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October 2, 2012
Chabert hit with added cuts and job losses
October 5, 2012
The brick building is too small for live entertainment, but that truth has helped Thibodaux’s Piazza Bar carve a niche as a casual social center.
With a ban on smoking, dim lights shining down and televisions hanging on the periphery, Piazza Bar aims to provide an “elegant and intimate” atmosphere, 25-year-old assistant manager Sandi Cortez says.
“You can have that one-on-one time with somebody,” she says. “It’s more of a relaxed setting.”
There’s never a cover charge, but patrons must be 21 to enter.
With the right atmosphere in place, bar employees focus on being cordial and inviting. Emphasizing hospitality seems to have paid off, as “(guests) come to speak to our bartenders,” Cortez says.
That’s not an exaggeration. Many of the patrons seated at the L-shaped marble bar top agree with Cortez that they’ve built a “rapport” with their servers. The honesties of the bar – no bands, cozy quarters – facilitate conversation, and somebody has to be on the other end. Why not a team of affable, witty and fun bartenders?
The staff behind the bar on this night, Josh and Amanda, proves the point with enthusiastic stories and jokes, theatrically using their hands to draw laughter from their patrons.
Megan Jackson and John Warren, an engaged couple in their mid-20s, frequent the Piazza Bar at least weekly. They agreed with the hospitality sentiment. In fact, Warren says he feels so comfortable with the staff that he came here before proposing to his future wife.
“Sandi (Cortez) saw the ring before she did,” Warren says.
Jackson agrees that she has a good relationship with the bartenders, but between sips from a mix of Andygator and Purple Haze, she lauds the variety of craft beers Piazza Bar offers and says this also draws the couple in.
“(The bartenders) know what everyone likes to drink,” says Billy Royster. “It’s like ‘Cheers.’”
The bar closes at 2 a.m. every morning, but patrons don’t have to go home … or leave, really. Slices, whole pizzas and calzones are served until 3 a.m., making the establishment one of the area’s most prominent late-night destinations.
Piazza Bar offers two-for-one pints and cheesy bread every weekday from 3-7 p.m. in accordance with Happy Hour. On every Saints’ and Tigers’ game day, the bar sells $1 domestic beer.
And what would a bar be without daily specials?
Unlimited wings are offered for $7.99 on Monday; on Tuesday, keep the mug after drinking the Beer of the Month; free coffee, 99-cent beignets and two-for-one margaritas are offered on Wednesday; get two-for-one well margaritas, Michelob Ultra or Abita Amber on Thursday; and $5 martinis are available during Happy Hour on Friday.
Megan Jackson and John Warren laugh as bartender Amanda Ensley tells a joke at Thibodaux’s Piazza Bar. The establishment prides itself on elegance, intimacy and hospitality, according to assistant manager Sandi Cortez.
