Gretna Depot Cafe & Spirits

I ordered the burger sliders, which come 3 to an order. You can get them dressed however you like. The lettuce is fresh iceberg. The buns were fresh, but aren’t toasted. They would be so much better toasted. The burgers were good, although there was a bit too much black grill char on one. The burger wasn’t burnt, I just think the grill needed cleaning. I also got a side of potato salad, which is homemade. It is good, and has a kick to it. However, $ 4 for an ice cream scoop of potato salad is a bit much. The service was fine. The a/​c works great! Definitely a neighborhood place where everyone knows everyone. Parking might be an issue.

Ordered two drinks and the «seafood platter». I think they ran down the street and ordered my meal from Long John Silvers. Such a shame that a New Orleans restaurant is unable to make a decent fried seafood plate. One piece of catfish, a crabcake, 4 tiny hush puppies, 6 oysters and a handful of shrimp for $ 23. I would have questioned a $ 15 price for a meal of this caliber. Oysters were not fresh, shrimp were bad and tiny, hush puppies were hard as a rock on the outside and raw on the inside, crabcake tasted bad. The only redeeming item was the one piece of catfish. All told, $ 53 for two drinks and this plate. I’ve had a burger and a BLT from this place before and they were ok but each time I go back there is a law of diminishing return. I’ll respect the law and not return…

Probably one of the worst experiences of my life at a restaurant. I sat near the bar and ordered a few drinks. The bartender was very rude and seemed to have the worst attitude I’ve seen in a long time. She was talking dirty with some male customers at the bar and it was very offensive. Skinny girl with short hair but I don’t know her name. My waitress was very nice but they seem to rather be on their phones or flirting with the old men than paying attention to the other customers. I won’t be returning.

Awesome burgers! I had the tinder box burger and the spicy sausage mixed in was delicious and I loved the bun. Appetizers and sides were all tasty as well, we had fried pickles, friend mushrooms, and onion rings (couldn’t pick just one haha). To top it off, the happy hour specials are fantastic!

I really wanted to love this place. Love the area and I always want to support the locals but the food disappointed. I did enjoy the seafood gumbo. That was delicious. I ordered the cheeseburger poboy well done but not burnt. Had no seasoning whatsoever on that burger. Sweet potato fries were tasty. Wife liked her grilled chicken sammich. I’ll give it another try for sure and hope its better.

$ 10 trainwreck Tuesday. That’s $ 10 for a 32 oz alcoholic beverage with a large cheeseburger for only $ 10. Usually both are $ 8 separately. only catch is no fries or any side. The drink is a rum punch with a surprising amount of kick.
They recently changed lunch chefs and until they get better I would enjoy dinner.
The buffalo chicken sandwich and the club wrap are fantastic. They do have lunch specials daily which can be good.

I would love to present this «café» with an award for managing to produce the very worst version of three of our favorite dishes, that either of us have had in years.
Maybe a decade.
I’ve been trying to ween myself off of giving 1 star reviews unless I really hated everything about an experience.
So take that 1 star for what you will.
First thing.
We walk in and see the owner?/Manager? talking to someone about how he thought of the place as «Just a hole in the wall» and he’d much rather it just be a bar. He doesn’t like to mess with the food part.
Well that wasn’t a good sign nor something you want to hear in a restaurant.
Second thing.
Our waitress (who was the best part of the experience, bless her heart) admitted that she hated the sandwich that the Girly ordered. Well that wasn’t a good sign or something you want to hear in a restaurant.
Third thing.
My Santa Fe burger came with chili and bbq sauce. It also came with fries. I asked for my burger medium rare and the fries extra crispy.
What I got was a well done/​OVER well done burger covered in not-​even-​close-​to-​done chili. There were pieces of tomato in the chili that still had the skin on and was almost crisp. The flavors never got to mingle. The beans were pasty and underdone and it was slathered on the burger so as to make it impossible to eat like a burger. I managed a few bites, but the nasty chili and the rubbery/​tough meat put me off. Oh… and the «bbq» sauce had chunks of half-​stewed tomatoes in it. Really badly done. That should embarrass them for even serving that.
Cook Yo Shit!
The extra crispy fries were exactly the same as the Girly’s…That is to say under-​cooked (you will not convince me they ever got the frying oil past 275) and so heavy with oil you could pinch them in the middle and have it drip off the ends. This was so far from being crispy as to be in a different dictionary from the term crispy.
I ate one fry and gave up. Chewy, limp and greasy are not adjectives I look for in crispy fries… or anything else, really…
4^th thing.
The Girly ordered the Ruben. It’s one of her favorite sammaches that isn’t a Cubano.
The meat was thick cut which is usually a good sign, but sadly, it had the texture of slightly softened pork jerky. It was even a little translucent. We were totally convinced it was a weird ham by the taste. It was also so sloppy (I don’t think they drained the sauerkraut but just took a spoon-​full, juice and all and slopped it on her bread). Couldn’t detect any Swiss Cheese. Her fries were just like mine but she tried to eat them anyway. I warned her she would get grease –urps later and she did.
The poor waitress discounted 25% which was more than I ate of my food.
I usually say I hope a place can stay in business, but in this case, since the owner/​manager doesn’t seem to care, I don’t care either.

What an absolutely pleasant surprise this place was! Barstool seating on one side and intimate white tables on the other, full bar, very local and yet surprisingly trendly. Very good crabcakes and remoulade sauce. Excellent burgers, a big surprise was the turkey burger– could have fooled me that it was not a real burger. Happy hour was generous with good beers on tap. Amazing that this place is only 5 blocks away from me! The service was very friendly and prompt. One of the best places to eat in Old Gretna!

Every once in a while I find myself with no idea where to go for lunch. That seems silly since I am a tad addicted to Unilocal,but there are so many restaurants that finding a new one is easier said than done. So when I found myself in Old Gretna looking for a new place, I lucked out and stumbled upon Gretna Depot.
I don’t remember what the location was before, but I remember it was somewhat ordinary. Gretna Depot is far from ordinary. The location is an old house so the dining areas are the old rooms. I prefer eating in the side room as you are afforded more privacy than the main room.
For food I opted for the roast beef poor boy. The waitress said it was made in house and not the deli sliced versions. It was very good, so good in fact that it may be the best roast beef on the westbank. That designation used to go to Donewar’s, but they have been closed for some time. I still dream of that sandwich, but this version was very good.
Service was pretty standard. The restaurant was very busy with several large tables, but food did come out quickly. If you have time constraints for lunch, you should be able to get in and out relatively easily.
In summary, come here and try the roast beef. You will not be disappointed.

We are huge fans of Gretna Depot! The food is of much better quality and price compared to other resturaunts within the Old Gretna area. They aim to please! Our new favorite in the heart of Old Gretna.