Pier de Orleans - CLOSED

Pier de Orleans

61 E University St

Mesa, AZ 85201

                                                                                       

We went to dinner at 6:00 on a Saturday night. After cocktails at the bar, which were decent, we were seated at our table. I hate to make generalizations, but this place reminded me of someplace from back in the 60's. It seemed old, with music from the 50's and 60's playing in the background.

I started out with 2 appetizers - the gulf oysters (5.95) and the escargot (5.95). Oysters were supposed to be 80 cents each, yet I was charged the $5.95 for a half dozen. I don't mind paying the price for a good oyster, but these were not plump or very tasty. I had to really doctor them up with a bunch of horseradish and Tabasco sauce.

The escargot were nicely cooked and served with a nice piece of Parmesan bread, but here again, the menu calls them Large, Meaty Snails in Garlic Butter, but what I got were anything but large, though they were, to be fair, very tasty.

One of my companions got the pecan shrimp (5.95) and said they were o.k. while another companion had the calamari, which she pronounced was pre-frozen and off tasting. To its credit, the restaurant took it off the bill. I had the seafood gumbo supreme (13.95), which had shrimp, bay scallops, oysters and one small crab claw in it. For me, the gumbo did not have the kind of seasoning that one would expect to be in a real gumbo, and again, I ended up doctoring it up a lot to make it suit my tastes. After doctoring it, the taste was fine, though the crab claw was definitely not fresh and tasted off. I ended up placing it on a plate on the side and abandoning it there. The meal also came with a cup (they call it a bowl) of soup. I elected to have the clam chowder. To their credit, the clams were nice sized and not overcooked, but on the down side, the broth was a bit thin and watery.

Other companions had seafood d'Orleans (12.95), Cajun sampler (11.95), and Cajun jambalaya (12.95). Comments made by our companion from New Orleans, was that it tasted exactly like Zatarains and they would be surprised if it wasn't. Other companions mentioned that the food lacked seasoning and seemed quite bland to them.

Sanitation was, unfortunately, not up to quality standards. While the tableware and table were clean, none of the tables in the room were cleared while we were there. The dirty dishes were left on the tables from their "Early Bird" diners. While we were there, no other diners entered the restaurant, so I would have to assume the dirty dishes were there for at least an hour and a half or more, waiting to be cleared.

The restroom was clean and mostly stocked. In all, I would say that this was a bit of a disappointment. Serving previously frozen food does nothing to help a restaurant gain customers, nor does serving food that is off do much. Two stars.