New Orleans Restaurant Guide

It's not just about the food, its the whole aura of the place. Yeah, you might have too wait and yeah, its crowded and, yeah, its noisy - thats the sound of people having a great time, and yeah, the service may be a bit slow - so you can linger and enjoy. Best Italian in New Orleans and great people!

Irene's was suggested by a local couple. There is a wait for dinner after 630pm, however the french gentleman in the piano bar is very entertaining and you have an opportunity to mingle with other guests. The food is spectacular and very reasonably priced for such an upscale resturant.
A must do in New Orleans.

For our honeymoon my husband and I went to New Orleans,and a friendly cab driver suggested Irene's to us...and it was the best advice we ever got!We make sure to stop in every time we pass through town,and we let everyone know it's one of the best restaurants in the French Quarter!

One of the best restaurants in the country... period. Sure it has its own charm, but the food... amazing.

Having read good reviews of Irene's, my husband and I went there, expecting the atmosphere to be romantic, the service good, and the food outstanding. We knew there would be a wait because they don't take reservations. But on arrival at 8 PM, we were taken to a back room next to the restrooms where we sat for 1 hour until we were `bumped up` to the piano bar. Another hour in the piano bar with a pianist that played 2 songs ( badly) and then took a 30 minute break. Fortunately, one of the customers could play and sing, so we got to listen to music after all. Finally, we made it to the dining room. The appetizer was delicious, but the service was abominable! After 2 hours of waiting with no one taking orders for cocktails, we figured all the waiters were in the dining room. If they were, they weren't serving! Everyone in the dining room was complaining. We finally got our dinner at 10:30. The food was good, but not worth the wait. The only efficient service we saw all night was how fast they brought the check! We finally got out at 11PM.What a disappointment!

We will reccomend this to everyone we know who will be visiting New Orleans.

The only problem we had was the first time we went to eat, the wait was an hour and a half. So we left for an hour and came back and they had given up our table. One of our party was mad about that and didn't want ot try again. But we did and it turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip.

Irene's is one of those places you can't wait to get back to. Italian to be sure, but some of the very best we've eaten. The wait staff is very attentive...and well worth their tip.