The Crystal Room

This was our second visit to the Crystal Room for the Sunday champagne brunch. Our experience in 2012 was extraordinary, so we made reservations for our April 2016 visit to New Orleans. Our most recent visit was horrible. We arrived promptly for our 9 am reservation and waited several minutes for an employee to come to the hostess stand. The employee who finally sat us, Frank, hurried us to a table adjacent to the wait station (note, there were only 2 other occupied tables in the entire establishment). Frank advised us that they were «too busy» for «regular tables» because a wedding party was scheduled to arrive in 30 minutes. I let Frank know that we had a reservation. Nonetheless, he was very disinterested in serving us. The water had things floating in it. The food was not quality; crab legs tasted old, food was luke warm, no employee was at the carving station for over 30 minutes. Frank did not refill our coffee, or our mimosas, nor did he ever check on us, as a server should. Not once did he check in. The restaurant was not busy at all; there is simply no excuse for such inattention. The quality and service is of Golden Corral $ 15 buffet standards, not that of a $ 55 per person buffet. I finally located a manager to express our displeasure with the service. The manager was apologetic and did comp one of our two meals. At this point, this did not erase the frustration with horrible goeod and service and still paying $ 60. For the same price, we could have had a lovely brunch elsewhere at one of the many fine restaurants in the CBD.

I’ve eaten here twice, once in 2012 and once in April 2016. My first visit to the Sunday brunch was excellent. I can’t say enough about our waiter, Dallas, or the wonderful service he provided. I should have quit while I was ahead. Our last visit (and I do mean «last») was none of those things. The only thing that was more was the price, $ 55 per person. Our waiter Frank H. was miserable. We had reservations at the earliest time slot, 0900, on Sunday morning. He seated us at the worst table in the room… and then told us so! «There’s a wedding party coming in and they’ll want the good tables so I’ll just sit you here» Wait. WHAT? Maybe they were charging the wedding party extra so we weren’t worth their time? Doubtful. Needless to say only a dozen people were in the dining room up until we left. Admittedly, we didn’t stay long. Frank only reappeared to leave the check. He was busy with the «Good» customers I suppose. The food was luke warm and thrown together like a grill cook at (insert fast food craphole here) had prepared it, and it tasted like dumpster scraps formed into something made to appear edible. I could just go on and on. Really, I could. My wife and I were incredibly disappointed. The manager happened to stop my wife on her way back to the table to ask how everything was. She wasn’t shy about telling him. I’m sorry to have forgotten his name exactly, but possibly Demarcus. He cut our bill in half and apologized. He was fine. Point was that we were willing to pay full price, even at twice what it was in 2012, to get the same quality food. Not even close. And «Frank H» shouldn’t be in any service industry, let alone in an establishment claiming to employ the best in the business. As for my review on the hotel itself, stay tuned. We stayed for 5 days and I’m giving them a couple days to rectify our issues there before leaving a comprehensive review so I can include how they did (or didn’t) handle it. I invite anyone to message me with any questions on the hotel or Crystal Room. I’d be happy to provide a true description of what to expect.

Rack of lamb was excellent, the service was remarkable, the ambiance was classical, the deserts were incredible and the wine selection was phenomenal.. A must resturant to visit when you’re in the big easy, bring your gold card.

