REVIEW - Bayona

Saturday night we had a group celebrating my good friend's bachelorette party. We wanted to start the evening with a nice dinner before the Bourbon street madness/scavenger hunt began.

The dinner was at Bayona. I had been a couple of times, but honestly, it's been over 10 years since my last visit. It pretty much fell off of my radar because I hear so many mixed reviews.

When it comes to atmosphere, Bayona is perfect. Old school New Orleans feel, dim lighting, and a beautiful courtyard.

The service was kind and efficient, but I did think it was a little pushy when our waitress told us twice that she recommends not splitting because an appetizer and an entrée per person will be enough food for one. I get that she wanted us to know this, but once we decided to split a few things because we'd have a long night ahead of us, then it should've been left at that. She was not suffering at all when it came to tip because we were all drinking. (Final total was $85 per person after tip)

Bayona fell really flat when it come to the most important component of dining out...the food.

I decided that since we'd be running all over Bourbon Street, and further drinking, that I'd just get appetizers instead of an entrée. I started with a cheese plate. It was just o.k. Nothing special at all. Just three average cheeses and a few crackers and 4 tiny squares of some sort of fruit.

Next I had the special tomatillo soup. It was really good. I got a cup, and ended up wishing I had gotten a bowl because it was the best thing that I ate there.

For my entrée, I ordered the appetizer size of the sweetbreads. I absolutely love sweetbreads! It was described on the menu as being topped with a lemon caper butter. I was surprised when I received it to see that it looked almost like a goulash. There were chunks of potatoes in it, and the same squares of fruit that were on my cheese plate. It tasted nothing of butter or capers. I could distinguish 3 capers in it. The sweetbreads themselves were dry and bland. It just wasn't good at all. A huge disappointment.

I tried a bite of the osso bucco entrée that my friend ordered. It was very bland, and that was after I saw her add a good dose of salt to it.

I'm wondering if their food is so bland because their clientele is 90% over the age of 60.

I opted out of dessert, but tried a bite of others. They were good, but not great.

I left feeling very underwhelmed. I feel like maybe Bayona is an old school New Orleans restaurant that is now just resting on its reputation. There are just too many restaurants to choose from for me to ever return to Bayona...and many of them at a much lower price point.

Food: C-
Atmosphere: A
Service: B
Value: C