The Best Bars in Bywater & St. Claude

Anna's is a Marigny dive bar in a former 19th-century bank, which means the cocktails are better than the Gatorade cooler by the pool table would suggest. The jukebox works, the beer-and-shot specials are cheap, and the Tequila Daisy goes down easy on a hot day. Guest chefs rotate through for pop-ups, and upstairs there are DJs, film nights, and a balcony over Royal Street. The James Beard folks named the owner a semifinalist.

1. Esquire The Best Bars in America
2. The Infatuation The Best Bars In New Orleans
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Robert LeBlanc - LeBlanc + Smith

NightBloom is a late-night cocktail bar on St. Claude, run by the Bacchanal team, and the lighting is a coral glow flattering enough that you may forget you came to drink. The menu runs from an olive salad martini to a smoky pineapple margarita, and the bartenders will talk playlists with you. Some nights there are dance parties or custom nail art, and a dog may adopt your table. Eater named it Best New Bar.

1. Eater Best New Bar
2. The Infatuation The Best Bars In New Orleans
3. Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central

1. Esquire The Best Bars in America

Bar Brine is what the vegetarian cafe Sneaky Pickle becomes after dark, a neighborhood cocktail bar in the Bywater that swaps the daytime tofu crowd for people who care about shrubs. The drinks lean on housemade cordials, including a rum, passion fruit, and absinthe punch and a coconut-and-cognac answer to the espresso martini. The kitchen keeps going too, with meat and fish alongside the plant-based menu, so nobody has to eat a cocktail onion for dinner.

1. The Infatuation The Best Bars In New Orleans

Justini's is a cocktail bar on Dauphine Street that nods to Seal's and Bertha's, two Black woman-owned New Orleans bars, with a courtyard mural to prove the lineage. It's dressier than those, with chandeliers and little alcoves built for being noticed in. The drinks are colorful, including a berry martini and a purple champagne cocktail, and the kitchen turns out hot sausage tacos and a jerk BBQ burger.

1. The Infatuation The Best Bars In New Orleans

1. Difford's Guide Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide Difford's Guide