sylvain

dined there 9/15/2012 - terrible. i joined two friends for lunch on the patio...where we had reservations. instead of placing us on the patio...we were placed right next to the kitchen outside. lovely view of dirty, stacked up dishes. i don't know where to begin with how unpleasant our experience was. we waited so long for our cocktails that we had to go inside and ask the bartender for them. then the waitress, oh the waitress. by her attitude, one would assume that her favorite pet had died that day. she never once asked "how is everything?" or "can i get you anything else?"...you know, the standard things a waiter would/should ask a table. service with a smile was unheard of in this girls world. the food took way too long, was over priced and under seasoned. the only good thing that i ingested was my cocktail. the only reason we gave a tip was so that the bartender would get his percentage of the waitress tipout. coming from someone who has over 8 years experience in the service industry and who now eats out 5 to 6 times a week, take it from me, your time and money would be much better spent elsewhere. with soooo many other options of great places to eat in new orleans do not waste your time.

found this place under late night eats. had the smashed peas on toast, the pork shoulder and greens and grits, my hubby had a pulled pork sandwich....it was awesome! the old school cocktails with their twist are also just as tasty! we will be back!

love everything about it. the atmosphere is very dim and romantic.. the braised beef cheeks melt in your mouth. my new favorite place in the quarter!

enamored!. sick of watered down vodka crans, i've been on a search for the best cocktail in nola. i've hit uncommon, 12 mile limit, cure and loa...they've got nothin' on sylvain. sylvain is a place for grown folks who like cocktails...cool, dimly lit, nicely decorated, vintage inspired glassware, house made bitters, hand-squeezed juices, tinctures from eyedropppers, inventive and attentive bartenders.

lucy, our bartender for the evening, invited us to go off-menu and challange her. we gave the parameters - whiskey/bourbon drink with no spices or tequila drink where i can taste the tequila - and received the best cocktails ever! i got a whiskey smash...they put the ice cubes in a fabric bag and pound it with a pestel, put it in a stainless glass, mound the ice on top and pour over the ice. lordy, a whiskey flavored snow cone...official drink of the summer! we also got the beet bruschetta which was suprisingly good and pairs well with the drinks.

finally a place in the quarter off the tourist path with amazing drinks...i will be back often.

...modern new orleans fare of locally sourced produce prepared in the manner of italian, french and southern influences that give new orleans its soul. every dish we ordered was consistent in quality and packed with flavor.

dinner time. this place is very cute and the food is great. had a nice meal with a friend and some nice wine.

perfect lunch. imagine a balmy new orleans day, being led through a dark dining room out into a typical brick and palm tree shrouded courtyard to a rickety green table. then imagine the most wonderful lunch served by attentive waiters. my husband and i shared the beet and goat chesse bruschetta - more than enough for both of us. he enjoyed the beef cheeks laden in a sublime reduction and i reveled in sauteed grouper sitting on top of a lovely combination of lentils, rice and stewed okra. heaven. definitely will return to taste more of the tempting items on this menu.

wonderful food/bar?. reservations are a must. we walked in last night just after the saints lost and were able to get two seats at the bar. i ordered a beefeater's martini. they did not have it. they did have hendricks so all was not lost. no martini glass!. i asked for the martini with olives. the bartender reached in the fridge and grabbed a couple of olives with no skewer to retrieve the olives. i used my fork and was very surprised to hit solid resistance. guess what - an olive with a pit. in the many years of having martini's with olives. i have never run into this before. however, my biggest complaint with the bar is apparently the owner or chef requires the use of a jigger to measure out the alcohol. this goes against all new orleans bar rules. my measured hendrick's martini with olives with pitts was $ 11! fortunately, i did not have to have any dental work done!

great cocktails. house made cola & whiskey = delicious. fried egg plant and beet bruschetta were very good. house made pasta + bolognese was very nice, light. as others mentioned, it is very loud. packed on a thurs. evening. 10 seat bar, small courtyard with seating. staff was quite pleasant.

delicious ****but noisy. had dinner there sat.11-12-11. the food and service is great, the place is cute and has an interesting menu. heirloom tomato salad with spicy sprouts was sublime. decent prices because the quality of the food is so high. wonderful tuna entree and husband's entree of beef cheeks were melting in the mouth. great service, friendly and efficient.
major problem: so noisy you may feel assaulted. i know that noisy restaurants are the hip thing but if you can't talk to your dinner partners it detracts from the meal...

overall sylvain was very average to me. pair that with the hassle of getting there and we probably won't be back for a while. just not good enough to mitigate that to us.

great place in the quarter. i have been to sylvain many times, one of my favorites. love, love, love the fried eggplant and beet bruschetta. red snapper also delicious. the place can get really noisy, but i tend to make it my 1st or last stop, so it's a bit more manageable. bartenders are cool, very friendly and knowledgeable about spirits.

i've heard nothing but good things about sylvain . we got there and was warned that we only had five minutes to order. the waitress was rude in every way. she was sitting when we first saw her. when we finally went to order she once again told us to hurry up. i paid for my drink and left. i was so upset. i am a waitress and understand wanting to leave at the end of a shift, but the money i was willing to spend and compensate her for showing up late wasn't enough for her to give us decent service. i will never go there again.

cool haunt in the frech quarter. entering this dark cool eatery was a wonderful find. i could have sat at the bar all day eating and drinking the entire menu.
red seal beer to drink, braised beef cheeks on whipped mashed potatoes with a wonderful gravy. the wife had a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich that looked great.
i would definitely come back and have a few more cocktails.

we were able to get a last minute reservation for brunch on father's day. how fortunate for us! excellent food and service. pan seared cobia over fregola and fresh veggies, with a lemon vinaigrette. great wine list also. we enjoyed the pierre sparr cremant de alsace rose.