Tempt

One star seems overly generous… this was perhaps the worse dining experience I have ever had.
My friend and I met here for a quick bite and some drinks before seeing a show at a theater a few blocks away. We arrived at 6:15pm. There was a large sign next to the hostess stand that said dinner service started at 6pm. There was no hostess in sight, but there was one other table seated. After waiting for nearly 15 minutes I went to the front desk and asked if there was anyone working in the restaurant. I was told someone would be right there. Shortly after a very disheveled woman came out to fill the waters at the table that was seated. She looked at us and looked away and went back in the kitchen. When she came back out she told us she would be right with us. 5 minutes later she told us to seat ourselves. Seems like she could have said that in the same time she took to say she would be right with us. Again only one other table in the dining room, she should not have been overwhelmed. Once we were seated we waited another 10 minutes to get water. As she was pouring our water she asked if we were ready to order yet… which we obviously were not being we had never been given menus and had no idea what they had to offer. Once the menus arrived, they were less than par but we were in too much of a hurry at this point to go elsewhere and still catch our comedy show. Being we are both vegetarians we ordered the only veg friendly option, the eggplant and we each ordered a salad. Ten minutes after ordering she came back and told us that they were out of eggplant. We asked if we could get the fries instead, without bacon. She said sure. My friends salad arrived with no dressing, and I received a spinach salad when I asked for a caesar. I let her know the salad was incorrect and she looked puzzled. She even said here is your caesar salad when it was clearly a spinach salad, the same as my friends. She took it back and returned with the SAME salad and said I hope this one is better for you. I said no, I think that is the same exact salad you just took from the table. I also asked if we could have the sour cream that was supposed to come on our fries and some ketchup and she said we said we didn’t want sour cream. I told her we said we did not want bacon but we absolutely never said we did not want sour cream. She said she would bring some. She returned with the right salad (finally) and still no sour cream. Ten minutes later she overheard me talking to my friend complaining that she still had not brought the condiments for our fries and she came over to the table and with a big attitude said «I heard you, and I know you want sour cream but we don’t have any.» Not sure if this was true or not but in any case she could have told us that when we requested it, not saying she would get us some and just never return. The plate of fries was pathetic… there was about 15 fries on a plate with some onions and some sparse canned cheese. Not sure how that constitutes $ 14…we were expecting gourmet fries for that price, it is one of the most expensive things on the menu. Finally I had had it with the servers attitude and general dysfunction so I returned to the front desk to ask for a restaurant manager. I was told there wasn’t one and that he couldn’t step away from the desk but that he would get me another manager. The manager came and did apologize, and did comp our meal and did let us know «a change is coming», but made a bunch of excuses like saying the restaurant wasn’t open for dinner. If that is the case don’t have a huge sign next to the hostess stand saying dinner service starts at 6… and don’t have the lights on and a server walking around making it appear as if you are open. Also, why would they not be open for dinner when they have hotel guests to tend to? This whole place is a nightmare and I will never ever go back… change or not.

I am in the area a few times a year and of the options in the area which offer breakfast without a 30 minutes plus wait, this is my place. Having tried at least 4 breakfast items and the breakfast buffet, I can unequivocally say this is very good breakfast. The prices are moderate ($ 10-​$ 18 per person) but it is located inside of The Saint Autograph Hotel.
Location — 4 stars
** next door to The Ritz Carlton on Canal St. Great location for people watching. But the price of valet parking can be a deterrent if you are local.
Shrimp N Grits w/​eggs over easy — 4.5 stars
Heavenly — egg whites omelet with your choice of seasonal veggies — 4 stars
Bacon Crusted Lost Bread a/​k/​a French Toast — 4 stars
Breakfast Burrito — 2 stars
Service — 5 stars
*** everyone is super nice and attentive even when it’s busy. Lashonda is my preferred server but you cannot go wrong. Everyone displays Southern Hospitality.
Ambiance/​Music– 5 stars!!!
*** I absolutely love the lobby music. It’s usually instrumental brass band, jazz band tunes. I often want to break out dancing for all the other diners.

If the breakfast wasn’t free since I stayed at The Saint hotel I wouldn’t have eaten here. It was convenient and that’s it. Coffee was good and strong and the food just standard if that. Pass on the shrimp and grits it’s sub par and the Belgian waffles were good.

Had predinner drinks here. The prices were reasonable and the drinks quite large.
Service was nice (and flirty).
Cool, devilish deor and lighting. Good for a drink but the menu options did not entice me.

