Royal Cafe

Cat333
Cat333
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
2
Reviews
5
Photos
Editor Pick

Royal Cafe

  • January 5, 2002
  • Rated 3 of 5 by Todd W. from Atlanta, Georgia
Royal Cafe

The Royal Cafe has a great location and setting - on a busy corner on Royal Street, with three floors of dining (including two beautiful terraces on the two highest floors.) After waiting for fifteen minutes for a table for lunch (not unusual anywhere in the Quarter), we sat next to the fireplace across from the very nice (but small) bar on the first floor. The lunch menu has sandwiches of all kinds, from French Dips to the very good Chicken Tchoupitoulas , named after a local street, with cajun fried chicken topped with spicy aioli. They also have very good soups (including gumbo and oyster/artichoke soup) and meal-size salads.

Prices were about average for Quarter restaurants - around $7-$8 for a sandwich. Service was a little bit slow, but not annoyingly so. It's a great place to sit down for lunch, and chances are you'll be entertained by a street performer outside on Royal St. as you eat. While not an out-of-the-way choice by any means (the Cafe is actually very popular with tourists), the interior gives you the sense that you've stumbled on something a little more local and secluded than many other options in the Quarter.

From journal The Civilized French Quarter

Editor Pick

Royal Cafe

  • August 4, 2001
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Cat333 from Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Royal Cafe

The Royal Cafe can be seen in many pictures and postcards of the French Quarter. It is on the corner of Royal (one street over from Bourbon Street) and St. Peter (two blocks up from Canal Street). The menu is posted on both sides of the corner of the building, at street level. We really were not that hungry, but could not resist having a nice meal in the French Quarter. We entered the first floor, a few steps up, and were greeted by a hostess. When we told her that we would like to dine on the balcony the directed us straight back, to the wall, then up the stairs on the right’, so off we went.

The stairs are wooden and curving to the right. The first few stairs are narrow, so be careful as you round the corner from the hall, for anyone coming down the stairs is apt to have no where to go but forward, into you! The top few stairs are very worn and care needs to be taken both upward and downward, for it is easy to misjudge the depth of the stairs that are worn thin by many years of traffic. At the top of the stairs another sign will greet you stating that a hostess will seat you, if not the hostess herself. We asked for a table on the balcony, she picked up some menus and asked us to follow her.

We were lead to a small table for two on the narrow side of the balcony that overhung St. Peter Street. There was a family of four at the table that occupied the corner of the balcony that overlooked the intersection of the streets below (the most desirable table, in my view). Our table was very wobbly, and the floor was severely slanted towards the street. It was in the shade, while many tables were in the strong light of the setting sun, but it was just not comfortable for us. When our waiter arrived we told him about the table wobbling and how we were uncomfortable. He apologized and told us that we were welcome to choose any unoccupied table. We choose a table that overlooked Royal Street, on the edge of the shaded area – the floor did not slant as much as it did on the other side.

We had a lovely meal, and were serenaded by a street player on the corner below. I am out of room to tell you how wonderful the full experience was, but I suggest that you make an effort to fit a meal here into all you want to do while in the city! The food was wonderful, the service gracious and the setting is so much a part of the feel of the French Quarter that it is not to be missed!

From journal A Few Days in New Orleans = never enough

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