Cafe Rani Bistro & Wine

Just wanted everyone to know this is no longer Café Rani, but the new restaurant that has taken its place, La Fin du Monde has a wonderful lunch and dinner menu, as well as a very extensive cocktail list as well as very good price on wine and beers.

Stumbled upon this café while strolling through the Garden District down Magazine St. Has a good outdoor seating area… part of which is covered from the rain which was one of the reasons why we decided to stop and eat. Ordered the Caribe Salad… nothing special but the Honey Lemon Vinaigrette was pretty tasty. The really nice and helpful waitress suggested we order the Seaside Redfish Sandwich and she was right! The fish was perfectly blackened and the sandwich seemed healthy yet super tasty. Not over sauced like some fish sandwiches are. Came with some thick cut chips which I like over flimsy potato chips. Would come back for the sandwich.

Pomegranate mojito!

We stumbled in after a few hot hours of shopping on Magazine. I was a little apprehensive at first because of some bad reviews, but overall it was very good. I gave it 4 stars because the food was so good and the atmosphere was so nice.
My Greek salad was to die for! Fresh Romaine lettuce (none of that iceberg crap), cucumber, tomato, chickpeas, feta, delicious chicken…
The wait staff was polite and efficient, not overly friendly or welcoming, but we didn’t have to wait more than 10 minutes for our food.
Prices weren’t too bad either.

The only reason we ended up here was because we were lured in by how cute the outdoor seating area is. A+ for that but then it just goes downhill from there. Went with 3 other girls and we all ordered beers and burgers. Here is a run down of what was wrong:
1) the restaurant was out of at least 2 if not 3 varieties of beer that was on the menu (I get if 1 is sold out but if you’re out of Stella AND blue moon? Come on…)
2) the waitress seemed to be high (not joking)
3) the burgers were not good. They were ok. Buns were dry multigrain. My friends had the southwest burgers which they didn’t like. I had the classic.
4) it took AN HOUR AND A HALF to get our food. That’s ridiculous. It’s burgers.
5) the check was a mess. She put beers on the bill that we ordered but were unavailable and doubled beers that were only ordered once. So guess who had to sit there and figure it all out? ME.
Note to management: this place could be awesome if your staff was more efficient.
I won’t be coming back though.

Great vegetarian options. Awesome courtyard. Great for lunch or a casual dinner.

The only reason why I’m even giving this place three stars is because my blue cheese burger and chips were delish.
My boyfriend ordered the creole omlet, which he didn’t really like. He’s also a garbage disposal who eats just about everything.
Not only the the waiter SUCK (skinny white dude with some gage earrings) he was SUPER rude. I chewed out my boyfriend for leaving him 20% gratiuity. Look, dude. I get that you have to cover a lot of stations, but not once did you come to check on us (only to deliever food), but when my boyfriend was asking you to give us an extra drink, you continued to walk away as he was still talking to you. Boy, you need to chill out and learn some manners. Absolutely horrible. I was appauled. I also saw him do more or less the same thing to another table that he was serving. Never again. Thanks for the burger. I never get good service here. Next.

Snarky, S – l – o – w indifferent service. I go once a year since 2003. Never again.
Worst wait staff in NOLA.

Yay for vegetarian options and huge salads — both are like finding Waldo in these parts. I needed the waiter to help me pick with veggie option to order and I came up with the Mediterranean sandwich. It’s hard to mess a sandwich up when it’s on ciabatta bread, right? Their bread was soft but held the veggies and cheese well. It came with a romaine salad and I was full on half the sandwich — another big plus.
The bf ordered the cobb salad and it looked amazing. It was apparently so good that I wasn’t even able to get a bite of it. Hmpff. Whatever, at least I know this place knows that salads can be a real meal and not just a plate of lettuce.
Service was fast, even during a Saturday lunch with crazy, hungry Christmas shoppers. I’ll definitely be back — I’m eyeing you Veggie Spud.

