Cafe New Orleans

Walked in for dinner… No host. Person at bar looked at us like we were aliens…
This place won’t last.

One of the worst dining experience me of my life. Food was cold and undercooked. Waitress was very rude. How does this place stay in business?

Despite the negative comments, we decided to give this place a try. Unfortunately, the reviews were spot on. There were only 3 other occupied tables, but it took 30 minutes for our food to come out after we ordered. I ordered the chicken and broccoli pasta. The dish was more like a soup than the pasta, and the pasta was so undercooked, it was still hard. My fiancé ordered a steak, medium. It came out charred black, and was mostly fat. I definitely do not reccomend. It is worth waiting for a table at one of the more popular near by restaurants.

This place is terrible. Way over priced for mediocre at best food. My steak was half tough meat/​half gristle. There are many good places to eat in Fredericksburg, don’t waste your time on this place.

After reading through the posts, I can attest to the complaints. My friend and I were meeting in Fredericksburg for the afternoon and quickly chose this place after meeting at the coffee shop on the corner, I’m guessing this is how they catch all their victims. It was 1:30 on a Saturday. Downtown was hopping on a lovely fall day. I kept asking my friend, «are they open? It looks very dim inside and I don’t see anyone in there.» We took a quick glance at the menu and decided this would suit are grumbling stomachs.
As we walked in, I instantly got an odd vibe. It was deathly silent, no lighting, decoration looked like it was going for 3 different designs. There was clearly only one woman working the entire floor (probably the same woman mentioned in all these posts). There was one table occupied with two woman who seemed to know the waitress. We stood in confusion as we walked in as no one greeted us. We weren’t sure if this was a seat-​yourself type of place but eventually we heard a voice yelling to us that «she would be right there.“As she hurried to us, she almost seemed surprised to see us. She told us to specifically sit at a certain table for two, but after not clearly understanding her we sat at another table. As soon as she saw she made us up and move to the table right next to us. What difference did it make?
She told us the menu had just been «re-​done» so I guess this would be the third time it has been re-​done after reading all the reviews. She promptly asked us what drinks we would like after not even being seated for more than 30 seconds. We made the mistake of ordering sweet tea which I think is still trying to settle in my stomach. After requesting the tea, she hesitated and said that it would take a few minutes to make the tea. Fine by us, until she brought out two fancy glasses filled with a liquid dark as coca-​cola. I took one sip and cringed. I felt like I was drinking flat soda. After requesting water after water I was finally able to dilute the sugar sludge into a better tasting drink. During the entire experience we were offered re-​fills atleast 5 times. It was evident they wanted us to drink the entire caraft of overly sweet tea. We held out though. Even when the busboy came out and insisted we finish it.
When it came to ordering meals, we were offered no suggestions so we played it safe with a bowl of gumbo, jambalaya and a last-​minute suggestion of a sandwich that was equivalent to an italian sub. Both the jambalaya and the gumbo could’ve easily been mistaken for zataran’s mix in a box. It was OK? Meat in both dishes was somewhat questionable. My sandwich was covered in so much oil, I felt like my hands were lathered in baby oil except it smelled like salami. The bread was very dry and the deli meat, questionable.
The waitress was very observant. As my friend was still working on her jambalaya, she came over and asked her if she «wanted a to-​go box» because she noticed that she had «pushed her food to the side of the plate.»
It was evident she wanted us out. She kept expressing how exhausted she was from this AM and I could only think «from what? this place is a ghost town.“Without asking if we wanted to do dessert or needed anything else, she placed our checks on the table next to us and kept checking to see when we had placed our cards in them.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend it. Someone needs to come-​in and seriously revamp this place.

Well, despite the overly negative comments below, my girlfriend and I stopped by on a whim. We were walking by while shopping and the «Smoked Gouda fries» caught our attention, obviosuly.
We went in, and being mid afternoon, we were the only people there. We went to the bar and were greeted by tender Diane and Sous Chef Todd. I had a delicious cold IPA and my girlfriend wanted something chocolately and liqoury. Diane was happy to whip her up a chocolate martini that rocked!
We had the gouda fries and they were INSANE. Fries with house «Ghetto Sprinkle» seasoning, sliced smoked gouda, a broccoli/​cream/​sauce, and garnished with chopped green onion. Go no further, you’ve found America’s improved version of Poutin.
We talked for probably an hour about food, drink, and travel. Todd and Diane were awesome and know their stuff! They also let us sample their house slaws and house pulled pork. Total dynamite! We’ll definately be back, we loved our short experience!

