Mia’s Balcony

First time visiting and our party of 4 loved everything that we ordered! Gator bites were delicious, as was the Shrimp Bordelaise.

I tried Mia’s because I had a
coupon. I was pleasantly surprised. The two of us started with the seared scallops – a bit too much garlic, but nicely cooked. We both had a salad (one ceasar, one Mia’s) which were fresh tasting and not overdone with dressing. For our entrees I had the veal oscar, which was very yummy and rich, and my companion had a whopping ribeye, that had a beautiful light char on the outside and was perfectly cooked. It was a really nice dinner, and with the coupon we were able to splurge on a great bottle of wine. The service was excellent and our wait person was very helpful and patient with our indecision. This was on a Friday at 7:30, and although the place was rather full, the various courses were timed well. I would like to go back when the nights are warmer and sit outside and enjoy a bunch of small plates.

The food was delicious, you have to try the cinnamon butter on the cornbread. I guess they recently switched ownership, so the staff is relatively new but friendly. Unfortunately they were out of scallops which was originally why we went, but I had a shrimp pasta dish (La Shrimp Bordelaise) that was delicious and my husband had shrimp and grits which was also pretty good. We also had the best mango Mai Tais!
Only downfall was service was a little slow, probably due to the new staff.

Good food, nice, but slow service, good coffee, would come back. Great eggs Benedict & potatoes! All plates were finished!

What a great experience i had here!
Two of my friends accompanied me here on a random night when we were starving and couldn’t figure out what to eat. That is the type of situation i love because i am a true advocate for Unilocal!And i am full of bookmarks for places to try. Still a bit indecisive after sifting through what was open and in the right dollar amount, i decided to use my trusted method of picture surfing and long behold, Mia’s caught the eye and it is to be trusted, still.
We each ordered an appetizer and shared between the three of us. Everything, i highly recommend. First we had the chargrilled oysters topped with spinach, bacon cheese and parmesan, omfg. Sorry. I’m writing this from memory so i’m a bit shady on the other two entrees, i know one was some type of tomato with thee best tasting melted mozzarella on top and i won’t even attempt to try and tell the third, just take my word for it, it was amazing.
I ordered the shrimp pasta, i kept it simple.
One other ordered the fried oyster salad.
And the other got the special of the day which i believe was some type of fish.
Everything was superb. The owner (Basem, very nice guy) even came out and gave one of my friends fresh, bigger oysters because he felt that they «weren’t big enough» as if the delicious food wasn’t enough, then this. I was simply blown away by everything during our dining experience here and i’ll definitely be going back.
This is a place that’s on the list of where i’ll tell newcomers to go when asked. Good job!

Meh is all I can say. We were there during Happy Hour so our bill was only 26 bucks for 3 small plates and 2 beers. No complaints there at all. Outside of happy hour, our bill would have been 45, and I would have been pissed.
The seared scallops were loaded with cheese and it wasn’t parmesan as the menu stated. It was more like a side of scallop nachos. Not good at all and it was most definitely a tapa. Unbelievable they’d charge 14 bucks for that crap. Scallops are so good alone and they ruined it with a cheap cheese.
The portobello pizza was pretty good. No complaints there.
The chargrilled oysters had a burnt taste to them. Was not impressed at all.
Service was fine but it was only us and 1 other couple in the restaurant. Overall disappointed will not return for food.

Mia’s Balcony has a really nice menu and the food was terrific. The only reason I’m giving them 4 stars instead of 5 is because it’s a tad pricey. I really enjoyed everything, but our bill was very high at the end. I do love the outside balcony on St Charles Avenue… it made our dining experience that much better. Our waitress was very nice and took good care of us.

They are right next to Samuel’s Blind Pelican which is where we wanted to go but they were packed. We noticed that Mia’s had few customers. Perhaps we should have read some reviews to find out why. Even though they were not busy it took forever to get our food and forever and a day to get the check. I ordered the catch of the day and it came to me way over cooked and extremely salty. Seriously it was like fish jerky or something — certainly not worth $ 24!

5/18/13…I have heard great things about this place and understand when things happen out of one’s control, but… it was a mess! The blame falls on the owner. Both managers walked out, servers walked out of their jobs leaving one fantastic young lady trying to keep it all together… I appreciated her effort, but the owner is an ass. He even walked into the restaurant with his entire family, right past the disaster unfolding w/​out a word to the patrons. Our meal took 1.5 hrs to come out if the kitchen, the food was terrible and over-​salted… Wine was good of course :)
But the fact that the owner did not even care his staff quit with a full restaurant, pisses me off. What a jerk!
Our server was doing the best she could and should find a better place to work. So very sad I wasted money on this place.
:(

We had a terrible experience at Mia’s. We got there and were barely greeted having to seat ourselves (which was no problem), but the theme of poor service just continued as we ordered. The waitress was obviously in distress (as she told us), although the restaurant was not nearly close to packed. I think there were only a few other tables. We waited for our drinks for longer than necessary, probably 10 minutes for a martini? When we had questions about the menu the waitress was unhelpful and after we had worked everything, we didn’t recieve our food for another 45 minutes. This wasn’t unique or specially prepared, just a normal menu item and even the shrimp was cold.
After all of this, our reasoning for going to Mia’s was that we had a coupon which the server was happy to take because it granted her an automatic 20 percent gratuity. We were not about to tip her near that amount. MAYBE 10 percent. It was disappointing that we gave her that, but the coupon was worth more than being upset at the service.
In all, quite disappointed and definitely wouldn’t recommend the place.

