Zea Rotisserie and Grill

Great BBQ, wonderful happy staff and reasonable prices. Just walk from cable car.

This restaurant is located outside the French quarters. While eating dinner in one of the over rated restaurants in the French quarters, I asked the waitress for recommendation for where she goes for the best New Orleans cuisine. She recommended this restaurant, and she did not fail us. The food was amazing. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars was that I felt the waitstaff could have been A bit more on it when it came to how they serve the food. They were very nice, but maybe need a little bit more training.

I heard that this Zea’s will be closing at the end of this month. After our experience here, I’m not surprised.
I guess the servers also knew that they’d be out of a job at the end of this month because every staff person I encountered had a huge chip on their shoulders.
No greeting. Just a «What do you want?» Then huffed and puffed when we needed more time to decide which of their delicious items we wanted.
We finally settled on the Asian almond shrimp while shrimp and grits and Thai ribs were our entrée. Food was as it has always been. Great flavors but smaller and smaller portions each time they raise their prices. Also the ribs have so much fat, you end up trying to eat the meat around it. Totally not worth $ 16.50 for ½ rack of ribs. I would have ordered the duck if it wasn’t $ 22.50. It’s a great dish– but not worth almost $ 30 when everything is said and done.
Additionally, everything was hard to stomach when EVERY staff member had a sour look on their faces and made it very obvious they wanted to be anywhere but there. Food runners slamming food onto the table to servers who disappeared the entire time you ate. Forget about drinks being refilled. We just wanted our checks so we could get out of there!
So good riddance Zea’s on St. Charles if this is your ambiance and customer service now.

Amazing. Had the hummus appetizer, and the Casablanca Chicken with loaded hummus. All of it was full of flavor and everything went well together. The waitress was very good and the atmosphere was relaxing. This place just became one of my favorite spots.

Positively impressed. Food very good had shrimp and pasta with side order of grits. Bread pudding was one of the best Covington beer just ok. Would recommend to any one.

The food here was EXCELLENT! The menu was even accommodating to my grandmother’s dietary restrictions (she can’t eat food prepared with salt).
Waitstaff was very nice, and the place was clean.
The grits are a must try!

The atmosphere here is very hard to place, the clean feel, mixed with the great food makes zea a great place to have in your side pocket as a date night spot. You could bring all types of different girls here. Lmao
OR
If you trying to hang out with your mama and Aunty Shirley, you could bring em here too.
The food options aren’t as plentiful as I thought, but what I did have, I enjoyed!
Great portions which doesn’t leave you feeling lethargic, however, not enough for left overs.
I wasn’t feeling too well so is decided to opt out of drinking
Full bar which means all the cocktails and bourbon are available
One thing I was disappointed about was that there was no bread … ???

Went here for lunch with a vender. I got the grilled trout on the Z light menu. I usually get the pesto trout, but it wasn’t on the light. Broccoli and corn grits. It was so good. I actually like the grilled trout better than the pesto. Great service. Will be back.

This review is for Zea’s *catering*.
I had a lunch catered by Zea’s this past weekend — we actually applied, and got, a donation of salad from them as we’re a non-​profit, which I really appreciated. The Sales Coordinator could be tricky to get a hold of, and I can be neurotic when I’m stressed out, so that stressed me out :). In the end I think everything went smoothly — getting up to the area where our meeting was was a little tricky, and we had some food allergies to work around.
The food was pretty darn awesome — we had rotisserie chicken, hummus, grits, salad, and tea. SO much better than your typical meeting food, imo.

If I could give this restaurant less than one star I would. It gets one star for the wine. Hands down one of the most vile restaurants in New Orleans.
— Roasted Chicken: slimy and sauce too sweet
— greens: no flavor other than heavy vinegar and wayyyy over cooked.
— hush puppies: burned on outside and dry as the Sahara on the inside. They literally crumbled into cornmeal powder when I split one in half.
Never ever eat here.

Food: After looking through the pretty extensive menu, I ended up ordering their special, the braised provimi veal with natural au jus. For the sides I got the roasted potatoes and the red beans & rice. I hate to admit it, but the veal was really good. My vegetarian and vegan friends always give me a hard time when they find out that I’ve eaten veal. Anyways I wasn’t expecting to eat such good veal in New Orleans. I had to avoid the usual seafood that people eat in NOLA as I had a marathon to run in the morning. Along with the meal I had a Pontchartrain Porter. Nice beer.
Service: Service was excellent. My waiter was very friendly and helpful. He even recommended an excellent nearby bar that served the kind of beers that I liked.
Location: Very easy and convenient location to get to if you’re staying in the Garden District. It’s located on the north side of the famous St. Charles Avenue. This place had a nice ambiance. It almost felt formal enough that you could show up in your nice Sunday clothes without sticking out like a sore thumb.

Love this place… its exactly what you want, when you want it. I would go here over and over.
The garlic and herb roasted chicken in perfect. The corn grits are a guilty pleasure… so good.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance. The décor was modern and cozy. The lighting was appropriate for dinner but terrible for selfies lol. Our waiter was OK. He seemed to be very hyper and impatient. I almost felt like he was rushing to take care of us instead of genuinely trying to give us an experience. I ordered the Shrimp Breaux Bridge and it was tasty. Nothing to phone home about but it was good. My friend ordered the Balsamic Salmon and it was good as well. It kind of reminded me of an Asian dish. Another friend had the Pesto Crusted Idaho Trout. It was cooked and flavored very nicely.
I also ordered the Zangria White which is a sangria that was supposed to include strawberries, blueberries and diced apples… and i only got apples. IF there is an item on the menu that contains SEASONAL FRUITS AND VEGGIES ETC… DISCLOSE SOMEWHERE ON THE MENU THAT THOSE THINGS ARE OUT OF SEASON. It definitely wouldve made a difference in my drink order. But overall the sangria was OK.
I would go back because Im sure the service is better that what I experienced and I have heard amazing things about the menu.

