Clarence's Taste Of New Orleans

I stopped by Clarence's to order take out on a Friday around 5:15.  There was only 1 person in the dining room and 2 people at the bar.  I ordered and was told that it would not take long.  Thirty minutes and over 50 dollars later (for 4 po'boys and 2 beignets) I received my order.  As I left the bar area, I realized that the beignets were in one of the bags.  I had to wait for the desserts to be made.  You would think that I would have been offered a glass of water during my wait, but no.  I just sat there and waited, and waited.....
My family and I was not impressed with the food and would not go back.

I can say with 95% certainty that I have never had worse food at a restaurant in my 28 years of living. My family (husband, me, 8 and 3 year old sons) just left and I am in such disbelief that I had to vent. Let me start with the positives: the waitress was nice and it was a quaint little spot with not many patrons. THAT'S ALL. Now for the rest... My boys were excited that their favorite dish was on the menu. Mac and Cheese. As an added bonus, it was "homemade" Mac and Cheese. I ordered crab balls as an appetizer and seafood tortellini for dinner. My husband ordered 1/2 lb steamed shrimp appetizer and for dinner fried chicken and red beans and rice. It took 40 min for the appetizers to come out. My husband asked that his shrimp be steamed and spicy with old bay seasoning. They came out bland and steamed with what tasted like season salt. My boys snacked on the complimentary bread with no complaints. My crab balls were cooked in a sauce that tasted like unseasoned bleached white flour. I gave it a pass and didn't complain out loud. At least another 30 minutes went by and then the food came out. The Mac and Cheese was penne pasta with some cheap cheese and lard that was flavorless. My boys have never complained about Mac and cheese before today!  My tortellini noodles were soft and mushy and my dish was unflavored. It reminded me of a horrible chicken noodle soup... Minus the flavor. My husband took one bite of his chicken and looked at me like he was mortified. I asked to taste since I assumed it was just unseasoned. Well not only unseasoned but it tasted like they cooked it in hair grease. Unbelievable!  The oil must have been 18 weeks old. A poor chicken sacrificed, dishonored and disrespected. The red beans and rice were a Joke.  My 8 year old after 5 spoonfuls began to gag. He said he ate something that was burned!  My 3 year old refused to eat. I ordered bread pudding for dessert but after all that we asked for our check and I left the dessert. Didn't feel like yet another disappointment. It was bad enough that I was getting dirty looks from the fam for picking the restaurant. My husband did ask the waitress to tell the trucker with the dirty hat and apron aka the chef that he should really change the chicken oil.  My advice... If you are in this area, go to Popeye's and get better food for far less than $80.

So I went back to Clarence's this past week.  I was super excited at the thought of coming... but for some reason, everything seemed off this time around... it wasn't what I had remembered on my past trip :(

Ordered gumbo which was a solid start to the meal.  No complaints there.  My friend ordered a crab and corn chowder which was okay but nothing special.

So then we moved onto the entrees.  We ordered an oyster po boy and fried chicken dinner.  The po boy looked good... however, it was somewhat underflavored.  Now, it wasn't a bad po boy by any means... it just wasn't a great one.

The fried chicken was another story though.  Definitely not the Coop's Place fried chicken I was hoping for; it came overcooked and very dry.   I hate to admit it but going to Popeyes might have provided me with a better fried chicken meal :(  For sides, I ordered the cajun cole slaw (which was okay though a little too creamy for my tastes) and red beans and rice (which was definitely much blander than I had remembered it tasting from the last time I came).

Lastly, we got some bread to go with our meal.  It was still good but it was cold and not exactly fresh.

So, I don't know what happened.  Clarence's changed from a "must-visit-again" restaurant to a "i-dont-know-if-ill-come-back" restaurant in my book.  Maybe the chef had a bad day.  We all have them.  So I guess I'll give Clarence's another shot in the future... hopefully by then, things would be better again :)  If not, I don't know if I'd be willing to drive from downtown Baltimore to eat here.

But in the meantime, as much as I hate to do it, I'll have to ding a few stars from my previous review to reflect my most recent trip as the experience was pretty disappointing.