The names of each of the dining rooms at Antoine's Restaurant are steeped in history:  Mardi Gras has been the premier attraction in New Orleans since 1857, just a few years after the birth of Antoine's.  Four of our private rooms bear the names of 4 of our  Carnival krewes -- Rex, Proteus, Hermes, and 12th Night Revelers .

Roy Alciatore, Antoine's proprietor for nearly 40 years, created the Rex Room in recognition of "The Krewe Of Rex" -- its King reigns over our Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans.  To this day, the Rex Room serves and perpetuates one of America's great institutions - Mardi Gras.  Its walls are adorned with photos of royalty and memorabilia, including crowns and scepters of many years long past.

A photo of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor  is exhibited outside the Rex Room   The couple was in New Orleans 13 years after the Duke, as Edward VIII, abdicated as King of England "to marry the woman I love " -- American-born Wallis Warfield Simpson. The couple dined at Antoine's during Mardi Gras of 1949.

The vast, glistening main dining room is located just past the first dining room at the entrance, and is named the Large Annex .  It has been a local favorite for decades.  Many New Orleans families have had the same waiter for years. 

The Japanese Room was designed with Oriental motifs popular at the turn of the century.   All of the decorations, down to the hand-painted walls and ceilings, spoke of things Japanese.   Many large banquets were held there until December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor to usher the United States into World War II. Roy Alciatore then closed the room and it remained closed for 43 years.    It was reopened in 1984 and brought back to its original splendor with beautiful handpainted wallpaper in the design of a rose trellis.

The Roy Alciatore Room was formerly the Capitol Room ... so named because the wooden panels on the walls were taken from the old capitol building in Baton Rouge. This room has a twin next door, Maison Verte. Both rooms are almost identical in size and decor, with lush deep-pile green carpets and four black marble fireplaces, two in each room.

The Mystery Room acquired its name due to Prohibition, the  18th Amendment prohibiting the sale of alcoholic drinks (from 1919 until 1933). It covered the era of the bootlegger and the Al Capone reign of terror in Chicago.   During this time, some would go through a door in the ladies' restroom to a secret room and exit with a coffee cup full of booze (in spite of the Blue Laws).

The protocol phrase at table when asked from whence it came was: "It's a mystery to me." The name stuck and to this day, it's still the Mystery Room, nestled charmingly at the end of an interesting corridor. The room is dotted with souvenirs of famous restaurants around the world, including Groucho Marx's beret.  

 The 1840 Room, fashioned in the style of the period, is a charming salon for dining. Photographs of successive generations of the Alciatore family also dot the room and add to the richness of the warm, red interior.  It replicates a fashionable dining room from that time and is also a museum of sorts, housing a Parisian cookbook circa 1659, and the restaurant's silver duck press among other treasures.

The Proteus Room is named for the old-line Carnival krewe, and the Hermes room is where five American presidents have dined.   The Veranda Room is painted flat red .... and the Art Gallery Room is decorated with many fine paintings.

The long and narrow Wine Cellar, which measures 165-feet long and 7-feet wide, holds approximately 25,000 bottles when fully stocked.  It is legendary, with marvelous vintages from the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions.   One can feel the history when observing the vast selection.  Wines are dispensed by knowledgeable waiters who are quite adept at making recommendations.

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