Service was slow, terrible and incompetent. We were a party of 8 with no one else in the restaurant. No one at the hostess stand to greet you. Ordering drinks had to be at the bar across the hotel and when asked for a cocktail menu the server didn’t understand what we wanted. We waited about an hour before they took our food order and then another hour for the food. When the food finally came out about half of our party’s food was cold and all of it was over seasoned. My friend and I ordered the same thing and mine came with sauce, hers didn’t. My other friend ordered a seared tuna which came out burnt and inedible so we sent it back and took it off the bill. Then to top things off the they couldn’t figure out how to split our bill and had to come out repeatedly to ask us how to do it. Don’t bother going this place is awful.

So I had a so-​so experience here. Had a living social. Great deal — $ 35 for an app, 2 glasses of wine, 2 entrees, and a dessert so I start by saying really can’t be beat for the price. However, without the living social our meal would have way overpriced for the food and ambiance. So for the review —
atmosphere: awful, basically in a lobby of the hotel which means for a nice «romantic» restaurant, really hard to enjoy the meal and candles with drunks rolling in from bourbon street stumbling their way to a hotel bar across the lobby which was blaring techno music. There is no wall serperating the restaurant from the lobby which would have made all the difference.
Food: food was so so. We started with the mussels which were delish but then it stops there. I ordered the fish of the day and my boyfriend ordered a pork dish. Both were VERY oversalted. Also the wine they served us was seriously maybe 2 ounces at best. I understand we had the living social, but if I wanted a shot I would have ordered tequila. just sayin.
Overall would not recommend this place. I doubt it will make it, especially with all the other fantastic restaurants NOLA has to offer. Only reason I give this place 2 stars is I only paid 35 so I really cant complain.

Attentive service, creative menu, great execution.

The food was ok but the service was horrendous.
This is the second time I’ve eaten there for. breakfast while staying at The Saint. There were 3 tables already seated when we sat down, and 2 were checking out and it still took the 1 waiter 10 minutes to come and greet us and get drinks– and he still got our drink order wrong. He kept complaining about how he was the only one there but as a former server, 4 tables shouldn’t be a problem. My boyfriend’a water glass was used as there were food particles in it.
When the food came it was wrong and I immediately asked for the correct side and never received it. The shrimp and grits were ok. I had an omelet that was overcooked.
Our server continued to complain and was more interested in talking rather than serving and made some inappropriate comments.
The first time we went was nothing like this so hopefully things will improve.

They should either get rid of this restaurant or revamp it completely because it does not add to the amenities of this fledgling hotel. If anything it’s a detraction of the highest order in a city that is known for its culinary scene. Don’t even get me started on the shockingly bad bar tenders across the lobby.
What a shame because its design and location lends itself to having great potential, but Tempt misses the mark by a mile.
The staff seem undertrained and super duper S L O W! Ugh!
The entire thing seems like a complete after thought. I think my experience was tainted not only by the terrible food, inept service, but by the fact that someone decided that the peak breakfast hour was ideal timing to repair a window.
Not only did they block many of the tables in this tiny restaurant, but there were contractors, workmen, ladders, equipment and all kinds of noise going on. This type of work should have been done either earlier or after hours when the restaurant is not serving food to patrons! BIG mistake by management.
Hopefully, they will work the kinks out, but I fear it may not be in time to save this stinker of a restaurant. There are way too many incredible places in NOLA to spend your hard earned money and this my friends is not one of them.

Have had several meals in NOLA and have to say that this was the best meal of them all. Everything from the Boudin Balls to the Flounder were incredible. I do not understand what the other reviewers were complaining about. HIGHLY recommended.

