Crazy Cajun

Went here on a Sunday night when I had a hankerin’ for a shrimp poboy or some crawfish or something in that vein. Saw on Unilocal that they are open until 9pm on Sunday night. It was 8:15pm so I drove over there and showed up about 8:30pm. This is just inside my «window» of safety where I don’t imagine you irritate the staff too much by showing up too close to closing time.
Anyway, ner ner. The door was open but the guy inside says they’re closed. Confused. Look at the times on the door. Yep, 9pm closing. They just decided to close early.
That was mighty irritating. I know I’m a brat but since this place isn’t close to me I’m not likely to try again now that they’ve irritated me.

This place is ok. I went here because I had a coupon for $ 12 from the lunch deal. We went in and were the only other table there. granted it was about 3:30 in the afternoon.
The service was a little lacking. The waitress came to get our order and I asked about the special blue crab they had posted on the wall. They were out I was told. Moving on, I ordered the Shrimp Po Boy and partner ordered the crawfish Po Boy. We started out with a crawfish pie.
The Shrimp was just your average. No real seasoning to it. I added hot sauce to mine to help. The pie was bland and overcooked. It is in no way like Kates on Barton Springs. The fries were cisco crinkles. I have become a snob for home made fries.
We asked for our check and our waitress come back with the bill with $ 10 taken off. No big deal. I don’t really look at those things I am told. I just hand over my credit card. Thank god people read for me. At this time two whopping tables of two came in and seemed to totally overwhelm her. We didn’t see her for another 10 minutes. When it finally came we decided to split the check. She came back and said that both cards were denied. I looked at my partner and said maybe his but not mine. I guess we are going to have dishes because I only have $ 2 cash money.
Another card was given and it went through.
We ran to target to make sure we didn’t get scammed on our cards. Luckily it was ok.
Short story ~ go here if your hungry (large portions) not for quality or service.
One side note. We noticed that the bar was huge and there were all kinds of laser and disco lights on the ceiling. It left me wondering what happens her at night. Do they have curtains come over the windows and a stripper pole come up from the floor?

I normally get pretty stuffed for cheap at Cajun/​Southern joints because of the affordable portion sizes, but here, the food was a bit steep. More food=more stars. They would have gotten 4 from me had they stretched my meal with maybe another scoop of 2 or rice per dish.
I had the étouffée and gumbo. Each came with a small scoop of rice. The liquid to-​go containers were extremely nice. They were large, tightly sealed plastic boxes that did not leak any of that Louisianian goodness. That is probably the last time I will ever write a review about to-​go packaging… but I was very impressed.
The crawfish étouffée was a little lighter than most. It was a more tomato-​y type sauce. It was red, slightly tangy, and there was plenty of tender crawfish swimming around. It was not as flavorful as some of the others I have had before, but it would have been a great pasta sauce or something.
The gumbo was a little runnier than I prefer. It was plenty dark, but it lacked that rich flavor. I classify it as a soup in my book, but it is definitely a flavorful soup. There was a little too much sausage, as I prefer my gumbo ratio to lean heavier on the seafood side. The chicken meat was extremely tender and tasty, though. There was some tender shrimp mixed in also.
Crazy Cajun offers solid Cajun food, but I would like a little bit more food and some zippier flavor. Do check it out if you are in the Asian part of town and are hankerin’ for some non-​Asian food… although the guy that runs CC is Asian! Who would have thought?

Not the greatest cajun place, but not bad either. It’s always empty when we go there, but maybe they do a big lunch business. I don’t know. The food is pretty good and the service is usually quick.
The TVs are always on the food network, which is perplexing (why would you show gourmet cooks at a place that doesn’t have them?) or news programs. Sports, people, that’s what you watch when you eat!
Haven’t tried a po-​boy yet, but the beans & rice are good with wings or catfish. The food isn’t the greatest, but it’s cheap, so that’s OK.

