Westbank Grill — Restaurant in Westwego

My husband and finally got the chance to try this place last Wednesday. We really, REALLY wanted to like this place as it is 5 minutes from our house, the menu prices seemed reasonable, and the best part, they welcome dogs in their outside seating!

The wait staff was diligent (but with only 4 tables of people dining in, why wouldn't they be?) and very friendly. Our waitress, Jennifer, advised that their online menu had not been updated to reflect new, much higher prices.

The decor is... interesting. The wall art truthfully looks like the craftsmanship of a 10-year old armed with a $50 Michael's gift card. In case you are hoping for romantic ambiance, this place is not for you.

The lack of ambiance is not the source of our disappointment. I'll just run through the list of what we ate.

Jalapeno Poppers - These are literally the kind from TGIFridays, specifically the ones you find in a box in the freezer section. It isn't that we expected these to be made from scratch; however, and for the price, we did expect them to be filled with actual cheese.

12 Fried Oysters - Though they were pretty small, I honestly did get 14-15. I requested that these be cooked "soft" which they were. However, I suspect that the grease was not hot enough because the batter soaked a lot of the oil and they were super greasy. Also, and I couldn't tell if it was the batter, the oil, or the oysters themselves, but the flavor seemed off. For $17.99, I expected much better.

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich - It had a moderate amount of steak, but only a smidge of chopped onion and green pepper, and barely enough cheese to claim it comes with cheese. It was also pretty bland.

After speaking to two other people who shared similar experiences, I feel assured that our was not unique. Sadly, we will not...

We had the pleasure of visiting the restaurant for the first time Friday night, and I was very impressed with the food, service, and atmosphere.

We started with the crab and corn soup, seafood gumbo, crab cakes, and crawfish Au Gratin. All of the appetizers were delicious, and the crab cakes were particularly good. For our main courses, I had the catfish and shrimp combo, and my wife had the fisherman platter with a large softshell crab. Both dishes were cooked perfectly and were very flavorful. We also enjoyed the live music that was playing in the restaurant.

The only minor complaint that I have is that the ventilation in the kitchen could be improved. While eating, we could smell the fry cooking oil, which was a bit distracting. However, this did not detract from our overall enjoyment of the meal.

Overall, we had a great experience and would definitely recommend it to others. We plan on...

Ordered the blackened fish, grilled shrimp and salad and was utterly disappointed due to the fish was still raw in the middle and the shrimp tasted rubbery. Being that I was in town for Mardi Gras and had limited options in the area, I was highly disappointed. Waitress had cooks cook fish longer but the fish still didn't taste right. But expected when one tries to re-cook the same fish. Waitress stated that this was a popular specialty and that I was the second person who didn't like it. Also, lackluster in the customer service department as well. As an avid traveler and more of an upscale food connoisseur, this must be a mom and pop's restaurant for locals and nothing like Pappadeaux. The salad what not impressive either and still wondering who utilizes sandwich pickles on top of a salad? Literally hoping that I don't end up getting sick from this place from eating half...