is built around the tasting menu experience. If bar-seat dining is important to you, other Houston venues in the fine dining tier offer counter options.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tatemó | Mexican, Mexican (Masa-Focused) | Resy Best of the Hit List (2025); The famous idiom about not judging a book by its cover couldn’t be more applicable than to this tortilleria-turned-tasting menu. In an empty strip mall with little around except for a brewery and a doughnut shop, Chef Emmanuel Chavez delivers a beautifully pitched and portioned experience that celebrates heirloom corn from across Mexico. His riffs on ceviche, quesadillas, and gorditas are elegant to behold and even more satisfying to eat thanks, in part, to vibrant salsas and other creative sauce work. The most original and striking effort might be the black-as-night mole negro, which comes blanketed under a tortilla made from nixtamalized plantains. If you want wine, you’ll have to bring your own as the restaurant doesn’t have a liquor license.; Michelin 1 Star (2024); Esquire Best New Restaurants #19 (2022) | Hard | — |
| March | Venetian | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Musaafer | Indian | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Nancy's Hustle | New American, Contemporary | Unknown | — | |
| Hidden Omakase | Sushi | Unknown | — | |
| Theodore Rex | New American, Contemporary | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Houston for this tier.
Tatemó runs a set tasting menu, so ordering is not a choice you make — the kitchen decides. Based on documented coverage, the menu centres on heirloom corn preparations including riffs on quesadillas, gorditas, and ceviche, with the mole negro served under a nixtamalized plantain tortilla drawing consistent attention. Show up hungry and let the format do its work.
At $$$$ in Houston, it is competitive with March and Musaafer for the same discretionary spend. Tatemó holds a Michelin star (2024) and landed on Resy's 2025 Best of the Hit List, which backs the price tier. The BYOB policy means you control your drinks cost, which works in your favour if you bring your own wine rather than paying restaurant markup.
Tatemó does not serve lunch. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 6 PM to 11 PM only. There is no daytime service to compare against.
The venue data does not specify a dress code. The setting is a converted strip mall space in northwest Houston, but the format is a Michelin-starred tasting menu — dress accordingly. Smart casual is a safe read for the room: no need for a jacket, but this is not a casual drop-in.
Book 3 to 4 weeks out for Friday or Saturday; 2 weeks is usually enough for Wednesday or Thursday. A Michelin star and Resy Hit List placement have tightened availability, especially on weekends. Midweek slots are your practical best option if your schedule is flexible.
Yes, if a masa-focused, chef-driven format is what you want. The Michelin star and Esquire Best New Restaurants recognition (2022) are both earned through the tasting menu format specifically. If you want à la carte Mexican in Houston, this is not the right venue — but for a structured, course-by-course experience built around heirloom corn, Tatemó is the strongest case in the city at this price tier.
Tatemó does not hold a liquor license, so there is no bar in any functional sense. The venue is BYOB. Seating arrangements are not detailed in available venue data, but given the tasting menu format and Michelin-star context, walk-in bar seating is not a realistic expectation here.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
