High Hat Cafe

Thanks Unilocal for helping us find this place. Best greens I have had in a long time. We will definitely be back.

Love this restaurant! Great diner style southern find food fabulous crafted cocktails would definitely come back next time I’m in the big easy oh yeah baby #Yummy

We had a casual girls brunch a few weeks ago. They had a quite a list of specials, make sure to check them out! We all started with a round of strawberry mimosas, very yummy! My friend and I ended up sharing the pork chop special with scrambled eggs, grits and a side of mac and cheese. The pork chop was pretty dry. I’m glad I split it because I’m not sure I could’ve eaten the whole thing. The grits were suuuuuper creamy and delicious. I usually don’t like non-​cheesy grits, but I could eat a whole bowl of these! The mac and cheese was also solid… they do creamy and rich foods well. One whoopsies was that they recommended a side dish that was cooked in pork fat for my vegetarian friend. It was pretty horrible. Overall, an average brunch.

Institution ! Fried chicken is my fave ! It’s not Willie Mae’s chicken but it’s still quality ! Bartenders and servers are top notch. Drinks are well made and healthy pours. It’s always busy but never had to wait very long. Even during jazz fest.

I hold High Hat in high regard.
Aside from their delicious brunch and overall tasty food and drink menu, there are two big reasons I continue to return:
Their Pimento Cheese Burger.
&
Their house aged Old Fashioned.
The drink itself is perfect. You will always find different riffs on this classic but the profile of theirs is perfect.
Just the right amount of bitters and whisky.
They also age their base in small little barrels lined up behind the bar.
I just want to take one of them home.
Lets talk about their burger (s).
I might ruffle some feathers here but I feel they have a better burger than Company.
There it is, I said it.
They aren’t trying too hard.
The product speaks for itself.
It reminds me of the burgers my mother would make us when I was a kid.
(Though Im arguably still a kid.)
Their burgers are perfect in their imperfections.
The pimento burger, in particular is so wrong its right.

The High Hat café is my favorite place to eat while in New Orleans! Everything I have eaten here has been excellent, the never disappoint. They also have daily specials and they are always using fresh local ingredients. I love their Pimento Man and Cheese it is second to none. And you must have the braised greens! If you are ever in New Orleans make sure you visit you will not regret it!!!

We were looking to get out of the French Quarter and see a different area of New Orleans and a friend pointed us in the High Hat’s direction. So glad they did as it was just what we were looking for. Short wait for a table, enough time for a beer at the bar. People I was with got strawberry mohitos and were big fans.
Dinner was great. The Hi Hat Burger was easily the best burger I’ve had in a while. The people I was with got the fried chicken and loved it. I highly recommend getting some cornbread because it’s flippin awesome. Loved this place.

Found this semi family style restaurant by word of mouth. I had the High Hat burger & it was one of the tastiest burgers I ever had. Grilled perfect. I also had a fresh side salad, homemade crutons. My friend had a pimento cheese burger,
loved it.
Be sure to get sides of grits and macaroni &
cheese. Awesome!
High Hat is clean, staff very well trained &
knowledgeable. Food is delicious, price is good. And so are the drinks.

Stumbled onto this place after trying to avoid the French Quarter.
Best. Detour. Ever.
Ordered the fried oyster po-​boy and high hat burger. The crispy broccoli special and rosemary lemonade were the cherry on top!
The service was informed and to the point. They don’t dress up what they do. They just state it matter of factly.
All in all, a charming restaurant with excellent southern cuisine. Well worth the drive!

I suppose I have a Midwestern Palat (I come by that honestly). New Orlins is a beautiful city, but I think it is very short on really good diners. My favorite diners have fresh, quality ingredients prepared in a way that is simple and fairly traditional, but also shows a little creativity and a lot of care. Forget those places that try to make ALL the old things new!
I have been in New Orleans for going on two years. I was very happy when I found High Hat shortly after arriving. I am now pretty sure this is my favorite restaurant in the city. Every time I have eaten here I have been very impressed with the food and the service. The things that stick in my mind are the house made pie, pickles, ham salad, and pimento chese. The lemonade is also a real made-​in-​house treat. Speaking of house made beverages, this place has one very neat bar tender. He is always dreaming up creative adult beverages and is very friendly as well.
I seem to be remembering the fru fru High Hat highlights… and there have been many times I have called the pimento cheese and ham salad appetizer my dinner and moved right on to pie, but the meat and vegetables are also outstanding. Come to think of it, I have never ordered anything I disliked here. I am beginning to think I never will.

