Emeril’s New Orleans

If you have a special event to host in New Orleans, look no further. We hosted a party for 250 customers during our industry trade show at Emeril’s and it was such a success it’s almost surreal. Sandy Odom, their event planner, is an actual goddess. She was so responsive, flexible, and easy to work with during the planning stages; she gave fantastic advice on how to manage the layout and guest arrivals; and she is just all around the sweetest woman while also being a serious force of nature. If I ever get married I kinda want to do it here, because I don’t think I can ever trust an event planner to be as thoroughly on top of things as she was.
We did a 2-​hour party with tons of different passed hors d’oeuvres, gumbo and crab bisque station, a charcuterie and cheese display, a seafood bar, and a dessert bar. Our guests enjoyed the NOLA flair of a fantastic jazz band recommended by Sandy and the party was seriously hopping. The perfect energy level for a classy, upscale business affair.
This is going to sound odd, but the number one most common compliment about the party was the service. The servers were on another level entirely. Some of them were actual ninjas — the second you ate something from a tray, they were at your elbow to take your toothpick and napkin. It seems like a little thing, but it really makes a huge difference.
As for food and drink, I must first give props to the bar. When I went the day before to run through the setup plan, I grabbed a drink at the bar and chatted with Sandy for a bit before I headed out. Asked the bartender for a gin cocktail and he whipped me up a house signature called The Grasshopper. It’s not minty, although the name makes you think it would be! It had gin, cucumber water, lime, wheatgrass, and jalapeño. The drink was a vivid green, just sweet-​tart enough to tone down the gin, and packed a really satisfying heat. I find most cocktails with jalapeño to be disappointing but this was really fantastic. I had… a bunch at our event. Let’s leave it at that. The bartenders were really fabulous during our party. Even the wine selections made by the sommelier please our European executives, which is no mean feat.
On to the food… God it’s hard to even pick out anything as being «the best» because it was all so good. The crab bisque was an unexpected delight. Best I’ve ever had, by far. The gumbo was also wonderful. The crab cakes, boudin, and tuna tartare were all exceptional. There wasn’t a single complaint about the food. It was so abundant, and so damn good! I also really loved the desserts, especially the famous banana cream pie.
I just wish I could re-​live the night over and over again. It was really special, and kind of set an impossibly high standard for future events. Everyone now thinks I’m some kind of event planning guru, but they don’t know that I really had very little to do with anything. It was all Sandy, and her amazing team. Bravissimo!

They kicked it out of the park! THE BEST service! Great appetizers! They gave us a surprise (amuse bouche) for our anniversary (tuna tartare) and it was delish! We had gumbo and I had the steak duo and my hubby also had the gumbo. He ordered the double cut pork chop. He couldn’t even finish his. We both ordered pie. I ordered the famous banana cream one. We hoped to eat it later but we were so stuffed that we ate it for breakfast this morning. Come on, you know bananas are good for you!
I would go back there in a heartbeat and I’ve been to Demonico’s in Vegas (also tremendous!) and another one of his restaurants in Orlando (also fabulous) so he really know how to create great dishes and train his staff. Even his casual restaurants are really good because we’ve been to one of those in Vegas also.

We loved our emeril’s experience! The staff was so friendly and our waiter was engaging. I asked him for a drink suggestion and he brought me a brilliant cocktail that was fantastic! I had the lobster bisque and the pork chop. The bisque was creamy and smooth. The pork chop was huge and so tender. There was just enough spice in the sauce to enhance the flavor and not catch your tounge on fire. I tried the bacon peanut butter pie for dessert. It was phenomenal. Bacon and peanut butter go together nicely. I highly recommend emeril’s in New Orleans!

Went here for brunch on Memorial Day! It was fantastic. Service was phenomenal and the food was amazing. Ordered Calamari as an appetizer!!! The BEST EVER… Chicken and waffles were phenomenal! Overall great experience!

My second time here and it was just as great as the first! We had the fried chicken for two again and this chicken is soooo good! The mashed potato sides were ridiculously buttery and delicious. I of course had the banana cream pie again and it was even better than the first time. Emerils remains one my favorites in New Orleans!

