Casamento’s Restaurant

Small menu, but absolutely perfect. Great raw, fried, grilled oysters. If there’s a line, ask for a half dozen raw while you wait, tip the shuckers and ask them for sauce. They make a cocktail sauce right there, and it’s delicious. Sriracha may be the secret ingredient…
Random hours, but figure it out. Definitely not to be missed.

BE WARNED
Raw oysters had centipedes on the outer shells!
Apparently Cassamento’s does not wash the outer shells of their raw oysters. To my disgust. when the waitress took the tray of raw oysters away from my table there was a live centipede on the table. I showed the waitress and she said ‘yea…that’s why our oysters are so good… we don’t wash the outer shells’.
I am a native New Orleanian and have NEVER had this experience with raw oysters. The explanation was also terrible. My friend and I were queasy all day afterwards. I do not recommend Casamento’s for raw oysters and the fried oysters tasted like the grease had not been changed since the late 80’s.
I’ll try to upload a photo of the Oyster annaelidia…

I live close by, so I have had the opportunity to eat at Casamento’s fairly often.
Casamento’s lives off of its old New Orleans «charm», not its food or service. By comparison, it is among the least customer friendly restaurants in all of New Orleans. Its days and hours of operation are just plain incomprehensible. They accept only cash — no credit cards — and they think it is just fine to have at ATM for your convenience. The tables and seating are awkward at best. (Try the seat that faces the wall.)
As for the food, anything that is fried is average. The po-​boys, regardless of the type, are below average mainly due to the bland unappealing toast, instead of good French bread, they are served on. Soups (gumbos, etc.) are average at best. The food is, overall, yellow, unhealthy, and on the greasy side.
The raw oysters are good, but there are plenty of other places nearby that are better (i.e., try Frankie and Johnny’s) — I’d say these are above average.
Bottomline is that Casamento’s is living off of its heritage and quaintness as an old school oyster bar, but it is nothing special. There are many other places in New Orleans with superior service and food. For exceptional raw oysters, go to Frankie and Johnny’s. For exceptional po-​boys, go to Guys Po-​Boys, Crabby Jacks, Domilises, Ye Old College Inn, or Parkway Bakery and Deli (THE BEST). Casemento’s needs to move into the 21^st century a little.

Is there an «r» in the month you are currently traipsing through? Are you in NOLA? You need to head here for oysters. Or soft shell crabs. Or oysters.
Reasons you should love about this place:
* They use a cornmeal breading for all of their fried food, so, awesome if you have wheat or gluten issues — plus, it tastes better than the flour fry
* It’s on Magazine Street (and only a couple of blocks from Planned Parenthood — holla!)
* They had Robb Walsh’s book, Sex, Death, and Oysters prominently displayed underneath all of the famous-​people-​signed t-​shirts (Houston in the house!)
* The food is very good, if you love Gulf oysters (ersters, if you listen to Ella and Louis)…and you should love oysters no matter who you are (!) or how you pronounce it
* The bathroom is through the kitchen, past the gumbo and oyster stew and and and

Absolutely perfect lunch of a dozen oysters and gumbo. This place is the real deal for an authentic New Orleans experience.

I just love this restaurant for the grilled oysters and they are worth standing in line for. It is known to all the locals and never disappoints.
The Palmetto bug prefers to be outdoors but can wander indoors now and then. I would just ask the waitress to sweep it out the door and not give it another thought, I don’t believe they are dirty and get into food like roaches. But I’m not a native to this area. Will I go back to this restaurant, absolutely !!
Get some fries and a little short beer to go with the oysters and you will be in heaven.

It’s dismaying to read two reviews where customers spotted «palmetto bugs», i.e., giant, scary looking cockroaches native to N.O. – having lived in N.O. it took me quite awhile to get over my fear… so I get where y’all are coming from.
That being said, I’ve never had a bad meal here. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful oysters and shrimp; along with Acme Oyster Bar in the Quarter among the best in the city.
Customers need to be very vocal about insects in a restaurant – tell the wait staff, cook, whoever! These suckers are known to crawl up walls to the ceiling and then dive bomb down onto unsuspecting people-​happened to a good friend of mine and we FREAKED. They have no place in eating establishments and need to be WHOMPED and done away with ASAP.
So sorry this spoiled your experience. It would have spoiled mine too.

The wife and I were super excited about checking this place out, but while we were waiting to order we saw three huge roaches just sort of wandering about, completely unafraid of humans (one crawled under us to the point where I was pretty sure it was going to crawl up my chair or leg). I’m all for places with a little bit of character, and I know that this is New Orleans and most places have bugs of some sort or another. But this was pretty unacceptable. The fact that there were multiple roaches in the front of the restaurant tells me that this place has a big problem. And they weren’t even remotely scared of humans, so I’m thinking this problem has been going on for a while.
You could say «oh whatever, the food is worth it,» but once I saw those roaches I couldn’t help but imagine how clean the food prep area is, or whether or not this place has undergone any sort of inspection any time lately.
So we left without ordering. I will say that the employees seemed super friendly, and I hate to give a negative review for a small business that is probably family-​owned. But seriously, roaches, and not just one, and not small ones. Sorry Casemento’s.

