Neutral Ground Coffee House

Laid back atmosphere, comfy chairs and sofas. Pretty good lattes. no alcohol and no decaf beverages. There’s a small, groovy room with pillows on the floor and hanging beads at the entrance. It was raining the night I was there and the ceiling was leaking but I didn’t get wet.

I’m giving this odd little coffee house 4 stars because I love odd little coffee houses. I wish I had on in my neighborhood.
The latte was done old school, handmade it was potent and grand.
The atmosphere is what you would expect from a place tucked away far from any other commercial establishment. The décor being early flea market hand-​me-​downs. But very comfy cozy.
Now for the bad news… the night we happened by there was live music Yay! Not so much :-(! A young man and his band, who sang about his very sad love life… badly. It’s okay as long as you are easy going and don’t let this ruin a cute place. It was free so…

Well I walked in the door and immediately felt at home! I love the atmosphere! Perfect place for hipsters or anyone who just wants to chill! Love this place might make it my regular hang out! I only gave it 4 stars because the coffee isn’t top of the line but decent!

Chill place. I wouldn’t call it a coffee house, as their coffee isn’t really good. However, I love open mics regardless the talent level and they have games. They didn’t have the tiles for scrabble, so they really screwed up there.

This is NOT a great coffee house.
Nope, I didn’t even try the coffee. I didn’t have to. This places opens at 7pm and they don’t serve decaf.
Look, the people here are really sweet. This was a bar, basically, that doesn’t serve beer. They have wi-​fi and they’re «open» until midnight. It’s really just a chill hang out spot. And hang out the folks do. This isn’t like a Starbucks where you mind yours and pretend to work on your novel while reading Reddit.
And it’s a music venue so you’ll encounter some music. But that’s not really all that special for New Orleans I’m guessing? I don’t know, I don’t live here.
All I’m saying is, the place is a dingy speak easy with amazing people. I would want to hang there but not buy anything from them. So what did I actually buy if not the coffee? The barista made me a cranberry spritzer or some thing. It was delicious. But still.
It sounds like I’m hating. I was stranded in the Big Easy with no where to go. I wanted to stay. The folks here were sooooo nice. I like them. I liked meeting them. But do not go here expecting to sample coffee and listen to live music. Okay, go here expecting to do both those things, because that’s what it’s about but realize you will be walking into one very raggedy, dingy, sketchy (in terms of cleanliness) establishment.
Alright, it didn’t sit well with me that the space was so dark and filthy for a coffee house. I wasn’t expecting a bar. It’s a dive. It’s a dive bar without beer. And with coffee. And really nice people.

A quaint little coffeehouse on a quiet street. A place for hipsters, bohemians, basically anyone really. Cozy atmosphere and the drinks were ok. There was a lady playing some original songs on the guitar.
Overall I felt pretty comfortable there. No complaints.

This is a really awesome café/​music venue! My band stopped and played here on tour and it was wonderful. Great vibes, awesome coffee, great performers! I also clumsily left a bag of equipment at the shop and didn’t realize until I was in Texas! They shipped it back to me! Such sweet people! It’s also great if you want to get out of the touristy areas of New Orleans.

Very comfortable place. Really more like a club house or someone’s well-​worn living room than a traditional coffee house. No booze but lots of coffee and sodas. Free freshly popped pop corn the night I was there. (I don’t think they actually have the food items that they mention on their website.)
Live music pretty much all the time. We went for the Open Mic on Sunday and had a great time.
Funky unisex bathroom and cool décor throughout the place. Free wifi. The staff were very welcoming and made us all feel super comfortable.
Definitely worth checking out if you are in the area and looking for a cool place to hang.

This is a quaint little coffee shop located in the middle of a quiet neighborhood. This is more of a review of the atmosphere than the coffee, since I didn’t try any of the coffee.
I stopped in here to check out a friend’s band on a Tuesday night. Neutral Ground hosts small music shows in a nice corner of their shop. I like this idea, because the shows are early and fairly short and the perfect thing for «night out» during the week. The coffee shop itself has a living room type of feel with assorted tables and sofas. They seem to offer all of the basics: coffee, tea and milk and a small assortment of snacks, especially pastries.
Cash only.

