I’ll admit that I rarely dine in the French Quarter (with the exception of our beloved Mr. B’s). Not because there aren’t great restaurants in the area but mainly because many of the places are overly touristy and well plain and simple I don’t like Southern fried food. There I said it.
But when friends and family are in town and you have spent the day walking around the quarter with the water bottle being your best friend, you will get hungry and will end up eating anywhere and anything in site. On this particular day, I was showing around my cousin who had travelled all the way from Switzerland to be a part of our wedding day. Hungry and famished we found ourselves at the Royal House Oyster Bar.
Perhaps we went at an odd time in the day (around 4 p.m.) but the place was half empty. We asked to sit upstairs on the balcony. The second floor was emptier. Yet it took a good 15 minutes for someone to greet us at our table. Apparently they hadn’t noticed us sitting on the balcony. The ambiance: dull at best. It wasn’t the happiest of places I’ve visited in the quarter.
Cousin hates raw oysters and rarely eats fried food in Europe and I was on a pre-wedding health cleanse. That really limited our choices. I begged Cousin to try a po-boy while she was in town and so she ordered the fried shrimp po-boy with a side of fries. As for myself, I ordered a cup of gumbo and a blackened grilled shrimp salad.
The cup of gumbo was your average tasty gumbo; however, lacked anything special to make it memorable.
The shrimp po-boy, I was told was good. I’m not a fan of po-boys! I’m probably one of the only people living in the South that doesn’t enjoy a good po-boy. Maybe its because I’ve never had an exquisite mouth watering one down here. But every time I have had it, I haven’t really enjoyed it much. Perhaps its the combination of all that white bread and fried meat that has led me to dislike it so much. I like my sandwiches on the healthier side and definitely not fried.
The salad was good. The sauce was ordered on the side which I hoped meant that it was a bit healthier. Overall, I can’t say that I was impressed by our meal. Perhaps those going for their oysters have a different opinion, after all it is called the Royal House Oyster Bar and maybe that is what they specialize in. As for the rest, I am not so sure.
