Vampire Apothecary Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in New Orleans

Tipped as I was expected, too and as I was treated . My Latina friend and I went to this establishment at 11: 23pm, after reading the reviews, seeing how gorgeous and romantic it was. After checking reservations online. I called and spoke to Ryan who was extremely nice, friendly and polite on the phone who assured me they were open, and that the kitchen was open til 1am. Excited from the kind interaction we arrived and the welcome was not so warm. There were two bartenders and about 6 people at the bar. No one acknowledge us, we waited patiently at the hostess stand looking at the empty but beautiful dinning rooms. After about 15 minutes, we were finally acknowledged. Asked if we wanted bar or dinning room. I. Said dinning . We were greeted by a friendly brunette woman who walked us through a gorgeous open and empty dining space filled with feathers and beautiful flowers and very well lit. We went to a much darker room with less ambiance and red lighting; she attempted to sit us into a corner of an empty dining room… I asked to be seated by the window, which she did oblige, we were given cocktail menus dinner menus and waters, we said thank you and that was the last we saw of her , well at least at our table for 37 minutes… she was in the area assisting someone do table settings, they folded napkins but they never acknowledged us. My friend and I, are very patient understanding people were also awaiting a member of our party, so no rush but to be left unattended for 37 minutes is a bit ridiculous. We were looked at by staff ; the bartender who finally acknowledged us at the hostess stand even peeped from around the partition but no one said anything or offered any service! I called our 3rd party member asked if they would like me to order a drink for them, thinking it would trigger a reaction or at least a response. It did nothing… I could have called out to her, I could have been more direct; but my friend and I work with the public as well . we are understanding and give grace as we are aware people can be a lot! So a subtle cue seemed reasonable and appropriate we made eye contact still nothing… our friend showed up he was immediately greeted by the bar tender asked if he would be dinning or at the bar. He motioned to us and he said oh you’re with them… ( could have been taken, or meant several ways…) . Our friend is a Caucasian male… The waitress magically reappeared, ready to be of service.She took our drink orders as soon as he sat down. I had a refreshing violet elixir and my friend received a watery a Jamison and Ginger ale that we all Confirmed it was basically water . I made sure to order another one as soon as she returned with the first round as I was unaware of when she may come back. We ordered a charcuterie board that was adorable with a soft cheddar, consistent cheese and a hard Parmesan cheese all the chefs meats, crackers, etc. went very well with these two cheeses. I could go on but I think I have painted the picture. As a New Orleanian born and raised I have never experienced such a thing… i would have preferred to be told my business wasn’t wanted or the dinning area was closed, than to be treated and handled so poorly by a beautifully empty establishment. If you are a transplant to this city I suggest you rethink your business practices. It’s no longer 2003. I came there after a horrible day that you all made worse. I was hoping something as beautiful and creative would have been just as open and positive. But i received the message and acted accordingly when tipping because as I’ve recently found out black people are typically terrible tippers. 🙃 We...

Update 2 days later / 1 day after SnowPocolypse-- One of the only places open after the snow, I very much appreciate you all opening even with the "snow menu". Those of us who are stuck here.... with 2 canceled flights... really appreciate the open business to eat in. You are one of the only. Tonight we had multiple Corpse Revival #2s 🤣-- these are my favorite. Good quality ingredients!! We had the short ribs-- great taste, tender, awesome!! My husband had the muffaletta again-- he loved it but I made him take some onions off so he could sleep with me!🤣 We also had 3 desserts! The blueberry white chocolate cheesecake--- by far the BEST. ... legit NOM. The New Orleans cake-- was good. Would be better not frozen. And the purple velvet cake-- now... to be honest... not good. The cake is great-- crumb is perfect. But the icing... no- oh goodness no. The purple has too much red food coloring and omg you can taste it. Id highly recommend pivoting that cake to a better quality icing. It doesn't need to be purple. It has a lot of potential!

We LOOOOVEEE this place!!

This is our second trip into town and we wanted to make sure to come back-- it did NOT disappoint! Last time, we purchased the owners book on New Orleans Vampires. It was amazing and I was hoping to meet her again to discuss it. Alas... maybe next time. But I highly recommend buying the book!!

This time, the menu was a little different, but OMG was it awesome!! THE BONE MARROW appetizer!!! Our server said it's a new concoction. We tried it just to see what in the world it was. Bravo chef!! Once we figured out HOW to eat it, there was no stopping us!! This amazing delicacy is served IN the bones! The marrow is so flavorful. It's topped with tartare, vinegar caviar, and other things I cannot remember at this moment. It was the best discovery we've had this trip!!!

We also shared the duck pastrami sandwich and the muffaletta sandwich. The duck pastrami was very good and I love the addition of fig jam!! It was missing something though, so I dipped it in the hummus...and boom... perfect.

The muffaletta.... best darn muffaletta I've had! No joke! The quality and flavor is spot on!!

Our server was kind and helpful. The atmosphere is well put together and perfect for Vampires to remain comfy, BUT.... it's the inclusive and welcome all culture that really pushes this place into the type A++ mode. It's proof that all Vampires can come together without hate or an agenda (other than to drain the blood of the innocent of course)

Speaking of, we left with a couple delicious blood bags for the road. We chose the vodka pomegranate flavored type B-. Nom.

We will......

I would give this place a negative star if I could. Read through all the reviews, The five star reviews look kind of sketchy, almost like the owners and staff created those themselves. The common theme with this restaurant is lost reservations, bad food, slow or no service, and scamming. I reserved 2 months ago and they had no Knowledge of our reservation, even though I provided them with an email and a text message and was able to prove it had been confirmed and reconfirmed. Next appetizers, did not come as described such as the baked brie, (which was basically slightly microwaved on a plate served with stale saltines.) Then, after an hour and a half of waiting, we started to question where the food was, at first they said it was taking longer to prepare because of one of the dishes we ordered, but then Come to find out they had “lost” the ticket. So they basically flat out lied. Instead of having a manager handle the situation, they made their front line staff come and shamefully Admit that they had nothing for us- We had waited two hours at this point, and their staff member was brand new, only on her second day of employment. The poor lady looked like she was about to burst into tears. Finally, I asked for a manager and confronted him saying that it had been two hours, we had a tour that we had booked that we needed to make, and now we had been forced to skip dinner. I asked him what the solution would be, and he walked away saying he would, figure something out. Another flat out lie. They did absolutely nothing to remedy the issues. To make matters worse, they not only charged us full price for the appetizers and drinks instead of profusely, apologizing, and making things right, they actually overcharged us for our appetizer. Long story, short, we left their hungry, frustrated, and feeling very scammed. Maybe it’s better we did not get our food, because according to the reviews, the food is pretty awful. Avoid this place...