Marie’s Bar

Best bloody mary’s I had during my entire trip to NOLA. I love the garnishes… yum! I had to come back multiple times. Its small and dark, but the staff and regulars are very friendly. Cash only. TRY THE BLOODY!

3.5
The city that care forgot meets the bar that clean ignored. But, such is to be expected. Marie’s is a dive bar in the Marigny. Long before flippers from NYC invaded the Crescent City, Marie’s has been a neighborhood staple doing what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it. You were either in or out. She had no need to try to impress because the folks coming here were coming for her, not for a scene.
And that, my friends, is how New Orleans used to be.
While I am not much of a dive bar enthusiast, I am known to be fond of authenticity. Real recognizes real, no matter the form. So, I Purelled myself and walked in. I get it. I dig it. There’s a cool charm to the place. Like most of New Orleans, it reads old (even if it’s not). It’s not fancy and cash is the law of the land. But don’t let any of the above make you think you won’t be able to get a serious drink on. Whether it’s to black out to your environs (me) or to forget about your worries (a whole bunch of other people inside), the drinks are strong enough to make you forget English. My poison of choice was rum punch. Yeah, I know. Punch. But 1.) Punches are in 2.) Punch just means ‘throw a bunch of liquor in a bowl and sweeten it up so you don’t know what you’re drinking.’ It’s legit. And Marie’s concoction is super legit. I had to sit. Sitting gave me the added benefit of being below the smoke line. The haze is real and it’s strong. If you are sensitive to smoke or have weak lungs, you might want to sit this one out. There’s a juke box for your music needs, a vending machine for your munchies and a pool table for entertainment. The bathroom made me glad to be a man. If I had to sit down in the space where angels feared to tread… I would have gone outside. Standing, ftw. But, Marie’s is 60+ years old and was doing fine before she met me and will do fine long after I’ve darkened her door. A Marie’s experience isn’t one I’d seek on the regular but as a way to spend a chilly Thursday afternoon in New Orleans… you could do far worse.

BLUF: No reason to go hear unless you live around the corner. Very very very local with a touch of sadness.
Very tiny bar in the marigny with only local clients in their 50s who spend their time on the video poker machines and wish they could still be smoking inside. A couple hipsters will be out front eyeballing you in judgment if you don’t look like them. Thats okay because I was judging them too. Not a very welcoming place but could be a quiet place to get a drink with a friend.
There is a fine line between a «dive» and sadness and I believe this place passed into sadness.

This is a cool dive bar that draws a loyal local following. Monday’s usually feature Holly Tamale bartending and offering samples of her fantastic tamales. In addition to the interesting patrons of the bar you also have the options of a pool table free jukebox for your entertainment pleasure. As with many NOLA neighborhood establishments the patrons here come in all ages, styles and backgrounds so if you don’t like that don’t visit New Orleans. It is a cash only joint so be prepared for that.

This a nice little neighborhood bar. The bartender was really friendly and they have good beer like Fat Tire and LA 31. It was pretty slow on the night that we came, so we chatted with the bartender and the one other patron that was in the place. I can see how this is probably a popular hang out earlier in the evening. I got the vibe that it’s a «pre game» type of bar. I’d love to come back on a night where there are more people. Like others have said the place is cash only.

Great service and a great Bloody Mary. I have never liked Bloody Mary’s until I tasted this one. 1^st I have ever ordered. It was great. Fun bar, great neighborhood.

Great neighborhood bar serving some of the cheapest beer and cocktails on the creole side of the river. The old fashioned neighborhood bar with outdoor seating is a treat in the bywater/​marigny area. The beer is $ 2 and the cocktails especially the bloody mary is on par with any in the city. One of my favorite stops with a group ride.

An amazing dive bar with incredible bloody mary’s. Shitty décor, a pot of coffee brewing, stiff drinks, video poker and anything else a drunken degenerate could need at 9 AM in NOLA.

Great neighborhood dive bar, small
But friendly to visitors, ask local where to eat and what to do. Have a Bad Ass Bloody Mary or tall margarita. Cash only, jukebox and pool table.

