Pete’s Bistro and Lounge

I love Pete’s. I go for lunch, dinner, happy hour. The bartenders are fabulous. There are only two beers on draft, though (NOLA Blonde and Abita Amber), but they do have plenty in bottles. The pub is spacious and swanky, not cramped like another restaurant within the Intercontinental Hotel.
The food is fabulous. I’ve not had a bad thing. My favorites are the gumbo, drunken shrimp and grits, the pizza, any salad. Their burgers are thick and juicy and the fries are crisp. $ 10 lunch special where you pick two items. Good sized portions.
You won’t be disappointed here.

I came to pete’s for lunch recently and was pleasantly surprised. I had the romaine salad and the club sandwich from the Pick 2 $ 10 lunch menu. The romaine salad was simple — romaine, shaved parmesan flakes, and dressing. And it was a good combination. The club sandwich had turkey, ham, bacon, and cheese, and was on ciabatta bread. Also simple. Also good. For $ 10, I was very happy with what I got.

Pete’s is my go-​to for drinks with co-​workers after a long day at the office. The bartenders are very attentive and personable, making you feel right at home whether you’re a regular or a tourist just passing through. They offer a great lunch special during the week: $ 10 for your choice of an entrée and either a starter or dessert from a preset menu as well as $ 2 Tito’s bloody mary’s. Sometimes the food can take a little while to come out, but don’t let that deter you. You can still get in and out in under an hour during the CBD lunch rush.

Restaurant hours are 6:30am — 11pm daily. Wanted to catch lunch at 12:00 pm noon before shuttle to airport. Front desk told me they were open for breakfast & lunch on Sundays. Today is Sunday & I found the doors closed at noon. So when is lunch here? The front desk told me they were open. Going to another restaurant for lunch.

I had breakfast here today and it was delicious. $ 25 for the buffet is a good price in NOLA. Cheese grits were outstanding as was the pepper crusted bacon.

This is place is great! I had a delicious mean of Shrimp and Grits with a Creole/​Cajun sauce with a delicious sparking cocktail The service was great –Ian as was the other lady who brought the food. These people have a great attitude as well !

Don’t know anything about Pete’s in the past, but currently it’s a great place to have a meal. We got in late to New Orleans and the other hotel restaurant was closed, so we really had no other option. Pete’s had a few other tables filled (it was Christmas night) and 3 or 4 people at the bar. Service was fast, and my gumbo was shockingly good. All in all Pete’s was a surprisingly good first meal in the Big Easy.

We watched the second half of the Super Bowl in the Pete’s Pub temporary location. (The overall hotel is undergoing major renovations.) It is a small room with many chairs and a bar set up. The crowd had thinned out by that point. There was one person at the bar and one server on the floor. I never received my water order, although my friends with alcoholic drinks seemed to have no problem getting refills.
My group of 8 started to wind down as people headed up to their rooms for the night. They left us to settle the bill when we were ready to go since the server hadn’t been around in awhile. For 10 minutes, we had to chase the server down twice (1 — to request the bill, 2 — to remind him that we requested the bill). The second time, the server needed us to re-​cap our entire group’s order. After another 10 minutes, the bartender came out to us to hand us our bill. After another 5 minutes, we got our card back.
The whole production to pay took us 25 minutes, which is ridiculously inconvenient. I wouldn’t have minded as much if the room was overly crowded. Also, the fact that we had to re-​cap our group’s entire order was annoying since it’s not like we were keeping tabs on the individual rounds of drinks everyone was getting.
I sincerely hope this service issue improves in general and not just when the new pub opens up.

Sadly, Pete’s is closed during the hotel reno. I’d say the patrons are more the people who work in the PanAm building more then the turons. They have a decent Happy Hour with free food from the hotel and a pool table. Word is Pete’s is on the list for reno as well. I sure hope they bring back Winston and keep the murals! *fingers crossed*

I gotta give this place a little love. They do happy hours with 2-​for-​1 bottled beer and $ 3 house wine. Free popcorn and bar snacks, including wasabi peas mmm. A little older crowd, if you can call it a crowd, there is a pool table no one ever uses and it smells like smoke even when no one is smoking. Bartenders have always been friendly and attentive.

I’m not really sure why the Hotel Intercontinental keeps this place open. Yes, it is still open despite the rumors. It used to be a decent (3-​star) lunch place that served above average bar food. After the Storm, they shut down and eventually opened it for evening drinks. I’ve walked by it after it re-opened…and just kept walking.
The wood-​themed décor makes it seem like a faux English pub, though they never really served English pub fare. I think the management has no idea what do with this place, so they do nothing.
CBD restaurants and bars don’t do so well. Why? You’re in the biggest culinary and drinking district on the planet – all within walking distance. Who would want to go to a mediocre hotel bar? Some hotels have gone with name chefs (Luke across the street) or make a swinging upscale bar with live music (Paramont at Ritz-​Carlton). But most just gave up. Like turning the bar into a coffee shop or making an upscale Asian-​Fusion place into a lunch burger joint for CBD workers.
The website says it is open «4pm til late». How late is «til late» anyway? It’s not til Karen arrives, that’s for sure.
Ugh. Either put some money into it or put a fork in it.