When you're traveling in a city that is very touristy, it is sometimes hard to know which restaurants are good and which are bad. Located smack dab in the middle of the French Quarter, The Gumbo Shop is a restaurant that is no tourist trap. We enjoyed our meal, and the prices were quite reasonable for a Creole restaurant. We love Creole and Cajun food and cook it at home frequently. The food was very good, but not quite as well-seasoned or adventurous as we thought it would be. Still, though, it was a good choice for your basic New Orleans standards: gumbo, etouffee, etc.
The highlights of our meal were the crawfish etouffee and the desserts--praline sundae and bread pudding. This is the first bread pudding I've had that I enjoyed more than our family recipe! My wife also had an excellent fresh cantaloupe daiquiri.
We waited in line about 25 minutes before being seated (we got there at 9pm), and the crowd was mostly tourists with a few locals. They don't take reservations, except for very large parties. Dinner for four, with two drinks and three desserts, came to $80. We bought a Gumbo Shop cookbook on the way out and have already tried a couple of recipes. The recipes came out great!