Some of my buddies were pretty spot on in their reviews about Marie’s but I’ll give my two cents as well.
This bar is a hangover haven that only accepts cash. While I wasn’t hungover and probably should’ve opted for a more H2O-​based bev on our bike tour with the Confederacy of Cruisers, I had heard rumors that Marie’s Bloody Mary was magically delicious.
The bar is dimly lit with a jukebox, pool table, snack machine with Zapp’s potato chips (ah, thank ya), and a bar already brimming with local patrons at 5 o’clock…somewhere.
I requested a Bloody Mary (at $ 7). This bartender is by no means rough around the edges, more of a goddess in a sea of bristling chins, lit cigarettes, and old man compliments (you gots to just roll with the old man compliments if you live in New Orleans, I’m just sayin’). She took her time to create the perfect Bloody Mary with okra, beans, olives, a slice of lemon with a peppered mix sprinkled on top, and did it with such a nice smile.
This was a great Bloody Mary. Spicy, but not enough to make me sweat or curb my enthusiasm for this tomato-​ey cocktail. A Bloody Mary should never been too small leaving you to NEED another one or too big to feel like a formidable dinner entrée. This one was Goldilock’s perfect in size. I’ll put it up there in the top 5 in the city, and one of those is the Bloody I make at home.
If Marie’s wasn’t so far from my ‘hood, it’d become my pop-​in/​grab a Bloody bar but I might have to make an exception just to enjoy it again!

«TALKIN TO YA DADDY»
Marie’s is my neighborhood bar (I live on St Roch). Love the bartenders, especially Dana, and love the prices ($ 3 wells — $ 2 during their 5 – 7 happy hour).
Like other reviewers have said, there are no frills. It’s mixed drinks and cheap beers. The juke is free (but lord help if a regular catches you selecting more than five tunes in a row) and pool is cheap.
I have no problem hanging out with people forty years older than me, but if you’re looking for a younger crowd Lost Love Lounge or Mimi’s are nearby and may be a better option. Expect to pay 1.00−1.50 more per drink, though.
OH it’s also cash only, and they have an ATM. They also have a relatively cheap cigarette machine and a vending machine with Zapps and other bar snacks to keep ya going.
«Talking to ya daddy» along with the other quotes on the bars walls, were one-​liners the original owner always said to customers. His son owns the bar now and displays them to remember his dad.

This is a BAR, tried and true. Pool-​table. No fancy drinks. No bar-​food with a twist. Just hang out, see what types roll in. Possibly even seems to be a gay bar or maybe just curious hipsters. No matter either way, it’s a pleasantly proper semi-​seedy looking dive (all in a good way).
Fairly cheap drinks, a few quiet lone drinkers, some rambunctious types. Something reliable to keep in your back-​pocket.

This was a hit during our bike tour of New Orleans. It’s a very small, quaint little bar (cash only!) that is certainly a staple in the surrounding neighborhood.
My hubby and I both tried their Abitia Beer (local brewery), and it was SO TASTY. Mine was the Strawberry Harvest Lager, and lemme tell ya — I’m not normally a beer drinker, but this was SO satisfying on a hot and humid N’awlins afternoon.
Highly recommended that you swing by, purchase a drinky-​poo or two, and sit outside to enjoy the sites of the neighborhood.

Total dive bar that we stopped into on our bike tour. Do you think a bloody mary will quench your thirst? Probably not. But it was one of the best bloody mary’s I’ve had. No lie!
It was spicy and stuffed with olives and pickles. I was not into the smoking, especially after the fresh ride I was taking, but whatever. I was there for literally 15 minutes, maybe. If you’re looking for a dive with great bloody mary’s, this is your joint!

