A piano in a dining room changes the arithmetic of a meal. Conversation gets easier, the pace slows, and nobody checks their phone as often. These four rooms keep one working.
The Bombay Club — French Quarter
A rose-red door in the carriageway of the Prince Conti Hotel at 830 Conti Street opens onto a room most people walk past. Inside is a cigar bar with craft cocktails, single malt scotches, ports, and the largest martini list in the city at roughly a hundred varieties. The Duck Fat Sazerac and the Original Dry Martini anchor the menu.
Food runs Nouveau Creole with a British streak, which produces a boudin scotch egg sitting near fish and chips on the same page. Cajun seared Maine scallops come with Louisiana crabmeat beignets, and the BBQ shrimp arrives over smoked gouda grits. Duck and alligator sausage gumbo and Creole turtle soup hold down the small plates. Live music runs most nights with a pianist and often a singer, though the schedule varies, so call (504) 577-2237 before planning around it. Happy hour starts at 4, and there is a kids menu.
Fountain Lounge — Central Business District
The lounge opened September 1, 1938 and sits in the lobby of the Roosevelt at 130 Roosevelt Way. The room reads as a quiet bistro rather than a hotel bar, with high ceilings and brighter light than the Sazerac Bar down the hall.
Executive Chef Daniel Mills and Chef de Cuisine Joseph Turley built a menu around French technique filtered through New Orleans and their own Southern backgrounds. Live music runs Thursday through Saturday, and visitors most often describe a pianist working with a bassist or a small jazz trio. Breakfast starts at 6:30 on weekdays and 7 on weekends, lunch runs 11 to 2, and the lounge opens at 4. Patrons get up to four hours of complimentary parking, which is not nothing downtown. Phone is (504) 648-5486.
The Columns — Uptown
Thomas Sully designed the 1883 mansion at 3811 St. Charles Avenue, and it is the only one left from a group of Italianate houses he built in that decade. It went from private residence to boarding house during World War I to hotel in 1953, and the porch bar became a landmark on its own.
New ownership took over in 2019 and restored the building, adding a garden, a rooftop sundeck, and a new cocktail bar while reworking the public rooms. Music happens in the parlor spaces and the Victorian Lounge, with a Sunday jazz brunch and a calendar of ticketed evening shows that regularly include piano. The restaurant and bar run Monday through Thursday from 11:30 to 10, with lunch until 3 and happy hour from 2 to 5, and stay open to 11 on Friday and Saturday. Phone is (504) 899-9308.
The Polo Club Lounge — Central Business District
Up the stairs to the second-floor mezzanine of the Windsor Court at 300 Gravier Street is a room built to look like a private English club, all dark wood paneling and leather. It sits adjacent to the Grill Room, which means a drink here can turn into dinner without leaving the floor.
Live jazz piano runs every night from 5:30 to 8:30, with John Royen and David Boeddinghaus among the regulars at the bench, and a soul and jazz band taking weekends. The bar keeps one of the largest cognac collections in the city alongside elevated pub fare, including caviar deviled eggs and charcuterie. After 8 p.m. the room is 18 and older. Phone is (504) 523-6000.
