Michael A.
Yelp
The New Orleans waterfront should be a beautiful place to hang out, with greenery, live bands, some historic landmarks, and local vendors offering a taste of the best local food.
But as it stands, it's a long and wide, very gray stretch of sidewalk with no landscaping, no entertainment, no food trucks or vendors all the way from Jax Brewery to this place: An ordinary indoor outlet mall.
"The Outlet Collection" both occupies and hinders access to the waterfront, with the same old chain stores that suck the cultural and entrepreneurial life out of the heart of The Big Easy. I hate to think what this mall has done to the tourist scene around historic Jackson Square, which was so vibrant years ago.
Anyhow, I do like the Cafe du Monde and, FWIW, the fresh smoothie, veggie, and juice bars in the food court, which also has a local burger stand and a local shrimp stand.
BUT LOOK OUT! The Villa Pizza stand charges *** $12 *** for a single slice of stale cheese pizza. I saw that and lost the rest of my appetite. What kind of "outlet" center allows chain stores to charge double the usual price for something so simple?
I will also say that many of the outlet stores had employees standing in the public areas, begging people to come into their stores. And in several visits at different times this week, I did not see many shoppers -- for better or worse.