A British Treat For The Holidays!
Feeling Lonely or Hungry During the Holidays try
Red Lion Pub for Holiday Treats
By Marene Gustin
No need to sit home alone on the holidays and binge on junk food. The Red Lion Pub near River Oaks is always open for the holidays Besides being comfy and quaint — with red pleather booths, a gas log fireplace, and imitation Tudor timbers — they always decorate for the holidays so you know it will be festive and the food is first rate.
The pub, opened by Craig Mallinson, son of British folk singer Sarah Mallinson, in 2003, is a popular hangout for the neighborhood with a host of fun events from taco Tuesdays to soccer and royal wedding watches (there are several flat screen TV’s around the main dining room and over the bar) and it’s always crowded Sunday suppers featuring roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for $22. Did we mention the prices are very reasonable? It’s likely the most authentic British pub in Houston offering up fish and chips and shepherd’s pie daily. But there’s also a lot of Indian food such as beef vindaloo and Punjabi egg rolls on the menu. Mallinson, who grew up around British pubs, says Indian is the Tex-Mex of his homeland. “It’s the most popular ethnic food there, he says.”
Red Lion is the Cheers bar of British pubs, everyone knows you or will after the first round. And while it’s very authentic, it’s authentic in a throwback way. Red Lion is the pub you’ve read about in English cozy novels where you wouldn’t be surprised to see Agatha Christie pop in for a cup of tea in the afternoon. But those places are getting harder and harder to find in Britain today.
According to the British Beer and Pub Association (of course there’s such a thing), the British pub industry is in a 40-year decline. And the association blames technology citing more and more Britons are staying home drinking beer and watching Netflix. And there’s also the 2007 smoking ban that hurt the industry and the fact that the younger generations don’t seem to drink as much at lunchtime and prefer a livelier environment after work making the modern corporate owned pubs more popular. But, according to a CNBC report from April of this year, there has been a rise in brewpubs.
The horseshoe-shaped bar at Red Lion dispenses every kind of drink you can imagine from locally brewed beers to imported ales to fine wines and 16-year-old Scotches.
The Yorkshire-born Mallinson hasn’t always been a pub owner. He has been a fashion model and bartender here in Houston but when he saw the space on Shepherd Drive, which has been everything from a pizza joint to a French bistro, he knew he was home.
“It just looked like a pub,” he says. That was 14 years ago and the pub has been going strong ever since then. Guy Fieri even featured it on his TV show Food Network’s Diners, Drive-in, and Dives. Fieri even stayed with his crew after the taping and ordered dinner on the patio. The patio is, in fact, one of the best in the city and is dazzling at night with the twinkling Christmas lights strung from the red umbrellas and the fire pits roaring when the weather dips. It’s also a dog-friendly and smoker friendly patio.
“The patio is my favorite spot,” says professional actress and singer Francie Mendenhall. “But it’s all just so cozy, the rounded bar, the dart room, and fire room. I love that little room at Christmastime when all the decorations are up and the gas fireplace is going.”
Cozy yes, but on the holidays expect a crowd.
“Make a reservation early,” she advises, “I’ve seen a line out the door on Thanksgiving. They serve a traditional American meal with turkey and all the sides but I love the desserts. The holidays are very festival at Red Lion. It can get pretty packed but it’s fun!”
Red Lion Pub
2316 S. Shepherd Dr.
Houston, TX 77019
713-782-3030
redlionpubhouston.com