Bud’s Po-Boys

Shrimp poboy is where it’s at! They make it fresh & they know what they are doing. Really though, everything I’ve tried there has been great. I wish they’d come back to Burnet Rd! I always forget they are closed on Tuesday.

Having just moved back to Austin from New Orleans, I find myself yearning for some good oysters and crawfish on a pretty regular basis. Thankfully I found this battered, breaded, dressed and delicious diamond in the rough.
The oysters are big and juicy and perfectly seasoned. Same for the shrimp and crawfish. The po-​boys are loaded up just right, so at the end you have a heap of toppings left in the paper wrap to dig into sans bread. They have a housemade tartar sauce that is slap ya mama good. I find myself licking the to go ramekin clean every time.
The prices are more than fair considering portion size and freshness of ingredients, from the seafood to the veggies.
They also offer Zapps potato chips which are hard to come by in these parts.
I highly recommend this place. The staff is super friendly and go out of their way to please. I’m so glad to have a little taste of home so close.

Waaay too slow of service. It is a food truck and it took over an hour today to get corn dog bites and macaroni and cheese. not crazy busy so not sure what the issue was because they were messing up other people’s orders also. Will not be returning to this food truck any time soon.

I want to give this place 5 stars, I really do, but I am so incredibly frustrated with them.
I got to eat here 1 time about 3 – 4 weeks ago and it was amazing! I had the crawfish po-​boy and everything about it was spot-​on, even the tartar sauce was incredible!
Since that day, I have visited their stand 3 times. All 3 times, they were locked up! I checked online each time for their hours and days of business, and there is nothing posted that they are away, just, nothing! What frustrated me the most was right on their truck it had the hours of operation posted and I was within those times! At least take a moment to put up a sign if your away or SOMETHING! I live in South Austin and it takes me way out of my way to eat at this location, the food was just that good, but what is with the lack of operation?
Please come back, until I can find something somewhere that says that you will truly be open, I won’t be making any more trips to your truck, sorry.

It can take a second, but the shrimp are just delicious! I like the baskets.

Bud’s Po-​Boys provides all the necessary components of an indigenous American classic, aptly rolled into a food truck – an iconic style of eating native to progressive food regions such as Austin. You have Louisianian sandwiches i.e. po-​boys; humble sides spanning red beans and rice and hushpuppies (also convenient for snacking); and for the messier eaters, gumbo and étouffée.
At first glance, the parchment wrapped sammiches appear large, but once you dig in, you will quickly find that the interior components lack… abundance, thus making the $ 6 price tag for a halfie a good – but not great – deal. Specifically, I had 6 fat, juicy oysters. Great grub, but just not enough meat to stand up to the enormous portion of bread.
In comparison to some of the other sandwich encasements (i.e. French-​esque bread) found in Cajun Country, the one that Bud’s utilizes falls in line closer to a hoagie or something of the sorts. Fortunately, as I have said, the $ 6 price tag is not bad at all. Plus, I don’t know if we have a New Orleans bakery in the ATX, so as to provide fresh and true Nawlins bread. I am comparing to Domilise’s, to boot.
For good trailer grubbing, Bud’s is hard to beat, but having made my way over to the Big Easy for 5 different po-​boys, my standards are also hard to beat. Thanks for bringing about a great, cheap nostalgia of my days in the deep land of gators, Bud.

Nothing wrong with Bud’s.
I had originally come to the trailer park at Mueller for a different trailer… but, po boys might just be a weakness for me. I’ve always found it odd that Austin doesn’t have more cajun food, considering it’s proximity to the good stuff. I had a hard time deciding between a crawfish & soft shell oyster po boy, and the woman nicely tells me they’ve been out of the oyster for a while. Ok, I’ll get crawfish. By the way, she was really nice.
I waited around, pet a very nice bulldog, and got my po boy. To be simple, it was great! Good quality fixins, and seriously A LOT OF CRAWFISH. I was so happy! It was falling out of the sandwich they had overstuffed it so much. That’s the correct amount of crawfish if you were unsure. Bread was great. This is a great sandwich, I would go back for it, and you should probably get one.
My only question is, where’s the mayo? I thought traditional po boys had mayo, but I did get a side of tartar & cocktail sauce that was quite good.

You don’t get to see into the kitchen of most restaurants. But looking into Bud’s after placing my order I saw fresh catfish being prepared to fry (not pre-​battered frozen pieces). What was delivered to me soon after were tasty perfect nuggets of catfish. There was shrimp in the basket too and hush puppies – again all perfect. I’ve been eating catfish my entire life. And I pride myself in knowing when it’s good. Bud’s was great. This is the best in Austin. Already planning on going back. Have to try all the other things on the menu. Can’t wait.

