The Country Club hides behind the porch of an 1850s Italianate cottage on Louisa Street in the Bywater, where a craft-cocktail bar, an award-leaning wine program and a backyard pool share the same address and the same easy-going New Orleans logic.
Who would love it: people who want a real cocktail and a slow afternoon away from the French Quarter, and anyone game for the weekend drag brunch. Who would hate it: travelers expecting a tourist-strip bar with quick turnover, because the appeal here is staying put. The cottage worked as a multi-family home and a taxi depot before it became The Country Club bar in the late 1960s; the current owner bought it in 2004, just before Katrina, and kept the loose, members'-club-without-the-membership spirit going.
The room splits into the elegant front bar and the butterfly lounge, then opens to a bohemian backyard with a cabana bar and an outdoor kitchen around the pool. The bar pours craft cocktails and local drafts and runs a wine list of more than 133 selections, a depth that the bar's own menus put front and center. A day pass or pool membership buys the lounge-by-the-water version of the visit.
For ordering, treat it as a cocktail-and-wine bar with a serious kitchen attached. The frozen and classic cocktails carry the afternoon; the wine list rewards anyone who asks the bartender to point at something by the glass. The food has a heavier pedigree than the setting suggests, with chef Chris Barbato, formerly of Commander's Palace, running a seafood-forward Italian-French-Creole menu, per coverage on Yelp and local listings. The legendary draw on weekends is the high-energy drag brunch on Saturday and Sunday, paired with Southern plates like shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles.
Best time to go is a warm weekday afternoon for the quiet-pool version, or a weekend brunch seating booked ahead for the show. Hours run Monday to Friday 10am to 11pm and weekends from 9:30am, and the venue is 21 and older. The Bywater address sits a short ride downriver from the Marigny clubs, so it pairs well with a later music stop.
The pool is the feature that sets The Country Club apart from any other bar in the city, and it shapes how people use the place. A bohemian backyard retreat with a cabana bar and an outdoor kitchen sits behind the cottage, and a day pass or membership turns an afternoon drink into a full lounge-by-the-water session. The crowd shifts with the hour: a relaxed neighborhood mix on weekday afternoons, then a higher-energy room on weekend mornings when the drag brunch packs both seatings. The building itself is part of the draw, an Italianate raised center-hall cottage from the 1850s that the owners have kept loose and lived-in rather than restored to a museum finish. Because it is 21 and older and a short ride downriver from the Marigny, it works best as a destination in its own right, a place to settle in for hours rather than a quick stop between French Quarter rounds.
Practical notes for a first visit: the porch and front bar are the easy entry point, the backyard and pool are where regulars settle in, and the kitchen is strong enough that ordering food is part of the experience rather than an afterthought. Parking in the Bywater is street-side and can be tight on weekends, so a rideshare keeps the afternoon simple, and the downriver location pairs naturally with a later stop at the Frenchmen Street clubs. Reservations are worth making for the weekend drag brunch, which sells its two seatings quickly, while a weekday cocktail at the bar is usually a walk-in.
It is one of the most distinctive entries in the city's cocktail scene. Compare it across the field in our best cocktail bars in New Orleans ranking, browse more of the city on the New Orleans bar guide, and for the Creole-French classics nearby see Tujague's.
Sources
- The Country Club official site — address, hours, bar and pool details
- Yelp — 634 Louisa St listing, photos and reviews
- NewOrleans.com listing — neighborhood and visitor information
