The best places for a drink in New Orleans, from rooftop cocktail bars to French Quarter dive joints
These are unusual times, and the state of affairs can change quickly. Please check the latest travel guidance before making your journey. Note that our writer visited pre-pandemic.
There’s no getting around the fact that drinking is enshrined into New Orleans’s culture, as evidenced by the choice of breakfast cocktails that many places have on their menus. Several cocktails were invented here, and mixed drink enthusiasts will make the pilgrimage to sample a Sazerac or a Ramos Gin Fizz in their respective spiritual homes. Many bars are open 24 hours and drinking on the street is practically encouraged and so it should be no surprise that the city takes its bars very seriously, from high-end mixology spots down to the beer and a shot neighbourhood joints.
French Quarter
Cane and Table
Some of the city’s edgier dive bars populate this Lower Decatur Street stretch of the French Quarter, but this particular set of nondescript doors leads into a colonial-looking bar reminiscent of old Havana, all tiled floors and crumbling, exposed brickwork. The drinks are 'proto-Tiki', which may sound off-puttingly esoteric, but tropical flavours are delivered with innovation and aplomb, including a Mai Tai variation that arrives in a pineapple cup. A solid, Cuban-skewed food menu backs up the cocktails with beef empanadas and spiced ribs to cut through the sweetness of the drinks.
Contact: 00 1 504 581 1112; caneandtablenola.com
Opening times: Mon-Fri, 3pm-12am; Sat-Sun, 10.30am-12am
Prices: ￡￡
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Arnaud’s French 75
A bygone age has been preserved in this former gentleman’s bar of the esteemed Arnaud’s restaurant. The white tuxedoes of the servers reflect the grandeur of the polished mahogany and patterned tin ceiling while well-heeled locals signal for their post-work Sazerac. Out of towners are drawn in by the allure of the bar’s eponymous cocktail, a decadent mix of gin and champagne. The rest of the list is traditional but equally seductive, and it’s only people’s phones that spoil the mirage of being here in the 1920s. Be sure to drink your first cocktail perusing the secret Mardi Gras museum upstairs.
Contact: 00 1 504 523 5443; arnaudsrestaurant.com
Opening times: Mon-Thu, 5.30pm-11pm; Fri, 3pm-12.30am; Sat, 5.30pm-12.30am
Prices: ￡￡￡
Getting in: Smart casual dress recommended
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Molly’s at the Market
A fiercely loyal band of regulars inhabit various corners of this large open bar room, enthusiastically dissecting local politics or yesterday’s football game while they buy another round of Guinness. It’s ostensibly an Irish bar, but the ramshackle décor isn’t overly Celtic. Clumps of more adventurous tourists, straying from Bourbon Street, will camp out at the tables, and there’s a small back bar where the resident cat hangs out. The famed frozen Irish coffee has kick-started many a French Quarter morning, and the cross section of local characters make this an unpretentious, quintessential New Orleans bar.
Contact: 00 1 504 525 5196; mollysatthemarket.net
Opening times: Daily, 24 hours a day
Prices: ￡
The Black Penny
A 19th-century building on the fringes of the historic French Quarter, the spit and sawdust simplicity of the bar room and lounge welcome in a lively mix of regulars, many of them off-shift service-industry workers decompressing after a long day. Most of the bar’s 100+ beers adorn the wall in can form, and the perkily attentive bartenders will happily dive into your flavour preferences should you need a guiding hand sifting through the lesser-known ciders and stouts. Pop-up food stalls are usually on hand to go with whatever rare brew takes your fancy.
Contact: 00 1 504 304 4779; facebook.com/BlackPennyNola
Opening times: Daily, 12pm-4am
Prices: ￡
Carousel Bar
If it wasn’t backed up by its historical heft, a rotating bar in the form of a circus merry-go-round might seem gimmicky. This century-old contraption seats 25 around the circular bar contained within, the world revolving almost unnoticeably as you settle in for a brandy milk punch among the seersucker-suited locals and the sometimes less salubrious tourists. The bar of this grand old hotel has stories, though, and great authors such as Capote, Williams and Faulkner drank here, and sometimes even did some writing. Soak up some inspiration, or just hop on up and enjoy the ride.
