Cafe Pontalba — Restaurant in New Orleans

3/3/2024visited about 2pm.

I'd love to give a better review for this place. Food is top notch, atmosphere is great but the service is ridiculous. Started out great, the host worked with our group to accommodate us by moving tables together.

There were 9 of us. The server Ricky however is terrible. No hospitality whatsoever. He did not bother to work the table at all, you know ask us how we're doing, if we're from the area etc. That's not the worst thing in the world. I can deal with this but still.

He didn't ask if we were splitting checks, just took the drink orders. It's a fairly small place and he just took our order however he had already forgotten who ordered what drinks. Then he takes the food order, and I ask him for a refill on my coke (we had been walking for a while and I downed the first one quickly) and he brought me another but didn't tell me that refills have a cost. Side note: they may have free refills and he may have confused himself again and had an oversight, I didn't catch the additional charge until later.

I ordered the fish platter, hush puppies were awesome best I've ever had actually. Fries were great. My wife and daughter ordered the blackened chicken sandwich and they both loved it. My other daughter ordered tenders.

He continuously reached over me to pass another member of our group food and drinks which I don't normally have an issue with however he smelled, and I don't say this to be mean it was hot in NO buuuuut this wasn't normal body order, we will get back to this. Additionally I'm not a fan of something just reaching over my plate, reach over me all you want but not the actual food please!

When it came time to pay, I asked to split the checks and he took issue with this. I explained how he can do it fairly easily (I've been a server) but mind you he never tracked who ordered what. So I go with him to sort it out, meanwhile he complains about how he can do it "it's just not fun" his words! I caught a whiff of why he was standoffish and so easily confused, he had been drinking.

I say I understand I've been a server as well and walk away. I tell my wife he wreaks of alcohol and she said thought she smelt in on him as well. Our entire group wasn't happy with the service.

I should have spike to the Manager while I was there, but long story short we had limited time and still had things to do.

I would suggest letting Ricky go, otherwise this won't be the last poor review.

Cost was $103 total with the added 18% gratuity, which I don't have a problem with paying usually and even tip higher a lot of times. This time I did not want to leave a tip at all and on any other day I would've argued the gratuity should match the service which...

Quick, courteous service, fair prices, aggressively delicious food, and located well within earshot of excellent live music. In particular, our server, Justin, wowed us with how rapidly he was taking care of everything for all the diners.

Read on for details!

Even though the cafe was packed and there were about five people ahead of us waiting to be seated, the staff managed to get us all seated in less than five minutes, which was impressive. The food came out very quickly, too; I think in less than ten minutes. My girlfriend and I had the jambalaya, red beans and rice, bread pudding, and (chicory) coffee, all of which was fresh and phenomenal. Funnily enough, we would later learn that Justin had put in a special request with the kitchen to have our bread pudding "dressed" with his favorite syrup combination. Also, by sheer chance, during our 45-60 minute dinner two bands performed within a few hundred feet of us (at different times), and a parade went by!

For context, this was my 20th or so meal in NOLA, and I'd been moving through a checklist of beloved eateries and regional dishes recommended to me by locals (gator on a stick, muffuletta, shrimp and grits, gumbo, fried oyster po' boy, dirty rice, boudin, fried green tomatoes, beignets, bananas foster, pralines, etc.), so my dinner at Cafe Pontalba was coming on the heels of plenty of excellent dining...

This definitely felt like a tourist spot, which is totally fine given it's location (and we are tourists!) -- just calling that out due to how busy it was for dinner. They had a long line of folks waiting in the hideous heat so when we saw two bar stools open at the bar we asserted ourselves. The door guy told us we had to ask the bartender, which he said we could sit there (weird.)

We ordered a couple of cocktails, the bartender brought us some water and we ordered some food. Cajun Springrolls to share, I ordered the fried shrimp Caesar, and my coworker ordered the Cajun Combo.

First off our server was the bartender and he was by himself and BUSY. He was making cocktails for the dining room AND they had a walk up window for to-go cocktails, along with roughly 8 people at the bar dining. He was amazing and doing his best.

Secondly, the food was okay - the springrolls were very good actually, the entrees were fine. My salad, well it was a salad but they did put plenty of fried shrimp on it which I could not finish. My coworker really liked the jambalaya, but was not impressed with the gumbo and made jokes about the crawfish pie all night and the next day. He was not a fan, but he also is not a big shellfish person.

The place is super lively, not the cleanest looking but you can get a solid local cuisine meal here and the prices are not...