Easy Creole

Lots of character. Great food. Loved the Chicken Creole. Tons of hot sauces to choose from. $ 2 unlimited lemonade or iced tea. They offered to sample anything. Very quick service, courteous.

The food was good. I didn’t realize it was pretty much all stew-​type things (small menu) before we decided to eat there, which I wasn’t super excited about, but it was good once I dug into it. Friendly staff too. My friend and I showed up with two strollers and it’s a small place, but they were very accommodating. It helped that we were there mid-​day on a Friday, so it was pretty empty.
That’s right, I just remembered that everything is made in Crock-​Pots! I thought that was funny. Definitely a unique place worth checking out.

I live like three or four blocks down from this place and being part creole I’ve always wanted to try this place. I’m always worried about trying a cajun/​creole place as it would never beat a home cooked meal, but one can hope. The interior is filled with picture frames and a mannequin lady hanging around. This place is small and all the tables are fairly large and good for groups that come in before the rush. What i ordered was the half and half: bourbon red beans with links and the thai curry shrimp Étouffée and it comes with rice and bread. The bourbon red beans over rice was just meh. The flavoring was there, but it was just dry and not like a thick soupy texture this could be because of the rice as well. They just give you plain jasmine white rice? Not the long grain rice that is simmered in butter for that nice complimentary taste of the two. There were also only one small piece of a sliced up hot link in my half which was disappointing. The thai curry shrimp étouffée was pretty good. Nice fusion of the light creole spices and the coconut curry, but it just tasted too much like something you can get from a thai restaurant. Their menu changes daily. Id check their website to check out what they are serving that day. If you’re really trying to find a good taste of what creole or cajun food can offer id look elsewhere.

I had the smokey gumbo, 1^st it tasted burnt. It wasnt gumbo it was more of a rice in a sauce with 3 sausages. The bottles of sauce were good, but in other random bottles, (hot sauce in a liquor bottle, herbs in a hot sauce bottle) from eating authentic NOLA food this was trash. Never again. And I paid 12 bucks for rice basically.

Not sure if it’s authentic or not since I don’t have much experience with Creole cuisine but this place is amazing. Not only do you get to sample the dishes before you order but you can also do half and half where you can choose 2 of the dishes. I heard that they’re always rotating their menu so it keeps things interesting because you’re always surprised with something new! My dish was so flavorful and filling, but to be honest I wanted more even though I was full. The only thing I didn’t like was that when you ask for onions on top, it’s actually raw and not cooked. Oh yeah, the bread is amazing as well.

So I wasn’t able to attend on the trip to this place but I can say that my boyfriend said they were fairly decent for a small place. We got the fire chicken curry and shrimp creole which was really good! The food had a different taste to it that is very unique for people who like a southern taste.
Short review but I will say it is a unique taste to should try !!

I’m so sad to report that this place was not what I expected. First, there really isn’t that much seating so don’t come in in a big group. We ordered the Gumbo, and a half shrimp maque xiou and chicken creole. When it came out it looked like slop on a plate. The flavor was ok but with both on the plate it started to become 1 flavor on top of it being salty. This place is definitely here for the college student. The gluten free corn bread tasted like hot water corn bread made with dirty water. The unsweetened tea was weird too. They had a simple syrup to add but it wasn’t anything like a sweet tea at all. Boyfriend said his «smokey gumbo» tasted more like burnt gumbo and wasn’t very good. I watched him use the many hot sauces they had available. I’m sorry I had negative things to say, again I was expecting so much more.

This is a unique place. Good food that is slow cooked and then put up on the chalkboard menu so when you order the food it is already ready to go. It just needs to be plated up. There are meat and vegan options as well as gluten free. The menu changes daily and sometimes in the middle of the day as things sell out and new ones are made.
This was my first visit and the girl taking my order was very patient and helpful explaining the choices. She even gave me samples of the items I was considering. For a slight upcharge they will let you split your order and try two items.
It appears that all the items are of the soup or stew type. I had a half chirizo etoufee and half shrimp something served over rice. Both were delicious! I lived in New Orleans for awhile and don’t like when a restaurant calls itself Cajun or Creole and then serves bland tasteless boring foods. The spice on these made my taste buds jump for joy :) They have a variety of what appear to be house made hot sauces on the table which I sampled (delicious!) But didn’t need I my food.
I give extra points to this place for no television — yay! So rare these days.

