Drago's Seafood Restaurant - Metairie - The Original — Restaurant in Metairie

When in Metairie, Louisiana there are quite a few places you can choose from when dining out. One of our favorites (Chef Ron's Gumbo Stop) is located there as well as some others such as Bobby Hebert's Cajun Cannon and Acme Oyster House. When you speak with people about Iconic New Orleans' dishes you hear many responses, but one had really caught our attention that was a bit different than most. "You absolutely must try the charbroiled oysters at Drago's" is something we heard from multiple people. We were off to try the oysters, and we soon found out that Drago's is so much more than just oysters.

Drago's in Metairie is a very busy but also efficient restaurant located just off the main drag of North Causeway Boulevard. There is an additional parking lot located in the rear (that we didn't know about at all until our 4th trip or so) which is a good thing because the front two lots are consistently filled, even through the whole Covid situation. With that said though, they removed over half their seating and are quite competent at working with the social distancing guidelines in place for the state of Louisiana.

First thing that set off the positive vibes of Drago's for us was when ordering an old fashioned our server asked if Buffalo Trace was acceptable. Not only is it acceptable sir, but it is preferred! This was a huge bonus for Chuck who has really fallen in love with Buffalo Trace as a fairly inexpensive but high quality bourbon.

After the build-up and all of the anticipation, we naturally started with ordering a half dozen of the charbroiled oysters. We almost immediately then ordered another half dozen of the oysters. Wow. The flavor from these is something you wish all meals would have. Lots of buttery flavor with oregano and grated cheeses and just the smokiness that it takes on from having them on the open flame grill...just wow. We could have sat there and ate these all day long! Soon after while visiting a friend of ours in Orlando, Chuck took a shot at re-creating these...but that's a story for a totally different time.

For our entrees Chuck decided to go with the "Grillades and Grits", Chas went with "Lobster Marco" and Val chose the "Drago's Mixed Grill". The Grillades dish was unlike anything we've ever tried, and we mean that in a good way. This veal was so incredibly tender it seemed as though it must have been cooking all day long. The mix of that with some of the harder cooked grits and the gravy it's served in was really a nice treat, and a bit of an unexpected dish.

The Lobster Marco was seriously breathtaking. This dish came out and made everyone instantly regret ordering what they got and not ordering this one. A huge Maine Lobster stuffed with angel hair pasta in a cream sauce with mushrooms and shrimp. Not only did it photo incredibly well, but it was delicious. It was genuinely two dishes in one. You have your shrimp and mushroom pasta and then you have an entire lobster with drawn butter.

The Mixed Grill offered a petite filet that was cooked exactly to the right temperature, half a Maine Lobster, and some Cajun shrimp that were delightful. Add in this "Corn maque choux" that they create here and it was a really nice dish all the way around. We ate some other meals on other trips here that can also be seen in our gallery such as the "Shrimp n Grits with Tasso", "Boudin Stuffed Shrimp" and the "Shrimp and Corn Bisque".

There is zero percent doubt that we will be re-visiting this establishment next time in the New Orleans/Metairie area of Louisiana. Their attention to detail, quality service, open view to the grills where the oysters were being prepared, THE OYSTERS, and the many high quality entrees we had made quite a lasting impression on us that makes us say without a doubt that Drago's is one of the best restaurants in all of the New Orleans area. This one goes without saying Drago's in Metairie -...

