Ralph's on the Park - review

So Mrs. Debaser and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary. I've made plans for that that she does not know about (it's tomorrow), but to satisfy her this weekend we made a reservation at Ralph's on the Park. Our go-to on occasions such as these is usually Mr. B's - but they had a private party and closed at 12:30 on Sunday. So I called up Ralph's - always wanted to go there.

First of all - the place is beautiful. Great view of the park and oak trees.

We are seated right away. There are jingle bells on the chairs - the wife loves that for this time of year. There is a happy anniversary message printed on the menu. We are offered cocktails and they arrive right away. Restaurant is about half-full.

We order up some apps. Dishevelved shrimp, lamb spare ribs and crab begniets. All were done nicely and were tasty. We also had 2 orders of biscuits - fantastic, fluffy, light.

The service started to slack off a bit as the restaurant began to fill.

For main course wife ordered and eggs benedict/ crabmeat sardu dish. The crabmeat was fishy.

I ordered a steak that was overcooked. I switched with my son who like a well done steak - he had the chicken and waffles. This dish was ok. The chicken was a ham wrapped thigh that was fried. The outside texture was not crispy. It came with some fried boudin balls that were good but a bit soggy.

My oldest ordered shrimp & grits and really liked it. Shrimp were served heads on in a brown gravy with mid sections peeled. I like this presentation.

2 deserts were ordered for sharing. Creme BRule' and banana pudding. Both were done very well.

Overall, the "wow" factor of the room and our treatment overcame the lackluster main courses, so I will return to Ralph's on the Park for another event - type meal - but from a food standpoint - there are too many other NOLA restaurants that are far, far superior to this one.

On a side note, the bar area is really cool and I really would not have minded waiting in here for a table for about 15-20 minutes.