I’d actually give it 3 ½ stars.
Affordable and very good. I had the red beans and rice for $ 7.99. They had an excellent smokey flavor and that perfect thick gravy that I love in my red beans and rice. Plus a decent amount of sausage. They were also served with 2 small fried catfish so fresh from the oil I almost burnt my mouth. Loved being able to try something ricey and something fried with one plate!
My sister had the gumbo which was bursting with seafood including an entire crab, which made her extremely happy. I tried a bite and a bit of my brother’s ettoufee and the one thing in common was that they all tasted good, didn’t skimp on the meat, and were pretty mild in heat. Nothing that I’d rave over for weeks, but we really enjoyed it. The waitress was very attentive and didn’t rush us. Came in with a large group and she split all of our checks.
Nice casual sports bar type environment with the games on.

The crawfish poboy was good but nothing overly exceptional. The snow crabs on the other hand were EXCELLENT. Spicy and perfectly cooked. I am from the SETX/​SWLA border and I like my seafood boils to be very spicy. They cooked the crabs to perfection for me. The waiter was great and very nice.

I have mixed feelings about this place. It was suggested by a friend
who found it on Unilocal.I knew the previous business had closed but
didn’t pay attention to this opening. Apparently, it has been open a few
months. We went in at 7:00 on a Tue night, if it weren’t for the guy
working there who had friends at the bar we would have been
the only people. Did notice they have a full bar. Food was okay…
nothing to rave about. The gumbo was decent. We split a shrimp
po-​boy and a cajun sausage po-​boy. Kinda disappointed in the
shrimp po-​boy as the shrimp were small and bland. The cajun
sausage po-​boy was a odd thin meat patty which actually tasted
okay just not much meat. The po-​boys come with fries which
my friend liked but she doesn’t cook and didn’t identify them
as crinkle cut frozen fries with cajun spices sprinkled on — at least
they were crisp. He was very good about keeping the tea glasses
filled. A couple of people came in to pick up orders to go but that was pretty much it. If business doesn’t pick up they won’t be there long.

Some friends and I were craving crawfish and we had heard about this place’s recent opening in old Chinatown. The venue is a smaller restaurant with a full bar and seats about 30 people.
I’ve had the po boys and crawfish here twice now and would definitely recommend both. The crawfish in particular have been big and well seasoned. They are made fresh to order and come in two flavors, cajun and garlic. If you like it a bit spicier then try the garlic flavor it’s pretty good. Currently, prices are around $ 6 per pound of crawfish which isn’t too bad for Austin… if you’re craving it, it’s definitely worth it.
Cheers

went back today and had a crawfish po boy. the bread is perfect, a good crunch on the outside and soft on the inside. the breading on the crawfish was perfection, light and fluffy without feeling greasy. there was a bit too much mayo on the sandwich, so next time i’ll know to tell them to go easy.
the staff is super friendly and it makes me happy. i didn’t realize until after i ordered, but soft shell crab is now on the menu! sigh now i need to go again next week :)

Since approximately 1997, I have been on an on-​again, off-​again search for the bestest shrimp po’ boy outside of New Orleans where I went to college. My search began in Dallas, because that’s where I lived at the time, and then my search migrated with me here in 2001. Gene’s once had my Bestest Shrimp Po’ Boy award, but they’re now closed. And even though I’ve been to Nubian Queen Lola’s twice, I have not yet been able to partake of a shrimp po’ boy.
I finally got my scrawny ass over to Crazy Cajun to eat today, but I was a bit alarmed when I entered and sat down. Why was I alarmed? Because the entire place smelled of vinegar, or perhaps some sort of weird cleaner. ‘Twas really off-​putting.
But I stayed and ordered an iced tea and a shrimp po’ boy. The iced tea almost tasted like cigarettes, which I never imagined was possible. I looked in my glass for ashes, but I didn’t find any. Whatever tea they use, I sure hope I never accidentally buy it at the grocery store. It sure ain’t Lipton!
The shrimp po’ boy was okay, but I’ve had better. The shrimp should have been much fresher, and the breading could have been better, but I wasn’t completely disappointed with it. The fries it came with were actually quite good, and this is coming from an almost completely non-​french fry fan.
Service was excellent, which is, I’m sorry to say, the best thing Crazy Cajun has going for it.
While I was eating my grub and staring out the window, I saw a pick-​up truck driving by with a tank in its bed that said «LIVE FISH». I desperately tried to wave the guy over, but he didn’t see me. Not that he would have had any shrimp in his tank, but I assume the other seafood at Crazy Cajun is equally as unfresh as the shrimp, so I figured they could use the help.
Oh well, no shrimp po’ boy is perfect. Not outside of N’awlins, anyway.

