7 Best Hotel Restaurants in New Orleans

Why it made the list

Tasty small plates are served at Sobou, a sexy, industrial space with delicious cocktails and a fun, downtown vibe. The menu mixes traditional ingredients with street food inspiration, like surf-and-turf steamed buns and crawfish tamales. It’s a fun, different way to indulge in typical Louisiana flavors, and the house-made cracklins and foie gras that make various appearances on the menu are totally worth the calorie count.

Upon entering the hotel under the disco ball-like globes of Read More

Why it made the list

The menu at the stylish Josephine Estelle inside the Ace Hotel New Orleans is the joint project of Micheal Hudman and Andy Ticer, a pair of Memphis-bred chefs and restaurateurs whose culinary roots trace back to the Italian-American kitchens of their nonnas. Ticer and Hudman pay homage to Italian heritage and familial warmth (its namesake a combination of their two daughters’), and the menu centers around fresh pasta, and sophisticated but simple plates of meat, fish, dairy, and vegetables, acquired from a trusted list of local vendors. The first Monday of every month, the chefs create a "Family Supper," a $35 multi-course menu served family style.

Ace Hotel New Orleans incorporates familiar staples of the A Read More

Why it made the list

Petit Lion at The Troubadour is a treat. The main menu at this bright, modern restaurant is rustic French comfort food (moule and steak frites, chicken paillard, chicken a la bonne femme), but the smaller plates, like the crab-stuffed deviled eggs topped with smoked caviar, allow Chef Philip Lopez (of Root and Square Root) to show his creative side. The restaurant rounds out its offerings with seasonal yogurts and muesli in the morning, fluffy brunch omelettes, and a practically perfect burger for lunch.

One of the newest kids on the block, the Troubadour joined t Read More

Why it made the list

John Besh’s team, headed by Executive Chef Chris Lusk, approached the Caribbean Room with a goal to restore a 1940s and 50s favorite to its former glory. They do so with zest, bringing together a bright dining room with a flurry of rattan furniture, white tablecloths and chandeliers, and touches of modern irony, like the Lil’ Wayne portrait greeting you at the entrance (nice). The menu harks back to the Creole-French fine dining of a different heyday: crawfish bisque, fish en papillote, and sweet corn veloute. Other favorites are the towers of meringue and ice cream making up the Mile High Pie (another restored staple of the original restaurant) and the duck fat-infused Sazerac.

A team of hotel experts recently renovated this 1930s archit Read More

Why it made the list

You have plenty of options at Restaurant R'evolution at Royal Sonesta New Orleans. Every room is a little different in this beautiful restaurant, from the front Parlor Room, with overstuffed chairs at each dining table, to the private Chef's Table overlooking the kitchen. Murals on the walls pay tribute to the seven nations that make up Creole and Cajun cultures, and the dishes served are impeccably detailed expressions of this culinary melting pot: crab beignets served with four different remoulades, a trio sampling of quail: fried, stuffed with boudin, and glazed in absinthe (!!). Pair your meal with a Burgundy or Bordeaux from the restaurant’s 10,000 bottle (!!!) wine cellar, and enjoy some of the best service you’ll receive while in New Orleans.

There’s a little something for everyone at this sprawl Read More

Why it made the list

The creation of John Besh and Alon Shaya (who went on to open the much-acclaimed Shaya on Magazine Street), Domenica’s pizzas are both traditional (ultra-thin crust made in a wood burning oven, the freshest mozzarella) and not, with toppings like salsa verde and smoked pork, mascarpone, and asparagus. Other draws to this pleasant, romantic eatery are the killer wine list, the house-cut charcuterie, Tuscan fried kale, and burrata with local 9th Ward honey.

A hotel of some form since 1893, this grand stone building j Read More

Why it made the list

First up, we got Compere Lapin at The Old No. 77 Hotel and Chandlery. Runner-up and crowd favorite of Top Chef–Season 11, Nina Compton returned to New Orleans shortly after to open a restaurant in the culinary landscape she’d grown to love. Compton combines Italian and French influences from her varied career as an expert chef and restaurateur, her roots in St. Lucia, and local flavors, continuing to wow diners and critics with her authenticity and creativity. The ingredients inspire comfort (plantains, curry spices, lamb) but the combinations are playful and unique (dirty rice arancini, sweet potato gnocchi, cold smoked tuna tartar). In its industrial space with soft lighting, wood accents, and high ceilings, the atmosphere of the restaurant is fittingly both warm and regal.

Simple and elegant, Old No. 77 is a boutique hotel with a wo Read More