Description: Being our first time in New Orleans, we decided to stay around Bourbon Street for our weekend visit. We had walked past The Embers a few times and the second floor dining balcony looked just right for watching the craziness happening on Bourbon St below. We were there on a Saturday night, with pretty good weather so Bourbon street was pretty crazy. The first floor of the restaurant was empty. The second floor was pretty full inside, and unfortunately the balcony was pretty busy as well, so we got a table facing the side street. A table facing Bourbon quickly opened up, so we asked to move, but we were told by the waitress that we couldn't. Apparently they wouldn't be able to change us over to the different table in the computer. So, that started the night off poorly. Anyway, we made the best of our view and ordered. Fried Crawfish tails for appetizers. I got the seafood platter and my partner ordered the meatballs for the main course. Each came with a salad, and we ordered a secondary side of french fries.
The salads came out first. I asked for my dressing on the side, and my salad arrived, smothered with dressing. My partner asked for his dry and this was served correctly. I mentioned to the waitress that I ordered my dressing on the side, and she said "well, I wrote it on the slip, they made it wrong. But I wrote it down correctly". Apparently, she had no intention of correcting the situation, and started to walk away. I spoke up and asked her if she could bring me a salad with the dressing on the side. She again repeated that she wrote it on the slip correctly and that it was actually the kitchen's fault. I'm not really sure where she was going with that. I again had to ask for a new salad. She reluctantly took it back. I was given a new salad a few minutes later.
The appetizer came out with the meal, which was annoying. The fried crawfish were actually very good. We had just ordered them to try crawfish, and ended up being very pleased that we did.
Both entrees were pretty good also. I wasn't given any ketchup with my fried seafood platter and unfortunately our waitress never came around to ask how we were doing. I eventually had to go inside to track down another server and ask if I could get a bottle of ketchup. The same thing happened when I needed a second beer.
In general, the food was actually pretty good, and if you can get a table overlooking Bourbon street, this is a nice spot to be a part of the action, without actually being in the middle of the action. If it wasn't for our waitress, I would recommend this place. However, given the terrible service, I would probably find another restaurant with a balcony. There were a few more on the street.
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