We stayed in the Henry Howard in early April for 3 nights just before and during the French Quarter Festival (which is a great time to come). Given all the good reviews on this site, our expectations were high but we must have hit it on a bad day as there were some management problems primarily on the first day of our stay.

On arrival, the B&B was locked and no one was around to check us in. I had e-mailed that we would be arriving early around 1PM and received a response that someone would be there to check us in. We waited awhile and then after a couple of calls, I was able to get hold of the housekeeper who came and let us in. She was very nice and took us to our room which was the Shangra La. She had no key to give us but said someone would be by later in the afternoon with a key. The toilet wasn't working and it appeared the room might be getting some updates as part of the rug in the foyer area was dirty with quite a few stains. However, the carpet around the bed looked new. After getting back from sightseeing, we ran into John (owner or manager - not sure which) who gave us a key and just had to turn the water on to start the toilet.

On the first morning, the cook didn't show up to cook breakfast. When we later ran into John, there was no mention or apology to us or the other guest about breakfast and during our whole stay he seemed preoccupied (he did have to find a new cook). Other reviews describe the management as being friendly and helpful but there must have been some major problem as we didn't experience any of this.

There are some great things about the Henry Howard. It's a grand house and is decorated with beautiful antique furniture. There is a lovely porch where you can sit and have a drink or snack. Also, there is a great grocery/deli across the street called Zara's and it has really good sandwiches. The breakfasts on our 2nd and 3rd days were very good. It turned out that the cook on the 3rd day was executive chef at one of the restaurants on St. Charles St. Finally, the Henry Howard's location is great. You can easily take a a self guided walking tour of the Garden District. It's very close to the Visitor Center on St. Charles (pick up a walking tour pamphlet) and to the Street Car (Catch it at Washington St. and St. Charles) and it takes you right to the French Quarter at the start of Bourbon St. Also, we went to this great little restaurant in the Garden District called Joey K's at 3001 Magazine St. where there are a lot of other shops and restaurants. It's a bit of a hike from the Henry Howard (maybe 10 blocks). I had the Trout and my husband had the Rice and Beans with the best sausage. Both dishes were exceptional. Better than the meals we had in the fancy restaurants in the French Quarter at a more reasonable price.



For the first 2 nights, there was only one other guest that we saw.