Cafe Maspero
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504-523-6250
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03/12/09
Always good food and plenty of it. Huge sandwiches, good value shrimp platter, and always a favorite when my family goes to New Orleans. Prices are great, too.
The price for the amount of food makes this place alright. The food was pretty good (small size red beans and rice & entre sized jambalay) and the server was personable.
However, we waited quite a while for a server to greet our table, then waited a while for her to brink drinks, then to bring our food, and finally to bring our check. We gave up on asking for drink refills and carry-out boxes and decided to leave as soon as we could get the check. I work in the food service industry so I am usually tolerant of so-so service but the amount of time we spent waiting for each step of our meal was ridiculous.
If you want some decent inexpensive food and have A LOT of time to wait this place isn't a bad choice.
Cafe Maspero is not a high class restaurant, it doesn't pretend to be. What it is, however, is one hell of a sandwich shop. The menu is fairly standard, but the portions are not. If you want a pound of roast beef on your burn for around $6 Maspero is the way to go.
A favorite as a return visitor to New Orleans. Wonderful rustic, vintage and casual atmosphere:unplastered brick, exposed beams. Plenty of opportunities to people-watch with floor to ceiling windows lining the dining area. Reasonably priced. Common and popular French Quarter fare here, one of my favorites is the muffalettas w/steak fries. They are smaller compared to other places, but generous with the sandwich meat and fixings. I'm a return customer since the mid 1990s. I've tried muffalettas at Johnny's Poboys (great) and Central Grocery (not bad but overrated) and I enjoy them here as well Friendly staff. Restaurant/Bar.
Cafe Maspero is a good place for reasonably-priced, generously-portioned New Orleans dishes. The restaurant is really big with loads of seating, but, depending on the day and time, you might have to wait in line. We were there around 3:30 or 4 PM during the week and there was barely anyone else there. A couple of days later (on the weekend), we walked by and the line was out the door! The waitress was nice and the service prompt. We ordered the seafood platter (fried shrimp, calamari, oysters, and catfish), and jambalaya--really good! I forget the prices exactly, but I know it wasn't expensive. The atmosphere is casual and friendly.
wHEN MY MOM SAYS WHO WANTS SEAFOOD, I QUICKLY RESPOND WITH CAFE MASPERO. I WAS 10 YEARS OLD WHEN MY MOM FIRST TOOK ME THERE AND AFTER 7 YEARS LATER, I'VE BEEN RECOMENDING MY FRIENDS TO GO THERE. SURE SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO WAIT IN A LONG LINE, BUT IT IS SURELY WORTH THE WAIT. ALOT OF NEW ORLEANS FOLK LOVE TO COME ALL DA WAY TO THE FRENCH QUARTER TO GET A KICK OUT OF WHAT CAFE MASPERO HAS TO OFFER. I WILL BE THER ON SUNDAY FOR MY 17TH BIRTHDAY TO SHARE WITH MY FRIENDS THE FOOD I LOVE THE MOST!! THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL SERVICE CAFE MASPERO!
After getting advice from a friend that grew up in New Orleans to go to this restaurant for sure, we took his advice. This friend now lives in the Midwest now and I don't know how to tell him that this was by far the worst restaurant food we've ever had the misfortune to order. We waited in the long line (2 p.m.) 10 min - easy just to seat the two of us. Our waitress quickly took drink and food orders. We ordered appetizer portions of red beans/rice and jambalaya both served what looked like garlic toast. Couldn't eat the toast because it was so tough and spread with a artificial margarine like product(how do you mess up garlic toast?) or the red beans (nasty). Jambalaya was edible, but nothing to repeat. We also choose to split the seafood platter - we devoured the french fries, which were really good, but the rest was again inedible - cold and flavorless. Such a waste of an eating opportunity!! We were really tempted to tell the people waiting in line, that we passed on our way out, to turn around and head elsewhere.....maybe we should have?
Remmber to eat a ""Cafe Maspero"" when the line is short. We always get there at 11:00 am and the tood is fresh. The staff is great when they open!
The Seafood platter is great ! Thus all the oyster and shrimp buns are fantastic. They have a full range of other foods on the menu.
Get the special in a cold mug or order the ""Abita Amber"" Beer..... Why drink anything else. They have a little Daquiri for ladies they taste great....
