And All The Rest. All 1336 Of Them.
Best Restaurants In New Orleans

Here's a list sorted by neighborhood.
Click here for a list sorted by cuisine.
Click here for an alphabetical list.

Click on a neighborhood below to go there.

Here's a list of all the restaurants open in the New Orleans area as of today. Not included: fast-food restaurants, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

If you don't see a restaurant listed here, it may in fact be open. Some you find on this list have closed. These discrepancies amount to fewer than two percent of the listings. I call and visit many restaurants, but some open or close without letting me (or anybody else) know about it. Please let me know about any needed additions, deletions, or other corrections at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

And All The Rest. All 1336 Of Them.
Best Restaurants In New Orleans

This is a list sorted by cuisine.
Click here for a list sorted by neighborhood.
Click here for an alphabetical list.

Pick a style of food from the index below to go to a list of all restaurants serving that cuisine.

Below is a list of all the restaurants open in the New Orleans area as of today. Not included: fast-food restaurants, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

If you don't see a restaurant listed here, it may in fact be open. Some you find on this list have closed. These discrepancies amount to fewer than two percent of the listings. I call and visit many restaurants, but some open or close without letting me (or anybody else) know about it. Please let me know about any needed additions, deletions, or other corrections at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

And All The Rest. All 1336 Of Them.
Best Restaurants In New Orleans

This is an alphabetical listing.
Click here for a list sorted by neighborhood.
Click here for a list sorted by cuisine.

Here's a list of all the restaurants open in the New Orleans area as of today. Not included: fast-food restaurants, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

If you don't see a restaurant listed here, it may in fact be open. Some you find on this list have closed. These discrepancies amount to fewer than two percent of the listings. I call and visit many restaurants, but some open or close without letting me (or anybody else) know about it. Please let me know about any needed additions, deletions, or other corrections at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Sorted By Neighborhood
Open For Sunday Lunch/Brunch

You say there aren't many restaurants open on Sunday? Well, guess again. Here is a list of all the ones we know about that serve lunch or brunch. Although we put a lot of work into this knowing, restaurants change their hours unexpectedly and rarely tell us about it. If you know of a restaurant open for Sunday at the noon hour that's not on this list, please let us know: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As is the case with our full list of every open restaurant, this one doesn't include fast food, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook much of anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

The restaurants are sorted by neighborhood. Click on a neighborhood below to go there. In a few neighborhoods, no restaurants are open on Sunday for dinner, and clicking the link will do nothing.

Sorted By Neighborhood
Open For Dinner On Sunday

You say there aren't many restaurants open on Sunday for dinner? Well, guess again. Here is a list of all the ones we know about. Although we put a lot of work into this knowing, restaurants change their hours unexpectedly and rarely tell us about it. If you know of a restaurant open for Sunday dinner that's not on this list, please let us know: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As is the case with our full list of every open restaurant, this one doesn't include fast food, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook much of anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

The restaurants are sorted by neighborhood. Click on a neighborhood below to go there. In a few neighborhoods, no restaurants are open on Sunday for dinner, and clicking the link will do nothing.

Sorted By Neighborhood
Open For Lunch On Monday

You say there aren't many restaurants open on Monday? Well, guess again. Here is a list of all the ones we know about that serve lunch or brunch. Although we put a lot of work into this knowing, restaurants change their hours unexpectedly and rarely tell us about it. If you know of a restaurant open on Monday for lunch that's not on this list, please let us know: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As is the case with our full list of every open restaurant, this one doesn't include fast food, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook much of anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

The restaurants are sorted by neighborhood. Click on a neighborhood below to go there. In a few neighborhoods, no restaurants are open on Monday for lunch, and nothing will happen when you click the link.

Sorted By Neighborhood
Open For Dinner On Monday

You say there aren't many restaurants open on Monday night? Well, guess again. Here is a list of all the ones we know about that serve dinner on Monday. Although we put a lot of work into this knowing, restaurants change their hours unexpectedly and rarely tell us about it. If you know of a restaurant open on Monday for dinner that's not on this list, please let us know: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As is the case with our full list of every open restaurant, this one doesn't include fast food, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook much of anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

The restaurants are sorted by neighborhood. Click on a neighborhood below to go there. In a few neighborhoods, no restaurants are open on Monday for dinner, and nothing will happen when you click the link.

