Hungry Eyes — Restaurant in New Orleans

I am lost for words in attempting to describe Hungry Eyes. Literally. My husband asked me what kind of cuisine he could expect, and all I could muster was "Whatever the chef finds interesting? And with an 80s vibe?"

I appreciate that gives you (and him) nothing to go on, so I'll endeavour to be more fluid with language. If you choose to visit Hungry Eyes you'll immediately be met with overwhelming nostalgia for your childhood (if you're an elder millennial like me) or a vaguely fashionable, vaguely ironic sense of cool if you're younger. This will give you absolutely no clues as to what to expect from the menu but at least you'll have something to tell your friends about.

Then you'll get the menu and realise this is not a theme restaurant. The food is high end, and approached with precision from a very talented head chef and kitchen team. The burrata and peas is both creamy and fresh, the eggplant dip and roti exceedingly moreish. The pastrami skewer is marinated in a sauce that I imagine is what the edible form of crack would taste like, and the pistachio blondie is what you hope every blondie will taste like (but inevitably every other one disappoints... this one doesn't).

Get yourself down here for a cosmopolitan and a culinary experience...

(edit: wow, this bartender certainly has some job security because look at all these 1 star reviews about her bad attitude!!!)

Can't say anything about the food, which I must say I was definitely eager to eventually try, but I can say this: Last night, Nov. 1, I walked in 5 mins before close (yes, I know... and I served tables for 10 years), but with the intention of ordering a drink to go and tipping minimum 30% up to 50-100% (based on pretty much kindness, not even service) to offset the inconvenience of having to make one last drink.

Instead, the bartender immediately made it apparent she wasn't interested in helping; and when she did begrudgingly ask us how can she help, we answered by telling her we were just hoping to get two cocktails to go, to which she said: "I'm in the middle of closing but sure" .. hahaha.. we immediately said "never mind" and laughed and left.

Here's the point: Is that who you want offering a first impression of your business? Your bartender cost you $25-50 in revenue. It's basically theft from your pockets. You were open!

By the way, your restaurant was pretty packed from my recollection— the bartender almost certainly still had service well...

I’d really like to give a 3.5 if possible but a 4 is too much. Overall it’s an interesting place but I don’t think they are doing a great job executing the actual product and image they are trying too.

We sat at the bar. The staff was pleasant and we had good service. And the food for the most part was good. We had the Tuna, Crudo and artichoke on a half shell. All were very good. It was steak night so they offered what they describe as their medium rare a prime rib eye with fries and optional bleu cheese. The steak was underwhelming…especially at $65. It tastes and presents like a $35 steak. Plus not medium rare and messy.

The decor which at initially feels 80s nostalgic but they it’s more like a 80s B movie and an explosion of 80s Garage Sale finds…. Plus many items were 1990s…..just being picky.

Lastly the drinks were average at best. Mostly felt like A Martini heavy menu. We had several and were blah and overpriced. You need to execute a mixed drink perfectly for the prices. The Filthy Guilda option was inventive though.

For the amount we spent I expected a $250 experience but received a discount store version maybe...