re: Ate at Peche this weekend for wife's graduation

Had a very similar experience Easter weekend. Was my first time at Peche and brought some family from out of town.


Food was good, but service was horrible. After being seated for a 7:00 reservation, it was 7:20 before our first round of drinks (wine, beer, and one cocktail) arrived and the waitress took our appetizer order. No one came back to take our entree order until after the empty appetizer plates sat on the table for a good ten minutes.

It was 845 before our meals arrived. By that time we had a few bites and asked for to-go boxes.

I’ve always heard great things about the place but it will be hard to justify going back anytime soon.

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We also got the fried bread, hush puppies, and tuna dip which were pretty good. We had a reservation and were seated at the set time of 1:30. Didn’t get food till 3. It was packed. I’m just stating it took a hot minute and it was a negative for me.

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It wasn't two hours. Did you get any food at all before 3?

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Judging places for meals during busy times and on the tail end of a pandemic is probably not the most fair

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This argument doesn’t hold a lot of water when the restaurants are not allowed to have more than 50% capacity.

It doesn’t matter what time of day or special event is going on, 20 minutes is not an acceptable time for a first round of drinks, and I imagine Peche’s management would agree.

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Easter weekend

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Seafood restaurant.

Pandemic.

Restaurants short of staff.

Long waits are frustrating to say the least, but I agree that judging places, particularly in New Orleans, over a holiday during a pandemic in which it's well known that restaurants are struggling to find employees probably shouldn't be as harsh as during normal times.

Again, I ask if staff offered any explanation for the time lag?

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This argument doesn’t hold a lot of water when the restaurants are not allowed to have more than 50% capacity.

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Seafood restaurant.

Pandemic.

Restaurants short of staff.

Long waits are frustrating to say the least, but I agree that judging places, particularly in New Orleans, over a holiday during a pandemic in which it's well known that restaurants are struggling to find employees probably shouldn't be as harsh as during normal times.

Again, I ask if staff offered any explanation for the time lag?

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No explanation. Server was honestly surprised when we asked for the check and to-go boxes. We didn’t cause a stink, ask for a manager or demand comps.

I’ve worked in bars, restaurants and as a caterer for events with a few thousand attendees. I’m aware of what proper service is. I’m also aware of the difficulties posed by being short-staffed and holiday weekends.

A 20 minute wait for a first drink, not doing a single table check during any course, and waiting until ten minutes after a portion of the meal is finished before taking the next order simply isn’t good service.

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Apps yes and we ordered our entrees immediately after receiving said apps bc several people had other places to be. It’s a negative from my stand point. Just my opinion, you can have a deference of opinion as well

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Go to Chillis then dude. You probably also had a party of 12 and expected to be in and out in an hour

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The idea that there can be no excuses when in fact there are very real excuses at play is unfair and entitled.

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There can certainly be excuses and obviously not all situations are the same. Hell just last night at SoLou our poor waitress struggled with a packed house and was clearly a short-staffed situation, and food was "delayed" but not like a two hour wait delay. It was slow, but the situation dictated it would be slow based on what we could see, and that was fine.

Peche is a decent sized restaurant but it's not that big, and if the OP was indeed waiting 2 hours (big if) for his food, then that's a major problem on the waitstaff. That's just unacceptable regardless of how busy a restaurant is. And for some here to say "well they were just busy and you should accept it..." I'm sorry, but a two hour wait for food isn't acceptable. There are major issues at play here we aren't privy to.

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Weren’t you upset that Yama wasn’t accepting takeout orders on a busy night a while back?

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Yes, but that was more my frustration at a restaurant not embracing technology and posting a simple "Due to blah blah blah, we are pausing to-go orders." But hey, lesson learned here because if I am craving it, I make sure to order super early.

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Jesus bro.

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How many people were in your party? You already got caught embellishing if not straight up lying. It takes two hours to eat at a popular restaurant during peak times. Don't have that much time, don't go.