Bistro at the Maison de Ville

This restaurant had a cosy (for which read cramped) dining room that had an appealing café atmosphere, with red banquettes along one side of the room in French brasserie style. Service was distracted but everything actually happened correctly, almost against the odds. Crawfish rémoulade was pleasant enough (12/20) but a tomato and asparagus salad was a joke (10/20), with a couple of slices of supermarket tomato and some none-too-al dente asparagus.

A dish of barbecued shrimp was cooked reasonably well but did not seem very fresh (12/20) while an ahi tuna dish was also cooked properly with acceptable vegetables but the overall plate of food lacked any interest. A chocolate crème brûlée was actually quite nice (13/20) but the prices here are much the same as the good places in New Orleans. Though this restaurant once spawned some famous chefs, it is well past its sell-by date.