What did I expect? A tourist trap. Tons of stretchy pants wearing out of towners celebrating their anniversaries. What did I get? Not that. Maybe the price point is just high enough to keep the Disney crowd out. What I like about Emeril’s is this… butts in seats. Enough people the keep a constant flow but not too many that there’s a line around the corner and people have to go to Mulade’s instead :(-. I’m a bar patron. I like to eat my meal solo and interact with my fellow dinners and the bartenders. I like witnessing the subliminal messages amongst the staff. I’ve been talked out of dishes tonight only to be guided down the path of the righteous banana crème pie man. I’m glad I came here.

My whole experience here was amazing. From arrival to leaving I enjoyed myself immensely!
I decided I wanted to finally try an Emeril Lagasse restaurant for my birthday with my sister and mother. I’ve been a fan of his since I was a little girl, I just never got around to actually eating at one of his many eateries. I was super nervous I was building it up in my head and would be disappointed, but no worries there.
The service was impeccable. The hosts were courteous and always showing a smile. Our waiter was awesome. He was super informative and enthusiastic. And every time someone got up from the table their napkin was replaced for them in their lap. So fancy!
As a vegetarian I had to do research to make sure there were things I could eat either on the menu or made by the chef and there were. We had the cheese board and it was delicious. And the crustini that went along with it was good and endless… our waiter was bringing us platefuls as we went through it.
As for my entrée I had the chef just make a pasta dish from his imagination. So good. I had the Emeril’s salad and that was kickin. It has like a bite to it that makes it just that much better than other starter salads. My sister had the Andouille crusted rainbow trout. She loved it (and she’s a tough critic). I did snag a few shoestring potatoes off her plate and they were yum. My mom had the gulf shrimp pasta. She was a bit concerned when she got her dish and the pasta was black. I told her it was squid ink pasta and that didn’t help haha. But she tried it and was in love.
And for dessert I had the salted caramel cheesecake. To die for. Like seriously, I thought I’d die after eating so much… or at least take a looong nap.
I’m so glad I got to come here to Emeril’s New Orleans for my birthday. I definitely felt like a special lady on her special day :)

Got a chance to experience this restaurant during a short trip Mother’s Day weekend. Ok. Lets start with the greeting when we arrived. The ladies up front did not make any eye contact and barely smiled. Kind of rude I thought. My husband scheduled a reservation. We arrived on time and we were directed to hve a seat at the bar. The table was not available when we arrived. ISo I ordered a dirty martini which was great. The host walked us through the kitchen up a flight of stairs to our table. Which I thought was a bit odd. But it did give us the whole ambiance of the resturant. The chefs and prep chefs looked happy and as though
they took pride in preparing the meals. KITCHEN WAS CLEAN. I gave this restaurant a 4* for the food.
We ordered the bbq shrimp for an appetizer. OMG!!! IT WAS EXCEPTIONAL. Not the original sauce in a bottle. Homemade of course. My mouth is still wanting more. My entrée was the snapper it was a 3*. Very small portion and had very little veggies. I was still hungry after the meal. Overall I would come back if I had the opportunity.

Last time I was here I made the mistake of ordering my entrée based on the sides. This time was much better because I ordered the giant pork chop. And it went great with the side of sweet potatoes.
So my advice is to avoid temptation (sides), keep your eyes on the prize (entrée) and let the chips (sides) fall where they may.
Also, the banana cream pie is something special.

From the moment you are greeted at the door you are completely taken care of! Emeril has covered all the bases and thought of every detail to make you feel special and to want for nothing!
Your napkin is placed on your lap after you sit and anytime you leave the table and return the napkin is placed back on your lap. Your glass of water will never be low, and if the ice starts to melt they automatically replace the whole glass.
I started off my dinner with a Cable Car which was made perfectly. Then we had the BBQ Shrimp appetizer followed by the Maine Lobster Salad and their AHH-​MAZ-​ING Pork chop! Finished my meal with Emeril’s signature coffee drink with Baileys and Kahlua. Every bite and every sip was FANFRICKINTASTIC!!!
I’d have to say this was one of the BEST meals and experiences I’ve ever had!

