Royal House Oyster Bar — Restaurant in New Orleans

I came here once 6 years ago and it was phenomenal back then. Tonight is the first time i experienced the worst service I ever encountered from the front door to the balcony table service until checking out. Front door: there are 2 guys and one girl (with the blond/white hair). We asked one guy if we can be seated on the balcony if theres available. He said let him check. After like 2-3mins i can hear the other guy talk with the girl about there are 2 table available and if she want to take it. The guy we talked to smirked at whatever they were talking about and the white hair girl walked away across the street. The other guy told us there were available but hadnt been clean out yet so since the one taking care of it now on smoke break. We told them it was fine we are in no rush and can wait. He then suggested we can wait at the bar and he will come get us whenever table is ready. Then point at bar told us to sit wherever open chair. We took a seat. Bartender guy(?) look at us confused asked whether we were having food or just drink. We explained the situation. He said oh then you guys have to sit over-there at the end of the bar to wait. We about to move then another guy walk by told us we just need to scoot over little bit. Other bartender come talk to us , figured that we wait for balcony table so she offered to go drink and we can pay her for the drinks. Its fine with us. Then we turned around to see another couple just walk in asked the white hair girl about balcony table and were taken upstairs right away. Confused, we tried to talk to the girl twice got ignored first time , second time i had to stop her. Then she pointed me to the stairs and told me that i can just walk up there myself someone would help me up there. Okay then when we were upstairs, noone even notice us for a couple minutes just standing in middle of the way. Finally a girl point us to the corner table told us just come sit down. After that we got ignored for 20mins without menu or water or anything. Meanwhile she came and severed the table next to us perfectly. Well at this point we had to go inside put in order for ourselves since we know what we already want. Luckily we grab Marques (?) he got the order, he even check in and let us know order coming out soon. Since no one gonna come to give us the bill we just had to come inside one more time to pay ourselves.

This is horrible service. The Chargrilled oyster not even good anymore, it was over salted and cold.

Disappointed to the most and definitely not worth...

We went to Royal House while walking through Bourbon Street and needing a place to eat. The menu seemed accommodating for our whole party.

We were seated immediately in the upstairs dining room.

We ordered both drinks and food at the same time.

Our drinks came out, honestly they tasted like straight juice. We got the hurricane and the French quarter margarita. The mint julep was actually pretty good.

Our food came out. I got the chicken gumbo which was great! It has a nice level of spiciness. It was seasoned really nicely, too. I asked for a side roll but was given 3 pieces of sliced bread and butter ($.50) to dip in the gumbo which was a nice touch. My friends got the fish po-boy which they said was good but wish it was more seasoned. My other friend for the French onion soup which she said was pretty good. It wasn’t monumental but serviceable. We ordered spinach and artichoke dip as an app but it came out last. We had basically finished our meal. It was piping hot. Friends said it was great! We all loved the tortilla chips that came with it which were great!

At the end of our meal, things got weird. We gave our cards to spilt the check and apparently our transaction broke the whole system…??? The waiter, Emily, told us twice about the issue which was appreciated. We waited for ~25 minutes before we asked for the manager came over and explain the situation in more detail. It creeped us out that they kept our cards during this whole ordeal instead of giving them back while we waited. They asked if we could pay cash, we couldn’t. The resolution was that we Zelle the manager our bill amount and he will pay the bill later when it’s fixed …??? What also was weird was that other tables were able to pay with cards pretty quickly. Originally they said it was the whole restaurant, then just us, then just 2 tables. It wasn’t clear who was affected by this since the story changed each time. We would think the management would offer something for this inconvenience but we had to bring it up. We asked for some compensation or something. We mentioned that when we were waiting, complimentary drinks could have been offered for us to be social. So the waiter came and took our drinks. We ordered mint juleps but they did NOT taste the same as the first one my friend got. It tasted like whiskey and soda.

Overall, I’m 50/50 about this place. I would recommend bringing cash if anything because the food was actually...

The Royal House is a place that, like all great New Orleans institutions, was once something else.

Back in the day, this was just somebody’s home, full of high ceilings and wrought iron balconies, the kind of place where genteel folks probably sat around drinking absinthe and pretending life wasn’t a fever dream. But New Orleans took one look at it and, in true Crescent City fashion, decided it would make a much better restaurant.

And so, Tortorici’s was born. Not your run-of-the-mill red sauce joint—no, they were serving up veal, fresh fish, scampi, the kind of real-deal Italian cooking that put them in the same breath as Galatoire’s, Antoine’s, and Arnaud’s. It held its own for decades,

right up until Katrina came through like the wrath of God, shutting doors, scattering memories, and leaving behind another empty husk of what once was. But New Orleans doesn’t let the good ones stay dead.

In 2008, the Ammari brothers came in, knocked off the dust, and gave the place a second life as Royal House, and now, all these years later, it’s still standing, still serving, still proving that in this town, history ain’t just something you read about—it’s something you eat.

And speaking of eating, let’s talk about something damn near sacramental: the Oyster Rockefeller Bombolone. Now, this ain’t just a fried oyster, and it sure as heck ain’t just a pastry. This is what happens when someone with a deep love of butter and bad decisions decides to go full mad scientist in the kitchen.

They start with fat, salty Gulf oysters, smother them in creamy spinach, bacon, parmesan, and a hint of anisette—just enough to make licorice feel like a good idea, this is a buttery indulgence that feels like it needs a warning label—or a confessional booth.

You take that first bite, and suddenly, the world makes sense. The flakiness of the pastry gives way to the crunch of the oyster, the silk of the spinach, the smoky whisper of bacon, the sharp salt of the parmesan, all swirling together in a bite so perfect it feels like a sin.

Wash it down with something cold and let yourself sink a little deeper into the moment, into the history, into the undeniable fact that New Orleans knows how to do food in a way that no place else on earth ever could.

Royal House ain’t just a restaurant. It’s proof that nothing in this city ever really disappears. It just gets a little louder, a little messier, a little more...