Atchafalaya Restaurant

This place hits top score in all fields! Service, décor, ambiance, and of course, food. It’s a comfortable place with great food, the bustling energy of a NYC subway station and the happy go luck attitude of a child: it’s perfect for a slow morning with great brunch.
I came here with my mom for brunch and of course sure couldn’t resist getting the Korean style pork belly (we’re Korean). She was so excited about how delicious it was, and although it wasn’t wrote traditional, it preserved the essence of Korean food whole turning up the flavor and spice in exciting ways. I had the shrimp and grits. It came in a giant flattened bowl: it looked amazing and was packed with shrimpy goodness that helped to balance the creaminess of the grits. The waiter who brought it out even turned the plate to make sure that the five enormous head on shrimp on the plate were lined up like tally marks, which made me realize the attention they pay to every detail. So I started looking around for other signs of attention to detail and they were all over! The purposefully arranged dandelions on the table, the arrangement of the artwork on the walls, the candle holders used as cages for the overhead lighting, and the list goes on. It’s in a beautiful building with thoughtful design.
I would love to come again!

Go here. Right now! Best meal hands down here in NOLA. Worth the cab fare, get out of the quarter and find this place and have this experience. We were tourists all day, not looking our best (it was hat day for me) but wanted to have a 5 star experience. The owner, Tony gave us the warmest welcome and made us feel right at home. We had the mussels (mind blowing) and the evenings special flounder with lump crab over spinach and fingerling potatoes. Excellent service, absolutely delectable food. Intimate cozy atmosphere and the service made us feel special, cared for, and loved. This is $$$ if you do wine and dessert but it is so worth it. My best dining experience to date. Thank you Atchafalaya. I want to do more stars!

Cute restaurant, pretty good food. Had to wait about twenty minutes or so for a table on a Friday morning. We had the duck hash, eggs atchafalaya and jalapeño cornbread. Portions were small. The food was good but nothing to write home about (but enough to write a review for!) :)
Maybe I had higher expectations for food in NOLA?

Build your own Bloody Mary bar. What?! Oh yeah, baby!
The fried soft shell crab salad was breaded so well. The spice & season was done so well that it complimented the soft meat of the soft shell crab. And the spinach leaves added a nice touch of green to the dish.
The lump crab salad was so good. Large pieces of crab w/​tomatoes, lettuce, a deviled egg & bacon w/​a creamy tomato aioli.
And the blue cheese flan was amazing. Solid custard yet it melted in your mouth. You can taste the blu cheese subtlety, which balanced the sweetness of the flan.
The hostess wasn’t the friendliest, which is why I had to take off a star but other than that, food is on point & our waitress was great w/​suggestions.
The restaurant wasn’t close to our location in NoLa but it was worth the trip out. Make reservations if you can!

I love everything about Atchafalaya!
From the intimate setting to the warm customer service and the personalized touch of service by the owner Tony.
Also, our server Joe was a bundle of joy! I always bring guests from out of town here because this is what New Orleans customer service is truly all about.

I’ve been here for brunch and dinner a few times, but this review is for my most recent Valentine’s Day dinner experience. A few of my friends and I planned to go out for a Galentine’s Day dinner. We had made a reservation a few weeks prior and were expecting a prix fixe menu. We called a day before to confirm the reservation and the hostess had stated they they would not have a prix fixe menu. When we arrived, the restaurant was decorated for the occasion. Hostesses, bartenders, and servers wearing hints of red, candlelight and rose petals on the table for touches of romance. There were a few other groups and families, so it wasn’t awkward for us. And to our surprise, there was a prix fixe menu after all! Not sure how carefully planned it was, but we all decided to do it since it was simplest and the selections looked good.
The prix fixe menu included a 4 course meal, with a choice for the appetizer, entrée, and dessert.
1. Jumbo lump crabcake: Nice crispy texture on the outside with a flavorful remoulade.
2. Black winter truffle risotto: Very nice flavor! Truffle sauce was delicious, but the risotto was undercooked. The texture was poor, and was slightly crunchy like slightly undercooked rice rather than true risotto. It could’ve been horrible, but the sauce was so good it made up for it.
3. Petrale sole filet: Absolutely light and delicious. The filet could have used a touch more citrus. Spinach was well seasoned and provided nice balance to the fish.
4. Dark chocolate crêpe: This was somewhat of a surprise. I had expected a crêpe with chocolate filling, but instead received a crêpe flavored with chocolate with strawberry filling and whipped goat cheese. I really like goat cheese, so I ended up enjoying it, even though it wasn’t the rich chocolate dessert I had expected.
We also had a bottle of the Paydirt Going for Broke red wine, which our waitress helped us select and a few cocktails. They have some really fun and interesting cocktails, I wanted to try them all, but decided to stick with wine for the night. Overall, It was great dining experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone!

