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Restaurant Ratings

The ratings are based mostly on the degree to which the food excites us, and a little on environment, service, and other considerations. I rate restaurants relative to all other restaurants in the New Orleans area. Here's what the stars mean to me:

starstarstarstarstar
Among the best locally.

starstarstarstar
Excellent and ambitious.

starstarstar
Worth crossing town for.

starstar
Recommended.

*
Acceptable.

No star
Unacceptable.

Cost Ratings
Each dollar sign indicates a ten-dollar range, including a normal meal for the restaurant (dinner, if they serve other meals), not including drinks, or tips. So, for example. . .

1$--$5-15
2$--$15-25
3$--$25-35

. . . and so on, with no upper limit. While this scheme may suggest mathematical precision, know that perception of price varies from diner to diner as much as the star ratings do. So consider this an estimate.

All reviews are based entirely on meals I have personally taken at the restaurant and paid for from my own pocket. I don't take free review meals, nor am I reimbursed by anybody for my restaurant expenditures.

starstar
pricebar

Columbia Street Tap Room

Sandwiches. Seafood. Bar food.
Covington: 434 N Columbia . 985- 898-0899 . Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously Monday-Saturday.
Very Casual.
AE DC DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
Although the name suggests otherwise, this is a full-fledged New Orleans-style neighborhood restaurant whose menu reaches far beyond the limits of bar food. But the place remains a party hangout, with live music and a crowd on the young side, particularly late on weekends. As befits the name, here are some thirty beers on top--some rather exotic.

WHY IT'S GOOD
While many hamburgers and other sandwiches fill the tables alongside platters of fried seafood and chicken wings, the daily specials show unexpected skill on the part of the kitchen. They buy good groceries (the beef for the hamburgers and the fish in the daily specials, for example) and cook them with close attention. Prices are at the low end of the neighborhood restaurant scale, with even the most elaborate specials holding at $15 or less.

BACKSTORY
The building dates back to 1906, when it was a hotel with a saloon underneath. Ninety years later, it opened under its present name and the saloon aspect still in force. After a few years and a bad fire, Steve Ahrons restored the building, a courtyard was added, and the menu extended to that of a well-rounded neighborhood restaurant.

DINING ROOM
The door on the corner admits a small amount of light into what's mostly a dark, brick-walled room. Modern air conditioning ducts take something away from the antique feeling lent by the high ceilings, but hey--it's a bar. When the joint is jumping it can be crowded and loud. A lot of people working at the courthouse a few blocks away come here for lunch.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Fried or Buffalo-style calamari or shrimp.
Fried chicken tenders.
Buffalo wings.
Daily soup specials.
Caesar salad variations.
Hamburgers (many possible configurations).
Fried catfish, oyster, or shrimp poor boy.
Roast beef poor boy.
Grilled chicken poor boy.
Catfish Lafayette (crawfish and mushroom cream sauce).
Hamburger steak with onions.
Fried seafood platters.
Daily specials, especially those involving seafood.
White chocolate bread pudding.

FOR BEST RESULTS
Underorder. The hamburgers and platters are huge. A meal could be made out of the appetizers or salads. The nightly specials may seem overly ambitious, but the chef really can pull off the likes of frog legs or oyster-artichoke soup.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
When the bands get going, it's too loud in here. But where is that not true?

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

This review was updated with new information on 3/1/2010.

A list of over 320 full, current reviews is here.