Ormond Plantation

The ambiance of eating in an old plantation home does not make up for the meal being rather blah. I had the pork chop, which was tender, but I was not overly impressed with the seasoning. It seemed like all they did was put some homemade bbq sauce on it. I was surprised at how reasonable the pricing was.

This is probably the best place for lunch in St. Charles Parish when it comes to variety and quality. The dishes are well prepared, flavorful, and appropriately priced. The pecan smoked pork rack is excellent and consistent. The gumbo is always on point. The service can be a bit slow and lacking. Make sure you have 45 – 60 minutes for lunch if you’re going between 1130 – 1230.

Over priced, mediocre food. Excellent service.

Our first visit. We are locals and live minutes from here. My girlfriend got the stuffed eggplant and I got the Ribeye daily special. Her entrée was 16.95. Mine was 23.95. I also ordered, Fried eggplant sticks app and a bowl of turtle soup. The Turtle soup was quite good. And that… ends the good part. The eggplant sticks were bland and tasteless, served with red sauce that was too sweet and had the consistency of coming out of a can. Her stuffed egglant was more of stuffing in a bowl made of eggplant skin. It was not good. My ribeye was 12oz of burnt fatty meat with zero seasoning. When I asked for steaksauce, I was informed that the chef does not allow steaksauce in the restaurant, because his steaks were that damn good that you wouldnt need it. So… we took our food togo and i ate what I could with my own steak sauce. Which I ended up throwing half the steak away. End result, the service was good, the food was not. Entrees were over priced and we will not be back anytime soon.

Pros:
–Food was good, not great
–Wait staff was friendly
–Lunch prices were reasonable ($ 12 – 16 per dish)
–Plantation atmosphere was nice
Cons:
–Painfully slow for everything
–Upscale dinning look and feel with mediocre service
–Our salads were brought out 1 – 2 min before our entrees so it felt like a race to finish them before our entrees got cold
Conclusion: This place has lots of potential, but tries too hard to come off as ‘upscale dinning’ but it falls short. It should shoot for something more casual and focus more on reliable service and would have been an easy 4 star for me.

Pretty cool to stay on a plantation for bed and breakfast and for sure worth trying at least once. The rooms and staff were nice. And I especially liked it since you still get your own bathroom! We did have a late check in and they fully accomodated us by driving to the plantation to check us in after the office had closed. The room comes complimentary with a bottle of wine and a cheese plate. With plenty of outlets, a tv, and wifi we were set for our stay. Its a little off the beaten trail from downtown NOLA but, again, worth it at least once. The breakfast was tasty and filling. They served ham and cheese omelette with a side of yummy potatoes, brought us biscuits with jam, and french toast. Id like to try other plantations in the future as a comparison but since this is the first one ive stayed at — I dont feel I can give it any more than 3 stars.

We got married here April 6, 2013, and we ate lunch here the week prior. Both were great experiences. I’ll start with the lunch, since that’s simpler.
Food was good – all of it very rich, but definitely tasty. The crawfish nachos were ridiculously good (and ridiculously heavy. But if they’re on the menu, order them – they’re worth it :) The lunch takes place in two very charming rooms on the left side of the house. We ate in the one closer to the front of the house, which was very nice. The chairs are like Victorian thrones – ornately wood-​carved, super cool to look at, and despite what you may think, pretty comfortable. (We liked them so much in fact that we asked Robin to bring them into the reception hall for the bridal table at our wedding, which, super accommodating host that she is, she was more than happy to do. Which to me is the best part of Ormond – everyone there is really good spirited, and really goes out of their way to make you feel at home. The best way I can describe the feeling is to call it a down-​home country feel, which as a New Yorker maybe I’m more of a sucker for than some.) There’s a little bit of a crumbling charm happening in this room, underscored by a particularly large crack surrounded by some peeling paint… but this is New Orleans (or close enough – hop on I-​10 to 310 and you’re there lickety split – 20 minutes, half hour tops), and that sort of thing comes across better down here than it would elsewhere. But I will say this about Ormond – as much as I love it, I do think a little more attention to detail could really elevate it. The chipped paint is one example, and there are others if you look close. But the big picture is this is a great place with a great feel to it that’s very convenient to get to from the French Quarter. If you nitpick, you will find flaws, but then that’s the case most anywhere.
So OK, the wedding. First of all, one piece of advice. Go big or go home. The premium bar and food package is well worth the marginal extra cost, and it’s really great to have the DJ and cake built into it, which are both amazing. (Big shout out to Haydel’s Bakery – really amazing cake, and Shannon at Stage 1 Music, who was so nice and so on top of things. We were super picky about our music and he let us go hog wild, but rather than just putting our mix on «shuffle,» he really was a great captain for the evening, ushering us through all the transitions with genuine class and professionalism. BTW, if you want a truly awesome wedding experience, hire Kinfolk Brass Band and have them do a little second line parade for you after the ceremony and play a set at your reception. Trust me – it’ll be the best decision you ever made. Every last person raved about the music at our wedding – Kinfolk totally rocked it.)
Let’s talk a minute about the food at our wedding. Truly fantastic. The lunch may have been good, but they really shifted it into high gear with the wedding buffet. The chicken tenders were out of this world. I have never tasted chicken so tender, and I’ve eaten chicken at some of the finest restaurants in New York City. Everyone raved about them. The fried alligator was also great, as was the crawfish louise, and really everything in the buffet, as well as the bread pudding for dessert. Really could not be more pleased with the food at our wedding.
As far as wedding logistics go, Robin was super accommodating, and willing to let us decorate and arrange things however we wanted, which was great for us, but if you’re planning a wedding here you should know that you’re kinda on your own for a lot of things. Everyone is as helpful as they can be, but they are not full-​on wedding planners. It’s a small place with a small staff, so be prepared to fend for yourself to some degree.
Here’s the thick and thin of it. It’s not a 5-​star place. It’s lovely, charming, and fun; the food’s great, it’s easy to get to and easy going, but if you’re looking to knock your guests’ socks off with an over-​the-​top picturesque plantation manor, this ain’t it. It’s too close to a busy street to make a wedding on the front lawn a viable option, and the courtyard, though nice, can only hold so many. But also know that the food is superb, the feel of the place is great, and the staff is super friendly and accommodating. The house itself is beautiful, and the guest rooms are spacious and tastefully decorated. There are 3 – 4 big oaks dripping Spanish moss around the grounds, not to mention that amazing sprawling tree in the courtyard, and all are gorgeous. Pound for pound, Ormond is a fantastic value.

