Knotty Pine On the Bayou

Well-​I am going to base my review off food alone-​because our service was absolutely terrible! So bad in fact, we got up an 1 ½ into our meal and left before our main dishes came out. Everyone around us was getting service and we were ignored. I will say the manager tried to get us to stay and was super great about it all.
It’s was my sons Birthday weekend. And he really wanted to try something different. We had reservations on a Sunday, sat on the patio over looking the river with an acoustic guitar player. Amazing atmosphere!
We started off with Alligator bites-​yeah, never had them before, but let me tell you they were fantastic! Fried perfectly, super tender and on a bed of homemade creole sauce. We also got the Oyster Bienville-​baked on the half shell topped with a mixture of breadcrumbs, parm, and Romano cheese blend. The creole sauce was missed on ours for some reason, but the green onion garnish made it on there. Pretty darn good!!! And I don’t like oysters! Son also wanted to try frog legs-​also super moist and served with a butter dipping sauce. That butter sauce is yum-​o! After I had to ask for the bread from the runner and my salad-​that butter sauce is an added touch to the bread. The salad was blah! Only spring greens a radish, and 2 cucumbers. The onion dressing was addictive! The ranch was also homemade and good. What set me off was the hair in the salt shaker-​forgot to grab that and show the manager that one! No worries pic is posted here.
What started out great-​ended terrible. Based on the food-​I am sure the main dishes are great. Just sad and disappointed about my sons day.

Wherever there is a crawfish boil, my friends and I are sure to be there makin a mess and stuffing our faces. when a friend told me about it, of course we headed there for dinner.
We had all recently gone to New Orleans and could definitely say that this place captured its soul very well. It was cozy, had a laid back atmosphere, the service was incredibly fast and attentive, and the food was SO. GOOD. The 3 of us shared a full order of the crawfish, the shrimp scampi pasta, cup of gumbo, and a side of the winder fries. I enjoyed every single thing and recommend all! Everything was SO flavorful. My only complaint was that the crawfish we could tell was not fresh. it had a hint of that stale fishy taste. but it was seasoned very well. We’ll just have to come back and have it again ;).
Finally despite how full we were, we ordered the opera crème cake. it was the best dessert I had had in a long time and was so fresh and moist; they warmed it up too. That icing on top paired with the raspberry was delicious and we devoured the whole thing easily.
I highly recommend this place if you’re a fan of creole. It definitely took us back to NOLA! The patio with the hilly views would be great during Spring/​Summer.

Eight adults for dinner on Derby day. First timers for six of us.
Festive atmosphere and attentive service. Enjoyed the idea of a good Creole place and an advance perusal of the menu looked good.
Unfortunately the food was just okay. Half of us found it a three to four. Half of us a one to two.
Best item was the fried alligator appetizer. The gumbos, étouffées, frog legs, and shrimp cocktails were uninspired. The one person who really likes this kind of restaurant ordered sea bass, perhaps the tamest choice on the menu.
Not a place half of us would attend a second time.

Love Knotty Pine. We live close and go often. Best Gumbo around and the halibut and sea bass are always good. Love the relaxed atmosphere and the people. Servers are always friendly.

This is at a very scenic location which is a big draw to this place. The restaurant was extremely loud although there was a UK game going on while we were there. The service was solid and the restaurant was clean (especially for having a bar there). Now onto my food…
Sautéed Shrimp Over Pasta with a side of cottage cheese.
What Is It: Sautéed very spicy shrimp over pasta.
Presentation: Everything looked proper. The shrimp especially looked appealing.
8 out of 10
Taste: Simply put this was the best tasting shrimp I’ve ever had. The bite on there just made for an awesome flavour. The pasta was ordinary. My big problem was the fact that this plate cost $ 22.95. There was 8 or 9 shrimps on a bed of noodles. As good the shrimp is this was way overpriced. A good experience but they need to get their prices under control.
Taste: 10 out of 10
Value: 2 out of 10

Quaint place… food was really good! I haven’t had and Étouffée so delicious since New Orlean’s Mardi Gras years ago. The Sampler and crab cakes were also a delight! It was worth the drive!

There was a party of 11 that had dinner there 2÷27÷2016 everyone dinner was excellent. Mixed drinks were good service was good also. Lauren was our waitress done a fantastic job & the young man helping Lauren done a fantastic job keeping water filled & soiled dishes off the tables.

Absolutely delicious! Excellent customer service too! They were out of two things we really wanted but they made it up to us and more! Love this place!

