New Orleans Seafood Restaurants

Visitors to New Orleans in search of haute Creole cuisine will find their nirvana at Commander's Palace in the Garden District. This 1893 landmark restaurant has garnered significant recognition and won innumerable culinary awards, including six James Beard Foundation Awards.

They pride themselves in sourcing local ingredients and, in fact, 90% of their ingredients come from within 100 miles of the restaurant. Expect entrées like pecan-crusted Gulf fish with crushed corn cream, spiced pecans, petit herbs, and Prosecco-poached Louisiana blue crab from this fine-dining restaurant. Jazz brunch favorites include turtle soup, chicory coffee-lacquered Texas quail, and Creole bread pudding soufflé.

1403 Washington Avenue, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-899-8221

Restaurant R'evolution has six one-of-a-kind dining rooms ensuring that all guests can find their perfect ambiance. Each is adorned with designer drapes, comforting colors, exceptional lighting, authentic artwork, and extraordinary white china. The atmosphere of the restaurant is exceeded only by the food, conceptualized by world-renowned chefs John Folse and Rick Tramonto.

Their award-winning cuisine can best be described as a stylish and inventive twist on classic Cajun and Creole cuisine. Guests will enjoy everything from seafood gumbo to sheep ricotta gnocchi with lobster, perfectly paired with fine wines from their 10,000-bottle cellar, or one of the eclectic libations featured at Bar R’evolution.

777 Bienville Street, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-553-2277

Vessel is an elegant concept restaurant in New Orleans' Mid-City area, located within a spectacular restored 1914 church. The restaurant, which was opened to the public in 2016, taking over the space formerly occupied by Christian's, features beautiful stained-glass windows and stunning architecture, with a century-old ceiling modeled after the hull of a ship. Brunch and dinner menus emphasize dishes prepared with locally-sourced seasonal ingredients, focusing on delicious Southern comfort fare such as shrimp and grits, bourbon-glazed pork chops, and market-fresh fish catches. Classic cocktails, beers, and wines are poured into 12 unique concept glassware types, playing on the restaurant's name and church history.

3835 Iberville St., New Orleans, LA 70119, Phone: 504-603-2775

The Munch Factory is a delicious contemporary Creole restaurant in New Orleans, opened by married duo Jordan and Alexis Ruiz in 2012. The restaurant, which was originally founded as a pop-up bar on the city's Jefferson Davis Parkway, recently relocated to a new space near Coliseum Square. At its new location, it has gained national spotlight for attracting celebrity diners like Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Creative entrees are served up in the restaurant's Spanish Colonial-style dining space, including hearty favorites like shrimp and grits, hot sausage patty melts, oyster boats, and slow-cooked pork ribs in homemade barbecue sauce. Clever shareable appetizers like bayou nachos, buffalo shrimp, NoLa crab cakes, and tuna tacos are also offered, along with a menu of specialty cocktails, cordials, and bottled beers.

6514 Congress Dr, New Orleans, LA 70126, Phone: 504-324-5372

Restaurants For a Date

Jacques-Imo's Cafe is a dream realized by Jacques Leonard, an upstate New York native raised by a French mother and Italian father. He grew up learning the cuisine of both countries, which gave him the building blocks for becoming the renowned chef he is today. Once stationed with the military in New Orleans, he fell in love with the city.

He began his career learning ‘Nawlins’ basics from Chef Paul. By 1996 he and his wife had purchased the restaurant and designed the eclectically colorful interior along with the diverse Nawlins’-style menu. Visitors will enjoy interacting with this quirky chef while eating his delicious creations, such as Cajun bouillabaisse.

8324 Oak Street, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-861-0886

Katie's Restaurant & Bar first opened its doors in 1984 as a family-owned and operated corner lunch hot spot founded by former oil man Leo Leininger, who named the restaurant after his mother. It changed hands in 1993 when the Craig family – mother Mary and sons Scot and David – purchased it.

The restaurant was a neighborhood icon until it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Over the next five years, Scot worked tirelessly to open Katie’s doors once more. With a revamped look and state-of-the-art equipment, the restaurant is now thriving once more. Visitors can dine on everything from po’ boys to catfish meuniere in this neighborhood favorite.

3701 Iberville Street, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-488-6582, See the Map

Romantic Restaurants

Drago's has been sourcing oysters from Louisiana’s Croatian fishermen since 1969. The family-owned restaurant serves up a range of New Orleans favorites from po’ boys to fried catfish, but their specialty is charbroiled oysters. In fact, they are the originators of charbroiled oysters in New Orleans.

Diners can experience these flavorful oysters at the original Drago’s in Fat City (Metairie) and at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside as well as at a third location in Mississippi. If that’s not enough, tailgaters can catch their Drago’s Charbroiling Engine at New Orleans Saints games or order their Charbroiled Oyster Kit (CBO) for private backyard grilling.

2 Poydras Street, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-584-3911

The landmark Bourbon House restaurant is home to the New Orleans Bourbon Society (NOBS) and to some of the most creative oyster platters in the city. NOBS and the master bourbon distillers regularly host dinners, tastings, and other events at the restaurant.

Catch all the action of Bourbon Street through the restaurant’s giant sidewalk-facing windows as you dine from an upscale menu that includes entrées like their New Orleans barbecued shrimp or the chef’s Gulf fish du jour. The restaurant has also earned local accolades for its ‘Best Seafood Platter in New Orleans’, while brunch, and now the ‘Boozy Bourbon Brunch’, are lively must-do events.

144 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-522-0111

Deanie’s Seafood restaurant is a symbol of the fishing village that spawned it over 40 years ago. Across the 17th Street Canal, Bucktown has held on to its tight-knit fishing community persona as tightly as it has to the casual family atmosphere of Deanie’s Seafood.

Here, guests will find the traditional taste of fresh and boiled Louisiana seafood and Cajun/Creole dishes dominating the lunch, dinner, and kids’ menus. There are gluten-free menu options as well. For a decade, Deanie’s has had a second location in the French Quarter, and of course there is still the seafood market that started it all next to the Bucktown restaurant.

841 Iberville Street, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-581-1316