During the 2011 and 2012 Christmas holidays I attended two luncheons with the same group of 30 people at Ormond Plantation. Both times I was very pleased with the flavor of the food as well as the service of the waitstaff. I enjoyed the plantation’s peaceful ambience, especially the beautiful old oak trees laden with Spanish moss. Tasteful holiday décor added to the spirit of the season. I and other members of the group had very nice comments about our luncheon experiences and I’m sure will return there again.

Oh where do I begin… this review is based on a wedding I attended last weekend. The owner mentioned she was a new owner and did not want to put lights outside for the ceremony taking place on the front lawn of the plantation. She obliged when the officiant said she wouldn’t be able to read in the dark. So they set up spot lights that shined like the sun in the bridal parties faces and left the crowd in darkness. Hope the photographer was expertly skilled. No microphone, so all the guests heard was the traffic on river road.
The disc jockey was still setting up when we were walking in. He said it would cost $ 1.25 for any song requested that he didn’t have.
Food wasn’t allowed to be served until the bridal party was finished with pictures. The best thing was the spinach dip and fried eggplant sticks, everything else was of cheap poor quality. The buffet food was picked up half way through the reception.
The bar consisted of the cheapest liquor known to man, box wine and keg beer. Worse than any gas station liquor. The bartenders were loaded (another guest mentioned that he attended a wedding 2 weeks prior and the same bartender was loaded/​drunk then too) Guests complained that the bartenders would mess up a 2 ingredient drink. For example an amaretto sour was amaretto and lime juice even after remaking it.
The groom was positioned behind the chandelier to throw his garter, so take one guess where it ended up.
Needless to say, I would stay away from this place. Apparently the new owner has no idea what shes doing and until she figures it out, I wouldn’t want to waste a single dollar on this place. Its a shame though because the grounds are very nice

My wife and I tried this out today and were very pleased. It was nice to be able to eat at the plantationThey’re only open for lunch during the week and the prices are a little higher than other lunch spots in Destrehan.
With that said, the food was delicious! I had the Catfish Buck Town which had a pecan flour batter and was topped with lump crabmeat and a crystal menuiere. Sooo good! My wife had the Crabmeat au Gratin with the largest lump crabmeat I’ve ever seen at any restaurant. It came with the vegetable du jour which was okra of some sort. Both were really good! The crabmeat au gratin was good but wasn’t the most flavorful I’ve had, but it was still very good.
I can’t wait to go back and try something else on the menu!

Really, I’m the first person to review the restaurant? The pressure…
First, the map next to this review doesn’t show the right location for the restaurant. It’s located about ¼ east (down river) from the intersection of Ormand and River Rd. I lhave noticed that some (not all) mapping programs send you to the wrong place when you enter a River Rd address.
I observed new roadside/​level signs (Louisiana weeds) in front of the plantation in my daily trips past the plantation advertising a daily lunch serving. They have spread from there into Destrehan. My understanding was that they historically had a B&B/Banquet type of business.
Friday afternoon, out of work early, I thought I would give it a try. There were cars in the parking lot which is encouraging. I have never been in the plantation and was expecting a casual, country kitchen type of environment. It is more like a casual formal dining room type of setting. Tables were formally set, nice silverwear, linen napkins, the works. At first glance, a little stuffy. I sat in what was probably a front sitting room in the 1700’s. Neat room, traditional architecture from that period. The place is at over 200 years old, so you can understand that the floors are not level. Still, it is annoying when the tables rock. There has to be a way to fix that. Dress is casual. It would be nice if they had outdoor seating available.
Service is good. After noting the formal table setting and the more involved menu, I was anticipating a long wait for the food. My mistake, it came promptly. You can get in and out of here in 30 minutes without too much trouble.
Not your usual NOLA lunch menu. Only one Poboy and nothing deep fried. However, it did cover a lot of ground, something for everyone. I tried the pasta dish, andouille sausage, cajun spices, chicken. It came with bread and a very nice side of vegetables. Large serving, tasty.
Total bill with tip was $ 17.50.
If you are in the area, take a look at the newest planation house in the area. Its on the corner of Ormand Blvd. and River Rd, 22,000 sq ft, the new DuPlantis tax-​free rectory.