Only one waitress who seemed overwhelmed. Was told there was "no liquor license in place" BUT moments later we noticed a man and woman being served beer and wine at the next table. Turns out to be the owner's relatives. Must be nice! Also, owner was there, but made no attempt to say "Hello" or "Thanks for being here", etc (especially if they are a new place). I certainly expected better. There are other options in town, so no big loss. was hoping for a new, exciting place, but something feels wrong. Maybe they will get the kinks out. Better shape up or they will ship out. Food was good. Sorry everything else felt unappetizing! read more

I ate there with a friend of mine today. The food was amazing the waitress was very nosedived the look of the place the taste of the food was the best....I will tell everyone to go... read more

Atmosphere - This place had a great New Orleans jazzy feel to it. The place was dimmly lit and had a nice bar. The music that was playing was good and appropriate. The place was clean, although surrounding tables cleaned with pledge during meal. Food - Wife had a salad, cup of gumbo and shared the burboun crawfish tails with my son. I had the Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya. While the food wasnt bad we just weren't impressed and expected more. There was some spice to things but not enough. I had four shrimp in mine with a scattering of chicken and small pieces of sausage. Most of mine was rice and for 16.99 it was dissapointing. For dessert we ordered a piece of almond joy cheesecake (to-go, see below). It tasted pretty good however the portion was not worth the $6, most of our take home container was filled with whipped cream. Staff - waitress was not knowledgeable at all. Not rude, just appeared young and had a hard time focusing. She didnt know the difference in beers but did offer a sample which was helpful however, from the bar to our table (10ft) couldnt remember which was which and had to ask someone. She did seem apologetic and advised that she really likes yuengling. Later she asked if we would like dessert or coffee and promptly walked away to get something else without saying what the options were. We then saw the six or so options on a nearby wall and had some questions. When she finally came back she went to the board we had just viewed and then told us of two options. We asked what Death by Chocolate was (there was no description provided) she said it was like those chocolate desserts you get from Dominos that have chocolate in the middle. Another staff memeber interjected and said you put it in the microwave and the chocolate melts. There has to be a better way to describe this dessert given that most entrees are between $14 and $27. How about a moist chocolate cake with a molten chocolate center covered in chocolate and whipped cream? Timing - The food seemed to take forever to come out. There were not many people there, one table of four young people and two tables of older couple and us (two adults and two young children). We were there for close to 2hours most of that time spent waiting. Kids- Not really kid friendly unless you get here on the earlier side and your children are well behaved. I would return to see a musical performance and/or hang out during a happy hour. I would not return to eat dinner with my family. read more

We were excited to try out this restaurant. To be honest, overall, we were disappointed. Good points first- we really enjoyed the blues band and the service was good considering it was a busy Saturday night. The crab artichoke dip appetizer was delicious. I also enjoyed my seafood jambalya. But, my husband ordered the crabcake and filet mignon. The crabcake was more like a "Mrs. Paul's". He was expecting a lump crabmeat, flavorful crabcake, as opposed to the "pasty" consistency of the frozen kind. He also ordered his filet "md-well". It came "md-rare" but was tender and flavorful. Not cooked well enough for his liking. His Voo-doo crawfish appetizer was spicy and flavorful, but too much sauce and not enough crawfish. Also, the tables are extremely close together. "Cozy" is a really nice way to describe it. Also hate to say it, but $5 for a beer is too much and $6 for a shot of tequila?...whew! Overall, thought it was too much money for what we got..... It wouldn't have been that bad if the crabcake was a nice white, lump crabmeat...and the alcohol was maybe a couple dollars less each. read more

So I have researched many of these reviews before dining at Nora Lees, however I always try to keep an open mind. The staff was very friendly and seemed happy to be at work. The Apps came out promptly and smelled delicious. we had the Voodoo Crawfish tails, they would great it was a wonderful homemade black bbq sauce with some Habenro spice to them! The perogies although not home made (because it is not a polish menu) were great it was a very nice twist on tradition styles. The entree i had their andouille meatloaf it had a nice spice to it with a great mixer of sweet homemade bbq sauce on top. My husband who is a chef in San Diego CA had the Blackened Scallops, they were cooked just right and i wondeful size coming along with garlic mashed potatoes and what I enjoyed were the hush puppies. The food was awesome and i think it is a great little place to find your self eating in an unfamiliar area. I would recommend this to locals and visitors a like. Even though i have read comments on authenticity I still think it was a wonderful place and when i asked the waitress what style of food they served on the phone before hand she simply said New Orleans inspired cuisine, which i believe summed it up Very nicely. For future visitors give everything a try because this was a great pleasant surprise! read more

