Top Best French Restaurants in New Orleans

"The most well known (and perhaps only) fine-dining establishment on Bourbon Street, Galatoire’s has been serving up unforgettable dining experiences for almost a hundred years. It’s a dinner-jacket required institution for the most discerning epicureans. Here, you get the true New Orleans experience, thanks to its menu that embraces the history of Creole and French cuisine."

"About Etouffee: Often made with shrimp or crawfish over rice, Etouffee (eh-TOO-fay) is a hit with both Cajun and Creole homes. While Bon Ton Cafe is one of the places servicing the dish the longest we like to order it at Galatoire’s. It may be a little fancy but this is a great place to eat and THE place to be for lunch on Friday."

"If you're lucky enough to go on a night when soft-shell crab is on the menu, it'll be one of the best damn pieces of food you'll ever put in your mouth."

"Housed in a relatively anonymous-looking building in the Central Business District, the dining room is disarmingly casual and feels like a democratic venue to sample some of the city’s best food. As almost all well-loved New Orleans restaurants do, Donald Link's flagship shows skill with the classics, and the dirty rice and chicken, tasso, and andouille gumbo remain as popular as ever. But the Italian and French dishes on the menu will call out to you."

"Restaurateur Donald Link’s flagship restaurant is open for dine-in, takeout, and curbside pickup, Monday to Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Saturday 5:30 to 10 p.m."

"As part of Dickie Brennan & Co., this restaurant is guaranteed to feature the taste and quality of top New Orleans cuisine. At Tableau, the menu is carefully crafted by Chef Ben Thibodeaux, who combines historical components of Creole cuisine and builds dishes based on their authentic roots. Tableau was selected by the Times-Picayune as one of the “Best New Restaurants in New Orleans” upon its opening, due to the excellence of its food and variety of dining ambience, from its courtyard and its main dining room to its drawing-room lounge and its balcony overlooking Jackson Square."

"Located right on Jackson Square, Tableau is a fabulous place to go for traditional New Orleans cuisine. Even though it was a rainy day on my visit, I still was able to get beautiful photos of their picturesque courtyard. You can also dine on the outside balcony with a view overlooking Jackson Square."

"Here are a few things N7, the hidden gem of a French restaurant in the upper 9th ward doesn't have: a phone, live music, creole cuisine and New Orleans-inspired decor. Now here's what you will get if you track down this unassuming bistro tucked behind a wooden fence just off of St. Claude Avenue: a gorgeous, candlelit courtyard complete with an old Citroen off to one side; cool retro meets French pop music; a menu that includes expected favorites like steak au poivre and mussels. There's a good rose by the glass, a nice wine list overall and a small bar at which to drink some."

"You’ll enter N7 through a small gate door that looks like you’re headed into someone’s home. Through that little door is a sprawling courtyard with an overhanging canopy of greenery, a vintage truck that’s the place’s signature detail and a restaurant that looks like it was once a home. In true New Orleans fashion, it’s not fancy — you’re sitting at picnic tables, after all — but it’s cozy, charming and a perfect perch for sipping on rosé and chatting with friends late into the night."

"BywaterSeafood, cocktails, and natural shine at this hidden gemThis is the kind of place where it feels like you’re making a discovery every time you eat here. From its nondescript entrance to the cozy indoor seating and the menu of natural wines, you’ll find something new to enjoy. Hopefully your dining partner feels the same way."

"Named after the 19th-century painter Edgar Degas, Café Degas is a cozy French bistro that features reasonably priced French-inspired cuisine with a touch of Creole. On warm days and evenings, the front windows are opened up to the street. Don’t forget to order the La Gratinée d’Oignons, which is French onion soup with crispy croutons and bubbly Swiss cheese."

"Cafe Degas is a European style French bistro housed in the leafy Bayou St. John neighborhood along the Esplanade Ridge. A metal-roofed porch enclosed in plastic houses the quirky dining room. Ceiling fans and metal garden tables and chairs with tapestry cushions flank the tight but charming space."

"From twinkling lights to a tree in the middle of the front patio, this is al fresco dining with gobs of panache. Don’t miss the floating islands doused in creme anglaise for dessert."

"A converted house in the Garden District sheds its past life as a po' boy shop to become Patois, which has white tablecloths and self-described "Louisiana cuisine with a French accent." Aside from elemental takes on a breakfast burrito and burger, chef and owner Aaron Burgau embraces big ideas even at brunch. Shrimp and grits are gussied up by black garlic, preserved lemon, bottarga, and toasted garlic bread crumbs; fried rabbit is paired with a poached egg, buttermilk biscuit, and Italian sausage white gravy; and a generous slab of almond-crusted, citrus meunière-showered Gulf fish is joined by a crisp potato galette and buttery green beans."

