Original Oyster Factory

This place was horrible!!! I mean terrible! For $ 100 we received fake crab in the crab cakes which appears to be reheated in the microwave. The Bloody Mary didn’t have any vodka in it. The po boy was soggy and gross. The rock fish was okay but over priced. DO NOT GO HERE!!!

My husband and I really enjoyed the gumbo and couldn’t decide which was better on the baked oysters the Oysters Decatur and the Ousters Renata. The Gumbo just hit the spot wish I could ship home.

The food was good. The pepper jelly oysters were delicious, the crawfish pasta was awesome, but the service was awful. The credit card machine was down, and when we said we’d come back when it was back up, it magically was available. The server/​manager was unattentive, distracted, and forgetful. When our seafood gumbo was not brought to the table and asked to be taken off the bill, he stated he intentionally left it on but not our drinks on purpose for our benefit… not likely.

Just had a bowl of seafood gumbo. It was above average but the oysters looked better. Next time.

No one seemed to really know what was going on. Staff was not educated about the menu and not super attentive. Food was over salted and some dishes where ok. It was edible but not good or worth the money. I wanted to like this place because the host and waitress was sweet but just no, don’t

The food here was superb! I’d like to give this place a 5 star thanks to my server Benny and mr. spring! Tasty food and amazing live music! These guys did this place justice! Make the food s bit speedier you got your self a 5 Star! I think the pace could be quicker in the kitchen and it would boost the ratings!

I want to preface the rest of the review with that the food was very good. The portions were healthy. The greens were fresh and crisp. The seafood was fresh. And the waitstaff was pleasant (until the issue below).
That being said, it took us 2 hours to eat due to the slow service. We waited for our check for maybe 15 minutes. There were maybe 3 other tables in the entire place and at least 5 or 6 servers, so the issue is not lack of staffing. They forgot my friend’s vegetables and still tried to charge us for them. Then disappeared to correct the check for another 10 minutes.
The menu states «no splitting checks» which in other places means, you figure out how to break it out on your own. We broke out the amount to run on each card using post its. The waiter told us his machine couldn’t break up the check that way. That is not how credit card machines work nor is that what is stated on the menu. If he had kept to a policy response, or if he had acknowledged he didn’t know how to run multiple cards it would have been ok, but the blatant lying is unacceptable.
If you are traveling in a group I would skip this restaurant. Smaller groups may be better off.

Absolutely awful food. Two stars because our waiter was quite enthusiastic and gregarious, but the food was expensive and awful. All of the bread that was served was untoasted, stale white bread. We ordered BBQ shrimp, with a menu description of «jumbo head on gulf shrimp». What arrived at our table was neither jumbo nor head on, rather overcooked leftover peel and eats in a supremely overspiced, thin liquid. I got the charbroiled oyster combo –apparently 4 different flavors with different toppings. It was impossible to discern the differences as each was drowning in butter and sprinkle parmesan cheese. My buddy got a bacon cheese burger with cold bacon. The bloody Mary was the only redeeming form of sustenance. Two drinks, an app and two dinners were over $ 80. Not a happy experience and strongly recommend you stay away.

Let me start off by saying it’s a shame because their food is actually pretty good. The service however is absolutely horrible. My wife and I waited for 35 minutes to get our cups of soup. I went to find the manager and waited for another 20 minutes to see him. His response of «I will take care of it» only resulted in a $ 50 tab in which the waitress who left us at the table for over 40 minutes just came and slapped on the table. I hope she gave the $ 2 (which is more than anyone there deserved) to the waitress who actually brought the food to us.

HORRIBLE! If I could give zero stars I would. The food was awful, way over cooked and the service was even worse. We were in the restaurant for over 2 hours and never received refills. WAY OVER PRICED and you basically have to wait on yourself. AVOID AT ALL COST!

Bad service, bad food. Waiter was non existent and when the food finally came it was cold and flavorless. Food was not prepared correctly and had missing ingredients. The wait staff, manager and other employees seemed lost and zombie-​like. Avoid this place at all cost.

Probably cant say enough bad things about this place. Whatever I present will be lacking the full appeal of how bad this place is. If you are a fan of paying way to much for bad food and abysmal service you are in the right place. It’s for you if you like bland unimaginative food that cost double what it should for as bad as it is.
Pretty sure the flounder I had was spoiled. I am a huge flounder fan and I can unequivocally say this was the worst I have ever had. I guess I will know tomorrow if it’s spoiled.
Ap was truck stop quality. Stuffed mushrooms over spinach with about a ¼ cup of clarified butta. Not good.
Service is the worst. Can’t begin to say enough bad about this. Won’t. Fire the management. Now.
Corner I am in literally smells like feet. Can’t even make this up. Really.
I am writing this while waiting on a non existent waiter to show up to ask if I am done. I wanted dessert but don’t want to be here 2 hours.
Stay away from this place. Do not eat the food. Do not, I repeat make the mistake I made.
I am local and this may be the worst place in the Quarter. Period.

AWFUL EXPERIENCE!
I work in the French Quarter, and my husband and I frequent FQ businesses. This place was such a huge disappointment all around. Most of the food was flavorless, frozen, or pre-​fabbed. The staff was beyond clueless, and the oyster shucker was downright hostile. We tried to ignore him, but he behaved like an insolent child.
The only positive note… the bartender, he was fantastic and attentive, but unfortunately everything else was such a poor experience we will not return.
There are too many amazing places in the French Quarter… steer clear of this one.

