Some restaurants hand you a menu and wish you luck, but Tujague’s hands you a sequence. Founded in 1856 and now sitting at 429 Decatur Street in the French Quarter, it still builds dinner around a fixed-price Creole meal that moves from shrimp remoulade to gumbo to boiled brisket and on toward bread pudding.
That old habit of eating in courses is rarer every year, which makes a table here feel like a small lesson in how New Orleans used to dine. Here is what to know about the food, the rooms, and the practical side of planning a visit.
A Decatur Street Address With Roots In 1856
Walk a few blocks from Jackson Square along Decatur Street and you reach number 429, home of Tujague’s. The restaurant describes itself as a grande dame of New Orleans dining, and its founding date of 1856 puts it among the oldest names still serving in the French Quarter.
What it serves matters as much as when it started. The kitchen leans on a traditional, fixed-price Creole menu, the kind of meal where the plates come in a set order instead of all at once.
Google lists it as a Cajun restaurant, though the menu itself reads more like classic Creole cooking, with gumbo, turtle soup, and remoulade sharing space with steaks and Gulf fish.
Plenty of French Quarter spots trade on age alone. Tujague’s gives that age a job to do, since the coursed dinner is the reason most people book a table rather than an afterthought.
A multi-course format asks diners to slow down, settle in, and let the evening be paced by the kitchen.
For travelers who have already done the beignets and the Bourbon Street walk, a seat here offers a different angle on the city, one built around the dinner table and the long habit of eating well in order.
How The Five-Course Dinner Unfolds
Picture the meal as a short story told in five chapters. Diners who order the five-course dinner describe a progression that often opens with shrimp remoulade, moves into a bowl of gumbo, then lands on the house’s boiled brisket before a main entree and dessert.
The fourth course is where choice comes in. Guests mention picking from entrees such as a smoked and fried chicken, Gulf fish, steak, salmon, and duck, so a table of four can end up sampling across the menu.
Dessert is usually bread pudding, which shows up again and again in visitor accounts.
Portions are built for pacing rather than one giant plate. Several diners say they left fuller than they expected, which makes sense when five dishes arrive one after another.
A few also noted that serving sizes can vary from plate to plate within the same group, something worth knowing if you are sharing a table with light and heavy eaters.
The menu also rotates, according to one regular, so the lineup shifts every month or so. That keeps return visits interesting, though it also means a favorite dish may not be there next time.
Order what catches your eye while it lasts.
Boiled Brisket, The Legacy Plate
Ask what dish people talk about most at Tujague’s and the answer is brisket, by a wide margin. The restaurant calls it a legacy dish, and it holds a regular spot in the coursed dinner, typically after the soup.
Boiled beef is an old-school Creole plate, and here it usually arrives topped with a red sauce. One diner pointed out that the sauce tasted closer to cocktail sauce than a classic remoulade, and the same sauce also appears on the shrimp starter, so expect some repetition across courses.
Others simply enjoyed it as part of the sequence.
Opinions split more here than anywhere else on the menu. Some guests call it decent, some call it a highlight, and one diner who ordered it as a standalone entree priced at 27 dollars felt the portion was small and the potatoes and carrots under-seasoned.
Treat it as a taste of history rather than the showpiece of the night.
That framing helps. Brisket earns its place because it connects the modern menu to the kind of plain, sturdy cooking that fed the old French Quarter.
In a five-course meal, it works best as a middle chapter.
Turtle Soup, Gumbo And The Other Standouts
Soup carries real weight on this menu. Turtle soup is the second most discussed dish among visitors, and gumbo earns praise for its seasoning when it appears as a course.
Beyond the bowls, diners single out several plates. The smoked and fried chicken gets called top tier by one guest who otherwise found the brisket just decent.
Gulf fish rotates, and on recent visits it has been black drum, served slightly blackened with a buttery crawfish sauce, fingerling potatoes, and green beans. Duck was the favorite of one family of seven at a Christmas Eve lunch.
Starters include fried Louisiana crab claws, and entrees reach into Gulf Fish Bordelaise and a bone-in pork chop. Some diners come specifically for the barbecue shrimp.
A wedge salad even picked up quiet praise as a sleeper hit.
Not every plate lands, and fairness means saying so. A couple of guests found the grits under the barbecue shrimp clumpy, and one recent diner said a pork dish was far too salty.
The safer approach is to lean toward the soups, the fish, and the chicken, which collect the most consistent compliments across visits.
Bread Pudding And The Famous Grasshopper
Endings matter in a coursed meal, and Tujague’s usually finishes with bread pudding. It ranks among the most mentioned dishes, often topped with ice cream, and many diners count it as the best part of dinner.
