El Gato Negro

In town for tradeshow– stopped in here because I loved the vibe. Food was fantastic. Had the stuffed alvacodo, unreal. Delicious and awesome friendly conversational staff. Great place to eat at the bar and have a casual beer after a long day setting up the booth!

Love love love this place! We were a large group and our waiter was quick and fun. They even made a special micholata for one of our group. They have unique magaritas on the meno like orange cilantro. They recommended some things on the menu and were super quick bringing drinks. The crawfish queso was great. The shrimp quesodilla was also awesome. I reccomend this place if you looking for something besides typical new Orleans cuisine. We had a fantastic time.

Service is excellent. The wait staff interact with the customers well & are very accommodating.
The food is good — different from the mexican I am used to but still good. Try the fresh guacamole made at your table and the different quesos available.

Just what we were looking for! Fresh squeezed margaritas, endless chips and salsa and spicy flavorful fajitas! We got the chicken fajitas and it was more than enough for 2 of us to share. We were so full from our lunch I didn’t even need dinner. Great place and close to some of the hotels. Check it out! Friendly service too!

Everything tastes pretty good but the prices were really steep for the amount you get. The margaritas were tasty, but they cost almost $ 14 when you get the mixed ones. We got the crawfish quesadilla and the aged skirt steak burrito. Both were good but again, steep pricing. Ended up being about $ 35 a person and we weren’t really full.

Yellow fin ceviche: good, with very high quality fish, but way too much food given the appetizer status. Stuffed avocado: friend would have eaten two. The rest of the crew’s food was pedestrian burrito and enchilada fare but they were not disappointed. Sangria: better than the «sangria» being served during happy hour at the Embassy Suites across the street. Service: abominable. Seated in the bar, which was fine, except it rapidly filled and the solo bartender was too busy with the patrons in front of his face. Slow. Staggered delivery of meals. Had to ask for silverware. The icing on the cake was the woman passed out in the ladies room, taking up one stall and slopping into the remaining one. And it was only 8 pm. If service had been better, I’d up the rating. Overall, if for some bizarre reason one craves Mexican food in New Orleans, one could do far worse.

This place was so good. Like really delicious. Had the poblano pepper for an appetizer and it was amazing! Service was also fantastic. Highly recommend it.

I recommend the stuffed poblano pepper with veggies and corn tortillas. So many layers of flavor and all fresh, homemade ingredients. Excellent service too! A must try!

Waited 20 minutes for someone to take my order and left hungry. Never got water. Tried flagging waiter down no luck. I just wanted a drink and a bite. Chips and salsa were good.

There were empty tables when we arrived and no line at the door. We were greeted by a host who confirmed there were just two of us. He asked if we had a reservation (note Unilocal says they do not take reservations!). We did not. He then told us the wait was 45 minutes. I didn’t get to try the expensive drinks but perhaps it’s just as well.

I am at conference, and wanted something nearby for dinner. I had walked by El Gato Negro and their sign caught my eye, so I stopped in. I wasn’t expecting much, but I like fajitas so I thought I’d give it a whirl. I’m glad I did.
I ordered the steak fajita, and when the server (who was great by the way. Friendly, attentive, and best of all, efficient!) asked me how I wanted my steak done I rolled my eyes inwardly. As though they were going to pay attention to that here. But they did! It came out perfectly done. And they have a few twists on normal fajitas, namely what they called Mexican squash (which seemed like zucchini to me) and mushrooms and even Brussels Sprouts thrown in with the standard onions and peppers. Weird, but I liked it!
I am always pleased when a restaurant surprises me. El Gato Negro did, and I am headed back there right now for another round of those fajitas!

We helped good places to eat for dinner and this place was reasonably priced and had great reviews so we gave it a try. What a great idea. The food was AMAZING. The best thing either of us has ever had eaten in a Mexican restaurant was the stuffed avocado with shrimp. OMG… it is out of this world. My wife got it as an entrée and me and my son wanted more and more of it.
I got the steak fajitas and my son got the beef burrito. The food is above average and exceeded our expectations. Our server was friendly and quick with our food, drinks and chips.
I wanted to give this place a 4.5 stars so I had to round up. They deserve their 4 star rating and a little more. Great location, great food and the prices weren’t too bad at all. Overall, we were extremely satisfied.
If/​when we’re ever in NOLA again, we’ll be back for that stuffed avocado. Soooooo. Good.
I put pictures of what we had.

If you’re done eating Creole and smoked meat in NOLA, and you need to bring it back to basics, stop by this place and grab yourself some fresh salsa, guacamole, chips and a baked avocado… then sit back and proceed to fill yourself up with some omega 3 fatty acids… yes!
— Guacamole was FRESH (see picture) and huge (2 x avocados per order)
— Salsa had a nice punch, a little salty (in a good way!) and was addictive.
— Chips were great (but not enough for both salsa and guac)
— Baked avocado was creative… might try something differnet next time.
I am feeling good right now!
I took it to go as I wanted to chill @ hotel…

Great food and service! I will return! Had a traditional margarita done by Josh at the bar. Then another with dinner — the combo plate. Oh, yum! It was hard to stop eating. I highly recommend — and I come from Southern CA!

