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Cafe Nola
Rating Details »
Category: Cajun/Creole [Edit]
Neighborhood: Society Hill414 S 2nd St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 574-1687
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
11 reviews for Cafe Nola
I really like Cafe Nola and have never found anything wrong with them. My first visit there was with Dining Out for Life a few years back, so not only can I vouch for their food and customer service, but also for their advocacy and fellowship!
The decor is fun, the food is wonderful and unique. The staff is friendly. It's a pretty quiet place considering it's proximity to South Street. I like that it's not packed in there. It's a reliably good time.
This place was terrible...I'm giving it an extra star because the service was nice.
Everything we ordered was bland. Even the A1 they brought us for our steak seemed watered down. I was really disappointed since I was hoping Philly had at least one decent creole (albeit Italian) place.
My dentist recommended this place, and since he was right about flossing, I figured, why not?
The warmth of the restaurant on a cool fall evening was distracting, but otherwise the ambiance was romantic. I'd take a first date here: there are safe choices on the menu, but a couple of adventurous ones, like fried oysters and a couple different kinds of jambalaya if you wanna get crazy!
I unfortunately didn't have too many options given my fish allergy, so I went with the sirloin. It was cooked to my liking, and jrg's ribeye was outstanding. My favorite parts of the meal were the spicy gravy, abundant fresh veggies on the side, and the leftovers we had for dinner on a tired Monday a couple days later.
I'm glad we tried it, but we probably wouldn't go back unless someone paid us...
When you want a place to relax and have a really fabulous drink and talk in a cute cafe, this is your place. This is where we went after it got too loud and annoying in Shouk. We wanted to sit outside and people-watch and drink good beer. I tried a new dark beer, although I forget what it's called now.
It was really empty in the place, but the bartender came right over to us, made sure the outdoor table was sturdy, the chairs were dry, the lamp was lit and greeted us warmly. Our drinks were always full, and on our second round, he even gave us one on the house because he said apparently they "popped" open? I'm not sure what happened, but who's to argue?
Unfortunately, I can't comment on price - cause, like I mentioned, I was on a date and he was a gentleman, but I consider this place a cozy gem and I will be coming back for years to come.
Maybe my experience was colored by my recent trips to New Orleans but NOLA reminded me more of my grandmother's living room than anything in New Orleans. The owner must have a Santa fetish (we went on St Patricks day, nearly three months after Christmas) and it made the decor a little frightening.
The food was reminiscent of a family style restaurant where every entree was served with the same boiled vegetables and rice pilaf to accompany your meat/chicken/fish with unimaginative sauce.
Fine for drinks but you really should look elsewhere for food.
I had never even heard of this place until the other night when a friend suggested we go for a couple drinks and some appetizers. The bar area was not very full for a Friday night, but Nola strikes me as more of a cozy little restaurant than a bar anyway.
We had oysters stuffed with crab meat and this Cajun shrimp thing with rice that was phenomenal.
I'd like to go back for dinner sometime to check out other items on the menu. I never thought New Orleans-type cuisine would be for me, but the Cajun shrimp at Nola has me reconsidering.
Stopped in here lat night for a cocktail before a neighborhood dinner reservation. The bf and I were looking for a non-sport, non-tourist bar in the area, and it fit our bill - dark, quite, and no tvs. The bar itself was cute, though I could see how some could consider it over done. We sat at a lovely white marble bar, and I had a delicious martini with pepper vodka and pickled okra - a first for me. My only complaint was the slow service. We sat for a good 5 minutes before being acknowledged, and it was a while after that before the bartender took our order. He also seemed to be running around and doing table service, so maybe they were short staffed? I'd try it again though for drink (not dinner, they don't have a single vegetarian item!) and maybe I'll come out a bit happier.
You should skip this place. Food is just okay and I'm kinda' waiting for it to close down because I hardly see anyone in there most of the time.
The most unique dish is definitely their "drunken" shrimp, which are drenched with rum butter.
But if you are looking for real Cajun and jambalaya, try Crescent City.
The front door reads "Creole and Italian Cuisine", so they never do claim to be real Cajun eatery. but they have a lot of authentic entrees that are pretty impressive. when I went with my family we didn't have any problem with portions sizes.
it can be fairly empty on most nights as Caitlin said which is a shame because it really does have a great staff and an incredible ambiance. and the bar is stocked with all kinds of Louisiana beer, as well as a lot of other good stuff. definitely give it a try for good spicy seafood dishes.
There seems to be confusion over where this place is, but this here listing is correct for the one I was recently at (Dec 07). Anyway, the food is great, the service is top-notch, and the atmosphere is laid-back and authentic (though a little vacant). I had the Louis Armstrong Trio, which was a delicious medley of meats over rice. I could be wrong, but they only seem to serve New Orleans style drinks, like Hurricanes, Mint Juleps, etc. This isn't usually my style, but is fun and appropriate for the location.
The ambience and the service were great, however the portions (for the price) were rather small. I ordered the catfish, which was great (for catfish), but there wasn't much food to eat. In my group of four, the best dish seemed to be the seafood jambalaya. It tasted great and had a healthy amount of food. My wife ordered the crab ravioli. While it tasted good, it only came with four raviolis for $24 or so. The environment was nice and the staff was excellent, but the taste of the food wasn't enough to make up for the small portions and price.