10 New Venues in Houston/San Antonio for Summer 2023 Meetings and Events

Blossom Hotel Houston offers more than 9,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space near the city's NRG Stadium. The 16-story hotel, which celebrated its grand opening in 2022, includes 11 event spaces and amenities like a rooftop pool. The 2,922-square-foot Luna Ballroom can accommodate up to 340 for theater-style events or 210 for banquet-style events. The 1,373-square-foot Zenith room can accommodate up to 98 for theater-style events or 40 for banquet-style events. Conference rooms range from approximately 300 to 600 square feet in size, like the 538-square-foot Kintana, which can accommodate up to 45 for theater-style events or 30 for banquet-style events.

There's a new waterfront hotel near Houston. The 208-room Hyatt Regency Baytown-Houston debuted in May. The seven-story hotel looks out onto the Houston Ship Channel and adjacent marina. Natural wood accents and oversize windows to take in the view are key parts of the decor. The hotel offers more than 18,000 square feet of meeting and event space, with all meeting space located conveniently on one floor. The divisible 12,000-square-foot Bayland Ballroom features 20-foot ceilings and a waterfront terrace, accommodating up to 1,200 for receptions and 1,000 for theater-style events. The 2,936-square-foot Regency Ballroom accommodates 293 for receptions and 244 for theater-style events. The 911-square-foot Mariner room can accommodate 91 for receptions or 76 for theater-style events, and like the Regency room, it features large windows for natural light and great views.

Aiden by Best Western at San Antonio Riverwalk opened in May in downtown San Antonio, located two blocks from the Riverwalk and housed in a building that once was a historic grocery store. A lobby with exposed brick includes glamorous design touches like velvet-covered seating and modern chandeliers, and there's a lobby cocktail bar and cafe as well. The event room can seat 78 to 80 people in rounds or approximately 100 people standing, and the boardroom seats 12. Aiden by Best Western at San Antonio Riverwalk debuted with 79 suites and amenities like a sundry shop and fitness center.

Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa, located on 300 acres of a historic ranch near San Antonio, announced the completion of a $50 million renovation of its meeting spaces and 500 guest rooms in June. The Hill Country Ballroom, Fredericksburg Ballroom, and all indoor breakout rooms now are updated with new carpeting, wallcoverings, light fixtures, and sound systems. The resort offers 100,000 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor event spaces. The 13,590-square-foot Hill Country Ballroom accommodates 1,800 for receptions and 1,200 for banquet-style events, while the 5,712-square-foot Fredericksburg Ballroom accommodates 600 for receptions and 400 for banquet-style events. The resort boasts its own water park including a lazy river and waterslide.

Home Run Dugout, a sports bar and restaurant with high-tech indoor batting cages, opened in Katy outside Houston in March, spanning 46,000 square feet. Players of all skill levels can step up to 12 patented Batting Bays, which feature soft-toss pitching machines and simulated gameplay. A massive patio and biergarten with seating for nearly 500 guests both wrap around a baseball mini-field. Home Run Dugout also features a private dining room with two Batting Bays and a private bar, which can accommodate up to 65 people seated or up to 225 people standing. The menu at the restaurant dresses up ballpark fare, with dishes like crispy chicken sliders and buttermilk onion rings.

San Antonio's Maverick Restaurant Group opened two Italian restaurants in the Pearl neighborhood around the same time in 2022. Allora embraces Italy's coastal cuisine, while trattoria Arrosta is more focused on classic Italian comfort food. Of the two, Allora offers more private dining options. At Allora, the Il Profundo private dining room seats up to 24 or accommodates 40 for a standing reception and also offers access to AV equipment and a private patio. The Terrazza, or semiprivate mezzanine dining space, accommodates 16 and is located at the top of a curved staircase near the restaurant's upstairs wine cellar. The private dining patio seats up to 18, and the restaurant's capacity for a full buyout is 300.

This spring, Le Méridien Houston Downtown debuted a new event space on its 23rd floor, transforming a former fitness center into La Belle Vie on 23 at Le Méridien. Adjacent to Z on 23, Houston’s highest open-air rooftop bar, La Belle Vie on 23 is a 1,800-square-foot space with sweeping views of the city skyline. Semiprivate events here offer La Belle Vie indoor space and the outdoor section at Z on 23, in-house music and Bluetooth speakers, tables and chairs, tableware, linens, indoor wall draping, and an indoor bar, which can be personalized with custom logos or monograms. A full buyout on the entire 23rd floor encompasses La Belle Vie and Z on 23. La Belle Vie can accommodate 60 seated or 75 standing guests for cocktail-style seated events. Z on 23 can accommodate up to 150 seated and standing guests.

CAPS Supper Club & Bar opened in June in the Houston space formerly occupied by CAPS Piano Bar, which closed in 2021 after 40 years in business. The reimagined supper club in the Briargrove neighborhood includes nightly performances showcasing the original group of musicians beloved by fans of CAPS Piano Bar. The new menu includes dishes like steak tartare, shareable portions of short rib grilled cheese, a burger on a brioche bun, and bucatini cacio e pepe. A backlit bar is a focal point of the upgraded decor. The seating occupancy of CAPS Supper Club & Bar is 94 people.

An all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue spot with neon-accented decor opened in Houston's Chinatown in April. Hongdae 33 Korean BBQ is from the restaurateurs behind Duck N Bao, a favorite in Houston for dim sum. Meats like brisket, pork belly, and miso-marinated flat iron steak are grilled tableside and served alongside Korean side dishes like seafood pancakes and spicy rice cake skewers. The restaurant is open late and serves South Korean spirits like soju. The 3,000-square-foot Hongdae 33 includes traditional Korean design elements to contrast with neon lighting. A private dining room seats eight to 10 people. Reservations for large group lunches or dinners are available Monday through Thursday only and must be arranged in advance through Hongdae 33’s owners, Grace and Leo Xia.

Houston’s acclaimed restaurant group Underbelly Hospitality added Pastore to its roster in June, with a menu that hones in on coastal Italian cooking. Naturally, seafood is a focus at Pastore, beginning with seafood towers including oysters with prosecco granita, along with main dishes like squid ink linguine or branzino puttanesca. The design by Houston-based firm Montgomery Roth also embraces the sea, with tones of blue and green throughout the 2,611-square-foot main dining room. Design accents include hand-painted floral tiles, golden butterfly-accented chandeliers, and a decorative wooden canopy with dangling lights framing the bar. The main dining room seats 88, and the entire restaurant including the bar area seats 106. Pastore's 3,748-square-foot rooftop terrace will open at a later date.