First time I went to Houston the concierge of the hotel went ballistic when he found out I walked across the car park to the shopping mall as he said I should have got someone from the hotel to drive me there (it was about 200mtrs). Like any city it does have it`s less than salubrious areas and I`m not sure I would want to be downtown near the bars. Might be worth looking at areas outside the city and going to their local restaurants/bars. I have heard Sugarland is ok and Woodland Heights is quite trendy with places to to