bourbon house

worst dining expierence ever!!!!!. while visiting the french quarter for the first time, my friends and i wanted to relax and have a nice meal at a nicer restaurant. looking over the menu, we thought bourbon house would be an excellent choice. wrong.

let me preface by saying i am arestaurantmanager, and the entire group of us (7 total) are in the food and beverage industry, so we are generally very forgiving and understanding of other restaurants.

after waiting over an hour for a table (which we were completely fine with), the beverage server, brittany, comes directly to the table and gets our drink order and promptly returns with the drinks. (yay brittany!!) she informed us that our server would be right along to get our dinner order. we sat at the table for literally 20 mins watching who we presumed was our server go to all of his other tables but not even acknowledge us. finally, keving (yep, it was him all along) came and said "have any questions?" one of our party asked what the soup of the day was. he ignored her and asked the one male at the table if he knew what he wanted. i then loudly asked him once more what the soup was, assuming he just didn't hear the first time. he rolled his eyes and then told me what it was, but not the rest of the nightly specials.

he then started taking our orders (again, starting with the one guy first). we waited a good while for our salads and calamari. then, waited even longer for our entrees. while kevin was no where to be seen, other servers/food runners were trying to pass out our orders, but they were not correct. after everyone was served, we tasted our food. it was okay at best. i looked around the table, already frusterated by the lack of service and wait for our food, and noticed that not only had our server, nor anyone else, been back to the table to check to see if we needed anything, everyone was out of water and drinks.

i then proceeded to leave my meal and group to find a manager. armond (i believe) was receiving another complaint at the time from a different table. once his attention was free, i explained to him our situation. i assured him that we wanted absoultely nothing in return, i just wanted to make him aware of what was going on in his restaurant. he seemed rather frazzled (it appeared he had already had a pretty rough night). upon returning to my meal, the manager came up to our table and told us he was sending out dessert on the house. it was appreciated, but certainly not necessary.

after going to the manager, brittany came and refilled our waters and drinks (yay brittany!!). kevin seemed not to care one bit. by this point, we were all fed up with the dinner and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

we asked for separate checks. after taking 15 mins to separate the checks, they were wrong. one of our cards got charged twice, incorrectly. it took a total of 30 mins just to get our checks and pay.

this was by far the absoulte worst dining experience myself or anyone in my group has ever had!! i personally would have rather gone through a drive through, because the at least smile and tell you to have a nice day!

i get that new orleans doesn't see that much repeat business, so customer service standards might not be what they are in places that do focus on repeat business, but the expierence we had was just unacceptable.

oysters & bourbon. the oysters on the half shell were very good. the calamari was ok. the selection of bourbon was, of course, great. the wait staff were a little overbearing. they almost seemed to be rushing us, even though therestaurantwas nowhere near full at the time. i liked it but i won't waste my stomach space on it again.

the only reasons i'm rating it a 4 (and not a 5) is 1) walked in, heard the front of house offer to move tables around to accommodate a party of 8 to seat "right now" then told us we had to sit at the bar or wait 20-25 minutes for a table (for 2) then snaking through therestaurantto the bar noticing multiple open tables (and there was no line out front and no one else waiting) and 2) my husband's green beans were undercooked (keep in mind we are from the south and like our veggies well done). that being said the wait staff and bartenders were fabulous. bbq shrimp is some of the best i've ever had. also tried paneed veal with crab and the crab crusted drum, so good. bourbon house has made it to the list of places to eat.

come for apps and drinks. the oysters and the milk punch are stellar. most of the other options are solid. be warned, the mixed drinks are stout. we come here for appetizers and drinks about once a month. this may not be a 5 starrestaurantbut by no means is it a bad one. they have interesting options like red bean hummus and a platter of chilled seafood (pictured). try something different and give this place a shot.

i had much higher expectations of flavor and quality. we were excited to eat some authentic cajon food and i left with my tastebuds less then satisfied. i ordered a bloody mary and if there had not been the picketed green beans...there would have been nothing special about it. i also ordered the chargrilled oysters - they were huge but the flavor was not special. each one also had pieces of oyster shell in it. the shrimp gumbo also lacked any wow factor. the bourbon shrimp was good and the sauce drizzled over the french fries on the shrimp platter did have nice flavor. we did like the seasoning on the fries. therestaurantitself is pretty, nice decor, great views and people watching and very comfortable. would only go back for a cocktail because i know there are better food options in new orleans.

omg. horrible. i am a local and my standards may be too high for seafood but this was the worstrestaurantmeal i have ever had in my beloved new orleans. my wife and i had dinner last night and we ordered a dozen raw oysters, an oyster platter and a oyster and shrimp platter. how simple can you get!
well evidently not simple enough. the oyster platter had 12 oysters that were the size of grapes and only that big because of the heavy coating on them. the shrimp were no better.. the pomme frites, as they were called, were covering the plate about 1 inch high, cold and soggy. all the food must have been under a heat lamp for some time. disgusting. we had 1 beer and 2 cokes. the bill $95.00.
never again. what a waste of good money. stay with you neighborhood places. at least they serve freshly cooked seafood.

we were told it was a 20min wait to be seated which was fine. strange when we actually did sit down therestaurantwas half empty. not sure why this seems to happen a lot in america. waiters were great. food was good. oysters were tasty. dessert of chocolate pecan praline mousse was amazing!! overall had a good night.

