The Red Fish Grill in the French Quarter - Superb Casual Dining!
Written: Feb 25 '05
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Pros: Great service, great food.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: See Review.
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| JennJoy's Full Review: Red Fish Grill |
During my recent visit to New Orleans I had the pleasure of eating at the Red Fish Grill twice. Both times it was an absolute pleasure and I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting the French Quarter, whether for business or for pleasure. The Red Fish Grill is conveniently located at 115 Bourbon Street, less than a block off of Canal Street. This establishment is one of the many Brennan family restaurants in the city worth trying.
My husband and I were fortunate that the casual Red Fish Grill was directly across the street from our hotel as there was one night we didn’t feel like straying far for dinner or getting dressed up to go out. The building housing the Red Fish is rather large, with brick walls and very high ceilings. The décor all relates to the restaurant’s specialty – seafood. All of the tables are hand-painted with ocean motifs and there are metal sea creature sculptures dangling from the ceiling entwined with neon. There are the requisite photos of Louisiana bayous as well as a row of oversized mirrors above the bar shaped like oysters with pearls inside.
We were able to walk right in without reservations, but we noticed about half way through our meal that the hostess was telling people it was about an hour wait. We were immediately approached by one of the many people who served us for a drink order – there’s absolutely no waiting for anything here. Another member of the wait staff quickly arrived with fresh bread and whipped butter before yet another server came to take our order. I was surprised to find the wait staff here works in teams, but it meant the overall service was impeccable even on a busy night.
My husband started with the alligator sausage & seafood gumbo while I had the house salad with apple-rosemary vinaigrette which was absolutely scrumptious. We then split the Bourbon Street Sampler which included coconut shrimp, grilled alligator sausage, mini crawfish cakes, and BBQ oysters. The Red Fish Grill is known for its oysters and does have an oyster bar so we figured we should at least try some. Everything was perfectly prepared, presented nicely, and tasted fabulous.
For our entrees, I opted for one of their new menu items, sugar cane short ribs. These were beef ribs which were braised in sugar cane and served with garlic potatoes, roasted shallots, and a veggie. I can honestly say these were some of the best ribs I’ve ever had and they were so tender they nearly melted in my mouth. My husband kept the seafood theme going by choosing the gulf fish special for the evening. Although the specialty here is fish and seafood – including crab, crawfish, redfish, oysters, etc. – the Red Fish Grill does offer a few beef & chicken entrees, but only one vegetarian option that I noticed. This is not a good place to dine if you don’t like seafood.
After all this food, my husband still had room for dessert and ordered the Banana Crème Caramel which was good enough that he had it again when we returned for lunch the following day. For lunch we both tried the Shrimp Club which consisted of hickory grilled gulf shrimp, smoked bacon, and tomato-tarragon mayonnaise on toasted sourdough. I opted for dessert after lunch and nearly went into a sugar coma after eating the rich, creamy peanut butter pie. I’m kidding about the coma of course, but the pie was really that good. Again, all of the food was excellent and although we only had one server for lunch we didn’t wait for anything.
The Red Fish Grill is reasonably priced with the lunch menu running about $7-12 and dinner at about $13-22. The portions were huge and we definitely felt full after both meals. I can’t stress enough how great the service was here because good wait staff can make or break an otherwise tasty meal. I would eat here again without hesitation and highly recommend making the Red Fish Grill a stop if you are visiting New Orleans.
Recommended:
Yes
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JennJoy
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