SETUP: Used a Groupon. 3 adults; 1 child SEATING: (2*) Called in for a reservation earlier in the day, and was told they didn't have any more availability until after 8 PM, but we could come in and wait for a table to open up--which is what we tried, shooting for 6:30-7:00 seating. We arrived around 6:40, put our names in and was told that a table should open up in about 20 minutes or so. We took a short stroll around New Castle (a little less than 20 minutes) which is always nice and returned to the restaurant. We simply stood in the entrance way waiting and were not seated for another 20 minutes. We were seated nearby and watched as several other groups had chosen a similar experience. Staff was friendly. Tables and chairs were good size and clean. We didn't feel squished in. ATMOSPHERE (3*): Pretty cool and cozy with black and purple as accents. Low lighting with blue and purple accent lights. Not too dark that you couldn't see your food though. They had a jazz ensemble playing. Although we were furthest from them two rooms away, music was a bit loud once the vocals came in (speaker was right overhead). Lots of talking at tables. Overall pretty loud talking environment. Definitely lots of conversation in the room. Temperature in the room was good. No one really uncomfortable. FOOD: (3.5*) Drink orders were fine. 3 different cocktails; 2 were much better than the third. Four pieces of bread and a communal cajun butter cup followed ordering. Both items tasted good. Ordered Crab Stuffed Mushroom appetizer, 1 cup of crawfish bisque, and 1 cup of gumbo. Three adults agreed the mushroom appetizer was excellent--great taste, texture and nice shareable portion. Crawfish bisque was savory--got 2 for 2 thumbs up. Gumbo was chunky and bold--got thumbs up from both adult and child who shared. ENTREES--hazelnut crab cakes; pistachio crusted tilapia + maque choux; crawfish jambalaya; and pierogi appetizer for the child. Two adults enjoyed there entrees, except for the maque choux which was particularly flavorful but also very spicy hot. The accompaniments (mashed potatos, sweet potato mash and veggies) were all good and complemented entrees well. The only detractor was that both the crab cakes and tilapia were both smothered in the same gravy/sauce, which I thought had an overpowering sweetness to it. Not unpleasant, but I am not sure that I could taste the pistachio or hazelnut as well as I expected. It also interrupted some of the texture. The portions were huge (we each took home something). The cheddar potato pierogis were smothered in a tremendous amount of butter with onions and cajun spice. Their flavor was all smokey and spicy but not hot (which was a good thing) and the purple onions were sweet. Unfortunately, with all that cajun spice in the butter, I didn't really see or taste cheddar too much. Texture was good with the peirogis slightly brown and slightly crisped on the surface. Considering I love pierogis in butter, even I felt they were swimming in it. In addition, they gave a huge dollap of sour cream with it. This was a meal for the child, but for an appetizer, I felt it wasn't presented well for sharing IMO. I think they could have done better to sautee them with the onions in butter an then remove them from the pan and butter add the spice to the plate. The crawfish jambalaya was good, and I would order that again. SERVICE (2*): No host/hostess (servers were doing that). Servers were friendly, pleasant, and professional. No real delays, except that, unfortunately, 3 of the 4 meals came. After a few minutes from when my tablemates got their meal and the server passed by twice for other tables, she stopped by again to ask how everything was. I informed her that my meal hadn't come yet. She was surprised and apologetic and went into correct that situation--she said that she wrote it down (which I saw her do), but they never served it up. Not sure why. It would be out shortly. Being that we still had some uneaten food, I asked for that to go while I helped finish the remaining pierogis. While not worth getting upset over, because I wasn't hungry and there was food to eat still on the table, this is where I expect that a restaurant manager would be told so they can follow up. Missing a meal is a big error for any restaurant. I would expect for management to apologize and toss in something to make up for it--complementary dessert or a some discount for the trouble. Even better if the severs are empowered to do this, but sometimes that's just asking too much with how busy they can be. With that being said, overall we all agreed that they seemed short staffed by one person, either a hostess or another server. COST/VALUE (2*): Considering the downsides, I didn't think we got full value for our money. However, the Groupon made up for that. OVERALL: Place needs some tweaks to be excellent and live up to the overall value of the experience. read more