Unfortunately never got to try to the food but the experience left much to be desired.
Was in town from Chicago and was HIGHLY anticipating visiting this place due to the great reviews but mostly because it meant I could FINALLY eat gluten free fried seafood in NOLA!
We planned to have lunch here on the day we were leaving town since they are closed Sun-​Monday so planned our last day around showing up here on a Tuesday for lunch since they open at 11AM. We even went to get cash since it’s cash only from the ATM and walked around the area waiting for it to open.
At 11:05 we walked into the restaurant and we were told they were not open yet, that the door should have been locked — they were waiting for the waitress, but we could wait inside and check out the menu. They were really friendly and we had no problem waiting.
However as we waited in the front area of the restaurant, my husband spotted a 2-​inch cockroach on the wall behind me. We are in NOLA — yes there are huge bugs. I figured hey, it’s a roach — even though I would normally freak out but I really wanted to eat here. My mouth kept watering at the menu offerings and we were told it would only be a few more minutes. However, the roach eventually made its way onto the ceiling and only missed falling on someone’s head by a few inches.
BUT the worst part was as we waited for another 10 minutes or so, we spotted another 2 equally sized huge roaches joining the 3^rd one on the ground. They were not afraid of people and were just crawling around the floor — all the while fresh oysters were being delivered & shucked in that same room. Health code violation?
At this point, we decided to not continue waiting since we could no longer eat here with any peace of mind. I couldn’t even imagine what was going on behind the scenes where the food was prepared if 3 huge roaches were out in plain view in broad daylight in the front area of the restaurant.
We left — saying we would come back when they were ready to open (at this point it was around 11:30AM already). We were extremely disappointed to say the least — and quite disgusted. I guess if anything I’m glad they weren’t ready to serve us because I don’t know what I would have done had we ordered/​received our food then saw the roach madness. Again, the staff was really friendly but I don’t think I can ever give this place another try given what we saw/​experienced.

Dinner was $ 80 worth of disappointment. Why disappointed? Well, not much food for $ 80 not including tips. Glad we had cash otherwise we had to pay $ 4 ATM fee (on top of the pricey food) like other reviews indicated. Portion was small and food was nothing to WOW for. Can go to other small (hole in the wall) places to eat with the same amount of food that satisfies our taste bud for a cheaper price.
CASH ONLY…
Place consists of 5 tables that seat 3 in the front & approx. 9 tables that seat 4 in the back.
To make a long story short. 2 adults, 3 kids (15, 13, 11) sat at 2 different tables since they were packed. We ordered only food and had water all around:
— 2 cups gumbo ($ 10 total) [ 1 for ea table ]
— 2 dozen charbroil oysters (~$ 32 total, but overcooked & dry, no dipping
cheese butter left for bread) [ 1 for ea table ]
— hubby ordered 1 fish plate & 1 cheese fries
— I ordered soft shell crab dinner (market price ~$ 16)
[Was told plate consist of 1 big crab, fries, & toast but crab was not so big].
You can give it a try to experience the high priced seafood that doesn’t satisfies the taste bud.
3÷20÷2014

How many oysters does it take to make a cup of Oyster Stew?
Answer: At least six (6), I counted, with a generous portion of bits and pieces thrown into the molten lava burn the hell out of your mouth buttery tasty broth.
We ordered the perfect oyster trifecta… Fresh, Fried and Stewed!
This is the real deal folks. That’ll put some lead in your pencil!

Friday night, during Lent, this place was packed. But, apparently that is typical. Walk in and stand along side the bar and wait to be seated. The smell of salty briny (is that a word?) oysters hits you in the face when you walk in. That’s New Orleans baby!
We were seated in the back room closest to the kitchen. Started with the small plate of fried Calamari. They only serve it with lemon slices, would have liked some cocktail sauce or something with it, but was yummy nonetheless. Split the Large Seafood Platter. A heart attack on a plate, but I welcomed it. It was made up of fried oysters, shrimp, crabclaws, trout, and French fries. Do not order this alone, it’s huge, and we were unable to finish it. As far as fried seafood goes, it was average. Not great, but definitely not bad either. The atmosphere of this old New Orleans favorite is what really makes dining here appealing. I think we should have ordered Oysters… next time I will.

Great historic eatery famous for anything with oysters in it. CASH ONLY so be warned.
We came after a parade and caught their last hour of service. We ordered a little of everything and all the seafood was excellently fresh and cooked perfectly. I had the softshell crab and it came out lightly fried and excellent.
Service is very warm and you can tell they’ve been around for quite some time.
The bathroom is through the kitchen which is a great opportunity to see how things get down to your plate.
Looking for a good casual good bite of seafood near Napolean? This will get you there.

