Pascal's Manale

I went to Pascal's for a celebratory lunch. My guest and I were really looking forward to this dining experience. This very popular New Orleans restaurant is full of Nostalgia from the many photos on the wall to the somewhat dated but charming decor. We were greeted immediately but it took a while for our order to be taken and for our food to actually come out. Our server was kind but maybe just a little overwhelmed even though it wasn't that busy. In any case, all was forgiven when the food finally came out because it was sooo yummy. I ordered the Frutta Del Mare, a pasta dish with red sauce and a ton of seafood. It was delicious and I had leftovers to enjoy for later. My guest had a lighter appetite and had a dozen of the charbroiled oysters and a ton of bread. The oysters were perfect. I'm glad I finally made it here and I for sure would come back for that Frutta del Mare.

We were in town and met some family at this restaurant. I've never been but had heard about it for 35 years. To say it was a disappointment would be an understatement. We had a 1pm reservation and arrived early. It took 15 minutes to be seated as the hostess was alone and overwhelmed with gift card purchases. Finally seated and took at least 15 min for our waiter to appear. I could go on and on. Soda and tea took 10 min to arrive and were never refilled until we literally flagged down anyone walking byOur side plates were dirty which we all just wiped down because we were afraid to wait another 20 min for new ones. Appetizers took 30 min and didn't arrive together. Then another 20 for salads? And when the meals arrived they "auctioned" them off forgetting who had ordered what even though 4 of the 6 had shrimp and grits. Shrimp and grits was almost inedible. Little flavor, overcooked and rubbery shrimp and grits were clumpy and tasteless. Fried eggplant was good. Calamari was ok but arrived room temp. Service was basically terrible and the food wasn't even mediocre. In a city known for its food, we feel like we wasted a meal eating here. If you've been coming here consistently for years and enjoy it that's great. If you've never been and want to try it skip it. Hugely disappointing.

Came here with my bestie for her 40th birthday celebration with two other friends. We all traveled to NOLA for the occasion and this restaurant was particularly special for my bestie as it was her dad's favorite restaurant and he had brought her here as a child. When we got to the restaurant we were seated at a 4 top table in a room that was so cold it was like walking into a walk-in fridge. Our table ended up being right next to the wall vent as well with air blowing directly on me. It was uncomfortably cold, not only for me right next to the vent but for my bestie and our other friend who was in the pathway of the air. So one of my friends who is currently pregnant and was actually wearing a sweater went up to host stand and nicely asked if perhaps we could be moved or if something could happen with the air. The host said to her "You're cold wearing that sweater?" WHAT? She said no, that her friends wearing dresses were right next to the vent. They did come over and turn down the air and bring my a throw blanket to drape over me so I do appreciate that but holy cow, questioning a pregnant guest about how they could be cold in their attire?! It just got worse from there.It took us at least 10 minutes to be greeted by our server Keith and given menus. And that's being generous. It felt like an eternity. Then it was at least another 15 minutes before he came back to get drink orders but we had already decided what we were getting and things were taking so long we felt we needed to order everything. He seemed annoyed that we wanted to order right away. We ordered the eggplant appetizer. My friend ordered the baked casserole dish to which there was an awkward exchange between my friend and Keith about if she was sure she wanted that. My bestie got the bbq shrimp, I got the veal piccata and my other friend got the other veal dish. I ordered a glass of rosé, my friend got a glass of Chardonnay and my bestie and other friend got NA beers. We got a plate of butter and then 10 minutes later a paper bag of barely warm bread that was cracker hard. The butter was good.Finally Keith comes back and says that to be transparent our food was going to take awhile. Okay fine. But they weren't particularly busy but my bestie and I work in the industry and we realize there's a lot behind the scenes that guests don't see and maybe there was some kind of situation. It's fine. But here's the thing...dead glassware wasn't ever cleared, bread plates weren't cleared. It was so awkward because I ordered another glass of wine and he brings it to me and leaves the empty one right there. They put down our appetizer without any serving utensils so we had to use our silverware to grab it which was difficult to do for my friends with their empty beer bottles in the way. I will say that this appetizer was incredible, piping hot and delicious. I should have just gotten that as an entree. Our food just wasn't great. Everything was lukewarm, except for my friends casserole dish that was so hot she couldn't even enjoy it. My veal picatta was tiny and the breading was soggy. The sauce was watery. It didn't have a lot of flavor. My other friends breaded veal was rock hard. I tasted the bbq shrimp. All you could taste was black pepper. There was no complexity to the flavor of the broth at all. Finally we ordered dessert. We got the bread pudding and chocolate mousse. Both were delicious but when my bestie asked for extra sauce for the bread pudding Keith said something along the lines of "I dont know if we can because the kitchen is shutting down " but came through.Again, we work in the industry. The correct response would have been "let me see what I can do for you". By the time we were done the restaurant was empty and they were VACUUMING!!! Are you serious?!?? First of all, our reservation was for 7:30. We didn't start eating our appetizer until 8:25. It was not OUR fault that we ended up there later, and to have staff shutting down around us with a vacuum is like insult to injury. When she wanted to buy another shirt to replace the one that was her dads that she wears to sleep in every night she got an audible sigh. ARE YOU KIDDING?I was fuming leaving that restaurant and I was trying to stay positive for her sake but we work together in fine dining and I know she was thinking exactly what I was and she was upset she brought us there and it was HER 40th birthday!!! There was no candle. There was a vacuum. My friend was questioned when talking about how cold it was, service was the slowest I've ever seen for an unpacked restaurant, the food was overpriced for what we got, and this restaurant that holds sentimental value to my best friend is now tarnished and she still feels bad that went there. She will never go back.Y'all need to read Unreasonable Hospitality because y'all dropped the ball.