First off the service was really slow, not bad but slow. We sat down and a nice waiter said he would be right with us. About 10 minutes later we asked someone else for some water. We received some water and also some chips and salsa. Finally the man came back and took our order.
We ordered two margaritas, a cheese dip and chicken fajitas. The drinks took 15 minutes, the cheese did came out cold 10 minutes later and the fajitas literally took 40 minutes. There was a table next to us that was full when we sat down, cleaned, more people sat down and then cleaned again, all prior to our check arriving.
Drinks are not cheap, soft drinks are from Mexico and straight out if the bottle so NO FREE refills. The service was very slow and over all my food was not very good. I guess that is what you get for eating Mexican food while on vacation in New Orleans.

We were so happy that this place was close to our hotel (Embassy Suites) when we visited. We walked over and were at first discouraged because it was a Mexican place, and we live in Houston, but we decided to try it anyway, and I’m so glad we did.
Our waiter, Phillip, was AMAZING. He is one of the best waiters I’ve ever come across, and El Gato Negro you are seriously lucky to have him on your staff. Service was definitely a 5.
We had the following dishes:
— Stuffed Avocado (5) — GET THIS DISH. I am not kidding when I say you should absolutely come to this restaurant if for no other reason than to try this dish. My boyfriend at first wasn’t as interested, but once Phillip told us we had to get it, he gave in and was so thrilled he had. We are sad we won’t be able to get this dish again here in Houston.
–Seared Salmon Los Cabos Salad (4) — The salmon was a 5 for sure. Phillip let us know it was sushi-​grade and it sure tasted like it was. The salad itself was very good, but I think for the 5 they could go even one step further sprucing it up with a few more ingredients or chunks of avocado instead of slices. I’m picky with my salads, so when I say a 4, I definitely mean a 5 for most people.
–Chicken Enchiladas (3.5) — The issue with this is that my boyfriend asked Phillip and he said this particular dish is a standard enchilada dish, but it was what my boyfriend was craving. Sure enough, Phillip was right and the dish was solid but not especially notable.
Phillip went on to let us know that they take tremendous pride in their food. Their lamb is only a specific kind (I cannot remember all the details, but apparently the owner picked it out specifically) and all of the meats come from a specific vendor, because the owner is so particular about quality (which I LOVE). I would love to come back here and try one of the more specialty dishes, so if you’re in New Orleans, please go ahead and do that for me!

Great queso, chorizo tacos and house made tequila!
Juan is a great host and if you’re in the area you owe it to yourself to stop.

Solid place for lunch. Their salsa was flavorful and the tacos I had were good.
Tried the chorizo and the pulled pork. The chorizo was the better of the two in my opinion but both were good.
Was thinking of getting 3 tacos and I’m glad I didn’t because the 2 were larger than expected so more than enough. My colleagues had the chicken enchiladas which, was a massive plate of food, and then the Acapulco salad which while delicious looking seems like such a waste to order at a Mexican joint.
All in all a decent meal in the warehouse district. Worth giving it a look.

Shari V and I took my mother to El Gata Negro in the Warehouse District for some chips, dip, cheese and tacos. We had an early dinner on Labor Day. These weren’t exactly their prime hours. We were like 1 of 5 tables in the whole place. But hey, the service was great. We had a really pleasant waitress who hit all her cues and was very friendly. Although El Gato wasn’t busy, I could see how this restaurant would be good choice for a weekend night to grab chips and dip while having some cocktails. They have a good space with a smattering of televisions, which are all tuned to sporting events. I liked the setup.
So the food. Chips and dip were totally respectable. I thought the salsa had a good flavor. We supplemented with queso, which was excellent. I’m not a big queso guy, but according to Shari V, this cheese was «quite bueno». For the entrée, we split the chicken and steak fajitas. I thought they were decent. As expected, the meats were served with all the fixin’s. Even though the fajitas were good, they didn’t achieve that next level 4 star quality. For starters, the meat was a bit underseasoned. I tried dressing it up with some bell peppers and sauteed onions, but the lack of seasoning was kind of the theme for the entire fajita dish. The flour tortillas were stale around the edges which I hate. IMHO, decent flour tortillas are pretty easy to come by, and these didn’t quite hit the decent mark.
At any rate, El Gato Negro was a solid 3. My fajitas were not a total hit, but there was plenty of potential. I suspect we will repeat El Gato Negro. The chips, salsa and queso were enough to bring me back in. I saw they had some pulled pork tamales, which are on my radar.

Been there 3 times so far and have not been disappointed. Joey is the Gen. Manager and is doing a great job with this new location. Last visit we had Josh take care of us and he was on point with his service.
This is not your typical cheap Tex Mex. Although a little pricey. The quality comes through in the fresh ingredients and great drinks.
I suggest ordering their house tequila, queso fundido, steak fajitas, and finish off with their flan.
If your not that hungry, don’t be scared to split a meal.