13. Hillstone Restaurant
This chain is based in Beverly Hills, so you know this will be a fancy place to take your date on Valentine’s Day.
Hillstone Restaurant is a small chain that has set its sights on providing the ultimate modern, vibrant experience in the causal chain business. In fact, Zagat, the famed restaurant critic guide that every restaurant prides itself on impressing, called Houston’s “vibrant,” and lauded its service, which shouldn’t be overlooked.
The chain that is now Hillstone used to be called “Houston’s,” and it was founded in 1977 by George Biel in Nashville, Tennessee. The chain would later move its headquarters to Beverly Hills, and transform itself into a hyper-casual restaurant with one of the coolest bar scenes in the industry. In 2009, “Houston’s” began to chain its name to “Hillstone” to better reflect their concept, but, not every restaurant is named Hillstone, though.
This chain has, like, 50 different names.
OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration.
It’s more like 24.
Fro Houston’s to Hillstone, to names that many won’t recognize even if it was right there in front of them, Hillstone’s constant name changes can be a bit confusing, which, may be part of its charm, we figure.
Ever since it grew into a chain, in fact, the name of each restaurant has been different. For some, it’s “Hillstone,” and for others, it still carries Houston’s brand. Hillstone actually operates under 15 different banners, which may lead to some thinking that it has an identity crisis if it wasn’t such a darn good Valentine’s date night spot for its food and drinks.