Shaya — Restaurant in New Orleans

It’s not often that I visit a restaurant more than once, but I really enjoyed my first visit at Shaya. Well...that all just got ruined. I’ll start with my cheesecake dessert that I ordered to go. There was HAIR IN IT!! So GROSS! Take a look at the pic that I uploaded. Now back to the actual restaurant experience. We went during happy hour and I didn’t look at my check before I paid. When I got home, I realized we were charged full price for the hummus..not half off as advertised. Also, we ordered off the lunch menu because we went early. Me and another guest shared the chicken schnitzel and the black drum pita. Both were bland and not good overall. I was just really disappointed in the entire experience. Thanks, but no thanks Shaya!

Previous Review: Shaya has been on my “go to” list for years and I finally decided to carve out some time to go. I made reservations for 5:30pm on a Monday evening. There was plenty of street parking when I arrived. The first thing I noticed was the décor inside. It was very beautiful and well done. I wanted to take pictures, but since the space was so small, I wanted to be respectful of the people dining around me. Also, due to the size of the restaurant, reservations are probably a must! The staff were great from start to finish. Our server was eager to answer all of our questions regarding the menu and wine selections. I tried a red Lebanese wine which was delicious.

The highlight of the entire meal was the hot, soft pita bread. Our server kept it coming the entire time we were there. We decided to order several things to give us a feel for the food overall. The Fried Chicken Hummus was AMAZING!! I was disappointed in the Falafel. I’ve been on the hunt for good falafel since visiting Israel, and this unfortunately missed the mark. The Israeli Salad was delicious, and this is coming from someone who does not like cucumbers. The Slow Cooked Lamb was tender, but I feel it lacked flavor overall. It was a tad bit gamey tasting. With that said, it was accompanied with whipped feta, pecan and blueberry tabouleh, and it all paired together very nicely. I was too full for dessert, but ordered the Milk and Honey to-go (cheesecake with a burnt honey gelato). My gelato survived the 20 minute drive home…yaay! That dessert was everything and I can’t wait to get...

A former Sous Chef at Shaya told us about the fantastic quality of the food at the restaurant at 4313 Magazine St. In the area of the Garden District in New Orleans. He was our Uber driver but his enthusiasm was so uplifting that my family had to eat at Shaya before we left and returned to Arizona. My son had visited Israel a few years ago and told of outstanding hummus. I really didn’t like hummus all that much in the supermarkets but I was willing to be open-minded so maybe I would finally know what the best hummus should taste like. Glad I tried fried chicken hummus and mushroom hummus. Both were incredible and even better with the wood-fired pita, hot and soft to scoop the hummus and chicken or mushrooms. For the Saladin choices on the menu, we chose Baba Ganoush and Shaya supplied enough of the creamy eggplant to feed three of us. We had chosen to eat inside at a comfortable table, and although some say Shaya can be a bit loud, we found the noise level not very distracting. Shaya also has an area outside. The wine and drink selections are varied and high quality. My wife chose Red Blend after she sampled three or four wines until she found the one that would complement her meal the best. I chose Gargenega and was quite satisfied. Kimberly, our server, was extremely accommodating because she wanted me too to have the best choice for wine. My wife and son were sharing everything but the wine. This is the best way to enjoy Shaya by ordering several plates or bowls of humus, Saladin, small plates, and large plates if you still have room left. The small plates were next and we were ready for Sujuk Flatbread and Lamb Kotke Kebab. Kimberly did not rush us through our meal though the table was only so big for all the plates. A couple of times, the staff attempted to pull off the table the nearly empty hummus bowls but my family was into the fine art of cleaning the bowls and so the staff couldn’t remove anything. After three rounds of pita, we were ready for dessert and chose with a lot of help, the Ghazel Banat. The dessert was very different from anything I’ve ever had. The ice cream was excellent, but I would have wanted more ice cream because all three of us shared. Then it was time to leave and walk to St. Louis Street and pick up the cable car and then do an hour...

Lunch at Shaya was one of my favorite meals on my week-long food trip to New Orleans. From their refreshing cocktails, to the crunchy falafel, to that surprising cabbage...I couldn't pick a favorite because the whole meal was so ridiculously tasty!

We kicked it off with two cocktails, and I was blown away by how balanced, delicate, and refreshing both drinks were.

All Of Our Troubles - A lightly sparkling, gin and rose drink with a hint of lychee and lemon. Ratios were perfectly optimized.

Offshore Revival - Vodka-based cocktail with coconut water, bay leaf, cucumber bitters. I could drink this like water!

Next we were greeted with the legendary pita, fresh from the oven. This pita rivals Oren's in the Bay Area for my favorite. Oren's has even fluffier bread and more spongy chew, but they are sometimes soggy and underdone, while Shaya's was consistently cooked to perfection.

The pita comes with zaatar and olive oil dip. Too bad the container was deep rather than shallow, so I got mostly oil and not zaatar.

We chose three apps from the Salatim section:

Ikra - This was new to me, as I've never had labneh mixed with caviar. I really enjoyed this flavor combination, it sorted reminded me of salmon cream cheese spread but way better.

Baba Ganoush - Loved the smoke level and texture on this version.

Labneh - They added wax peppers, which was a nice complement to the creaminess.

For our mains, we split a hummus, falafel, and cabbage. This turned out to actually be more than enough food, since the pita bread kept coming!

Wood Roasted Cabbage - Our server said this was the chef's favorite. A big thank you to her, as I would have completely glossed over this dish. The layers were roasted this to amazing buttery consistency. The muhammara (red pepper dip) and tahini just added to the beautiful flavor.

Falafel - I loved the super crunchy outer shell! This is falafel done right, and though I prefer ones with more parsley, the execution was perfect.

Curried Cauliflower Hummus - The curried cauliflower stole the show! I loved the sweetness from the caramelized onions as well. Generous cilantro added nice brightness.

I could tell everything here was optimized and made with love. And I'm glad the recent shakeup didn't seem to affect the quality of the...