Shoal Creek Saloon

Glad I made it despite the rain. Cool patio, nice weather as long as you don’t kind the humidity, games on multiple TVs and attentive but chill service, I dig it !
We started with a dozen oysters, $ 16 for a dozen. Pretty average price for gulf oysters in Austin. We moved on to 2lbs of crawfish and they were seasoned to perfection. Not overpowering but tasty tasty !
Our servers were friendly and made sure we didn’t forget our to-​go order !

Cajun food at its finest. Will definitely be back for the all you can eat catfish. Boudin was delicious.

Felt like a bit of New Orleans inside Austin, TX. It was cool for lunch, nothing over the top. The crawfish had a little kick in the spice which I like. It is a busy place, so have your order ready to go, and be patient and have a drink because the crawfish takes some a bit of time to come.
Good:
–Chicken Fried Steak
–Half Catfish Poboy
–Combo Gumbo Bowl (mix of the cajun & shrimp gumbo orders)
–Order of Crawfish (I think half a pound)
–Side of corn on the cob
–Beautiful creek in the rear to look at
–Several TVs in the rear seating area of the restaurant
Bad:
–Very busy place, prepare for potential 30 minute waits (around 1−3pm)

Our crawfish was cold, our waitress was cold out beer was cold.
It’s obvious they cook a bunch of it, crawfish, and just sits and waits. And waits. And waits. Blasphemy.
Cold, over cooked, over salted, nasty un purged crawfish.
FIRE your boiling pot rookie and get someone who respects hot spicy crawfish. It should never be served cold. Ever.
We asked politely for some hot crawfish and got more cold crawfish. Lots of straight tail dead ones.
35 $ for 5lbs. Of salty cold bugs. The fried okra tasted pre battered and frozen. Meh. The creek was pretty. The older waitress never smiled and checked on us maybe twice. Beer is expensive.

Been a few years since I’d been here. I was craving crawfish, after having some lackluster, unseasoned ones at a local place a few weeks ago. Saw that they were boiling some here this evening, so we stopped by.
We sat inside, they were pretty busy for early Friday evening. Our various waitresses, and food runners were really quick. We never wanted for a thing.
The mudbugs were big and well seasoned. $ 8/​lb or $ 22 for 3lbs. Decent price for this area. Paid a bit extra for sausage, potatoes and corn. Thought it was a bit sheisty to charge 50 cents for butter. Maybe because this is offered for free at most places I’ve had crawfish.
All in all, we had a great time and I’d definitely return again. Especially before the mudbugs are out of season.

What happened to this place? I used to come here during undergrad all the time but today it was a huge disappointment. My fiancé and I waited for food for upwards of 40 minutes and when it did come, it was lackluster.
We ordered the stuffed jalapeños to start and while hot, they looked and tasted like the store bought kind you microwave. We also got 6 small jalapenos for 7 $, Which is ridiculous. I ordered the catfish po boy and fried okra as my meal. The bread of the sandwich was rubbery and doughy in a strange way. I should not have to gnaw at my food. The okra was not hot. My fiancé ordered a 3 item combo and what came was tiny in portion and absolutely not worth 15 dollars.
In all, the time and money we spent at shoal creek was not justified by the food and we will not be returning.

I’ve been here twice in the last two days. I like it. The crawfish are very yum. The oysters are also yum.

A transplant from Louisiana, Austin folks have been ranting and raving about this place — told me I would feel right at home when I walk in the door. We arrive. Saints helmet met us in the parking lot. I’m thinking, «this is going to be so damn cool!» Walked in. We have to seat ourselves. It was a small wait before someone served us. Our waiter, oh my how I loved his accent, so much I wanted to ask him if he was from Lafayette or New Orleans. I was happy to ask him. Never did — I’ll tell ya why. I ordered CRAWFISH — my husband ordered fried shrimp. Crawfish was my whole purpose for going here, let me point that out. I asked for my crawfish to come out before my husband got his food because I usually order 3lbs with corn/​potatoes and he often has to sit there for a while once he’s finished his food. Well, his food came out BEFORE I got my crawfish. Got the crawfish, they weren’t really red — hard to describe the color — I guess like a brown red. Idk. I tasted ONE and immediately knew it was a bad idea I ordered 3 lbs. It was probably the worse crawfish I’ve tasted since I moved to Austin. An avid crawfish lover, I know all batches can be different. And I’ll just assume, the cook wasn’t as thorough because it was close to noon on a Sunday — maybe he wasn’t in his element just yet. My husband’s shrimp were good, so he said. Sorry cher, I tried to like you guys and just couldn’t.

Shoal Creek Saloon is a cajun-​themed bar/​restaurant on South Lamar. It is a pretty casual, chill spot with a great outdoor patio. In nice weather, it is tough to beat. There are also plenty of TVs to watch the games. Of course, during football season, the Saints are on.
As for the food, it is decent bar food. They often have Crawfish if that is your thing. I recently had the shrimp Po’Boy which was good, but I have had better. The shrimp were lightly fried and the bread was tasty. Add a little hot sauce and it was good.
The gumbo was a little on the bland side. I like mine a little more spicy. All in all, still a nice treat.
They have Abita beer for those who may be fans.
I recommend coming here and sitting on the patio. It is quite pleasant.

Review is mainly for patio… It’s wonderful old school Austin.
The gumbo is absolutely the most bland I’ve ever had. Lived here 25 years and just came here for first time. Aside from patio and cold beer, not really sure I’d come back

I had the gumbo and it was very watery and lacking in flavor. A buddy of mine had the étouffée and it wasn’t as bad comparatively. They do offer crawfish by the lb, make sure you get there before 9 to order it though.

