Boutin’s

Disappointed — we’ve been going to Baron Rouge for several years and Boutin’s had been one of our favorite restaurants. It’s been a year or so since we’d been so we thought we’d go back. Surprised to find a nearly empty parking lot at 6:30 on a Friday night!
The service was slow and the food was very poor. The seafood gumbo was not bad but the shrimp tomato basil pasta was terrible. Tasted like they used a jar of Alfredo sauce. I got a pork roast poboy and the bread was so tough I could not eat it. Hope someone rescues this restaurant.

If I would’ve want to Mrs. Paul’s I would’ve stayed home. Worst food ever! went there on a Sunday evening at at about 5:20, Waited 45 minutes, they didn’t have oysters, corn and crab bisque, or sweet potato fries. The crab cakes tasted like paste, The crawfish tasted like rubber and all you could taste was the batter. I would not recommend this to anyone!!!

Tourist trap. Slow service. 4% entertainment charge if you happen to arrive at that time. Gave it a chance after reading the other comments. Sorry I did. :(…we have been here for one hour and have empty glasses and no food!

My guess is that the zydeco and dancing are supposed to distract from the food.
Recently I was in the Bluebonnet area and needed a place to wait for the Perkins Rowe/​Mall traffic to die down. I’d never dined at Boutin’s before but I thought, «It’s still open after all these years so they must be doing something right, right?»
Waaayyyy too optimistic.
This must be the place people bring their out of town friends who are looking for an «authentic Cajun» experience. That’s the only way to explain the positive reviews. These out-​of-​towners must not know any better. The Cajun style décor was charming and the service was friendly but the food was mediocre… to be kind.
The restaurant is billed as «a Cajun music and dining experience» so perhaps live entertainment is the real draw. Unfortunately, the band wasn’t set to arrive until later so I was left looking at an empty stage and dance floor. The place may come alive once the music and line dancing gets into full swing, but with no entertainment to sidetrack me from my flavorless meal I would have rather been sitting in traffic.

Not consistent. But one thing is… their crabmeat augratin is superb! Best I’ve ever had. 4 stars for that alone. Love their hush puppies too.

My daughter and I ate there and been sick as a dog. I got up throwing up and she has been running back and forth to the bathroom. Food was cold and nasty, was really disgusting. She had a shrimp Poboy. Fried shrimp on bun, an thin layer of mayo and 2 pieces of wilted lettuce. I had eggplant and crab cake. Crab cake was like barely seasoned bread crumbs. I ate 2 bites and it was yucky. Tried 2^nd bite in cold sauce. Sauce was so cold shredded cheese wasn’t even melted. They must have a fast food chef. Who puts out food looking like that. You can tell they are on a sinking ship with that restaurant. Shame they had a good concept for restaurant, but awful food, rotten quality and slow service, it’s doomed to close down. i will remember this restaurant for how poor the food was and how sick we feel after our misfortune visit.

I really thought this place was going to be awesome. We were looking for some good, down-​home Cajun food, but this was not the spot for it. We are staying across the street so we got it to go and had:
Louisiana Seafood Gumbo — We were so excited to try this, this is THE dish of Louisiana, right?! Well, this was HORRIBLE. I’m hoping we got the end of the night leftovers and it just had sat all day and turned into something far from what it was intended to be. We tried to season it up ourselves and couldn’t even eat it. The base tasted like uncooked, slightly burned flour that had been mixed into a salty, tasteless broth. I’m not sure what flavor they were going for, but whatever it was I can’t imagine they achieved it.
Corn And Crab Bisque — This was actually very good.
Barbecue Shrimp (the entrée) — Shrimp had waaaay too much rosemary. After a few bites it totally overwhelmed the dish. It was served with corn maque choux (this was ok), dirty rice (gross…making dirty rice really isn’t that hard…), homemade stuffed potato (again, something that was probably made way earlier in the day and turned into something horrible by the end of the night).
I wouldn’t return to this place, and am sad I wasted $ 42 there on these 3 items.