My review of High Hat, a restaurant which people either seem to love, or hate.
When a good friend suggested High hat for lunch, I mentioned that I thought it would be expensive for lunch.
Well, turns out, that is subjective.
When you compare it to Tru Burger, or other such establishments, it is about even really.
So I agreed to try it for lunch.
I was pleasantly surprised.
I enjoy the atmosphere; I’ll call it high end casual.
Somehow, High Hat draws in both the casually dressed diner, as well as a few folks dressed, well a little bit nicer.
The restaurant is clean, the staff friendly and the service, fairly quick.
I opted for the One Eyed Bacon Cheeseburger, while my friend opted for the Smoked Roasted Chicken.
M burger with the smoky bacon, sharp cheese and beautifully coked egg was an instant hit.
Feeling calorically guilty for said burger I opted for the side salad instead of the usual pom frittes.
It was a tasty salad, served with my requested Russian Dressing.
Although the dressing was good, it did not taste house made, which is fairly easy to so and results in a much more flavorful dressing. I a always amazed that more restaurants do not make their own dressings in house, it is fairly easy and adds another dimension to the quality of your food.
However I digress, it was tasty dressing all the same.
My friends chicken, looked AMAZING, tender, juicy, and succulent, how many more adjectives can I come up with for this chicken?
I will have to order it next time.
Now, some folks will balk at a burger for $ 14.00, but they are eating at significantly lower quality establishments.
Now, I will give you this is no Phil’s Grill, but if you are in Uptown, this is a good second.
However, for 50 cents less could have gotten the chicken, and might do that next time.
The meal ended with a slice of their Lemon Icebox Pie, which is EPIC!
This alone will get you to come back again, and again, and again.
Tart, almost too much but not quite.
You take a bite and fell that little tension form in your jaw that you get when your mouth is ALMOST saying «Whoa», but not quite.
Simply delicious.
If you are on a date night, no matter where you dine, come here for this pie!
So, as Freret is continually up and coming, High Hat is a welcome addition to this culinary scene.
Not cheap, but not too expensive.
Blame it on gentrification folks.
All in all, for what you get, a good buy.
Give it a try, I believe you’ll agree.

My friends and I went to the High Hat Café while in New Orleans visiting a localè. The gumbo was AMAZING-​best gumbo in New Orleans. Loved the grits and the extensive amount of cheese. Environmental friend loved the oyster po-​boys; I went out of my comfort zone and tried it but my seafood allergies did not respond well. Non-​adventurous friend did not try it. Great drinks, awesome atmosphere, and friendly staff. Would recommend to everyone who is ever in New Orleans. Will definitely go back!!! Nothing to complain about.

We were looking for fried chicken that didn’t come from a gas station. The High Hat sure did please. Excellent, juicy fried chicken with a crispy very thin coating. Nicely spiced and seasoned. Well done. The sides were also terrific. The Pimento Mac and Cheese was creamy and quite flavorful (though I missed the aforementioned pimentos, I didn’t care). Cole slaw was nice and crisp and a good counterpoint to the rich chicken and mac and cheese. Other tablemates had the greens (which he liked) and the sweet potato salad, which sounds super weird but is really delicious.
Satsuma lemonade was the special drink of the evening and was tasty. Service was friendly, atmosphere is pleasant and fun, and not too loud.
I was super impressed. I’ll be back to the High Hat.

I had dinner here last night and the food was OK. I had the boudin for appetizers, which I definitely recommend! For entrée, I had the bbq gulf shrimp with braised greens.. The waitress says this is a customer favorite, but I was disappointed. It did not live up to my expectations and tasted nothing like bbq… seems like they just dunked some shrimps into some creole sauce, which was really salty. My friend had the half chicken with string beans.. The chicken was a bit dry, but the green beans were really good. The jack Daniels ice cream was dessert is a must!

