Description: My husband and I wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary with a special dinner. Arnaud's has offered fine dining since 1918, so it seemed a good choice.
The main dining room has a tiled floor, dark wood, and sparkling windows, but it did not feel very romantic to me. The concierge at our hotel called Arnaud's to let them know about our special occasion---to request a quiet corner---but I'm not sure if this was heeded because our table didn't seem to be in a special place, and no one ever acknowledged why we were there. I didn't expect a glass of champagne, but at a restaurant of this caliber, the waiter should have at least said, "Happy anniversary." But then the service was by far the most disappointing aspect of our meal.
Arnaud's uses a type of "communal" waitstaff. The idea I'm sure is that there are so many waiters attending to your needs that you'll never want for anything. However, this isn't the reality. Instead we had different people seat us, take our drink order, take our food order, etc. I think no one in particular then felt responsible for us, and my husband's gin and tonic sat empty for over twenty minutes. Not good.
Having said all the bad, let's get into the things that make this restaurant famous. To start I ordered the soup du jour, which was a creamy version of French onion made with veal stock. It was delicious. My Crabmeat Karen, an outstandingly light pastry filled with mushrooms and crabmeat, was really yummy. My husband's Crawfish O'Connor gave a local flair to our meal. Other choices include veal or steak, quail or chicken. There are set menus to choose from on those nights when live jazz is played in the dining room. The fresh strawberries marinated in Port wine looked good for a unique dessert.
After your meal, walk upstairs. There you'll find what I really liked the most about this place. There's a Mardi Gras museum full of elaborate gowns once owned by a member of the Arnaud family. I loved the Easter hats.
Bottom Line?
I don't think this was the best choice for a date. I'd say it would be a better choice for a power dinner of executives in town for a convention. The food was good. The service--per fine dining standards--did not meet my expectations.
Yes, I'd still recommend this place, but I wouldn't gush about it.
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