I am driving past Easy Creole right now and it’s hard to not stop for their hot & delicious sloppy plates. Every experience has been as consistently delicious and fulfilling, with great company as a bonus. The here is splitting two dishes on your plate, and add a cornbread. The lemonade is not to my liking, but I respect their choices, it is unique and unsweetened, with sweeting options on the side. Real people work here and they care about making the best damn slop cuisine in the world packed with love. I think they take bitcoin, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Easy Creole is a casual funky place to get some pretty bomb food.
There’s a vegetarian menu and a meat menu, which seems to change. I let the worker know it was my first time, and she was very helpful and friendly and explained the menu. She let us try a few samples too, which was really helpful for me since I’m not too familiar with creole/​cajun food. I sampled the Thai peanut etouffe, which I wasn’t a fan of since there was a sweetness to it with a strong peanut flavor.
I ended up with the spinach and mushroom etouffe with brown rice and my boyfriend got the chicken creole with white rice.
Our dishes came out quickly and was piping hot! Mine was delicious, not too spicy, and I ended up liking my boyfriend’s chicken creole better. The spinach and mushroom kind of had an Indian taste to it towards the end (maybe it was the spices?) but I still enjoyed it! Our dishes also came with toasted bread with cajun seasoning, and it was super good!
There’s a bunch of hot sauces on the table to put on your dishes. I recommend the spicy garlic sauce!
I would definitely come back whenever I’m in the area.

Came here while in the area visiting a friend. It’s a small place with communal style seating. Very home comfort kind of cooking and atmosphere.
I ordered the corn bread, & a plate that was half of the chicken Creole and half spinach mushroom on brown rice. It was a great combination and delicious! The chicken Creole was flavorful and the spinach mushroom was really good too, with a little bit of a spicy kick to it. The corn bread was nice and crisp on the outside but moist inside, and they drizzle with honey. Delicious!
Everyone was very nice too. They have a water station for water and there let you taste the ones you are interested in too before buying.
This is a great spot for a quick bite or to go with a friend, but not the spot for privacy of a nice, quiet meal.

I’ve been here at least a dozen times over the past year and have never been disappointed. Despite being vegetarian, the ever rotating menu has a great number of tasty options even for the picky ones among us.
A few of my favorites include: the Porta Vita (a heavenly blend of tomato, onion, and summer squash), the Choctaw Chili (one of the best vegetarian chills I’ve come across), and the Tofu Ropa (a little on the sweeter side with beans and a generous amount of small tofu cubes).
I love that they offer toppings (sour cream, cheese, and onions) that honestly are delicious with any of the menu items. They also always make sure to ask if/​what you want of them (which is nice because I don’t like raw onions, but would definitely forget to request them off if I wasn’t prompted).
The service has always been lovely. It’s an order at the register, then pay and take a seat and they’ll bring out your food type of place. While you’re ordering they’re happy to being you samples of the items to help your decision, and if you can’t decide between two, you can get half and half (an option I often utilize).
I will say to eat in if you can. The atmosphere is definitely a Berkeley twist on New Orleans, and it’s so much fun just the look at all the crazy things they have around the place.

