Ruby Slipper CBD — Restaurant in New Orleans

We ate at this restaurant on a Monday morning, only a few minutes after it opened. We thought we would be ok, however the restaurant was already fully booked, and we put our name on the waitlist. We stood around for about 15 minutes then were seated outdoor. I liked the outdoor seating, it was nice.

We were recommended the famous pig candy bacon bites, so decided to order those and the french toast bites as our starters. The french toast bites were brioche french toast bites, fried and tossed with cinnamon and sugar served with a cream cheese icing and praline sauce. The praline sauce wasn't very good, but the cream cheese icing was so delicious - it made the dish. The bites were perfectly crunchy. The other side order of pig bacon, were were pretty disappointed in. The serving size was right for the price, however as you can see in the photo, I wouldn't call it bacon, I would say ham. What they served us at least had all the fat removed and was just the ham part. In turn, the bacon was pretty dry and stringy, even with the glaze on it. I wouldn't recommend this side dish.

After the appetizers, we should have split one meal because those filled us up pretty good, but we didn't. We ordered the sweet heat chicken & french toast bites. This came with fried chicken, fresh strawberries tossed in Mike's hot honey glaze over french toast bites. We went out of our comfort zone trying something with high sugar and high spice. Personally we didn't care for the combo. If the chicken would have had a different glaze, possibly a maple or praline glaze and no heat, I think the dish would have been very good. I wouldn't recommend that dish.

The other dish we ordered was the Trifecta which was a Eggs Cochon benedict, a Chicken St. Charles benedict and Bayou Shrimp benedict. The chicken was decent on each of the items. What we didn't care for was the biscuits underneath. They were super dense and soggy from the other liquids. We didn't eat most of the biscuit parts. Personally, with a benedicts, the bread underneath needs to be dry or toasted or this outcome will happen.

Our server was not attentive or friendly whatsoever. He did not seem like a local - and definitely didn't have the nice charm as other locals we met did.

If you are in the area, I would still give the...

This morning, my family and I visited Ruby Slippers in New Orleans to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday. We had seen many pictures, captions, and videos of this restaurant on Instagram, which created a lot of anticipation. However, I would rate our experience a six out of ten.

While the environment was lively and energetic, there were some aspects that could be improved. One of the main issues was the wait time. We received a text message notifying us that our table was ready, but when we arrived, there was a check-in line. We waited for 45 minutes after receiving the text message, and then another 20 to 30 minutes before being seated. This was not ideal, especially considering the text feature was meant to streamline the process. Given that it was the Essence Festival season and the restaurant was busy, better organization and communication would have been appreciated.

Moving on to the food, there were some hits and misses. The menu seemed to heavily feature fried items, and it was evident that most of them were cooked in the same grease. We ordered the hot heat chicken and waffles, and while the chicken was flavorful, the waffles were deep-fried and hard. Additionally, the portion sizes were quite small for the price we paid. Each dish ended up costing around $30, which felt a bit steep considering the quantity of food provided.

Our waitress was friendly, but due to the busyness and loud environment, she got some of our orders wrong. We didn't want to cause any trouble for her, so we decided to go with it and didn't complain. On the positive side, the omelette we ordered was delicious, and the biscuits were soft and homemade, which we really enjoyed. The drinks also met our expectations and were quite good.

Overall, I would say Ruby Slippers is a decent restaurant, but I wouldn't highly recommend it. I would give it a three-star rating on a good day or a five-star rating based on price, portion size, and environment. While it may not fully meet your expectations, it's worth a try if you're in the area and looking for a lively...

Disappointing Visit After a Lot of Build-Up

I had been looking forward to eating at Ruby Slipper in the CBD all weekend. I was staying just down the street and saw how busy and popular it was every time I walked by. On the first day heading to Jazz Fest, the outdoor staff were kind enough to give me and my friends to-go cups, which was a great first impression. But unfortunately, when I finally sat down to eat on Monday, the overall experience didn’t live up to the hype.

I came in pretty hungry (and admittedly hungover from the night before), so I was ready to eat—but the menu felt limited if you don’t eat pork. A lot of the breakfast options had pork or pork-based sausage, and there wasn’t much in the way of substitutions. When I asked my server Brandy about swapping things out, she mentioned they were closing soon (at 2 PM), which felt a little off-putting—especially since it wasn’t busy at all.

I ended up ordering the breakfast tacos because they came with chicken sausage, which was one of the only non-pork options. They were just okay—kind of greasy, and the tomatoes didn’t taste very fresh. The potatoes on the side were way too salty for me to enjoy. I also wasn’t impressed with the drinkware—everything was served in dingy plastic acrylic glasses that reminded me of nightclub barware. Had I known, I probably would’ve just asked for my drink in a to-go cup.

Brandy, while friendly, was quite forgetful. She forgot my lemon for the water until after the food came, and I had to remind her about my receipt when I was ready to leave. I did order a Bloody Mary to-go—the presentation was nice, but the green beans were super crunchy instead of soft and pickled, and I ended up doctoring it a bit with black pepper to give it more flavor. The playlist was on point!

Overall, I was grateful to have a meal and sit down, but it didn’t really live up to expectations. The food and service both felt lackluster, especially considering how much I’d been looking forward to it. Maybe it was just an off day or the timing, but I probably won’t be...