The Resy Hit List: Where In New Orleans You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

This back-room sushi bar combines the chef-curated elegance of Japanese omakase with a joyful, accessible meal that’s worth every penny — and actually leaves you full. Chef Seiji Nakano himself is central to the experience, which can be either four ($85) or seven ($140) courses, typically consisting of an appetizer, soup, dessert, and of course, multiple pieces of sushi and nigiri, perhaps featuring uni, Japanese snapper, fatty tuna, Hokkaido scallop, cod, amberjack, and eel. Nakano lights up the 17-seat space with warmth and finesse, and along with his generous portions, personifies New Orleans dining. It gets our vote for the top omakase in the area.

One of 2025’s most exciting openings, this dreamy neighborhood bistro seamlessly ascended to the top of Marigny’s essential dining list last year. Low-key and elegant, it’s great for a weeknight meetup with friends over happy hour martinis or a dreamy weekend date night. The kitchen is led by Rebecca Wilcomb, a talented local chef who won a Best Chef: South honor from the Beard Foundation while cooking at Herbsaint. Her (along with fellow Herbsaint alum Marcus Jacobs’) menu feels so fresh, with dishes like crispy soft-shell shrimp, tomato-rubbed focaccia topped with anchovies, and chicken liver rigatoni with country ham. Don’t bank on certain dishes, however: with the exception of a few items, this menu is always changing. New happy hour specials every day makes it completely neighborhood-friendly.

Still arguably the defining restaurant of New Orleans, in spirit, cuisine, and history. Over seven decades, the late Leah Chase built an iconic gathering place for the city, nourishing with spectacular renditions of Creole classics like shrimp Clemenceau, crawfish etouffee, and gumbo z’herbes. Today, the next generation upholds Chase’s legacy with the same attention to detail and emphasis on warm hospitality, along with a renewed dedication to fine dining and maintaining the iconic restaurant’s relevance.

Melissa Martin has been one of New Orleans’ most highly-lauded chefs for the last 10 years, acclaimed for her Beard Award-nominated restaurant, Mosquito Supper Club, and subsequent cookbooks celebrating Louisiana foodways. Her new restaurant, opened in June 2025 in collaboration with Cassie Dymond, is making similar waves. Through two robust a la carte menus, brunch, and dinner, Martin shines a light down the bayou with fanciful takes on Cajun — not necessarily Creole — and French dishes like tuna paillard, rabbit rillettes, and duck confit. Nestled among oak trees on a sprawling historic West Bank property and outfitted with picturesque antiques, it epitomizes the romantic whimsy Martin is known for.  

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Saint-Germain is the little engine that could — a scrappy enterprise dreamed up by three friends with minimal investment, a small budget, and wildly ambitious goals. It has emerged as one of the very best restaurants in town, recognized nationally for a 10-course tasting menu that physically moves diners throughout its eclectic, romantic Bywater space. Chefs Trey Smith and Blake Aguillard channel modern Parisian bistros while infusing every course with remarkable creativity, using ingredients like white asparagus, guineafowl, lima beans, and geoduck. It is world-class dining in a kitschy, relaxed atmosphere.

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Since its opening in 2015, Paladar has offered something decidedly different: California-style cuisine with an Italian tilt, using Gulf Coast ingredients. Fresh pastas like squid ink spaghetti with shrimp and crab and corn agnolotti are bright and balanced; the pizzas, especially the mushroom, leek, and fontina, and farm egg, bacon, and collard green, pack a flavorful punch; and the desserts are exceptional. Staff navigate the lively, loud warehouse atmosphere with artful grace, framed by the view of a large open kitchen that periodically dances with flames.

Situated right off Jackson Square in the heart of the Quarter, this new-school-meets-old-school cocktail bar is one of the coolest spots to open in New Orleans in recent years. It’s no wonder, really, given that it’s from the same folks behind the LGD’s Hotel Saint Vincent and its various dining and drinking outposts. It specializes in oysters on the half-shell and other fancy drinking food like caviar, beef tartare, shrimp cocktail, and lobster rolls, but cocktails are the focus. A small but mighty bar puts out global classics, New Orleans-born cocktails, and original creations like a bananas Foster coconut milk punch. Oysters (from the Gulf, East Coast, and Canada) are a splurge, but a happy hour Monday through Thursday helps.

The impossibly cool scene at this combination restaurant in Bywater is layered: there’s the hip clientele and staff, the quirky but serene atmosphere, and the wildly inventive menu that leans on vegetables and vegan-friendly ingredients while offering some of the best meat and fish dishes in town. There’s a rustic feel to items like the white bean dip sprinkled with fiery peanut salsa macha accompanied by misshapen grilled flatbread, or the fat, hand-ripped squid ink noodles with creamy crab and shrimp. Non-vegans stand by vegan dishes here, too — maybe grilled trumpet mushrooms atop cashew cream grits with pistachio chimichurri. But the wagyu bavette steak with blue cheese pistou competes with any steakhouse, and the pan-seared snapper gives the city’s grande dames a run for their money. Cocktails are outstanding.

