Kelly's Coastal Cabana — Restaurant in Mandeville

If you’re new to the restaurant business, this is the perfect business to model yourself after, and by that I mean what not to do. Let’s start with the bar. I ordered an Abita amber while looking at the Abita illuminated sign. The bartender informed me she had no Abita beer when I asked what beer does she have? She showed me a can of Bud Light, Bud and Michelob, I’m amazed at any restaurant, would serve Bud Light. So we ordered a pain killer. When she made the drink, she filled the cup entirely with ice passed it next to the bottle of rum. Not sure if she poured in it, and placed a pineapple ring on top after filling it with juice. There was so much ice in the cup you couldn’t even get the straw to go to the bottom. When the food came to the table, we had an assortment to choose from. The people that got the loaded fries said they were just OK. I got a cheeseburger that was so greasy including the bun It was hard to get it down. Other people got plain french fries with their meal and they were just fantastic if you like limp greasy french fries served in a box. One person got chicken nuggets and I promise you you can get better chicken nuggets in the cardiac ICU ward at St Tammany hospital. If they were to serve these chicken nuggets at Angola prison, it would cause a riot. The only saving grace for this restaurant is it when it’s time to put this puppy to bed you can put a leash on it, drag it across the street to the vet and have it put down for good. Do yourself a favor go up the road to the rusty pelican and get a decent meal...

EDIT: I’m so thrilled to update my review to say: Kelly’s is back on top!! The last 3 times we’ve come here, all of the food & drinks have been consistently amazing. The burgers are delicious, and the bar drinks have skyrocketed in quality (the fresh jalapeño + strawberry drink special is unreal)! The staff has been so much more friendly and welcoming as well. Thank you for listening to my previous feedback and making adjustments so quickly - we missed the best burgers in town and are so happy to have y’all back!

Original review: We love Kelly’s, but lately we’re finding it really hard to come here. Hoping some feedback can turn it around, as the food really is great!

It’s hard to get a consistent meal here - we recently ordered a double pepper burger and received fried banana peppers instead of jalapeños, the teriyaki sauce was missing on the aloha burger, and on other occasions, there have been quality issues with the tea, alcoholic drinks, and other menu items. Combined with the attitudes of the staff, it appears that there may need to be more overall training.

A bit of tightening up, and this spot could be one of the best around! We hope to see it continue to improve so we can come back time...

Our order- Buffalo wings, cheeseburger fries, birria tacos

Atmosphere is good. Could use a little maintenance but nothing to complain about.

Service is just fine, I shouldn't have to grab my own silverware though. I realize this seems ridiculous but it does effect the subconscious!

Food is lacking effort or simply knowledge. Wings were immediately tossed out the fryer and the buffalo was sliding off and was diluted with the amout of oil. Small wings. Should be $7.50

In cooking, we salt at every layer and the cheeseburger fries had too much of it. Good patty sear. Good onion carmelization. Burger sauce typical. Scarce cheese. This should've been $11-12

Birria tacos need more flavor. Onion, garlic, guajillos, anchor, salt salt salt, lime to finish, etc. Starts a pot of water, becomes a stew.. it needs to be heavily pumped with flavor. It's about halfway there. Needs to be served with onion,cilantro, lime wedge. And of course, $4.50 a taco is WILD. Max $3.25.

Of course you should be able to afford eating out, if you're going to eat out. This wasn't the problem. If you're going to charge the higher prices, the quality needs to...