Here’s the dirt: You’re not going to find a better gumbo (Cajun, not creole style) as quickly as you can get it at Buds. Friendly as can be, he offers gumbo and made-​to-​order poboys fast. Highly recommend the perfectly battered gulf shrimp poboys. He should have trailers all over town.

I. Love it. I need to branch out and try something other than just the crawfish Po Boy, but I can’t seem to do it. The crawfish is excellent. Lightly coated/​seasoned, the spicy tarter on the side is yummy, and the Phoenician bread it is on pushes it to almost perfection. The large is huge too, and enough for two people to share. Not a big fan of the coleslaw though :-(, and thus the 4 stars.

I liked Bud’s. The lady who took our order was extremely kind and helpful. The menu is small but offers variety at the same time: poboys, fried seafood platters, rice and beans, etc. Contrary to the older reviews, they take credit card (swiped via iPhone). I came with a friend, and he ordered a catfish poboy while I got a fried seafood platter.
The small sandwich looked pretty hefty. The bread’s thick, and it comes with a nice variety of vegetables and tartar/​cocktail sauce as well. There was a pretty good amount of catfish from what I saw, and it looks like a pretty filling sandwich.
The small order of the platter gives you a fried seafood item, hushpuppies, and both tartar/​cocktail sauce. I also opted for catfish, but the portion was smaller than expected. All of the catfish together probably came out to one whole fillet, and there were four hushpuppies. Both were perfectly fried — seasoned breading and crisp. The hushpuppies were the real winner though, and I’m typically not a huge fan. The texture was perfect, they’re nicely sized, and they pair well with the cocktail sauce.
I believe both the small/​large portions for the sandwich and seafood are $ 6/​$ 10. Portion wise, I totally give it to the sandwich. The sucker looked filling. I’m envious.
All in all, the service is impeccable — friendly and quick. The food’s solid, and the prices are reasonable.

Fresh a$$ shrimp Po-​Boy was hecka-​tasty and ½ of it filled me up (couldn’t help but polish the other half off ~2 hrs later). Try one for yo’self!

Yum! I got the crawfish etouffe and the red beans and rice for lunch, and they were both seasoned perfectly — spicy, but not too spicy, and great flavors. One of them would have been plenty for lunch, but I was eager to try both, because I’ve always thought that the etouffe and red beans can tell you a lot about whether a cajun place knows its stuff. Obviously, Bud knows his stuff.
The thing that made it 5 stars for me was the lady that took my order. I didn’t have cash, (they don’t take credit cards), but she was really nice about it. Fortunately, I found a check and it was all good.
It can be hard to find, but just look for the Pour House and keep walking back to where you see the picnic tables and turn to the left.
Anyway, I will definitely be back, because next to Stuffed in Cedar Park/​Leander, I think Bud’s has some of the best cajun food in town.

I’m from New Orleans and considering yesterday was Mardi Gras day, I wanted some cajun goodness! Bud’s gave me the fix I was looking for, however, didn’t live up to my expectations. The place certainly has potential but just needs a few improvements.
First, be aware that it is CASH only. I came with my credit card and no cash. We had to drive down the street to pump some $$ which was annoying — it’s 2012, they should have a credit card machine.
We started out with the red beans and rice and the shrimp gumbo. The gumbo roux was very good and the shrimp and okra were delicious. It could have used a bit more variety because it was a lot of rice. Just wish I had more goodies in my cup than rice. I give it a 4 out of 5. The red beans were alright, the sausage was tasty, but the stew could have been more dense and thick — it was a bit watery. I give the red beans 3 out of 5 stars.
After waiting a while for our Po-​Boys, the fried crawfish Po-​Boy was much better than my Roast Beef. I’m a roast beef fanatic and if you’ve ever had a sloppy roast beef po-​boy in New Orleans, you know what I’m talkin about. It didn’t have much gravy and when I requested gravy on the side, it was very light and watery. I need my gravy rich and thick. The Po-​Boy bread was very good and the lettuce, big slices of tomato, pickle and onion were great quality and very good veggies. They offered us different flavors of mayo (horseradish and a spicy, I think?). The fried crawfish had some spicy flavor to it which was good — I give that one a 5 out of 5 and my roast beef a 2 out of 5.
Overall, it was good. I just think they need to work on a few things.