This is the best food I’ve had here yet. This is my third visit to Nola and I am a foodie from Chicago. Very elegant yet relaxed atmosphere. As I said, I’m from Chicago where we have the best food in the world as far as I’m concerned… and this restaurant would survive quite well at the foodie city like mine, so I’m a great judge of what’s delicious and satisfying for the $. They have a very artist bartender who made us some outstanding cocktails! I actually usually prefer the New Orleans cuisine up in Chicago but this place really impressed me. I give it and highly recommend it. Definitely worth the $$$!

Very high quality, awesome dinner. Everything was great from the smoked ny strip to the shrimp and grits

Very sad to see atchafalaya slip so far. Went this morn for brunch. Coffee and all plates were cold. Cream was chunky. $ 17 for eggs atchafalaya which now don’t even come with potatoes. $ 17 for 2 eggs over 2 tomatoes with some crab meat– very overpriced. When I asked waiter why they didn’t come with potatoes anymore he said they had lowered the price and removed the potatoes. How much could frying some potatoes to put on a dish possibly cost?! But — -Worst of all, guest who ordered truffled eggs and spinach got food poisoning — really! Very clearly and immediately caused by food. Only reason now to go is the awesome band. Very sad to see them resting on their laurels and ripping off clients, a far drop from the friendly place it used to be. Former 4-​star reviewer won’t be back.

Wrote a review a while back. Not sure what happened to it. Anyway, this is a good place to go eat! Nice upscale interior but not stuffy. Never had anything we didn’t like so I would say try whatever sounds good to you!

BLUF: Brunch review. Make reservations well in advance. Get the duck hash.
I have been here a few times for dinner but always wanted to come for brunch. Got there 15 min after they opened and it was jammed packed. 45 min wait to sit at the bar. Make reservations. They had a 3 piece blues band in the bar/​waiting area so you can get a drink and wait and be perfectly happy. They have a pretty extensive make your own bloody mary bar. Looked awesome and definitely something that was popular. The band was great. Very entertaining.
Started off with coffee and bar tender kept it coming. She gave great recommendations on the food. I was leaning heavy towards the chicken and biscuits but she turned me to the duck hash. So thankful. It was amazing. Two poached eggs with hollandaise sauce with pulled duck over breakfast potatoes over blackberries and mangos. Sounds crazy but it worked really well. Amazing savory with pop of tart sweetness from the fruit. It was amazing.
Wife got a water which was amazing. Really good taps here. Ice was perfectly square. No complaint. She got the Eggs Atchafalaya which was poached eggs with hollandaise sauce over fried green tomatoes and crab meat. It was awesome too. We both got really good satisfying meals.
Overall awesome place. Cool atmosphere. Lots of people enjoying themselves. Great staff. Amazing food. Make reservations. Eat and drink everything.