My Girlfriend and I had booked an 11:45 Christmas brunch and showed up at 11:50 after calling them to tell them we would be a a few minutes late. We entered and there were around 60 people… some at the bar, some milling around and some waiting for the hostess. We were directed to the bar without our names being taken. About 10 minutes later my girlfriend went to the hostess (who looked frazzled). She added our names to the list on a cocktail napkin she was carrying. Apparently not everyone had reservations. We waited an hour: now 1:10 PM and our name was called. We had never been told it was a buffet. We waited for a server for drinks for 5 minutes. Eventually one showed. We got up to get food. The carving table was vacant and half the steam trays were empty. So we got what we could and it was very poor in quality. You could see the entire room was angry just as the crowd outside had been. We ate a bit more. A few dishes were brought out and one could see that the manager was talking to everyone.
At 2:20 they started taking the food away even though they were still seating people. I spoke with them today about the deposit taken through open table. They claimed they did not have that ability. Of course my girlfriend said she had to enter a credit card number.
I actually again talked to another who was apologetic as well. I had spoken with my Girlfriend again who booked through open table and said open table had in big bold red letters that there was a 48 your cancellation free of $ 25 (not sure whether per person on for the reservation). The supervisor had denied this. I reconfirmed with my girlfriend and told them they must have a software glitch. The hostess said even if they were directly called they couldn’t put in a credit card and had no icon on open table to charge.
Obviously software on open table is different than at the restaurant. The second person admitted they had problems with open table.
All admit that Christmas Brunch and Dinner were chaotic and poorly manage and that the food was substandard. The supervisor said (if I believe her) that they were going to call all the guests. Obviously none have called. I am thinking about disputing the charge on my credit card as the service provided was not what was advertised.
I called again today as the Jamaican supervisor told me she would call my girlfriend who paid within a day. I talked to a different supervisor. He confirmed the chef had left and it was under new management. He offered another Brunch. Frankly I am scared as other guests describe what sounds like food poisoning. I told him he just should cut the bill in half and we would never return. He promised to call my girlfriend which has yet to happen. Therefore the bill is disputed. They promised a great meal with reservations and fabulous décor. They delivered almost none of it. We couldn’t dine and dash (illegal) but going back to a restaurant that served horrible food, lied about reservations (or they meant nothing) and apparently gave some people food poisoning is not on my list of things to do. I will hash it out with the credit card company if the restaurant doesn’t call. Do NOT GO THERE until they fix things.

Booked a Christmas night dinner with my fiancée and we had been looking forward to it for a week. There was no mention within the reservation process of this being a buffet dinner. None. I’ll get to that later. We show up, and the frazzled and seemingly clueless hostess sat us at a table directly in the middle of two buffet lines even though there were other tables open. I could tell I was in for a bad night when she asked, «This good? Is everything okay?» in a tone that screamed, «trust me, this will not be okay».
When I saw a buffet with a room full of very disappointed looking people milling about, I immediately wanted to leave. I was furious that this was the dining situation. A wildly overpriced buffet. However, the $ 40 cancellation fee if we simply left kept me from doing so. All things considered, I wish I had just eaten the $ 40 and left. Most of the buffet trays were empty. The ones that weren’t empty were filled with half-​cold, stale looking food. Ah, but not to worry … the taste of the food was far worse than its depressing looking appearance! I had some sad version of «oysters Rockefeller» that were a brutal lesson in gag reflex suppression. Also had a stuffing that tasted like Alpo with bits of sausage in it. There was a carving station with a poor, overworked man being condescended to by already angry patrons. That stuff was just okay. Dry prime rib. Generic but at least blessedly WARM ham.
I couldn’t hide my rage at the situation and our entire dinner was spent with both my fiancée and I staring into the middle distance grinding our teeth and imagining all the ways we could have better spent the ridiculous $ 60 per person. I could’ve bought 60 dollar menu sandwiches from a low-​rent fast food place and had a much finer time. I could’ve gone to a Ryan’s buffet about 4 times and had a far better meal each time. Heck, I could’ve just peeled off 120 $ 1 bills and flushed them down my toilet and at least felt ALIVE, and it would’ve been a better use of my time and money than this meal.
The wait staff was very friendly. The food was like re-​heated leftovers from some drunken absentee great aunt. The expense was INSANELY not worth it. I would rather spend a night in jail than ever eat here again. That’s the most honest assessment I can give. I smell toast as I’m typing this and I don’t know if someone is actually making toast or if I’m having a rage-​induced stroke from just recounting the experience. That said, the room was pretty. So, there’s that.

Overpriced Sunday brunch with no local flair. The only reason worth going was to hear Phil Melancon on the piano but he isn’t there anymore.

I came to lunch with a vendor a few weeks ago. It had been a long time since I’d been to the lunch buffet, but it was as good as I remembered! They had backed macaroni, grilled fish, gumbo, pork loin, green beans, corn bisque, sweet potatoes, the HUGE salad and dessert bar, and of course the made-​to-​order pasta bar! I got wheat pasta with shrimp, sausage, green onions, and the marinara sauce. Everything I ate made me want more of it. It was all delicious, and I wish I could afford to go here every day (monetarily and calorically)!