Ragin Cajun

Unexpectedly delicious! Stopped in here on a whim and had the alligator sausage appy. Shrimp jambalaya and steak and shrimp étouffée for dinner. Some live music and a beautiful sunset me it perfect!

I can’t even begin to describe my amazing and wonderful (beyond wonderful) experience at Ragin Cajun! My server Brenna was extraordinary!!! (hi Brenna!!!) we love you!!! She recommended the paella, lobster bisque, swamp daddy, sirloin tips! Died and went to heaven!!! Holy moly!!! One of our new favorite spots!!! If you aren’t eating here right now, you should be jelly!!!

First time at this restaurant and we had a Groupon for 4. I had called a few days prior to see if they took reservations. They don’t but the young lady was very helpful. When I told her what time we were coming in she said she would have a table ready (we went around 5:30). You can’t ask for better service than that. The place is well worth the Groupon! And even if I didn’t have one I’d still eat here. The portions were enormous! I couldn’t finish my Jambalaya. Very spicy. They can’t reduce the heat in it so if you are not into spicy food, this might not be the place for you. Many of the dishes are quite spicy. Service was excellent and it is a BYOB. Felt just like I was sitting in someone’s house to have a bite to eat. All food is made fresh to order, so you’ll have to wait a little for your food but, it’s so worth the wait. Also many of the items are gluten free which is a plus for one of our party who is gluten free. I would come back here again for the New Orleans flavor and delicious food.

Excellent food! The setting is small giving it an intimate feel. The rolls are the best along with the blackened shrimp and scallops.

Lovely place with lovely service and delicious food. The restaurant is actually a house. So quaint. It’s also byob. I first learned of the Ragin Cajun at the Belmar seafood fest. The Cajun shrimp was too die for. So we finally ate at the restaurant and the Cajun shrimp was still awesome and so were our entrees. Great experience.

Came here for a great meal and they aren’t even open!!! Sign on the sidewalk says open 5pm, as does the Unilocal page. Very disappointed.

We wanted to like this place. We drive past all the time and finally got a night away from the kids. The yard is beautiful although the road noise is kinda lame. We ordered 2 aps. A mussel special, which was delicious, in a red spicy sauce and the clam special, which was pretty bleh. The nearly chowder size clams were tough and served in a bowl of oil, not broth, just oil with a bunch of dried herbs sunken to the bottom. It was not god awful but it certainly wasn’t blowing my skirt up or anything.
The shrimp/​scallop étouffée entrée looked pretty good but was practically flavorless. The scallops and shrimp were unseasoned and the veggies were overly crisp, As in undercooked, just tossed in with the faintly spicy sauce and served over too little rice. I described it as tasting and looking more like a dish from a Szechwan Chinese takeaway more than anything else.
Other letdowns included the under-​roasted spiced garlic and pepperidge farms frozen dinner rolls served before dinner.
And since I’m on a roll let’s talk about the waitress attire. They all must have come to work directly from the gym or something.
And the menu is as long as a diner menu.
Not fine dining. More of a greasy spoon. Not going back.

We’ve been to this spot a few times now– and each time is better than the last. It’s a really unique place with a great, comfortable, unstuffy atmosphere. One huge perk is that it’s BYOB– they even have a liquor store who will deliver there for you. They do call ahead seating, but no reservations. Missing the dinner rush by going either earlier or later seems to be key. Great live music from some original «bayou» songs to decent Johnny Cash covers. That being said, music can get pretty loud so depending on what you’re looking for, seat your party accordingly. (If you’re looking for music, but to easily hear your company, I’d recommend the back room or the porch. Not into music? The patio is your best bet.) Friendly, fast service. Reasonable prices-​especially for the amount of food you get. BIG recommendations for the blackened mahi mahi app, and the swamp daddy pasta entrée (which is definitely enough for two people to split). On a nice night with good people, you’ll enjoy a great relaxing evening

We have always passed by this cute little restaurant and said we wanted to try it so me and my boyfriend went there and ate outside. The parking situation is a little rough because of the location but a nice walk is always good. We’ve heard about these bulbs of garlic and bread and it is to die for!!! (even asked for them to go!) We ordered the coconut shrimp and blackened scallops to start off. They both were so delicious and tasty. The sauces with both went perfectly with the appetizers. We also split the garlic shrimp angel hair pasta entrée and it had just enough kick to it and was delicious! We were very impressed and will definitely be back!