The veal was excellent melts in your mouth. Also enjoyed the grits and roasted potatoes. Excellent service love the lunch specials

We had found this place on a list of restaurants near the Plaza and after checking the menu online we decided to check it out.
This was the most hospitable service we have come across in NOLA. The server was super friendly and honest about the menu and suggested some items that were out of this world! They even treated us to dessert due to the fact we are here on our honeymoon and first time to the place (and NOLA).
Try the duck (worth the price) and the sweet potato bread pudding!

My SO surprised me last week and asked if I had time to go to lunch. Of course I did! So she picked me up and we drove up the Avenue just looking, and it dawned on me just to go to Zea! They never steer us wrong. So we did.
We split the hummus flight, which comes with a red pepper hummus, a Mediterranean hummus, and a pesto hummus. Pesto is my favorite, and red pepper is her favorite, but we both love all three and left none to spare. Especially since we got two batches of fresh warm pita.
Then we split the grilled trout, snap beans, and Thai snap beans. Everything was cooked very well and seasoned to perfection.
The food was a perfect complement to my company!
The only reason for a dropped star was the service. Our waiter was nice, but it was very slow. We were clearly ready to leave, but took quite a few minutes to get the bill and get it paid.

Sugar snap peas were burnt!
Customer service sucked!
We made reservations a week ahead for 20 people and there wasn’t enough seats for 14 people. They put a round table and long table together which made the seating arrangement weird… Oh yea and it was literally in the middle of walk way!

I had a Mediterranean Chicken with hummus and it was delicious! After being in NOLA for the past few days, it was so nice and refreshing to eat something that wasn’t friend or super seasoned. Don’t get me wrong, NOLA food is to die for, just needed a break, and it was a great one!
My boyfriend had the Thai Ribs with sweet mash and «dirty rice», all of it was very good. Very attentive and pleasant staff.

We’re in NOLA and we didn’t get Southern Food?
On our last night in New Orleans, we found this place for dinner. It was the night of the Super Bowl so we found a restaurant with only two other guests in the dining area and just a handful at the bar. In other words, we had a restaurant to ourselves. Having a restaurant to yourself doesn’t guarantee great service, but we got it anyway. Good start so far. Zea Rotisserie and Grill is great option for those looking to take a break from Po’ Boys, Jambalaya’s, and fried food. What you’ll find is a restaurant chain that serves seafood, sandwiches, Asian based BBQ, grilled food, and of course, rotisserie. I can almost compare Zea to a Cheesecake Factory, but with a better food presentation and a dining experience that mimics fine dining.
–Garlic Hummus pita: This was our appetizer for the evening. I haven’t had garlic based hummus before and pleased that I did. You still get the texture and taste of what you expect with hummus, but with an added buttery garlic taste to it. There’s more hummus than there is pita and they are willing to hook up extra pita if needed. (
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–½ Chicken & ½ BBQ Ribs Plate: This meal is big enough to serve 2, maybe even 3. The ribs are glazed with BBQ sauce and the meat is «fall off the bone» and «melt in your mouth». As for their chicken, you get a seasoned and prepared rotisserie chicken. Taste of their chicken rivals some of the top notch fine dining restaurants out there. Trust me. (
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Overall, I have to say that I’m a fan. If I’m ever back out here, I’m sure that my meals will be centered around the foods that I can’t get in California or Las Vegas. But if I’m looking for something good, more traditional, and just want a change of pace from NOLA’s Southern type dishes, Zea Rotisserie is on my list.
Unilocal PERSONAL CHALLENGE — (⁰³⁴⁄₃₆₆)

I was content to keep eating PoBoys from the gas station each of my four nights in town, but my friend wanted someplace with tables and chairs (Snooty, I know).
I started with the Mac and Cheese appetizer. I honestly could’ve eaten that all night. It tasted like the lie that Kraft wanted you to believe their mac and cheese would be like (the commercial with the dinosaurs and noodles swimming in pools of cheese).
My friend had the duck empanadas. If this is what Elmer Fudd had in mind when he was chasing Daffy all those years, then brother… I UNDERSTAND!
With appetizers so good, I was let down by the garlic rotisserie half-​chicken. The flavor was only skin-​deep. It wasn’t bad, but I made it my point to dip each bite in the red beans and rice or the sweet potatoes to give it some flavor. Those two sides were pretty good, by the way. Good, but not mind blowing.
For dessert, I ordered the strawberry cheesecake. I hear music playing in my head when I think about it. HUGE is an understatement. They put a block of philly cream cheese on that one slice. And the strawberries… man, the strawberries. I’m so used to fake-​me-​out canned strawberry syrup that it took me a minute to process it. «Is this… is this real fruit? Is that pectin?»
I can’t close out this encyclopedia-​length review without acknowledging Adrianne, our server. She was great, she was friendly, and she even got me to step out of my comfort zone and try all of the stuff mentioned.