We had a terrible experience at Mia’s. We had ordered the pasta primavera and had told the server we had a few vegetarians in our party. When we got our order we noticed that the pasta had bacon in it. When we asked the server if the food has bacon he said it was onions. When we asked the owner to check it he said it was garlic when 2 in our party who eat meat did confirm it was bacon.
Instead of replacing the dish and making sure our food had no meat, they choose to ignore our request.
We were very disappointed by their attitude given the restaurant was completely empty.
If we could a negative review we would have done it.
Do not go to this restaurant.

I wanted to like Mia’s, but I just didn’t. From the moment we walked in on a Saturday afternoon, it wasn’t good. It took forever for them to even notice we were there. Once we were seated, I asked about beer options and our waitress couldn’t describe the flavors at all. Once we put our order in, it took forever for it to come out. About 20 minutes in, we asked if we could have some bread or something. She thanked us for reminding her and brought us some muffins with cinammon butter. Meanwhile, we saw a couple come and go, tired of waiting to be noticed.
The turtle soup was okay, but not what I expected, nor what I was in the mood for. The gumbo was good, but not as good as Gumbo Shop’s. The Go Green salad was fresh. My friend liked her food. Unfortunately, the service was just so bad that it overshadowed anything that was good about this place.
P. S. Free condoms in the bathroom. At least they’re a responsible establishment.

I had lunch here recently, and this sits squarely at 3.5 stars. The front patio is great, right on St Charles and close to other neighborhood attractions. The inside bar is nice as well. There is a small, but good beer selection on tap. Several NOLA offerings, always good.
The service is friendly, if a bit slow. Though not a problem. The food ranges from small plates and po boys to fillets. I had the Shrimp and pasta plate. Good flavor, not to garlicy, with some kick from the peppers. The angle hair pasta was cooked well. All in all a good lunch. A place I will visit again if I get a chance, maybe for happy hour and try some more of the menu.

While back home in New Orleans, I am very sad to say, I wasted one of my only three meals, on this place … but Joey K’s is closed on Sunday, so I should get a pass. Right?
Went for Sunday Brunch (first week in August). One waitress, she was good but needed help. Every Entrée (4) and appetizer (3) had something wrong with it: from not being cooked enough, to being overcooked, not how it was listed on menu and one forgotten & brought after the other 3 had finished… AND it was wrong too!
The manager was aware of these mistakes and did not credit anything off the bill either. We fully agree with last poster (Tony L.), these people should not be in the restaurant business, especially in New Orleans. (The bill was $ 109 with 2 teas & 2 beers also).
The atmosphere is nice, as is the location. So a pint & a game might be okay, but I say… why chance a ‘might’ when there are so many tried & true joints within walking distance of this place.

This was a nice little place on St. Charles for brunch. The servers were very kind and knowledgeable about the food, the area, and the origins of their food. We didn’t go up to the balcony, but sat next to a beautiful stone-​arch window with open wood slat blinds. I appreciated the décor, is what I’m saying.
We had the Spicy sausage pasta and grilled oysters on the half shell. The pasta was excellent and the portion was way too much for one person, plus the heat was really well blended into the meat as well as the sauce. It was a lingering burn, not a tongue scorcher.
I had never had oysters before, so I figured grilled was a pretty safe way to introdice myself. They were covered with crumbled bacon, spinach, and some kind of gruyère. I may never eat oysters again as I cannot get over the «poached egg» consistency, but I believe these were still an excellent dish. They retained a smokiness from the grill and it did blend well with the oyster juice and the melting gruyère.
We did not return a second time on this trip as the menu was very limited and nothing much else spoke to us. Take that review as you will.

When Mia’s opened, I was skeptical. Watching the construction and all the hype gave me a healthy dose of skepticism. New restaurants pop up all the time in my neighborhood, all trying to be The One True Restaurant or some malarky. So I put off even trying new ones if they give me a bad turn.
Turns out I was wrong. There is no One True Restaurant any more than there is One True Best Mardi Gras Parade Throw, but there are some good ones out there. Let’s pretend that Mia’s is a string of medallion beads: fancy enough, more fun than the usual string of beads, and a bit novel… but no Muses shoe or Zulu coconut. It’s worth jumping for but not worth scrambling for. You see where this is going?
I’ve only done brunch here, but I’ve done it multiple times. Friends, I believe in brunch. I think brunch has power, and it certainly colors my entire weekend. Starting out on the patio (in January!) without my coat, having a low-​key server who appeared when he was most needed, good cocktails, and a lavish menu of solid brunch fare was enough to win me over. Everything I’ve noshed on was great, although the clear winner in my book is any and every dish involving poached eggs. (I love poached eggs. But can I poach eggs? No. Heartbreaking.) I also discovered my new favorite brunch cocktail at Mia’s: the dazzlingly simple poinsettia.
Would I eat lunch or dinner here? Sure, when I’ve run out of other recipes to cook and restaurants to visit. For now, I’m a devoted bruncher. Poached! Eggs! Poached! Eggs!
Accessibility notes: Ramp up to the main patio. Can get loud with TV noise at bar. Stairs up to the second floor dining area. No Braille menu or signage.