I had high hopes based on Unilocal reviews. Fail.
Boiled crawfish, in season, way too salty and no other spice detected. It was also a bit over cooked and mushy. This is one of my favorite foods in the world and I am so disappointed
The corn was flavorless and bland. And a charge for butter. Seriously?!
The gulf oysters on the half shell were good.
The service was really good. Too bad the food couldn’t live up to the service.

This has always been our go-​to place for Cajun food, but we were really disappointed this time around. I ordered the half oyster poboy. I was not impressed by the size (small), or the amount (5 total). Husband ordered 3 lbs of boiled crawfish. The boil they use is really salty & it was obvious that the spice was added after the crawfish were pulled out of the boiling water. It’s also kind of annoying that the corn & sausage are available for an additional charge (50 cents for each mini-​ear of corn, $ 4.99 for the sausage). Only saving grace was the bloody mary… perfect!
The one thing that annoys me the most is the fact that I have made 3 phone calls, 2 emails & a personal visit to try to rent the LIft Party Room for a private event. I started contact 3 weeks ago & have yet to receive a response. I wouldn’t try so hard if not for the fact that my husband really wants to have a party there.

Old Austin goodness.

The seating is great here! There is indoor seating, outdoor seating with a tent, and outdoor sitting. All with a great view of the creek! There is a bar in the inside and the outside tent area.
The waiters are super friendly and very helpful!
Sadly my jalapeño sausage po-​boy wasn’t that fabulous. Flavor wasn’t very strong and not as spicy as I thought. If you are to come here, I would recommend getting another thing on the menu! I tried some of my friends crawfish plate and it is very spicy so be wary of that! She really seemed to like them though. There was also sausage with her plate and it was good!

Came here on my visit to Austin after hearing they serve NOLA food. Perhaps after having been to NOLA several times, I can’t say I’m impressed with this place. Ordered the cajun gumbo and the chicken fried steak. The gumbo was a lacking flavor and a bit too soupy while the steak was too dry. A friend of mine got the fried seafood combo, which was decent but nothing close to spectacular.
The venue is nice with a garden out back. On a nice day, I would suggest sitting outside and enjoying the weather with your meal.

Solid cajun food and I definitely wanna come back and try more of the menu.
They have a decent beer selection on draft (including 2 Abita beers) and quite a lot of cans (including a bunch of Abita beers).
The service was a bit weird (after my gumbo appetizer, they took all my utensils, then when I got my meal I had to ask for new utensils), though the food came out pretty quick.
The décor is awesome! It’s old-​timey NOLA/​TX/​Chicago all mashed up (lots of baseball and football stuff).
As for food, I got the cajun gumbo to start which was very thick and dark gumbo, pretty tasty and quite spicy. It had what looked to be very nice duck and sausage in it but I really couldn’t taste them through the thick roux and spices. I also got the half crawfish po-​boy which was huge! It had quite a few little fried crawfish on it, though I could only really taste the fried unfortunately. The veggies/​dressing was solid, but there was no sauce on the po boy and I like mine saucy! They did give a side of tartar sauce and there was Louisiana Hot Sauce on the table, so I could make my own sorta po boy dressing sauce.

Went in on Thursday night for dinner, didn’t quite know what to get and server talked me into the catfish and shrimp plate. Wanted oysters but we’re out. I have to say I was so disappointed, catfish was fried prefect but tasted like chicken fried steak, yea it was fried in same oil the CFS is. Shrimp on other hand was great, fried prefect and great taste, coleslaw had no seasoning at all, just bland, beans cooked right but over salted and I mean way too much salt. Hushpuppies were Good but already made frozen how can you screw that up. Ate here before many times never had a bad meal. Just a disappointment. Servers where very nice and tea was fresh and kept my glass full. Don’t order fried seafood yuck!

Shoal Creek Saloon you have earned an update and more stars! I had a house guest in town for the weekend and he is from the Gulf Coast and very accustomed to good crawfish so, I brought him here.
It was about a week after the flooding and I was surprised that they were open and even more surprised that we were able to walk right in and get a table Creekside on the patio!
The crawfish were running at $ 8.00/per pound or 5 pounds for $ 35.00 and of course we opted for the 5 pounds to share. We also ordered the seasonal special of a dozen gulf oysters for $ 13.99 to share with the table. I didn’t partake in the gulf oysters but, I can say they looked amazing, were well chilled and served with all the expect accompaniments!
Crawfish: You have to add fixins to them if you want them! The sausage was amazing, the crawfish were boiled to perfections, the flavor was amazing but, the seasoning was a bit weak for my love of spiciness! You also have to pay for butter to go along with them so, this isn’t a cheap crawfish dining experience!
We ordered some pitchers of beer to go with our crawfish and they were a bit on the expensive side at $ 17.00 but, with the ambiance and the overall experience, I did not mind!
The servers were much nicer this time and I will be back over and over to get my crawfish fix and bring my out of town guests here for a true Austin experience!

Really??? Unilocal are you sure I haven’t written a review for Shoal Creek yet?
Anyways 2 words Pork Chop. Order It. Eat like a glutton. Wash it down with some Mashed potatoes and cream gravy.
Now if you are not familiar with the pork chop here it is a grilled 1 pound pork chop. The outside comes out a blackened rust color and your first thought is what happened to this thing. But then you cut into and its the juiciest, smokiest piece of delicious pork that you will ever have.
The mashed potatoes are really good with the gallon of butter and Cajun spices incorporated. The cream gravy is a serious, thick, country gravy. No prepackaged BS here.
The steamed vegetables and green beans are good but they can be hit or miss.
Solid happy hour with essentially half price apps and different beer and drink specials daily.