In French, the word “réveillon” means “awakening.” Traditionally, back in the early 1800s, it applied to the feast that happened around the table on Christmas Eve, when French New Orleanians would head home to celebrate after midnight mass, indulging well into the early morning hours. The tradition has morphed into modern, multi-course Réveillon restaurant dinners, usually served throughout December, with the exception of New Year’s Eve. Indulgence is the word of the night, with chefs using creative ways to kick off the holiday.
24 of the Best Réveillon Dinners in New Orleans in 2023
It’s the most festive time of the year in the Big Easy
This lineup is just a taste — close to 50 restaurants are serving Réveillon menus around town. Remember that a la carte dining is almost always an option, and prices don’t include tax and gratuity.
24 of the Best Réveillon Dinners in New Orleans in 2023
It’s the most festive time of the year in the Big Easy
In French, the word “réveillon” means “awakening.” Traditionally, back in the early 1800s, it applied to the feast that happened around the table on Christmas Eve, when French New Orleanians would head home to celebrate after midnight mass, indulging well into the early morning hours. The tradition has morphed into modern, multi-course Réveillon restaurant dinners, usually served throughout December, with the exception of New Year’s Eve. Indulgence is the word of the night, with chefs using creative ways to kick off the holiday.
This lineup is just a taste — close to 50 restaurants are serving Réveillon menus around town. Remember that a la carte dining is almost always an option, and prices don’t include tax and gratuity.
Osteria Lupo
Osteria Lupo, Costera’s northern Italian sibling restaurant, makes its Réveillon debut with a four-course, family-style tasting for $55 per person. A sample menu offered marinated mushrooms with chili, Gulf fish crudo, burrata with pistachio, grilled rack of lamb, and seared scallops. Costera offers a Spanish-accented special menu too.
Katherine Kimball/Eater NOLA
Also featured in
Ralph's on the Park
Especially festive around the holidays and welcoming to groups, Ralph’s on the Park is serving its traditional Réveillon meal through December 23. Four courses for $75 are true classics: duck and andouille gumbo, seared gulf fish topped with crabmeat, braised short ribs, and pecan pie for dessert. Add wine pairings for $35.
Search for reservations
Also featured in
Atchafalaya
This Garden District charmer consistently impresses, and Atchafalaya’s rev menu is no exception. Enjoy four courses for $75, chef Christopher Lynch’s modern offerings like poached oyster stew with absinthe cream, warm duck salad, Wagyu daube, and Buche de Noel for dessert.
Search for reservations
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA
Also featured in
Commander's Palace
Priced at $110, Commander’s Palace celebrates the season in style with chef Meg’s inventive menu. Entrees include soup, salad, and dessert, and there are a few dishes with an upcharge, as well as wine pairings for $70 per person, Options include satsuma-crusted Gulf fish, chargrilled North Dakota bison, and the restaurant’s signature Creole bread pudding souffle.
Getty Images
Gabrielle Restaurant
This Treme gem from chef Greg Sonnier delivers a first-class four-course $65 Réveillon experience. Gabrielle is known for its duck, so how wonderful that it’s one entree option, along with whole salt-baked boneless Gulf fish and beer-battered fried rabbit. Impossible to choose between chocolate mousse cake with brandied cherries and the apple upside-down bread pudding.
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA
Also featured in
Copper Vine
As always, Copper Vine chef Amy Mehrtens offers a tasty modern take on New Orleans feasting. Her menu is five courses for $60, with brilliant wine pairings for $50. Choices range from crispy pork belly rillettes, an apple and Gouda salad, broiled scallops, filet mignon, and pumpkin creme brulee.
Randy Schmidt/Copper Vine
Also featured in
Suzie's Soulhouse Soulfood & Catering
Offered for dinner only through December 30, Suzie’s Soulhouse features a $40 and $45 option, four courses built around either Creole stewed chicken or fried catfish topped with shrimp Creole. Chef/co-owner Susan Cosse brings the love to her downhome specialties.
Seaworthy
Seaworthy is such a sexy little spot, warm and intimate. This year chef James Whitehead is serving his seafood-centric $99 Réveillon menu only on Christmas Eve. The celebration includes a trio of charbroiled oysters, pan-seared scallops with squid ink risotto, potato-crusted halibut, and a fruit tart.
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA
The Bower
Chef Marcus Woodham works magic in his vegetable-forward kitchen, and the Bower’s four-course Réveillon menu is no exception to that rule. Priced at $65, options range from spicy shrimp arancini and turtle soup to pasta with a short rib ragout and his wonderful version of deconstructed eggplant parm. A luscious lemon olive oil cake with pistachios and Italian zabaglione crowns the feast.
Also featured in
Lengua Madre
On December 30, acclaimed chef Ana Castro says goodbye to Lengua Madre, the highly personal Mexican restaurant she runs for owner Michael Stoltzfus. But fans can still enjoy a $110 Réveillon menu she’s calling the restaurant’s greatest hits from December 27 to 30. Showstopping dishes range from shrimp caldito to green rice with shrimp and bonito flake, parsnip tamal with black truffle, and swordfish belly al pastor. Fans can look forward to her new place, Acamaya, opening in the Bywater neighborhood April 2024.