I’ll probably be the first one to say «Bam!» in my review so. .. Bam! Legendary NOLA spot didn’t fail to deliver.
I’ll keep it short.
House Made Andouille and Boudin Sausages as an appetizer: 5 stars. Wish my chick didn’t like it so I could’ve had it all to myself.
Grilled Pork Chop: 6 stars (out of 5). That was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.
Duo of Beef: 3 stars. My chick ordered that. Meh. I stole a couple bites and didn’t have much of an urge to go for more than that. Needed to keep some more space open to shove my pork chop into.
Banana Cream Pie: 3 stars. Heard this was supposed to extraordinary. It was a bit too frozen for my taste (if that makes sense — I like my banana cream pie to be soft). Also, the banana slices were much to thick. If you love bananas, you’ll probably love this.

Just as delicious as I hoped it would be. I grew up watching Emril so I was a little nervous that I would go and be disappointed but I was not. I sat at the bar as I was traveling alone for business so I didn’t get the full experience but the good was great. Started with a cocktail which was delightful. The bread that comes out is quite good. Love the little sampler plate. The BBQ shrimp were so good! Definitely get them for an appetizer. The crawfish pasta special was not what I was expecting but quite delish. The soufflé was the only thing that was a bit disappointing. Wish they hadn’t served with with the sauce on it as it made it soggy. Flavor was good. Can’t wait to come back and have the full experience.

We enjoyed a most amazing Easter brunch at Emerils in New Orleans this afternoon.
It is a fascinating restaurant, it was decorated so beautifully for Easter with yellow blue and green and pink balloons on each table.
They had a very nice Easter brunch menu even had menu for children.
We enjoyed the chicken and waffles which were outstanding and also their BLT with fried green tomatoes and it was very good
They had some special Easter drinks I had the champagne and strawberry Bellini which was so good I had to have two.
They gave us very good rolls and bread before our lunch.
But truly the best part of the meal was Emerils famous banana cream pie. We split a piece and it was awesome we ate every last bit and almost licked the plate clean.
This restaurant was first class all the way our waitress Sarah was very helpful and very attentive.
If ever I’m in New Orleans again I would surely eat at this restaurant and they also offer valet parking which was very helpful for us.

We snagged a 5:30 reservation here on Valentine’s Day. The service was great, with multiple servers attending to us. Our main guy, Taylor, was super friendly and made us feel very welcome.
Bread comes out with three small pieces of each variety per person:
Sweet potato focaccia — not much of a sweet potato flavor, but a good focaccia
Cornbread muffin– pretty flower shape, nice brown on the outside and moist yellow inside
Sourdough bread — nothing too exciting
Duck sausage ragu with tri color rigatoni — so homey and cheesy and savory! ⁵⁄₅
Scallops in a skillet topped with Nero pasta — imagine a paint palette where each divot was filled with melted butter, with a scallop floating in it, and covered with a pasta covered in — guess what? — butter! hat was this dish. It just tasted like butter and left me feeling quite gross. I guess you can’t really complain about too much butter when in the South, but this felt like overkill. The scallops, at least, were fresh tasting and cooked perfectly. ³⁄₅
Bucatini Nero with blue crab, lobster, shrimp in a buttery scampi sauce — Now this, I didn’t mind the butter as much. Don’t get me wrong; it was still pretty greasy, but the plethora and bounty of seafood made it less noticeable. This was beautifully presented, with the big red lobster tail contrasting against the black pasta. Definitely one of my favorites of the entire NOLA trip. ⁵⁄₅
Banana cream pie — A bit heavy on bananas to cream ratio… I like my cream pies with more cream than bananas, but these had huge chunks of bananas and a thicker «cream» which allowed it to stand at about five inches tall. It made for a pretty presentation, but not the mix I am looking for in a banana cream pie. The graham cracker crust was also very thin and barely discernable, though they did do a healthy drizzling of caramel sauce and a healthy portion of chocolate shavings on top. ⁴⁄₅
Overall, Emeril’s was my favorite meal in NOLA. It was warm, hospitable, and the food was fantastic. This is probably the only restaurant I would come back to — and it’s just not in the hopes that I might catch a glimpse of Emeril in the kitchen!