Ordered the Lobster bisque and Pan Seared Sea Bass specials. The bisque was wonderful with a hint of spicy. Sea Bass was cooked perfectly. Really enjoyed it.

Amazing!!! I go back time and time again when I’m in the area becaus everything is always perfect! Go on Tuesdays during crawfish season for a real treat!

I recently visited their after finding a deal on groupon for essentially half off. I took my mother who let me try some of her food. The prices weren’t too bad, service was great, but the food failed to satisfy our rather high expectations after hearing countless recommendations that Knotty Pine offered the best creole food in the Tristate. We started with the crab cakes, which were a mixed bag. The ratio of crab to breading definitely was more than satisfactory. However, the seasoning and way they were fried were quite vanilla. Nothing particularly special or noteworthy stood out about them in comparison to places like Bonefish, Pappadeaux, or McCormick and Schmick’s. I ordered crawfish étouffée, and while quite flavorful and fairly delicious it didn’t satisfy what I was expecting out of an étouffée. The flavor profile and consistently were exactly what you’d expect out of a gumbo. It didn’t have the buttery aftertaste nor thick consistency that you’d expect from a traditional étouffée. My mother’s friend shrimp were great, but there are countless places around the city that offer great fried shrimp and very few that offer great creole food and our visit to Knotty Pine did not solidify them as the local creole mecca that we had hoped. We both highly preferred the offerings of the creole chain Pappadeaux, though the prices at Knotty were a bit more reasonable.

First time to knotty pines. Interesting place. Nice little bar. I think the décor especially the seating and tables are supposed to be reminiscent of seating outside somewhere on the bayou. Chairs not real comfortable. Food was ok. Shrimp appetizers were good. A couple people had the sampler entrée and enjoyed. I had a dozen fried oysters. They were ok. I’ll try catfish next time.

It was our anniversary and decided to do something a little less traditional — I usually take her to rubies or celestial or something like that.
I «LOVE» Cajun, My aunt was a true blood Louisiana backwoods Cajun. Man the food she could put on the table was just downright mind blowing and unfortunately has been my measure for good Cajun food ever since. Minus the fish head stew — never could get used to that one.
She set the bar for jambalaya the likes I have never found outside of being at their farmhouse in the swamps of Louisiana. Could eat it till I was sick. She would spend half a day on the rue alone — that’s the secret or the love depending on how you look at it.
I digress, back to knotty pine.
My wife had the special — Chilean sea bass — not exactly Cajun — creole, or a native dish of Louisiana. However, it was the Gem of the meal. A nice thick cut piece of fish — chosen pan seared, and was really well prepared. $ 30
With a rather plain boiled red potatoes side –some yummy collard greens that had the right bite and not over cooked and mushy.
A little salad of ‘iceberg’ lettuce with a nicely sized portion of blue cheese crumbles along side a very thin base dressing which together I suppose made up the blue cheese dressing — likely the same for several dressings like the ranch. Volume of blue cheese crumbles, impressed, overall experience of «blue cheese dressing» unimpressed.
I went for the sampler — a mix of Cajun classics. a sampler is always a risk I know but wanted to, well, sample a little love from everything. So excited I was but so disappointed I became.
One and one half hours after placing our order our food arrived. That is correct folks — 1.5 hours — 1 and ½ hours or roughly 90 minutes after our order was placed.
No apologies, no recognition of the fact of that being entirely unacceptable, no nothing other than us staring at the ceiling. By the time the food arrived we had entirely lost our appetite and boxed it up and left.
The sampler — Perfectly cooked plump shrimp — promptly drowned in raw Texas Pete style hot sauce — Ummm — what the hell is that
The gumbo was Devine…
The blackened chicken wasn’t blackened, was so dry i had to choke it down with water. It was that worst of cases with little slices of breast that had been cooked and sat to long till it was cold. Hey guys, if that’s what your gonna do at least look into brining so it retains some moisture.
Red beans and rice was pretty good but after 3 spoonfuls found I had no inclinations to go back for a fourth.
The steak was ok but over marinated so that the outer layers were mushy and somewhat mealy. My wife loved it and was pecking at that while I was pecking at her sea bass.
All in all it was $ 170 with the oyster appetizers, a few glasses of wine and tip — FYI — to much cheese on the oysters, couldn’t taste them. If your paying $ 30 for a dozen oysters I would like to get a hint of what they actually taste like, not be just a textural component.
The waitress was great — very attentive and excellent service but one thing I would suggest is quit trying to clear plates when there is still food on them. Must have been asked 10 times to remove appetizer plates with $ 30 worth of oysters on the plate — or even while my wife had just mixed her salad with dressing and we were talking they came by and asked to remove a full plate of salad 10 minutes after putting it down. then we waited over an hour for the main course. Why would you be so anxious to clear the table when you can’t put down the main course for an hour.
Summary — For a Roughly $ 200 meal, I hate to say it but knotty pine is «WAAAY» overpriced. They try very hard, if not too hard, to portray an establishment that can push those prices but the quality doesn’t cut it, the food didn’t cut it and the wait didn’t cut it.