Great outdoor seating to enjoy the Garden District while downing the best bloody mary I’ve ever had – they used pickled okra as the garnish and it was a great combination! You can’t go wrong ordering the salmon or the sauteed shrimp & crawfish entrée.
The acoustical jazz set was great – totally added to the fun of Rani. Our server was fantastic: energetic, full of suggestions, always quick to help us, and she offered to take photos of our group!
Prices are very reasonable for the quality of the service, food and cocktails.

I just went for the first time in years a few days ago and Café Rani left a lot to be desired.
A few girlfriends and I wanted a place were we could sit outside and decided to give Café Rani another try. The beautiful courtyard with oak trees makes for a great outdoor spot. Unfortunately, our waiter and food were lackluster.
Our waiter seemed like he would rather be anywhere else in the world than serving us and wasn’t attentive at all. He took our order and brought the check. That’s it. Another person brought our food out and there were pitchers on the table, so we refilled our own drinks.
I got the Jamaican Jerk salad. It had spinach, grapes, bleu cheese, apples, walnuts, sun dried tomatoes, and grilled chicken. Everything was fine, except for the chicken. It was low quality (tasted like bad, frozen chicken) and had a lot of grisly parts. It was overly salty, so much so that I could only eat half. I didn’t need to eat all of it anyway, as my sodium levels were probably met for the week! A sad waste of $ 12.00. Booo.
I would come again for the courtyard… or maybe for a coffee… but I would take my $ 12 elsewhere for food.

This is a nice casual brunch, lunch, or dinner spot on Magazine St. in the Garden District. They have a nice courtyard but sometimes the birds make it less nice so make sure the check your seat before sitting. I really like their veal pot roast (ahhh they took it off the menu!!!), sauteed shrimp & crawfish po boy, and their awesome burgers. They have lots of other great things on the menu and they often offer some special cocktails. The cocktails are sometimes hit or miss as I’ve had some great ones and some I didn’t want to finish so maybe ask for a sample first. They sometimes have live music and hearing M. Jackson’s «Beat It» on the original fiddle is quite entertaining!

If you crave a great salad, definitely head over here. The menu is creative, and the kitchen delivers. I’ve also tasted the Cobb Club and the Shrimp Alfredo (prepared easy on the sauce, as I requested). Everything was great.
I wish the service and the cocktails lived up to the same level. There was one server on the floor, which I understand (slower night, not enough tables). But if you are the only one on the floor, don’t disappear after you bring food or drinks to a table.
My friend ordered the strawberry/​cucumber mojito and it was one of the worst creations I ever tasted. First of all, no mint in the drink (huh?). Also, no cucumbers. It had a slight pinkish color and light strawberry flavor. I couldn’t taste any simple syrup in it either. Since server was nowhere to be found, and the bartender was busy browsing Facebook on his phone, I had to walk over to the bar to ask him to add some syrup to the drink.
So, definitely give this bistro a try, because the food is wonderful. But skip the cocktails (maybe order wine instead) and expect just OK service.

I really can’t decide between 2 and 3 stars for my rani update, but due to my many positive prior visits, and the sweet waitress, i’ve leaned towards 3.
We finally came for dinner during a nola visit, as my boyfriend saw they were one of few nola restaurants that serve tuna as an entrée — and dirt cheap!
I didn’t expect too much for ~$ 14 for the entrée, but we ordered the spinach and artichoke dip (they toasted foccacio bread for us since they were out of pita which was actually better than pita) and the tuna app, then i got the tuna entrée with spinach instead of greens, and my boyfriend got the tuscan chicken. I asked for the tuna super rare, and it inevitably came out cooked throughout, almost no pink, which was frustrating, but i didnt want to send it back.
Unfortunately, it strikes me that the few places that serve tuna in nola try to ‘cajunize it’ or some BS, where it hides the tuna taste entirely by covering it in salsa, black beans, and other things that essentially SCREAM the opposite of tuna… sadly this wasn’t in the description or i would have asked to forego that as well (esp as we arent doing dinner at bourbon house because while they serve tuna, their tuna description is much as this dish actually came out — with salsa and other questionable things coupled with a tuna dish.)
While the tuna was not at all what i was looking for, the waitress was still super sweet (it had downpoured torrentially all night so we were the only patrons– which also meant we had to sit inside which is far less cute than the outdoors, which was half the reason we were coming other than the tuna.), and large portions — and for $ 14 i didn’t have especially high hopes for the tuna in the first place, so while i wouldnt order it again, i’d still return to rani. (esp for happy hour)