Sorted By Neighborhood
Open For Lunch On Saturday

Unless you're in the French Quarter or going out for a sandwich, Saturday lunch is a surprisingly difficult thing to find. Few white tablecloth restaurants are open, and guessing which ones are is frustrating. This is especially true on the North Shore.

Here is a list of all the restaurants we know about that serve lunch on Saturday. Although we put a lot of work into this knowing, restaurants change their hours unexpectedly and rarely tell us about it. If you know of a restaurant open on Saturday for lunch that's not on this list, please let us know: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As is the case with our full list of every open restaurant, this one doesn't include fast food, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook much of anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

The restaurants are sorted by neighborhood. Click on a neighborhood below to go there. In a few neighborhoods, no restaurants are open on Saturday for lunch, and nothing will happen when you click the link.

Sorted By Neighborhood
Open For Breakfast

Here's a list of all the restaurants we know about that serve breakfast. Although we put a lot of work into this knowing, restaurants change their hours unexpectedly and rarely tell us about it. If you know of a breakfast place not on this list, please let us know: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As is the case with our full list of every open restaurant, this one doesn't include fast food, most national chains, bars and coffeehouses that don't cook much of anything, take-out-only and delivery-only operations, and restaurants not open to the general public. Restaurants do not pay to be listed or recommended.

The restaurants are sorted by neighborhood. Click on a neighborhood below to go there. In a few neighborhoods, no restaurants are open for breakfast, and clicking the link will do nothing.

The Top Dozen Of Everything

Everybody else does top-ten lists, but since food typically comes by the dozen, we proudly present our top-twelve lists of the best restaurants and dishes, in categories both obvious and whimsical. To seach for a particular list, type the key word (i.e., "shrimp") in the "Title Filter" box below.

The Best 25% Of The Local Dining Scene

The Number One Question when the conversation gets around to restaurants is, "What's the Number One Restaurant?"

If the question is directed at me, I say I'm not exactly sure which is the best restaurant in town, but that I am pretty sure which are the top twenty-five percent. Then I whip out this list. That doesn't end the argument, but it sure gets it bogged down in personal opinions and sudden recollections of great meals in places one hasn't been to lately.

My list is determined by a criterion I've used for years: essentialness. How important is a restaurant to the local dining picture? That's a different matter from the one that asks who serves the best food, in the best places, with the best service and prices and portions, etc. Great cooking is still critical, but essentialness brings in all the other things that make a restaurant attractive+: creativity, culinary uniqueness, history, location, romance, value, and a million other things.

Another way of defining a restaurant's essentialness is asking: How much would you regret losing this place? This reveals a fact we've always known: that the best poor boy shop is a more essential restaurant than the thirteenth best gourmet Creole bistro, even if the latter may have better food, service, and surroundings. If there's only one good Ethnikian restaurant in town, it becomes more essential than if there were many.

I think you'll find in this list how deep the New Orleans restaurant community has become. On the other hand, I know that even this is a personal opinion, and that other diners will certainly disagree with certain rankings. This is a good thing, and I hope you will make your known on our messageboard. If a large number of people like a restaurant better than I do, it will move up the Essential list. (Though not in my star ratings, which I think ought to be purely one man's opinion.)

When I first published this list in 1977, it only required 100 listings to give a good picture of the New Orleans restaurant scene. But even after Katrina and other setbacks, in 2012 we have more restaurants than at any time in the history of the city. This list--each item on which id linked to a full, current review--run to 380 establishments. That's about a fourth of the total number of restaurants open around town.

And new restaurants keep coming on. Several that opened during the past year certainly belong on this list, most of them in the top half of it. They're too new for me to have dined enough to give a solid rating, and they're not on the list. Yet. I update this thing constantly.

The splashiest new opening in 2012 was R'evolution, the cooperative venture from Chefs John Folse and Rick Tramonto with the Royal Sonesta Hotel. A major undertaking in every way, the investment seems to have paid off. The many diners hwo've reported back to me say it lives up to its hype. Which is saying something. As I publish this list, I've just been for the first time. I suspect that when I gather enough data with which to rate the place, it will fit somewhere in the top fifty.

Another big opening was that of Maurepas Foods in the burgeoning Bywater restaurant community. Reports have not been consistent, but it's about time I get there.--Tom Fitzmorris.