Cafe Amelie — Restaurant in New Orleans

This was the worst dining experience I have had in New Orleans, and I have been visiting this city for over 7 years. The hostess, Daisy, and the bartender who made our delicious drinks were the only good aspects of this dining experience. I have visited Cafe Amelie before with my mom for brunch, and our server, Olivia, was amazing! So we decided to come back. We came to the restaurant and were first offered seating right by the door, but did not feel comfortable sitting right where people were constantly entering so we asked to be seated by the window. The hostess checked to see if that table was 1. open 2. available for a server. That worked for us and she sat us. We looked over the menu and waited a while. We saw a table of 4 seated next to us and then a table of 2 seated behind us. We received water. Then a waitress came out to talk to the table next to us and behind us. She walked right passed us. I saw 3 waitresses that night so I assumed they were short-staffed. So I went to the hostess to ask who our waitress was and she went to talk with her. They were talking by the bar right behind us, and it was the same waitress who talked to the table beside us and right behind us. We could hear them, and the waitress basically sighed really heavy and said something like "Well can you just tell them I'm really busy and I'll get to them soon". So the hostess came back and said that they were having a shift change, and we might get a different waitress. Then as she was coming, another waitress was offering to take our order, and that first waitress said, "No no I'll get them." So she came to take our drink orders and said something like, "It's been crazy since we just opened (at this point it's been over an hour since they opened) and I'm just super busy". She never gave us our name or asked how we were doing. We asked if we could give her our appetizer order, and she said rather emphatically and rude, "I can take it all right now!" -basically implying that she didn't want to come back to take our order. Meanwhile, she had gone back another time to talk to the table next to us. She never checked on us during the entire meal, she never asked us if we wanted another drink, and I had to flag her down to get to go boxes (after she looked at me and could see we were finished eating, then she was about to walk away). When she came back with the boxes, she didn't offer dessert and just dropped the boxes and the check. During our meal, we had a waitress stopped and chatted with us, and she was friendlier than our own waitress. We found out that her name is Alexandria C. Overall, Alexandria appeared disgusted serving us, and like she had disdain for the fact that we were even there. Honestly, it felt discriminatory too because the other two tables Alexandria served did not have any people of color, so maybe she was just disgusted by seeing black people. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I asked the hostess to talk with a manager, and there was none there, but she said she would...

Greetings: We dined at your restaurant yesterday, Sunday, March 30th and we were a party of six at 1:30. Up until 2 years ago, my husband and myself owned a restaurant for 24 years and there was nothing more important than hearing of our guest’s experiences, hence this feedback.

Let me start with the fact that the staff was quite pleasant, but………..

1. I stepped inside while the rest of our party stayed outside because of space constraints. Another one top and 2 top stepped in just after me. We all waited 5-6 minutes before being approached, although several staff members saw us standing there. When we were finally greeted by the African-American gentleman, which I assume was the host, he wreaked of cigarette which told me he’d been out smoking. Which I have no issue with, but obviously no one was filling in for him. (Note: I am NOT one of “those” anti-smokers.) We were finally seated.
2. Fairly soon thereafter, we were given 4 glasses of water for 6 people. When we asked for 2 more because there were 6 people at the table, the SA stated that they were told it was 4 people, not 6 and that it had been a busy day and they (speaking for themselves) were so exhausted and to be understanding. And all of this prior to even putting in a drink order.
3. Two of us wanted shrimp and grits. You were out. It happens.
4. Two people were served their chicken and waffles. The remaining four waited for about 5 minutes. Three of us ordered the Eggs Benedict. All three were returned. For me, I can tolerate warm, but all was room temperature which was not acceptable. Liz was very apologetic and returned the plates to the kitchen. BOH prepared new entrees which were certainly better, but the other 3 people had been totally finished for 15 minutes.
5. I asked the SA for more iced tea for myself. They returned saying “we are out of iced tea.” They must have sensed my displeasure, because they said “would you like for me to check with your server?” To which I replied “I think that’s an excellent idea.” Shortly thereafter, tea appeared. Side Note: Could there possibly be another staging area for pseudo wait station other than a foot from our table/behind the host station? At one point someone brought at a batch of napkins and dumped them on the table and proceeded to fold them there. Similar to a laundromat.

In closing, I must admit that our experience was not pleasant. It seemed so disjointed and perhaps a bit exhausting. When we walked out the door (in spite of the complimentary bread pudding. Thank you.) we didn’t have the feeling of “now that was an enjoyable experience.” Four of the six are locals. Two live 3 doors from you on Dumaine and we live in the 1200 block of Bourbon. I am not one to immediately lash out on social media or OpenTable/Resy without first allowing the establishment to respond. I’ve always felt that direct contact with management/ownership is the best way to voice a concern. Please respond at your convenience. Best...

We had a nice brunch at Café Amelie on Royal Street, as recommended by a few friends. I consider myself somewhat of a gumbo and bloody Mary connoisseur, among other things. Both were disappointing in different ways. I wanted to have a classic Southern cuisine experience for brunch and I was not disappointed.

I had the traditional shrimp and grits and it was even tastier than it is beautiful. There are hot grits nestled in down a creamy blanket of maque choux. I don’t recall there being bits of andouille sausage included as described, but it’s hard to tell if it were ground up into the maque choux. It was still delicious though, no question. This was a fantastic dish, one of their best.

The gumbo was also very good, but the menu description did not mention the okra. This was definitely okra gumbo, of which I am usually not a fan, although it is traditional for gumbo. I probably would not have ordered this if I knew it were okra gumbo. I found the okra to be slightly mushy, but it was still a good bowl of gumbo. I’m not sure it’s worth the $10 for it being such a shallow bowl, but I’d still order it again if I really wanted some gumbo.

My travel partner ordered the Amelie Egg Plate, a very basic breakfast plate. It was satisfactory and well prepared. Nothing exciting or over-the-top, but still a good breakfast, nonetheless. The croissant was more flaky than moist. But everyone knows there’s nothing like a Parisian croissant. Eat inside during the colder months to enjoy the croissant more.

I’ve been trying a new favorite drink more frequently lately, the bloody Mary. Unfortunately, this one tasted like straight pepper. I didn’t mention it to our server and I did choke through the rest of it. It was nice having pepper topping the olive and green bean on top.

Our server was Greg and he did a terrific job. He was attentive and checked on us regularly. He was also knowledgeable about the history of the property when we asked him questions. He pointed out the building where the first American princess of Monaco lived in New Orleans, Amelie, and pointed out the carriage house. The overall atmosphere was nice and they had a nice selection of music playing – some soulful golden oldies. The patio area is nice, even if a little cramped in a few areas. It’s beautiful scenery, being surrounded by historic structures with rich stories. I would love to visit again! Overall, this was a good experience and a nice place to...