Saw their grand opening sign so the hubby and I decided to check it out. We came in a Wednesday night and it was empty! We were the only table for about the first 30 minutes. When we left, there was only one other table. Hmmm, perhaps the lack of customers is due to the fact that they have only been open about 1 month and people are not aware of it yet or could it be that the food was not stellar?
Let me explain my rating:
4 stars for service (our waiter who also happens to be a member of the family who owns this joint– was very attentive and checked on our table regularly… would we get the same quality of service if they were busy? I wonder!)
2 stars for the food: we ordered 1 pound of shrimp and 3 pounds of crawfish. The shrimp was ok. The crawfish wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t the best I’ve had in Austin. I wouldn’t say it was Cajun style either. It had a very «Asian» flavor to it… somewhat sweet. The crawfish were also TINY compared to ines we had at Pappadeaux and Shoal Creek Saloon. Prices were fair since they were running a special $ 5.99/lb for crawfish (minimum 3 lb). The food was lacking that Cajun flavor :-(
I wish them the best of luck and hope they do well. For me, I’m sticking with Shoal Creek Saloon, Pappadeaux, and Boiling Crab… I’m just picky about my crawfish!

I could go on and on here with my wit and humor, but I won’t because it seems that is the way to write Unilocal reviews these days. And, from the reading of them, people think they are much funnier than they are. So, I will keep it what it is since I am probably a lot funnier to myself than to others.
The fellow and I went yesterday to one Crazy Cajun. The fellow is a born and raised Cajun from Lafayette, LA (and please don’t say New Orleans is Cajun in front of him unless you want a scolding history lesson). He makes groceries, calls me some form of French little cabbage, and gets down off his car instead of getting out of it. If you know what this means, you are Cajun or love someone who is.
I thought this crawfish was damn good! But, I come from Houston (home of different Gulf Coast food). He said they were good. He said they were way better than okay. He liked them. And he is picky, especially about his Cajun food. Sure, it wasn’t death fire blazing. But, it was still good. And if you got him saying «mais…something something something that sounds like that chef who guarantees things sha,» you have done a good job.
It’s good, it’s cheap ($ 30 for 4lbs, an order of corn, an order of potatoes, and 2 cokes), it’s fun, and the service is pretty attentive! And as he says, it’s Cajun crawfish in Austin, Texas. Cut ‘em some slack. I approve, the Cajun approves, and the fountain drinks are perfectly balanced. What’s not too love?

Huh. Not totally sure how to rate this. The crawfish were great — big sexy suckers with tons of flavor (try the garlic!), celery and juice. They were hot and fresh and in five lbs, we found only one straight tailed guy. It filled up my senses in the best John Denver kind of way with flavor and spice and salt, all under my fingernails. And bonus, $ 5.99 a pound.
But Kevin behind the counter didn’t know what remoulade was, that you have to «purge» the crawfish (no thanks on the poop tube) and corn, potatoes and sausage are extra. It gets four stars because the crawfish was so damn good but even though Kevin put our CD on in the restaurant, he probably should learn more about the real n’awlins deal.