A-​OK pretty much sums it up…
I came up here with two other friends and ran up a $ 225 tab. We had a lot of stuff. The oysters were good, the filet mignon was ok not great by any stretch of the imagination. The shrimp was good but come on people we paid $ 9 for three small shrimp. Drinks were heavy on the alcohol which was good but they sort of sucked compared to the other places we went to in New Orleans. My favorite thing was the Soft Shell Crab sandwich which was very good.
We were sort of shocked by the tab but it was ok. We thought we would get a better meal for what we paid for it. The waitress was nice and the place was empty during jazz week which probably explains a lot. It was very average to say the least. Atmosphere was great as they had an outside area and we enjoyed ourselves.
All in all, I probably wouldn’t come here again with all of the great choices in New Orleans…

Large serving of Cajun spiced breakfasts! St. Charles breakfast @ 1130 Sat. Morning. Perfectly poached eggs with runny yolk but still a layer of «cooked.» English muffin instead of toast. My friend ordered off the menu, a veggie, egg white omelet, skillet nonstick, no oil or very little oil, no butter on anything, etc… Accomadated without blinking an eye «no problem!» WOW service from Madelienne. Blood Mary specials 5 $- had two made the way I dig the spicy limey pickle juice tastes like all the condiments mixed together drink. Peppery, spicy, Double green olives, limes & Bacardi rum instead of vodka.
Delicious Jalepeno corn muffins with honey butter-​free! 80’s music piping through the hardwood ceiling speakers. Nice airy place with lots of drink choices– 20 + beers and wines. If I wasn’t partied out from a week on bourbN St. I’d have tried more local flavor. Next time.

For the lunch hour food warriors out there, you will be pleased with this one! Upon arrival around 1:10 we found ample street parking and a very empty restaurant. Don’t let the lack of diners distract you, for us this meant a very efficient server and quick food arrival. My friend B and I were promptly greeted, directed to sit wherever we wanted and even though the restaurant was practically empty it was very welcoming.
I ordered the Mia’s Garden Salad for $ 6 that was a healthy portion of mixed greens, fresh feta cheese, red onion, a huge tomato wedge, all tossed in a house vinaigrette. It was larger than I expected but light enough it was still a perfect start to the meal. My non-​salad eating companion even commented on the fact it was well sized and smelled good. High marks for that!
A few moments after my salad was brought to the table the server returned with mini cornbread muffins and spread. I was very grateful because I always feel awkward about eating in front of someone who isn’t. The bread was warm and though the spread doesn’t appear creamy per se it melted immediately and had a nice touch of cinnamon. Delicious!
For entrees I decided on the «small plate» Seafood Stuffed Fried Eggplant and B had the Bourbon Glazed Chicken Sandwich. The eggplant was very soggy and still swimming in a bit of oil which is why my review is a 4 instead of a 5. If they were packed and the kitchen in a hurry I would have been a bit more understanding to the soggy log. However, they weren’t and I’m not. Regardless, the seafood stuffing was delicious, I always appreciate being able to see what I’m eating and there were huge crawfish, shrimp, and lobster in my portion as well as yellow, green and red bell peppers — to die for!
B’s Chicken Bourbon Sandwich wasn’t lacking on the chicken. It was a huge marinated chicken breast on what looked like homemade foccacia bread. It looked a bit too much for my taste but she really enjoyed it. Though, she did comment it was a bit dry. The fries were seasoned and delightful, not soggy!
I highly recommend checking this place out. The cocktail menu would have tempted me if I didn’t have to head back to work!

We went in for lunch today on our second day of our trip to New Orleans. Our hotel wasn’t far from here so we just waltzed right on in. We were the only ones there because it was still pretty early in the day.
First of all, the service was great. The waitresses weren’t over the top like most are. I usually sense how fake some servers can be and that they just want my tips. The servers here seemed genuinely casual and friendly. It was just right amount of hospitality that I enjoy in a restaurant. Very attentive too.
I ordered the gator bites. This was the first time I’ve eaten gator so I didn’t know what to expect. However, I didn’t get the real taste and texture of gator since they were cooked kinda like hushpuppies. Nonetheless, they were still tasty. I just have to go out and get some real gator meat while I“m here. My dad ordered the patio burger, and it was the best burger I have eaten in a long time. It would have tasted good with just the meat and the bun itself because the beef had excellent flavor and it tasted really fresh. My dad wants to come again one more time before we leave. THAT good. You know something is good they are tasty without the use of excess sauces and seasonings.