Like many others on Unilocal,I too got a coupon to visit this restaurant. I used it several months ago and have waited to post this review because, honestly, I was hoping the memory of it would improve with time. Sometimes you just need to let these things settle in. A restaurant of this caliber deserved serious thought. The wait staff was fabulous and what a lovely, clean and very white restaurant. Reminded me of something very futuristic. Clean lines, white linen and wonderful service. Shortly after arriving, we were treated to a very unusual drink that I still cannot figure out whether I liked … but the kindness of the chef to send it to us did not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
The problem was the food. Although the restaurant touts itself to be french or New Orleans cuisine, this was not even the case. In fact, I thought the entire experience had more of a «northern» or «european northern» appeal to it. I would not say the food was horrible. I got an interesting fish (soup like dish) that was not bad and I might have even thought it was good in an unusual way — had I been visiting a foreign country or knew I was going to a restaurant that had a more European flair to it. There simply was nothing New Orleans or cajun about the dishes. The «fish dish» (can’t recall name) had water chestnuts in it (which I love) and I believe there were some oysters in it as well, but it was in a bowl and more like a soup (as stated earlier). For dessert, I got Mexican chocolate moose. My bad for not knowing that the word «Mexican» was a clue that there was cayenne pepper in it. As a chocolate addict, I can tell you that I did not like the taste of pepper with my chocolate. I would have much preferred peanut butter. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what chef came up with the idea to put pepper with anything sweet. I was so very disappointed but I am willing to concede that that was my bad for not fully understanding the «code word.»
I gave it one star because it is touted as a New Orleans restaurant and is filed under french cuisine. Methinks not. Shout out to Tempt: «Refile this baby under ‘Northern European’ or some other cuisine so people can go in with eyes wide open and ready to experience ‘something different’ in the Big Easy.»

The one star is for the very modern & chic décor. Besides that, everything was abysmal. I never had such horrible food at an upscale restaurant before. The food presentation made for an impression of what’s to come. Did not like what I saw and definitely did not like what I tasted. There are too many exceptional restaurants in New Orleans. I don’t recommend wasting your time here.

Definitely not tempting.
As with other reviewers, we also used a Living Social deal.
1. Décor — all white, very modern. Totally fine. Music sucked, but whatever.
2. Hostess — perfectly pleasant, seated immediately.
3. Waiter — great. Very nice, refilled our wine at no additional cost (because our meal was taking awhile, but no matter — he was attentive and really good). He was the only thing really good here.
For the menu they give you the full menu, but you can only order from the limited menu. We wanted an app from the full menu that was the same price, but no go. I’ve never had this experience with a living social/​groupon deal and think it was a poor decision on their part as people should be able to try what they want to if it isn’t more expensive.
We ordered:
Mussels — eh. Not terrible, not great.
Pork chop bland and WAY over cooked.
Fish — bland. Oh so bland
Sweet potato donuts — beignets. Doughy.
And for the wine you could only order «white or red» — we weren’t even told what it was.
There are too many excellent restaurants in this city to bother going here.

Wow. The worst meal I’ve had in NOLA.
Lets start with décor, the place is beautiful. Ultra modern. Posh. Hip. Chic.
Next, the menu. Who ever designed it should be fired. Forget about trying to make your dishes sound appealing, there’s not even a description!
The menu is limited for LivingSocial dinners. We started with the boudin balls. They were basically hush puppies. You could not see or taste any boudin.
I had the shrimp and okra. It was sauteed with red beans. The beans were hard, the okra was slimy, and the shrimp didn’t taste fresh. I took 2 bites and couldn’t even eat the rest it was so bad. My companion had a pork chop. He said it was cooked well, but that’s all he ate on the plate. It was served with cabbage and something else. We opted for a side as they are «a la cart» and not included in the living social. We got the greens… which were also the vegetable of the day — how creative. These greens were so bitter! Again, one bite and I was done.
Everything was so disappointing, we skipped the dessert (which was included in the LivingSocial).
I would not recommend this place. In fact, if you have a Living Social voucher, don’t even go. Don’t waste your time. They can’t give this food away its so horrible.

First off, we did the Living Social deal, which came with one appetizer, two entrees, one desert, and two glasses of house wine.
We arrived before our reservation, and asked if we could eat early — to which the hostess was glad to accommodate, as a large party was due in a little while. Once seated, our server, Herman, was very helpful, and possibly a little green with this restaurant Unlike most of the reviews on Unilocal,our service was great — if Herman was busy for a bit, another server would stop to check on us. It seems they got the hint from these reviews, and we could not fault the service.
Before we head off into the meal, let’s discuss the décor, which can be summed up as «WHITE». The entire Saint Hotel is highly stylized, and Tempt was no exception. Just about every surface in the place is white, which would probably be pretty intense for lunch. Anyway, not my thing, but looked slick if that’s your style. A couple of times sounds from the lobby and bar across the lobby would drift in, such as someone breaking on the pool table.
On to the food… We started with two appetizers, one with our deal (Boudin Balls), and bought a second (Crispy Pork Belly — $ 12). The Boudin Balls were a little different than we expected — they were boudin balls with a corn batter — reminded me of corn dog batter. Interesting and tasty. They gave us four, and they are big! The Pork Belly came with a reduction glaze and granola topping, served at room temperature. Apparently, it was supposed to be at this temperature, so that was a bit odd — especially the fat in the belly.
For entrees we ordered the Shrimp and Beans, and the Pork Chop. The Shrimp dish left something to be desired, as the beans seemed overcooked — almost like the dish was kept warm for a while. The Pork Chop was delicious and well cooked. The potato-​cabbage hash was decent, but not my favorite food in the world.
Dessert was another interesting experience — we ordered the Mexican Chocolate Mousse. Apparently the Mexican part is some form of hot pepper in the mousse. This would not have been too bad, except we were not expecting it. Recommend trying the «Elvis» next time.
Overall, it was a nice evening out, and would not have a problem recommending Tempt to others. Should clock in at 3.5 stars, so being generous and rounding up to Four.

