Bayona

Poor Service- slow, slow, slow..... Disappointing. Made reservations for Thurs. lunch for a table for 7 for us and visiting relatives. Reservations were for 1pm. They were busy and only had one waitress that we could see handling our entire side of the room. Service was POOR. Did not eat actual entree until 2:40pm. Did not take our order until 45 minutes of sitting there, and that is also when they took our drink order. I waited 20-25 min. for a refill on water and then had to ask. never got any more bread. I know they were busy, but not acceptable at this kind of establishment and prices. The food was good and the waitress was great when she finally had time to attend to us. My theory as to why such slow service to our party of 7 is that they automatically charge 18% gratuity to parties of 5 or more so there was little need (on their end) to take good care of us. My family comes in 1-2 times per yr and likes to eat at the nicer restaurants, but they will not be eating here again.…

Nah, not going back. We ate at Bayona this past Saturday for our sixth wedding anniversary. We spent three nights in New Orleans and enjoyed our time...for the most part. Bayona was a beautiful restaurant with an enchanting courtyard; which we were lucky enough to sit in. Our first male waiter was very nice and informative about the menu. However, our second server (a female), was short and unattentive the entire two and half hours we were there. She seemed annoyed and rushed as we ordered; forgot our bread until we flagged her down--which she gave us a few moments before our meals arrived; had to ask for water and more wine after waiting with empty glasses for twenty minutes; did not check on us one time during our meal; and then ignored us for another twenty minutes after we had finished. My husband was so annoyed that he got up to find her to ask for the dessert menu and more wine. She, again, was flustered and short--no apologies. Actually she said nothing to us as she cleared the table until she handed me the dessert menu. I was so upset at this point that I just wanted to leave. For the first time in our lives, we did not leave a tip. Our bill was $100. We would have certainly spent another $50 in after dinner drinks and dessert along with a generous 20-25% tip. Yet, we choose to leave.

The manager approached my husband before we left and asked if there was a problem. After my husband explained to her, she said, "sometimes the servers get busy and customers get caught in the middle." No apology. No complimentary dessert. Nothing. I also told the nice lady at the front desk who finally apologized and wished us a happy anniversary. We left your restaurant and had dessert and drinks at another...I am not sure if this is how you normally run a 'fine dining' restaurant. We came here based on recommendations from friends. Rest assure that we will not be sharing that recommendation.

I would like to say that the food was great. I had the steak, which was a little salty, but otherwise very delicious. My husband had the red fish which he really enjoyed.…

Not an experience. I was very disappointed in the food that they brought to the table?!? I assumed a that a good staff would not serve food that was burned. I had the crisp quail salad and the quail was not only way over cooked by taste but was black in appearance. The sweet breads were awful, completely dried out and i was told it was a signature dish. I pointed this problem out to the staff, they agreed and offered to take it off my check but i paid the bill anyway and left. I think the chef should check in with her kitchen more often..…

Best Food Ever. I don't give five stars to a restaurant unless i really really love it. The chef can take something simple like grilled shrimp and black beans to an entirely different level that I didn't know existed for that dish. It comes as just a simple black bean 'cake' and a few shrimps on the side. When you take a small measure of each, every single flavor, the saltiness of the beans, the sweet sea taste of the shrimp, jumps out and is easy to identify, but also works in concert to create a palate-expanding symphony. The waiter was attentive, which was good, but food took a very very long time, which was bad. Normally, such a long wait would earn a restaurant a bad review, but Bayona had such good food that I would wait a full month to eat there (which, alas, I must do. I no longer live in NOLA, its sad I know). Take care Bayona, and keep the shrimp on the menu!…