Ernest's Orleans Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge — Restaurant in Shreveport

I'm responding to backup the review by Larry Beauboeuf posted in January 2015.) It is adding INSULT to injury when the owner responds and spends 3/4 of the response implying that Larry is posting a fake review. Comments like "review sites that are all over the web it's hard to tell if it's an actual customer that had a bad experience or a disgruntled ex employee maybe even other restaurants." Basically the owner is saying "Readers, ignore Larry, his review is bogus." If you, the owner, didn't hear about the issues that evening, then it is because your employees that evening were afraid to tell you, and if you were there personally, there is NO WAY you could not know there were problems. I personally called several times in the days after to complain, and was told every time 'the owner is not available".

I have a back problem that limits the time I can sit. I sat nearly 3 hours, spending $50, to basically get fed bread, cold gumbo, oily crab claws and soggy salad. When I finally left because my back was killing me, entree still had not arrived. SHAME ON THE OWNER FOR EVEN IMPLYING THESE ARE FAKE REVIEWS!!

The fact is Larry and I and several of our party complained numerous times during the evening. For the record, it was the Knights of Columbus of Shreveport Christmas Dinner held Dec 9, 2014. Your employees literally walked away from us when we tried to complain or ask how long till the next course. The maitre'd went into the kitchen to hide. Our dinner menu which was agreed to in advance was supposed to include a choice of chicken as an entree. We were told upon arriving that chicken was not available because the kitchen hadn't ordered enough and it was being "saved" and only available for individual or small party diners, so only the beef and fish were available to order to our large party. Again, the menu choices were AGREED upon in advance with Ernest's.

I went to Ernest's three times in that same week last December, the other two meals were for the 4th Degree Knights of Columbus dinner on Dec 11 and the Ladies Guild of Shreveport lunch on Dec 10. SAME story at all three dinners. Meal took over 3 hours, huge wait between courses, food was cold and presentation sloppy. At least the chicken was available the other two days.

The kitchen was obviously under manned and ill prepared to handle serving for a large party. I had an opportunity this year (December 2015) to attend the 4th Degree Knights of Columbus Christmas Dinner at Ernest's (why they chose to go back to your restaurant after last year's experience, puzzles me). I am choosing not to go, the only reason being I have no desire to have a repeat experience like last year. Shame, because I really wanted to enjoy the social gathering and Christmas with my fellow knights, but not for the $50 and horrible meal.

TO THE OWNER, before you start accusing customers on a public forum of being liars. If you weren't there that night and didn't hear about the issues, then your employees lied to you. If you WERE there that night, there is no way you could not know what was going on and you are being insincere by implying otherwise. On a positive note, the wait staff did well under terrible conditions which was not their fault. They bore all the complaining, and did their best to bring out bread and refill drinks as often as possible between courses as they know people were starving.

One thing the owner did say in his reply to Larry is true, he said "We cannot correct a problem if we do not know it." Replace the 'we' with 'I' as in 'the owner' and therein lies the real problem. If the owner is not there, his employees don't tell him, and he's not available when a customer tries to call and speak to him, then is it any wonder "we don't...

I have been a patron of Earnests since the mid 90's,, and have never been disappointed once... But this past weekend was beyond disappointing in every area, from how our reservation was handled, to the waiter we asked for not being available, " and werent told so until after being seated". To driving the car up to valet, and meeting another car coming out from the valet , almost bumper to bumper with us! As the attendant encouraging us forward,, saying its ok, i got it, i got it!!! I thought very strange right off the bat....

We made 8:00 reservations for Sat. night, and were running slightly late, so called to be courteous and let the hostess know.. No problem, until half way there when we came upon a traffic problem that delayed us about 25 mins longer. When we arrived the hostess said she had to give our table up, and it was going to be about a 20 min wait,. So we requested to wait at the bar and have a drink, which she graciously did accommodate. We were seated right in the entrance at the bar. It was very busy that night, and as we were sitting there, about 25 mins, a group of about 8 or 9 people came in standing around that area, trying to order shots of patron, one lady seemed to be the main spokesperson for the group, and she,,, in my opinion,,, probably didn't need anymore shots of patron! Bumping into us , laughingingly trying to be apologetic for her intrusion of of space. We finally get seated at our table, and a different waiter than we requested comes up to take our drink order, and we politely tell him there must be a mistake, that we requested our usual waiter. He apologize and goes to seek out our requested waiter , shortly returning and telling us that he had just started waiting on a party of 22, and would not be able to serve us.. So we shook it off, and ordered our appetizer and drinks with him, in hopes that from here on we would enjoy the dining experience that we came in for.... Not so,, the appetizer was good, (marinated crab claws) the bread was good, the drinks were good,, but the service was mediocre, and the steak and shrimp we ordered and waited almost an hour to be served, should never have been served to us at all... The shrimp was overcooked, like chewing rubber. And the ribeye must have been the last cut they were trying to salvage for another $150bucks that evening... To top it off, we watched Earnest politely come out of the kitchen, going to different tables to shake hands, ( ours being the first table he greeted)... then proceeded to the main dining room where we watched him ( Earnest) visiting for about 15 mins and cutting cake for people at a large table that was seated in there,, all the while we waited for our food,, wondering,, humm... is anyone even in there cooking our food? If yes,, then who?? Well whoever it was,, prepared a meal so unpleasing, that it made me want to print this on social media.. We are sure to be looking for a different place to go for future fine dining, during our next visit...

We had never eaten at the institution of Ernest but were eager to try at a fun event. I called and got a reservation at 845 during 318 restaurant week. For those not familiar with this event. Usually the second week of March many restaurants and other food places offer special deals on lunches and dinners. Some are a set menu and some offer choices at a discount. Ernest 's offered marinated crab claws, the crusty loaf of bread, cup of gumbo, emerald salad ribeye and snapper Le Louisiane with baked potatoes and poached peaches and for dessert banas foster. Well we arrived at valet parking at 830. We should of known then that something was horribly wrong. We waited in valet parking for 30 minutes, that is my husband did. I got out to go secure our reservation HAHAHA. When I opened the door, there was a solid wall of people!! I managed to excuse myself in the waiting room and tell them we were there people continued to pour in. Much later we were told they had grossly overbooked. We were seated at 1145. The waitress was so tired but was so friendly and helpful. We were so hungry we would of gladly chewed on carrot sticks, but We were brought a delicious crusty loaf of bread with garlic butter running thru it. Then came marinated crab claws wonderful. A tasty cup of gumbo then an emerald salad which was butter lettuce which Ii am not fond of and teaspoon of some dressing that was making the lettuce taste dry . Then came the main course. If that was a rib eye I would of stood and sang. It was full of gristle and fat and tough. I managed to get 3 bites out of it To disguise it it had a sauce that covered it my fish, my fingerling potatoes, and poached peach.If the fish had not had steak sauce on it, maybe.... The poached peach was the best thing on the plate after I scraped steak sauce off of it. I gave up. So we left a plate full of inedible food I was very disappointed. The banana foster, wouldn't light up so the alcohol in the sauce was heavy. I am not allowed alcohol ( diabetic) We started for home About 1am. Never ate that late before. What bothered me so much was with tips and iced tea we laid out over 220 dollars for food that made us afraid to come back. I want to go and get their oysters and asparagus and bread and gumbo. But it is so expensive that it will cost over 125 Plus tips for 2 of us. I would of loved to experience the Ernest's I have heard about for years. My husband says I'll have to go with someone else because he hated...