Cooter Brown’s Tavern & Oyster Bar

I love trying a great beer I’ve never heard of, and that is DEFINITELY an option at Cooter Brown’s. Vince is always shucking some of the best oysters in town. LOVE the new specials and the new menu. Great game watching, too.

Wide selection of beers and the food is great. The buffalo chicken sandwich turned out to be slightly salty though.

I didn’t realize Cooter Brown’s had switched ownership until I walked up to order a sandwich. The fact that nothing else had tipped me off is a good sign; the new owners (who also own the Rusty Nail) aren’t going to mess with what works – the interior, the oysters, the friendly staff, and the beer all **seem** to be the same.
Even the menu features much of the same great bar food. However, the options have been pared down considerably. And prices have gone up… I saw fried cheese curds on the menu and decided to set my reservations aside.
We ordered cheese curds, fries, a veggie burger, and a brie & bacon sandwich (minus the bacon). Everything was delicious, except for the burger which had something like salsa on it. Burgers should never have salsa, even if it is a black bean patty…
I was (and still am) a bit shocked and suspicious. Cooter Brown’s offered something that few sports bars can offer: personality. And history. With so much changing in the Riverbend, I’m crossing my fingers that the new owners act more as preservationists than innovators.

New Kitchen!!! WOW!! i was here on their opening night. The line was long but the guy taking the orders was very pleasant. He explained that there was a wait (after all, this was opening night). The menu has kept a lot of classics (managers special, po boys) but they’ve added several new items. EVERYTHING sounds good. I settled on the cheeseburger, because I have heard so many great things about them.
While the burger had authentic flame broiled flavor, it was cook super well done.
Someone at the table ordered gravy fries. She said they were good, but way too salty. They were served in a basket with waxed paper that quickly dissolved under the gravy into the fries
Third person ordered mild wings and gave them two thumbs up.
It was their first night during a playoff game, so even though I wasn’t impressed this time the service food and presentation were better than their predecessors
I will be returning to give them another go

Fantastic beer selection, probably my favorite in the city other than Avenue Pub. The seating is great for watching sports, though arrive early because it can get crowded. It’s a crowd of all ages, with fans from across the country. Premium oysters can be had here as well, though the other bar food is somewhat lacking.

My Alligator Sausage Po Boy was very good! Nice and spicy with all the condiments you could desire. If you’re eating alone, I don’t recommend because it’s difficult to find a spot. However, eating outside is nice!

Went here with friends for holiday festivities. The beer menu was extensive, but not the best for a non beer drinker. They did have pear cider on special for $ 2, but it was pretty tasteless. A few people ordered food. You place your order in a corner nook. The muffateltta was huge. Lots of flavor and olives. Four of us shared one large.
The main eating/​drinking area is dark and dingy. Very much a dive bar. It was very quiet on the Saturday we were there. No servers at all. All drinks are ordered at the bar. There was a nasty smell coming from the rest rooms. So much so that I would not go in there.
If your looking for a dark, dingy, cheap place to drink then this might be your kind of place.

Great selection of beer. Bartender at first seemed more interested in watching the game than serving, but he warmed up and was very helpful. Ordered the aoft shell crab poboy. Three different places to order and was a little confusing. Not a big fan of my poboy with a whole lot of bread and very little crab which was kind of fishy. Probably wouldn’t order again.

Love this bar! Great place to watch a Patriots game. They have an awesome draft beer selection. They had some of my personal favorites on tap — Abita Macchiato Milk Stout, Stiegl Radler, and Not Your Father’s Root Beer among others. The knowledgable bartender let me try one of his favorite draft beer combinations and chatted for a bit. Food was good, although I only sampled the cheese fries.
My ONLY issue was, they have a ton of TVs-​which is great! However, right next to their biggest screen, they had 3 screens playing 3 different action movies on 3 different channels. It was a little odd as it was pretty obvious we were all there to watch the Patriots game. I wouldn’t mind if some of the TVs were playing different channels, but it was distracting that the screens right next to the big one were playing 3 totally different channels.
All in all, awesome bar can’t wait to go back.

tl;dr Come for the oysters, stay for the sports (but really just the oysters)
Admittedly, I’m something of a newbie to the wild world of sports bars. If it weren’t for the fact that I spend a lot of my time with someone who loves football more than, well, anything, I would probably still have very limited experience in the land of a million TVs. But let’s just say I’ve become something of an expert.
From that expert (ish) vantage point I can say: Cooter Brown’s is one of the best sports bars you’ll ever encounter. It’s big, it’s filled with TV’s and it has delicious snacks. What more do you need? I arrived mid-​Saints game on a rainy Sunday, so understandably the bar was packed to the gills. We managed to find a seat and ordered some mimosas, perusing the massive food menu for the remainder of the game. When the bar cleared up a bit after the Saints’ victory (WHO DAT!) we snagged one of the long tables in the center of the bar.
What followed was a New Orleans feast of epic proportions. My football-​loving partner-​in-​crime had the Bayou Philly (shrimp, gator sausage, cheese, incredible), my friend got the fried oysters and cheese fries, and I had the cheddar jalapeño bites and sweet corn bites. We shared everything so I got to have a taste of all of it. The philly was greasy and flavorful, the fried oysters a little too much fried and not enough oyster. The cheddar bites were not cheddar but E-​Z cheez, which in my opinion was a GREAT surprise, and the sweet corn bites were like the best cornbread I’ve ever had, and fried. They also have amazing tarter sauce, weirdly.
Oh right, and oysters. You go to a different bar where a lovely man (seriously, such a sweetheart) shucks gorgeous, enormous bivalves for you and places them lovingly on a cafeteria tray. This is NOLA, so there’s no mignonette anywhere in sight, but the selection of cocktail sauces, hot sauce, and various seasonings will make you immediately forget your foofy oyster-​eating ways. Needless to say, this is a must-​stop on my next trip down to New Orleans.

