Mister Mao — Restaurant in New Orleans

I have been trying to go to Mister Mao for months. I finally got a group of five together and we went a week ago. Let me start by saying how excited I was to try this restaurant. Out of the five of us that went, 4 are very adventurous eaters and most of us have lived and traveled abroad. Let’s just say we are not averse to trying new and interesting things. The decor and vibe of the restaurant is fantastic, it is fun and shabby elegant. There is a tropical deco feel to the decor and we loved it. All the drinks we had were excellent and the server was lovely, but a bit distracted and forgetful. The food: the menu is interesting and broken up in sharing plates, bites, larger meals etc.. This always bothers me, and it has become the norm for so many restaurants. It just leads to confusion when ordering. I never know how much to order, who is eating what etc.. Anyway, the food all sounds interesting but none of us really knew what we were ordering due to the menu descriptions. We started with 5 shared plates, we ordered a variety of things, most of which I can not tell you what they were due to the complexity of the menu. Four of the 5 of us really enjoyed one of the plates_ I believe it had avocado and some citrus with some crunch. It was delicious. Two of the dishes none of us liked, just blah or fatty, not great flavors. We also ordered the pork dumplings because we had a fairly picky eater with us and everyone loves pork dumplings, right? Anyway, the dumplings had a great flavor but they were drowned in chili oil, the spice level was so high that our one diner who has lived in Africa and South America thought it was too spicy. I appreciate spice but not at the level where it unnecessarily drowns out all the flavors. By the end of the round of shared plates, only one plate was fully eaten. That is just weird that none of us liked the majority of the food. Our pickiest eater did not eat anything. At this point we decided to throw in the towel and get our check. So disappointing. My suggestion is to continue to have an interesting and eclectic menu, but to add a few dishes that are universally enjoyable. The menu is weirdly obscure, and I love that, but it needs more variety and a smattering of simpler dishes. I am going to give it another try because the atmosphere is brilliant, plus so many people have given it great reviews maybe I missed something. I just do not know how a group of five people were all so underwhelmed a equally disappointed to the point where we did not even eat what we ordered- I have never had this happen to me before....

Is your mouth bored? Want to turn it up a notch? Go to Mister Mao. If you’re looking for your basic chicken-mashed-potatoes-wilted-spinach dinner, then this isn’t your spot. If you’re looking for a tastebud journey, then this is your jam.

Vibe - hip, fun, think: jungle meets Art Deco romance.

Drinks - besides the hilarious drink names like “uncle butthead” and “daddy issues”, they offer the full package of bubbles, beer, and the hard stuff with twists of ginger, velvet falernum, and some.

Food - where do I even start? Chef Sophina Uong is an all around badass when it comes to getting creative. We sat at the chef’s counter and were lucky to have her serve us! She included little treats in between our orders so we sampled more of her culinary genius and everything was delicious. The food is multidimensional between texture, flavor, and unique combinations.

Here’s what we enjoyed: Escargot Wellington: I love escargot BUT this was a new experience for me. It was baked in like a little French choux pastry ball, filled with lemon yogurt, horseradish, and topped with powder or stems. Ginger Salad: refreshing, crunchy, with a sour sauce. Spanish Octopus: THEY WILL MAKE IT WHOLE IF ORDERED 48 HRS IN ADVANCE. We didn’t know this until a few hours to our reservation but will definitely do this next time. The octopus was cooked perfectly. Pani Puri: this is so fun to eat. Its the most common street food in India. It’s a little hallow deep-fried crisp flatbread that is filled with turmeric potato masala, curry leaf, pickled blueberry. You then add a little bit of the fiery mint water and put the whole thing in your mouth. Crunchy, soft, savory, light. -Kashmiri Fried Chicken: perfectly crispy. It is spicy but I let them know I can’t tolerate too much heat and they accommodated my weak tongue. (Note: read the ingredients and communicate if you can’t handle spicy food, other comments on here are by lazy diners that complain. Um, what did you think a ghost pepper would taste like?) Dark Chocolate Tart: light but decadent, topped with malty cream and sesame brittle.

Things I’m dying to try: Whole octopus (seriously? How many restaurants offer this! Amazing) Rhode Island Calamari and Seafood salad (not fried) Lechon Kawali - crispy pork belly And all their other desserts

They switch things up on the menu often, which is amazing because if everything is this delicious, then we’re sure to...

A delightful experience for all the senses!

This was our last brunch after two weeks bopping about, trying to taste every flavor New Orleans has to offer. And I’m happy to say it was our favorite - from the welcoming and fun environment to the bold, fiery flavors.

Our server brought us a plate of pani puri to start. In one bite you get crunchy, minty, spicy deliciousness. It was the highlight for me - that’s a Michelin $$$$ restaurant gesture, a delicious one at that! And something that I never thought I’d see on a brunch menu.

We ordered two dishes with fried chicken and our server recommended a ginger salad to go along that was crunchy and refreshing. I asked for extra yogurt sauce after trying my chicken since my heat tolerance isn’t as high as I think it is, and received it within a minute! Perks of sitting at the counter :)

The chicken itself is so perfectly fried that I kept at it bite after bite despite all the heat in the batter. Very addicting and not for the weak of tongue. It’s like what happens when I open a bag of hot cheetos 😂 I felt stuffed afterwards and our server recommended the lightest dessert, a sesame cookie. Again, perfection - lightly sweet, crispy, and airy. All of the desserts were extremely creative and I would’ve been happy eating all of them with more stomach capacity.

We enjoyed sitting at chef’s counter and marveled at how organized and well laid out their kitchen is. Everything is labeled and despite 3-5 staff doing their thing within, they never got in each other’s way. Whereas our kitchen is the same size and we struggle with just us 2 😂

On your way out instead of candy//toothpicks you get a dime bag of seeds! Very fitting for such a wonderfully eclectic establishment 🪩 This place would be absolutely packed all the time if it were in the Bay Area so it hope it flourishes here too. I’ll be back for the blueberry...