One visitor wished it were a little fluffier but still enjoyed it, and crème brûlée also appears for those who want something lighter.
The other famous finish is the Grasshopper, a pale green, minty, creamy after-dinner drink closely associated with the restaurant. Guests talk about it often, some calling it the star of the evening.
It has become a signature order, particularly at the bar.
A fun detail for history buffs: the Grasshopper is widely linked to Tujague’s own bar, which gives ordering one a bit of storytelling weight. You are not just picking a dessert drink, you are sampling part of the house legend.
For people who prefer something else, the bar also turns out other cocktails that diners compliment. Still, a bread pudding and a Grasshopper at the end of five courses is the combination most often described, and it makes a tidy way to close the night.
Courtyard Tables, Balcony Views And Second-Floor Rooms
Seating here comes in several flavors, and the room you land in shapes the evening. Some diners have enjoyed having the courtyard entirely to themselves, a quiet pocket away from Decatur Street traffic.
Upstairs, the second floor handles larger parties, including a family of seven celebrating Christmas Eve lunch. The balcony view also gets regular mentions, offering a look down at French Quarter street life while dinner arrives one course at a time.
Tables near the front door come with a trade-off. One guest noted that smoke from passersby on the sidewalk occasionally drifted inside, so anyone with sensitive lungs may want to request a table farther from the entrance.
The staff acknowledged that feedback and said they would keep it in mind.
Another diner reported an air conditioning vent dripping onto their table, while a holiday visitor ended up seated beside a Christmas tree that kept brushing against her chair. Those are small, fixable issues, but they point to a simple tip.
When you reserve, say what kind of seat you want, whether courtyard, balcony, or upstairs. Old buildings have quirks, and asking early helps match the room to the mood.
Servers Who Double As Storytellers
Names come up constantly when guests describe their night at Tujague’s. Victor, Bradley, Devaune, Martine, Tinashe, Rian, Ray, and Charles all earn shout-outs, which says a lot about how personal the service can feel.
Many diners describe their waiters as entertaining conversationalists who help with recommendations. One couple said their server kept them laughing all evening.
Another guest with allergies called ahead, and the staff coordinated a hanger steak made without alliums, even within a fixed tour-package menu. An anniversary couple received a complimentary toast to start their meal.
The picture is not perfect. On busy holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, several visitors described long waits and stretched staff.
One group felt ignored during a paid package, and another diner said a complaint about a dish was handled poorly. Management responded publicly to these concerns and promised to address them.
The pattern suggests good odds on an ordinary evening and more risk on packed holidays. If service matters most to you, consider a regular weeknight visit, mention any special occasion or dietary need when booking, and let the server guide the courses.
When the staff has room to breathe, that is where the hospitality clearly shines.
Hours, Prices And Planning Your Table
Timing a visit takes a little planning, since weekday service starts late. Monday through Thursday, Tujague’s opens at 5 pm and closes at 9 pm.
Friday starts earlier at 3 pm, and Saturday and Sunday run from 10 am to 9 pm, which opens the door to daytime meals on weekends.
Budget is broad. The listed price range runs from about 20 to 80 dollars per person, depending on whether you order a single entree or the full coursed dinner.
One family estimated their five-course meal with extras at over 100 dollars a person, so special nights can climb.
Reservations help. Diners mention booking by phone at 504-525-8676, and one couple who arrived early for their reservation were seated right away.
The website, tujaguesrestaurant.com, is the best place to confirm current menus.
A few quick notes. The menu rotates, so the five-course lineup changes.
One guest found an advertised pairing option unavailable on their night, so ask ahead if it matters. Holiday menus are set and service can run slow.
There is also a happy hour that regulars mention, a lower-commitment way to sample the bar and a few bites before committing to the full meal.
A Soft Verdict On Dining The Old Way
Anniversaries, birthdays, and family gatherings keep showing up in the stories people tell about Tujague’s. That tells you what the place does best.
It turns an ordinary dinner into a small occasion, with courses that arrive in order and servers who seem to enjoy the ritual.
Expectations deserve some honest tuning. The food earns plenty of praise, especially the soups, fish, chicken, and bread pudding, yet some guests find certain plates uneven or the red sauce overused.
Holiday meals draw the most mixed reports. On an average evening, with a good seat and an unhurried pace, the experience lines up closer to what the restaurant promises.
This suits diners who care about history and ceremony as much as the plate itself. Couples marking a milestone, families wanting a shared tradition, and travelers curious about how the French Quarter used to eat will get the most from it.
Anyone chasing cutting-edge cooking may prefer somewhere newer.
Still, there is something satisfying about finishing five courses on Decatur Street, pushing back from the table, and ordering a pale green Grasshopper at a place that has been feeding the city since 1856.