Original Pierre Maspero's - (504) 524-8990

We ate there (3 persons, three different orders) on December 22nd during a 3 days stay in New Orleans. Looking for restaurant we did not frequent before, we chose The Original Maspero's. We will not again. The food was overprized, overcooked and much too salty. Next time we will stick to our old choices and enjoy.

I'm a local New Orleanian, born and raised. Believe-it-or-not, I tried this place for lunch for the first time the other day. Not at all what I expected in such a well-known New Orleans restaurant. I ordered a muffaletta, which trust me, I KNOW a good muffaletta. This was NOT a good muffaletta! First of all there was American cheese on it, STRIKE 1! Everyone from New Orleans knows that American cheese does not belong on a muffaletta. The olive salad was way too greasy and was on the bottom of the plate which of course made the bottom of the bread soggy (which by the way was not toasted properly), STRIKE 2! For $9, all I got was a muffaletta the size of a hamburger, STRIKE 3! Service, well, was pretty poor. On the outside of the building, by the menu, there's a letter explaining how pre-Katrina they had 20-30 employees, and how now they only have 9, and how they are only serving a "limited" menu... BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Guys, it's a year and a half after Katrina, your restaurant was full, and there were only 2 servers and one bartender, COME ON! That's a lame excuse. You need to focus more on hiring good employees and training them properly. Our iced tea (with maybe 3 cubes of ice) was never refilled. It took about 15 minutes to even get our check, then once the server took our payment, it took another 15 minutes??? NO GOOD! Oh, and they keep all of the windows and doors open (which is pretty typical of a French Quarter Restaurant), except there was a stinky garbage can out on the street that was smelling up the place while people were trying to eat, YUCK! I wonder how many tourists come into this great city and eat at The Original Cafe Maspero's and think this is how our food tastes. I can only hope not many. Way too many other GOOD places within walking distance. Sorry The Original Cafe Maspero's!

This restaurant was noisy, but very quaint. The food was decent, but nothing remarkable and very overpriced for the fare. The blackened chicken portions were stingy and they ran out of catfish. Our waiter barely noticed us, but was oversolicitous to a group of more obvious tourists. The ladies bathroom was a total hole in the wall with no lock, and some guy nearly followed me in there.