Editorial
No neighbourhood in America has a drinking culture as historically rich or as easily squandered on the wrong choices as the French Quarter of New Orleans. The best bars french quarter new orleans has produced have been serving serious drinks for over a century — and they sit within a block or two of some of the worst tourist traps in the country. We have sorted both. The list below covers the French Quarter bars worth your time, from the legendary to the recent arrivals that have already earned their place.
The French Quarter invented several of America's most important cocktails, and a handful of the bars where those drinks were first made are still serving them — with varying degrees of fidelity to the original. The ones below are the real thing.
The music in the French Quarter does not stop — it starts at noon on a good day and runs until after 3am on any night of the week. The bars below are the ones where the music justifies the drink prices rather than just providing background noise.
Beyond the historic institutions, a newer generation of French Quarter cocktail bars has established itself alongside the legends without being intimidated by them. These are the rooms serving the neighbourhood's next chapter.
The French Quarter rewards visitors who engage with its history rather than trying to escape it. The cocktail bars above are serving drinks whose recipes were developed in these specific streets — that context makes the drink better, not worse. Start at Arnaud's French 75 Bar with a proper French 75, then work your way through the newer cocktail bars before finishing with a set at Preservation Hall.
Bourbon Street is unavoidable and not all bad — Fritzel's Jazz Pub makes the block worth it. The mistake is spending your entire evening there. The best French Quarter drinking moves between the historic bars, the courtyard spots, and the live music rooms — a circuit rather than a destination.
James has visited New Orleans more times than he can account for and has a running debate with himself about whether the Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt or Arnaud's French 75 Bar is the finest room in the city. Currently favouring Arnaud's.