This is an amazing venue. If you just want to chill and meet people in the city Neutral Ground is where to do it at. Now don’t come expecting a whole lot. Just come and chill. If you’re uptown New Orleans this is your spot. Music varies regularly and coffee is so so.

The most interesting coffee shop you will ever see. This place is a must see and you might be lucky to catch some great music while you are there.

Delightful, quirky place. Outside looks sketchy, inside looks like a bohemian hunting lodge. I revel in places that are open past 9pm and Neutral Ground is open until at least midnight. I’m very content that the drink menu is limited, because really I come here to just get out of my house and hang out. They have enough loose-​leaf and bagged tea to satisfy my decaffeinated desires at the hours that I do come here and it’s super cheap. They have goldfish to nom on and yummy brownie sundaes.
This place features local musicians and in the last 90 minutes I’ve heard a husband-​wife guitar duo cover the Beatles and Adele and a folksy harmonica/​guitar and bass duo play songs I’m mostly familiar with from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. My lady friend has come to see Kyndra Joi here, so it’s not all folk music.
Additional tidbits:
–They have a pillow room. Yes, your childhood dream of a room full of pillows exists. It’s small and cozy with a table in the middle for your board game playing needs. When I don’t think about how often the pillows get washed, I am very comfortable.
–People have really interesting conversations here. That’s all I’ve got for that.

There’s really no place in New Orleans quite like The Neutral Ground. You walk in and the wood paneling and funky décor makes it look like it was transplanted from Seattle — in the 1960s. Or the set of Twin Peaks. Ditto for the clientele who range from stoned out hipsters to stoned out fogeys. It’s all part of the charm, though.
The coffee and espresso here are just ok (though the brownies are pretty good). You don’t come here for food or drink, though. Every night from 7pm to 11 the Neutral Ground features an array of local musicians. From Tulane students jamming on their guitars to old-​timers playing Dylan songs, the acts span a pretty wide gamut. Regardless of how good the talent is on any particular night, it’s always fun to sink into a well worn coffee and enjoy this colorful joint.

Talk about eclectic and unusual! Mostly high schoolers and neighborhood locals. I come here because it’s innocent (no alcohol), but it has a bar feel. I also love the snacks — my favorite is the bowl of goldfish. There are board games and live music (hit or miss on whether or not I like it)… I love this place!

Cool little venue for coffee/​tea and music. It’s something you have to see though — it’s more of an experience. I was told this place opened in the 70’s, and from the looks of it, hasn’t been vacuumed since then either. No, it’s not clean — but they don’t serve food, only drinks — of the non-​alcoholic variety.
It IS a great place to sit and listen to come music in, say, comfortable furniture (but please don’t eat off of it, lest you pick up something undesirable).
I had a FABULOUS iced tea, with great flavor — very happy with it. I like that they have all kinds of instruments strewn about, I hear the owner likes to sit and jam with bands.

Let me start talking a little about myself. I am a Puerto Rican (one of the real ones not the ones that come from the NYC or the MIA) and for the last 3 years I have become accustomed to feeling a little out of place in most of the places I go (even in the Latin places). I am too white to be deemed a latino and my accent gives me away every time (to what people call a «European kind of sounding accent). This is why I was extremely weirded out when I came in to the «Neutral Ground Coffee House» and felt more out of place than I have ever felt in the city.
This place has a weird crowd –to say the least– and a weirder atmosphere. It’s like the 60’s stood still in this place and while doing so, they took a couple of hippies that swore to keep this place fighting the power all the way to the 21^th century. As a result, the place and the people are warm, welcoming and a little high (and this is all good with me), the have poetry readings, open mics, and a little seating room for reflection.
Don’t come for the coffee, its not their strong point. Come for a good time and get out and fight the man, cause the man is keeping us all down.

