The Wicked Vine

Voodoo cheesesteak with house cut seasoned fries: HUGE and WORTH IT. Yvonne the bartender and Gary the owner: 2 of my favorite people. Go see Marty Mitchell on Wednesday nights!

If you’ve ever been to New Orleans, you understand the concept of a fantastic joint. You sit down, order a drink and some food, and sit back to enjoy the ride. Maybe your food comes late, but who the f*€# cares because the drinks are strong, the company is good and when it gets there, the food is banging! This divy place mimics those values in an under-​appreciated way.
I came here a few times — all nights seemed slow, and I can’t figure out why. The bartenders are friendly and will gladly make you one of their specials: $ 3 pinnacle, $ 4 long islands, $ 7 patron and pineapple.
Gary runs the show and cooks up a mean menu — I had a shrimp po boy last time I was there. While it’s not a traditional Nawlins style sandwich, it’s insanely good. Blackened fried shrimp with dressings that make your tastebuds think In’N’Out and Cajun kindness had a baby and birthed a plate of deliciousness. Our food did take a while, but that’s only because Gary was out a cook and was sizzling his own line as a one-​man show. Voodoo Cheesesteak? Makes you wanna sing Godsmack — it’s spicy and a hot mess of good. Jerk chicken tacos? Finger lickin’ good with a kick.
Wednesday is karaōke. Saturday I caught some sick live music — this place draws hidden talent that you should check out.
All in all, this place has all the chops. Catch up.
Oh and the chalkboard walls to doodle on are a fun touch. Not to mention the outside patio. Which is drink, smoke and food friendly. Bam, bam, thank you, Wicked Vine!

Long time patron of the blue parrot and was excited when I saw it coming under fresh ownership. MAN WHAT A LET DOWN. It’s like someone took the idea of a resturant, covered it in super glue and rolled it in a box of failed resturant ideas. Very confused presentation and I honestly think a broken down VFW has more character and ambiance then what this place has become which looks like a waiting room at an abandoned meth clinic. Speaking of meth the dynamic and crowd seems to be people who have been kicked out of every bar in town and spend their time lurking in this «piss hole» and I use that term as a compliment. The food was horrible and again had no direction. No flavor. And lukewarm. The staff seemed miserable and what I recall of staffing that originally worked at the parrot they were being under utilized and forced to work under crap conditions. You couldn’t pay me to look yet alone eat here. Someone call resturant rescue or start using this place as the scene for a take on scared straight for failing resturants and what not to do.

Ok a friend of mine told me that since being blue parrot, the food here at wicked vine was much better. Well me and a girlfriend came here today. Initially service seemed ok. But unfortunately that changed. I order wings, hot, they were put in as mild. My friend ordered nachos. The wings were mediocre as were the nachos. Our waitress did not bring our food nor did she come back to ask if we needed anything. We had to order another round of drinks by going to the bar as our waitress was dancing to the live band they had playing. We asked for our bill to be split between our two cards (meaning evenly) nevertheless I guess that was too much to ask bc I had more charges on my card then my friend did. Also, not to make assumptions but everyone (staff) seemed either high or drunk other than the bartender who was great! Missing blue parrot, not coming back here again.

The Wicked Vine is conveniently located on Union street near a few of my favorite restaurants and bars. It was recently purchased from the previous owner and the name was changed from The Blue Parrot (a wonderful New Orleans themed spot) to The Wicked Vine (a confusing style mix with horrible service)
I entered the restaurant as a party of 4 in the middle of what should have been a dinner rush on a Friday night. There was only one other table filled in the place with a few scattered guests at the bar. We stood there awkwardly for a few minutes wondering if we should seat ourselves or wait for a host/​hostess. Finally someone came over and told us to pick wherever we’d like. We sit down in a corner booth/​table and a guy who looked like a criss between a lumberjack, truck driver and homeless man comes over and introduces himself as the new owner. He tells us the special of the night is Sloppy Joes and tater tots. It takes another 5 minutes to receive menus. Our server apologizes because she could only find 3 menus for the 4 of us. The menu is not well designed and seems to have a few things from the old New Orleans style restaurant and then a mixture of American style. We ask what beers they have on tap since there was no drink menu available. Our server did not know and had to leave to go look.
After ordering our drinks, I asked for an order of Jalepeno poppers that was listed under Starters. Our server took the order and proceeded to sit down at the table with us and complain about how she tried to take off that night gor her boyfriends birthday. She made it apparent that she did not want to be there.
At this point, I noticed the tv right near us was playing one of the Final Destinations, a scene where a woman is being painfully burned to death inside a locked tanning bed was playing with the sound on low. Definitely NOT something I would want to watch while eating. the owner came over and gave us the remote to change the channel.
When we got our drinks, we ordered our meals. I ordered the Shrimp Po Boy. Another person in our party mentioned they wanted Jalepeno poppers because he was not very hungry. I said he could just have most of my appetizer when it comes out. Our server responded to us with «oh! I’m glad you reminded me, I didn’t even put those in.»
Our food arrived in a timely manner but my jalapeño poppers showed up with our food. Another another statement from our server, jokingly «You didn’t want these BEFORE your food did you? Haha» I look at the plate and notice the jalapeño poppers were wrapped in bacon. Neither me or my boyfriend eat meat other than some seafood. The owner came over to check on us and I asked, «Did the menu say these came with bacon on them?» He replied with «Our menu isn’t updated yet. Those jalapeño poppers don’t come frozen out of a bag, I make them fresh» I said «that’s great, but I don’t eat bacon» he took the plate away and didn’t ask if I wanted another appetizer or if he could make me jalapeño poppers minus the bacon. My shrimp Po Boy was decent. The chips were house made which I appreciate.
In the middle of eating, our server comes back to us and says. «Can you cash out now? I’m finally leaving and someone else will take over for me.» It was extremely awkward but we paid while we were trying to eat and another server took our dessert order and drink refills. I can’t complain about our food at all, it was the service and overall experience that was not right. I can’t see this place doing well and I understand now why they were completely dead on a Friday night.
Everything from the unprofessional mannerism of our server, the inappropriate content on tv, the lack of menus, and the lack of proper information on the menu. I think the only way I would come back is if they had some decent bands playing.

Wow, never received our shrimp app. The band that played this past saturday night was doing there best and giving them much credit were pretty bad. Although the music was better than anything else. Hope things get better for the rest of the work that ventures in… Won’t be back for a long time.

Brunch is very similar to the former Blue Parrot. The portions seem to be slightly smaller. The new owner has made some positive changes and is open to suggestions.