Where To Make New Friends In Houston

Finding out all of your friends took a vacation without you feels terrible. It’s not your fault you muted the group chat or maybe you recently bragged too much about your latest gym workout. Well, who needs them, right? Houston has plenty of places where you can make new friends with those who will actually appreciate you sending a post-meal payment request. Here’s where to go to meet your people, or at least drink , and dance with wild abandon.

THE SPOTS

Blood Bros. BBQ

The best way to meet people at Blood Bros BBQ in Bellaire is to get in line. Folks wait all day for new school-style smoked meats either straight up or remixed as char siu pork bánh mì or fried rice with hunks of tender brisket. And because the menu at Blood Bros constantly rotates with daily specials, it’s a great opportunity to ask your new potential bestie to share a table so you can swap favorite movies over a couple of juicy hot links.

Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon

If you pilgrimage to this bar and dance hall in Spring Branch , you may find yourself the belle of the cowboy boot disco ball. With a massive floor for line dancing and two-stepping, a decked-out karaoke room, a fleet of pool tables, and, if you’re lucky, a mechanical bull, there’s no shortage of exciting and perhaps vulnerable activities. And if you don’t know how to two-step, don’t worry. Neon Boots hosts dance classes where you can learn, practice, and make a date with someone new to dance again.

Nancy’s Hustle

While most people are at Nancy’s Hustle for a romantic date night , you can make a new friend while snagging an empty seat at the bar right when they open. Once you secure your barstool at this EaDo restaurant, the lamb tartare and their burger wedged between two halves of an english muffin will keep you company. That is until you can convince a bar mate to split some Nancy cakes and learn about their favorite movie over a voodoo doll cocktail.

Himalaya Restaurant

This Pakistani restaurant often gets so busy that you’ll be asked to share a table with future friends—a perfect opportunity to break out the magic tricks or stand-up bits you’ve been practicing. You can also talk about the food, like masala-rubbed crispy fried chicken with tangy mustard, or that Anthony Bourdain ate here once. The owner often makes dinner here an experience—like a dinner theater MC—squeezing in folks at random tables and encouraging cross-table sharing. Himalaya’s a party and you can BYOB, yet another way to get someone new to like you.

Shady Acres Saloon

Not only can you meet new people here, mainly because the outdoor patio at Shady Acres is massive, but you can also show off whatever cornhole skills you’ve dialed in. Because we all know the best way to make friends is to one-up them at bar games. The Lazybrook/Timbergrove dive bar and honky tonk also hosts live music, a weekly trivia game, and bingo on Sunday featuring an exclusive yacht rock-only playlist. So break out those pit vipers, test your bingo stamper reflexes, and practice double-fisting a couple of tall boys. One of which is for your new pal, of course.

Nonno’s Family Pizza Tavern

Between bits of crispy tavern pizza and shots of Malört, hit up the arcade at Nonno’s and challenge someone new to a couple of rounds of pinball. The pizza spot in Montrose oozes ‘90s pizza parlor nostalgia with squeaky vinyl-wrapped booths built for large groups and stained glass lamps. Reliving your childhood, or just continuing it, is easy at Nonno’s, so get a little sentimental over pizza and blinking lights. You may not win any tickets, but you might meet someone worth adding to your competitive mini-boat racing club.

West Alabama Ice House

Show up at this Montrose ice house wearing any Astros jersey, and you’ll have instant friends. Show up in an Astros jersey with a dog, and you'll have even more friends. Show up in an Astros jersey with a dog in the back of a late-model pickup, and you’ll instantly be crowned Duke of West Alabama. This patio bar has zero inside seating, really cheap beer, and a lot of TVs for nonstop sports games . Open a tab for you and some local fans, or grab a dozen tacos from the Tacos Tierra Caliente food truck to share.

Hai Cang

If you saw someone selecting a giant crab from Hai Cang’s seafood tank, taking pictures with it, and only a few minutes later having it deep-fried and smothered in a tangy tamarind sauce, wouldn’t you want to be their friend? Well, choose your crab wisely at the Vietnamese - Chinese restaurant in Chinatown , and offer up the spoils to anyone who wants to join you for the large seafood feast.

Off The Record

As a land of two-steps and iconic ‘90s R&B classics, Off The Record is the unofficial meet-and-greet for Houston’s vinyl collectors. The speakeasy bar is just a few decibels shy of being a full-fledged club, so the hits are playing at a level where you don’t have to nod and pretend you heard what the person next to you said. Grab a drink from the wraparound bar and head upstairs to hang with your newfound friends and the music royalty lining the walls.

Space Cowboy

Space Cowboy is where adults go to relive their spring break glory days on a brightly colored patio. At The Heights bar and pool, there is no such thing as a stranger, just a friend in a neon bathing suit that you haven’t met yet. Cool off as you sip a frozen margarita made of half tequila and half of whatever ingredients come in a Starburst. And you can always stay to dance the night away with your new pals because once the sun goes down, an EDM DJ set is all but inevitable.

The Breakfast Klub

There are plenty of ways to make friends at The Breakfast Klub. For starters, you can make small talk with a stranger while standing in a line extending around the block, especially on the weekends. And if you don’t find something to talk about during your wait for this Midtown breakfast joint, there’s always the option to wax poetic about the crispness of the catfish or the fluffiness of their pancakes with the person you meet at the warm syrup refill station. At the very least, you’ll leave with a pal to save you a spot in line the next time you are craving grits and fluffy waffles from TBK.