MOPHO — Restaurant in New Orleans

Heard about this restaurant supposedly great fusion food, and being an AVID FOODIE traveler especially for Asian Fusion, I had to try it. Just for authentication purposes, I trust Fodor's for their opinions and generally I am inline with their recommendations almost to a T, so you can value my opinion if you value Fodor.

I'm just aghast at the reviews.....this restaurant has NO CLUE as to what Asian Fusion is. First of all, fusion is the coming together of many flavors from different sources to create something new and different. The overall goal is to have it all TASTE GOOD! I don't care if its supposed to be Vietnamese and cajun, frankly many of the items don't resemble either of those, and certainly ZERO improvement over the original dishes.

We had one special and one regular menu item and two appetizers. First the specials are rather expensive....WAY more than the ambiance should dictate (astonishing some reviewers call it "charming"), which is more like a dark saloon with cheap tables and chairs.

The special was SUPPOSED to be a curry dish, but instead was OVERPOWERING CUMIN. Newsflash....CUMIN is NOT CURRY! It was served with a so called Roti, but it was unlike any Roti I've ever had and it was greasy...not good! My poor wife had the Pork Belly Bowl and it was terrible flavor and chewy. The chicken wing appetizer was again very poorly executed, soggy and slimy, and loaded with raw ginger and too much fish sauce....terrible!

Hoping to add some hot sauces to disguise the overall flavors, all they had was Fish Sauce, Soy Sauce and Sriracha which I thought was not a good match for some of the items we had and frankly I would have loved to have been able to extract some of the overused fish sauce out of the dishes and back into the bottle where it belonged.

I try to avoid bad reviews, if its not so great I generally will not write anything, but given the cost of this meal and what it is SUPPOSED to be....I could not help myself but to write a review to warn others who actually enjoy fusion dining.

This is by far the worse execution of so called "fusion" food I've ever had in my life. So bad that I ended up stopping at Brocato's to pick up a couple of Cannolis to get the taste of the food out of my mouth.

We didn't even finish the meal, and that is the first time we left without finishing dinner in many many years. I did complain nicely to the waitress, but they responded in a manner as if I might not be aware how these items should taste! Unfortunately for them, I travel the world and know the primary foods, and the fusion versions, and their version does not remotely reach the level of either fusion or tasty food. Very disappointing and a DEFINITE MUST SKIP for foodies! (ps - I was there about 5 months ago just in case they changed Chef's which I would...

So to start off I’d like to say the food was great I just really wish I could say the service was as well. We came on a Sunday afternoon with a table of 7 (called ahead to be sure we weren’t simply showing up with a large party) the restaurant was pretty empty and based off the rave of reviews I wasn’t expecting it. Our waiter seemed nice at first took our food and drink orders and even took note of my friends peanut allergy. We never caught his name but he had long hair and was tall and lanky. But when it came to the check, which we asked to split (I know 7 ways is a lot) because we all had different forms to pay with. He walked off and immediately told another table that we should just Venmo each other so he didn’t have to split it. Which I get it definitely would have been easier that way but for 1 person to pay for everyone’s food at the price point of the dishes is shocking. We are all broke college students so no one had that kind of money. Nevertheless we we’re planning on tipping, but mentioned to him that we heard his comment. He immediately responded “I have no regrets y’all should look into getting Venmo” then when he took our payment the few of us who paid cash he kept the change and we had to ask for it back. He assumed we would be tipping after that. We did however tip the very nice lady who brought us our food as she chatted with us and overall had a great vibe. When we did so we also asked for our change and he once again said to another table “it’s funny they want back their change since it’s not that far off the total” as if asking for it back is so outlandish. When he found out we tipped the woman he stopped by just to say it’s a tip pool so he’d be getting it anyway. Everyone of us is in the food service industry, we understand what it means to be underpaid and relying on tips but at the end of the day we also know there is and isn’t a way to speak to your guests. It was a very...

My friends and I went here for dinner after meeting the chef/owner at the American Culinary Federation conference at the Hyatt. I’m sad to say the experience was disappointing.

First, It was far too cold in the bar/dining room. (Yes, I know it’s New Orleans and it’s hot outside). Bring a hoodie if you plan on dining here.

We ordered the crispy wings, pork belly bowl, fried green tomatoes, and spring rolls. The appetizers were taking a while, and the server (older lady with grey hair) wasn’t being very attentive; so I asked about the delay. She said she was going to bring it all out at once because some of us had only ordered appetizers. That’s really not her decision to make without asking her customers. Me and another friend ordered entrees, and wanted our apps beforehand like you’d reasonably expect.

Now, for the food. The crispy wings were juicy and crisp, but tasted burnt. I don’t know if it was the breading or sauce, but I suspect it was the sauce because the wings had a strong bitterness of burnt soy sauce. Speaking of sauces, the coconut milk ranch kind of makes you wish you could get some regular ranch.

The spring rolls were good and a good portion. The peanut sauce with them was also good. My friend got the crispy pork spring rolls, and really wanted some sweet Thai chili sauce with them.

I enjoyed my pork belly bowl except that the carving on the pork belly was inconsistent. I had one very large/thick piece near the bottom of the bowl that was a bit dry. The other pieces were good though.

I didn’t try my friend’s fried green tomorrow, but she seemed to enjoy them.

I honestly wish I had got the pho, but I’m a sucker for pork belly.

I’m honestly not sure I’d go here again because of the slow/poor service and inconsistent product. Maybe it was just one bad night. I REALLY wanted to...