This was a last-​minute lunch choice, and I am SO GLAD I went here! Even though we were dressed a little more casually than the typical lunch-​goer, we were still greeted nicely by the host. Our waiter whisked over to produce menus and tell us about the lunch specials, then another came by with the day’s bread selection — cornbread, sourdough, and focaccia. I ordered the BBQ shrimp appetizer (an Emeril signature, I’m told!) and the charred kale salad with blue crab, boiled peanuts, watermelon radish, and fried onions. My friend, being a vegetarian, had a limited number of menu options and decided on the Emeril house salad. (They will make a vegetable plate for you veggie people, BTW).
I love how nice restaurants serve everyone at once. It’s those little touches that made me feel warm and happy inside. So there we are, enjoying our salads and BBQ shrimp. And whoa. The shrimp! These were perfect in just about every way. The BBQ sauce was so rich and so delicious, and perfectly complemented the fresh shrimp. This is also where you need your bread to sop up the sauce, because the petite rosemary biscuit that accompanies the dish is adorable but tiny. I’d go back again just for this appetizer!
Our salads were also delightful. My charred kale salad was pretty damn fantastic. When it first came out, I thought, «Well, this won’t be enough for lunch.» Then I touched the tower of kale, and poof! I had a huge plate of salad! To be honest, the blue crab seemed almost non-​existent, but the rest of the ingredients worked together so well, and the dressing was just right. My friend enjoyed her salad as well, although it was not as… ahem… substantial as mine.
We ended our meal with the other Emeril signature, the banana cream pie. Can we say yum? Yum! The big chunks of banana, the almost-​cheesecake texture of the cream, and the drizzle of (rum-​flavored?) caramel was just excellent. A really wonderful ending to the meal.

Wow, how the mighty have fallen.
Let’s see:
— Inattentive waitstaff
— Mediocre drinks
— Average flavors
— Inappropriately dear price tag
Other than the above, it was a fantastic experience. Luckily, our table of 6 was comprised of some very entertaining personalities the enabled us to focus on the company rather than the uninspired dishes that each of us had or the distracted service that accompanied it.
The most disappointing thing was remembering how wonderful the food and service were just a few years ago. Then BAM, things took a terrible turn.
Oh, Emeril, where art thou?