Contact: 00 1 504 523 3341; hotelmonteleone.com
Opening times: Daily, 11am-12am
Prices: ￡￡
Getting in: Smart casual dress recommended
Central Business District/Downtown
The Sazerac Bar
The sense of history permeates from the dark walnut wooden fixtures, leather-backed chairs and striking tableaus of the huge murals that wrap around this old hotel bar. Notable dramatic chapters of local history took place within these walls, most of them while the bartenders whipped up rounds of the Sazerac for which the bar is named. The rye whiskey cocktail is a New Orleans classic, and where better to drink one than in the place of its inception? A more frivolous occasion might call for a frothy Ramos Gin Fizz, another creation of which this bar is the spiritual home.
Contact: 00 1 504 648 1200; therooseveltneworleans.com
Opening times: Daily, 11am-2am
Prices: ￡￡￡
Getting in: Smart casual dress recommended
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Bywater
Bachannal Fine Wine and Spirits
Venture to the outer limits of the newly trendy Bywater neighbourhood and you’ll find a former wine shop that has opened a none-more-Instagramable back yard where fairly lights frame a mess of tables and a stage. Bohemians and business suits bum elbows, buying bottles of wine up front and then ordering cheese plates and tapas to their table, while local musicians fill the evening air with jazz or contemporary folk music. The wine list is extensive, and two or three bottles can slip by almost unnoticed in this cosy nook that seems to exist in soft focus.
Contact: 00 1 504 948 9111; bachannalwine.com
Opening times: Sun-Thu, 11am-12am; Fri-Sat, 11am-1am
Prices: ￡￡
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Uptown
Hot Tin
Tennessee Williams would at least approve of the dramatic views that this Lower Garden District rooftop bar presents, a panoramic cityscape that you won’t find elsewhere. You suspect he’d also stay for a cocktail or six, hunkering down in the post-colonial, loft-like space, decorated with remnants of love letters and equally romantic artefacts. The bars sends out classics such as copper-mugged Moscow Mules and also their sly twists on familiar tipples with names like The Skyliner and The Seersucker. The creaky lift that gets you there and the quirky ephemera are worth the visit, the view is worth staying for.
Contact: 00 1 504 323 1500; hottinbar.com
Opening times: Sun-Thu, 2pm-12am; Fri-Sat, 2pm-2am
Prices: ￡￡
Getting in: Smart casual clothing recommended
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Cure
A century-old former fire station houses this upscale cocktail bar, the arched windows lighting an interior that wouldn’t look out of place in Manhattan. The tropical foliage of the patio yanks you right back to New Orleans, though, and a decade in, Cure is still setting the standard for mixed drinks. Bartenders pluck eclectic liquors from the illuminated wall of booze that looms over the long, narrow bar room. The list is inventive but with soul rather than pretention, and the rotating cocktail names may not be familiar but the clued-up staff will be your Sherpa through the alcoholic foothills.
Contact: 00 1 504 302 2357; curenola.com
Opening times: Mon-Thu, 5pm-12am; Fri-Sat, 3pm-2am; Sun, 3pm-12am
Prices: ￡￡￡
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Mid-City
Twelve Mile Limit
The thrift-store chic of this residential neighbourhood bar belies greater things going on beneath the surface. There’s nothing too notable about the wall-mounted road signs that overlook the pool table, but an exploration of the menu hints at more interesting developments. Owner T Cole Newton is one of the city’s pre-eminent mixologists, and he is stealthily bringing interesting, high-quality mixed drinks and a left-of-centre beer list to the masses. The Baudin, for instance, is a spicy whisky sour that ignites your tastebuds, and there’s a barbecue-leaning menu with solid ribs and sliders.
Contact: 00 1 504 488 8114; twelvemilelimit.com
Opening times: Mon-Fri, 5pm-2am; Sat-Sun, 10am-2am
Prices: ￡
