04/18/09

DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE!

by NOLAFoodie

Okay, so I am born and raised in New Orleans. Needless to say, I KNOW good New Orleans food, especially gumbo. This place is absolutely AWFUL and the service is PATHETIC. I ate there yesterday evening with some co-workers. I really was expecting so much better for such a popular restaurant in the French Quarter. Unfortunately, we made a big mistake when choosing to eat at the Gumbo Shop.

There's a board near the front entrance with the daily specials. After we took a look at the daily specials, one of my co-workers had her mouth set on the blue margarita. So, we were seated quickly and our server came for our drink order. Of course, my co-worker quickly ordered one of those blue mararita specials that was prominently displayed on the "specials of the day" board. The server gave her the funniest "are you nuts?" look. He knew nothing about the special cocktail of the day. So, we laughed it off and she ordered something else. Only to notice ten minutes later, another customer with a big blue margarita drink on their table.

The silverware was wrapped in a cloth napkins at the end of the table in a pile. When unwrappped, one person had food crumbs fall out. The hot sauce bottles on the table had noticeably not been cleaned in a while with crusty dried-up hot sauce around the cap. When our food came, a few of the plates had dried-up food stuck on the bottoms of the plates (note: more than one). Food quality was definitely less than average. Presentation was AWFUL. All of the plates and bowls were too small and the food was overflowing. They serve the bread (which was good) wrapped in a napkin and plopped on the middle of the table. The gumbo was definitely not the best that I've had, although it was "decent". The red beans were not good. They were soupy and should have been served in a bowl. The mashed potatoes were too salty. The brownie "pie" was actually just a brownie on a plate with chocolate syrup. Appetizer dishes were never removed from table.

• Pros: Bread, Location
• Cons: Food Quality, Parking, Service, Cleanliness, Ambience

02/17/09

Horrible!!!!

by chocolots

Husband and I drove 200 miles for my birthday weekend in N.O. I picked Gumbo Shop for my birthday dinner. I didn't receive my entree so I told my waiter and nothing was done. I went to management twice and finally they agreed to bring out my entree but only after going back in forth for 30 mins. I said no thanks and asked to have it removed from our bill along with the desserts that we ordered. I wasn't in the mood since the manager, Oliver, came over to the table in front of the dining room and blamed THEIR mistake on the fact that we were "drunk" . We each had a beer with dinner and a bourbon and coke an hour before, hmmm...

He retotaled our beer and charged us ala carte on everything which jacked our bill up worse. We refused to pay the complete bill since the food we had was hardly touched since we were left to wait for my entree. The manager followed us out and said because we hadn't paid our total bill that he had called the police. My husband was LIVID after that was said (since they ruined my birthday dinner, already) and yelled at the manager. The manager pushed my husband and said , "You better get out of my face!" We have been married for 12 years and I have never seen my husband that angry. My husband was just about to take it to the next level. So.........I paid the manager the remainder as to spare his a** and spare my husband a night in jail. I saw nothing good coming out of this situation. Customer service IS NOT THEIR FORTE.

We have NEVER had an altercation like this before. It was like we were on candid camera, punked or something.

Gumbo Shop WAS my favorite but now I'm still in disbelief. I think the Gumbo Shop is frequented by tourists that do come in straight from Bourbon St. and they have gotten burned out by them. We were coming their for a nice romantic dinner not for the night from he!!

• Pros: Used to be GREAT
• Cons: Now it is worse than horrible!

09/04/08

if you like throwing up then eat there

by djdiva

Went the 2nd of Aug and well what can I say a local told us to go there for a lite meal before we go and eat later...

Umm the gumbo (seafood was awful) it had little bitty shrimp 3 crab claws that didnt have any meat, the ett was sweet... My B-F had the chicken gumbo which was good.. The bread pudding was too dam sweet!! Of course later I got sick!!! And didnt feel good the rest of the night!!

yuck

• Pros: the chicken gumbo and the hot sauce
• Cons: the food!!