One of my favorite restaurants. I love how the dishes on the menu are so creative and very delicious. The staff is very friendly, and the service is great. I try a different dish each time and I have never had anything I didn’t like. The slow roasted pork with green beans is my favorite.

**three star deduction**
I’ve given High Hat some pretty awesome and detailed reviews and I’ve never done anything but sing their praises but they totally dropped the ball today, both with the service and the food.
I ordered the fried shrimp poboy and it was served to me on cold bread with 8 and ½ small shrimp on it. It was all bread! Seriously, look at the photo of the first poboy and count them! The ½ is for the two small partial pieces of shrimp.
I then had to wait for my server (kept looking over the wooden bench seat in her direction), she was chatting with another server by the end of the bar near the kitchen and I also saw the server she was talking to eating! That’s not something that should be visible to customers High Hat!
I had only taken one bite that was 80% bread, I was so disappointed that I complained (and I hardly ever complain) about the poboy and they offered to put more shrimp on. I really should have asked for something else…
The second sandwich that came out fortunately was completely new and the bread was hot this time. They also replaced the fries which I appreciate.
While they seem to have tried their best to fix the situation I am still shocked they sent me a $ 13 poboy with 8.5 tiny shrimp on cold /​untoasted bread. I had so much respect for this place! I may have given 3 stars if the shrimp tasted good but they were were not, all I tasted was cornmeal which they are breaded in. They totally lacked the shrimpiness that I was looking forward to…
My server was polite but I felt I got more attention from the hostess. She was a total rock star and really friendly. She asked me more than once how my meal was AND she bussed my table, not sure where my server was…
I was waiting to see if a manager would come talk to me or apologize but it never happened. Oh well. A sad day for High Hat.

I wanted to love this place I really did. But I just can’t get over is the food that was just average at best. The atmosphere has a very old feel, but in a charming way, not in the way where there are cobwebs and wallpaper. They do have a very cool Bar area and the drinks I have tried in my visits here are pretty solid, although they are kind of pricey and a place like this would really benefit from a happy hour. First, I will mention some good things. There fries are pretty good and upon one of my visits I got a steak special which is still the only stand out I have ever experienced here. It was cooked well and seasoned to perfection. However this place had to get all weird and hipster-​like and add a mint butter on top. That was very strange. It wasn’t bad, but it was… odd to say the least. I just don’t think my taste buds ever adjusted to mint on my steak. The service is always friendly.
Now to the flip side of this coin.
My issue here is I think they think their food is better than it is. They rave about their catfish basket. They have catfish on their logo, on their marketing materials, and highlighted on their menu. Well I am sorry to announce that I could not eat my catfish basket, it was not eatable. The fish was not cut correctly I suppose. You know when you get catfish and you sometimes get that little layer of blackish beneath the white flaky fish meat? High Hat’s fish was quite the opposite, it was black fish with barely any white flaky fish. It tasted like the way the reptile encounter smells at the Audubon zoo. If you are not from round here I will explain the taste with a more high brow description… It was funky! It wasn’t just one piece either, it was every single piece in my basket. They serve it with a white remalade sauce that I only prayed would be less bland so I could have covered up the fish corpse taste of the catfish, but I was not so lucky.
The Pimento Burger is okay. The meat was juicy and cooked very well. But it was just very plain. The cheese is very mild and you barely taste it.
Their sides, on paper, you would think would be amazing! But once again prepare to get let down. If someone charges for cornbread, I expect something pretty incredible. Believe me when I tell you that I would take a box of .99 cent jiffy box made cornbread over this bread any day of the week. The pimento Mac and cheese was creamy but bland, and really, that was just the problem with this place. Bland Bland Bland. The only strong flavor I got from here was a very «strong fishy taste» from their fish.
I was very disappointing here. To top it off, my dining partner got incredibly sick from our last visit.
The Good:
The service, the bar, fries are good
The Bad:
There are a lot of bland food here.
The Ugly:
The Catfish was simply some of the worst Catfish I have had with eating catfish locally for over 30 years. You would do better getting a 5 dollar catfish basket at Popeyes.