Dined on August 22, 2015. 2pm. You just can’t expect to be taken seriously as a N’awlins restaurant if you don’t serve bread with your gumbo and don’t have one bottle of Tabasco sauce in the whole place. Hot sauce in a plastic cup from the kitchen does not cut it. Also staff a little better, it was return to Mary Washington weekend for the students and the ‘burg was packed. One wait staff and one cook. As people were walking in the door she was stopping them exclaiming «I’m the only one here with one chef it will be an hour for food.» Bye-​Bye college family money looking to have one last meal together. 2 stars for the Gumbo, it did taste good even though no toast points.

First Friday. …A busy night for Fredericksburg. .This place is empty. Should have taken the clue. Should have read Unilocal first. We were really hoping the place was better than what the bad reviews said. Nope. Cranky waitress making snide remarks about the owner/​chef. She was overworked and tired. The place couldn’t keep workers there according to her. Lobster bisque was pasty orange overly salted sludge. No bread. Yesterday’s jambalaya was tasteless gooey glop. No shrimp in it, sausage definitely not andouille, couple bits of chicken hiding in there. Shrimp and grits had a super sweet coca cola barbecue sauce on the side. Small portion. We left hungry — couldn’t wait to get out of there. Got tired of looking at the vacuum parked across from the table. Yuck.

Rude.
Went in here today, intent on spending money and eating. Our waitress was immediately rude and seemed perturbed that we were coming in to eat. Which is strange. Because it’s a restaurant.
We had a coupon for lunch, but it was brunch. So we asked for a brunch menu and the waitress was visibly annoyed that we would do such a thing. She was very rude. So we just left.
I don’t know how places stay in business with such slovenly piles of human garbage doing outright shitty customer service. I took my coupon and threw it in the trash and ate somewhere else.

My significant other and I had dinner here last Saturday and couldn’t be more disappointed with the the reviews here. Despite the terrible reviews we have been looking for good Cajun food for a while and we finally found it. We were the first ones there seated for dinner and throughout the night there weren’t many other visitors, maybe 3 other tables. Our waitress was very polite and nice. We started off with pan seared scallops for an appetizer which is the only real complaint I have. They tasted delicious but 16 bucks for only 5 scallops is a little ridiculous to me. The main course we ordered was not on the menu as it was 2 of the specials for that night. I had catfish with a remoulade and rice sauce and it was one of the best things I’ve had in a while, very good and had plenty for leftovers to take home. He had pork chops, mashed potatoes and asparagus which he liked. I also tried them and was very satisfied. Over all good service and great food. Kinda costly but we will definitely be back again.

Rude and crude. The waitress couldn’t be worse; she made every single effort to get us out of there, warned us several times about how expensive their beers were, and although there were several tables open she refused to let us seat in the upper level inventing a lame excuse. It seems she hates kids since we were warned (almost threatened) that there were no high chairs and when I said it was ok she put more effort to provide terrible customer service.

Visiting from Vegas. Had to most personable staff especially Charlotte. Next time I’m in this area i will be definitely stopping by. Foods amazing, service is amazing, what else could you ask for?

It is regretful to post this, as the restaurant business is hard enough, but brunch was disappointing. Our orders — even from «scratch,» — should not have taken so long, and a lot — the beignets, sausage and even home fries — was overdone in ways that suggested an inexperienced cook and someone with little to no exposure to real New Orleans cooking. There’s more, but that’s all I want to share.

As a New Orleans native I highly recommend Café New Orleans. The food is very well done, creative, and most importantly well seasoned. If you’d like a taste of NOLA without having to actually go, this is a great start.

This is the worst restaurant we have ever been to. And literally — we have been to hundreds of places in dozens of countries.
We walked around Fredericksburg for my wife’s birthday. We wanted to have drinks and appetizers in several places and just have a good time. When we got here — it was empty — and we should have taken the hint. We sat in a very uncomfortable booth and ordered two drinks and an appetizer — shrimp ceviche.
After receiving our drinks — there was a bug floating in my wife’s drink. It was kind of disgusting. She told the waiter and — remember there is NOBODY in this place — it took a solid 5 minutes for him to return with a «new» drink. Even though he didn’t come from where the bar was. Basically — I think he fished it out and came back with the same drink.
so there actually WAS one other couple. They got some peel and eat shrimp, and immediately after he walked past with their shrimp we started smelling this horrendous, nauseating, smell. It was so bad. If you were talking to us we would be graphic in nature because it smelled like terrible disgusting body parts (of the private kind) mixed with hot garbage. We are both in the Navy and NEVER smelled anything so absolutely rank!!!
We thought it was their food, but when our shrimp ceviche was delivered, we discovered it was ours. The plate of hot garbage wad delivered to our table. We each picked up a piece of shrimp with our fork and sniffed it. Literally folks it’s 30 minutes later and I can still smell it in my nose.
We immediately asked the guy to take it away. He brought or bill and we paid and left. Mind you, we paid for the disgusting ceviche and both dribks. And still left a small tip. $ 30 and nothing good to say.
I have never EVER written a review. This was SO bad that it was necessary! I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t warn the general public of the shear DISGUSTING nature of that place. Please don’t go.
Please.
Please.
Never go.