Fried Seafood Platter is a little more greasy than what I’d care for and when you want to order oysters from the bar you have to walk up and wait for them at the «shucker», but the oysters are great, the boudin appetizer is awesome and the drinks are cheap bar drinks

Now this place knows how to do it. Especially for it being so close to college campuses. Large area, lots of beer, great place to watch a sporting event on the many TV’s that they have.
The food is really good bar food. Fresh oysters shucked right at the bar… Amazing.

Had a few good times here watching ball games. When it’s crowded and a popular game is on it’s almost like being at the game because of the crowd reaction in the bar. The service is good and friendly with attractive waitresses. The food is good for what it is and the prices are reasonable. Better get there early before the game because the place definitely gets packed.
Survived a Cowboys/​Saints game one afternoon when I wore a polo shirt I have with a Cowboys logo. Had to button my lip more than once after being approached by alcohol infused Cowboy haters. Realistically, the reason I made it out with no major damage was because the Cowboys ran out of time to beat the Saints. Some Louisiana residents sure are envious of Texans…

Might’ve been good for drinks but to eat at? No thanks.
We went here one afternoon to meet up with a few friends for dinner. Not feeling overly adventurous with their menu, I opted for the alligator sausage poboy thinking they couldn’t get anything wrong with it. I was mistaken. It came out very dry even though I asked for it to be dressed. The lettuce tasted old, tomatoes and onions falling everywhere, and it came with pickle even though I requested them to be removed. The only good thing about the poboy was the sausage itself which I removed and ate alone.
The overall appearance of the place is your typical dive bar with low lighting and an outback country theme to it. It’s okay if you want to escape the day and hide in a poorly lit room that smells like a bathroom.
Overall, I don’t think I’ll be heading back there any time soon.

Two stars for beer selection. One star for the hot food. ZERO FOR OYSTER BAR.
They’re always dirty and gritty– speckled w bits of shell. You cant be perfect, but come on. Worst of all, they don’t keep them cold enough– tastes like someone ate some mud and hocked a loogie into an oyster shell. Any warmer and I’d expect them to be chargrilled.

Excellent oysters and very good bar food. And TVs galore. One of my favorite sports bars

If you are my friend, and you are coming to New Orleans, you can definitely schedule a lunch at Cooter Brown’s. I LOVE THIS PLACE.
It is so divey and perfect. There is a huge menu of delicious poboys and fried delights for even the pickiest of eaters. Tons of raw oysters as well.
I don’t even drink anymore, but I still am impressed by the huge beer selection. Every Abita EVER brewed is here, usually on tap.
The place has a lot of history, not crazy Civil War history, just awesome divey bar on the railroad tracks kind of history.

My dad and I came here for some hangout time and had a great experience. We went into the back of the bar (the Snooty Cooter) and they had an excellent beer selection. Really good drafts from all over the world. The bartender knew his beer and was able to offer insightful suggestions. While there, we also had some food. I’d recommend the chicken quesadilla. Spicy with a decent amount of chicken stuffed inside.
They have huge screens all throughout the bar so it was great for game watching. Overall, a huge room and great atmosphere. I’d highly recommend this bar for anything from game day to nights out with your friends. And because they have two different bars, you can pick whether you want cheap beer, or slightly more costly, good tasting beer.

I’m not much of a beer drinker, but my go to dive bar in New Orleans is still Cooter Browns, home of 400 bottle brands, and over 80 beers on tap. The beer list rotates on occasion. It’s a laid back sports bar in the uptown area, on the St Charles streetcar, and an occasionally busy hang out for Tulane and Loyola students. Oh, and 20 TVs for sports.
They have fresh oysters, usually pretty cheap, and a kitchen that turns out local favorites including po boys, burgers, and the ubiquitous New Orleans sandwich, the muffaletta. If you’re not familiar with that tasty bite, it was developed by and for Italian immigrants in the early 1900s, essentially a meal on a bun, good for toting off to the job, or eating while balanced on a precarious produce carton in the French Market.
It starts with a 9″ round seeded loaf of bread, has layers of Italian lunch meats including salami, ham, mortadella, provolone and mozzarella. Before putting on the top half of the loaf, the sandwich is covered with an olive salad, a mélange of olives, garlic, celery, cauliflower and olive oil… some recipes add peppers. Some places heat the sandwich, some don’t, and it’s sold in whole, half, and quarter portions many places.
I can’t really tell you why Cooter’s muff is my favorite, just is. It’s also the place for wicked bar food like cheese fries and wings.

A solid sports bar located in the Riverbend that has the best raw oysters in town, great bar food and sandwiches and some excellent drinks beyond the vast beer selection.
Been coming here for more than 25 years (holy crap– I’m old…) and in that time Cooters has continued to reinvent the interior but not their commitment to being a rock solid bar. Televisions are hung in every available space to make it a sports viewing haven, there are pool tables (a requirements in any real joint), a juke box, and a few video poker machines (meh) which keep it free of pesky teenagers …
Rumor has it that they are going to have a new rendition of the back bar called (hilariously!!!) the Snooty Cooter which will focus on craft beer and actually opens this weekend (August 2014).
Leading the smoke free movement among the hold outs in town only made it more appealing… and hasn’t slowed the bar’s pace at all