Broussard's Empire Bar holds a quiet corner of the French Quarter at 819 Conti Street, the Napoleonic-themed bar inside a French-Creole restaurant that has run since 1920, with a courtyard out back that does the city's jazz brunch right.
The Quarter rewards rooms with real history, and Broussard's has a century of it. Per its official site, the restaurant pairs old French Quarter architecture with a renovated Empire Bar that leans into a Napoleonic theme, and the courtyard hosts a jazz brunch that locals rate above the tourist-grid options on Bourbon. Who would love it: anyone who wants a sit-down cocktail with some weight behind it, away from the daiquiri shops a block over. Who would hate it: anyone after a loud crawl bar, since the appeal here is the courtyard calm and the room's age.
The cocktail program is the draw and it is built with a point of view. The Empire Bar runs drinks curated to represent different decades, with a Bee's Knees for the 1920s, an Isadora Duncan for the 1940s, a Georgia on My Mind for the 1960s, and a Risky Business for the 1980s, per the bar's own menu. The smart move is the happy hour, which the restaurant runs Wednesday through Saturday from 3pm to 6pm in both the Empire Bar and the courtyard, with five-dollar cocktails, three-dollar beer, four-dollar wine, and a small-plate menu. Order a decade cocktail rather than defaulting to a Sazerac you can get anywhere; the themed list is the reason to sit here. The restaurant's wine program was honored in Wine Spectator's 2024 Restaurant Awards, so the by-the-glass list is deeper than a bar menu usually runs.
Best time to go is that weekday happy hour window, when the courtyard is open, the pricing is honest, and the room has not turned over to the dinner crowd. Weekend jazz brunch is the other anchor, and it books up, so a reservation beats a walk-in. Reviews on its Yelp listing, which run into the hundreds, repeat the same two notes: the courtyard is the seat to ask for, and the Empire Bar is a calmer, more grown-up stop than the Quarter's main drag.
For more in the category, see the best cocktail bars in New Orleans, work through the French Quarter bar guide, or scan our citywide cocktail bars roundup. It pairs well with the Quarter's other historic rooms when the night calls for craft over chaos.
The room is the appeal as much as the menu. The Empire Bar runs a Napoleonic theme inside a renovated space, and the courtyard out back is the seat to ask for, calmer than the daiquiri shops a block over and built for a long sit, per its official site. The crowd skews toward a grown-up cocktail audience rather than a Bourbon Street crawl, with the courtyard filling for weekend jazz brunch and the bar holding a quieter weekday early-evening trade. The Conti Street address keeps it central to the Quarter while staying off the loudest stretch.
Regulars repeat the same notes across its Tripadvisor and Google reviews: the courtyard is the seat worth requesting, the decade cocktails are the reason to choose the Empire Bar over a generic Sazerac stop, and the happy-hour pricing is honest for the Quarter. The recurring complaint is that brunch books up, so a walk-in can mean a wait. Who it is for: a couple after a calmer Quarter cocktail, a brunch group chasing the jazz-and-courtyard combination, and a wine drinker who wants a by-the-glass list deeper than a bar menu usually runs. Who should skip it: anyone after a loud, late crawl bar, since the appeal here is the history and the courtyard calm.
