Why the Mother’s New Orleans Menu is World Famous?

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New Orleans is famous for so many reasons but none more so than the awesome cajun and creole cuisine that is available throughout the city. Be careful though because not all restaurants offer the same quality so it’s crucial that you do your research prior to visiting the Crescent City. We decided to pay a visit to a world famous restaurant, but is the Mothers New Orleans menu really that awesome? Let’s find out!

During our recent weekend trip to New Orleans we participated in what turned out to be an awesome, private walking tour of the French Quarter. As we spoke with our tour guide Tony, we talked about the topic of creole/cajun cuisine and his favorite restaurant recommendations.

There is the high-class and low-class restaurants and no middle ground

Tony pretty much summed up how he feels about New Orleans right now and he then asked us where we were heading for dinner after the tour. We told him Mother’s and immediately he responded that we made a great choice and this was definitely one of the better restaurants in town. But of course we had to see this for ourselves rather than just taking someone’s word for it…

Location and Hours

Mother’s Restaurant is located at 401 Poydras Street at the intersection with Tchoupitoulas Street. It is a short walk from the heart of the French Quarter across Canal Street and is open seven days a week from 7:00AM to 10:00PM. Reservations are unfortunatley not available so please be prepared to wait outside for a while before being seated.

mothers restaurant new orleans

Mother’s is divided into two main sections with the main dining area combined with a large banquet hall and dining room known as ‘Mother’s Next Door’. After speaking with the manager it is clearly two different environments yet both offer awesome experiences.

mothers restaurant new orleans

Whether you want to enjoy an evening dinner with a relaxing ambience or perhaps you are looking for a space for a private party with a little more elegance, Mother’s has plenty of space to accommodate your needs.

mothers new orleans menu

The stereotypical waiting line outside Mother’s makes this a restaurant that is surely worth the wait…let’s find out what the food is like!

Cajun Dining Experience

Dating back to 1938 when the restaurant first opened its doors on what is recognized as ‘Restaurant Row’, Mother’s Restaurant is most famous for their ‘Ferdi'(ham) po’boys but of course there is so much more amazing cuisine to sample here.

So go ahead, join ranks with the not-so-few, but intensely proud – the Mother’s crowd.

After being seated we were presented with our menus and immediately faced a difficult decision. With such a wide variety to choose from, where do you even begin? We asked our waiter for a recommendation and he suggested the famous Ferdi po’boy so Heather opted for the Turkey Ferdi with ham (alternatively you could have roast beef).

turkey ferdi mothers new orleans menu

I continued the fine New Orleans style tradition with Jerry’s Jambalaya that was served with red beans and rice and potato salad.

You may be wondering why the world famous po’boys are such, well Heather opting for the ‘Ferdi’ certainly has some history behind it. A local merchant by the name of, yes you guessed it, Mr. Ferdi asked for some ham to be added to his roast beef po’boy and it was immediately a hit! Hence there you have the origin of the ‘Ferdi po’boy’.

turkey ferdi new orleans mothers

Another ingredient on this po’boy which is popular on many others is the famous debris which is basically bits of roast beef and au jus gravy that are left on the side of a freshly carved roast beef joint.

Heather is unfortunately not a huge fan of roast beef but kudos to her for trying this! After removing the debris (it was a nice added ingredient to my jambalaya I may add!) she enjoyed the rest of the po’boy but a word of caution that one of these is still A LOT of food especially with the French bread that is delicious but satisfies your appetite pretty quickly.

jerrys jambalaya new orleans

I have tried jambalaya from a number of different restaurants around USA, but I would go as far to say that Mother’s was the best that I have experienced so far. With a little tabasco sauce added to really spice it up, this jambalaya was incredible and that is from someone that really does not like rice.

Jerry’s Jambalaya is considered to be a Creole-Italian recipe given that it includes tomatoes and Italian herbs. Regardless of how you want to define this particular recipe, I can highly recommend this especially if you like your dish a little spicier.

Customer Service

Customer service at Mother’s Restaurant was in one word…AWESOME!! That’s pretty much the best way to summarize our time at Mother’s. We want to give a special thanks to our waiter who made our dinner an extremely enjoyable experience.

mothers new orleans menu

Our drinks were frequently refilled, our food order was taken quickly and the delivery of our food was quicker than any fast-food restaurant. Sometimes you may be concerned that the quality of the food is lost when it is delivered so quickly, but I can assure you that both of our dishes were fresh and clearly prepared to the highest quality.

mothers new orleans menu

Our table was positioned in the back corner near the kitchen so we were able to see some of the fine roasts being prepared and carefully manicured before being cut and readied to be served. Hands down this was one of the best customer service experiences we have encountered so kudos to Mother’s for having such a great team of employees.

mothers new orleans menu

Summary

If you are looking for a typical New Orleans dining experience, be sure to visit Mother’s Restaurant because you will be treated to amazing cuisine combined with excellent customer service that will certainly make the wait worthwhile. In answer to the question of this title, is the Mothers New Orleans menu really world famous…of course I can’t speak for everyone but I would concur that the cuisine is worthy of world-class recognition.

mothers new orleans

Mother’s has received a number of Zagat awards for their cuisine and this is definitely well deserved. Dining in New Orleans is one of the most enjoyable experiences not only if you love seafood, but also because there is such a myriad of choices available. Reading reviews and following advice is great but at the end of the day you have to experience the restaurants for yourselves.

We are delighted to be giving Mother’s a positive review and hopefully this will encourage you to check them out the next time you head to NOLA!

Disclaimer – We would like to thank the New Orleans CVB for hosting us on this trip, and Mother’s Restaurant for their gracious welcome and service throughout the evening. These are solely our personal opinions/experiences and we were not financially compensated for this post. 