We were visiting New Orleans for my daughter's 16th birthday... we looked up several restaurants and decided on Drago's Metairie location because of the reviews.. it seemed like that location the most friendly and we we're looking for great food and excellent service... sadly we received neither. Victoria ,our server, was dryer than the bread they serve with the oysters! We brought a cake and some balloons my daughter wore a bday sash.. (we did call and ask if that was okay prior to our visit) customers were more friendly then the staff. Victoria didn't bother with any recommendations.. we ordered Chargrilled Oysters: delicious Alligator bites: okay.. 2 bowls of Gumbo one Seafood one chicken and sausage both were cold and yuck tasted like pureed Campbell's beef and veggies soup. We also had the Marco, looked great.. the taste was ehh and my lobster claws were cold and the tail was over cooked ,go figure.. by that time we realized we made a terrible mistake coming here.. the rest of our entrees came out the boudin stuffed shrimp this one was really bad the flavor was just a mess of sweet savory cold mess with rubbery shrimp we ordered it topped with crab .. the crab was served cold in a plastic cup on the side.. fried alligator tacos were good but nothing amazing, and the shrimp stack eggplant parmesan was a cold and watery mess... so much of our food was left over Victoria saw the plates and said okay we need two togo boxes.. I said no thank we weren't taking them.. then she says well I'm guessing it's someone's birthday day.. (obviously).. she looked at my daughter and just said "do you like nuts"?!?! 🤣🤣 what!?!? It was funny and weird. She sent someone out with a plate full of cool whip .. there was a browine under there! Sweet, thank you.. my little family sang happy birthday to my daughter then cut her cake cut a piece for Victoria and she said "oh wow you didn't have to do this but the kitchen staff will be happy!" Not even a simple thanks.. she was just strange. Then the fun part, time to pay! Our ticket was around $230ish no problem got my card she brought the cc machine to the table and the machine said network error so she did it again and again and again and finally on the 4th time it declined it.. she said well ma'am it declined your card 🤣🤣🤣 absolutely not.. but okay here's cash paid $300 to include her tip. I guess she knew her service was bad because she tried to give me the change.. I told her it was for her finally her face lit up!! 🙌 Then of course I check my card and low and behold I was charged 4 times for our dinner $1200 was pending to Drago's... so I went to show her and Bert the manager came over I scrolled and realized the $1200 was already being reversed.. today 2days later they final zeroed out. Bert was very pleasant and friendly I told him I see the reversal pending I honestly should've taken the time to give him some insight on our visit but it was late and I already knew my family was gonna have to grab something else before bed.

Sooo all in all bad experience for us.. the only highlight was the oysters and Bert.

But look at these pictures!! 🤩 We were so excited until...

I came on a special trip with my brother and my dad to New Orleans. Have had greater food experiences since we got here on Monday. This restaurant was recommended but ended up being a bust. Our servers, personality and her heart was great. Unfortunately, like most corporate partnered environments they don't support their serving staff and there's always lack of communication between food runners, the kitchen and servers. I spent a lot of time in the restaurant industry and see this all the time. Taking a brand that was great and lowering quality of food along with service. It's all about the bottom line. We ordered an appetizer of Gator bites that were mediocre. The gumbo my brother had was good. But he didn't get his beverage until he had to remind our server. Oysters were next on the menu. We had raw and the char-broiled. Unfortunately the table isn't big enough for these big platters and we had to remove things from our table to fit these platters. It's disappointing that nobody thinks the size of plate and size of table matters. So that being said, our main entree of a po' boy came out as well and there was nowhere to put it. The food runner or other server had and attitude when I asked him to take the food back to the kitchen because we weren't ready for it and it wouldn't fit on the table. He seemed dumbfounded. Also, I got an attitude when I said please don't bring back the same plate and the same food because it will be 15 minutes later when we finish all the oysters and it won't be fresh. Our original server came by and I informed her of the issue and asked her not to bring back the same food when we were ready. She had no clue that it happened. Mind you, the restaurant was not busy at all. But what happened? They brought back the same sandwich lukewarm fries and po' boy that was not fresh. We had to wait 15 mins for a sandwich to come back out fresh Like I said, our server was honest and recovered with her personality. Even brought us a complimentary dessert to share. But all in all the experience wasn't what I expected or what everybody should expect from a restaurant of this caliber. What happened to people being trained on pacing a meal and not overloading people. I expect this from Olive garden or other places . But not something unique to New Orleans and the expectation of quality. This was our last day in New Orleans and wanted to have a good meal but unfortunately we were robbed of that because of lack of leadership in this restaurant. By the way, the manager never stopped by our table to apologize. I...