5 Best Nightlife in Garden District, New Orleans

Just down the block from some of Magazine Street's finest boutiques, you'll find this neighborhood haunt that exudes the ambience of a 19th-century pub. Its exposed-brick walls and copper-top bar are completed with Sazeracs and absinthe on the terrific drinks menu. It's a great place to end a day of exploring or to get the evening started, while mingling among neighborhood denizens.

Roast beef po'boy devotees genuflect at the mention of this friendly hole-in-the-wall, which for more than 60 years has served the sloppy sandwiches along with Guinness on tap. The annual St. Patrick's Day block party at Parasol's spills out into the surrounding lower Garden District neighborhood; it's grown so large that police have had to erect barricades to keep traffic out—or to keep the revelers in.

Beer lovers from around the globe make a beeline to this 24-hour neighborhood joint with pressed-tin ceilings. Boasting the best beer selection in New Orleans, the bar hosts a regular schedule of tastings and special events. The whiskey selection also ranks among the top in town. Sip your pint on the wraparound balcony upstairs, where you can watch streetcars roll past on St. Charles Avenue.

The postcollege set claims most of the seats on the beautiful brick patio here, with its views of the Magazine Street bustle and a fountain made from dozens of beer taps. The dog-friendly venue bills itself as "Uptown's International Beer Tavern," and it backs up that boast with 50 different brews on tap and more than 100 bottles. Solid bar food keeps patrons well fueled, but during crawfish season, boiled mudbugs from the seafood market across the street are the preferred fare.

This cavernous sports bar and neighborhood pub comes with a backstory. The owners used to manage Parasol's, a nearby dive famous for its roast beef po'boys. When new owners at Parasol's forced them out, they took their recipe and most of their regulars around the corner to this larger location on Magazine Street. And, well, now the neighborhood has two great bars with stellar roast beef po'boys.