Let me start out by saying the food was amazing. I have no doubt that the crawfish benedict was one of the best i ve had. The rest of my group also enjoyed their food. So why the 1 star?
The experience we had with the management was terrible. We were driving to NOLA and I called the restaurant about 11pm an hour before we arrived and asked about what the wait time was like. Her reply was about an hour. I then asked if i could make a reservation for 6. She said we d have to put our names in, in person (unlike what other reviewers mentioned we were not given a reservation). So we get there at 12, put our names in and wait the hour and 45 mins we were quoted. We were willing and happy to wait. But given that we waited that long, one assumes that once you are seated, you will get your food in time.
But when we finally got seated at 1 30pm and when we finally placed our order, it took more than an hour for some of my group’s beverages (which were not cocktails or anything fancy) to come in. First, our waitress was extremely exhausted, about to collapse just trying to pull through. Second, we were kind of tucked away in the corner outside where barely any of the other staff would come around. So we were extremely ignored. I m not just blaming the waitress but the management in general.
It took about an hour and half before the food came in. We suspect our exhausted waitress failed to enter our orders in time because even the drinks didnt come out until an hour after.
It was a disappointment because we wasted a total of 4 hrs out of our 2 day trip. I m not one to judge service normally but for a place like this where you pay for quality service you expect some degree of decent service.

Incredible experience from the service to the food and drinks. We had a party of 5 for Sunday brunch. Except for I accidentally booked the reservation for Monday on Open Table instead of Sunday. They were slammed and I thought I had ruined the day for my friends. However, the hostess (sweet girl with an English accent), played some tetris with reservations and squeezed us in somehow at 1pm. They even brought out a table from the back, set it and probably added to someone’s section just for us! We also had luggage since we were going to the airport right after and they found room for it.
The food was wonderful and the eggs treme left my friend who has traveled the world saying it was one of the best meals she has ever eaten. I got the shrimp and grits, alligator sausage and a bellini. All were extremely tasty. We were so happy with our main courses that we all got desserts which were very affordable and great little portions. (The blue cheese flan was delicious!)
There was jazz music happening in the main room which made it an acceptable noise level. Sometimes live music is so loud that you can’t hear the person beside you, but the ambiance and noise level was perfect. Great bloody mary bar and great all around.
I highly recommend this place over any of the fancy Sunday jazz brunch restaurants in the Quarter. It has a neighborhood feel, incredibly friendly service and great food to back it up. Worth the Über ride down to the Garden District!

IN LOVE WITH THIS PLACE. Perfect spot for brunch and my last meal in New Orleans! They had all the brunch staples with some good Cajun/​creole twists to it!
I got the eggs treme ($ 16) and it was absolutely amazing! The eggs were on top of boudin and the dish also came with fried prices of crawfish and a delicious toast of bread. The flavors put together we’re just phenomenal. I also got a side of the cream cheese grits and that was nice and creamy. Would say this was probably my favorite meal while in NOLA.
They also had a live band playing the whole time and it was very soothing jazz type music. If you’re into bloody Mary’s they have a great Bloody Mary bar!

You’re gonna visit the beautimous Garden District anyway (or should) while you’re in New Orleans — why not grab an outside table here, mix yourself a Bloody Mary at the self-​serve BM station, and fully immerse yourself?
Ambience rivaled only by the exceptional — but lonely — breakfast. (Should have included toast or biscuit, or fruit garnish tho…)
The food and drinks were exceptional — as was the service!

After reading all the reviews, I was prepared for one of the best meals of my life. while it was good, it wasn’t the best… or even close.
We had reservations for 9PM. We arrived exactly at 9 and they asked us to grab a drink at the bar as our table wasn’t ready. Unfortunately, the bar was packed too and another 15 minutes before we could get a drink.
Our mixed drink was great! Then we waited… It was about 35 minutes after our reservation before they finally sat us down.
I’ll get down to it… I had the shrimp and grits… While the grits and sauce was delicious, the shrimp were seriously overcooked, hard and rubbery… SUCH a disappointment.
But… the wife had a salad with cooked shrimp (fried with a light batter). Again seriously over cooked.
Everything else was fine.
I took off a star for making us wait around 35 minutes with a reservation and one star for ruining the shrimp.

We had brunch here this morning and it was fantastic. The restaurant is in what looks like a former residence, with a couple of different dining rooms and various nooks and crannies, all very comfortable and inviting. The background music (jazz and blues) was a nice touch and the service was A+ perfect. The menu has some interesting choices using ingredients like crab, fried green tomatoes, Louisiana squash, crawfish and shrimp. Also available is a very nicely stocked Bloody Mary bar, for building your own cocktail (virgin or with your choice of vodkas). The staff is very friendly and their hospitality made us feel right at home. We highly recommend dining here and we will be back the next time we are in NOLA.
Tip: the cab ride from the French Quarter took much longer than expected due to traffic on the narrow streets. So if you are coming from that area, give yourself plenty of time.