I went on a date here a while back and I loved this place!
They have a nice patio area, so my date and I decided to sit outside (it was summer). We both had the salmon and we loved it. It was perfectly prepared and it was served with a delicious sauce that was incredible.
We decided against wine, but they have a really impressive wine list. I haven’t been back yet, but I have to make that a priority, as I was extremely happy with the service, the food and the place itself.

We really enjoyed our experience here. They have great salads and sandwiches which can be enjoyed in their beautiful courtyard with your pups. We will be back for sure.

I’m really truly confused by Café Rani right now. I ordered the same Exact meal three times three weekends in a row and had completely different experiences. Let me tell you.
My first time was awesome! Like I said, the waiter completely forgot to put our meal in, but we weren’t in a rush and the food was worth the wait. We had a nice experience. I was falling in love.
The second time our waiter was better (Nathan) but the food was horrid! I saw brown chunks of something in my eggs and sent it back to make sure it wasn’t bacon (i’m a veg) and they said it was burnt pieces and they’d make a new one even though it was okay to eat. Silly me for just asking if it was bacon! My new meal came out in less than 2 minutes and was completely uncooked. UGH so gross.
I left after that time and wrote the manager. She wrote back letting me know that the owner was having a baby shower and the chef was distracted by that. She said she’d leave me a gift card at the bar to try it again. Okay, I decided I would, this time bringing some special guests.
I went back yesterday for lunch and brought three people. We sat inside where it was packed after a little wait. The noise level was rising and I felt like we were yelling across the table. The waiter was good (never got his name but he has long dreddy hair that I admire). The food was good (except my grits had hard chunks in them!). When I went to the bar i asked about the gift receipt and the bar tender gave ME such attitude saying he didn’t know where it was. I didn’t want to make a big deal so I said okay well let me know if you find it. The waiter said it would be for $ 25 and they’d just take it off the bill.
The bill comes and the waiter says they always give everyone $ 25 off but they’re only giving me $ 15 off and he apologizes. Our bill (with the money off) came to $ 60 for four meals, two coffees, one beer and one drink.
Okay definitely not too expensive, but for that price I don’t want attitude, I don’t want noise, and I don’t want uncooked food or chunks in my grits. I’m really not a picky person but I don’t understand why Café Rani can’t get it right consistently. It’s like they’re snooty and don’t really care.
But, my meal was so good the first time. I’ll probably go back one more time and just give it a last chance. I want to love it but they’re not letting me.

This is a great spot for lunch. I had the crawfish monica. It was delicious with crawfish tails in a light cream sauce with capellini noodles. Sauce wasn’t too creamy and didn’t overpower the seafood. I also had a Strawberry Mojito with fresh berries. It tasted great, wasn’t too sweet, and sadly wasn’t really strong… I guess two out of three isn’t bad. Service was a little slow but the food was worth the wait.

Loved the food here! My boyfriend had the Crawfish Monica & I had the Cobb Club. Everything was cooked to perfection. The food was extra tasty. I’m not a fan of potato salad– but the potato salad that accompanied the Cobb was by far, one of the best I’ve ever tasted.
The only downfall about this restaurant is that the wait was sort of long because there were many people there. After we got seated, the waitress took awhile just to come take our drink order; the drinks also arrived awhile after, and the time for the food was the same. Other than that, everything was great.
A very cute place for brunch & lunch!

Based on the food, drinks, and atmosphere… I would’ve given it four stars, but frankly the super slow service knocked it down. We got to sit outside with the pup though, so that was well appreciated.
I had the chicken salad sandwich with a little salad on the side. Bread was good and chicken salad was fresh and light. We also tried the raspberry mojitos… perhaps more than one… and LOVED them.