First look: Biggio’s sports bar downtown

Biggio's, a sports bar that is a partnership between the former Astros star Craig Biggio and Marriott, opened at the 1,000-room Marriott Marquis Houston. Shown: The downstairs bar of the two-level restaurant. Biggio's, a sports bar that is a partnership between the former Astros star Craig Biggio and Marriott, opened at the 1,000-room Marriott Marquis Houston. Shown: The downstairs bar of the two-level restaurant. Photo: Greg Morago Photo: Greg Morago Image 1 of / 122 Caption Close First look: Biggio’s sports bar downtown 1 / 122 Back to Gallery

The new, 1,000-room Marriott Marquis Houston opened at Discovery Green on Monday and with it, five of the six restaurant and bar offerings.

While Hugo Ortega's Xochi is still under construction, the hotel's other dining and drinking venues, had their public debut Monday, including Walker Street Kitchen, Texas T, High Dive, and Cueva. But the most anticipated restaurant was Biggio's, the two-level sports bar from former Astros All-Star Craig Biggio.

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A sprawling space, the restaurant's first level (with windows looking out onto Discovery Green and Avenida Houston at George R. Brown) offers a variety of seating options. There's a long, generous bar in the center, flanked on one side by booths and sofa/club chair combinations that lend a living room feel, and on the other side with booths, high-tops and rows of cushy man-cave chairs (looking almost like a casino sports book setup) fronting a massive, two-story television installation.

Speaking of televisions, they litter Biggio's. The first-floor bar area features walls of television screens that form a two-level canyon that draw your eyes up to the second floor. Those loud walls of nonstop sports and news might draw attention from other sports-minded design details such as wood paneling made from reclaimed bleachers and the front of the bar that boasts a slugger's lineup of baseball bats.

About that bar, which was packed with nary an empty seat on the afternoon and evening of open day: it's terribly uncomfortable. The bar stools are hard and clunky (why weren't padded bar chairs with backs installed here?) and, worse, there's no bar rail underfoot. Two women near me asked the bartender to charge their phones, which he did behind the bar; which leads me to wonder if there are no charging options below the bar (de rigueur in this plugged-in age).

The upstairs area, with a smaller bar, is where I'll park the next time. The second level space feels more grown up, with that snug bar, an outdoor dining terrace that overlooks Discovery Green and GRB, and four semi-private boxes that can be let out for groups and parties.

As for the menu, Biggio's pushes many of Houston's foodie buttons. Starters include familiar options such as chicken wings, loaded nachos, giant pretzel with beer mustard, Texas caviar served with tortilla chips, queso or guacamole and chips, and bison chili.

There are sliders (angus with pimento spread or fried chicken with Sriracha honey); hot dogs (American or Sonoran), flatbreads, street tacos, and salad options including Caesar, steak with blue cheese, or Texas Cobb (a veggie red quinoa option with roasted vegetables is a smart inclusion). Sandwiches, yes: chopped brisket sandwich, a three-cheese grilled cheese, a black bean and quinoa burger, and a beef burger.

More hardy appetites are served with a "knife & fork" section that offers a bone-in ribeye with garlic mushrooms and house fries; roasted cauliflower steak, seared Gulf redfish with corn and green chile succotash; roasted chicken with fingerling potatoes; pasta with Texas wild boar Bolognese; and chicken and waffles.

My burger was passable at best. And the bar didn't have pinot grigio so they substituted sauvignon blanc instead. The man next to me asked for Crown Royal but the bartender said it was still downstairs and hadn't been properly stocked at the bar yet. The beer program with its many offerings seemed to be going over well with patrons, though. And maybe on my next visit going the ballpark route will be a smart choice: beer and nachos or a hot dog.

Biggio's, like the entire hotel, is obviously getting its game together. It was only Day 1: the sports bar has a long, busy season ahead of it.



Biggio's at Marriott Marquis Houston, 1777 Walker St., 713-654-1777