sobou

unique. abigail is one of the coolest bartenders in the city.

nice variety of seating (though i hate the squeaky bar stools).

the modest garden salad (with asparagus, tasso, fresh mozzarella) is one of my favorite healthy eats (just $8 too).

love the beer taps at the tables.

beautiful, if a little inconsistent. went for a friday lunch. gorgeous place; like commander's it has rooms that are all quite different from each other. also retains commanders' whimsy which i appreciate. service was very good. drinks were same as commander's - good. amuse bouche was delicious. oyster taco was very good. cajun queso was gritty but flavor was tasty. foie gras burger is not worth it - it's quite small and just overbearingly greasy and salty...this from a lover of things greasy and salty. i will return.

don't go. big disappointment. 15 min before we saw a waiter. then 30 min and still waiting for drinks. tables next to us waited 1.5 hrs for food. this place has poorly trained wait staff and kitchen staff. at $25 for a sandwich, not acceptable.

abigail is my bar crush. she is the great oz. seek her out.

cocktails were really good! love the red fish dish it was delicious! bread pudding for desert was wonderful. service was great! it was on sc new orleans which means locals like it! so it’s been the best restaurant i have been to in new orleans so far!

the sweet potato beignets were tough and doughy, more like a hush puppy with over-worked batter than a beignet. its "foie gras fondue" barely tasted of foie gras, and i would not have identified the brown plate drizzle as "chicory coffee ganache" if my life had depended on it. on the bright side, these hush puppies did taste of the advertised sweet potato.

the tuna cones with avocado ice cream were passable and a solid execution of a complicated presentation technique (the cones were almost crisp despite being filled with moist ceviche, and the ice cream was a good texture despite topping the tuna) but (and i write as someone who enjoys many unusual flavor combinations) really failed to come together in a unified experience.

the "wild" mushroom pâté was also rather disappointing. the pate itself tasted like it might have been reconstituted oyster mushrooms which were then stewed , and was surprisingly bland for something that had so much savory potential. the "black pepper croustades" were thick flavorless fragile slabs of toasted wonderbread baguette, with no sign of the touted "black pepper". the "bread&butter pickles" (onion, cucumber, and summer squash) were adequate if not good. i'm pretty sure the "pickled okra mustard" contained no okra, but was merely a mass-market whole-grain mustard; unobjectionable, but also not interesting.

the "geaux fish a la crawdad boil" was ... also fairly disappointing. the garlic gnocchi were pasty rather than al dente - more the texture of a heavy soup dumpling than gnocchi. the french green beans were inedible in a manner i've never experienced before, despite many positive and negative experiences with cooked green beans - they were desiccated and fibrous, more like beef jerky than any vegetable should be. the saving graces, limited though they were, were that the fish was not overcooked, and the spicing of the fish itself was pleasant.

the sidecar cocktail was unexceptional.

eat somewhere else.

burlesque sun brunch show was a bust

burlesque brunch was a bust! the show was to have started at 11:30 but didn’t start until 12:20 and thus we only got 5 minutes of the show before we had to catch our plane. they comped $10 of drinks but the bill was still almost $100 for 2 people – if we had just wanted brunch w/o a show we would have gone elsewhere.

sweet potato beignets are to die. drinks great to taste but mostly weak in strengthen by new orleans standards. ----------------------------

went for the 25 cent martinis was surprised by the amazing lunch and great services.  i would go back here in a heart beat.  best food we had in new oreleans

food was amazing. atmosphere is everything here. and our waitress was so sweet and did an awesome job. i highly recommend this spot if your looking for a date night out in the city. you must try the sweet potato beignets!

little, but delicious food. first, the foie gras burger was delicious! i don't "do" foie gras, but this burger was fantastic! it was small and expensive, but tasty. a friend of mine got the mini taco and it was teeny tiny, but again, she said it was delicious. there were 6 of us in our party and it was jazz fest weekend, so the service wasn't great. the food made up for it though. the vibe and decor was cool too. recommend!

cocktails are top notch. we went here for apps and cocktails and were blown away. great spot to try new things and be wowed

great food. restaurant was a little loud -- and service could have been better, but overall i would recommend.

friday night i made a reservation for sally and myself at sobou, a very modern dining establishment just 2 blocks up from the hotel.  then mike called and said he would join us.  that’s always good news, but nothing i felt i had to share with the restaurant, they’d work it out when we got there. mike was the first to arrive.  30 years and i haven’t gotten anywhere first yet.  he was seated at a table for 2, and was in a mild lather that we had 50% more people than chairs, but the host handled the issue easily–that’s what restaurants do, they are in the hospitality business.  remember that point, it will come up later in the story. sobou is very modern; the walls are decorated with a huge collection of pharmacy bottles in a vast variety of size and shape, all without labels, on narrow shelves and backlit.  it is both very attractive and makes the light in the dining room flattering to the guests and the food. the tres chic decor of sobou we started with an order of the shishito peppers, quick fried and spiced and delightful.  you have to start with a tiny bite because nineteen out of 20 of these peppers are quite mild but the 20th will melt the enamel off your teeth.  gail just bites in willy-nilly, but she’s tougher than i am. remember that part about being in the hospitality business?  mike’s partner franklin showed up to join us—he didn’t want a meal, just to sit with us an maybe have a bowl of soup.  we were clearly informed that we had a table for three and there was no room and no other chair available.  franklin got to stand.  this struck me as entirely bizarre. we were willing to squeeze him into our little table, and the joint was refusing. fortunately, i went outside to make a phone call and by the time i got back sanity had returned to the situation and a chair was produced. soups were served.  sally and i had the sweet potato and carrot soup, which was spectacular.  very thick, smooth and savory, it was a decided winner. entrees arrived. i had the tuna es

first time visitors. made ressers in opentable.com but based in crowd did not need them.

interesting decor and vibe but for us a little schizoid. seems to be searching for an identity to me.

same could be said for the menu as well. some good, some border on great, some head scratchers.

the "tamales" on artichoke leaves were the biggest over reach for us. the sweet potato beignets with duck and foie gras gravy were the big hit. sobou burger on small plate menu was deemed worthy as well.

the churrasco steak was good, not great but a bit smallish.

menu is not huge and some might say inadequate even.


for us it might be a come back for bar drinks and a small plate or two but not a full meal.

still placing in the like column for now.


-----30 nov, 2014-----

sweet potato beignets. divine