Drago's Downtown: The Charbroiled Oyster Standard
Drago's Seafood Restaurant built its reputation in Metairie, and the downtown location inside the Hilton on Poydras carries that same standard into the CBD. The charbroiled oysters are the reason to sit down here. Butter, garlic, and cheese go over the shell and onto the fire, and the result is the dish that put char-grilled oysters on the New Orleans map. Drago's holds the origin claim on the preparation, and this location does not let that legacy slip.
Order them first, order more, and consider the rest of the menu secondary. The grilled fish and shrimp platter round out a seafood program that keeps the menu focused and does not wander far from what the kitchen executes well. This is not a gumbo-and-po-boy room. The Creole-inflected seafood traditions here run through the fire and the butter, not through the roux pot.
That distinction matters in a city where people confuse the two registers constantly. The room operates at volume. There is often a line on weekend evenings, but the pace keeps moving and a small party on a weeknight at opening can generally be seated without a long wait. The setting inside a major downtown hotel means the crowd skews toward visitors staying in the area, but the kitchen is not playing to tourists.
The charbroiled oyster is a real New Orleans dish with a real provenance, and Drago's is the house that established it. At upscale pricing, the tab climbs, especially if oysters are ordered in rounds as they should be. For a seafood dinner in the CBD without driving to Metairie, this location delivers the signature item with the same authority as the original.