After driving past this place in an awkward location for years, found time to give it a try. First impression, cool, albeit tight, interior. Loud band stuffed in the corner made it impossible to hear yourself think. Opted for alfresco on the 35 highway with views of the Shark River across the 4 lanes of traffic. Anyway, the service was good and started off well with a roasted garlic bread basket. We should have stopped there. Ordered a fair to midland onion soup with a wilted Caesar salad accompaniment. For main course, steak and shrimp entoufee which was ordered spicy by numbers, and fell completely flat. No taste other than heat. Jambalaya on the side= zatarain’s. This should be a mainstay of a Cajun place! So sorry, hate to leave a bad review but the kitchen needs big work. So wanted to like the place. If only I didn’t know how things were supposed to taste.

Delicious. Great service. Loved it here. Food is outstanding

My husband and I noticed this cute and quirky little place one day when we were out and about. The interesting thing is that we must have passed it many times, but it is tucked back a bit from a pretty busy road so we hadn’t noticed it. That feature ends up being a good thing in regards to the outdoor dining. The food here is deliciously prepared and very generously portioned. Very interesting offerings which all seem very typical for Cajun cuisine. We have never been to New Orleans or that area, so I don’t know what authentic Cajun should be, but this was really delicious! I ordered the Craw Daddy Pasta which was bow tie pasta with mushrooms, artichoke hearts, shrimp and alligator sausage in a light pink cream sauce (outrageous!) and my husband being a bit less adventurous, ordered the Chicken Creole. His dish usually comes with rice, but he requested bow tie pasta, which was no problem. The Chicken Creole is boneless, skinless chicken chunks with tomatoes and peppers and onions in a tomato based sauce. He loved it! A little touch of spice, but not too much. All the meals coming out of the kitchen looked delicious.
We were able to sit outside which was great as it was a perfect evening. As I mentioned earlier, the outdoor patio is at the front of the building right along RT 35, but it really wasn’t an issue at all since it is tucked back.
The building feels like a little southern country cabin including a restful and inviting front porch and generously sized patio. Inside, there is an adorable separate dining room like in a private home as well as a main area with tables. You do feel like you are walking into someone’s house. There was live music the night we were there which I am sometimes not a fan of if it’s too loud, but this was so enjoyable and smooth and totally added to the atmosphere and experience. I wish I knew the name of the band, sorry.
A big plus at The Ragin Cajun is that it is BYOB! Always a fun thing.

Always tasty. This place has some unique meals with great service. The atmosphere is awome. Warm bread with roasted garlic is a nice touch before dinner

I’ve always passed this place on the highway on a somewhat regular basis and have heard far more bad than good things about this restaurant. Decided to give it a shot. Me and a few friends went in we found the interior to be what we expected… very small, older and the décor kind of cheesy.
The service was at least average throughout the night at least. Me and my group decided we would go family style and try a bunch of items on the menu. We got the garlic shrimp, blackened chicken, jambalaya rice and of course the alligator sausage. All of this food tasted like any appetizer I have ever had in TGI Fridays or Applebee’s. Most disappointing was the alligator sausage. I’ve had alligator many times from my travels to Texas and Florida. This was by far the worst I’ve had. Very chewy, very little flavor. And the dipping sauces, although pretty good, in my mind and anybody who enjoys eating– are not there to cover the taste of bland food. These round of appetizers were as bad or average as any restaurant USA that I have had.
The app round unfortunately was a sign of what was to come. For dinner we all shared the following: chicken jambalaya, étouffée with shrimp and scallops and the creole with chicken. I have to tell you, there was nothing even average about any of these dishes. Very bland. Very average. The proteins were cooked well but the dishes lacked anything that really made them stand out or any different from a dish I have had anywhere else. Each of had a few bites of all the dishes and agreed that we had tasted /​seen enough.
Most disappointing I guess is through my travels and my experience of eating «Cajun» food, this place really missed the mark, by a lot. Wasted my time and my appetite here.

