sylvain

midwest foodie: we’d heard rumors about the food at sylvain and had to check it out for ourselves. the owners are from wisconsin, so i knew they took their food seriously, especially the protein side of the menu. i ordered the pan-fried pork shoulder over grits with a mustard ju dribbled over the top. the pork fell apart on your fork, and the grits, while a surprising base in this dish, complemented it well. it was a southern twist on a classic dish, and sylvain executed it to perfection. we also had the scallops and bruschetta, which were on point. the tomatoes and basil on the bruschetta were fresh and tasty, while the scallops proved that sylvain can keep up with other go-to neworleansseafood spots. i give the grub two thumbs up!

this is one of my favorite spots for dinner in new orleans. the atmosphere is easy and quaint. the charm of neworleanscan be seen all over this place. chef alex harrell serves up drool worthy dishes time and time again. my personal recommendation is the shaved brussels sprouts salad and the braised beef cheek. eat here. you won't regret it.

tucked away off chartres street near jackson square. must walk to back courtyard to enter. lighting is too dark and music too loud. but this is a decent place for fairly casual meal in the french quarter. the food is not on par with the city's better restaurants but i don't think it pretends to be. this is good, solid food in a place that has a definite neworleansfrench quarter feel to it.

open late. given that neworleansis a city where one can drink 24/7, it amazes me that it can be hard to find a good meal after 10 pm. we frequently like to eat after some other event (eg- a show at the newly reopened le petite theater) and sylvain's kitchen is open late. i don't generally have super high expectations for the place. the food is good, not great. but the drinks are excellent and being able to find a decent meal late is fantastic. and the courtyard is nice if the weather is good.

i have lived in neworleansmy entire life and never knew this gem of a restaurant existed! the food was absolutely excellent! and as for the service, it was perfect. not overbearing as some restaurants do, yet my food arrived consistently in a timely manner and my drinks remained full. i cannot say enough about the taste and quality of the food, and i only wish i would have had more room to taste several other menu items i had my eye on. i will most certainly be returning!

for those who have complained about the sweetbreads with hot sauce, and wish it would have been written on the menu... it was. because that is the first thing i noticed. and it was divine! read your menu more carefully next time, as every ingredient is listed as it should be on the menu. for those who have complained of the service and food, you must be very impatient and have a very limited palate- or you just experimented with something you have never eaten. i would suggest you give the place another try and get something that's more along the lines of what you know your eating. because that is one of the best menus i have seen in a while.

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 neworleansdo not waste your time.

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

perfect lunch. imagine a balmy neworleansday, 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 neworleansbar rules. my measured hendrick's martini with olives with pitts was $ 11! fortunately, i did not have to have any dental work done!

tourist trap. what's to say other than that this is yet another overpriced tourist trap addition to the french quarter. the food was extremely overpriced. the space was cramped and the overall experience was poor. your best bet for a quality neworleansdining experience (food and ambiance) is still outside of the french quarter as these tourist traps continue to pop up with inflated prices and deflated experiences.