It’s very rare to find a creole place that can get it right on this side of the country (no offense), so you can imagine my delight when I found this place (thanks, Unilocal!). The stars must have been aligned, because I even found parking right out front. It was meant to be!
I saw the menu and was unable to choose between two items. Thankfully, this place makes these type of decisions easy, offering me the option to get a half and half plate. I went with the spinach and mushroom etouffe and the shrimp maque choux. I initially ordered it with white rice, but it came with brown rice, which is no biggie (brown rice is typically an extra $ 1). The half and half dish came with a small, sliced baguette and topped with cheese and onions (you could also add sour cream, if that suits your mood). Both dishes were flavorful, but the shrimp maque choux is definitely my favorite. It had just the right amount of spicy kick and creamy creoleness (if ya know what I mean). I also ordered the gluten-​free cornbread. Yea, that’s right. I said GLUTEN-​FREE cornbread! And it’s pretty darn good. Nice flavor combo and went perfectly with a slab of butter.
Dining style is somewhat communal, however there are a couple tables for a smaller party of 1 – 3. And no need to request condiments: they provide it on the table for your convenience.
Pros:
–quick yet efficient ordering (no long waiting here!)
–pretty good customer service (staff is super friendly and approachable)
–somewhat near the Ashby BART (it’s pretty walkable)
–gluten-​free cornbread!!!
Cons:
–bathroom is somewhat clean, but didn’t feel the cleanest. It’s located right in the kitchen area, which is sometimes hard to keep really clean. But just a note of caution, for those who judge eateries based on bathroom cleanliness.
Oh, and did I mention they offer samples?!? Providing samples is a true testament to a restaurant’s confidence, because they know you’re gonna like it and aren’t afraid to let you try a bit just to reel you in. Which works just fine for me!

I have passed by Easy Creole numerous times before because I was curious of what their food tasted like. So this evening after yoga class I decided to order takeout. I walked into the place, nobody was in the front register, until a woman with short hair came to the front and greeted me. I told her that it was my first time trying their food. I then asked her how was the corn chowder soup (she said it wasn’t soup), she asked if I would like a sample, and I gladly said yes. Then I asked her about the mushroom and spinach etouffèe, she then said, would you like to try anything else, as if I was all of a sudden bothersome. In addition, I told her I was looking for soup based of some sort and the corn chowder is similar to clam chowder, right? I would say so. I then asked if I can try the mushroom spinach soup, with agitation, she went on and said I told you it wasn’t soup, as if she didn’t explain that to me in the beginning. Her energy and her personality was off, and doesn’t seem like the type of person that should be working in front of a register welcoming new patrons — one moment forced to be friendly and the next appearing rather irritated.
The order usually comes with rice and sourdough, I did not want to eat bread or rice this evening so I told her I would just have the spinach and mushroom etouffèe. A tall white guy, called my name out. While my order was being brought over to me, I was wondering why I had such a big to go box when I just ordered the spinach mushroom and the gluten-​free cornbread. A tall man delivered my order to me and I had opened it to check what was up with the big box. I opened it and it was just a slop of spinach and mushroom, the presentation was awfulI, why couldn’t they have put it in a to go bowl. When I ask the man why was it inside the to go box he said that’s how we normally put it and I said why isn’t it in a to go bowl it’s just spinach and mushroom etouffèe, he said well I can going to back and put it in a to go bowl for you. Shouldn’t he have done that already?! I can understand it if I was ordering rice and bread with it, but I didn’t — common sense and awareness — put the spinach and mushroom etouffèe in a to go bowl. It was the worst looking food I have ever received! In addition, I had asked him if it was OK for him to add a little bit more since I didn’t get rice or sourdough bread — he denied of adding any and said, No I can’t, that’s the portion we give. Really? $ 15.95 worth of food, and he couldn’t add a little extra and meet a customers request. Very disappointing.
I will never return to this place again, the food was so so, and most importantly the customer service was very poor.

This place was just awesome! The staff member that served us was so friendly and helpful. She patiently answered our questions about the menu and gave us some recommendations to try. These were so so delicious! Two of them was vegetarian and was still so filling for a couple of carnivores!
We brought our little one along who enjoyed watching out the window. The staff member was also very accomdating to her needs which is always nice.
It definitely has a hipster /​student vibe and we felt a little out of place being older and not so hip! However it was not to the point of discomfort and needing to leave! Nice little find via Unilocal and would recommend to anyone up for some delicious flavoursome meals that will fill your belly with delight!
Check out the differing sauces on the table, not that you need it considering the meals have so much to offer already without the need to add sauce!

