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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.

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Olivier’s Creole Restaurant

Creole. Seafood.
French Quarter: 204 Decatur. 504-525-7734. Map.
Lunch Tuesday-Saturday. Dinner seven nights.
Casual.
AE DC DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
The food Olivier's serves is exactly what either a local or visiting customer might want to eat in a central French Quarter location like this. Fitting comfortably between the neighborhood cafe and gourmet bistro categories, it's solidly local in its ingredients and flavors, with a jazzy feeling in both the environment and the cooking.

WHY IT'S GOOD
Chef Armand Olivier has branched his cuisine upward over the years, while keeping the sap flowing from his back-o'-town Creole roots. The menu is more adventuresome than those of most casual Creole restaurants in the French Quarter, and does serious work with the likes of rabbit, duck, and seafood. The style is a bit heavier than in comparable restaurants--in some ways the food here reminds me of K-Paul's--but even that is an authentic New Orleans flavor.

BACKSTORY
Olivier's began as a neighborhood cafe in Gentilly. After the second generation of the family took over, it grabbed an opportunity to open in the French Quarter in a space which, by good luck, was across the street from where the House of Blues would later open. The food Olivier's serves is exactly what either a local or visiting customer might want to eat in a location like that.

DINING ROOM
The two-century-old building gives the main dining room tall ceilings, big windows, and the look of a classic New Orleans cafe. It's more opulent inside than you might guess from the exterior. A renovation in December 2009 made the place sparkle.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Crabmeat-stuffed mushrooms.
Pecan-breaded oysters.
Gumbo sampler (three versions).
Braised rabbit with oyster dressing.
Crawfish etouffee.
Fried seafood platter.
Pork medallions with sweet and hot sauce.
Roasted duck breast with raspberry port sauce.
Beef bourguignonne.
Jambalaya with fried catfish.
Bread pudding.
Peach cobbler.

FOR BEST RESULTS
Get that rabbit. A dinner here without gumbo is like jazz without a trumpet.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The appetizer section is weaker than it should be, and used to be.

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

ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
Olivier's will be open Christmas Day from 2 p.m. till 9 p.m., with a special menu for $48.

This review was updated with new information on 12/23/2009.

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