domilise's po-boy & bar

great old style po' boy. i visited domilises after seeing them on food network. the place is basic and not very spacious and the staff was not super cordial. however, the sandwich more than made up for any negatives. the flavor was there, the shrimp were seasoned well but not too spicy. the tomatoes, pickle, and ketchup balanced the overall taste nicely.
the only negative aspect of my po’ boy was the small amount of shrimp; far from the pile they put on tracy porter's sandwich. all in all it was a superb old style po' boy made even better with the braq's in a nostalgic bottle. before leaving i had the opportunity to meet the owner who was far more gracious and engaging than his employees; he gave me an autographed picture of the manning brothers right off the wall. bottom line domilises is a throwback that you don't want to miss.

do everything in your power to avoid using the bathroom in this place. no further details required.

crazy good food from lovely people. i had the half and half seafood po boy which was a fabulous combination of flavours. hot sauce pickles, crispy fried oysters and shrimp in a good crisp roll. i thought i would love it but i really really loved it. a must in nola.

make this the only po boy you eat on your visit. wonderful service and great food all aroun a true institution!!

taps.........it's over............ no.
all hype. yesteryear.......maybe.
the older bartender is nice.
but young tubby behind the counter needs a backhand and i doubt that roast beef was cooked there.
parkway was closed and that's why we went there.
turn out the lights.

get the fried shrimp and oyster w gravy, swiss, mayo, and hot sauce... insanity!

i know this is a new orleans institution, but i've had better. my shrimp were greasy. the lack of seating made me feel rushed to eat. ordering drinks and food at two separate spots made was more of a hassle than efficient. i'll take mahoney's, liuzza's, or parkway over domilises.

very nola, an inside thing. poboys are very good and with a secret sauce......

the food is enjoyable and worth trying. the shrimp poboys have a nice fried thin-coated seasoning with a smear of cocktail sauce across fresh french bread dressed to near perfection. the atmosphere is what really sets this place apart from your average poboy joint with pictures of the manning brothers signed and plastered on the wall behind a small bar with a quick working bartender in his 80s. the place is small but so are many of the jewels new orleans have to offer. i would definitely give this place another visit and not just because i am a hungry man.

mmmmmm. there is nothing like a po-boy from domilises. although it is frustrating waiting in line, the food is worth the wait. if you are visiting new orleans or if you have lived here all your life, you have got to try this place at least once, and then go back for seconds.

i recommend the shrimp, cheese, and gravy po-boy. it's not on the menu, but it's heaven in a loaf of french bread.

"the special" is a fried shimp po boy topped with the au jus from their roast beef po boy and swiss cheese, sounds pretty good to me!

doesn't live up to the hype. how old is domilise's? for me, it has existed since the beginning of time. whenever friends or family would go to the zoo, we'd afterward stop at domilise's for po-boys. i wonder if it was here that i had my first po-boy. can you remember your first po-boy?
riding around uptown, domilise's feels a bit out of place now-a-days. it wasn't that long ago that most of uptown along the river was working class. in the last ten years or so, however, it has really gentrified. there are a few pockets of holdovers from the past, but those pockets are being sucked up by bobos and yuppies, ready to buy renovated shotguns for the same price as mcmansions out in the suburbs.
domilise's belongs to one of those vanishing pockets. tucked away a block off tchoupitoulas and jefferson, at the corner of annunciation and bellecastle, domilise's is easy to miss if you're looking for a restaurant that carries as large a reputation as it does. besides a hand-painted board on the side of a windowless building in need of fresh paint, there's nothing to tell you you've found the oldest continuously open po-boy shop in the world. i'm not sure if that title is accurate, so if you can name one older, i'm all ears.
when you walk in, and this is no easy thing to do because many days the shop is inexplicably closed, you get a whiff of food history. that is, if you're able to get in before the line forms. on my last visit, i got there just as they opened and my order was ready minutes later. a quick look around makes you wonder if you're in a grandmother's home because there are familial pictures all around. the pictures are often of celebrity patrons, like the mannings. across the cramped area is the bar with the tender who looks as old as the restaurant. at the entrance, though, is where the food magic happens. shout your order if you want and grab a seat.
on this most recent trip, i decided on a large roast beef. i'm doing a taste and compare of all the roast beef po-boys i can find. leidenheimer is their baker, and their roast beef is cooked in-house. to be honest, it wasn't as good as i remember it being. the beef is sliced in large deli-like slices and then gravy is poured on top. this technique, i think is inferior to the one where the roast beef falls apart in the gravy and the soup feast is spooned into the bread. domilise's is a bit of an oddity in their rb po-boy prep. there are no tomatoes and they also use creole mustard as a condiment. the first novelty is disappointing to me. the second is great. even if the roast beef isn't my favorite, the mustard gives it an added kick. i wonder how it would taste on parkway roast beef.
at $11 (tax included), the roast beef is one of the most expensive and under-stuffed in the city -- perhaps showing that despite its looks, the restaurant realizes it's no longer a working class clientele it serves, but instead, one that wishes to get a working class experience. in that way, i think the domilise's of the past is a relic, and what is there, despite the continuity in ownership and service, has lost its former glory. but i don't think you can really understand what a traditional po-boy stop is without going to domilise's.

not as good as the hype but not bad. domilises certainly isnt a bad poboy shop. the oyster poboy is pretty good and there is a certain old new orleans charm to the place. but if you listen to the hype and history of the place you would think its the best around which it isnt.

outstanding!. just brought a visiting friend and his colleague for lunch and we split 2 large shrimp, 1 large oyster and a small roast beef. the shrimp was right on, as usual, the oyster was good. i couldn't partake in the roast beef (too full). as i told my friend, i remember the bartender and ms. dottie as far back as when i first started going there in the late 70's, when i was a teenager .

they simply have the best shrimp po-boys in town.

i came here quite a few times with some buddies that were from no about about 7 years ago. i loved the large fully dressed roast beef when i used to come here with them. i went by this monday for a sandwich i had thought about for years and was surprised to find exactly what i remembered. same amazing bread, same moist roast beef, and same delicious gravy. thank you for keeping this exactly the way i remembered it!