Where do you start, we I’d say start at another restaurant! This place is nothing but a tourist trap catering to people who DO NOT know what real Cajun food should taste like. Steer clear of this place if you want real louisiana favorites

This review is specifically for POCHE’S MARKET.
Located in the same building as Boutin’s Restaurant. Poche’s is a Breux Bridge market and restaurant that’s «partnered» with Boutin’s to provide a place to sell Cajun speciality goods and meats.
Here’s a definition to remember…
CHAURICE — a fresh, highly spiced Creole sausage.
That’s ALL you gotta remember… OK? Next time you make some red beans and rice, you go there, you buy dat, you cook it and you eat. Simple is as simple does.
The andouille is pretty damn good too… so’s the tasso. Aww hell, in reality all the meats are just real good and real fresh. I guess that isn’t really a surprise though given that the original Poche’s is located about 500 yards away from the Babineaux Slaughter House in Breaux Bridge.
Anyway, I used to use other locally produced meats til I found this place. Now, when i make a gumbo, instead of «first you make a roux,» now it’s «first you go to Poche’s, then you make da roux!»

Not the absolute best fried seafood but also not the worse. I think my order has been a little on the salty side several times.
It’s a different place to eat with live Cajun music on weekends. There is also a market inside where you can purchase different frozen foods to prepare at home.

Baton Rouge has numerous Cajun seafood restaurants, and, unfortunately, many of the well-​known ones are very overrated, pricey, and tend to run on the fumes of their popularity. Boutin’s is a prime example.
Boutin’s used to be a decent seafood restaurant that had its niche as a rustic-​looking eatery located in the heart of Baton Rouge. It was a harmless place to get a little of zydeco music, dancing, and some good food. As of late, the place has jumped the shark, perhaps due to expanded exposure.
During my last visit to Boutin’s, it took over 100 minutes to be served the entrees after being seated. To break it down further, it took about 10 minutes between being seated and taking the drink/​appetizer order, another 15 minutes to get the drinks, another 30 to get the appetizer (just 5 regular-​sized boudin balls for $ 8.95), and 45 to get the food. It was not a large party nor where there any specialized orders.
The service was extraordinarily poor, as the waitress kept pushing back the estimated time of service, and when asked about the slow speeds, she told lies about it (there was a large party just getting their entrees, the food is on its way, etc.) when the large party was not even served yet and even after other people with larger parties who came in afterwards got served. Luckily, the food came when it did, as my party was about to leave the premises when it finally was served.
Also, on nights with a band or singer, they add a 4% musician fee to the bill, which is extremely unusual. Lately, the music has been extremely loud to the point it is incomprehensible and difficult to maintain composure during the entire dine-​in experience. I guess some people like loud zyedeco music that keeps looping, but, for me, it is not worth adding 4% to the bill.
Finally, the food is very slightly above average but not worth the price. Most entrees cost about $ 15-​$ 20 and sandwiches/​po-​boys cost $ 10-​$ 15 – usually about $ 3-​$ 5 more expensive than other restaurants in the Baton Rouge area. The portions are also very meager for the price, and the seasoning is rather uninspired. Luckily, they have garlic powder sauce, Tabasco, and ketchup as it can mask some of the banality. They have Cajun rice, which is basically dirty rice with maybe an extra pinch of pepper (not spicy at all), corn mac chow (which looks canned), stuffed potatoes (which are rather watery), and French fries (which are those wedge fries not unlike the ones you get in the frozen food aisle). The fountain drinks were $ 2.95 a piece, including iced tea! They also have a meat market in the store, but you can get all of the meat and seafood cheaper at other markets around town.
In short, if you like Cajun seafood at a place that has fallen from its glory, where the music is extremely loud with an involuntary 4% surcharge, and has some of the worst service in the region, then Boutin’s is for you; otherwise, try Chimes, Dempsey’s, or even Ralph ‘n Kacoo’s (which is slightly better from its early 2000s abyss). Or, if you are looking for a good restaurant within a two mile radius on Bluebonnet between Perkins Rowe and Burbank, try On the Half Shell or Brewbacher’s – both of which offer superior food.