I’ve decided that the only way I’ll remember to Unilocal,and in a timely manner, is to use my phone to take notes while eating. So here’s another one.
I’m also a tough sell, because I’m a NOLA girl originally, with a VERY Cajun family. I’m always questing after a great Cajun restaurant. But these guys did NOT stack up.
First reaction:
Nothing Cajun about their drink selection, n/​a and alcoholic. Can we get some Abita, people?! Tabasco the only thing on the table remotely «Cajun». Regular yellow mustard, even… Wish that there were sides on the menu. Really wish that the menu offered a side of etoufee/gumbo/salad…ANYTHING other than fries! Also wish there was a combo poboy option. Catfish/​oyster/​crawfish/​shrimp solos only. Didn’t ask for anything off the menu, though. Music sucked, décor sucked — more of a neighborhood sports bar or something, than anything «crazy» or «Cajun». The burnt orange floor complete with Longhorns emblem doesn’t really bring to mind Cajun either — but hey, it’s Austin, that’s expected, at least. Prices were actually pretty good (which is probably the only reason this isn’t 1 star).
With food (I ordered a Shrimp Poboy):
Damn good-​sized poboy! Not enough shrimp, though. Decent french bread. Dressed right. Not nearly enough shrimp! Had 4+ inches of a 10 inch poboy that was leftover, due to only having bread, lettuce, mayo, and a bit of tomato left! Shrimp kinda bland, just a bit salty. Fries suck. yech! Basic frozen crap, poorly seasoned, with «Cajun seasoning».
Service…sigh. I hate giving bad reviews on service… But she didn’t even check back on me until after I was done eating my poboy (and as I was typing this while eating, that was NOT a short period of time!), and then couldn’t answer anything I had to ask about their food. Didn’t know where the bread came from, didn’t know what kind of seasonings… and didn’t bother to ask. I mean, that would be a simple question in the kitchen. Seriously. And these are things that should be known in ANY Cajun restaurant, regardless. Makes me sad.
Ah well, the quest continues! There are MUCH better places for Cajun food in the Austin area. And much better restaurants in the same parking lot!

Crazy Cajun Kitchen is nestled in a mostly Asian strip mall (near Phở Van, Din Ho, etc.) up north. I eat frequently at Phở Van and when my co-​workers and I saw this place pop up we decided to try it out for lunch. We went at about 12:45 on a Friday, there was maybe one other table sat when we got there. I think they’ve only been open a couple weeks, so I wasn’t surprised they weren’t busy. I was a little surprised to be greeted by an Asian server. The apparent owner was Asian as well. Of course New Orleans has Asians and of course they can make Cajun food, I just expected to be greeted by someone with a thick Creole accent I guess.
To the point, the food was really tasty. We had wings, jambalaya, and 3 lbs of boiled crawfish. The crawfish were super delicious. The wings were, well wings – a little out of place. I didn’t try the Jambalaya, but my colleague reported that all the flavors were good, if a little bit dry. Overall, I thought it was pretty tasty and reasonably priced. Interestingly, while we didn’t partake, they have a full liquor license and bar. It seems more like a lunch joint, but hey, who says the three martini lunch is dead?

Ok, so I’m not a fan of crawfish boils. Never have been. But hubby is and I went along with his plan to find a boil without going to SwampThing. Found this place on Unilocal,so we were good to go.
I was familiar with its location. Easy to locate in the same shopping strip as Din Ho. Huh? Well, sure why not.
Got there and its run by an Asian family from the Houston area. The price seemed about right so launch time!
I got a pound of shrimp along with hubby’s three pounds of ‘dads thinking I wouldn’t like them as usual.
Wrong. Big, yummy mudbugs with great seasoning! Lots of celery, chunks of garlic and just the right amount of salt and cayenne. My experience in the past with boils is that its usually all salt and hot. There was actual flavor here! And the butter garlic sauce was thick and yummy with more big chunks of garlic.
The shrimp could have used a moment less in the boil but was still good. Taters were yummy, corn needed less time. But hey, now I’m getting picky.
The crawdads were GREAT. Juicy, flavorful, not too hot but not too mild. We finished off the three pounds easy.
The place is sparkling clean, three big TV’s, a nice shiny bar (tho we didn’t drink), and clearly labeled menu boards.
Cons: Music could use a tick down. And maybe less techno-​y. Kinda takes away from the crawdad experience.
Kevin never let our teas go dry while battling the burn. :)

