Langdon's is the easily the worst "bar" and "grill" in the Gretna area. The service is always poor and it's hard to say if that is because they are always understaffed, all of the servers (waiters, waitresses, bartenders, cooks) all have their friends in the place ("regulars" as it was put to me) and can't be bothered with other people, or just because the place is not equipped to serve the number of people they have tables to seat. Most likely it's a combination of all of these factors. Regardless, I have been here on three occasions. The first time I went late at night, just for drinks and I sat at the bar with a couple of people who accompanied me. The smell in the place was awful. We were told something had been spilled in the "kitchen" (the I use quotes because the "kitchen" is what a small room that looks like it used to be a broom closet) and the staff attempted to clean it up using undiluted bleach.
While at the bar, we were basically ignored for more than 10 minutes, and 15 to 20 after we placed our orders. We had to be asked twice what it was we wanted. The bartender and the cook were busy talking to people they obviously knew at the other end of the counter.
The second time I came in, I wanted to give the place another chance. That first time was late at night, and I thought "maybe they were just trying to wrap things up." Again, understaffed and the people that were there working were preoccupied with talking to each other about who knows what. I ordered a single beer, paid in cash and left. At least the whole place didn't smell like bleach this time, I guess.
Chance number three was just the other day, around lunch time. My young son and I had just finished a long morning in the heat and we were very hungry. We walked inside and the place was what I would call 3/4 full (this doesn't take much), but there were obviously plenty of tables open. In attendance was a large table of bikers, a couple of folks at the bar and a table of what I was told was a "baseball team" (about 8, maybe 10 people). There were two waitresses, a bartender and a couple of people milling around, back in the kitchen.
There's no sign that says you should wait to be seated, so my son and I started walking toward one of the many empty booths. One of the waitresses ran over and told us right away "it's going to be a 40 minute wait." I laughed a little and turned around to leave, but then stopped and asked her why. What I was told was that it was because of the "big tables" and "our kitchen is really, really small." We decided to go elsewhere. I won't be back a fourth time.
Langdon's gets a single star because I can't get half of one. If you can't accommodate the number of potential customers in your place, you either need to expand your "really, really small" kitchen, or get rid of some of your tables. Less tables would mean less people to disappoint and less of a load for your wait staff.
If you're in the Gretna area, there are other bars to go to. I'd recommend Spikers. read more