Bar Tonique — Restaurant in New Orleans

New Orleans does not have any open container laws, so while in town, my friends and I decided to hit up a liquor store and get some ciders to walk around with. While talking about how much I like ginger beer, a random guy dressed like a bum was listening in to our conversation. He injects with, "if you boys like ginger beer, you have to try Bar Tonique". Thanks random New Orleans bum. We think nothing of it, but happen to look it up on Yelp. Well, yelp reviewers rate it really highly. So after checking out the lousy to fairly lousy bars on Bourbon street, my friends and I decided to give Bar Tonique a try.

We start walking from Bourbon Street to Rampart St. The walk was not reassuring that this place would be good. Maybe it was "New Orleans" 4.5 starts and not "New York" 4.5 stars. If that means anything. The area goes from kind of residential to kind of rundown. But we still press on.

Well, we finally get there and wow.. were we impressed. This little unassuming bar had the absolutely best drinks in New Orleans. It was so good, that we came back again the next day. They have a thick menu of complicated drinks. It was almost overwhelming when trying to decide what to drink. I had their version of a Dark and Stormy with homemade ginger syrup. It was absolutely amazing. May have been the best dark and stormy I have ever had. I also tried the Blanche Dubois (golden girls) another great drink. And when I did not know what to drink, the bartender made recommendations based on spirits that I liked. The bartender was knowledgeable, friendly, but not too overly up in my business.

The prices were decent... not too much at all... especially for the quality of drinks and service.

If I am ever back in NOLA, I will be sure to come back here. Thanks...

Cocktails are good but the experience with the staff not so much. We turned up extremely hot and flustered at around 1pm, very much looking forward to some AC and a refreshing drink. Unfortunately, we discovered on arrival that we weren’t able to enter with our 20-month-old daughter. Fair enough, there are gaming machines and the law is the law, so I backed out without a fuss. We decided, though, that since we’d braved the walk in the blazing sun, we really ought to get a couple of drinks to go. So I waited outside with my daughter while mum and mum’s brother went inside to the bar. This is where things took an unfortunate turn. You might have expected the bar woman to be somewhat understanding and thus particularly helpful, but instead she was the exact opposite. The others were told, rudely, that a certain popular NOLA drink couldn’t be made as it’s not on the menu, and then, also rudely, that a drink that is on the menu couldn’t be made because it would be too much effort. To top it off, we received margaritas and not the daiquiris that we ordered. I couldn’t be bothered to go back inside at this point so we left, disappointed. (The...

Came across this dope bar one late night in New Orleans and it did not disappoint. Very chill and low key with great drinks. Here are my takeaways:

Environment Located right on the outskirts of the quarters, very low key and intimate. At night it's very chill and dim with good energy and a relaxed ambiance. It has a divy vibe - right when you walk in you'll see plenty of bar seating with with a few tables around the space. They also have pretty decent amount of outside seating right on the sidewalk. This seems like a place that you can easily become a regular at.

Service The service was great. They had one bartender managing the full bar and she was doing a great job getting drinks out in a timely fashion. It was easy to order and get what you need.

Drinks The cocktails were great and strong! For the quality and the price you can't beat it (especially compared to what I'm used to here in DC). This will definitely be a place I stop by next time I'm in New Orleans.

Overall Great bar, great service and most importantly great quality drinks. Please stop by here as soon as you can. It will be a go to when I'm...