Sneaky Pickle & Bar Brine — Restaurant in New Orleans

Not a vegan here, but I have to say, I feel good about eating at the Sneaky Pickle. A girlfriend of mine is trying to go meatless (though cheese plates with wine will forever stave her off from being fully vegan) and I've had my eye on the SP for a while, so when she called to see if I wanted to do dinner I knew just the place. It admittedly took some doing to get there since I totally missed the turn and ended up going over a bridge, but we finally got a glimpse of the robin's egg blue exterior. The regular menu is small though the rotating specials board is massive. You order/pay at the front and then pick a table, and grab your own water/silver. The seating area is quaint and small, but there are picnic tables outside for those willing to stand the heat.

I opted for the vegan mac and cheese since I love mac and cheese with veggies in it (despite this same friend calling peas in mac and cheese "an abomination") and the pickle plate to start since I LOVE PICKLES. **Fun fact: I discovered this place in a Google search for pickles. True story. Anyway, she opted for the tempeh reuben and some golden beet toast with vegan "cheese." Probably since there was no meat involved, the meal arrived amazingly fast.

The pickles came as an array of veggies such as jicama, beets, radish, and peppers. The beet toast was absolutely scrumptious. I have no clue what the vegan cheese was, but it was so tasty. My mac and cheese was super satisfying (and I had enough left for another meal when finished--hooray for takeout boxes!) and thoroughly NOT an abomination with the peas, tomatoes, and mushrooms throughout. **Pro tip: sriracha on vegan mac= deliciousness. I thought the reuben was a little too smoky for my taste but my friend made short work of it and so she was pleased. My meal totaled $17 or so including tip, and I got a whole other meal out of it, so no complaints here.

All in all, the sneaky pickle makes you feel good about going meatless, is a great price, and as an added bonus is guaranteed to help keep you, er, regular. Definitely...

So I have been going to this restaurant about twice a week for the past maybe 6 months. Every single time has been absolutely amazing I am a neighbor I live right down the street. So tonight I was having a really bad day and it was busy so luckily they were nice enough to give me a spot at the bar, and as I sit down you know it's super crowded so it is loud and the restaurant but there's a six top legitimately screaming throughout the entire restaurant. So I asked the bartenders if they could ask that table to quiet down, so which they responded that that they would get fired if they asked the table to quiet down even though they were bothering the entire restaurant. So since the bartenders are not allowed to take control of the restaurant when it comes to customers legitimately screaming so therefore I went up to the table and I told the women they all look so fabulous and you hope they're having a great night and I respectfully told them that they were screaming very loudly in my ear. And so after that the bartender said that I can no longer finish my meal here because I bummed out that table. Although they told me thank you so much for letting them know. Honestly I have been going to the sneaky pickle since for almost like 4 years and I have never been treated so badly. I literally paid an $80 tab as I'm getting kicked out. And it just turns out that they do not care about their local customers they do not care about...

With a name like Sneaky Pickle, we thought the menu would be full of pickle plates. We were wrong, but it's still worth visiting. It's more than worth visiting. It's among the best food we had while spending six days in New Orleans. Dining around 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday in April, here's our experience.

1. Food: Everything we ate was delicious starting with the oysters and ending with the wagyu burger, which my seven-year-old daughter enjoyed too. The sunchokes are unique and worth ordering. My mother-in-law loved the squid ink pasta and my wife really enjoyed the buffalo tofu lettuce wraps (what they are known for).

2. Drink: Their menu includes cocktails, beer, wine, and more. I ordered a rainbow sherbet sour ale. My wife liked their brine drink for a savory option.

3. Service: From the hostess to the server, everyone was kind, efficient, and welcoming. Our food was perfectly timed.

4. Space: It's beautiful with a large indoor dining room and a bar. There are two unisex restrooms in the back near the stairs to the second level, which I assumed was for staff only.

5. Area: We found free street parking nearby. Located inside Bywater, it's a great neighborhood to walk around after dinner, finding little houses and parks. For dessert, we walked to nearby Big O's Original...