New Orleans’s Top 11 Date-Night Destinations

It’s impossible to imagine the experience that awaits just passing by 412 Girod Street in the Warehouse District. Vyoone’s (pronounced VEE-ahns) exterior brick façade and small sign don’t give a clue to the pretty, landscaped courtyard, a seductive setting that is tres romantique. Owner Vyoone Therese Segue brings her French African Creole heritage to the table, offering fetching French fare such as escargot with garlic butter, French onion soup, and coq au vin, along with brunch and happy hour treats.

What could be more romantic than dining on a balcony in the French Quarter? That’s an option at Cafe Sbisa, the century-old brasserie on Decatur Street. The place is an atmospheric beauty, with original wood, intimate balcony and patio dining, and a staircase that harks back to a golden age. Chef/partner Alfred Singleton, who worked his way up from busboy to chef, commands the kitchen. Outstanding French-Creole cuisine includes the likes of crab cakes made with Louisiana blue crab, fried oysters Sbisa served over creamed spinach with Tabasco hollandaise, and rich turtle soup laced with sherry.

It’s hard to imagine a sassier setting than the Peacock Room at the Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, an inviting lounge loaded with romantic appeal. With riotous prints, rich velvets, and rolled leather banquettes, Peacock Room is eye-popping, crowned with a collection of gilded cages and feathered birds. Chef Chris Lusk offers a menu of enticing shareables such as duck and smoked oyster gumbo, served with pickled red bean potato salad and one of the chef’s personal favorites, the crawtator, or crusted oysters fried with a panko and Zapp’s potato chips coating. Sip on classic cocktails along with an impressive collection of madeira and rum and an emphasis on drinks that are light and floral.

If you or your boo loves glamor, you’ll dig the retro vibe at the new Commons Club at Virgin Hotels, an uncommonly fabulous setting to showcase local chef Alex Harrell’s deceptively simple menu of Southern- and Mediterranean-influenced small and large plates. Try whipped pimento cheese on toast with bits of Tennessee-cured Benton ham and curls of sweet pickle or that mound of stone-ground Alabama Bayou Cora grits surrounded by Gulf shrimp, all bathed in a smoky tomato and fennel broth.

Chef Akhtar Nawab is well known for his Brooklyn eatery Alta Calidad, which twice earned the MICHELIN Bib Gourmand award. He opened Otra Vez in 2019 in the burgeoning South Market District, bringing tapas-style modern Mexican fare to New Orleans. Nibble on small plates such as queso and guac and share the roasted mojo oysters, char-grilled with chile butter. The crispy tempura shrimp tacos spiced with chipotle is a fine choice, same goes for the carnitas tostada, topped with silky avocado and bright with citrus. Don’t miss the deep menu of mezcal- and tequila-fueled margaritas.

Local fans bereft from the pandemic closing of Maypop in March 2020 were over the moon to welcome chef Michael Gulotta’s CBD gem back in 2021. Situated just blocks from the Caesar’s Superdome, the chef’s sibling restaurant to MoPho shines with a menu of Southeast Asian-inspired Southern cuisine, handmade pastas, and house-made charcuterie.

What better way to impress your sushi-loving sweetie than taking over the two corner seats at the sexy bar at Yō Nashi, a New Orleans omakase restaurant that delivers the freshest locally sourced ingredients prepared with Japanese technique and presentation. Just four blocks from the edge of the French Quarter on Carondelet, Yō Nashi — which means “pear” in Japanese — delights with an $89 ten-course omakase menu from chef Mackenzie “Mack” Broquet. The menu might start with a kombu-cured scallop with beet vinaigrette, black sesame tōgarashi cracker, purple radish, and crab roe bottarga and move to a lightly torched chūtoro nigiri with seared foie gras.

At Copper Vine, dinner is a relaxed and grown-up affair with wine on tap and tastings galore. Although Copper Vine is a swank wine bar, there’s nothing stuffy about it, thanks to a varied list that pours 30 wines from the tap and a cellar menu that can be tasted 2.5 ounces at a time. Chef Amy Mehrtens, a seasoned CIA-trained chef who worked most recently as a sous at Commander’s Palace, offers inspired bites including bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with Creole cream cheese and a filet brochette with wild mushrooms and a tangy roasted pepper sauce.

New Orleanians love their beef. And for many locals, the bacon-wrapped filet sizzled in butter at Crescent City Steaks is the gold standard. Founded by Croatian immigrant John Vojkovich in 1934, the still family-owned restaurant was the first to serve slabs of prime aged beef in New Orleans. There’s seafood too — say yes to lobster tail and broiled salmon along with a slew of veggie sides. Beyond serving stellar steaks (the Chateaubriand for two is classic), Crescent City oozes the particular brand of hospitality that is the calling card of a true New Orleans institution.

Wrangling a reservation at this sophisticated Italian eatery in the Lower Garden District is a coup, thanks to an inspired menu of coastal Italian cuisine and sauve European setting. Founded as an orphanage in 1861, the red brick complex fell into disrepair until local developers partnered with Austin-based MML Hospitality for the $22.2 million redo. Enjoy a pasta- and seafood-centric repast, with an emphasis on seasonal, sustainably line caught and bycatch fish. Oysters are available raw or grilled with parmesan butter, so get them for sure.

This modern farm-fueled restaurant tucked away in the Lower Garden District spotlights the talents of chef Marcus Woodham and his menu of small plates inspired by flavors from Southeast Asia and the sun-kissed Mediterranean. Bright and airy with a lovely outdoor space, The Bower features produce from Sugar Roots farm in Algiers, just one clue into the chef’s fresher-than-fresh sensibility. His tuna tartare has a Mediterranean spin with capers, kalamata olives, pine nuts and sumac added to the glistening pearls of fish. Always order the revolving burrata dish, most recently the silky creamy goodness was paired with eggplant caponata, bits of orange and rosemary, with a sturdy piece of focaccia for dipping.