This restaurant has really good food and it's a fun place to have dinner. Prices are reasonable. The blackened tuna and filet were cooked perfectly. I don't recommend the blackened crab cake. We thought it tasted burnt and a little dry. We went on a Saturday and they had live entertainment to enjoy. They started at 7:00 which I thought was perfect. After dinner we had a candy apple martini which was delicious. The only comment I would have to make is I would like to have a vegetable on the plate. The hush puppies would be better served with the bread. read more

Quaint little place with cool atmosphere. Food was excellent. Service was freindly and attentive but not overbearing. All in all a great time. Highly recommend. read more

Waiting over an half hour for my food this place sucks won't come back ridiculous wait for food close to an hour . No stars

My husband and I just ate here for the first time...... And the last!!! The food had NO FLAVOR except for salt and I mean you could have preserved meat for the winter with the salt in my dish. The alligator jambalaya tasted like tomato paste over rice and I don't think the gator was real having had gator before. The service was ok but we didn't have the same server the whole time. The ONLY good thing was the warm bread and Cajun butter. If you like salty tastless food you will love this place. read more

my girlfriend and i have been there a handful of times. always enjoyed it but in the last year that place is going extremely down hill. First the food is different. there is a noticeable difference in the food. We heard the owner was not cooking there anymore so that may be the problem. the texture in the sauce is almost like they took a handful of sand and threw it in the entrees. we still go there because its our local restaurant now and we enjoy talking to the bartenders. except for 1. my girlfriend and i had went there a few weeks ago on a Thursday night and had a different experience then we normally had . it was not good. the bartender had long brown hair and spent about 75% reading texts as well as texting and 25% engaging with her customers. now we know we will not go there on Thursday nights. between few employees we enjoyed talking to the food may not be as good as it used to be but they atleast they made up for it with their attentiveness and personalities . this one gained none of those traits to make up for that. we than proceeded to ask for the manager by another waitress, but go figure it turns out the women who gave us a poor experience is apparently the general manager. between the never ending rotation of new staff and inconsistency of the food it is getting much easier to never go there again and just start going to jessops. what influenced us to write this review was our waitress today during lunch. we have never seen her before she greeted us with the name of chelsea and between her inattentiveness, lack of knowledge on the menu and how to perform general waitress tasks, not to mention her appearance that was noticeable unkept, and the way we witnessed her speaking to another table just right next to us we will never return there again. just a hint from someone that has attended this restaurant easily over 10 times i suggest whoever is hiring these new employees to actually do their job and hire appropriate candidates for the place considering how it has the potential to be great again. maybe we will come back in a year and hope we do not receive the same experience we have the last 2 times. this restaurant needs a huge makeover. please take these reviews into notice. i never write reviews unless i had an impacting experience. i do not like wasting money. and especially after our waitress today i feel as if i did. read more

Wow, we went on Friday, the 29th and had a great meal. It was very early and the bar was full. I think 4 tables including ours was being very aptly served by one server. That bread and butter is awesome and reminded us of a restaurant in West Chester, Pa. who had the same cuisine. We were so delighted! We shared the Voodoo Crawfish. It was mighty hot and not for the faint-your w\nose and eyes will run, but my husband and I love it. He had the blackened salmon and I had the blackened catfish. The creole mustard sauce on top really complimented the fish. The potatoes and hush puppies that came with were very tasty. While there are no beers on tap (hope they consider that down the road) we felt that they had a nice variety of artisan beers;not just crappy bud and michelob lite type beer. We live 40 minutes away, but were there on business and if they are opened tonight we're going back while we conduct business again. Truly sorry that Ven E. didn't have the great experience that we had. read more

Went to Nora Lee's today for lunch. VERY disappointed. -- First, the Servers were great! Very coridal, very attentive. "Thank You!" to them -- The food. Not so good. The iced tea was weak, watered down, unsweetened and not worth the money. Actually, more like colored water. I did request a new glass of iced tea with no ice, and a side glass of ice. The tea was weak, unsweetened, and once I added the sugar and poured over the ice... pretty much like the original glass of tea. -- Next, the Fried Crab Cake sandwich. It was over cooked and almost burned. My first thougt: this must have been leftover from yesterday and re-fried to get it warm so they can serve it. OR, the chef wasn't paying attention and almost burned it. The Ramoulade sauce... way too much added to the sandwich. I usually ask for condiments on the side, so that was my fault; I forgot. The homemade potato chips... terrible. I make homemade potato chips and they never look or taste like those did. They could have left them off of the plate. -- All in all, I was, as I said, VERY disappointed in the meal. I might go back again, but until I do I won't recommend Nora Lee's to anyone I know. read more