Lux Cafe | Best Southern Cuisine — Restaurant in New Orleans

Sunday brunch at this place was a masterclass in how not to run a restaurant. From the moment we walked in, it was clear that chaos was not just a side dish—it was the main course.

We tried to order the Fried Green Tomato Benedict, but surprise! It was already sold out. At 11am. On a Sunday. We settled for the Crab Benedict, a Hot Sausage Omelet, a Crazy Cajun Biscuit, and coffee. I also asked for unsweetened tea, but they were out of that too. So we opted for the freshly squeezed orange juice and a very lovely, sweet hibiscus drink.

The food? Quite decent. The execution? Well, the Eggs Benedict, a brunch staple, were a culinary crime scene. Instead of poached eggs, all three dishes came with hard-boiled eggs, which shows a lack of basic culinary training on how to prepare poached eggs. A perfectly poached egg should have a set, firm white with a creamy, runny yolk and not cooked for more than 3-4 minutes. These eggs were mercilessly boiled to a level of total protein denaturation. Running out of popular items on a Sunday brunch service also points to poor planning and inventory control. Considering how many people showed up, this can’t be your first Sunday brunch ever, so a better planning based on weekend sales, could be easily forecasted with a calculator or an Excel table. YouTube university can teach how to forecast demand.

The service was a slow-motion train to oblivion. One poor soul was tasked with taking orders, making drinks, refilling coffee, and juicing oranges—one orange at a time. The juicer hopper could hold 5-7 oranges, but why do it 1 at a time is beyond comprehension. Meanwhile, two other staff members wandered about aimlessly without clear responsibilities and purpose—occasionally clearing dishes, placing them on a condiment station ledge , cleaning floors, and occasionally handling the food without gloves. Kitchen staff would sporadically emerge with one plate at a time, further slowing down service. Kitchen staff should be focused on preparing the meals and they should have a runner to bring meals and clear plates.

The queue was biblical—40+ people deep, waiting to place their orders. We waited over 30 minutes just to place our order. During that time, 20 customers walked in, saw the line, and left. Assuming an average brunch cost of $35 per person, that’s $700 in lost revenue in just 30 minutes. If this pattern continues during peak weekend hours, the business could be losing an estimated $350,000 annually due to poor operational planning.

The ambiance? Think airport terminal meets cafeteria during a fire drill. The environment was noisy and chaotic, largely due to the long queue and disorganized service. The restaurant was also not the cleanest, with dirty dishes stacked in the middle of the dining area on the condiment station, creating a safety hazard in a high-traffic zone. This setup, combined with the unclear staff responsibilities, made the entire experience feel disjointed and unprofessional.

We came in hoping for a hidden gem. What we got was a brunch-themed endurance test . This place has potential, but it is currently undermined by poor planning, lack of staff training, and inefficient operations. If they want to improve, they need to invest in proper staff role definition, streamline their service model , and a investing into a master class on how to properly prepare poached eggs.

A few opportunities: instead of having 2 people wandering around, place 1 person on a drinks duties during peak hours, so they can be making coffees, teas, and juice, have kitchen staff focus on prepping meals, and have 1 person in a water-spider role, bringing out food and taking dirty dishes. And have the cashier taking in orders and nothing else. Position a stand with forks so people can grab silverware themselves after placing a meal request, so you won't have to keep bringing them every time or do it as a part of the initial table set up after you clear the plates and clean the table after...

I am super underwhelmed with the quality of food and service here. The waiters were sweethearts and tried to be very helpful. However, I ordered the shrimp and grits for myself and the waffle and chicken for my daughter. The shrimp and grits left a lot to be desired. There was entirely too much of their “Monica” sauce on top of the grits, turning this beloved NOLA favorite into a bowl of soup rather than shrimp and grits. I’m a New Orleans native who now lives in DC and I was looking so forward to my favorite childhood dish of shrimp and grits here! My suggestion for the shrimp and grits dish at the Lux Cafe would be to at least grill the shrimp and use less sauce. The flavor was mediocre at best. I would never order this dish again. I did NOT ask for a refund. I just merely told the waiter that I didn’t want the dish at all and that he could remove it from our table. He attempted to alert the head cashier about the situation, and when I saw her nasty facial expression, I went over to reiterate to them that I was not requesting a refund and that I was just asking for the underwhelming dish to be removed from my table. The woman tried offering me scrambled eggs to go with the shrimp and grits; which indicated they don’t listen to their customers concerns very well. Her mean scowl turned me completely off as well. I then ordered the chicken and waffles. It was okay, but the chicken was overcooked. Not my favorite either, but better than the shrimp and grits. Then as we were enjoying our meal, a gentlemen named Benjamin rudely reached over my plate of food to place a table sign for drinks - literally his arm was a centimeter above the chicken in my plate and he was so close to me that I got a huge wafting of his cologne! Although he said excuse me, I was completely shocked and taken aback at the utter lack of disregard, unprofessionalism, rudeness, and lack of awareness of etiquette! I completely lost my appetite and proceeded to gather my purse to leave. I walked up to the gentleman l, asked him for his name and informed him that I didn’t like what he’d done and that he could have done things differently. He could have waited to place the signage on the table after we left; as there was no real urgency to do so in that moment that we were just running enjoy our meal. I also suggested that he could have kindly asked us to place the signage on the table for him; although that too would have been invasive if our breakfast time. He immediately apologized; but in the same breath made all kinds of excuses for his lack of human decency and regard by stating that he doesn’t work in the service industry and this was his first time doing something like that. I find it highly unlikely that he didn’t understand proper etiquette for how to conduct himself with patrons in his establishment because he was at least 40 years old and should have known better through life experiences and interactions with others. The lack of accountability was a complete turn off for me. I would not recommend this place to any of my friends and family members as it was not a great dining experience. New Orleans is my beloved hometown where I was born and raised and I’m saddened to see how low the bar has been set restaurants such as this one. There also needs to be some training around topics such as customer service, equitable interactions with customers regardless of their racial identity, and a revisiting of recipes for their menu items. I will not frequent this...

Found this place on Google and was excited due to the positive review score on Google, but sadly did not have the experience that others have reviewed about. Just figured I’d share this to help people schedule accordingly if they want to have a timely brunch here.

We arrived and saw a moderate line of about 15-20 people, but figured it was a popular spot so it might be worth the wait. That line took approximately 45 minutes for people to just place their orders. It was a busy Sunday but hey, maybe they were understaffed.

It seemed as though the lady at the front did not have adequate training on the computer either as she struggled to input our order and get us 2 coffees and an orange juice after we placed our order.

From there, our food took nearly 55 minutes to arrive to our table. Again, the place was busy and I imagine they were understaffed, but I witnessed other staff members in the place just casually walking around when it was clear that many people were waiting. On top of that, when we tried to get a refill of coffee, we had to wait for over 5 minutes or more for the lady taking orders to notice us to refill our coffees at the front.

The food itself was also pretty mediocre, which only compounded on the wait. Chicken and waffles was very salty, and they brought out a plain omelette when we ordered a meat lovers omelette, so they took it back and then brought the exact same omelette back out with the toppings just sprinkled on the...