One of our best dining experience in NO. The waiter is very friendly. The interior setting is casual, comfortable and intimate. I like the duck hash best, great flavor and well balanced. The chocolate crème brûlée was very good. On the other hand, the blue cheese flan is a little too sweet.

This place deserves 7 stars.
If you are staying in the French Quarter and afraid to leave the area — don’t be. Get an über — it’s like $ 10 to get to Atchafalaya from the FQ and well worth it.
Overall this was my family’s favorite meal of our entire New Orleans trip. (We had great dining experiences in classic French Quarter restaurants.) You can read my other recent New Orleans reviews if you don’t believe me.
From the host’s warm welcome to the cozy yet high end ambiance this place had me in love from the start. You really feel like you are at a fancy dinner party in someone’s home. Our server was so warm and attentive without hovering. My water glass was never more than half empty… or full :) The menu was the most interesting menu we saw by far. They had innovative and creative pairings that were unexpected and delicious. I had the special with a lightly seared tuna and pork with a miso glaze. My mom had a seafood dish with a sauce that was so complex and full that we kept tasting the sauce on its own trying to figure out what mystery ingredients it included.
We loved this place so much, we even joked that we should buy an extra plane ticket to take him back to Dallas with us :).
Go here if you like awesome food, drinks and service.
You won’t regret it!

Atchafalaya was my first meal upon landing in New Orleans. A solid start.
The extensive build your own Bloody Mary bar was the main draw, but the food ended up being the star!
We had a brunch feast and shared 5 main dishes.
2 were fantastic, 3 were average.
Duck Hash — I love duck confit and this dish delivered. The little bursts of sweetness from the blackberries were perfect with the heavy hollandaise. Bacon vinaigrette made everything even tastier.
Soft Shell Crab — My favorite entrée! The crab was so delicate and crunchy. The flavors were wonderful with the sausage. This is a special, get it when it’s available.
Fried Chicken N Biscuits — This came smothered in gravy. The chicken was soggy, the biscuits were blah. Not impressed.
Shrimp & Grits — I ate a lot of grits during my time in North Carolina. I don’t like my grits having the consistency of mashed potatoes. Where’s the grit? Shrimp was overdone. Flavors weren’t there.
Crawfish French Toast — This special sounded really good, but turned out pretty bland compared to the rest. Pass.
For dessert, our waiter kept raving about the Blue Cheese Flan w/​reduced balsamic and pumpkin seed brittle. We were stuffed, but had to try it. Omg best recommendation ever. Half the table were not fans of blue cheese, but they loved the flan. The blue cheese was barely discernible, but it created a luxuriously creamy mouthfeel. So so good.
Service was good. Our waiter was fantastic with a good sense humor. The hostess was cold and sort of strange. Great overall meal though.

Bloody Mary Bar was amazing, all the options you’d need without all the fluff of things you don’t.
I ordered the cream cheese grits, alligator sausage, and breakfast potatoes. The sausage was awesome! I’d never had cream cheese grits before but these were on point. The breakfast potatoes were cut in big chunks tossed with parsley, parmesan, and garlic. Amazing! Our waiter was great at providing recommendations due to our indecisiveness because everything looked and I’m sure is amazing

Perched in a beautiful little neighborhood, Atchafalaya was everything everyone told me it would be on a Sunday morning. Bloody Mary bar, charming architecture, live music. We made our reservations pretty far in advance, and I’m very glad we did. I had the eggs atchafalaya which was rich and perfect — I mean, could I really resist an eggs benedict dish with fried green tomatoes and crab? HA. My husband ordered the French toast which seemed to amuse our waiter quite a bit. He might’ve gleefully mentioned that he was having «dessert for breakfast» to not only us, but a neighboring table inquiring about his meal. Funny.