A party of four, thankfully we arrived just before the rush and had our cocktail hour on the porch waiting to be seated. Its an interesting spot, an old center hall colonial type house. We started with, blackened tuna bites, gator sausage, clams and mussels. The clams were good but I think the tuna was the best of the lot, none were ignored however. We then dipped the bread, community dipping, in the tuna bite juice… we made the wait staff leave the goodness and bring more bread. Dinner was an assortment of stuff, plates were all cleaned. I enjoyed my blackened scallops and shrimp. There were no complaints at the table, a bunch of foodies too. We sat in the back and it was cool watching the chef bang out the food, keeps a clean kitchen too. Yup. It is a bring your own, and we were not rushed out after eating. We did politely ask if they needed to turn the table we would leave, no problem. A post dinner drink and good conversation. A nice night centered around some good food.
Call it what you will… just call it good food served nicely by a good crew.

Went to this establishment today to have dinner with a Groupon and to my pleasant surprise I would go back with or without a coupon.
The service was so fast that we sat down and within minutes the server was at the table opened my wine bottle (this is a byob) then warm bread with soft butter and a roasted bulb of garlic flavored in Cajun spice. Once we ordered our main dish it was out on the table in 10 minutes! My wife had the Cajun shrimp with red beans over white rice and stemmed head of fresh broccoli, I had the Swamp Daddy which is shrimp, alligator sausage, artichoke hearts, mushrooms in a pink sauce over bow tie pasta but I requested it over rice which was easily accommodated. Both dishes were very flavorful and we’ll prepared.
We had coffee and desert and all was good in the world.
Also had live music from about 7pm on most nights to round off a wonderful experience.

Grilled jumbo shrimp in taste sauce. It’s heavy in oil and garlic. Ask for extra rolls at the end to dip. Creole mustard sauce ion the side. It was so tasty, we asked for more rolls just to dip into the sauce. It came with white rice with red beans topping it off. Nothing special.
Also ordered blackened shrimp with scallops. Five jumbo shrimps and perfectly cooked scallops over angel hair pasta. No veggies offered. :(It would have been greatly appreciated if they included veggies. Tomato sauce shouldn’t be counted as the only veggie. Just saying. ;)
Will come back to try the blackened catfish.

My fiancé mentioned that Ragin Cajun is the next best thing to stopping off at a small hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant in New Orleans, which is a place I’ve never been to. So, this is my first experience with Cajun food.
You’ll have to find parking on the side street next to the restaurant. As for the interior, it’s tiny, but with a lot of style. Thankfully, it wasn’t too noisy despite its small size.
One of the signatures is the roasted garlic, which winds up being soft enough to use as «butter» for your bread. An interesting appetizer — would definitely recommend. I tried out the gator bites (which I’ve had before in Fort Myers, FL) — lots of flavor, not rubbery at all, and with a great dipping sauce that has a kick to it. Lastly, the lobster bisque was very rich and flavorful — great for a cold day.
Ragin Cajun is BYOB. A huge bonus, in my book.
Would definitely visit again and again. If you’ve never tried Cajun before, this is the place you should use to introduce it to yourself!

We stopped in as people new to the area adhering to a recommendation from a coworker. We left with doggy bags and a leisurely affect. The food was very well prepared. This was my first time having Cajun/​Creole food and so I have nothing to which I can really compare this experience. However, the jambalaya was flavorful and the blackened chicken was superb. The bread with garlic at the onset of the meal was great as well. We neglected dessert though we may make an attempt at it on our next visit.
On the Thursday evening that we visited we were one of only three couples in the restaurant and there was a live band. Creative, calming, and artful music was performed in a style that was influenced by jazz and rock music. It was an awesome addition to the ambiance of the low-​key restaurant.
The parking situation requires walking around the corner and (our mistake) we didn’t know it was a BYOB until we didn’t get a drink menu. Otherwise it was a really stellar joint to hear jazz and relax while enjoying delectable food…

Very unique restaurant and great food. Had the blackened tuna bites and blacken snapper.
You literally feel like your eating at a friends house and they have live music most nights.
Looking to impress some try this place!