Green Goddess Review

[nikinik]

Mr. Nikinik and I went for lunch Saturday and it very good! It's TINY and it was packed (holds MAYBE 12 people)...so they told us the only table they had was out in the hallway. We were hungry...so we took it...and we're glad we did! Had it been warmer...we would've sat outside. Here's the rundown...

Roasted Oyster and Fennel Chowder: This was incredible! The fennel and absinthe added such a perfect and different taste to it. My only complaint was the price. It was served in a small bowl...but it was no more than a cup serving. And I wasn't given bread with it...and it was $10. I think maybe $7 with bread would've been more appropriate.

Wedge Salad - VERY VERY good. It's served with their own green goddess dressing, which is out of this world. $8

Shrimp and Grits - When I've gotten shrimp and grits at other places, it's usually a cream type sauce. At Green Goddess the shrimp is more like BBQ shrimp and it works! The grits were very creamy and were kind of pan fried...so there was a slightly crispy outter layer on them. This was soooo good and worth every penny of the $14 they charged for it. Came with 4 VERY large shrimp.

Da Meatloaf Sandwich - This is a bison and bacon meatloaf sandwich. You can get it cold or hot with melted cheddar cheese. Mr. Nikinik got it hot with the cheese. It was delicious and he couldn't stop talking about it. He's ready to go back...now...as in right now. This is a small sandwich and $14 is VERY high for a small sandwich...but you know here they are using very high quality and unique ingredients and you have to pay for that. My husband said although it was high...he'd pay for it again..and again...and again.

French Duck Fat Potato Home Fries - $4 These were absolutely horrible. We each ate one and left the rest. I think they have potential, but something just went wrong with ours. Looked like the grease wasn't hot enough. It was just a plate of soggy potato slices. It was drowning in oil and they weren't crispy at all. They were chewy. They took them off of the bill.

Bloody Marys - I didn't like these at all. I don't know what mix they use, but they just weren't good. We both didn't like them. We drank them though. You can get a large or a small. We got the small. I'd say take the ice out and it was about an 8 oz. drink. We were really shocked to see that they were $9 each! For this reason alone, we'll probably never go there again for brunch/lunch. We like to have a couple of cocktails with our brunch, and just can't see paying $9-$14 per drink...which is what drinks cost there.

We'll stick with EAT...where we can BYOB....or one of our favorite brunch spots in Madisonville called Water Street Bistro that has $2 bloody marys and mimosas for brunch. Or late lunch at Luke where the drinks are 1/2 price and raw oysters are a quarter.

But we'd definitely hit Green Goddess up for dinner when the weather is nice and we can sit outside. And we don't mind paying $9 a drink at dinner time.

After all was said and done, our bill was $68 (before tip). Not a cheap lunch by any means. We were glad that we had a $25 restaurant.com certificate that we had purchased for $2.

Also, I think a nice touch might've been to offer something on the house as a thank you for us taking a table in a hallway.

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Green Goddess
307 Exchange Place, New Orleans, LA 70130

[MikahHou]

Glad to hear the food was wonderful. My husband and I tried to visit the Green Goddess for dinner back in November. We walked in, saw the cramped indoor seating and opted to sit outside. One of the waiters told us to sit wherever we pleased outdoors. Upon going back outside, all the tables were dirty or occupied except for one that was directly next to another couple's table. The couple was nice enough to let us sit at that table and we ended up moving it to give both them and us a little bit more privacy. During this time no one from inside came out to help us even though we could see a couple of the waitstaff playing with drinks through the window. After sitting outside for around 10 mins with no one coming back to greet us, we got up, left, and had an amazing dinner at Domenica's.

I hope that I'll get to try the GG's food someday, but I know that I won't be able to convince my husband to come back with me...

[N.O.Food]

We had a similar experience although we stayed for dinner. In a nutshell, the food was great but the service was horrible. They only had one waitor/bartender for the whole restaurant on a Saturday night. Needless to say it was pretty bad.

[nikinik]

On our visit, the service ws very slow, but the server was nice. I would say that it wouldn't keep me from returning, but I would like to have more efficient service when paying those prices.

[kibbles]

that sums up my experience -- great food, but too expensive for the brunch/lunch portions. esp the cocktails. ill do dinner, since i get a few more courses and it seems to work out better.

[kibbles]

my dinner review, which was excellent:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/630344

[roro1831]

I don't understand why you felt they should have offered something on the house for you sitting at the table in the hallway. They offered it to you, you could have declined and waited. I'm sure if you didn't take it, someone else would have.

My friend had the meatloaf sandwich a few weeks ago for lunch and can't wait to head back down there for work in two weeks so he can get it again. He raved about the place.

[nikinik]

Judging by your response...I take it you've never been there. You can't really "wait" as there is barely room to stand in there and turn around. It was freezing cold outside, so there really wasn't any waiting outside.

The hallway is basically a table sitting next to the door you go out to get to the bathroom...and also a soda machine is in the hallway. Also there is a doorway in the hall that leads to outside that the staff used a couple of times...leading to it being also cold in the hallway.

So while we did choose to stay after walking 4 blocks in the cold to come have lunch there....I didn't feel it was the atmosphere that you'd want for a $70 lunch.

But like I said, we chose to stay and the food was VERY good and I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone. But I did feel that something could've been offered in appreciation for us staying and spending $70 to sit in a cold hall next to the bathroom.

[uptownlibrarian]

I agree with you Nikinik. I've sat in that hallway before, luckily when it was nicer weather out, but I can imagine how drafty it would get, in addition to being cramped. If it weren't for the awesome food and the general good-naturedness and well-meaning-edness of the chefs at Green Goddess, that's the sort of thing that could me off a place. It would have been nice for them to comp your cocktails.

[nikinik]

Definitely. The chefs are so nice and I love the inventiveness of the menu...so I'd really love to see the place succeed. And I would recommend it because the food is sooo good. But the drink prices really need to come down and I'd love to see them at a bigger, more comfortable location.