I’m albeit surprised to see this place with more than a three star rating. I so wanted Boutin’s to be a good place to go (since I live near here) but the place left much to be desired. It’s a bit pricey and the food is pretty standard. You can kind of tell that the owner is trying to squeeze his/​her customers for every penny they have. (Ridiculous gratuities and they charge for music too.)
My experience…
The hostess seated us in the center of the room, for a good 20 minutes they forgot about us. As we waited for our waitress, other parties arrived and got their drinks. Three different waitresses came up and asked us if we had someone helping us, we didn’t.
When the right waitress finally came out we were given no apology. We ordered our drinks. Then it took another 10 minutes for them to return to take our orders. We were contemplating leaving. Once I ordered, the food was actually not bad except they burned my loaded potato (kinda hard to do).
The total bill for two was about $ 65 and we didn’t even order anything elaborate or out of the ordinary. Hate to say it. Nice environment and all but until they get new administration, better service, with more fair pricing — I don’t recommend the place. Just drive past it… Make a right onto highland. And enjoy a better (and more reasonably priced) meal at Sammy’s Grill.

My wife and I ate breakfast and it was delicious. The service was Exceptional, but since they just started serving breakfast, there was only one server. We had eggs grits potatoes sausage biscuit and gravy. With a side if fruit. 7 bucks. Outstandingly priced. It was a bit uneven with cool potatoes. Overall, they will probably get better. I will be back.

Waited over an hour for a burger and fried fish. It was a slow Sunday crowd. Apparently they needed to go catch the fish and slaughter the cow before they could serve us.

Very disappointed. Was excited to try but the service was terrible. Took forever to even get drinks. Blackened alligator was not blackened or edible. Manager was rude and we barely saw our waitress. I had to go to the bar to get drink refills.

We were very disappointed in the food. Too pricy for the flavor. Band was good, although you have to pay for it as a percentage of your total. I have never experienced that before. I would pass if you are looking for good Cajun food.

Trying to balance the 5 star authentic Louisiana atmosphere with across the board unpleasant food…
I’m a transplant to south Louisiana, and until I moved here in 1999 I thought I hated Cajun food. What an exciting culinary adventure it’s been! Boutins serves the kind of food I hated before 1999. It strikes me as a Cajun version of «bad cafeteria food»
To be fair, I am *not* a fan of green peppers or green onions. They are STAR players in each and every dish here as far as I can tell.
There’s a lot of Cajun cuisine out there that I like, even though I know those ingredients are in there. Everything I’ve ever ordered here I’ve pretty much found Inedible.
I love taking visitors here for the music and the dancing. But I’m always conflicted, because I’m fairly certain they will hate the food, and I know I will… I guess I need to take the trek out to somewhere else w entertainment next time.

Great find! From Colorado doing a road trip to Florida. Put in Cajun and this place cane up. Very happy to find it! Étouffée and awesome alligator! Good prices too!

Came here while on business. Food was sub par, drink was strong (that was a plus), there was love music but it was just one man and he wasn’t the best bless his heart. I think there are much better places you could go for a $ 32 meal of fried shrimp and crawfish étouffée.

After looking at all of the other reviews, I have to say that they are all accurate — way overpriced for the quality and portion size. To pay $ 45 for two lunch entrees and a tea is a bit much for me. To top it off that neither dish was exactly memorable is just to boot.
I got the Crabmeat Eggplant, which was $ 20 and quite literally only a stack of 2 eggplant medallions and a crabcake, crabmeat alfredo sauce and a side of previously frozen vegetables. Two got the Bayou Boutin, one lunch portion and one dinner, and they came out quite literally the same portion, no additional sides, not a bigger fillet, but it was $ 7 more. I think the waitress steered us wrong by asking, as if there would be a difference in size. Lastly, the fried seafood platter was quite large, but was apparently equally «OK.»
The one thing I will say positive about the place is the very «bayou» atmosphere that seems like it would be very cool for out of town guests. Also, I hear (not just from other Unilocal reviews) that dancing and the live band is quite fun, so maybe just come for that!

Cadre tres sympa
Cuisine «cajun» assez ordinaire, la viande (sirloin) est si filandreuse que presque incoupable
Service tres sympa mais long