It’s not hard to figure out from Unilocal that Easy Creole is a good place! Until recently, I never made it down to EC because I’d always wander in to Giin Thai Canteen before turning onto Alcatraz for my coffee from Alchemy. On the other hand, Easy Creole always looked good as I passed it to get my espresso.
The most recent time around, things went differently because my two lunch companions were eager to try the creole. Well, OK…
Easy Creole aims to please. I told the counter person that I was torn between the Bourbon Red Beans and the Chorizo Etouffée. No problem, I was served two half-​orders on the same plate! I wasn’t sure about the cheese, sour cream and onions that were suggested. Again, no problem — they were served on the side.
Our orders came out almost immediately after we paid for them. The portions were generous, and we dug in. Our table had roughly 10 bottles of hot sauce for us to try; that was fun! Everything was fine — we were definitely happy campers.
Because of Easy Creole, it looks as if I’ll be returning to this neighborhood even more often than before. I’ll still be primarily a Giin Thai kind of guy, but an occasional Easy Creole will be a good change of pace.

Small hip shop with a fusion of Thai-​Asia curry + Louisiana creole in the streets of Berkeley. The interior decorations remind me of American horror story, but have no fear the owner was outspoken and friendly. He introduced the selection of creole and offered samples. Most are heavy with spices and full of flavor. They start to taste the same as you continue to sample, so quick, go with your instincts and pick one (or two)!
I got the half/​half plate with spicy shrimp creole and chili over a bed of white rice (11 $). It’s easy to mix any of the creole because the spices are quite similar. If you ever get tired of a burrito bowl from chipotle, this is probably the next best thing.
Yes to the nicely dressed side bread (free). No to the dry gluten-​free corn bread (2 $).

Creole is apparently up there with Indian food when it comes to least photogenic, but in that same sentiment, it’s also happens to be one of the most flavorful.
Now that we’ve established that your meal ain’t gonna be pretty, let’s get to the details. Ordering is counter style– so form a line and peruse the menu til you decide what’s what. The cashier was friendly enough to offer us samples of some of the items to try which was good for one of my friends who is not so keen on anything that might be overly spicy. She was able to figure out what would be her just right pretty easily.
My boyfriend and I both go half/​half combos with different items so we were able to taste a whole bunch of things without breaking the bank. I ordered the Half Fire Shrimp with Half Spinach and Mushroom Etoufeé and my man (unsurprisingly) ordered the Red Beans & Rice w/​corn chowder.
My favorite bites were definitely the Spinach & Mushroom which was packed full of flavors and awkwardly reminded me of saag paneer (sans paneer), but in a really good way.
I also have to mention that the bread they serve up with your dish is off the walls good. It’s like the freshest baguette drizzled with some kind of oil and makes for the best spoon when sopping up all the dribbly bits!

Glad I finally got to come here after hearing the hype. All the other reviews are right– homestyle food, friendly service, colorful environment, sample before you try, spice sauce bottles galore, self serve utensils, etc.
Side note: Étouffée is a Cajun stew. It’s thickened with roux (mix of flour and fat). Easy Creole uses roux in some of their dishes, and the vegan ones use gluten free flour.
Every day Easy Creole posts a photo of their daily menu on their website and Instagram account. Regulars on their menu– Bourbon & Red Beans w/​Hot Links, Spinach Mushroom Étouffée, Chicken Creole.
My friend and I sampled about 7 of their items, and we ultimately decided on getting to half & half plates so we could get variety. We got…
— Chorizo Étouffée: We liked this one the best
— Tofu Jerk: BBQ flavored sauce draws you in
— Spinach Mushroom Étouffée: One of their popular vegan options.
— Honey Pepper Shrimp: Definitely has the spice
We sampled the Chicken Creole and did not like it. It has this herb in it that tastes somewhat moldy (I think it’s an acquired genetic taste of something). We got their gluten-​free cornbread for $ 2, and I was impressed by it. Whole corn kernals in there.
Yes, everything sorta tastes the same after a while– all the stews mixed in rice, but it’s all good. All dishes come with a side of bread. I sorta wish they gave more rice to soak up all the sauce flavors.
We came on Saturday around 12:30pm, and the place was pretty empty. People eventually came though getting a seat was not an issue.
Overall, highly recommend this place for something different. Creative Nawlins charm and a good community gathering place.

