The Verdict Lounge & Restaurant

The Verdict is a Black- and woman-owned lounge and restaurant on Lake Forest Boulevard in New Orleans East, opened in 2022 by Melika Honore, with her mother Michiko Honore, a former House of Blues corporate chef, in the kitchen and her sister Tashika Honore-Holden running operations.

The theme is legal, down to the signature Plead the Fifth cocktail, and the kitchen is known for bell pepper egg rolls, white chocolate bread pudding egg rolls, fried chicken, shrimp and grits and pan-seared redfish.

Gordon Ramsay filmed there for Kitchen Nightmares in autumn 2024 and the episode aired in February 2025. The restaurant is still trading, with weekend brunch.