Cafe Negril — Restaurant in New Orleans

Update: after writing my review, I went back to see the rest of their reviews. All it would appear of their lower reviews or about this lady at the front door that apparently they know about Miss Judy and they just let her stay there and accost people. They haven't done anything about it in 2 years, I would highly suggest that you avoid this place at all cost since it's clearly Hit or Miss on what day you're going to get the mean side of Judy.

Additional update: they refunded our ticket afters.

Original review: I have been to the cafe every single time I've come to New Orleans. It was our last night and we purchased tickets because my partner had never been to New Orleans and we wanted to make sure we had somewhere to sit. We arrived a little before 6:00 for the show and went to open the door and we were verbally accosted by the 71-year-old bouncer; I only know her age because she told me her age during her rants. She yelled at me for attempting to open a closed door and told me to come back when they were open. Looked at my watch realized that was only 5 minutes away, so we went across the street. Bought a drink after seeing other folks sitting on the cafes patio having a drink we assumed they must have gone somewhere else to get. It. Came back across the street with the drink. I was then yelled at again for attempting to sit outside with the drink because it was an outside drink. I walked off the patio, she didn't say anything to my partner who was still standing on the patio with his drink. Who happens to be white. The other patrons sitting on the patio were also white. The irony here. Is that this bouncer is a Black woman, she was of the high yellow variety, I am darker skinned so I could only intuit after the interactions that she must be a colorist. I was so surprised at how I was being treated, I asked if she was the owner because I was going to find out if there was any way that we could get a refund on our tickets because I no longer felt comfortable being there. She then got in my face and yelled at me about cameras being all around and if she let me sit there then she'd have to let everybody else sit there, and when I said to her that didn't give her a reason to be nasty and talk down to people. She continued to be verbally assaulting, calling me trash etc. My partner became frustrated and shared some choice words with her, which he never does to anyone, that's how I knew she was really acting up. When I told him to stop because I was finding her behavior triggering, she got in my face yet again. She just was coming for me and there was no clear reason why. She then called in some woman off the street so that she could tell her the story. She asked the white people sitting on the patio if she was speaking down to me, of course they did not respond. However, you could see on their faces and they said it to us when she was not around it that they were uncomfortable with the interactions. We ended up not being able to go in and had to go to a club down the street where we did have a very good time and were treated quite kindly. The mayor, a man dressed in all the regalia of a Mardi gras parade even joined us down there. And while he didn't speak he did the hand crazy signal to let me know that I was okay. And yes she was being outrageous.

For all the fun loving people that they have in New Orleans to have this bat working the door is an atrocity. Cafe Negril do better, that was so uncool. Especially since she said this is how she speaks to all your customers, and that there was nothing with the way that she spoke to me. I can't imagine that everyone likes being spoken down to. There is a difference between sassiness, which I can handle and I do find fun and funny at times and just downright mean and brash .This person...

Avoid this place unless you like being spoken to like dirt. Went last night. Ordered drinks for $60, tipped $10 dollars to the male bartender (friendly). Listened to band for 10 minutes then put $20 dollars in band’s tip bucket. At that point, was enjoying evening. Female bartender then approached us and demanded to know how much in tips we had given. Very rude and told us if we didn’t tip more, quote “you can all leave”. We had planned to stay and always tip respectfully. She then started a full blown and combative argument with us in the bar. I complained to the male bartender, he apologised on her behalf and said she had been drinking too much. We left and found another, friendlier bar. Such a shame as the bartenders rudeness simply took money out of her colleagues and the bands hands. We hung around outside to finish our drinks and witnessed at least 6 others leaving the place complaining about rudeness. Could be a great place and a great atmosphere but not whilst a bartender is allowed to verbally abuse customers. Especially...

Cheryl Smith recently left a highly innacurate review of this club so I wanted to give the correct informatio. The club just stopped serving food last week, and the menu is off the website now. There is no cover charge to get in the door, and seating that isnt already reserved is first come first serve. Customers have the option to reserve seats for their party, so that is guaranteed seating. So if someone is having a birthday or other celebration and wants to reserve a specific table or section they have the option to do so. There is no one trying to bamboozle people. Cheryl Smith clearly doesn’t understand how the service industry works or how hard the musicians and staff work to provide the quality of music and service this club turns out every day of the week. It’s people like her that take the food out of the mouths of everyone involved, and for no reason because her review lacks vital info...