I had high hopes for visiting such a praised NOLA landmark but my husband and I were disappointed. We went for lunch on the last day of our trip. First, the place is dying for a deep cleaning and a facelift.
The drink menu was so grimy my husband had to get up and wash his hands after looking through it.

The house garlic bread was really good in a nostalgic way but the loaf of bread that was delivered to our table was stale and crumbly. Our shrimp and ham appetizer was o...k, the shrimp were a bit over cooked and while one shrimp has a nice big slice of ham the other two had just a tiny speck. The shrimp were resting on a plate of unrefined, gloppy pepper jelly. We split the Caesar salad and the 1-1-1 trio of soup. The salad was a bit limp and heavily dressed with a mayo type dressing I was excited to try turtle soup for the first time but I think the server may have gone a bit overboard with the sherry given it was in such a tiny cup - the sherry overpowered everything. Maybe a nice � silver measuring spoon would enhance the table-side experience and garnish the soup more appropriately? The second soup was seafood gumbo but we didn’t see any seafood, just broth. The third soup was white bean and chicken which I rather enjoyed. My husband’s BBQ shrimp entree was better than my pulled pork tostada although the shrimp preparation was a bit lack-luster with no sear on the shrimp and a bit over-cooked like the appetizer. The pulled pork tostada with smashed red beans is a bit confused. Not exactly Mexican with red beans, kind of crockpot like pork, with very large chunks of onion and cilantro “salsa” on top. The tostada was lost on the heap except for a dry bite now and then. I was hoping for more of a chef driven dish with a creole flare like great, flavorful roast pork with crispy skin. The smashed red beans on the dish was the best part. My special $5 cocktail was kool-aid like. My husband tried it and downgraded it from kool-aid to colored water. The bread pudding soufflé was special and the star of the meal. The check came in a standard, ratty old black check holder thing, same as at TGI Friday. I would liked to have seen sometime in keeping with the grandeur of the place like a silver check tray or a nice box....
All in all this tired lady needs somebody to give her a period appropriate make-over and give her kitchen a swift kick in the culinary butt if it desires to remain relevant in such a amazing food city. My suspicion is their history and reputation continues to carry them and probably can for quite a while. But it doesn’t seem to be what it once was.