Review

This being the "Cat's Meow", as featured on New Orleans Public Access TV (available on all good hotel cable TV systems), the place is regularly packed to the rafters. According to Pioneer (makers of Karaoke equipment), Cat's is the best Karaoke bar in the world. It is probably the busiest Karaoke Bar in New Orleans, though it's easy enough to manouvre your way through the friendly crowds to the raised bar at the rear of the pub from where you can also get a good view of the shenanigans at the front of the pub.

That side of the pub is taken up by the stage and sound system area, and a bubbly compere entices people up to sing (or should that be meow, or even caterwaul?) to an assortment of tasteless classics like "All My Ex's Live In Texas" and "Summer Nights".

According to the owners, the bar has been visited by stars including Seal, Weird Al Yankovic, Smashing Pumpkins, Depeche Mode, N*Sync, Tori Spelling and even Bill Gates. Surely it is worth popping in just in case you get to hear Depeche Mode singing "Happy Talk", or Bill Gates singing "Money, Money, Money",

There is a Mardi Gras atmosphere all year round outside Cat's Meow and its neighbours, as people throw beads from the balconies of the buildings around.

There is the usual NOLA beer selection of Bud, Bud Light and Heineken for those missing their European alcoholic beers, and like many other bars, the meow does a 3 for 1 happy hour until 8pm.

The toilets are in a courtyard at the back of the pub, past what looks like an ice cream stand although there was nobody serving. The gents, as well as featuring the usual urinals, also had a strange cracked tiled trough, which you're not quite sure you're meant to use.