We’ve all experienced déjà vu, right? Well, stepping into this place I felt as if I was reliving 1998: white gauzy curtains, lucite furniture, austere room. Except it’s not really a room per se, but an extension of the front lobby. So, depending on the crowd, it could be a wonderful place to have an intimate meal or the perfect place for a breakup meal, since no one would hear the tears or screams.
Our server was fun and quick on his feet. Since there were only 4 tables on a Saturday night, he had reason to feel energized. We, like most of the previous reviews, were using the Living Social special. There was even an abbreviated menu offered for la cheapskates. We had:
Beet Salad
Shrimp and Okra
Gulf Fish
Brown Betty cake /​goat cheese ice cream
House Chardonnay
Everything was served in a deconstructed fashion. It looked great on the plate, but not in your mouth. The salad was fine, cute golden & red cubes on a retangular plate.
The mahi-​mahi was served in a bowl and tasted fine, but the merlitons underneath were a slimy mess. The shrimp and okra? Grilled shrimp atop dry, diagonal slices of okra and red beans that may have been soaked but not cooked.
The Brown Betty could have been the clear winner, but wasn’t warm enough to boost the combination: pieces of goat cheese and ice cream atop a caramelly-​tasting cake.
What’s the verdict? That’s a mighty expensive piece of real estate to have such a mediocre experience.

Like many other reviewers, I live locally and like to purchase Living Social deals for restaurants that are new to me so that I can try them without the «risk» of paying full price if it is an unfavorable experience. This voucher was for one appetizer, two entrees, one dessert, and two glasses of wine. Unfortunately, Tempt fell solidly in the category of «I’m sorry I wasted the money I paid for the voucher but I’m REALLY glad I did not have to pay full price.» Let me also just say that I rarely, no, I NEVER, write restaurant reviews. I get that people are more apt to write a review when they’ve had a great or a terrible experience — this is no exception. As a local, I cannot stand by and let anyone else have a miserable experience like we did. And, I’m a realist… I get that when I walk in with a coupon, I am not going to be the restaurant’s top priority — but I still had to leave a tip, and when a restaurant is just starting, word of mouth is everything! Basically, I would not recommend it to others and I will not be returning. When New Orleans is a city that boasts TONS of fantastic restaurants, I would not risk another bad experience here. You shouldn’t either.
Let me qualify my review further. I was dining with my boyfriend, and we parked valet, but were told that, unlike other Canal Street establishments, our parking would not be validated or discounted even though we would be in-​hotel restaurant patrons. They explained that they are a contracted valet company and operate separately from the hotel, which we understood… and it turns out that they ended up providing by far the best service of the evening. We arrived for our 6:30 reservation, proceeded to the host (ess) station, and our magical transformation to invisibility happened (apparently some kind of Harry Potter invisibility cloak came as a bonus with using a voucher! It’s also possible that I felt a little cheap for going into a seemingly nice establishment with a coupon and so maybe it’s my issue, but I really felt like I was being treated poorly for having a coupon throughout the entire meal)! We stood there for a solid 10 minutes before anyone even noticed us. The two waiters were running around like busy bees, but refused to acknowledge us (or the couple that came in about a minute behind us), even when we waved, walked further into the restaurant, etc. One finally approached and said, «Reservation for 6:30? (Yes…) You’re „Living Social, right?“ (Yes…) [lots of silent judgment] Ah. Right this way.»
Finally we were seated, and given the limited menu for folks who come in with a voucher. The voucher included two glasses of wine which was promptly brought to us… in dirty glasses, both of which still had lipstick smudged on the rim. We sat for about another 15 minutes, not drinking the wine, until one of the two waiters returned to take our order. We pointed out the problem and asked for new glasses. Our old ones were taken to the back, rather than to the bar which seemed to house all of the other wine glasses, and our new ones emerged from back there, too. Sketchy. They (Notice I say they. We had no real waiter, they both just sort of cycled in and out of our section) returned and took our order — one appetizer and two entrees. We waited another probably 20 minutes to get our appetizer salad, followed by an additional 15 – 20 to get our entrees. After our dinner plates were cleared, we sat at literally an empty table with empty water glasses for near 25 minutes before we had to call across the restaurant to one of the waiters to please take our dessert order. Order was taken, and we sat for another 20 minutes with nothing. Nothing! No eye contact, no water refill, no «how is everything over here?» Nothing! One waiter finally returned and said, «Your dessert… have you had that already?» No buddy, we haven’t. Five minutes later it arrived, and we did what we could to expeditiously complete our responsibilities — i.e., eating it and paying the bill — so we could put an end to the 2-​hour ordeal. Throughout the meal, we were never once asked if we had enjoyed everything or if we needed anything else, and my chair was kicked by waitstaff about seven times as they whisked past our table to serve other guests (none of whom looked particularly happy, either).
Whew! I know that was long-​winded and detailed, but I am outraged that in New Orleans, where the service industry is such a central part of the city’s livelihood, they couldn’t find two better waiters for their restaurant. An intended relaxing, enjoyable night out was squandered by unacceptably horrendous service.
Two redeeming factors. One: The food was average — for the United States. As in, not particularly noteworthy and certainly not in keeping with the usual culinary standard for New Orleans — but edible and satisfying. Two: Other reviewers complained about the décor, but I thought it was kind of eclectically cool. Not redeeming enough, though… Too bad.