Randy Schmidt/Eater NOLA
Café Normandie
Served through January 5, chef Virgile Brandel at the Higgins Hotel (part of the National WWII Museum complex), offers different ways to Réveillon. Choose a Petit Réveillon $55 menu anytime at Kilroy’s Bar (praline baked Alaska, oh my!), or a special $38 brunch Saturdays and Sundays at Café Normandie. And both Rosie’s and Kilroy’s are offering special Réveillon Cocktails.
Bourbon House
Available through December 24th, Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House starts the $60 set Réveillon menu with citrus-cured pecan shrimp, followed by a spiced spinach salad, roasted duck with oyster dressing, and gingerbread sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
Search for reservations
Arnaud's
Arnaud’s three-course $70 menu offers multiple choices for each course, all served in one of the city’s prettiest grand dame dining rooms. There’s a vegetarian option built in too, a butter lettuce salad, wild mushroom risotto, and a choice of chocolate caramel mousse or blood orange delice for dessert. Carnivores won’t be disappointed with dishes like prosciutto-wrapped veal tenderloin and there are seafood picks as well.
Arnaud’s
Palace Café
The Palace Cafe, housed in the historic Werlein’s music building, offers a set $60 menu and a festive setting for celebrating the season. Réveillon options range from an apple and pomegranate salad or turtle soup to Gulf fish en papillote or seared duck breast. Based on availability, discounted valet parking is offered at the Marriott, 555 Canal Street; for $5 for up to three hours.
Search for reservations
Broussard's Restaurant
Broussard’s chef Jimi Setchim presents a throwback menu that celebrates chef Joseph Broussard’s dinners of the 1950s. Priced at $80 and offered through December 30, the Réveillon menu spotlights classics like turtle soup, frog legs, hearts of palm salad, and chicken rochambeau, a roulade with tasso and gruyere. A dark chocolate and orange pot de creme sounds divine.
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA
Couvant at The Eliza Jane Hotel
Couvant serves its $75 French-leaning four-course Réveillon through December 23. Start with fried oysters with paddlefish caviar or escargot en croute, move on to flat iron steak or flounder amandine, and seal the deal with classic creme brulee. The atmosphere here is candlelit and intimate.
Couvant
King Brasserie + Bar
Chef Sam Peery brings his coastal French sensibilities to an inspired $75 King Réveillon
menu, offered through December 30. Start with pate terrine served with bitter greens, followed by a wild game cassoulet rich with venison and quail, and wild boar Provencal. A dark chocolate and satsuma souffle is the meal’s sweet ending.
Also featured in
August
The high end of the Réveillon range is captivated by Restaurant August with seven courses at $150; $240 with wine pairings. The extravagant chef’s tasting menu starts with fruits de mer, and proceeds to turtle soup with spinach gnudi, pompano, and venison tenderloin and a cheese course near the end.
Search for reservations
Also featured in
Antoine's Restaurant
Antoine’s offers a four course, $68 Réveillon menu through December 23. As usual, expect nothing less than wows from the city’s oldest restaurant and the longest-running family-owned restaurant in the U.S. Savor the likes of a lobster bisque, redfish on the half shell, or crispy Rohan duck breast. Add $38 for wine pairings.
Search for reservations
The Grill Room
This elegant dining room in the Windsor Court offers a four-course $80 menu through December 30, with the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Grill Room’s menu is deeply satisfying, from the seasonal winter salad to the housemade smoked salmon raviolo and filet with roasted wild mushrooms. Add another $65 for expert wine pairings.
Tujague's
Tujague’s offers four courses priced at $67 through Christmas Eve, when tradition dictates that will be the restaurant’s only menu option. Chef Gus Martin offers modern riffs on New Orleans Creole classics, from the oyster chowder and shrimp and goat cheese crepes to the pan roasted gulf fish and grilled pork with oyster dressing. Pan roasted duck with foie mashed potatoes and a grilled filet with a seafood twice baked potato are two more tempting entrees.
Tujague’s
Sylvain
Hard to imagine a sweeter French Quarter spot than Sylvain, with its romantic dining room and outdoor courtyard, bastions for true Southern hospitality. The $65 modern American four-course Réveillon menu includes roasted oysters with bacon and crispy garlic, slow-cooked beef cheeks with collards, and Nutella pie.
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA
Also featured in
Miss River
Served through the month including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Miss River’s $95 Reveillon menu will feature festive choices like turtle soup with sherry flambée, redfish Courtbouillon with oysters, crab, and shrimp, and a pumpkin sazerac trifle with pumpkin seed brittle and maple cream — with the option of spirited drink pairings. Love a festive buche de Noel for dessert.
The Country Club
This Bywater gem is a lively social hub, with chef Chris Barbata powering the Country Club’s modern Creole cuisine. This year’s four-course, $55 menu includes savories like a blue crab beignet, oysters on the half shell, and Louisiana seafood courtbouillon or boneless short ribs. Get a $25 wine pairing and/or a $12 Rev on the rocks, a tarragon gimlet made with tarragon simple syrup and a dill tincture.
Country Club New Orleans