"Patois translates to "local accent", which is fitting for a restaurant that blends French culinary traditions with New Orleans flare and ingredients. Founded by Chef Aaron Burgau, the Uptown restaurant is noted for serving dishes like the Mississippi Rabbit and Hanger Steak at reasonable prices relative to the competition. The establishment has recently won awards such as "Best of New Orleans" and "Best Bargains" by revered local media outlets, making it a necessary stop for any traveler to the area looking for a great local dining option."

"This Uptown restaurant dishes out French cuisine with a local spin. Gulf fish almandine, rabbit cannelloni with mushroom béchamel, and did I mention the deviled crab dip with crab butter?. Quit stalling, and make a reservation now."

"One of the best kept-secrets when it comes to romantic French restaurants. Here, you’ll find unique items like frogs legs but familiar ones as well, such as grilled rack of lamb, Cornish hen, or grilled salmon. Don’t like French food?"

"Like stepping into a bistro in Paris, this tiny restaurant offers cozy tables where you can feed each other fondue and share a big, steaming bowl of mussels with pommes frites. Enjoy cheese or sweet crepes for dessert, or walk a block to Creole Creamery for ice cream. 1410 Robert St., (504) 899.2670"

"(Uptown, French/Creperie/Seafood, $$) Adorable from first sight, the building looks like an old train depot, feels like Paris inside. The mussels and frites, whole fish, and avocado vinaigrette are stand-outs."

"Cotelettes d’agneau is lamb chops served with cognac reduction, pommes frites and haricots verts. Reservations accepted. Dinner daily, brunch Sun."

"Located on the corner of St. Louis at Royal Street, the Rib Room has been the haunt of literary greats and the politically infamous for over 50 years. The Rib Room’s rotisserie remains a focal point of the menu of classic to contemporary dishes."

"Omni Royal Orleans Hotel, 621 St. Louis St., (504) 529-7045; www.ribroomneworleans.com. Pan-seared Gulf fish amandine is served with sauteed garlic kale and parsley potatoes. Reservations recommended."

"A few blocks from the French Quarter, St. Augustine has been the gravity center of the Tremé neighborhood since the 1840s. New Orleans’ large and vibrant community of free people of color was involved in the church from its beginnings. Often called “Creoles of color,” these property owners, artisans, businesspeople and professionals were several generations removed from slavery and sometimes were slave owners themselves."

"St. Augustine Catholic Church is the oldest African-American Catholic parish in the nation. It is located on Saint Claude Avenue near the French Quarter on the site of the old Claude Tremé plantation. The church is the location of the annual Jazz Mass that is held in conjunction with the Satchmo Festival, which pays homage to Louis Armstrong."

"Located at the corner of St. Claude and St. Roch avenues, across from the bright orange Healing Center that includes the New Orleans Food Co-Op, the St. Roch Market first opened in 1875 as just one of the city's many public markets. Restored in 2012 with $3.7 million in public funds, the market now includes 13 vendors including two that offer gluten free baked goods. The Market is an easy walk or bike ride from the French Quarter, and it's just across the street from the Marigny."

"First raised in 1875, this old market hall on St. Claude Avenue came through a post-Katrina renovation between 2012-15, reopening as a modern, chef-centric food hall. In this bright and airy space are 11 dining options around an acclaimed craft cocktail bar, The Mayhaw. T2 Streetfood does Vietnamese classics like banh mi, pho and bao buns, while Torshi is all about eastern Mediterranean flavours, from falafel to gyros, tabouli and baklava."

"This late-19th-century city-owned seafood market, which was by and large abandoned after Hurricane Katrina, was reborn as an upscale food hall several years ago. The dilapidated structure was spruced up and the navelike interior painted an..."

"Located in a French Quarter building where the nation’s first licensed pharmacist, Louis J. Dufilho, Jr., lived and practiced in the 1800s, the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum is a time-travel extravaganza. You can visit independently, but the insightful (and included with admission) 1 p.m. tour on weekdays is worthwhile to hear about medicine’s fascinating, unsterilized history and to eyeball some seriously iffy relics, like lead syringes, bottles once filled with opium-based teething formulas, strychnine-laced cosmetics, and over-the-counter heroin; plus, here’s your chance to view a pig’s-rib toothbrush and a calcified goat’s hairball."

"In 1804 the State of Louisiana passed a law requiring a licensing exam for would-be pharmacists. The first person to pass this exam was one Louis J. Dufilho Jr. , becoming the first licensed pharmacist in the United States. You can drop by his premises on Chartres Street in the French Quarter, where stacks of strange remedies line the walls in historic apothecary bottles."