Clesi's Seafood Restaurant & Catering — Restaurant in New Orleans

Super disappointed in this restaurant. Felt discriminated against here. The two only reasons I gave it two stars was because of our waitresses (Missy and the lady with the blue eyeliner *we loved them both so much!) and the food. We arrived here from Houston, after a 5 1/2 hour drive and just wanted some good seafood. After reading reviews, we decided on this place.

From the moment we arrived, the hostess, in a blue jeans jacket apparently in training, immediately told us there was a 45 minute wait and we should consider going to Bevi's seafood four blocks down the street. We didn't ask for a reccomendation. She proceeds to sit other people, mind you we understand there are reservation protocols to follow. We saw two tables next to each other that could have been joined together so us 5 could sit together. But both the blonde hostess and the trainee never bothered to do so. They made us wait two hours. We arrived at 4:50 and it was 6:40 when we finally caved and asked to be seated at the bar area, even though it meant us not being able to face each other or being able to order the crawfish platter (according to the blonde hostess). At this point, we told her we didn't care, because we were starving.

During these two hours of wait, my best friend and I attempted to go watch the cooks while they boiled the shrimp and crawfish. The hostess in the blue jeans jacket watched us like we were going to steal something. I have never felt so out of place in my life. We decided to just go to the restroom and back to the sidewalk. At one point, the hostess told us we were allowed to get a drink but "needed to immediately get out".

We managed to make friends with another family waiting outside with us while we continued do wait for a table. One we were seated at the bar area, near the steps, we asked to speak to a manager after our meal to let him know of our experience. We didn't want to speak to him or her at that moment. I kid you not, not even 5 minutes later, the hostesses set up two tables for the family we made friends with. At that point I asked for a manager. Our sweet waitress with the blue eyeliner asked us what was wrong. We described in detailed what had just occurred. We felt discriminated against. How is it possible that a family, the same size as ours, gets a table within a half of arriving, by pushing two tables together, when we were made to wait 2 hours and could not get the same service? Unbelievable! Our waitresses offered us a table inside and we accepted. We apologized profusely, because we never complain but this was beyond acceptable.

As I was leaving, I tapped our new friend on the shoulder and congratulated him on not having to wait two hours like us. We attempted to make more small chat but the blonde waitress came up to me and asked me what the problem was. I told her there wasn't any problem and we were just talking. My sister stayed behind to continue talking to the family and the hostess harassed her about speaking to the family as well.

Once inside, the hostess followed us inside and rudely (with an attitude) asked us if we had gotten permission from our server to be inside. We felt like animals at this point. We were trying to tell her that we did get permission, when her coworker literally pulled her by the arm and told her we had permission. The blonde hostess replied with an "oh ok. I guess" while giving us a digusted look. Who does that?!

The manager arrived and spoke to us. He apologized for the experience and was shocked to hear about his employee offering us a different venue without asking. He said he would "take care of the table ". We never saw him again until we left. He did not check on us during our meal, or even bother to look at us as we were leaving.

We truly loved the food. We loved Misty and her coworker with the blue eyeliner. But I will definitely think 5 times over before I stepped into this place or reccomend it. Truly...

Where to begin? We arrived 25 minutes before opening. We were looking at the outside menu and then asked the host about the Boils. He explained they were on the regular menu. Then asked if we wanted to see the other menu and even though they were not open he seated us anyway, gave us the menus and water. He was very accommodating and polite. We were expecting a super experience just from his service. Then promptly at opening time opening our waitress came. That's when the experience declined rapidly. Her first words to us were "What are you here for?". Uhhhh.... well. I explained I wanted the Boil, my husband wanted the Muffuletta and we wanted the Jambalaya cheese fries as a starter. She said "well I can tell you they are not going to want to do the boil it's going to be at least a 45 minute to an hour wait.". I said we'll that's what we are here for so, go for it. She said "well let's start with the fries and go from there." What? Well... o...k... She leaves and shortly after we get a visit from the bartender/cook for the day. He then sighs loudly and says something like... "ok here's how it is. It's going to be like an hour before I can get a boil. The guy who usually cooks didn't show up. I have to clean the crawfish then cook it so it's going to take an hour or more." So they didn't like my first response so they this guy to explain something that means nothing to me. So now they have lost my respect and hopes of receiving the experience I came for. Sadly I caved and ordered something else. The half and half Poboy and crawfish mac-n-cheese. Honestly, I would have rather skipped lunch. It was too salty to eat. Last night we went to another boil seafood house. We were so impressed. Then our lyft driver said we'll if you liked this place you will LOVE Clesi's. Ok so my driver's taste buds must have been dead and his experience with the staff drastically different than mine. Save your money. Go...

Wanted to go somewhere new for Restaurant Week. We went on a muggy Friday night in June. We never made it inside, the server said they were full so we sat on the patio, which also filled up. The server apologized that they were short-handed but the service was fine and our food arrived quickly. A sudden rainstorm came through, we didn’t have anywhere to go so we just huddled under our umbrella for a bit. Happily the temperature dropped to maybe 85 after the rain, yay. The spicy scent of crawfish boil tempted us from the outside, but we had boiled shrimp instead. It was rather ordinary and no condiments, but it was gamely delivered during the rain. The boudin stuffed shrimp were amazing though, 2 jumbo shrimp packed in a boudin ball and deep fried with a spicy remoulade sauce. Wow.

My husband had the redfish from the special menu, it was delicious served on a bed of wilted spinach. I had the Messy Clesi, crawfish ettouffee on top of jambalaya. The flavor was very good, lots if crawfish meat, but rather heavily salted. My son had the fried catfish- good but not remarkable with hot golden french fries.

For desert the waffled bread pudding was very good, a bit more toffee sauce would have been welcome. The thick bread pudding waffle was a nice variation.

This was a fun casual place good for a visitor to get tasty cajun food outside of the touristy areas. We easily found a parking spot on the street.

I took home my leftover messy clesi and served it to my family over white rice and it...