Meg Bickford is the Executive Chef of the legendary Commander's Palace in New Orleans, a prestigious restaurant known for its innovative take on Haute Creole cuisine and its rich history of culinary excellence.
Insights
SteakhouseIndianFrenchSeafoodSeafoodFine diningLunchDinnerFine DiningCocktail Bar
Last updated: 8/16/2026, 4:14:01 AM
Key Information
Commander's Palace is a historic New Orleans institution renowned for its Haute Creole cuisine, vibrant atmosphere, and exceptional service. It offers a unique dining experience with views of massive oak trees and a lush garden courtyard, embodying classic New Orleans charm. The restaurant is also famous for its 25-cent martinis during lunch.
Customer Perception
Customers consistently praise Commander's Palace as an unforgettable dining experience, highlighting the exceptional food, stunning decor, and attentive, friendly service. Many describe it as a true New Orleans classic that exceeds high expectations, offering an elegant yet welcoming ambiance. While some minor critiques on specific dishes or service during peak times exist, the overall sentiment is overwhelmingly positive, with many considering it worth every penny and eager to return.
Additional Details
The restaurant's iconic banana leaf pattern, featured on its dinner plates, is a nod to its lush garden courtyard. Commander's Palace is known for its long-standing tradition of culinary excellence and its contribution to New Orleans' gastronomic identity, often described as being as captivating as jazz.
Lunch is a popular time, especially for the famous 25-cent martinis. Dinner is also highly recommended for a full fine dining experience. Reservations are strongly advised due to its popularity.
I visited Commander's Palace for a special meal while exploring New Orleans and immediately noticed that the restaurant had a different feel from casual spots around the city. The atmosphere was elegant but still welcoming, with a strong sense of tradition.
I ordered turtle soup, shrimp and grits, gumbo, and bread pudding souffle. The turtle soup was something I had never tried before and had a deep, comforting flavor. The shrimp and grits were rich and satisfying, with the seafood adding a nice balance. The gumbo had the kind of slow-cooked flavor that makes you want to take your time with every bite. The bread pudding souffle was a great ending because it was warm, sweet, and memorable.
The service made the experience even better. The meal felt relaxed rather than overly formal, and the staff made the restaurant feel approachable. It was the kind of dinner where you enjoy the entire evening, not just the food.
I would recommend this place for anyone wanting a classic New Orleans dining experience. The combination of food, atmosphere, and hospitality made it stand out.
Altogether, the food, service and decor created a dining experience that feels comforting, colorful, memorable and true to spirit of New Orleans hospitality.
The food is the heart of the experience. Every dish, 1/1/1 soup, Cochon de Lait Tostada and Curry Spiced Wild White Shrimp prepared with bold flavors with layers of spice and depth of fine cooking. The colorful 25 cents martini is an inexpensive opportunity to try all flavors (Cosmopolitan, Commander’s, Ray’s Melon). Every great meal needs to end with amazing desserts. The Creole bread pudding soufflé tops just melts your tastebuds with warm flavors and whiskey cream. The fresh Louisiana strawberries made the strawberry shortcake is outstanding dessert. A delicious meal with great presentation with plenty of flavors.
The service ties everything together. A shout out to our waiter, Dylan who was awesome, attentive and friendly to our needs. He made us feel welcomed at this restaurant.
Overall, this restaurant lives up to it’s reputation. Cheers!
4
Commander’s Palace is absolutely worth the visit and remains a true New Orleans classic.
The atmosphere is beautiful, historic, and exactly what you hope for when dining in New Orleans. The pre-dinner bread alone is worth mentioning — honestly, it was good enough to justify the visit by itself.
The standout dish for me was the Shrimp & Tasso Henican. The combination of wild Louisiana white shrimp, housemade tasso ham, pickled okra, sweet red onions, five pepper jelly, and Crystal hot sauce beurre blanc was outstanding. It may be one of the best shrimp dishes I have ever had.
The Café Pierre Painted Texas Quail was also very good — rich, flavorful, and beautifully prepared. For dessert, the Pecan Pie à la Mode was excellent. Warm pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate, candied pecans, and fleur de sel caramel sauce was a perfect finish. I may never want to eat pecan pie cold again.
The only disappointment was the Commander’s Creole Gumbo. I really wanted to love it, but it fell flat for me and tasted more like brown gravy than the deep, flavorful gumbo I was expecting.
Service was good, though not quite great, especially for a restaurant of this reputation. Still, the food, atmosphere, and overall experience made it a memorable dinner. I would happily go back.
5
Exceptional carajillo. Good lighting and solid brandy French 75. Good chair firmness and clean bathrooms. Appreciate the dark napkin option as well as the excellent birthday recognition, and shout out to service team member Billy for great beverage shepherding and stories! All other items need some work: some solid things, some misses. Iconic tasso "stuffed" shrimp with pickled onions & okra and mixed chile jam was a beautiful, stained glass-like presentation and flavors were solid. Turtle soup should be exceptional here, as the known standard setter, however the flavors were a bit indistinct. Foie gras could have been great, as the strawberry and honey accompaniment was great, but the brie (distracting secondary fat) and pasty/wheat gummy baklava did nothing positive for the dish - those could have been substituted with more foie and berries for a fantastic but missed opportunity. Pecan crusted drum with supposedly prosecco steamed crab (undetectable prosecco) was solid and completely fine, if uninspired and lacking inspiration, and came out with the sauce fully skinned over, what? Bread pudding souffle, another Commander's stronghold was very good and perfectly done, but not quite as great as the carajillo! Service, when it was on, it was on (special requests, recommendations, rapport). When it was off, it was off (missing silverware, fish came out with sauceskinned over, very long glass of wine waits, dishes served out of order), probably due to a full Saturday night dining room and Tulane graduation.
5
During a recent visit to New Orleans my husband and I were referred to trying this restaurant. It wasn’t close to where we were staying but worth the cab ride. We booked reservations months in advance and it didn’t disappoint. Every dish was delicious. The bread pudding was our absolute favorite. .25 lunch martinis couldn’t be beat either. Definitely a restaurant to try while visiting NOLA.
