French Quarter restaurant advice....

We will be staying in the French Quarter for our pre-cruise trip in April. I have done a lot of searching on the internet for good, reasonably priced, restaurants. We are on a budget (thanks in part to the outrageous cost of our airfare!) so we will not be eating at Commanders Palace, Broussard's or the like. Would like to, but just not in the cards for us this time.

One of the places we ate at last time was Corner Oyster Bar & Grill. I looked that up & the most current reviews were really bad.:( How is the Oceana Grill? They had good reviews. And Cafe DuMonde...is it better than the other Beniet restaurant on Royal St.? Sorry if I misspelled that.

Would love any suggestions! Thanks so much in advance!!!

Acme Oyster House is really good and reasonably priced. There is also a New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co. restaurant on Decatur St. across from the Jax Brewery shopping mall. Great burgers and yummy thin fried catfish!

Thank you so much! DH would love the burger & catfish place!:p

Depends on your budget and the number of days you will be in town. I am assuming you will not have a car and you will be trying to avoid taxi fares. There are a hundred sandwich places in and near the FQ. But eating in the FQ will normally cost a tad more than elsewhere. I can understand staying away from the high-end restaurants, but you may want to consider a lunch special at a restaurant like Galatorie's. Meals at some nice restaurants will not necessarily be more expensive than meals at chains, even the local ones. I would spend an extra five dollars and have dinner at a place like the Bon Ton near the FQ than a chain.

Cafe Maspero is on Decatur across from Jax Brewery. They serve seafood, Phobos, red beans and rice. Very good, always crowded, cash only. Cafe Pontalba is very good. Poboys, excellent breakfast and great bloody Mary's (so I have heard). It's located inside Jackson Square, facing the cathedral, it is on the left corner. Across Jackson Square, on the right corner, is Stanley's. I have only eaten breakfast there, but it is great. Eggs Stanley is eggs Benedict with fried oysters on top or eggs Stella is eggs Benedict with a fried soft shell crab on top (my fav...Yum!). There is also Remoulade. It is owned by the same people that own Arnaud's. This is just a casual "Arnaud's." It is on Bourbon St. Acme Oyster House is excellent, but unless you get there early, expect a long wait!!

The Gumbo Shop is excellent, check out their website

I want to thank everyone for all their GREAT suggestions! I wrote them all down & we will try as many as possible during our stay!:p

Wonderful group over on this Board!!

Having only spent two nights in New Orleans, I think it would be hard to find a bad place to eat. We stumbled on to two gems IMO. Really great service, fantastic, fresh food and not a bad price. Enjoy it, whatever you choose!

Enjoyed the BBQ shrimp, red beans & rice, fish tacos & popcorn oysters. http://www.lemeritagerestaurant.com/bistreaux.html

Seafood platter, crab bisque & muffaletta. http://www.chartreshousecafe.com/

If the line is too long at Acme Oyster bar is too long... walk across the street to Felix's Oyster bar. Good gumbo and shrimp

We were in New Orleans January 10-12 for two days pre-cruise. We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel by the pier, but walked to the French Quarter. We asked a local where he liked to eat breakfast and he said Oceana. We had a wonderful breakfast there and my DH said his Bloody Mary was the best he'd had in a long time. (My Bellini was pretty good too!)

We also went to Cafe du Monde for Cafe au lait and beignets. They were very good. I'm glad we went there for the experience.

We just ate at the Hard Rock Cafe for the first time since they relocated. They are on Bourbon St. now and in a bigger place. French Quarter is starting to get crowded with people from out of town for the Super Bowl.

Seconding the vote for Felix's. Our tour guide recommended the place and he knew what he was talking about. YUM.

Cafe du Monde only has coffee based drinks and beignets. I go every time I'm in New Orleans. :)

I think someone mentioned Stanley's on the corner of Jackson Square. Had lunch there two weeks ago. Great prices and great food.

Last trip we ate at a spot called the Gumbo Shop. Good food and the ambience is good if you can get a spot outside.

Also tried Bourbon House. Food was excellent but the prices start to climb if you're on a really tight budget.

Each of these spots has online menus if you'd like to check out the prices ahead of time. Also, someone mentioned hoofing it in the FQ. Our recent trip included a few rides in the pedi-cabs (think rickshaw but a bike). Cheap transport and lots of fun.

If the line is too long at Acme Oyster bar is too long... walk across the street to Felix's Oyster bar. Good gumbo and shrimp

Almost forgot to mention one of the favorite places that all the locals love. Central Grocery on Decatur St. It's across the street from Cafe du Monde and down the street a block. This is considered the birthplace of the famous muffaletta sandwich.

