Mahony's Po-boys — Restaurant in New Orleans

We arrived at 4:15 p.m Thursday, 2.6.20 as locals but first timers at this establishment. We were greeted as we entered and told to sit where we like, our waiter was with us shortly. He was friendly, present, engaged in light banter and conversation, and made menu recommendations. My boyfriend ordered an Abita Amber draft on happy hour special for $2. I mistakenly ordered an Abita Strawberry thinking it was also on special for $2 however was the full price of $6...my mistake, not a problem, we were happy to pay full price for the drink.

The issues began to arise after we ordered a "happy hour half off appetizer" of very forgettable fried green tomatoes. Honestly I was starving and they sufficed for what I thought was $4.50 (again happy hour half price, menu price $9) however compared to the many other fried green tomato options in this city (PLEASE try Streetcar PoBoys and/or Joey K's!!!) They were truly nothing special.

My boyfriend ordered a 6" fried catfish po boy, I ordered a 6" turkey & swiss po boy. For having VERY little menu options outside of appetizers, po boys and "Nawlins specials" such as $15 red beans & rice and upwards, I figured po boys were a safe and satisfactory choice. I was very disappointed to receive a generous portion of turkey and dressings amid a VERY STALE, DRY BREAD. I would think a genuine and established New Orleans restaurant whose main menu item is some form of po boy would invest in fresh, local french bread. I was disappointed in the days old, grocery store hoagie rolls we received.

Regardless, my bf ordered what he thought was another $2 Abita Amber. In total, we had ordered 2 $2 happy hour special Abita Amber's ($4), 1 Abita Strawberry ($6), 1 order of half off fried green tomatoes ($4.50), 1 6" fried catfish po-boy ($12) and 1 6" turkey &swiss po-boy ($10) totalling $36.50 before tax yet received a bill for $50 and my boyfriend generously tipped $10, totalling $60 spent in this establishment.

My bf opted for a text message copy of his receipt, and upon leaving realized we were charged full price for what should have been his half off beers and half off appetizer. Not a problem, we returned to the restaurant and gently tapped the shoulder of our waiter and informed him of the incorrect charges. My bf and I have both worked in the service industry for many years. Honestly, we both believed we were profiled. Even though we are neighborhood locals we moved here from out of state and still have out of state IDs and believe they assumed we were tourists and could charge us full price as we either would not notice or object. However we did, but were not looking to point fingers. The waiter reached out to his direct supervisor to adjust the charges.

The long, brown haired female manager came out to inform us she was adjusting the half off charge for our appetizer, however would not adjust the price of the beers my boyfriend ordered as "he had received the 16 oz and the happy hour version was 12 oz." (In the end a $12 charge vs $4 dispute). Upon contesting, stating we had ordered a draft beer off the menu DURING happy hour and as such assumed we purchased at the happy hour price, the snotty manager stated "we should have confirmed with our waiter that we had received the happy hour size, as she ALWAYS confirms the happy hour size when she goes out prior to ordering."

...excuseme?????

BLAMING the customer, stating THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN TO CONFIRM?! Listen, I get it. The customer is not always right. HOWEVER, her approach to this situation was completely wrong. Regardless if we were right or wrong, we were patrons of this establishment and incorrectly charged for the services and products we recieved based on the menu we ordered. Her job was to apologize for the inconvenience and rectify the situation. Instead, she ARGUED with us and BLAMED US for having not known better and tried to justify overcharging us. As we immediately contested (mind you, based on principle, not an $8 loss) the waiter intervened and offered to pay the difference out of...

his is probably the highest level example of a fine dining po boy place in existence. I used to eat here pretty often when they first opened but now the wait and prices have gotten outrageous and there are simply too many other places to get a po boy. The prices are sometimes crazy expensive. The last time I went and ordered a regular shrimp po boy they told me the "market price" of the shrimp would make it nearly $30 (they then offered me a smaller popcorn shrimp po boy for $15)!!! The Big Fisherman seafood market down the street was still selling the biggest shrimp for $9 a pound so I'm not sure what market they were using. I got a bit worried back in the days when I ate here often when several Hollywood actors, of the famous type, started slumming it up here and before too long the tourists started showing up in droves and there was a line out the door to get in the place confirming my worst fears.

They do use local, fresh, quality ingredients and I'm all for making profit but wow I've never heard of a $30 po boy anywhere else ($15 for oyster at the height of the BP troubles is the closest I've ever seen). I really like all of their seafood selections and especially their fried green tomato and grilled shrimp po boy and they use huge shrimp in their gumbo (that they only make on Friday but they never seem to make enough and always run out so I never seem to be able to get that anymore). I also liked their turkey but wasn't so fond of their roast beef (go to Tracy's for a better and quicker one).

If there isn't a line it might be worth checking out if the prices have gotten back to reasonable levels. They also seem to have some decent happy hour specials on beer. Usually they have some pretty nice people working in the place that are good about taking care of you and bringing you refills promptly. I would still expect to pay around $15 for a po boy which that is not very po and would get you a decent dinner at several nicer places. If you are in the mood for some fine dining po boys then this is your place!

My video review of Mahony's Po-Boys is...

I'll start with the good. The place is cute, quick, affordable, and has something on the menu for almost everyone. The food was good. Exactly what I expected for the atmosphere and price.

Areas of improvement: The doorway to the kitchen allows most of the tables on that side of the restaurant to see right in. I watched the manager who was finishing each of the plates of food repeatedly wipe his bare hands on his jeans and forehead in between grabbing food to put on plates. Where I was seated, this was all I had to look at. Either practice some food safety or put a door on the kitchen.

The place was busy with several large parties. Totally understandable that things may take a little longer but the overall attitude of some of the staff made the place feel tense. I actually felt awkward sitting there. My husband and I weren't able to focus on anything but the commotion. There was a spill (which are normal occurrences) that was on the floor way longer than necessary and caused so much nonsense. I wanted to jump up and grab the mop bucket and teach all four employees that at one time had a hand in cleaning it how to properly and quickly clean up a spill using the appropriate tools. The customer that inadvertently caused the spill even offered to help clean it as the server who spilled stomped around in a rage saying nasty things. Again, I had too much of a view into the kitchen to see and hear all of this.

We got our check and paid with a $100 bill. It took a little more than 20 minutes for our server to get change from the manager - who was the one plating the food. I felt terrible for our server who seemed to be pissing the manager off by asking. If we knew the $100 bill was going to be that big of an issue, we would have paid with a card.

With all of the disorganization, the food was coming out quickly but all other areas appeared to...