Gautreau's Restaurant

Short story - If you are from out of town they don't want you. They cancelled our reservation within an hour of calling us to confirm, because they saw an out of town phone number. Service was grumpy. The first course was excellent, the salad was mediocre, the main dishes were "tired" at best, the dessert was okay. Long story - We traveled to New Orleans for a birthday trip for our son who was turning 11. We made reservations at Gautreau's to celebrate his birthday. I had the good fortune of regular business travel to New Orleans post Katrina nearly 15 years ago and enjoyed lots of amazing food, but never had the opportunity to dine at Gautreau's. I am guessing it was probably better a decade ago. I made reservations far in advance of our trip via Open Table for 8:30pm. On the day of our reservation, the restaurant called to confirm our reservation around 3pm and left a vmail. We were on a tour so I did not get chance to call back to confirm the reservation until 6pm. The woman on th

This place has been a local favorite for us for a long time and we may have had an off night. Service: Had to chase service for attention, remind them of drink order, then wave them down twice to be able to order. We were there over three hours and didn’t mean to be. Super slow, and yet rushed in their time with us. Two stars. Food: I loved the triple tail special and watermelon gazpacho. Dad had his favorite- rabbit- and described it as inedible (overcooked, dry, and over salted). 2.5 stars maybe? To average out my 4 and Dad’s 1? Atmosphere: They get a pass as this one was out of their control. A large table was celebrating a 60th birthday party and they really threw down as if the whole place was their private room. One star with an asterisk? When you put all this together against the total price, it pains me to give this a 3 star review, that probably should really be rounded down to a 2.

Outstandingly refreshing dining experience. The owner greeted us at the table and spent time getting to know us. The service was excellent and the food outstanding. Great night.