As my friend Robert K would say, «THIS is a bar.»
Namely, a dive where the drunks don’t just swap fists; they hash-​out decades-​old feuds with a level of stinging intimacy that will reel you in.
Actually Robert describes it best:
«i liked that bar we went to — it was after kent left. we went to the convenience store & bought like fried chicken fried shrimp fried fish fried crabs & we went to that bar where there were maybe eight people and the two old men who had the most enormous fight & shouting match & and insane multi-​generational family feud aired out in front of all of us & then the one guy threw the other guy out the door and locked the door and did wacky smoking pistols dance across the room with winks & guns & for everyone & so many boozy afternoon cheers it was maybe 5:00 in the afternoon.»
The ousted man staggered away in the punishing afternoon sun, but inside a friendly local calmly remarked on our fried-​fish buffet as though a Tennessee Williams play didn’t just unfold in the spaces of this dark bar. «That looks tasty,» he chuckled and we really couldn’t disagree.
Drinks are cheap. Jukebox. Marigny is a magical place.
Obligatory Title Pun: A dive bar called DESIRE.
Menu Readability: I don’t remember seeing one. I remember seeing a grown man sob.
Need to mention: You will know that pool may be played for free when they remove the plastic door covering the balls. Have at ‘er.
What this place teaches me about myself: Fried crab is the dopest, though.

I love Marie’s and if you like divey hole in the wall bars, you will too. It’s tiny but the jukebox is free with great tunes.
The waitstaff is always courteous and there’s a pool table, but it is smokey so beware if this isn’t your thing. The drinks are cheap and the crowd’s usually a mix of young and old.

Casual, cash only corner dive along our bike tour stop with bits of history and grunge decorating every square foot. Scant outdoor seating, friendly neighborhood regulars. Beer selection covered basic essentials. Prettyboy bartender filled my cup with ice to the brim before pouring over my reasonably tasty bloody mary from a pitcher. Garnish was nice: one each of olive, dilly bean, lemon wedge, pickled okra. My upgrade to a large probably didn’t do much good with all that ice!

I would say 3 ½ stars first
I dig this bar. I wish I had one like it in my humble Marrero subdivision. I like to think I would be one of the old men in the bar, like that have at this place. They have a nice selection of bottled beers, a few bar things to do, but its simplicity and old man and old lady factor, as is the tucked away feeling I have, makes it a nice and cool place.
Its not very loud except for the potty mouthed old men. The stories I was overhearing was funny and so broken up and long winded, I was hoping the jukebox wouldn’t start playing random :-)
I have only been here in the evenings, not totally trashed, just always a quick beer and run out, but I see this as a possible get away when the nearby bars on St. Claude are too crowded or loud to chill with a special someone.

Hmm…
Moi: «I’ll have a vodka lemonade, please.»
Surfer-​y Bartender: «Uh…we make it ourselves, but we’re out.»
Moi: «OK, I’ll just have a gimlet then.»
SB: «A what? Is that like a martini? Mom — what’s a gimlet?»
So, I see everyone else around me drinking beer. This is what happens when you turn off the nonverbal cues, people.
At least the price was right…

When I was a little kid, I really loved going to bars with my parents. Maybe it was because they were dark and cozy, not unlike being back in the womb. Or maybe it was because I got to drink soda out of the gun.
So. Marie’s. I’ll put it to you this way, the first time I walked into Marie’s, I was immediately reminded of those slightly shabby bars I’d visit as a tender lass, when I’d belly up to the jukebox and play shit like Fly Robin Fly. I just dig the homey vibe here overall. Yeah, yeah, allegedly a dive, but I think that’s a throwaway word for a bar that isn’t some barfy Ultra Lounge, y’know? Marie’s is the real deal.
«Oh Marie! (Oh Marie)…Oh Marie! (Oh Marie)…In your arms I’m longin’ to be (I’m longin’ to be)»
Pay a visit to Marie’s and within minutes, you’ll be caught up in her sweet embrace.
–cheap ass drinks
–sassy, friendly bartenders
–regulars that will make you never want to leave
–possibly the best Bloody Marys in town
–We’ve Got Soul on Friday nights (I may be a vegetarian, but I have it on good authority from the meat eating friends in my life that WGS is the *shit*).
Thanks for making me feel like a kid again, Marie!!!