Horrible.
Let me prefix this review by saying that the oyster factory was the only eatery in a two block radius that didn’t have long wait lines. We should have seen the writings on the wall and kept looking…
We visited the oyster factory on a day that was overcast and there were several scattered raindrops. Knowing this, the waitstaff still decided to seat us in a courtyard where we were forced to endure light rain until someone (management?) Decided to notice our discomfort and move our seats. In our new area, we experienced the worst service in New Orleans to date.
I don’t recall his name, but I’m pretty sure our server needed to be better trained. He came to get our drink order almost thirty minutes after we had been reseated, and proceeded to state «I got you» when taking our order. After coming back ten minutes later with our drinks, he proceeded to take our meal orders. What we received back minutes later was nothing short of a joke. The shrimp poboy that my boyfriend received was loaded with overcooked shrimp and looked like something that we could throw together at home. Considering that it was almost $ 15, I would have thought that there would be more care in preparation and taste… but unfortunately that was not the case. My fish poboy was mediocre at best and we had to ask for silverware because our server forgot to put it on our table. Of all this, the icing on the cake was the dessert.
After telling our server we wanted the Apple walnut cobbler THREE times, we were presented with an Apple cobbler. No walnuts in sight. Our server comes back to clear our plates and hand us our check, and we tell him that the walnuts have seemed to have gone missing on our dessert. He rolls his eyes and walks off. When he returns, he picks up the check and hands us a small bowl of walnuts. How’s that for customer service?
Needless to say, this by far was the worst eating experience we have ever had. Not only was the staff incompetent, but the food was a joke. If someone from the restaurant is reading this, know that it’s disrespectful to have waiters bickering/​arguing with one another in front of customers. For being such a pricey establishment, we expected much better.
Unilocalers, avoid this place at all costs. It doesn’t deserve your money.

The bacon wrapped fried oysters are amazing. They’re topped off with a crawfish gravy that is a perfect compliment. Only problem is you only get three per order.

Terrible experience. I have worked in restaurants and I understand the difference between the front of the house and the back. Both ends of this place are broken.
Ordered mixed drinks after being ignored for 15 minutes. 25 minutes later food came out with no drinks on the table. Waitress came back with drinks and a cheesy apology.
Fried catfish was not cooked through. Raw batter and cold fish. There was no rush in the place, no large crowd. The servers seemed to have no designated areas. just taking any customers that came in randomly. Avoid until better reviews come in.

Like some other reviewers, I thought the food was good, not great and the service was poor, not good.
I chose the raw oysters, which were really good, cold, and fresh — and reasonably quick. My uncle chose the baked oysters, which were EXTREMELY slow to arrive (like 30 minutes) and was one oyster short!?! The bartender said the lady dropped one — makes me wonder if she dropped more than one…
The bartender suggested a bloody mary — told me he makes a really good one. It was ok. He used cheap vodka without offering to up-​sale me to a better vodka, which I would have prefered. Even so, the drink tasted ok but was really weak.
This place was nearly empty that day. It was over-​staffed; servers running all over but not to the customers. After serving our drinks, the bartender never came back to us; just kept talking to one group of tourists, ignoring the rest of us.
The ambiance is ok but this place has a long way to go if it wants repeat customers. For now, it’s a tourist trap: high prices, poor service, and weak drinks.
Eat elsewhere.

The «Original» Oyster Factory was a terrible disappointment. Our waitress really did not know what she was doing. Our entrees came out before our appetizers.
The food is really bad. All of the food came out like warm. The crab/​crap cakes were deep fried, heavily breaded with questionable crab content. We’ve had better crab cakes from a grocery freezer. The oysters were very disappointing. None of us like them — cooked or raw. Out of seven of us, none of us has very good food.
The ambience was nice except for a large TV which was constantly playing 60 minutes.
The price was really unreasonable for the experience. We will not be returning and would not recommend this place at all.

Food was good but waitress didn’t know what she was doing. Asked for wasabi for my tuna and 2 waiters didn’t know what it was.
The place is gorgeous, bout somebody forgot to train the waitstaff.
Seems to me, that is a big priority. The new owner was there with a few others examining the decotage, while the waitress and waiters fumbled around.

After walking out of Ralph & Kacoos because after 10 mins someone hadnt taken our drink order, we walked across the street to the Oyster Factory. A waiter promptly began taking our drink order before our waitress came to take over. Isabella was friendly but clearly this was either her first job or her first day. She thought root beer & coke were the same thing for one thing. It took 10 mins for our correct drinks to come out. She def needed to get a personality. We were there near closing so maybe she was tired. We ordered apps which came out in a decent time I guess. Talk about bland! Calamari had zero flavor, artichoke spinach dip tasted like just creamed spinach, fried crab claws was blah, and the cup of gumbo which was forgotten about, was so full of rice that you hardly had any of their tasteless offering. I also had ½ dozen charbroiled oysters. I figured this is their namesake so wow they will be so good. WRONG!!! SO WRONG! All it tasted like was mushy bread crumbs. We never did get our bread we asked for.
Entrees were not any better.
My ahi tuna, which according to the menu is supposed to be medium rare, was well done.
Filet mignon was over cooked also.
Fried shrimp salad needed alot of help with dressing & salt/​pepper.
Bowl of gumbo was of course like the cup.
Hamburger poboy… well how can u mess that up? Had to ask for condiments to flavor that up too.
Oh and everything was COLD! It was pointless to even say anything because the kitchen was closed/​closing. Usually I wouldnt hesitate to speak up for anything regarding my meal that I am paying for.
Our bill alone was $ 103. We paid for the dip, calamari, oysters & cup of gumbo.
I will say this, the waiter that was assisting Isabella was very outgoing & friendly. You could tell he was really trying.
Atmososphere was very nice
Food need some SERIOUS work. Everything was so BLAND & TASTELESS. No spice or kick what so ever. So disappointing considering the amount of different choices on the menu we had spread out on the table.
I would not recommend this restaurant & I will not be returning.