Weekend Wanderlust


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Chris Boothmanhttps://abritandasoutherner.com
Chris Boothman is the co-founder of A Brit and A Southerner. Born near Manchester, England, Chris moved to USA in 2006 where he soon after met his wife and travel partner in crime, Heather. They have since embarked on an amazing journey of travel as they challenge others to follow in their paths of working full-time but also being able to travel frequently! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Chris at [email protected]

36 COMMENTS

  1. I love visiting family-owned restaurants and other establishments as most of the time, the service and quality that you get is way beyond what you would have gotten from big shot brands. Seeing that this restaurant is packed makes me want to be there right now and try their dishes.

    • You make a great point that these types of restaurants offer so much more than mainstream chain brands. The line outside Mother’s is indicative of the quality of food and customer service experience you receive.

    • Agree wholeheartedly!! You can’t ever get tired of New Orleans cuisine…plus it helps that it is such a cool city with so much to explore.

    • Thanks so much Tanja…you are too kind! Hopefully you will have the opportunity to visit NOLA…if you do, please let us know and we would be happy to provide more recommendations.

  2. I haven’t been to New Orleans for a number of years, but I can still remember all of the fabulous food. We never ate at Mother’s, but I’m salivating just seeing photos of the food. Definitely jotting it down for the next time I travel that way.

    • Sounds like a return trip is in order Vicki 🙂 Great food scene but the beauty of New Orleans is that there is so much to experience there. Watch our blog over the next few weeks as we will have further posts on our experiences in the Crescent City.

  3. New Orleans – yum! We didn’t eat at Mother’s but I will try to remember for my next visit. We ate at a 3 generation Creole restaurant that was quite pricey -but out of this world good – one night, and of course, beignets for breakfast. Love that city!

    • So much good food in New Orleans! We took a tour of the French Quarter earlier and our tour guide told us that in NOLA today, there are only low-end and high-end restaurants and pretty much nothing in between. Mother’s is an awesome option and honestly very affordable.

  4. That place sounds so good. I’m from Dallas and Austin, so New Orleans isn’t a super long drive from there, but I’ve still never had the chance to go. It’s definitely on my bucket list for a long weekend trip sometime.

    • New Orleans is a great city for a weekend getaway. I would highly recommend heading over from Texas and checking it out, I don’t think you will be disappointed. It was about a 7-hour drive for us from Arkansas and we left Friday morning before returning Sunday evening. We will be posting several more blog posts over the next few weeks on our experiences in NOLA, so watch this space!

    • Thanks Shobha, hopefully you will enjoy New Orleans’ cuisine just as much as we did! Mother’s is awesome but so too are a myriad of other restaurants in NOLA. Spoiled for choice 🙂

  5. We’re glad to read you guys enjoyed this place. We love visiting local restaurants and we’re excited to eat lunch here as we love New Orleans and the food, but we were so disappointed, not good service, and the food was average. We usually avoid anywhere boasting to be the best 😉 but on the day we visited we were super let down.

    • So sorry to hear you had a negative experience at Mother’s but I think that just proves people have to experience it for themselves. I am delighted to be able to write a positive review on everything we experienced at Mother’s but at the same time appreciate that sometimes it’s not always rosy.

  6. Yum! Those photos made me salivate. Sounds like a very worthy place to visit. I wonder why there isn’t a “middle ground” in terms of restaurants in New Orleans?

    • Our tour guide in the French Quarter told us that when he was younger, there was a lot more ‘middle-class’ restaurants to choose from. But as tourism became much more prominent here, the high-end restaurants came to the forefront and these are what most of the tourists opted for. Of course the low-end, low-quality restaurants are still around but it was those middle ground restaurants that struggled to survive.

  7. Looks like a great place to visit. I love po’boys and jambalaya, so I guess I need to try the best you’ve ever had. That’s high praise. I think I’d be a fan of the debris, too. I hope to visit Nawlins soon and will make sure to stop by Mothers.

    • We would love to hear your experiences if you choose to visit Mother’s! It’s a great restaurant with delicious cuisine and great customer service but of course we always want to hear what other’s think.

  8. Everything from getting Adjust Your Focus® registered to working on design projects and photography shoots to attending networking events and conferences to moving across the country to traveling around Europe, Australia and the USA.

  9. I live in New Orleans…I have all my life (I’m 63 now and I knew Jerry Amato personally. He is the one responsible for the “Jerry’s Jamabalaya” you see on the menu.) He is also the one repsonsible for all the GD weight I carry around because the jamby is so good that it is too difficult to resist! It is a “wet” jamby, chicken and sausage…not seafood…and it is, as far as I’m concerned, the best jamby I’ve ever eaten. (I’ve eaten a ton.) The po-boys at mother’s are good, but way overpriced. (The jamby is worth whatever they charge, however.) I used to sit with Jerry for lunch and ask him how he got away with charging that much for a po-boy when you can buy one for half that price almost anywhere else. He told me that the out-of-town folks would come in from the Convention Center a few blocks away and that he couldn’t “make them fast enough.” I congratulated him and ordered up a bowl of the jamby. Remember folks…you do NOT need to order anything else if you order a bowl of jamby…it comes with a chunk of French Bread and butter…and you will barely be able to finish it. I was able to because of all the “practice” I had (I worked across the street from Mother’s for years). One final comment…as far as the service goes, this article is correct. In fact, Jerry used to make a point of letting the locals who came in from lunch get their own server (and, in essence, break the line) so that they could eat and get back to work on time. I remember Frances (deceased) would always yell “Come on in hon..over here…whatcha want?” Okay…one final (for real) comment….they used to have a french fry with gravy & mayonnaise po-boy. It was a killer….but good!

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