Palm Pine - New Orleans

I have very mixed feelings about this place. We went here for a special occasion as we had heard good things about Palm Pine. My partner does not have anaphylaxis to pepper flakes, but she avoids them due to the severe gut allergy. A few flakes or cross contamination does not cause significant problems.We ordered cocktails which were delicious (and the best part of the meal).I will preface this by saying we were asked if we had any allergies by our waiter. We said no, but my partner did say she gets stomach upset from chili peppers and we asked about a few dishes.For starters, we ordered the crudo and the crab claws. The crudo arrived first, but had lots of pepper flakes in it. My partner and I agreed I would eat the crudo and she could have the crab claws. It was very good, with fresh tasty fish. The crab claws arrived later, only to contain even more peppers than the crudo. My partner could not eat this either. We politely told our waiter, who got a manager. I apologized and said we did not know there were peppers in the crab. The manager took the crab and said it was made fresh and seemed upset. I said, I have no problem paying for the crab, but could it be made without the pepper flakes. Then the manager actually scolded us for not letting the kitchen know about her allergy and made her feel small for having an intolerance to peppers. She then took the crab away (after I said I would pay for it) and I had to request it back as I was going to eat it myself. Regardless, if you are going to charge me for it, leave it at my table whether I decide to eat it or not. She also said the restaurant had an obvious South American forward menu implying we perhaps should not have even went there for dinner. In my previous life, separately I was a chef, ran a kitchen in a large resort and owned my own restaurant. This is NOT how you treat guests. We considered just paying for the whole meal, including the entrees we had not received yet and calling it a night, but we had plans for later and knew we would not be able to go somewhere else to eat and still make our evening plans.The P P salad was good, but a little too gouda forward as I would think the manager might appreciate. The quail was tasty and I would recommend that dish. The snapper was a little bit bland and slightly dry.Overall, I would give this place a 3+ for food, a 4 for our waiter 's service and a 0 for the management. People are not to blame if they have a food intolerance. This IS different than a food allergy and some cross contamination is often fine, as is a small amount of the offending substance in the dish. I felt the manager was completely inappropriate in the way she addressed the issue, her demeaning my partner for not 'disclosing her allergy ' (it 's not) up front and telling me I would pay for the crab (after I offered to) yet still removing the dish I was now paying for from the table. And no, ma 'me, I was not struck with the realization that this was such a South American forward menu besides having many South American dishes in the past that had no pepper flakes in them.

This place hit all the right spots. AMAZING food, super helpful and engaging staff, and literally the best music ever. Order whatever the hostess tells you to, engage with the kitchen at the kitchen bar (if they aren’t crazy busy) and try it all! Butter beans, peanut salad, and the shrimp creole captain… drooling just thinking about it.

Don’t sleep on P&P! This is easily in my top 5 NOLA spots and I’ve been to probably hundreds of places here. Great service, unique and flavorful food, decent happy hour specials, and an open kitchen so you get a free show if you can grab a spot at the counter (it is hot though). This is one of our go to spots!

Enjoyed my dinner at Palm Pine, my coworker and I sat at the kitchen bar and enjoyed watching all the delicious food being prepared. Started with a refreshing LIVIN’S EASY cocktail and decided I HAD to order the butter beans after seeing them prepared and I 'm so glad I did! I also enjoyed the P P salad and it was HUGE, I couldn 't even finish it as I prioritized the butter beans. Make sure to save room for dessert, I really enjoyed the Blueberry Chocolate Chess Pie.

Overall this restaurant was good but it's the little things that stood out for me that prevented it from being great. Service was great, atmosphere was really warm and inviting. Two not so great things that stood out: first, tequila mezcal are the spirits of focus and and there's some great selections, but if you're serving great tequilas you have to pour them in the right glassware. I ordered two quality tequilas and they were served in shot glasses. Much like wine, you want to swirl and smell tequila which wasn't practical with shot glasses. Second, for the main dish I ordered the wagyu bistec which was cooked perfectly and flavorful with a side of the rice beans but was overwhelmed with huge chunks of onions. They compromised about a quarter of the plate and didn't offer much other than flavor. For a main dish there should have been other ways to incorporate it, either remove them or blend them into a sauce. My highlights were the blistered habanadas appetizer and palm pain cocktail (perfect balance of bourbon and mezcal). Next time I'm in town, I will definitely check this place out again.