New Orleans Restaurant makes a comeback

We received the worst service in recent history in this resto but that’s getting ahead of the story. 😛

Imagine my excitement when I saw the facade of New Orleans Restaurant while strolling down Bonifacio High Street. This resto was my favorite “date place” in the 1990s back when it was still in the old Greenbelt. I also remember it for its finger-lickin’ ribs long before fastfood outlets like Kenny Rogers included it in their menu. I simply had to dine in New Orleans on my recent birthday. The resto is now a part of the Red Crab group and has been renamed Murray’s New Orleans Bourbon Street Steaks & Oysters (after its founder, Murray Hertz).

Sad to say, I did not see and feel a trace of the former New Orleans. No more piano playing in the background and the interiors got a more modern make-over. The new place is high-ceilinged and characterized by larger-than-life pictures of common scenes in Bourbon Street and the old French Quarter.

The ribs (with the “dirty rice”) in the picture are still finger-lickin’ good but you just don’t know how we moved heaven and earth just to have this. We waited for a record one hour! My best friend and I wanted to order champagne to kill the waiting but since my birthday was on the 29th (day of the SK elections), a liquor ban was still in effect. Bummer! In the meantime, we could see a pair of diners on the other table admonishing the waiter for the same reason… they were already waiting too long. Not long after, a foreigner by his lonesome told the service staff that he was cancelling the order. He was telling her that he’s been to many parts of the world and never encountered such terrible, terrible service.

Ewwww! Shame, shame, shame.

All right, New Orleans has only been open for two weeks but this is no reason for them to completely bungle running a full-service restaurant. The staff look like a bunch of neophytes who are not trained in order taking and dealing with customers. We had to return this sorry salad because it wasn’t up to the specifications…

It really was a pity since the rest of the New Orleans stuff was good. Take for example my second order, some grilled tuna steak topped with baked crabmeat and a delectable orangey sauce. Am not sure if it’s New Orleans food but even if it’s fusion, it’s still good. The other house specialties are their high-grade steaks and oysters. The gumbo and Mississippi mud cake are also worth trying.

At the end of our meal, it was a surprise that the waitstaff gave us a comment card. And of course, we wrote poor, poor, poor when asked to rate them. Let’s just hope this New Orleans shapes up soon, if only for the nostalgia.

New Orleans Bourbon Street Steaks & Oysters
B6 Bonifacio High Street, Taguig
Telephone Number 8564326, 8564785