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Tony Moran's Restaurant
3 reviews for Tony Moran's Restaurant
This place is a breath of fresh air (literally), on what is an otherwise very unattractive street. Coming into here simply as an escape from the stumbling drunks, loud obnoxious people and pervading scent of urine and vomit, is a good idea just by itself.
Thankfully, once inside, I found the service and food to be rather exceptional. I did not go to Bourbon St. looking for Italian food, but once I starting eating, I was glad to be there. The breadsticks are great. The best breadsticks I have ever had. The drinks are very nice, and the main course was certainly the best Italian I have experienced. It's almost strange to find a place this good, with such a high quality atmosphere and overall dining experience located right in the sewer that is downtown New Orleans.
If you ever find yourself wandering down Bourbon street, getting accosted by prostitutes, and thinking to yourself "I'm hungry", or "How do I get out of here?", stop by Tony Moran's. They will treat you like family, even if you are not Italian.
I don't know what we were thinking when we decided to eat here. We were on Bourbon and hungry and noticed that there were 3 restaurants on the map nearby. We wandered over to check out the menu and some guy out front in a suit is telling me they are famous for and have the best Fettuccine Alfredo. I busted his chops and told him it couldn't be any better than having Fettuccine Alfredo at the original Alfredo's in Rome.
Obviously, I wasn't expecting it to be phenomenal but I had higher expectations than the same stuff they serve at Olive Garden except at 3 times the price.
3 people
2 appetizers
3 entrees
a round of drinks
over $150
I gave them a second star only because our waiter was the bees knees. He was also super helpful for "must sees" since it was our first time in the French Quarter.
anyway, two days later we pulled into Denny's looking for something quick and cheap.
As we sat around the table with full bellies about to pay our bill, my friend says:
"is it sad that I enjoyed this meal much more than that place on Bourbon Street the other night?"
The Decider is breaking his normal policy of sticking to reviews of restaurants in Los Angeles to provide a description of Tony Moran's in New Orleans. Ate here recently while in town on business (it was not my choice of restaurant) and really had no clue as to what I was in for because, alas, there was no prior review of Moran's on Yelp. So I'm hoping to make sure some other sucker doesn't get put in a similar spot in the future.
Located on Bourbon Street in the heart of the French Quarter, Tony Moran's is a typical overpriced tourist trap of a restaurant that you should avoid at all costs. The cuisine is Italian, but aside from the general fact that you shouldn't come to Bourbon Street jonesing for Italian food, this place can't manage to plate a decent dish. We had some appetizer with fried disks of eggplant, which tasted of spoiled oil and spoiled breading. Just disgusting. They also use that COSTCO type shredded parmesan cheese that never really melts and is just undescribably lazy and nasty. Someone at the table ordered chicken parmesan and the nasty cheese was on top of that too. I tried to play it "safe" and ordered a linguine with shrimp, garlic and olive oil. The thing comes out swimming in oil. Nobody approaches the table to offer some fresh grated cheese or even some pepper. With entrees priced at the touristy $20-$35 bucks, you'd expect and deserve more. This place needs a major overhaul. On top of it all, the service was incredibly slow. You're better off just eating at the Hustler club across the street. At least the results will match the expectations.
Given all that's happened in New Orleans in recent years, I really hate bagging on any business that's still open there and still trying to make a run at it. But that's still no excuse for being this lazy about one's menu and having a kitchen seeminly not try to be respectable. There's far too many better restaurants within a block of Tony Moran's to get away with such a mess here. So reluctantly, the Decider suggests going elsewhere for dinner...try the ACME Oyster House around the corner, it's much better.