Acme is great. Believe it or not, Margaritaville has surprisingly good food. It's a tradition for us to go there every time. Just across the street is Coop's. Must be 21 to enter as it is really a bar but it has killer fried chicken and a rabbit and sausage jambalaya that is incredible. The lines here can be as long of a wait as Acme because of Coop's size. Also, extremely inexpensive.

We will be staying in the French Quarter for our pre-cruise trip in April. I have done a lot of searching on the internet for good, reasonably priced, restaurants. We are on a budget (thanks in part to the outrageous cost of our airfare!) so we will not be eating at Commanders Palace, Broussard's or the like. Would like to, but just not in the cards for us this time.

 

One of the places we ate at last time was Corner Oyster Bar & Grill. I looked that up & the most current reviews were really bad.:( How is the Oceana Grill? They had good reviews. And Cafe DuMonde...is it better than the other Beniet restaurant on Royal St.? Sorry if I misspelled that.

 

Would love any suggestions! Thanks so much in advance!!!

The Old Coffee Pot Restaurant in the French Quarter has great seafood and the best --- crab cake in the world.

The Old Coffee Pot Restaurant in the French Quarter has great seafood and the best --- crab cake in the world.

We had breakfast at the Old Coffee Pot Restaurant before our wedding last year and it was fantastic. We ate out on the terrace since it's a small place and when the waitress found our it was our wedding day, she set down her stuff and belted out a soul song about loving a woman. It brought tears to my eyes and I wish I had it recorded. Such a memorable experience for me. I plan on going there again on our first anniversary the morning our cruise leaves (3/3/13).

As for lunch/dinner - We go to Johnny's Po-Boy's (cash only) on St. Louis and Decatur for po-boys and mufalettas (1/2 is enough for one person) and also love, love Deanie's seafood on Dauphine & Iberville. We actually had our rehearsal dinner there. I really love the fried catfish plate (Enough for 2) and hubby loves the crab au-gratin. Everything we've had there was great!

We stayed in New Orleans for 2 days before our cruise and ate twice at Coop's (on the advice from the guy at the front desk of our hotel) It was good and resonably priced and close to our hotel. It's on Decatur St.

We think the menu looks amazing - any comments on this place good or bad?

We think the menu looks amazing - any comments on this place good or bad?

We thought about that place because there have been some coupons floating around, but all the reviews I saw (like yelp) were really bad... so we decided to skip it..

We're staying at Harrah's. What restaurants are close by?

What price range? There are probably 300 restaurants within walking distance of Harrah's. Two choices. A place that is popular, though especially with tourists, is Mother's on Poydras perhaps two blocks from Harrah's. There is a nice, though not terribly expensive, almost Cajun-type restaurant called the Bon Ton that is close to the casino.

We don't go until the end of April. Some of the restaurants that I've read about and have gotten good reviews in more than a few places are

Acme Oyster House

Deanies

Court of the Two sisters

~ of course, Cafe Du Monde ~

Red Gravy .. for b'fast, but I showed my husband the menu and he didn't seem to like it.

Price Range would be up to $30 p/p for main course and then either share an appy or share and have a soup ... and a cocktail. This is dinner ... so between $70 - $100 with drinks for dinner.

Most restaurants fall within your price range. Seriously. Places I would suggest that fall within or are very close to your price range--Galatorie's, Irene's, Tommy's Cuisine. Acme Oyster House has been around for a long time. I know of, but have never been to, Deanie's. Court of Two Sisters has a reputation for being a tourist restaurant, but is very nice.

Check out the Tom Fitzmorris nomenu.com. website and Trip Advisor.

We don't go until the end of April. Some of the restaurants that I've read about and have gotten good reviews in more than a few places are

 

Acme Oyster House

Deanies

Court of the Two sisters

~ of course, Cafe Du Monde ~

Red Gravy .. for b'fast, but I showed my husband the menu and he didn't seem to like it.

 

Price Range would be up to $30 p/p for main course and then either share an appy or share and have a soup ... and a cocktail. This is dinner ... so between $70 - $100 with drinks for dinner.

Deanie's is a great choice. (http://www.deanies.com/restaurants/french-quarter-%E2%80%93-restaurant-and-private-dining/) I've been there several times and we had our rehearsal dinner there last year before we got married in NOLA. We will be hitting it up again at least once in March.

We also like Huck Finn's (on Decatur - http://www.huckfinnscafe.com/) for lunch or dinner and it's casual. Very good we thought and good prices.

Best steak we had hands down was Chophouse NOLA (http://www.chophousenola.com/) on Magazine right next to the St. James hotel. The filet melted in my mouth and I could cut it with a fork. So good. I'm hoping we can go there again too!

Oh, Lordy, more restaurants to research. :D