I stopped for lunch and it was dead. I ordered a bowl of gumbo that was ok. I’ve had better, but I’m a yankee so maybe I’m used to the «fake» stuff. I also ordered the crab cake salad and it was fantastic. The crab cake was delicious and cooked perfectly. Great crunch on the outside, moist and delicious inside. Presentation was great and no overwhelming flavors. I would definitely come back for dinner.

Wow, what a disappointment. We had reservations for 8 recently and got there as the only other dining couple just left. So we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. I’ll admit that it has a certain charm about the setting and the promise of perhaps a great meal. However our experience turned out to be FAR from any thing close to that.
We started with a selection of appetizers and some beer and wine orders. After a single pour of Pinot Grigio, we were informed they were out. Out of pinot. OK, we’ll let that one go for now. The appetizers included shrimp (super salty). crawfish (not very good), and scallops which were cooked properly. Server told us they were out of a few things on the menu — this was at 7:00PM. Given that no one else had likely been there that evening, that is a bit of a shock.
Crab topped filet was my choice — as it was with 3 others at our table. The duck breast special was also a popular but regrettable choice. Dishes arrived almost one at a time making for an awkward eating decision. My filet was cooked properly and looked like your typical filet mignon. However, the others were served something that looked like a round steak — flat, tough, and fatty. Now, I’ve had many filet mignons in my time and have NEVER seen anyone attempt to pass off a sirloin or round steak as a filet. Never. The server was called to the table and asked about it — she went back to the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with this response: «The chef said everything is as it should be». That’s absurd. No way was that filet. So one was sent back (the others just «toughed» it out). A replacement order of duck breast was placed. That took forever to be delivered and got there as everyone else had finished. Another discussion ensued with the server since the duck breast was tough. You would think with a party that size and consistent complaints to the chef about the food that maybe he’d come out and explain himself, apologize, comp a drink, show some concern? Nope. Not a word.
I asked for fresh ground pepper. «We don’t have that». OK, salt. We don’t have that. We are out of draft beer listed on the menu. We are out of pinot, food, salt, pepper, beer, specials… what is this place??? They eventually found some pepper which was served in a finger bowl. Yep.
Oh, and the «crab» topping on the filet? Looked like a crispy hush puppy. No evidence of crab meat at all. In fact, I’ve probably had better tasting hush puppies. It was terrible.
What concerns me is the apparent disdain for the customer — wouldn’t you think a restaurant trying to reclaim some status and generate traffic would be a little more sensitive to customer comments? I would avoid this place at all costs.

We had wanted to go here for sometime. We are glad we waited. In the fall of 2013 the mtg changed totally so you can ignore all the bad reviews from before that.
We had a very nice dinner. Welcoming service. Expertly spiced gumbo. Nice shrimp and grits. Blackened steak with great grilled asparagus and sweet potatoes. Stuffed pork chop with grits and greens. Fantastic beignet.
Why not four stars? The meat was a bit undercooked — rare instead of medium rare. The beignet, too. They were out of several wines so we ordered the primativo which was more like a rose than a zinfandel.
Go here and support this place!

This place has received some bad reviews in the past, but they are doing everything they can to improve their reputation. They have gotten a new Executive Chef/​Manager and have revamped the whole menu. My husband and I were a bit wary about the place, but we are firm believers in giving a place a chance.
We went early on a Friday evening for dinner, and we will admit that we were pleasantly surprised. The wait staff was very friendly and attentive, and the food was superb. The portions were the right size and artfully arranged. My husband had the Lobster Bisque and the Seared Scallops for an appetizer, all of which he said were delicious! I had the Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio, the slices were a little thicker than other Carpaccio I’ve had, but nonetheless very flavorful and tender.
For our entrees, I had the Shrimp and Grits, and the Hubby had one of the specials, Surf n’ Turf. Once again, the portions were sized appropriately, and were very good. My Shrimp was tender and the grits were wonderful. It was served with a delicious Bourbon Coca-​Cola sauce on the side that was amazing! According to my Hubby, his filet and lobster tail were cooked perfectly and were also very delicious.
All in all, I would say that so far that they are successfully resurrecting the restaurant. If they keep up the same pace, they may be able to salvage their reputation.

We’ve passed this empty restaurant many times over the years. We had a coupon and went to try it for lunch.
My crab cake sandwich was pretty good but the fries were soft and not so hot (temperature or desirability). My husband had a beef sandwich. He liked it ok but his onion rings were way better than the lukewarm limp fries. No artichokes as described on his sandwich though. See photos of our meals.
We were not too impressed. We don’t plan to return. There are many restaurants in the area we really love.