Best Cajun Restaurants in Lower Garden District

Really enjoyed our dinner at Atchafalaya Restaurant (as usual). Loved the decorated building itself, which is a renovated house. Inside is nicely decorated with murals and New Orleans photos. Bar area is very comfy and well stocked. We loved our appetizer of Blue Crab Raviolo which comes with Shiitake mushrooms. We also enjoyed our gumbo that featured a very dark and tasty roux, and very tender oysters. The Gulf Fish of the day was Redfish, which came with butternut squash, shrimp sauce and crawfish tails. Absolutely delicious. The Scallops were perfectly cooked, tender and delectable. The Shrimp and Grits were served with heads on as is the New Orleans tradition to keep in the flavor, and topped with andouille sausage in an appetizing creole shrimp broth. Service by Corey was outstanding, and she really made us feel like she was glad we were there.

Great fine dining experience ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

So, I decided to take the plunge and propose to my girlfriend at Tujague's Restaurant. The atmosphere was perfect, the food was incredible, and I was pretty sure she was going to say yes. My waiter, Victor, was fantastic. Polite and funny—everything was going so smoothly… until the moment I popped the question. She looked at me, looked at the ring, and then put down her spoon she was using to eat her turtle soup (delish!)… well, let’s just say my knee didn’t get the ‘yes’ it was hoping for. In fact, I think I wasn’t going to have the great evening later at the hotel either now. I was going to order a dessert with whipped cream for some fun but no. At least I didn’t faint. Silver linings. But here's the thing: The team at Tujague's couldn’t have been more supportive. They didn’t make me feel like a failure and called me big guy and patted my back every time they walked by. The chef even sent over an extra dessert (without whipped cream) to “help me recover”. In the end, we shared a laugh, finished our meal, and both agreed on a "maybe" next time. Tujague's? A+ for ambiance, food, and making an awkward moment feel slightly less awkward. I’ll be back—just maybe not for another proposal. Also with a blonde next time🙌🏽

We dined on Valentines Day and had a nice meal. They had a pre fixe 4-course menu, where each course selection was made up of a couple of dishes from their dinner menu. The good: Our 1st course (salted beet and goat cheese salad), and 2nd course (crispy gulf oysters) were amazingly good. The main course (6oz beef tenderloin) was ok - we were getting full at that point, but it didn’t wow us like the first 2 dishes. Dessert (which we took to go and enjoyed it the next evening) was a special lemon meringue pie - really quite good! So overall a nice meal. And it was also a pretty good deal - the pre fixe pricing for those 4 courses was definitely less than if we had ordered that off the menu. (Although, chances are also that we would not have ordered all 4 courses.) Also good - the staff seemed to be attentive to the customers and even brought a beautiful rose for my spouse at the end of dinner. And the space is grand and elegant to be in. I think that dinner service is relatively new for this restaurant. Generally just watching things around us, it has the feel of a place still figuring out their way. A few folks around us had issues; but I did observe the staff working hard to remedy or compensate for it. I would also say that it was a surprise (not advertised anywhere we could see) about the pre fixe menu. I do think we saw at least one party not stay, once they learned that. So - probably better to announce that vs catching people off guard. We enjoyed the food, but it was more food (and we spent more) than we were intending. Overall a pretty good experience.

Wonderful ambiance with an elevated take on creole/southern food. We enjoyed our first meal out in NOLA and it was easy to access Bourbon street right after to walk it all off. Did not have room to try the creme Brulé :( but will return to try. The sommelier was very knowledgeable and helped us narrow down our wine selection based on what we were planning to eat that evening. Strongly recommend.