Well back to work in Texas till Thanksgiving when we make our stop at Cafe Maspero and get coffee in the morning at Cafe du Monde. Visit the French Market early it is cooler....
Tourist Trap, Waitstaff and doormen are extremely rude. Would not let our 12 member party sit together despite having large tables open. Doormen told us to deal with it or go eat somewhere else. Its a sandwich shop. Fried seafood is terrible. $1 daquiris taste like Slush-Puppies from 7/11. Not worth the wait.
The long line of folks waiting to enter this establishment was very misleading. We expected this to be THE place to eat. I had the fried shrimp plate and my boyfriend had the catfish plate. Both dishes were very disappointing and neither had any of the flavor one would expect to find in New Orleans. I would never suggest this place to anyone. Try the Crescent City Brew House. It's not inexpesive but the food was excellent and the live music was enjoyable. The Crabmeat Stuffed Shrimp was to die for!! And their home brewed beers were pretty good too.
My god, I've been going to this restaurant and raving about it for twenty years. I am used to enjoying a friendly atmosphere, with reasonablly good service, pretty dang good food, with not to long a wait. On a visit to New Orleans last Saturday night, I insisted that we all go eat at my favorite and was truley disapointed and embarrased.
We ordered a burger that was too dry and small, a mufalotta that was thin and dry, and two seafood platters that were over cooked and took literally over an hour to be served. When I inquired about the wait, the staff was rude, unapologetic, and said that's just the way it was with a seafood platter order. Maybe the hour wait should have been posted on the menu. I know that good help is hard to find, post Katrina, but my wife never wants to go back. That hurts me and Maspero's. Sorry, good by.
Stick with Deanie's and Jack Dempsey's for seafood. The food was as close to raw as the day it was caught. Tasteless and just plain NASTY. Very disappointing. Not a good representation of New Orleans cuisine at all. The corner grocery stores do a much better job, for far less!
It's a tourist restraurant. The daiquiri's are a deal at a dollar & yes, they have alcohol (you're not supposed to taste the alcohol in girlie drinks, people.) It's an in & out kinda place. The food is cheap, but inconsistent.
Hey, you get what you pay for.
While the cheap daquiris are cold and delicious, I am unsure as to how much booze they contain. My muffaleta reminded me of Arby's, the jambalya was mostly overcooked rice, and ther grilled cheese came ungrilled, on a hamburger bun. The food was haphazard and cold, with neither flavor nor spice, save too much salt. Your kids might like this place, but they would also like McDonalds.
Every time I visit New Orleans, I have to eat at this place. THe Muffalettas are the best anywhere. One of these whit fries and a berr is like heaven. I hope to return this JUne. I can already feel the olive dressing dripping dowm my chin
I ordered calimari based upon another reviewer's recommendation. A giant plate of fried calimari arrived, only 1 problem: it was tough, chewy, tough, chewy. The fried oysters were better... my wife thought they tasted mediocre too.
This is a good place for lunch or when you want to give you wallet a rest. The food is mainly fried and it pretty much tastes the same if you order something fried. Avoid the jambalaya as it is mostly starch. Red beans and rice were decent. Cheap beer. Decent muffaletta but definitely not as good as Central Grocery.
This place has THE BEST muffaletta in NOLA. Its bigger and is the best priced! The service is ok becuase this place is always so packed. But if your alone or just for two and happen to have a chance to sit at the bar to eat then do it. Service is better at the bar.
This is certainly the place to go if you want great food, and a lot of it. The sandwidches are immense, particularly the chicken or catfish. The food is all very fresh. We ate there twice, and would have done so more had we found it earlier. :)
This place was one of the first places I took my wife when we were dating. Growing up around New Orleans, I have enjoied Maspero's more than a few times... mostly after a hard night of dinking. Their best sandwich, which isn't on the menu, is an open faced roastbeef and gravy! Superb... I haven't found it's rival!
- Hours
- Regular Hours
Mon - Sun: - Categories
- American Restaurants, Coffee Shops, Family Style Restaurants, Restaurants
- Price Range
- $$
- Neighborhoods
- French Quarter, French Quarter - CBD
- Other Link
- Other Information
Parking: Street
Wi-Fi: Free
Bike Parking: Yes
Attire: Casual
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Cuisines: Family Style, American, Cafeterias
Alcohol: Full Bar
Takes Reservations: No
Outdoor Seating: No
Price Range : Average
Pets Allowed: No