Sidecar Patio & Oyster Bar — Restaurant in New Orleans

I literally never write reviews, but $150 at this place made me feel the need to. There are no reservations at this place, which is common for most restaurants. Called earlier in the day and asked if pets were allowed outside. They said yes. What they failed to mention was that they had 2 birthday parties, and a private party this day. (All outdoors.) When we arrived at the restaurant, we tried to put our names on the waitlist for a table outside because we brought our dog, and we drove an hour to come to Sidecar. They said “there’s no list, it’s first come first serve.” So we asked if could sit in the bar area (which is 2 tables that each sit 2 people, and about 14 bar stools at the bar.) and they said yes. We order our food and drinks at the bar, and I placed 3 appetizers, and 3 entrees. I even specified that the first 3 were appetizers, considering we were sitting at a table for 2 people. They brought all the food out at once, including the entrees, and brought no plates to share appetizers. They also brought THREE napkins. Keep in mind that we ordered wings, loaded fries, oysters, lobster rolls, etc. The cups are probably 6 oz, and I was without water the entire duration of our meal. When I asked for a to-go water, they just gave me a cup. No one asked us throughout our meal if we wanted more water or napkins or plates or to go boxes, we had to go and ask for them. We spent $150 at this place (and don’t forget you tip when YOU walk to the bar and place your order, before you have received your food or any services.) I included a picture of the table for reference of trying to put 6 plates of food...

We had our rehearsal dinner and welcome drinks at Sidecar Patio and Oyster bar- it was honestly perfection. From day one, working with Danielle was an absolute pleasure. She was informative, direct, and really answered any question we had throughout the process. Danielle was really calm and we felt like we could trust her with making sure our night went off without a hitch, and we are so glad we did. We also worked with Lindsay in choosing our oysters to serve at the welcome drinks - she was the most knowledgeable person we have ever met when it came to oysters. On the day of our event, it was raining (as is always a risk in NOLA) and they had tents out and did everything they could to cover up the space as much as possible. The weather ended up holding up, but I was so impressed with how they were able to help us pivot.

The food at the rehearsal dinner- DELICIOUS. I would like to personally shout out the shrimp & grits as something people were raving about. Also, the manchego grilled cheese was divine. In particular though, the oysters were something special and unlike the oysters you would get anywhere throughout the city (people specifically said this).

The welcome drinks- the drinks were flowing, the cocktails were well made, and there was not an unhappy face in our crowd of almost 150 people. It was also awesome to be able to show a slideshow of photos of us and our family/friends on the TV and curate our own playlist to play the entire night.

If you are looking to throw any kind of event- Sidecar is the place to go. We cannot recommend working with...

Original Review (Five stars): EAT HERE. You'll be so happy you did. The atmosphere is fantastic, the service was amazing (Kim took great care of us!), and the food was nothing short of stellar. This was one of our favorite meals in New Orleans. The charbroiled oysters, fish tacos, fish dip, and cheese fries did not disappoint. It's off the beaten path but 100% worth it.

*EDIT: We came back the very next evening (because the first time was so amazing). We didn't have a reservation this time, so we had to eat in the "Mermaid Lounge" instead of the main patio. Sounded great in theory: we order drinks at the bar, and order our food separately from our phones and it would be brought out to the table. Not quite as great in practice. The bartenders just seemed incredibly annoyed to stop filling the main patio's drink orders to serve us. It also took us over 40 minutes to get 2 orders of oysters and 2 orders of tacos. We were the only patrons in the lounge area, and although the main patio was pretty full- it is by nature not a huge area.

That being said...food was still tasty. It just was nowhere near as delightful an experience as the night before. If you sit in the mermaid lounge, prepare to feel like an afterthought. Four...