Our M (modus) O (operandi): Wandering into restaurants around the globe, in the rain, & being fed. So many memories.. .
And now we can add Emeril’s to the list.
I still can’t believe we just got into town, nowhere to go, no reservations, & wandered from our hotel into the warehouse district. In the rain. And then had the nerve to walk into Emeril’s and ask if they had room for two (drowned rats). They said they had two seats left, at the kitchen bar. Are you kidding me? We could watch the kitchen prepare food!!! I was in 7^th heaven. Hubby wasn’t far behind.
So thrilled I took few notes. Sidebar: everyone else at the «viewing» bar knew the staff. The gentlemen (3?) to our left were in the kitchen talking to the chef after they ate. The couple to our right w/​young (6 – 7) boy were under constant attention & talking to the child.
Speaking of chef; he is Chef David Slater. Named chef de cuisine at Emeril’s in January 2008. He’s in my pictures with glasses/​beard. Fun watching him expedite all night.
To advise; walking through the darkened restaurant it was obvious most patrons were very well-​dressed, as we usually are. There is valet parking. I’d guess it was full of locals. And, of course, reservations are definitely recommended.
Sitting at the bar you are served from behind. Immediately we were each served 3 adorable small breads/​butter. Of course the waiters were impeccable in their service and demeanor. Well, almost. But you have to have a sense of humor. Right? After napkins were snapped into our laps & the nearly unwieldy wine list was delivered, we were unexpectedly treated to an amuse-​bouche, a little salmon on wheat w/​micro greens. Startled & trying to manage that HUGE wine book (remember we’re sitting @ a crowded bar) I said, «Oh, an amuse-​bouche.» To which the delivering server replied, «No, that’s dinner. It’s pretty small.»
I don’t even remember what wine I ordered. The waiter helped me pick a ½ bottle, probably from a Carneros vineyard, over one of Emeril’s own, showing no prejudice whatsoever. He kept it on ice, out of sight.
I can’t imagine, knowing kitchen behavior from my children who both did their post-​graduate time in the industry, how much the staff dislikes being on display. I enjoyed observing both their controlled behavior and the undercurrents. But that’s probably just me. I got the «grill girl» who is the forefront of photos, to talk to me once. But they have to stay focused.
What fun watching them prepare your own food! Hubby enjoyed his pork chop. (Getting late, many staff were nearby when I began asking about hubby’s sous-​vided pork chop. They were surprised I knew WHAT it was & also that I knew the chop had been.)
And I, my pineapple swordfish. What a presentation on ½ a pineapple. Served w/​sticky rice & sweet & sour cucumber, garnished w/​cilantro. (Emeril, please don’t get mad, but w/​o going there, if you want a similar flavor, I always order honey-​fried chicken w/​Caramel sauce that also has pineapple @ Pei Wei which has a salad topping of cucumber/​cilantro, etc.)
Honestly, I did not like my dessert of lemon meringue tart. The menu claims it is served with walnut butter and raspberries. I feel mine was not, and it just didn’t work. See photos. The shmeer tasted of bland peanut butter. The berries, candied cranberries. The powdery stuff was lemon flavored. We wanted chocolate soufflé but waiter said there were too many complaints and he did not recommend it.
This was great fun & good food. I intend to return & make a reservation.

Fancy service. Elegant dishes. Misleading names. This reviews is on the truffle fried chicken for 2 only since that’s only what a group of 3 – 4 human beings could ever consume at one sitting. Translation: if you come in here with your lovey dovey hoping for white glove KFC religious experience you are headed to either a week of chicken leftovers or a TON of wasted food due to its misleading name.
This dish is massive, 4 – 5 hefty chicken pieces, 4 pieces of bland fried corn on cob, 1 bowl of hash browns, 1 bowl of spicy baked beans, 4 dry golf ball-​sized biscuits, and a mini stack of greens + vinegar to make you feel like this is not actually a heart attack on a plate like you assumed. Chicken alone is easily enough for 3 – 4 famished adults who just paddled a dingy down the Mississippi with no food for the last month.
Service is what you’d expect for a white table, high ticket establishment: waiters checking in regularly and filling water before it ever hits half glass. Deserts that look more like art than food.
Come here for the experience, but ignore the entrée names and ensure you have an army of friends/​family to help you devour this monstrosity of a gastrointestinal dinner. It’s not $ 60 and lacking a red and white bucket for nothing: you’ll need a wheelbarrow to carry yourselves home if you attempt this feast on your own.

Great food, meh service but not enough to deduct more than one star. Started off with some bread for the table but was taking a while before anyone asked us if we wanted water or drinks. Finally order a bottle of white wine and it comes out warm. Kind of disappointing but anyway onto the food .
Our group wasn’t too hungry so we decided to split two entrees and they were nice enough to split them on separate plates, LOVED this and really appreciated it.
The salads were SO delicious I recommend the kale one and then the salmon and the pasta were both really good. Finally we tried the banana cream pie because of all the Unilocal reviews and it was SO tasty I would recommend it. Also peanut butter pie noteworthy.
Great food, I would try out Emeril’s !

Last Saturday we had yet another pleasure of going to one of the best restaurants in town & it’s almost located in our building ! We feel truly blessed. The valet, the hosts, managers, everyone here is so gracious. We did not have a reservation, the restaurant wS so packed (no walk ins). We snagged one of the tall tables around the bar (first come first serve).
The new beef crudo with buratta was to die for !!! The prime rib was great too– we loves the mushrooms and summer squashes. We also had the blue crab special with étouffée– it was incredigood! We had every intention is having the banana cream pie but we were simply too full.