On a recent rendezvous to New Orleans, my cousins (Nola locals) recommended we stop by High Hat for a late lunch. Did it help that we know the chef? Yes. But the food was too good not to Unilocal about. And I’m not bias.
The atmosphere is simple and reminiscent of a old school southern diner. We started with an appetizer plate of deviled eggs, pimento cheese, picked veggies, meat spreads and toast points. Seriously, some of the best pimento cheese I’ve ever had. The chef brought out a seasonal special to share, which was a field pea salad with marinated crab claws and fried onions. I could not. Stop. Eating it. It was so delicious that my 14-​month-​old ate an entire helping herself! If this is on the menu, it’s a must order and even great for sharing or an appetizer alone.
I’m not sure how late they normally serve brunch on the weekends, but it was around 2pm and the chef recommended we try the cornmeal pancakes and the corned beef hash. My husband devoured the pancakes, along with my toddler. Paired with maple syrup, it was the perfect savory yet sweet dish. But the highlight for me was the corned beef hash topped with a fried egg. Seriously. So decadent with a complex palette!
To top it all off, we got a slice of the homemade pumpkin pie, apple pie and ginger (I think) donut with ice cream for dessert. All were equally delicious, but the warm apple pie was my favorite.
I’ve never visited the Freret neighborhood, but it seems to be an upcoming area full of bars and restaurants. Refreshing too, if you’re used to the normal touristy spots in the Quarter or on Magazine. Take a step off the beaten path, and Über it to Freret St. to visit High Hat when you’re in town!

Great service, good drinks, okay food.
Like the majority of restaurants in NOLA, High Hat had very personable service. Since good service is the default here, restaurants really need to stand out with their food. And in a extremely competitive market, High Hat’s food was below average for me.
I wanted to enjoy this Freret gem so much! We came looking for Fried Chicken, but they didn’t serve it during Sunday dinner. I got the Fried Catfish instead. Breading was not crispy enough, and the dish was forgettable.
The sides were somewhat redeeming. Apple-​smoked Bacon Green Beans were ridiculously enjoyable with great bacon flavor. The Pimento Mac & Cheese was good. The side of plain bacon was of noticeably low quality though — thin cut, fatty, off taste.
The Delta Hot Tamales our waiter raved about were probably the worst tamales I’ve had. To be fair though, all the other tamales I’ve eaten were made by little old Hispanic ladies. You can’t imitate that.
The dessert special was probably my favorite part. Warm Apple Honey Pie w/​housemade Jack Daniels Ice Cream. The honey was great in the pie and the ice cream was unique, creamy, and a great pairing.
With this spread of high highs and low lows, I would find it hard pressed to visit High Hat again. There’s just too much good food in this city.

Love the food. Love the owners. Like the vibe. Great recipes, good quality control. Best gumbo and pies.
Why a 2? Just had the worst waitress attitude in years. My wife requested thousand island dressing and the waitress cut her off, «NO! We have…» blah blah. No «Sorry, we don’t have that. But we do have…» Just rude. My wife said she’d have Russian. «Well, you’re already getting Russian on your sandwich. You should get…» SERIOUSLY? Did she just tell my wife what to order?
At the end of the meal, we asked for the check. She grabbed for the credit card in my wife’s hand. Reached across the table for it! Yow. «We’d like the check first.» «oh, you want a check?» Gee, sorry for wanting to see the bill before paying. «Yes we’d like the check first.»…Like every time we eat out.
I am a good tipper. 20% or more. She got $ 0.01. I’ve never, ever, done that before. Go learn how to do your job. You don’t need to be licky dog friendly, just decent.
BTW, the food was great. But until management deals with the bottom of barrel wait staff (and I’m giving the toxic, scowling hostess a pass here), this rating is a 2.

