714 North Rampart Street
New Orleans, LA 70116
Orleans County
Phone: (504) 558-0872
Fax: unknownWebsite: no website on fileEmail: no email on fileHours: unknown
by Victoria C. on Que lastima. After having read so many great reviews, I finally got my ass over to Velvet Margarita. I'd visited their website and checked out the extensive selection of tequilas and margaritas, the menu and photo gallery, and I have to say, I was quite impressed. Then, I checked out what my trusty fellow rateclubsers had to say about it. Most of the reviews were positive. Lots of compliments on the drinks and food, which is key. So, my best friend and I headed into Hollywood last Sunday night. Now, I know, it was a Sunday, how happening can a place be on a Sunday? Well, it wasn't about the scene, or seeing and being seen, it was all about the food and drinks, which, as it turned out, kinda sucked. Now, the ambiance of Velvet Margarita absolutely lives up to its reputation. My only criticism there would be that beautiful chandelier in the main dining room was a little too bright for my aesthetics. The bar was gorgeous and I loved the black velvet and silver sombreros on the ceiling when you first walk through the velvet curtains. I remember thinking, "This is gonna be good." We were seated right away. Being a Sunday, it wasn't busy. We shared the dining room with a couple of groups of tourists and other single ladies who ventured out for dinner. There were so many margaritas from which to choose, I had trouble deciding. I settled on the Blue Velvet ($10). My friend ordered the Velvet Margarita ($15). Let's just say, the fresh watermelon margaritas I made at home, with Sauza Commemerativo, fresh lime and Cointreau, were far superior. Shit. Don Cuco makes a better margarita. When you pay that kind of money for a drink, it better be fucking worth it. Don't get me wrong, they didn't skimp on the alcohol, but these margaritas lacked soul. For dinner we split a green salad and steak and shrimp fajitas. We hadn't even finished our salad when the food arrived. I don't know. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing. Fifteen bucks got us three lousy pieces of shrimp and the tiniest pieces of flaccid steak I've ever seen in my life. I usually don't order fajitas, but whenever I have, it arrives at the table sizzling and popping and set upon a little cast iron holder, like its own little fiesta of food. Velvet Margarita's fajitas were served on the plate along with the rice and beans. Everything was room temperature and bland, bland, bland. So disappointing. But this is what happens sometimes when you have high expectations. It's like going on a first date with someone you met online, only to find out his profile photo was really ten years old, he dresses like a CPA, doesn't own a car and still lives with his mother. You just don't go there again. I am sure, my fellow rateclubsers, who gave such rave reviews, really did enjoy VMC. Who wouldn't have fun in the private party room with all of your friends, drunk as shit on the five dollar margaritas? I mean, when you're drunk, everything tastes good and even the not so attractive men (or women) suddenly become very appealing. You leave, feeling happy and satisfied... until you wake up in the morning with an epic hangover and a serious case of the runs.
by Joaquina Howles on Stopped by here after dinner at Aqua. I'm a huge fan of the Iron Chef show and I've seen the food channel special when Chef Morimoto was building this place. After dinner, we figured we would get some sake and maybe some dessert. But going to Morimoto and not trying the sushi didn't seem right. So we ordered the sashimi appetizer to share. It was the freshest and tasiest sushi I've had in a long time. I think I will have to come back here later in the week for dinner so I can pig out. To accompany the sushi, I had one of the morimoto brand beers. It was ok, I didn't like it that much. Then I had dessert, I split the black sesame moussecake and morimoto brownies. As you can see in the pictures, they looked too good to eat, but I had to eat them. Good, but not great. The ambiance was definitely 4 stars and the staff was definitely 5 stars!
