On The Bayou

I had the jambalaya and gumbo, and both were excellent. Prices were fair for good food and sit-​down service. Seems the negative reviewers are being overly critical. I’m from E. TX and have had a lot of Cajun food in my time. I’ll be going back.

Good. They are working hard to make it better. Still cracking up over the «young Granny Clampett» comment in an earlier review — and obviously not a career waitress, but she tries really hard and has always gotten our order right. The food makes up for it, and is always fresh (waitress says he drives to Louisiana every week to get). I’m a little tired of «Cajun» food which is simply drenched in spices, and this seems to be more authentic.

I have been to On the Bayou a few times already. I really enjoy the atmosphere and the friendly staff. I usually get the fried catfish (spicy) and Cajun fries which is always good. Today I asked the server to help me try something new, she suggested I try the Atchafalaya Shrimp Creole (spicy). And I did… I was amazing. The seasoning and taste of this dish was delicious. With five pieces of jump shrimp atop a bed of rice and beans and sauces. I would have never thought to try this but I will most definitely have it again. The place was clean and reasonably priced. So not sure what happened to the couple of bad comments below but this is a revisit for sure. Thanks.

How in the name of Madame Lalaurie can you call this «Cajun»? My half «spicy» fried crawfish tail sandwich was bland, flavorless, and pretty much devoid of crawfish tail. I ordered it with remoulade and a side of fries. It was served dry, and the fries were inedible. By the time the waiter got around to bringing the sauce out, almost 10 minutes had passed since my food was brought out. Of course by then the sandwich was cold.
Oh, and the sweet tea was so bad i asked for water.
Slow service. Bland food. Not coming back

Had the Catfish Piquant– sauce and rice were moderately good, but the catfish was amazing. Think I’ll try one of the other catfish dishes next time to try a different sauce. Chicken and Sausage gumbo was also good– very authentic. Tried the Chocolate Madness Cake– very rich — you better like chocolate a lot– but it was really good. Very good experience overall– service was great.

I have experienced street food in Wuxi, China, as well as fish and chips in Birmingham, England. I’ve had tiramisu in Venice, and pizza in Rome, Italy. I avoid eating at the same restaurants. I am open minded, and I will try anything. This is why it is rare that I ever experience a first.
On the Bayou, was impressive upon entering; the décor was quite an upgrade from the bar that once occupied this location. Taxidermy may, however, violate someones idea of a hygenic place to dine. I digress…
In my life, I have never experienced crawfish étouffée ($ 16) quite like this. In fact, unlike all other versions I have eaten, upon further examination, it had 4 ingredients: roux, ~8 petite tails, rice, and dried parsley sprinkles. I cross-​referenced six étouffée recipes online before I told my waitress I was not pleased.
The manager/​owner came to my table. Quite honestly, her demeanor was reminiscent of a young Granny Clampett. During our interaction, I showed her thousands images of crawfish étouffée on Google; none of which remotely resembled my entrée. I quoted ingredients from recipes, «bell pepper, onion, green onion, celery…» None of these were present.
Owner: «I’M FROM LOUISIANA — I know what étouffée is!»
(…I was raised in Georgia, but I know nothing about peach trees…)
Unfortunately, there was no room for compromise and my complaints were met with Granny-​like sternness. She quickly countered, «I SAW him put that in; It’s there!»
I then combed my fork through the roux, revealing absolutely no trace of sedimentary particles, revealing only oil and burnt flour. Neither love nor affection were put into my, potentially heavenly, entrée.
At this, she asked, «is there anything else you need?» You see, by ignoring this revelation, instead of validating my concern or offering reconciliation, she ignored it! She had, therefore, implied that my concerns, as a customer and reasonable person, had little to no value.
«Your customer service is terrible. My bill, please»
The bill came. No charge. Thank you. However, I honestly feel that if I had not questioned her bedside manner, I would have had a bill.
Oh, and my dinner partner’s jambalaya had a texture similar to modeling clay.
(An exact copy of this review existed on Facebook, but the owners appealed it, time and time again, deeming it ‘inappropriate.’)
Is there a local financial incentive (tax write off?) for DELIBERATELY dooming your restaurant to failure?

First day opening for lunch and NO POBOYS?
I tried the shrimp étouffée today. It was a lot of steamed rice and pretty bland. Corn nuggets were an option for a side. Weird. They were like any other corn nugget you have had at any BBQ joint. Regular salad with ranch from the bottle.
I’ll give another review when I’ve tried the Poboys.

I ordered the chicken and sausage jambalaya. It was mostly rice with hardly any meat. The meat that was in it was cooked dry. There was no base at all to provide some moisture to the dish. The spice and flavor wasn’t bad, but the overall dryness and lack of meat and vegetables made it disappointing.
Most jambalayas I have tasted have been made with large sausage medallions and nice chunks of peppers, this had a few crispy wisps of sausage and maybe once fork full of chicken and no peppers in sight. I paid $ 11 bucks for some dirty rice!
When the manager asked me how it was, I was honest, but I was not looking for a refund or for a correction. I just wanted to get out of there. In fairness she said «we can’t fix stuff if you don’t tell us», but it was obvious that this is the standard of food. I saw two previous tables walk out, so it wasn’t just our experience.
The waiter was great, but the food was not good and overpriced.