Make your group reservation in advance, but come early and meet in the bar first for a drink and succulent oysters from the best shucker in the world. In the dining room: "bbq" shrimp, fish of the day, anything Italian.

A New Orleans institution, old school classic place. Theres a parking lot and easy to find. On the outside doesn't look like much but inside the place is huge. Gives old school vibes and good classic service from the staff. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Came for the barbecue shrimp, its a bit of work to eat but very tasty and unique flavor to new orleans. My favorite thing was actually the gumbo which was so rich in flavor. Nice old school experience, enjoyed it.

My father really encouraged us to come here. He had lived here for many years and advised us this was the place. In the maze of rooms we were seated in a smaller room in front, which was nice. It never felt crowded or noisy. Our server Susie eventually came around and was prompt to ask us if we wanted drinks and appetizers and the promise of warm bread. Ultimately their warm bread is bread in a white paper bag. It wasn't warm enough to melt butter. Each table was delivered the same white bag of bread. It really is wasteful to use so many bags when a traditional presentation of warm bread in. basket is more effective. We decided on cocktails and the Combination Remoulade, advertised as crab meat and shrimp topped with golden remoulade sauce and a ring of spicy cocktail sauce. For dinner I gave into the calling for Original Pascal's Barbeque Shrimp, the specialty of the house prepared in a spicy and tangy sauce. My wife had the special, red fish stuffed with crab and shrimp with a spicy cream sauce. It came with steamed veggies. The Combination Remoulade wasn't as promised. It was shrimp and crabmeat on lettuce with their version of remoulade. On the side a plastic dressing container with seafood sauce that wasn't spicy but rather tasted like they had opened a jar and poured it in. My wife liked the remoulade a lot. I thought it was pickle forward and tasted a lot like tartar sauce, which she likes as well. The biggest detractor for this was that the shrimp were not cleaned, the telltale black line down the back of each was still obvious. My wife's fish was nice, and a nice mix of flavors. The spicy element was jalapeño that appeared in small chunks in the cream sauce. Easy for her to avoid, but that telltale grassy taste was evident. On the side she had plain, unseasoned steamed vegetables. Clearly an afterthought since the literally like came out of the steamer and on to the plate without any thought to flavor. For my entree, the flavor of the shrimp sauce was delicious, but tangy is not a word I would use, and absolutely not spicy. Even my wife, a verified spice wimp, would not use the word spicy. The huge bummer here is that they charge you $28 for a plate of shrimp, offer you a bib and a pile of napkins, and bring you a bowl/plate of unprepared shrimp in liquid. Yeah, I knew what I was signing up for and ordered it anyway. I have peeled a lot of shrimp and crawfish in my life and none were this soupy or difficult. Peeling and deveining them all made my meal unappetizing and not worth it. It was tempting to sop up the sauce with bread, but there were so many legs and antenna and, like the remoulade, bits of shell. The thought of carrying that to my mouth on the bread made that much less temptingSo, we have done it. We can check it off the list. We had bbq shrimp at Pascal's Menale. Happy to say I will leave tables for others in the future, I don't need to go back.

This place needs to be renovated and spruced up. It smells old and feels old ( and not in a nice "old way").The food was decent but not spectacular. Kudos for service, our waiter was attentive and efficient

Went for the husband's birthday, it was his choice to try and I was excited because it's been on my list. We had reservations for a Tuesday afternoon, I recommend making reservations because it got busy fast. We showed up a little early hoping to sit at the bar but it was packed, I assume due to happy hour that ends at 6. We were seated right at our time of reservation. The decor is classic New Orleans, very old school and comfortable. I had the Bbq Shrimp which is their specialty. Just what I expected, a bowl of messy goodness! Perfectly seasoned, a little spicy but not over done. My husband had the grilled fish special with peeled Bbq shrimp on top, a good option if you don't want your fingers messy. The only reason for the 4 stars is the service was a bit slow, it took a while to get empty drinks picked up and order new. I don't blame my server for that though, she was very busy. They were most likely a bit under staffed at the time.

Guys, this was one of the biggest appointments in my lifetime. I used to love this place. They became famous for barbecue shrimp with the dish that I had there yesterday deserve to be in the trash, which is where it went because I sent it back and they were decent enough to take it off the bill, but for that to be the dish that you became famous for? That's inexcusable. One of my other favorite dishes used to be turtle soup. This tasted like water and not the good kind. The floor was dirty. The service was pathetic. The ceiling was leaking and the wallpaper was peeling. They need to tear this building down and start over the next time hire a real chef.

10/10 experience. Food and ambiance was incredible and Braden was amazing. I will definitely be back!