what we hoped for. after walking by bourbon house several times while in town we decided that we liked what we saw -- a large, handsomerestaurantconstantly busy with patrons -- and decided to try them for a weeknight dinner. although it was a monday we still had to wait for about 40 minutes for a table. no big deal, as therestaurantlounge opens onto the lobby at the astor hotel, with ample comfortable seating. the hostess desk texted us when our table was ready, and we were then promptly shown to our table.
the waiter appeared immediately to detail the daily specials and answer questions. then a waitress showed up to take our drink order. apparently they divide up those duties.
we ordered a mix of appetizers, salads and main courses, and each was delivered in a very timely manner, shortly after our drinks and a small loaf of bread were served.
my pecan catfish and prawns with sautéed veggies and rice in a bourbon pecan sauce was very good. my only wish is that the kitchen would have pealed and deveined the shrimp. trying to do so in a dimly lit dining room proved to be a chore.
that aside, my meal was excellent, as was my husbands, he first ordered the raw oysters, and when they arrived he was both shocked and delighted at the size of each oyster. and his roasted duck was pronounced as being one of the very best he had ever sampled.
my meal represented a wonderful blending of the bourbon and pecans to form a wonderfully rich and flavorful sauce, which i used for dipping large pieces of my pecan encrusted catfish. between the sauce and the accompanying rice, my meal was a winner.
a word about our server: he clearly loved his job, and was quite good at it. he also took time to share some of his love of new orleans, and of music. it was a nice touch.
i highly recommend the bourbon house to those who don't want to spend an arm and a leg, but who still want a high quality meal professionally served in a big, handsome atmosphere, at a price that won't force you to take a second job. while this place is located near the headwaters of bourbon street, it feels like anything but a tourist trap. i recommend it.
food: a
atmosphere: a
service: a
menu sophistication: a-
value: a-

if there’s a “first family” or royalty of therestaurantbiz in the us, one surely has to consider members of the brennan family in new orleans at the top of the list. various family members own a dozen or more restaurants in the crescent city and elsewhere, including the always highly touted commander’s palace . a trained chef and third generation member of the family, dickie brennan has made his own mark on new orleans dining, with four marks to his name, including the fine dining establishment called “ bourbon house “, at the corner of bourbon and iberville, at the western gateway to the french quarter. there are three elements of a goodrestaurantexperience:  food, service, and ambiance. sometimes it only takes one of them to carry the night, two can make it a great event, and all three create an over the top outing. at dickie brennan’s bourbon house, i had the extreme pleasure of a trifecta: great food, pleasant atmosphere, and over the top

we at here on sunday table of 6. our service was horrible and the food was not very good. we have eaten here a few times before. being from new orleans i was very disappointed in the service and food . will not recommend thisrestaurantto locals or tourists.

update: have actually come back and grabbed oysters and a meal at the bar twice. while the food is pretty good and the oysters, raw and chargrilled very good but expensive, the servers are a bit tacky and unprofessional when you sit at the bar. last trip they chirped non stop in song and prose about when they were closing, getting off and partying.....and they did it non stop from 1020 on......very unprofessional and frankly two of them could be mistaken for homeless folks stopping in behind the bar.


no can doosville baby doll. well, i never......

will go back to this particular eatery. reason?

stopped in with my son for a pre-dinner at mr. b's snack. tried to find open seats at oyster bar and could not so asked for a small two top in the not overly full dining room at 430 or so.

the host stepped away and came back in a few and told us we could eat at the " back" bar. oh, ok, cool. until we walked and walked and ended up at a bar in a hotel lobby off the mainrestaurantwith none of the ambience and feel of the inside, which to me is half the experience. decided we would try it anyway......until.....

ten minutes in, no one even staffed the bar and the place was a tourist haven of half inebriated, white socks and sandals folks who keep streaming in. when someone finally showed, they assisted two other parties standing at the bar who had just walked up and ignored those sitting at the bar waiting.

after a few more minutes, i assessed the options and made the right decision to leave the place.

being a veteran of the dining scene here, i will not be going back here and will support other spots with my dining ducats.

poor service and experience overall. food? who cares when this is the way you are treated.

cold food that is supposed to be warm. and it's not busy. they spilled a whole plate on our table. entrees used to be good. they brought out a glass that we had to pay a deposit on. not a fine dinningrestaurantif you have to charge a deposit on a glass.

really enjoyed it. after arriving in town, and seeing what bourbon street is really all about (mayhem), we were skeptical of keeping our dinner reservation. we are glad that we did keep them!

the interior of therestaurantis very nice, and large windows to people watch the non stop action of people "walking" up and down bourbon street...without the noise and racket.

we arrived not looking for a big dinner this evening, but for starters we had some louisiana oysters which arrived nicely shucked with fresh lemon wedges. we dressed them slightly with some crystal hot sauce - perfect!

next up we split an authentic gumbo which was very good, we also split a caesar salad which the dressing was really very good, lots of anchovy taste punch which is always welcome.

we had the seared tuna entree which was very tasty, but portion wise, very small, the accompaniments the tuna came with were good, the dill-jalapeño yogurt paired perfectly with the seared tuna just overall the dish is small.

service was great, there is a sizeable wine list and lots of bourbon's to choose from. a safe bet if your in the area.

terrible and slow service... food was fancy and not very good and it was served to us super cold. we ended up asking the manager to comp the entrees coz we couldn't wait another 30mins for our food to come out. save your money and go elsewhere. this brennanrestauranthas gone downhill...

thisrestaurantstinks. i had the worst po'boy at bourban house i have ever had. inane been coming to nola several times a year since 1067 and i had my first nola bad meal today at the bourbon house. dickie brennan must have paid for the highly rated reviews by the pros, as he didn't get them based on the food.2