Went back when they were open and I’m giving a 2.5
Shrimp Po-​boy: 3 stars. It was tasty but didn’t knock my socks off. The shrimp were big and tasty. I’d go back for a fried shrimp basket.
Gumbo: 1 star. Not a lot of flavor or substance but plenty of rice.
Crawfish Étouffée: 3 stars. This was my favorite, but again, lots of rice.

Wife and I went for lunch today after hearing about this place. The shrimp po-​boy was tasty with lots of shrimp, not just breading. The cocktail sauce that went with it brings back fond memories of Acme Oyster Bar in New Orleans, yummy! The roast beef po-​boy, served warm, was moist, tender, and tasty. The muffelata was good, but not up to the standards of Central Grocery in New Orleans. Instead of lots of olive oil in the olive tamponade to moisten and add flavor/​smell, there were sliced olives that just missed the mark. Still a very good muffelata. Overall, they offer the best New Orleans style sandwiches in and around Austin. We’ll definitely go back!
Also, the young lady taking orders and the cook were very pleasant and helpful!

What was that in that little plastic cup? Tartar sauce you say?! I thought it was liquified crack rock, because I got instantly addicted!
I slathered my new drug of choice all over the shrimp po’ boy I ordered. It complimented the crispy and spicy shrimps perfectly. It also did not kill the flavors of the super fresh veggies. It just complemented everything so well. I was seriously impressed.
I had other food here too. I also have thoughts on their «weird» hours. But none of that really matters. All I care about is getting my next fix of shrimp and liquid crack rock sauce.

Best Po-​Boy I’ve had since arriving Austin. Dropped in on Friday and went back on Saturday with the wife. Everything is cooked to order. The shrimp they offer is tender and full or flavor. Love the fact that it’s not greasy, overcooked, or over-​flavored.
If their location was better — they’d have a line from opening to closing. I’m thinking of hooking up Bud’s trailer and towing it to the front of my house.
The staff came out both times to ask how the food was and to chat. TOP shelf service.

My husband and I split a whole shrimp po-​boy and, man, it was delicious. The lettuce, tomato, sliced red onions and pickle chips complimented the perfectly fried, sweet, juicy shrimp beautifully. The breading is light and not greasy at all. The sandwich comes with small containers of cocktail sauce and tartar sauce so you can dress it to your preference.
Even on a 90 plus degree afternoon the covered patio was quite comfortable. I only wish we’d thought to pack a cooler of beer. A couple cold ones would have made this delicious sandwich even better. Next time!

Bud’s Poboys are the best poboys in town. I do not say this lightly. I was a Gene’s devotee, but they have been closed for a long time now and Bud’s is the new king. The shrimp poboy ($ 5 for a big half, or $ 9 for a whole, which will fill up a big eater) was delicious and lightly fried. (My main complaint with the Nubian Queen poboy is the breading is much too thick and overpowering.) The shrimp are large, fresh, tasty and, of course, deveined. Note people: if you do not devein the shrimp, your poboy is crap. The tartar sauce was nicely balanced. Bud’s also has a wide variety of hot sauces including my personal favorite Crystal. The poboys are served on Phoenecia Bakery bread which is as good as it gets in Austin.
My wife had the muffuletta and it was properly huge. The quarter muff ($ 5) is big enough for most people and a half ($ 9.50) almost guarantees leftovers, just like it should. This muff was virtually indistinguishable from the one at Central Grocery and if you know New Orleans, you know that is extremely high praise. The bread is the hardest part to get right on a muffuletta and the server told me they tackle that problem by importing the bread from NO. Bud’s really seems to be trying to get the little things right and it pays off in taste.
I will be going back soon for the roast beef poboy that the person at the next table was eating. It looked nice and juicy and if I wasn’t stuffed I would have wanted that too.
As for the service, it was a trailer and they brought the food out pretty quickly and everyone was pleasant. That is pretty much all you can ask from a trailer. One nice touch was they brought out extra pickles for my daughter because they overheard her say she wanted some more.
The menu is pretty limited. They have roast beef, crawfish, shrimp and catfish poboys. They also have crawfish ettouffee, shrimp gumbo and red beans and rice w/​sausage. They serve shrimp amii which I have never had before. It is a cold shrimp salad and based on the shrimp in the poboy I will give that a shot in the future as well.
My main criticism of Bud’s is the hours. It is only open for lunch Wed through Sat from 11 – 2 and Thursday dinner from 4 to 8. I assume they will expand the hours in the future, but be warned for now. I have to think they will open more on Saturdays because they are next to the Burnet road farmer’s market and that place is packed on Saturdays. Speaking of which, Bud’s is completely invisible from Burnet Rd. It is back behind the parking lot for the farmer’s market and the Pourhouse Pub in a silver trailer.