If you were planning to visit New Orleans Manor before it shut down forever Wednesday night, don't bother. A damburst of visitors—most regulars from throughout the seafood parlor's 31-year history on Murfreesboro Road—cleaned out the restaurant's food supply tonight, effectively closing the place a day early.
"They wiped us out," the exhausted employee who answered the phone said. "We could've served 2,000 if we'd had the food."
The irony is that if the same people had come more regularly over the past year, the place might still be open. According to an employee, food costs inflated by rising gas prices took a heavy toll on the seafood restaurant, but the biggest problem was a steady decline in business that began last winter and never recovered. Even Valentine's Day, which should've been a killer, was off.
"Last weekend was the last straw," the employee said, stating they had only 30 patrons last Friday night in the spacious 115-year-old mansion. Another recent night had only seven. Even so, the employee said, the closing still came as a shock.
"There were a lot of tears tonight," the employee said.
More after the jump.
