The Backyard — Restaurant in New Orleans

Should've trusted our instincts (and the parking lot).

My best friend and I were visiting New Orleans and looking for a casual sit-down dinner that didn't require navigating the French Quarter or negotiating with a prix-fixe seafood tasting menu. She's Team Shellfish, I'm Team Absolutely Not, and The Backyard seemed like a happy medium: diverse menu, chill vibes, close drive from our Airbnb. What could go wrong?

Spoiler alert: A lot.

It started in the parking lot, or rather, the lack of one. After circling for a bit, we found a spot across the street--only to be summoned back by a security guard letting us know that lot belonged to a different restaurant. (Maybe slap a sign up, y'all?) He was kind enough to let us park on the street and even offered to keep an eye on our car. Honestly, he gets five stars. He's not the problem.

We walked into The Backyard and were immediately steered toward the bar or outside seating--which was weird because it's summer in NOLA and there were literally open tables in the dining room. We requested one of those two-tops and were seated. No menus arrived for a while, so we browsed Yelp pics and crossed our fingers.

When our server did arrive, I asked if they had root beer on the fountain. She said yes. I got a bottle. Not a huge deal, but it was the first in a line of small missteps.

Then came the mysterious cheese conversation. We were told there was only one slice of provolone left--which would've been super relevant if either of us had ordered cheese. (We didn't. We ordered Sloppy Joes.) Our server apologized and took that conversation to a table that had actually ordered cheese.

The food finally came out (pretty mid, nothing memorable), and then--after we started eating--our appetizer showed up. Bold move.

And then... it rained. Indoors. On us.

Drips started falling from the ceiling--right over our table--from an exposed pipe and vent. My friend got hit on the shoulder, then her food. That was it. The final soggy straw.

We didn't cause a scene. But we did mention it to our server, who told us, "There's nothing we can do, but if you want to move to another table, you can. It's only condensation." (ONLY condensation? From a dirty pipe? On our food? C'mon, Tina. You can do better than that!)

My friend asked for a refill, and five minutes later our server walked by with a tray for another table and told her, "that's right - you wanted another beer!" We reminded her it was a Diet Coke. She returned with the beer (yes, you read that right) five minutes after that, and then finally a Diet Coke another couple of minutes later.

Shortly after that, we received a check. Not ours, but what did we expect? We got the check with the beers on it. We were able to call our server over and alert her to (ANOTHER) error, and she finally brought ours out. (It was more than the first one; we should have paid the front check!)

We paid. We left. And now we review.

Two stars because the root beer in the bottle was pretty good and the sandwich (pre-drip) was not bad. Also, the security guard who didn't even belong to them was delightful. I don't want to be completely heartless. But would we go back? Not unless the air conditioning unit makes a...

The food is good but this restaurant does not adhere to any COVID or sanitation guidelines in the kitchen. I recently went into this restaurant on evening of 10/2/20. There were tons of people outside eating and when I walked in to order to go, I saw at least 4 line cooks preparing food in close vicinity of each other talking and having a good time without masks on. They had on gloves but were eating food with them on in the midst of preparing food for guests. I was greeted by a employee after standing, observing for about 5 min and stated to him that I would like to order but was concerned about the lack of masks and cooks eating while preparing food. The guy told me can’t I see they’re busy right now and I was not supposed to come in without ringing a doorbell. I was floored! I asked for a manager and not only complained about the rude treatment I received from the employee but the lack of sanitation in the kitchen. The manager saw the staff do exactly what I was complaining about while we were speaking and did absolutely nothing. I pray no one tests positive for COVID 19 or any other illness that patronized that restaurant that day. In these times I try to support small businesses and have loved the food here and therefore have given this restaurant many chances. I’ve had hair in my wings, food missing from my to go order, I’ve had to ask the line cook to change his gloves after touching multiple un sanitized surfaces while preparing my food in front of me; Now this! I will never go to or order from this restaurant again for the health sake of me...

Was having a great time eating and having a few drinks outside while catching up with some old friends while all of our children ate and played outside.

So long story short the kids wanted snowballs from the stand across the street as they don't offer any type of dessert on their menu so we figured it won't be an issue. So a couple of the parents took the kids to get snowballs and came back since we were still having drinks and running up our tabs.

Well as the parents and kids were coming back the manager on duty came out and told us that snowballs were not allowed on the premise at all and he had to strictly in force the rule. After some discussion the reasoning was the owner doesn't want ants.

That is somewhat of a fair point but there are very simple things that can be done to prevent that. If a spill was to happen (which with young kids a good chance it would happen) spray a bleach/water solution on the area after cleaning it up. And a whole other list of things that doesn't evolve using poison.

I completely understand the manager was simply doing what his boss wants and he was nice about it and the rest of the staff was great while we were there but that put a damper on the whole vist.

Plus the main reason we chose this place was because they used to have a playground area for kids but come to find out they did away with to make room for a micro distillery.

The staff was really friendly, the food is slightly above average and the place is no longer...