Judice’s Cajun Cafe

I was born and raised in Southeast Texas, but I moved to Missouri in 2009. Last autumn (2015), I made a trip down south to visit my family, and I noticed some changes had taken place in Bridge City during my six-​year absence. One of those changes was that the Judices had expanded their restaurants into Bridge City.
Judice’s Cajun Café is located in the building previously occupied by Gary’s Café. The interior looks a lot like Gary’s, but with a Cajun twist. They have faux alligator booths, and the walls are decorated with black-​and-​white photos relevant to the Judice family and restaurant history. Many of them feature the late A.J. Judice, the «Crazy Frenchman» and beloved local. One showed A.J. playing the triangle with some kids. I didn’t realize it until seeing that photo, but I actually met A.J. when I was a kid. He called some kids up to play the triangle at a local festival, and I have a really embarrassing photo of myself in a Pepsi jumpsuit, just jamming away with him and a bunch of other kids. (Hey, it was the ‘80s. Are you telling me YOU didn’t have a Pepsi jumpsuit?)
So, about that food. .. I was in the area for three full days, and I ate here once for breakfast and once for dinner.
BREAKFAST:
Apart from beignets, cush cush, and a boudin omelet, most items on the breakfast menu are standard American fare. Think eggs, bacon, pancakes, and toast. For my breakfast, I had to order the boudin and cheese omelet because when life offers you boudin at 7 AM, you just don’t say no. It came with toast and hash browns, a fantastic and filling meal at just $ 7.99.
The omelet was huge and was filled with plenty of boudin. I lived in Southeast Texas for nearly 30 years, and I’m not sure why I never thought of having boudin for breakfast. It’s genius! Though, I probably still prefer my boudin in the fried spherical formation. :)
Note: If you are visiting the area and are unsure of the pronunciations for beignet and boudin, it’s ben-​YAY and BOO-​dan.
DINNER:
I had dinner here with family on my last night in town. I had been hoping to catch the steam table, but we missed it. Actually, we almost missed having dinner here entirely. My family had only dined here on Fridays and had assumed Judice’s had the same business hours every day. Nope.
We apparently had arrived within 15 minutes of their closing time, but they waited on us without saying a word. When I ultimately realized they were closing, I was so embarrassed. I wanted to rush through my food and get out so that they could close and go home. However, they never made us feel rushed. In fact, we sadly were not the last to leave.
Unfortunately, my food was not as great as the service. I don’t mean for that to come off sounding so harsh, especially when I dined at a restaurant right at closing time. However, I had a couple of issues with what I ordered: a fried shrimp salad and a cup of chicken and sausage gumbo.
The salad was beautiful and was covered with a very generous portion of shrimp. The shrimp were fried well and served hot. Although there was no doubt my salad had been freshly prepared, the shrimp had an off-​taste to me. It’s possible that I’m just too darn picky about my shrimp. My dad had the exact same thing, and he didn’t say anything about his shrimp.
In regard to the gumbo, I agree with another reviewer that it was thin or «watered down.» I know gumbo is a very personal thing. If you grew up with your grandma’s gumbo recipe, you probably think your grandma’s gumbo is the best – and I’m no exception there. However, this gumbo just did not have much flavor and seemed more like a bland chicken and sausage soup.
RATING:
Judice’s gets three very solid stars from me. If you take a look at the pictures, I think you’ll see they are serving up some good-​lookin’ food. I might not have loved every single thing I ordered, but had I been in town just a bit longer, I would have been back to try something else. Although service was pretty great during both of my visits, please don’t follow my example. Check their hours before you go! They were kind enough to wait on my family and me just before closing time, but I felt – and still feel – so awful about it.

Delicious! Our party ordered boudin balls, étouffée, gumbo, burgers, and fried shrimp! All was top notch and very authentic Cajun! The wait staff was delightful as well. We look forward to going back.

Pure awesomeness in every category! The grilled shrimp salad is to die for! Service rocks, the food rocks, the atmosphere rocks, you get large portions and if you leave hungry it’s your own fault!

I can’t get over how amazing their customer service is!
My oldest son tried to eat his mac & cheese too fast and wound up choking and puking all over our table and the floor. :/​The staff and manager were AMAZING about it. They cleared the table, brought us clean towels to wipe down our son with and went above & beyond by making him fresh food.
Their fried shrimp & boudin were great, as well. We will definitely be back the next time we visit Bridge City.

A nice, small and easy going place with lovely Étouffée and a fast and delightful staff. Gave me some extra pistolette bread on the the side just because I asked nicely since I was on my way back to Houston!

Excellent food, good fast service and good prices. Had the Boudin balls with Fish po boy and it was some of the best I’ve had. Place has the old school diner feel but is clean and friendly service. I’d definitely eat here again.

As the other reviewer noted the gumbo was so severely watered down or not cooked correctly that it didn’t taste like much of anything at all. The pistolettes weren’t true pistolettes, merely some biscuits fried with étouffée on top. The étouffée was short on crawfish and long on disappointment. We also had a shrimp po boy which was the only ok food we found. Skip here and go straight to pks in Orange.

This is by far the worse seafood I have ever had. The gumbo was so watered down I sent it back and they brought me another one that wasn’t any better. My son had fried shrimp that was old and cold.

Very good local flavor. Might not have a dance floor like Larry’s Cajun Market but still provides a very authentic Cajun experience. The boudin balls are already on the spicy side so if you order the spicy be ready for heat. The staff are friendly and the buffet is full of options. (not all you can eat though but still very much worth it!)

I have tried several times and food has been great but this time the food was not so great. My fish was over cooked and shrimp were rubbery, but will try again. Would have given 5, except for last visit. Manager did come to table but as far as we could tell, he didn’t do anything about it.

C’est si bon! Best Cajun food this side of the Sabine River. Seafood gumbo is the real ‘Cajun’ deal. Fried seafood was all well executed and authentic. We’ll be back!

Crawfish… that is all. This was delicious and the cheapest I’ve seen yet this season — 3 lbs for $ 13.95. My daughter had the pistolettes and a cup of gumbo off the appetizer menu and it was enough for a meal. Love this place, love the food and the Cajun music.

Excellent! They were busy the first night we went in, having just opened that week. I had the shrimp po’boy and it was perfect! My daughter had the seafood gumbo, which came with rice and potato salad. The service was great, the place was clean and the prices were affordable. Before we left, one of the owners came to our table and asked how everything was. Couldn’t ask for a better experience.