First things first, CASH ONLY.
Also there is a line, and it’s usually pretty long.
I didn’t feel like the food was seasoned that well, maybe we caught them on a bad day, but for the $ 100 we spent for 3 adults and one child for lunch, I felt like we could have just gone to Draggos and been much happier.

I was invited here to meet some friends while visiting New Orleans for the holidays. They said this place came highly recommended and they have been dying to get there, It was quite a distance from where I was staying, so they got in line to wait to be seated. Once I arrived at the location the first thing I noticed is it was going to be hard to find a place to park as they don’t have a private lot or any off street parking. I was «lucky» to find a spot around the corner less than a block away. It is in an area called uptown and parking is a premium. I am so spoiled here in Houston lol.
I arrived just in time as soon as I walked it was time to be seated. We were all hungry so we perused the menu and ordered a few items. They are know for their oysters so we had a dozen of raw oysters and a dozen of the char-​grilled ones also to start. I am not a big oyster eater but they both were good. Now my friends on the other hand said that the char-​grilled ones were over cooked as they stuck to the shell and should not have. That seemed plausible but I had nothing to compare it to?
We also had a couple of oyster and shrimp loaves, some gumbo and a seafood platter in addition to the several beers we used to chase down all of this food.
Although I wasn’t paying for the meal I did see the bill and we did reach 3 figures before the tip. One thing I can say for sure the service was excellent.

All i can say is WOW, the food here in this historic restaurant is 2^nd to none in the city of New Orleans. The Gumbo and Chargrilled Oysters are unbelievable!
I would HIGHLY recommend going here and also getting there early, they lock the door at 2:00!

*CASH ONLY*
This was my first stop when I got to New Orleans. It is like walking into someone’s kitchen! A very humble spot with amazing food. The line was to the door when my dad and I got there at 1:00 PM on a Saturday. You line up against the bar and wait to be seated. It can take a while but definitely worth it You can see all mementos from Casamento’s on the wall– which is a great reminder of its rich history. I loved being able to see the staff shuck oysters along the bar!
The menu is very simple: oyster stew, raw oysters on the half shell, chargrilled oysters (which they make on the grill outback), po’boys, etc.
My dad and I got a half dozen of the raw and half dozen of the chargrilled. Sometimes large raw oysters can be a little too overwhelming, but not at Casamento’s! Definitely recommend this place if you are looking for a homey place with that NOLA charm. Be prepared to wait though!

When I come to NOLA this is my go to low key high flavor place to be!
The oysters are shucked by THE Ouster man and taste like the sea.
The fried seafood is gluten free (cornmeal only) as advertised in the menu. Served simply and delicious!

Casamento’s is a hidden gem for seafood in New Orleans. The locals have known about it for years, decades.
But you have venture away from the tourist normal to find this place. It’s worth the effort to track away from the French Quarters to get some outstanding seafood. Casamento’s was established in 1919, so the restaurant is truly like stepping back in time and to some degree so is the food.
The seafood here is definitely not the highly seasoned fare you get in some places. It’s just the opposite; it’s lightly seasoned, which I really enjoy. You can taste and appreciate the delicate flavors of the seafood. Besides, there’s an ample of items on the table to help you self-​season, including my favorite, horseradish.
I order virtually the same every time… but it covers a lot of different items.
Oyster Stew
* If you don’t at least try this once, you’re missing a real pleasure. The oysters are tender and the stew is so rich and flavorful. Unbelievable.
Raw Oysters (on the half shell)
* You can never go wrong with fresh oysters. The oysters are somewhat large, but they have constantly been tender and sweet on my outings, it’s a requisite to order if you enjoy them.
Loafs (undressed)
* Usually I’ll order oysters, shrimps, or soft shell carb, this is a seafood lover treat. There’s more you can order on the loaf, but these are my favorites. Plenty of seafood between two thick slices of buttered toasted bread.
I usually wash it all down with a beer or two, Abita Amber.
This is my favorite order when I visit; I’ll change which type of loaf sandwich I get, but that’s my combination of delight.
Likewise you may want to try the Chargrilled Oysters.
I think between me and my friends/​family, we have covered most of the menu and I haven’t heard of a bad meal yet.
Enjoy!

Fresh Gulf oysters? Yes, please!
There are plenty of seafood restaurants in New Orleans specializing in oysters. Why choose Casamento’s? Because they’ve been around since 1919! When you walk in, it’s like taking a step back in time. If you look at the original photos, everything still looks exactly the same which I love. I walked in right before closing time and every table was taken. We were offered a plate of freshly shucked oysters and their famous cocktail sauce while we waited. Delicious!
When we were finally seated, we ordered a cup of oyster stew, crab claws, chargrilled oysters and garlic bread. I thought it was strange to see garlic bread on the menu but it was actually one of the highlights of the meal. Definitely order it as a side when dining here. The crab claws and chargrilled oysters were perfectly cooked and very tasty as well. The only part of the meal I didn’t enjoy as much was the oyster stew, which I found to be too watery.
Overall, the experience at Casamento’s was a great one. I will definitely return on my next trip to New Orleans.