Vera's Seafood — Restaurant in Louisiana

Had a delicious lunch at Vera's Seafood on Valentine's Day. Parking is easy to find and getting seated to a table was immediate. They offered affordable lunch specials in the $10-$12 range as well as their regular menu items. We started out with an appetizer of Spinach and Crab dip. Serving size was large (enough for 3 people easily). It comes with light and fluffy grilled bread. My only complaint is that there is NOT enough bread to eat with the whole dish! We did request more bread and got it much later as we were eating our meals. I ordered the blackened shrimp tacos! OHMYGOODNESS these shrimp tacos were DIVINE! It was two FULLY LOADED with shrimp tacos!! They use a spicy sauce on top...I had asked the waitress if it was very spicy and she said no...well it was extremely spicy for me. I wiped what I could off! They used purple cabbage in with the shrimp tacos instead of lettuce. I would marinate the cabbage so it would offer some flavor and be a little softer. Just my opinion. Even still, these were the BEST shrimp tacos I've had in Slidell, Louisiana!! And I can't forget about my drink...I typically order water with lemon, but not today! It's Valentine's Day and hubby is paying so I ordered sweet tea. Vera's has their sweet tea down to a science! If you want a taste of Southern Hospitality then order their SWEET TEA! Not too much, not too little sugar and enough ice to make sure every drop of tea is nicely chilled. Their tea will make a Southern Man smile and make a Southern lady blush! GOOOOOOOD stuff! I've included some photos...the atmosphere is casual and they offer booths as well as tables. I HIGHLY recommend Vera's Seafood in Slidell, Louisiana!...

Here's the deal with Vera's, yes the food is excellent and for the amount of food you get for the price you can not beat it. But the last time I went to Vera's about one year ago the service almost turned me off from ever going to Vera's again. I arrived and it was fairly busy but I got seated right away, but I waited at my table for exactly 30 minutes before I was recognized by the waitress, I then got a menu, and waited an additional 20 minutes or so before she returned to take my order. Remember I am into this almost an hour now and don't even have a drink. She took my order and the food was served fairly quickly. I asked for tartar sauce and cocktail sauce, she seemed to be frustrated by my request but brought it a few minutes later, I by the way am waiting on my drink this whole time. Food no drink, I then flag down another waitress and asked for the manager (owner). He came to my table and apologized, and waived my entire bill. Well I'm going back tonight, hope for the best.

OK as a added review I'm writing this after the above mentioned return visit to Vera's, I did go and everything, and I do mean everything was perfect. Service and food...

Went to Vera's because I was told the food was really good, so we decided to give it a try. My catfish sandwich was the only decent item that came to the table. Four others at the table had seafood gumbo bowls that came out to the table and it was bitter and tasted old, none of us could eat it. Then the shrimp poboy that came out to the table was horribly served, the bread was so hard, you couldn't even take a bite, the bread was hard as a brick. Tried to eat the shrimp off the poboy bread with a fork and the shrimp were mushy. They were very shrimpy and decided not to try anymore of it. The texture and flavor was definitely off. I was truly disappointed for everyone else at the table. We were a party of 7. The fries weren't even good. It was a cute restaurant set up, and the waitress was pleasant. We explained to the server the issues we had and I understand it was not her fault, but the kitchen staff needs to do better if they plan to stay open. I couldn't give the food a half a star thus the one star on the food. I was disappointed to have such bad seafood...