Had a Friday off work and as usual I just started driving around town trying to decide what I was going to have for lunch. After driving down Magazine and not seeing anything I had a taste for I ended up heading to Freret St.
First place I came to was the High Hat Café. I parked my car and pulled it up on Unilocal to see what it was all about and what people thought about it and seeing that it had a 4 Star review I made my way inside. It was a quiet Friday afternoon and there were only a few people dining inside. I was seated at one of the table quickly met by a very nice server.
I ended up ordering the fried chicken, mac n cheese, and hush puppies. The fried chicken was very good. Not too greasy and seasoned very well. Just make sure to allow it to cool a little bit if you order it. The mac n cheese was good as well. It could have used a bit of seasoning to it but an addition of salt and pepper at the table made it just fine.
I could have eaten a plate full of just the hush puppies. They were perfectly fried and were nice and fluffy and buttery.
I will be making my way there again sometime soon

Always a great meal and fantastic service. I suggest the Okra and tomatoes. They are well prepared and tasty. Roasted chicken had a great flavor. Very moist.
Braised greens were spot on. Not overly seasoned and delicious.
I suggest the deviled eggs and shrimp and remoulade salad. I liked the kick it had to it.

I just stopped by here to get a Gumbo to go for lunch. I ordered a bowl of $ 8 gumbo and it was half of a pint. Also, the utensils that was provided had pepper all over it. The service was just ok. This is not my first time here and I used to get pretty decent food here, but this time completely changed my perspective. I can’t imagine if they will get returning customers if that’s the value they get. See pictures!

I’ve been here three times so I figured its time for a review!
First off, you must get the pimento mac&cheese and pimento cheese fries… you can skip the pimento grits — they were not that great.
The three times I went I tried two different dishes. The first time, I don’t remembered what I ordered. The second time I got the BBQ Bacon Burger. The third time I got the Slow Roasted Pork with an extra side of coleslaw.
The burger was just delicious and I would like to try all of them (especially the one with the pimento cheese). This visit was on the weekend so I was able to try a few cocktails with the family — one was a delicious watermelon cocktail while the other was a fig mimosa!
The slow roasted pork poboy was so good and with the extra side of coleslaw was extra delicious.
I think any meal at this location will be a good choice.

I love this place, and love the people here.
Have probably been here over 50 times.
Awesome food. Neighborhood-​ey.
Awesome cocktails.
Quite possibly my favorite restaurant in New Orleans.

This place got a 5– star rating. I give a lot of 4s– 5 is high praise.
The thing about this place that is special is… Well, ya know the whole eat local movement? This place perfectly showcases what is special about south la food. Yes no is delicious and yes we plan dinner for tomorrow before we finish breakfast today– but this right here…
The good: the specials! I’ve yet to eat off the menu because the daily specials are really special. Today I had the heirloom salad w pickled okra, croûton made from corn bread and lump crab. Look at that crab. Look at it!!!
Less good: I’m sorry I ate by myself bc I totally wanted the super special lamb pro boy that was not on menu or board– am I could have tricked– ahem– encouraged someone else to get it so I could try.
For dessert I opted for chocolate chess pie over the grilled donut– cuz they have one– but I couldn’t justify it w just me. But the chess pie was super special also. Warm with a crunch and crumbly crust.
Last– got a cantaloupe soda– not too sweet. Very nice.
In summation– don’t sit next to me here– I will ask to try your food bc I love everything they do.

