8 New Orleans, Louisiana’s Best Soul Food Spots That Keep Sunday Dinner Traditions Alive
Sunday dinner in New Orleans isn’t just a meal—it’s a sacred ritual, a weekly reunion where love is ladled out alongside gravy and greens.
Families gather around tables piled high with crispy fried chicken, golden cornbread that melts in your mouth, and pots of slow-simmered beans filling the air with the scent of home.
I grew up knowing that no matter how hectic life became, Sunday meant slowing down, saying grace, and sharing laughter between bites. These eight soul food spots keep that spirit alive, serving comfort, community, and a taste of tradition one generous, heartwarming plate at a time.
1. Willie Mae’s NOLA
Walking into Willie Mae’s feels like stepping into your grandmother’s kitchen if your grandmother happened to be a fried chicken legend. The CBD location serves up the crispiest, most perfectly seasoned chicken you’ll ever wrap your lips around, and trust me, I’ve tried my fair share across three states.
Their butter beans are cooked low and slow until they’re creamy enough to make you weep happy tears. The cornbread comes out warm and crumbly, sweet enough to balance the savory magic happening on your plate. Every Sunday from 10:00 to 21:00, they’re slinging plates that taste like tradition wrapped in golden, crunchy perfection.
Honestly, if heaven has a cafeteria, I’m betting it’s modeled after this place.
2. Heard Dat Kitchen
Central City’s crown jewel doesn’t mess around when it comes to flavor bombs. Heard Dat Kitchen specializes in smothered turkey wings so tender they practically fall off the bone before your fork even touches them, swimming in a gravy rich enough to fund a small country.
Their fried catfish comes out with a cornmeal crust that crackles like fireworks, and their signature “Dat Plate” is basically a love letter written in calories. Open daily from 11:00 to 20:00 or 21:00, including Sundays, this spot has become my go-to when I need food that hugs me from the inside out.
Fair warning: you’ll want to wear stretchy pants and bring your appetite’s bigger, hungrier cousin.
3. Neyow’s Creole Café
Mid-City’s hidden treasure proves that soul food and Creole cooking are kissing cousins who share the same delicious DNA. Neyow’s char-grilled oysters arrive at your table bubbling with butter, garlic, and enough herbs to make your taste buds do a happy dance they didn’t know they had choreographed.
Their red beans are the real deal—creamy, smoky, and seasoned with the kind of wisdom that only comes from generations of Sunday cooks. Every Creole staple on the menu tastes like it was made by someone who actually cares whether you leave satisfied or just full.
Open Sundays from 11:00 to 19:00, it’s worth every minute of the inevitable wait.
4. Morrow’s
Marigny’s coolest fusion spot takes Sunday brunch and gives it a passport. Morrow’s blends modern Creole comfort with Korean flavors in ways that shouldn’t work but absolutely do, like a culinary blind date that turns into a love story.
Their Sunday brunch from around 10:30 to 16:00 has become the stuff of local legend, with crowd favorites that change your whole perspective on what soul food can be. I once watched someone cry actual tears of joy over a dish here, and honestly, I understood completely because my own eyes got suspiciously misty.
Creative, bold, and totally unapologetic about breaking tradition while somehow honoring it—that’s Morrow’s in a nutshell dipped in something unexpectedly delicious.
5. Ray’s On The Ave
Tremé’s neighborhood gem serves up soul plates with a side of rhythm that makes your meal feel like a celebration. Ray’s On The Ave combines down-home Creole cooking with a live music vibe that turns Sunday dinner into Sunday funday without even trying.
Listed open Sundays from 11:00 to 19:00, this spot feels like eating at a family reunion where everyone actually likes each other. The food is honest, hearty, and cooked with the kind of care that makes you want to call your mama and tell her you finally found a place that reminds you of her kitchen.
Plus, good food tastes even better when there’s a soundtrack you can tap your feet to between bites.
6. Mother’s Restaurant
CBD’s most famous comfort food factory has been feeding hungry souls since way before I was born, and they show no signs of slowing down. Mother’s Restaurant specializes in roast beef debris po’boys that are messy, magnificent, and require at least seventeen napkins if you have any dignity left to preserve.
Their jambalaya is packed with enough flavor to wake up taste buds you forgot you had, and the comfort sides are exactly what Sunday afternoons were invented for. Open daily from 07:00 to 22:00, including Sundays, they’re serving up tradition by the plateful to tourists and locals who all leave equally stuffed and satisfied.
Some restaurants are institutions; Mother’s is practically a religion.
7. Coop’s Place
French Quarter’s dive bar darling proves that the best soul food often comes from the most unexpected places. Coop’s Place serves rabbit and sausage jambalaya that’ll make you question why more restaurants don’t get adventurous with their proteins, because this stuff is absolutely ridiculous in the best possible way.
Their fried chicken rivals the city’s best, and the red beans are cooked with enough love and seasoning to convert vegetarians back to the dark side. Open Sundays from 11:00 to 23:00, it’s the kind of spot where locals bring their out-of-town friends to show them what real New Orleans tastes like.
Casual, unpretentious, and seriously delicious—that’s the Coop’s way.
8. Mandina’s Restaurant
Mid-City’s beloved Italian-Creole standby has been feeding generations of New Orleanians since 1932, and they’ve perfected the art of making everyone feel like family.
Mandina’s trout meunière is buttery perfection that practically melts on your tongue, while their veal parmesan brings Italian comfort to the Creole table in the most beautiful culinary marriage you’ve ever witnessed.
Their red beans are Monday-famous but Sunday-available, cooked with the kind of patience that modern life forgot about. Open Sundays from 11:00 to 21:00, this neighborhood treasure proves that soul food comes in many delicious flavors, and tradition tastes even better when it’s been perfected over decades.