Dear Unilocal,
I want you to know something. The compulsive checking in thing I do? It’s not to earn your badges. I don’t need no stinking badges. It’s just how I remind myself where I’ve been so that later, when I’m looking for ways to distract myself from working, I know what reviews to write. I’m 41 now. No spring chicken, as it were. The memory, she fades…
But back to the badges. You know, don’t you, that by awarding me a «regular» badge simply for wandering into the same coffee house twice in a four-​week span, you cheapen us both. I’m not a regular at Neutral Ground!
Now, as a regular, you can trust my vast experience:
–People smoke outside. But not inside. So that’s OK.
–Open mic night is Sunday night.
The first time I checked it out, we went around 7:30pm and it was adorable, but bad. Angsty Tulane students with one or two songs they memorized from some «Hits of the 90’s» songbook and the like. Like I said, adorable. I sat at the bar, had a hot chocolate (because I don’t drink coffee, regular of the coffee house that I am), listened to three different «acts,» got to witness an interaction whereby some chickie ordered «fish and chips» off the menu and was annoyed to discover when her order was up that it was a bowl of goldfish and a bag of Zapp’s (take it from a regular: they don’t serve hot food here), and then left.
The second time I checked it out was last night (the night I became a regular). We wandered in with our out-​of-​town visitor in tow around 9:30, got a picnic table in the back, and opened up one of the board games. Board games are funner, it turns out, when you don’t worry about the rules. The music was much better last night but I’m thinking it’s the time of night and not the week that changed that up. There was this one older lady who sang old timey songs acapella and she had such a great voice — a little bit Billie Holiday and yet somehow also a little bit Shirley Temple. And then you know, the standard array of adequate (for no cover charge) performers — nice voices, pleasant songs, decent guitar skills. And a sweet couple of older hippies with a good schtick.
But I do have some bones to pick with the audience. Generally, not very respectful. And the musicians that come in to play — that’s all most of them do. They wait for their turn, either smoking outside or hanging in the wings inside, talking through the other sets until it’s their turn to go up. Then they do their thing and leave. Come on, guys. Show some support for local music. Especially if you are local musicians, too.
And to the boys who sat in the back corner «working» on their laptops — I appreciate that not everyone is there to listen to the music, but so should you appreciate that no one (with the possible exception of you and even that I’m not so sure about) is there to listen to the story of your quest to buy a blow up Tupac doll on Bourbon Street. At least have the common sense to not want the rest of the room to know your business, if not the decency to use your library voice while musicians are playing quietly at the other end of the room.

I really want to give this place more than 3 stars, but I just can’t.
It’s an awesome venue for fun jams, watching poetry slams etc… but why call a place a coffee house if their specialty isn’t coffee???
I found this place early on after moving here (excited at the prospect of a really cool coffee and music shop) and I can’t say that I haven’t been here more than once, I have.
There are couches and tables to chill at and it would be fun to just come here and meet people, but café it is not. Now if you just want a cup of coffee they can handle that and it won’t be bad either.
I’m sure I’ll be back and I will probably be back more than once, I just won’t be there because I plan to order some elaborate drink, I”ll be there to check out whatever is going on that night on stage.
Oh, and I need to start making a point to note this on all of my reviews.
This is a cash only venue, so make sure your wallets aren’t empty!

Do you like late night coffee, local indie musicians, eclectic local art, dimly lit rooms with random couches? If so, then you’ll probably love this cozy little coffee house. I don’t know what took me so long to find my way to this place.
I can’t say that the coffee was anything special. However, it is clear to me that people are here for the music events rather than the coffee. That said, even without the music, I would still come here for the atmosphere. This coffee shop would be great for sitting around with friends and playing games or working on some school work.
The open mic night is a lot of fun. I could tell that the people participating seemed to be really comfortable with each other, and it created a very relaxed atmosphere. At some point a bunch of the musicians just started jamming with each other and that was a lot of fun to watch.
To me, this place just feels like an extension of my living room. I’m sure I will be back to visit on a regular basis..

This is a pretty cute little coffee joint. No alcohol here, sorry folks, but that enables musicians of all ages to take the stage and their adorable underage friends and family usually come to observe.
I’ve only been here for a show, ages ago! But I remember thinking that Neutral Ground was definitely an adorably quaint type of café. It has an old-​time feeling and just really homey and kind of eclectic.
The latte I had was reasonably good and at that time, I wasn’t really into coffees, so that says a lot!
I imagine that when there’s not music going on, this place can be a suitably nice place to settle down and get some studying done.
I would have no problem coming here again if the chance ever arose!