Willa Jean

Everyone always asked me what's my favorite or what's the best brunch I've had in New Orleans? I always respond: "Willa Jean." My first time I had it was in 2020 and man was I blown away. It's in a Nice location right on the corner you can't miss it.

Now the food, the best Shrimp & Grits I've ever had you may not agree with me but the taste I remember was excellent no flaw at all. Grits were creamy, shrimp were tender, & the sauce was spicy and flavorful. The Fried chicken & Tabasco honey biscuit was out of this world I haven't had a chicken biscuit to top it yet! The sweetness from the honey & Spice from the Tabasco meshed so well! The biscuit was so fluffy but yet firm. The chicken was so crispy and juicy you could eat that just by itself! The Monkey Bread was a gem for sure, so happy I had it because they rarely sell it anymore. That bread took me back to childhood, no one sells anything like that to my knowledge! Overall if you looking for a good ole brunch this is the spot!

Three words: potential user error. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm not perfect.

Still, it feels like Willa Jean should stand by the weakest items on their menu. I get it, it's the South. The biscuits, fried chicken sandwiches, and shrimp and grits are going to fly off the menu. But even the most Southern of brunch menus needs to include an avocado toast option. And given that I felt like my mental capacity was slowly withering away in the heat and the humidity, I opted for something green in an ill-fated call for help to the avocado gods for restorative blessings.

The avocado toast comes with a heap ton of ingredients: cheese, tomato, pickled serrano, shallot, arugula, sunflower everything spice, poached egg. Still, I couldn't help but think that it was a lot of ingredients that simply didn't do much. Was it giving "college student throws random things onto a piece of toast in a desperate attempt to feel human again on a Sunday morning"? A bit. But I've also been known to do that with just three ingredients (bread, avocado, balsamic glaze) and have it be way more flavorful than the $18 avocado toast I had at Willa Jean.

I think I should've just followed my friend's example. She got two eggs, a plate of bacon, and banana pudding. When in New Orleans, right? Note that there was a bit of a wait after 11 AM and it was first come, first serve -- so you'll have to aggressively swoop to find a seat at the bar.

I've been dying to try Willa Jean's biscuits. I came here a few years ago with some friends for brunch, but the line was out the door. This time I made sure to arrive as soon as they opened. The bakery & coffee bar is at the entrance, so you can grab a beverage and a pastry to go. They also have a spacious dining area and bar if you want to stay and enjoy a meal. In addition to delectable pastries and desserts this Southern bakery/restaurant also serves breakfast, lunch, weekend brunch, & cocktails.

Everything in the bakery display case looked tempting, but I stuck to the plan and ordered a biscuit to go. It came with butter and raspberry jam. The biscuit had lots of flaky layers. It was buttery with a soft & fluffy interior. It tasted so good plain but once warmed up it was even better, especially with butter and raspberry jam. Willa Jean consistently receives rave reviews over their baked goods, which is well deserved. The biscuit exceeded my expectations.

*They don't take reservations.

If you are a breakfast person, you NEED to check this place out. Right as you come in your greeted by their wonderful display of baked goods. The host and wait staff are amicable and courteous. The restaurant itself is very well lit with ambient light from the ceiling to floor windows and nice Edison bulb lighting.

The food is excellent, every plate coming out of the kitchen looked delicious. I highly recommend the crab cheese appetizer and the salmon Benedict. And of course, can't go wrong with the homemade biscuits. I will definitely be coming back next time I'm in the area.

This is such a popular place so expect to wait.We had about a hour wait, but they do have a little area that you can grab coffee and pastries as you wait.
The food here was delicious! Everything we got we really enjoyed. Our favorite dish was the home fries. It comes with the thickest bacon I've seen! This is a MUST!
I got the avocado toast. I really liked the bread it came on, it was thick and fluffy!
Honey Tabasco fried chicken was good too! The biscuit is really flakey which I liked. We ended up being too full from the home fries to really finish it! Overall this place is delicious! They have a lot of options to choose from that looked good! Wish I could go back to try more!

Overall good food and great service!
The home fries were a nice shareable.
The chop salad was good. I really enjoyed the beets and pickled peppers, but didn't like the choice of greens. Also, the chicken felt quite greasy.
The star of the show for me was the coconut cake!!! OMG what a perfect slice! Vanilla pudding-like middle, perfectly portioned icing, and coconut flakes on the side that were slightly crunchy and salty! YUM!!! Would definitely come back to eat this cake and try other items as well!

The service and food was NOT it! My cousins came as a group of 8. It took the waitress soo long to finally come to us and take our order. We understood it was busy and a big group but she definitely was taking longer than normal. Once she did order she pretty much yelled at my little cousin and demanded she ordered. Once we did, drinks took so long and came out with our entrees. Other than the food taking extremely long to come, once it did it wasn't even ready. My cousin ended up with pink chicken and complained to the waitress. She literally told him that's how it is and didn't even offer another suggestion and basically told him to eat the uncooked chicken. She just had a weird attitude and gave us cookies at the end because she knew the chicken was definitely not cooked. He didn't eat his food at all, and most of us didn't even finish ours either. Quite dissatisfied.

Wooooooweeeeee, the food here was deeeeelicious! We were making our way to the garden district from the French quarter area and decided to grab breakfast here.

The space was very pretty and the panoramic windows brought in a lot of light. We went on a Tuesday morning around 10am and we were seated right away. Amari was our server and she was great.

We ordered the shrimp and grits and my partner LOOOVED this plate. The shrimp was very fresh and the grits were cooked very well. The egg was a little over cooked imo but it was still a tiny bit runny in the middle. The gravy was so good, all the flavors were very well balanced. 10/10

We also got the bacon and egg with pimento cheese biscuit and omg YUMMM. The biscuit was so fluffy and crispy, not heavy and the egg was cooked perfectly! Good bacon too, not the skinny thin kind, the kind with a little chewy but still crispy. Order this! 10/10

We also got the salted honey latte and I thought it would be a little more honey forward. The salted honey was very light so I was a bit disappointed but the coffee itself tasted good.

I'd come back, I know my partner would def come back hahaah so I'd recommend giving this place a try! I'd try the hangover bowl if I'm ever in town again but I wouldn't order the salted honey latte.

Despite how gorgeous the avocado toast looked it was small and the bread tasted incredibly stale. Also the poached egg still had runny whites and was not cooked all the way. The latte was bland. Overall for 18$ avocado toast not worth it.

Willa Jean oh Willa Jean! We decided to try them during brunch. It wasnt packed at all. My type of venue lol. We were seated next to a window. Our waiter was nice and helpful. I ordered a frozen Strawberry margarita with sugar on the rim. PERFECT! I was feeling so good after that drink lol. She ordered the frozen Froze' honestly I didn't care for hers. It tasted like frozen beer. She also had a pineapple mimosa which was bitter. I then ordered us a the crawfish dip with came with crostinis. Then I had the WJ burger which was fire! The burger was big & juicy. She then ordered the WJ shrimp & grits. She said the shrimp, eggs & etouffee gravy was good. Now lets talk about these grits..Those weren't regular cheese grits. The grits were orange. ORANGE! They food was good tho..The atmosphere was chile quiet..They have a bar in there also & make coffee..Swing by and try Willa Jean.
Pics are uploaded.