High Hat has been on my list of places to try for a long time so I am happy to finally say I’ve successfully conquered half the menu. The place is very lively (see: noisy), relaxed, no frills, just good comfort food.
We started our evening getting acclimated with their bar since their was a 20 minute wait for a party of 2 on a Saturday night. No big deal since I wanted to get started with a drink anyway! The bartenders were very friendly and after perusing the drink menu I selected the Ruby Hendrick’s; gin, grapefruit juice, house made ginger ale, and hibiscus bitters. It was a very nicely balanced drink and very smooth. I was impressed that they make their own ginger ale and tonic water amongst other things. I like when places pay attention to detail and go the extra step to make it fresh from scratch.
Once our table was ready we had the hardest time picking out what we wanted to eat since there were SO many things that looked good to us. The veggie plate is the best thing on the menu if you have food ADD, which roughly means you have a sincere problem choosing just one thing off the menu and would rather have a few bites of the entire menu. I successfully ordered a «veggie» plate that compromised entirely of cheese and carbs, I laugh in the face of heart disease (calm…I know heart disease isn’t funny). On my «veggie» plate I selected pimento cheese fries (up charge to add pimento, but YOLO), pimento mac and cheese, fried okra and it also came with cornbread. You might have noticed that pimento cheese is kind of their thing and I’m not mad at it. My husband and I split this as an appetizer since we just couldn’t bare the thought of living one more minute without pimento cheese in our lives. It came out hot and fresh and it was glorious. No regrets!
My entrée was the spicy seared gulf fish which was drum. It was a beautiful flaky white fish seared to perfection paired with a potato and shrimp hash. It was one of the best fish dishes I’ve had the pleasure of eating. Since I had such a heavy appetizer the fish was perfect. My husband ordered the special which was a steak with minted butter (not sure of the cut, but it was not fatty) his came with smashed potatoes and okra, the unfried kind. The minted butter on the steak was a little weird at first, but then I really started to dig it. Each of our entrees were $ 20 which was an amazing value for the amount of food and the quality was outstanding.
For dessert (don’t judge) was the custard pie, simply because the last time I had custard pie I was a kid and we would get them from McKenzie’s. I took a trip down memory lane and it was a fine trip indeed.
I don’t think I need to mention that we left full with food up to our eyeballs, but we did. I will definitely be back to High Hat to try more of their popular items!

Everyone had been talking about High Hat and how good it was. I have to admit, I’d never been but was curious. The menu looked less than inspiring. One day I wanted catfish, which is rare for me, and remembered they had it on the menu so I decided to give it a try.
I decided to sit at the bar, I think the bartenders name was Savannah. She was really nice and welcoming. The seasonal mojito was strawberry and it was really good with sliced strawberries and packed a punch.
The catfish basket I ordered came with 3 pieces of catfish, fries, coleslaw, and hush puppies. I ordered an extra side of pimento Mac and cheese which I had heard was delicious.
The catfish was great. It had a cornmeal coating with just the right amount of crispness; absolutely delicious. The fries were perfect-​just the right amount of crispy, and nice size too. The hush puppies were fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, just the way hush puppies should be. The pimento Mac DEFINITELY lived up to its reputation-​creamy with a crunchy top and FULL of flavor. Probably the best Mac and cheese I’ve had in NOLA thus far.
This place also has really good prices. The meal was delicious and a great value, the drinks were great, and stellar service. Thanks, High Hat!

The best shrimp poboy in NOLA! Unlike majority of shrimp poboys, high hat uses cornmeal to fry their shrimp. The result is delicate, lightly coated, ultra crispy shrimp. The ratio of shrimp to bread is just perfect, in fact, the mayo ratio was perfect as well– very light. And the bread was toasted.
$ 13 for a 6 inch is a bit high but you get a side included, not just fries either, your choice of side, no up charge. 6 inch was the right amount when eaten with a side. I prefer it. I’d gladly pay $ 13 for this delicious poboy anyday!
Service was slow. We sat at the bar. The server won’t be winning a trophy for most pleasant but I’ve had much worse.

My first meal in NOLA was here at High Hat Café suggested by our local friend. We arrived on a Saturday during prime time brunch-​time, however just happened to beat the rush because as soon as were got our food, the place started to get packed.
They have plenty of seating and a bar. The staff was friendly and the food portions were big.
We had the BBQ Shrimp for an appetizer. The shrimps were HUGE and the BBQ flavor had a hint of spice that def whet our appetites and introduced us to the Cajun flavors we were in for during our stay in NOLA. I had the Fried Shrimp Po Boy w/​Lettuce, Tom, & Mayo ($ 13) which came with a hefty amount of French Fries. Also had the Strawberry Mint Lemonade ($ 3). There was also a Brunch menu that was written on the chalkboards. Everything on that menu looked delicious, but I was extremely anxious to try my first Po Boy and High Hat’s did not disappoint. The fried Shrimp inside the Po Boy was really good. The Strawberry Mint Lemonade was really refreshing.
Being the first meal after our flight landed, my girls and I were starving but because of High Hat’s generous portions, we all had left-​overs.