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Shrimp remoulade.

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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.

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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.

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Mandina’s

Neighborhood Cafe.
Mid-City: 3800 Canal. 504-482-9179. Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously seven days.
Nice Casual
No credit cards! ATM on premises.
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
Say the words "neighborhood restaurant," and Mandina's comes to most Orleanians' minds. Even after the Katrina-forced total renovation, the place was the precise look and feel of a restaurant where you could order almost any dish with a New Orleans accent and get at least a pretty good version of it, from poor boys to trout Lafitte. Good enough to put up with the crowds, the cash-only policy, and other inconveniences.

WHY IT'S GOOD
Mandina's cooks certain dishes so well that it's easy to ignore the many things it doesn't. Come here for red beans on Monday, a roast beef poor boy, a fried seafood platter, soft-shell crabs amandine, turtle soup, or a dozen other specialties (many of which run as daily specials), and you can't help but leave happy. Especially if you had a drink or two at the bar while waiting for a table. On the other hand, don't ask whether the trout is fresh or frozen, whether that's turtle in the turtle soup. If it tastes good, it is good. Especially at these prices. On top of that, portion sizes are oversize to an absurd degree.

BACKSTORY
It began as a grocery store operated by Sebastian Mandina, a Sicilian immigrant, in 1898. It evolved into a pool hall and sandwich shop. In 1932 Sebastian's two sons turned the building into a restaurant, with their families living upstairs. Although it's always served a lot of Italian food, by the 1960s it cooked mostly New Orleans-style dishes. Hurricane Katrina put many feet of water into the building, which at first appeared to require demolition. The customers persuaded third-generation owner Tommy Mandina to repair it instead. While waiting for that to be done (it took a year and a half), Mandina's opened two branches, one in Baton Rouge (now closed) and another in Mandeville (a franchise). Lately another franchise has opened in Slidell. The North Shore locations as less good and have shorter menus than the Canal Street original.

DINING ROOM
Although the layout and look changed with the renovation, the essential elements are still in place. You enter from the side into the bar, most of the time is loaded with old guys in suits who may still be there after you wait, dine, and leave. The main dining room is bigger (because the old back one was eliminated), with windows onto Canal Street blocked only by the neon signs in them. A smaller dining room in a 1990s addition to the building is pleasant but lacks the soul of the front room. Some of the old waiters are still there, but for the most part its younger, more agreeable people now.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Fried eggplant sticks.
Shrimp remoulade.
Crab fingers in wine sauce.
Oyster and artichoke soup.
Turtle soup.
Seafood gumbo.
Italian salad.
Fried seafood platters: oysters, shrimp, catfish, or soft-shell crab.
Grilled shrimp or fish.
Soft-shell crab or trout meuniere or amandine.
Broiled or fried chicken.
Filet mignon.
Hamburger steak.
Spaghetti and Italian sausage.
Roast beef poor boy.
Daily specials, especially:
Red beans with Italian sausage (Monday).
Beef stew (Tuesday).
Braciolone (Thursday).
Stuffed crab (Friday).
Crabmeat au gratin (Sunday).
Bread pudding.
Cup custard.

FOR BEST RESULTS
To avoid a wait for a table, dine between standard meal hours, or later in the evening. Avoid all the Italian dishes. Come with a thirst for a cocktail and a pocketful of cash.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The non-acceptance of credit cards is ridiculous. Time to move on. The Mandeville restaurant needs something to give a neighborhood feeling.

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 1/14/2010.

A list of all 300 full, current reviews is here.