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After 15 years as a mainstay of Donald Link’s restaurant empire, Pêche still radiates warmth and graceful energy from the moment you walk in. The oyster bar off the entrance remains a good sign of what’s to come: fresh Gulf seafood prepared in elegant but approachable ways — the kind of food you could eat weekly and never be disappointed. Current chef Nicole Cabrera Mills infuses ever more global flavors into dishes that still wouldn’t be out of place at a lavish cookout, like catfish with pickled greens in a chile broth; jumbo shrimp with purple rice; and fried oysters with pickled papaya and kimchi. That dynamism keeps us as interested as we ever were. 

Lufu’s trio of talented young chefs thrive at their debut restaurant in the CBD, livening up the downtown neighborhood with bright cuisine and stylish decor. It is one of a small collection of recent restaurants to bring contemporary, regional Indian food to the city in a way that has helped redefine local diners’ view of it — nope, no butter chicken on the menu here. Instead, Sachin Darade, Aman Kota, and Sarthak Samantray have created an exciting menu of naanwiches, chaat, fiery pani puri, dosas, tandoori, and biryani, all elevated in presentation and ingredients. It is simply some of the most compelling Indian food in the city, served alongside colorful and inventive cocktails in a space that reflects its owners youthful, fun personalities. Their recently-opened, second restaurant in the French Quarter is also on Resy.

Lilly’s pho is legendary around these parts, managing to stand out in a city with some of the best Vietnamese cuisine in the country. The family-friendly lunch and early dinner go-to on lower Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District serves specialties bursting with herbs, fresh veggies, and tender, savory meats, particularly the pho, which is a sure-fire hangover cure. Other don’t-miss menu items include the Saigon spicy spring rolls, the roast pork vermicelli, the grilled tofu banh mi, and the Vietnamese coffee. It’s family-run and casual but not lacking in atmosphere, which sets it apart from some of its strip-mall peers, and the location near sweet shops and dive bars make it an extra-special destination.

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This French Quarter icon draws diners in due to its legendary status, but keeps them coming back for the one-of-a-kind experience and satisfying, classic New Orleans food. Sometimes raucous, sometimes classy — and never stiff — the dining room at Galatoire’s is like one big dinner party, with tables often getting to know one another throughout the course of a meal. It’s the city’s celebratory go-to, a classic for birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, graduations, and the like. The food is simple and indulgent, with favorites including the shrimp remoulade appetizer and the fried soft-shell crab entree. It’s best to take your server’s lead for ordering, and let yourself focus on the merriment.  

Tucked behind vintage drapery, arched entryways, and lush plant life sits one of the chicest spots in New Orleans, a designer’s dream. You can’t beat the romantic atmosphere at this hotel bar and restaurant that gets repeatedly named one of the best in the country. The menu is beautiful, too – seasonal, elegant, and fresh, with classics like a nicoise salad and escargots alongside unexpected creations like venison and pumpkin carpaccio and gaujillo cream mussels. The hotel it’s located in, Peter and Paul, is a brilliantly renovated Catholic church, and the wondrous surroundings — a curious mix of dramatic and comforting — make for a truly special dining and drinking experience.

Everyone in New Orleans has their favorite spot for po’ boys, and (almost) everyone would be right in their personal opinion. But there’s something extra special about Domilise’s. Maybe it’s the small, hand-painted sign that barely identifies the shop on its residential corner, or maybe it’s the old-timey wood counter with just a few seats where diners can order a frosty beer to wash down their sandwich. Maybe it’s the staff, most of whom are related to the original owners, and their friendly but no-nonsense way of moving the line along. But it’s probably the po’ boys themselves, generously dressed and heaping with fresh-fried shrimp and oysters or dripping with tender roast beef on crispy Leidenheimer bread. Our suggestion is to get the half and half seafood sandwich — half shrimp and half oyster — dressed but hold the ketchup.

No reservations. Find more info here.

This modern New Orleans classic just celebrated a major milestone: 25 years in its high-ceilinged, light-filled space along the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line downtown. It will always hold a special space in the canon of New Orleans icons, as it introduced the city to Donald Link, who is now one of its most prolific and loved chefs. The menu is a smart mix of predominantly French-Southern cuisine with a light touch of Italian, Spanish, and Mediterranean influences. Favorites include the housemade spaghetti, a carbonara-inspired pasta with guanciale and a fried poached egg that mixes with a cream and herb sauce, and the short rib, where salsa verde melds with the horseradish cream on top of potato rösti. It’s a favorite for upscale business lunches and celebratory dinners.

Jacqueline Blanchard helped introduce New Orleans to the majesty of the traditional Japanese izakaya with her 22-seat sushi tavern, opened in 2022. Carefully modeled after the tiny pubs she’s encountered in her extensive Japan travels, the Oak Street restaurant is a casual, minimalist space that focuses on a small number of high-quality, well-executed staples: temaki (hand rolls), traditional sides like Japanese potato salad and ohitashi (spinach in dashi broth with sesame and bonito), and specials like onigiri and sashimi of rare fish. The menu is accompanied by a curated selection of Japanese whisky, shochu, sake, beer, and natural wine, rounding out an expert offering as sleek as the space.