Yum!
On our final night in NOLA, we had dinner here and it was phenomenal.
To start, the three of us shared the fried green tomatoes. They were bright with a crisp topping and served with a generous pile of crab meat; superb. All of the entrees sounded so delicious so we had quite a time debating what to get. In the end, we shared the shrimp and grits, the duck breast, and the pork scallopini. Everything was amazing! The duck was so tender and had a classic orange-​scented glaze. The pork was crazy tender and the sweet corn polenta perfectly complemented the meat. The shrimp and grits were some of the best I’ve ever had. The grits were indulgently creamy and the shrimp was deliciously spiced and cooked until just tender.
We were feeling a little too full to indulge in a dessert but we did have some digestifs after the meal. The cocktail menu is extensive and full of creative and delicious cocktails so I definitely recommend a libation (or two or three) with your meal.
The service was really great; super efficient and friendly. My friend boxed up some leftovers and they had them ready at the hostess counter for us to pick up when we were leaving. Also, the waiter escorted us to the door and watched us get safely into the car, which we found really gentlemanly and nice. There had been a robbery at the restaurant a few weeks prior so it was comforting gesture.

If you’re able to plan what you’re going to eat brunch 7 – 14 days in advance then this is a great place to eat. If you just decide when you wake up you want to have brunch at Atchafalaya I recommend that you try and make another choice. The difficult in getting a table here almost made me give them 4 stars instead of 5, but I won’t hold the demand to eat here against them.
I’ve eaten here three times now for brunch and each time has been exceptional. Twice I made a reservation via Open Table roughly 10 days in advance so when I arrived at the restaurant I was sat wishing 10 minutes. The one time that I went just on a whim (my 1^st time going) it was a 2 hr wait. My friend and I who I went with ended up just hanging out and drinking mimosas and walking around the neighborhood until there was a table ready.
I have had the Duck Hash and the Smoked Salmon Bagel from here and both were very good.
The has was not as heavy as hashes I have had at other places and the use of blackberries in the dish give it a nice sweet twang. It’s not an overbearing dish that leaves you keeled over after eating it.
I didn’t think that I would like the smoked salmon bagel when i first had it but it was strongly recommended to me by the waiter. I really can’t even put words to it to describe it… You just have to try it yourself.

Went out of the way to this place and it was totally worth it! It has live music on Sunday brunch. The staff was super friendly.
The shrimp and grits was great. I also had the poached eggs and alligator sausage. It was excellent. It was my friend’s bday and the waiter gave us a free cake.

Great food and homey service in a quaint uptown neighborhood.
The most popular item on the menu — Eggs Atchafalaya — was good, but not amazing. Two fried green tomatoes topped with two poached eggs, spinach, hollandaise sauce, and crab meat. It needed a crunch factor and a kick in flavor — the flavor itself was too mild.
The boyfriend got their special of the day, pork belly with some type of corn pancake and other deliciousness that I can’t remember because we devoured it too quickly.
I would go with the waiter’s recommendation and try not to be lured by the most popular items on Unilocal!I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised like we were.

Of all the restaurants we dined at, Atchafalaya is no doubt my favorite!
I love the ambience and wooden décor. The food was top notch. Service was excellent.
Duck hash — good mix of duck, sweet sauce (blueberries I think), poached eggs and home fries
Shrimp and grits — this was my favorite shrimp grits in all of NOLA. So creamy.
Pork Belly — this was a special. The pork belly was absolutely delicious with that hoisin sauce.
Boudreaux — this was good, but not that memorable. We were curious about the alligator sausage, but in the end, didn’t think it was that special.
There is a mini bar where you can order a vodka and mix your own bloody mary.
Desserts
Blue cheese flan — so creamy! It was only a hint of blue cheese, so delightful!
Cayenne Chocolate Mousse — just a bit spicy. Deep chocolate flavors. Mmm…

First of all, we came to this restaurant in New Years Eve, probably the worst time to visit any restaurant. The food was not very good (only the oysters are worth trying) and it was too expensive. Still, the atmosphere was nice and the staff very friendly. We even got some free champagne.