The Gallery Venue by Pigéon Catering and Events — Attraction in New Orleans

We held my son’s rehearsal dinner at The Gallery at Thomas Bistro in December.

The main room in the facility has a really neat industrial/New Orleans vibe and a cool patio (the patio is pretty small but was great for guests). There is also a pretty big front room that we used for a cocktail hour and post dinner welcome party. That area is fairly plain but worked well as a separate location for our guests before and after dinner. Overall the layout of the venue itself was great for what we needed and accommodated us well.

The food was very good and the chef did a great job at our tasting and rehearsal dinner.

My biggest negative about this venue was the difficult communication with our main contact, Emily. This started when I first visited the place about a year ago when I provided about a 5 minute walkthrough of the building. I felt rushed as if I was being an inconvenience to her and I basically didn’t get any info about the venue unless I asked. It was super odd. But since I liked the feel of the place, I just hoped it was an off day for communication for Emily and I signed a contract. Fast forward 6 silent months and I contacted her via email to set up a tasting. I was literally never provided her cell phone number the entire time (even though I asked for it on more than one occasion) so all I had was an office number and email. This was extremely frustrating and unheard of in today’s world. Communication was always delayed and disjointed because of this. Emily didn’t show up for our tasting, which I of course thought she would so I couldn’t discuss our RD plans and ideas. This frustrating communication gap continued on in a similar way up until the actual event.

I had to communicate all my final details and requests of what I was wanting at our RD and post dinner party via emails. Emily wasn’t even my “night of” contact so several things at our post dinner Welcome Party didn’t go as requested and undoubtedly got lost in translation. I do compliment Wallace who did a great job for us on the night of the rehearsal dinner with the info he was indirectly provided.

So overall the venue and food are very good. The event staff worked hard and were quite pleasant. If you select this as your venue just know that may have communication challenges with Emily that could ultimately affect your event. This may not be the case for everyone but I have read similar reviews on...

What they did right: they were prepared for the 13 person reservation, smoothly handled the unexpected two extras that came, had friendly & competent wait staff, outstanding ambiance, and the duck got raves by those who had it.

What they did wrong: somebody in the kitchen must have stock in Morton, because half our group were taken aback by the excess of salt, even our one registered Salt-A-Holic. Some could not finish meals b/c of it. The price was on the high side so we were saddened that we couldn't taste the food for the salt. Nobody in the group will be going back.

What I did wrong: I didn't ask if they did separate checks when I made the reservation. Restaurants that don't offer this option are treating customers like they are doing us a favor, rather than the other way around and meeting our needs in delivering a pleasant, low-stress dining experience. When I pay $12 for one glass of wine that comes from an $8 bottle, I would like the wait staff to take the time to divide the ticket. It's less hassle for him/her than it is for a table of us that need to pay separately, especially after we have each downed $24 ~ $36 worth of the $8 a-bottle-wine. This is usually a deal-breaker for several of us in the group, but mea culpa, but it caused a problem b/c we had a cheap bast@rd in the group that hated the service, refused to pitch in on the tip and under payed- sticking others to cover for their meal. We all know "That...

The venue is gorgeous, no doubt about that. However, I have to say the woman (Emily) that I've been trying to communicate with about planning my wedding, has made this experience horrible. She hasn't responded to any of my SEVERAL emails expressing my interest until my fiancé (a man) stepped in.

Once we finally set up a tour, we could tell she didn't really want us there. The tour lasted not even 10 minutes (I've been on at least 15 tours this entire process and they all have lasted at least 30). My fiancé would ask her questions and she was very uninterested and very distant. We looked back at the video with our parents and they could see she didn't want us there. It felt extremely cold and unwelcoming. I asked her if she could show me the bridal suite and she was like, "yeah you can go up and see it yourself". Man, like you can't even show me?

Coming from an out of town bride who is so ecstatic to be marrying my best friend in New Orleans, this experience broke my heart. I couldn't tell if she just didn't like me, or us, was it the color of our skin? It hurt, especially seeing all the praises she's gotten in other reviews.

I'm not here to say she's a horrible event manager, and I understand people have personal things in their lives...but she really did crush my dreams that day. I cried.

I'd suggest the NOPSI or The Chicory if you're looking for impeccable...