My friend and I visited Tempt to use a LivingSocial deal which consisted of two glasses of wine, a shared appetizer, one entrée each, and a shared dessert. Going to a nicer restaurant is a real treat for me, so I was looking forward to experiencing Tempt.
In my opinion, our meal was delicious. We enjoyed a pickled shrimp pallet cleanser, steamed muscles in a sweet and savory sauce, mahi mahi in a spinach and oyster sauce, and sweet potato donuts.
My only complaint is about the service. I get it, servers need to make money so if a restaurant is slow, there doesn’t need to be many servers. However, if the one server cannot keep up with his or her load, there needs to be more servers. As I commented to my dinner guest, it’s a good thing we enjoy each other’s company because there was plenty of time during the two hour long dinner to enjoy! For example, you shouldn’t be so overwhelmed that it takes twenty minutes to present a to-​go box at the table.

I live in New Orleans and there happen to be a Groupon for this restaurant. I heard the bar was swanky and I wanted to try the food. It was the most terrible food I have ever ate in New Orleans. The Groupon was for a glass of wine, app and main course and dessert off a special menu. Since I wanted to try other items on the menu I ordered two more apps just to try since I had got such a great deal on the dinner. Bad move, I had a total of 3 different apps and they were all terrible. For the main course I had fried chicken. How could you mess up fried chicken in New Orleans?! It tasted like flour and had no seasoning. The décor was nice but that was the only positive experience at this restaurant.

I dined here with a friend of mine and I’ve got to say that Tempt really didn’t tempt us at all. The Saint Hotel, in which Tempt is located, is an interesting place with all sorts of weird disco lighting and they seem to prefer a hazy blue glow. The décor of the restaurant gives a different experience than the hotel with some impression of being open and breezy with lots of flowing curtains but unfortunately they also have one out of place long table with some really horrendous clear plastic chairs that seem very fragile and might break if you bump into them that are accompanied by some sort of embellished throne chair at the head of the table that looks very odd. With curtains being everywhere they strangely left them off the large plate glass windows that look out onto Canal street. The view from these large windows lets you experience the eclectic mix of people wandering down the street but they can see you too (and most of them looked pretty rough). The menu is very small and really seemed pretty boring so I settled for the salad, gulf fish, and peach dessert. The restaurant was nearly deserted and only one other table was occupied while I was there but it still took a very long time for the food to come out. The food really wasn’t to the level it needed to be to «tempt» me and I just didn’t enjoy any part of my meal. The portion sizes were also so small that I had to eat another meal later. There was one guy working front of house that had to do everything and he seemed to provide the best service he could but the poor fellow had to run all over the place to get things. Honestly I don’t think I would ever want to eat here again and the main thing I felt tempted to do was get out of the place as fast as possible.