OMG! These crawdads were so delicious, it was like a festival in my mouth!
Pros: Really good, mostly large sized crawdads that are spicy and tasty without being overbearing. These mud bugs were so big, you could get claw meat off most of them! Good shrimp too. Very good butter/​garlic sauce as an add on. Very clean restaurant as well.
Cons: Music ranged from cheesy techno to sappy girl love songs (aka, young Asian music).
My wife and I went here because I wanted some crawdads and didn’t want to go to that dumb fair downtown. This place is fairly new, but already I can tell you that they had the best crawfish/​shrimp boil I’ve had outside of Louisiana. The bugs are spicy without being overbearing, and they have this garlic butter dipping sauce that is divine. I would say the majority (80% or more) of the crawdads were what I’d consider to be «big». All of the shrimps were huge. The corncobs were ok, too mushy for my liking, but the potatoes more than made up for it.
The first impression I had on the interior was that this place was originally intended to be yet another boring Phở restaurant, but then some Tx Gulf Coast Asians bought the place and brought their spices and mollusks with them! Um, and their music too. You won’t hear Zydeco at Crazy Cajun, but you will hear Fergie Ferg.
Prices were fair. They were doing a special of 3 lbs of crawdads for $ 6 bucks a pound. Add that, a pound of shrimp, two ice teas, and some potatoes and corn cobs, and the total without tip was around $ 36.
This place is great, I can’t wait to try the other offerings (they do all the normal stuff from jambalaya to po’boys as well). Don’t get thrown off by the fact that it’s in an Asian shopping center and run by Asians. I can assure you that you will have all of your crawdad head-​sucking cravings fulfilled!

I gave it a 4 just because it’s got a couple 3s and it deserves something around a 3.5. Hopefully these guys will last as we were just lamenting a couple days ago (on a night they were closed) that it’s too bad there’s not a Cajun place in north central Austin. Apparently they opened at the beginning of March.
They’re in the Hong Kong SuperMarket shopping center (beside Target), which makes it easy to find.
We stopped in to give it a try and I’ll try to break down the pluses and minuses:
Pluses:
Excellent fried okra
Good Catfish Poboy
Good Crawfish Etouffe
Very Good Hot Sauce (Crystal, or a knock off, in the plastic bottle… less vinegary than Tabasco)
Lots of wine choices (all one label, but many varieties)
Three 45−50″ TVs which might make it a decent place to take a crowd during a game
Minuses:
Cheesy dance club music
Terrible beer selection (Bud, Bud Light, Miller Light, Corona)
Okay, but could use improvement:
Red Beans & Rice Plate was a tad bland
French Fries could stand a little cajun salt/​seasoning upon removal from the fryer
Take the Crazy Cajun Wings up a notch… BAM!
Best of luck to these guys.

Stopped by for lunch last week… just curious. The menu had all of the choices for Cajun fastfood, this one caught my eye. after all, it’s listed as a MUST try.
Crazy Cajun HOT Sausage PoBoy.
Louisiana’s Original Hot Sausage Patty! A MUST Try!
The sausage was actually good. Formed in the thin flat style of a ¼″ thin hamburger, it was moist and had something of a seasoned exterior. Tasty — good.
The Poboys are listed as:
10″ Subs served with Mayo, Lettuce, Tomato and Pickles. All subs are served with a side of French Fries
And sure enough, the bread was a standard sub-​style bread — fine — but not to die for. The mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickles just struck me as another sandwich. The fries. Hot. Check. But they were just the standard normal restaurant fries. Ate about half of them.
The pictures on their web site are good pictures of the interior. Small place. Clean. Bright. Interesting bar. Several TVs on the walls. The guy there was prompt, attentive, and friendly.

There seems to be a new wave of people from one place opening up food joints specializing in cuisine from somewhere completely different.
Whether it be Cajun/​Viet Fusion (Hot Boiled) or an Albanian line cook pretending to be an Italian chef (Bella Sera), people just seem to be opening up cuisine that’s different from what you’d expect them to be cooking.
Enter Crazy Cajun.
This place looks a lot like the Banh Mi place that was there before. Not much has changed, but the food is completely different.
It’s owned by an asian family from Houston. I believe they’re Vietnamese, but I didn’t confirm that. Nice people, though.
There are definitely some cajun basics on here. Gumbo (described as a «soup»), Etoufee (described as a «stew»), and Poboys (one with «Louisiana Original Hot Sausage» that’s in patty form).
Me, I went for a Crawfish Poboy.
It was good but not great. Their tartar sauce (on the side) is interesting, though. I waited for a bit, so I was a little non-​plussed when my piping hot po-​boy was lukewarm by the time I walked the 4 minutes back to my house. The bread was decent. Overall it was just «decent». Nothing too special. I’ll have to take my cajun friend there and see what she thinks.
Oh, and they have a full bar, but they haven’t yet learned that white wine is to be chilled before serving. Hopefully, they’ll figure that out soon.
I’ll likely be back to try more things, and see how well they stack up.