A lil’ taste of N’awlins in hippy Berkeley.
Several weeks ago while we were in the East Bay, we had to stop by Hercules early one morning and Wifey suggested we grab breakfast at IKEA on the way back. Look, I ain’t got nuthin’ against IKEA’s cafeteria, it’s just that we’ve been there so many times and it’s just not that exciting. Also fighting traffic and crowd just to get here wasn’t my idea of a quiet breakfast.
Having just recently visited San Diego, I wanted something different that offers a place with a southern kick and I was craving Cajun. If you’re thinking how does San Diego equates to Cajun is a long story, and that is for another time; but this place popped up and it drew us in like a Mardi Gras party.
I’m gonna assume that this place used to be a Chinese restaurant since there’s a sign hangin’ in front of their place that says «Ming’s Kitchen» on top. Anyways, it just added to the uniqueness and idiosyncrasies of this place. Walkin’ in, you get bombarded by all the photos, posters and artwork hangin’ on every inch of their wall. It’s a lot to decipher and it’s very eclectic.
Their menu is seasonal or whatever is fresh for the day is posted on a chalkboard by the cash register. If you are undecided on what to order, you can mix and match too hot, but it’s full of wonderful flavor that added to the dish. Heck, I was even or have a combo. That is exactly what we did as we wanted a lil’ bit of everything. Wifey had the Fire Shrimp Curry & Chicken Creole and I had the Bourbon Red Beans with Hot Links & Fire Chicken Curry. We also ordered a side of cornbread that we shared.
I’d expect something with a lil’ more heat if something is named «fire,» but it was just mild for my taste. However, the flavor was enough to compensate for the lack of heat. If you can handle some heat, they also have different hot sauce available that came in different bottles, and it fits right in to the theme of the restaurant. Besides, I couldn’t get enough of the spicy garlic hot sauce that they had. It’s not slurpin’ it on my spoon.
The only letdown was the cornbread was a lil’ dry and crumbly. It needed the honey to compensate for what it lacked. However, we still enjoyed the place and the food. Even though it’s self-​serve, the people working there were pleasant, helpful and nice.
Like the name of the place, it’s easy to like and easy on the wallet.

It’s been about a year since we were last here. The food was better this time which is always a wonderful surprise. We came again about a month ago. I’m a little slow in updating this review. Still, great service, easy to read menu, fair prices and wonderful home cooking versions of all time favorites. We did get the bread pudding this time and the only thing I regret was not asking for extra rum sauce.
It just keeps getting better!

Before trying Easy Creole, I’ve never actually had legitimate southern food before. Besides those knock off restaurants and college dining halls that have «creole» and «gumbo,» I’ve never had the real stuff before.
So when my friend recommended this place, I was stoked. Easy is located on the corner of Adeline and Alcatraz. Make sure to look closely on your right as its a small place. Right when you walk in you’re greeted by a mannequin who looks almost lifelike with her beads. For a second, I thought I was in the South! Though the menu is quite small, they let you not only mix your plates but also sample them as well! Now how good is that right?!
My friend and I ordered the chicken creole, shrimp jerk and mushroom étouffée. Oh my they were so filling and delicious! They add the right amount of spice and put the right amount of care into their dishes.
I highly encourage you to check out this small restaurant and become absorbed into that southern draw.
Eat well and prosper!

Easy Creole does every damn thing right. Their service is friendly, they let you taste samples of their ever-​changing menu (which includes gluten and dairy free /​vegan options) and the funkiness of the décor doesn’t hurt either. You can get brown or white rice with any of your entrees. We had the Bittersweet Veggie Gumbo, Tequila Caliente, and Ming’s Sweet Revenge. Everything tasted $&@#% amazing. Compostable takeout containers and utensils. Plus prices and portions are totally reasonable.
If you ever thought traditional Cajun foods could be better, you were right. Now you know where to get ‘em. ;)
The bar has been raised, Southern states.
6 stars!