First look: Can Houston's newest restaurant Recess let parents have it all?

For a little over a year, Recess has been on my mind. The indoor playground-dining concept near Houston's Montrose neighborhood hasn't made anybody's most anticipated restaurant list. It's for good reason: Barely anyone in the Houston food media space has kids.

But I do, and Recess has finally arrived. Owners Jonathan Davy and Paul Rice officially soft-launched their 9,000-square-foot kid oasis at 1500 Waugh Dr. over the weekend. The two-story facility, which occupies a former bank lobby, joins a growing collection of indoor play areas that have been popping up around Greater Houston, including Kid Empire, Cheeky Monkey, Kanga's, Cosmic Air, you name it.

Unlike the others, Recess bills itself as an "elevated" experience. The concept marries a fully supervised play area on the first floor with a full-service restaurant and bar on the second. The overall aesthetic is bright with lots of neutral and earthy tones and natural lighting throughout. 

The first floor features two entrances, accessible from inside the garage and outside the building. You sign a waiver, get some grippy socks and electronic wristbands that tell you when the kids' playtime is up or when they've stepped outside the area. Speaking of which, general access passes range from $12 to $18 an hour depending on age and number of kids.

The main playground, specifically for ages 4 to 11, resembles a tree canopy. Staff supervisors are with the children, either walking around or monitoring at the edges, while the kids run around. 

To the side is the toddler area, which includes a semi-enclosed play area and a classroom-esque room filled with books, games and puzzles. This area, in particular, is not supervised and requires a parent or guardian present. The other side, presumably, is for the older kids but it hasn't been fully built out yet. There's a lounge area for parents to keep watch with a TV hanging nearby.

Upstairs is the restaurant and bar. Scott Sulma of May I Speak Hospitality Consulting devised the space and menu, which features comfortable American classics and family-friendly fare. There's chips and queso, fruit and cheese plates, pizzas, sandwiches, steak frites, desserts and cocktails to be enjoyed. The dining room also features windows into the main play area, presumably for parents to take a peek at their kids below.

Davy and Rice pointed out the private booth seating in the back as one of the big draws of the dining room. The hope is that couples looking for a night out may choose Recess to have their romantic dinner and drop the kids off below.

Ultimately, that's the endgame of Recess. Its success is reliant on whether parents can trust the business enough to take care of their kids while they go off to do something else. The early signs seem encouraging. The electronic monitoring seems robust, the staff in the older kids section were attentive and interacted with the kids, and parents were sipping cocktails and watching the kids from the restaurant above.

Still, it's all early, and there's room for Recess to grow, literally and figuratively. Some of the space is still a work-in-progress and the families visiting will undoubtedly offer lessons to Rice and Davey as they continue to iterate Recess. Even over the weekend, some customers were hailing from suburbs like Katy and Sugar Land.

They'll be the ones to figure out what Recess finally looks like in the coming months. Is it a playground with a restaurant or a restaurant with a playground?

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