This is the best Cajun food around. Totally authentic cajun cooking made to order. Whether you go for the Cajun sampler, spucy shrimp, sea bass or whatever your choice. this is the place for great cajun cooking. They have a nice bar with local and Louisiana beers in bottle and on tap and a really good wine selection.

Let me get straight to the point. The food was exceptional, the service was adequate. You get what you pay for. For two of us we walked out with a $ 91 ticket. That’s two entrees, drinks and dessert.
We will definitely be back with friends next time.

I loved loved loved the food, season and spiced to perfection. The staff was very nice and attentive. I sat at the bar alone and the bartender immediately began to chat and interact with me. It made me feel very welcomed and comfortable in a small town in Kentucky. Next time I am in Wilder, I will definitely stop here to eat.

The only reason I’m not giving 5*s is because the food is a tad overpriced and the patio catches the evening sun and the tables on the uncovered part of the patio need umbrellas. Otherwise, the food and atmosphere is very good.
We ordered drinks and dinner, skipping the appetizers. Glad we did, because the entrees were generous. My wife ordered crab cakes and I had the bien oysters on the half shell. My wife said they were the best crab cakes she’s ever eaten. Very delicious in the creole sauce. My oysters were baked to perfection with the melted Parmesan cheese, making it very tasty. For dessert we shared an opera cream cake, which was quite yummy too. All of this and a grand view of the Licking River and surrounding hillside made for a guaranteed return visit.

Been here once before many years ago on a double-​couples date with friends and had a fantastic time. Inspired me to want to return. However– though the food was good, nothing stood out as exceptional. Would come again with others, but not at my own insistence.

1. I would like to provide more stars but once a chef, always a chef. I had the red beans and rice and was very disappointed. For those who know real Cajun/​Creole food, canned red kidney beans and half diced up sausage and no spice whatsoever hardly suffice for the true Cajun staple. Mine blow theirs out of the water!
2. Our server Matthew was cold and robotic as well, bringing me the incorrect beer which I first ordered. He did make it right though. He could use some customer service tutoring.
3. The food pricing is way out of line for this establishment. I didn’t want to buy the place, just dine there. With that being said, the beer was the best part of the meal.
4. It was a cool evening so we didn’t sit outside. It was actually warmer outside than in as it was absolutely freezing in the «restaurant» and that term is loosely used in this case.
On a better note, my dining partner had the ribeye and liked it, except for the spicy hot peppers on the side of the plate. If one was allergic to peppers, oh my! Also small portions of the sides as well.
Ate there 5÷31÷15 :-(The End!

I had a difficult time deciding on how many stars to give Knotty Pine. While the food was good, the prices were extremely high for the overall dining atmosphere. For most Cincinnatians, this place is off the beaten path (aka in the middle of nowhere). My boyfriend and I came here because I, of course, found a groupon. When we arrived, the place felt more like a hometown bar than a fine dining restaurant. There was a gentleman in a tuxedo singing Barry Manilow-​type music on a karaōke machine, which was a bit bizarre. For appetizers, we couldn’t decide between raw oysters on the half shell or the oysters beinville, so our waiter recommend we try three of each, which I thought was a great idea. While both were yummy, I thought 6 oysters for $ 18.95 was a bit pricey. (Then again, I have been spoiled by $ 1 oysters on Thursday nights at The Anchor in OTR…) we also got an order of the knotty winder fries with Cajun seasoning as an appetizer. These were awesome dipped in the Louisiana hot sauce that was on the table. I ordered the sautéed shrimp over pasta for my entrée. These were cooked in hot sauce, butter, lemon and garlic. The hot sauce flavor was a bit overpowering, but it was still tasty. It came with a house salad and bread and butter but again was pricey at $ 22.95. My boyfriend got the shrimp scampi served over pasta, and it too was good but nothing over-​the-​top. I will say the shrimp were cooked to perfection. Without the Groupon, our bill was $ 74 before tip for the two of us and we only had waters to drink. Had we ordered wine, it would have been $ 100 easily. Here are my overall thoughts:
Food — 3 stars for taste, 2 stars for price
Ambiance — 2 stars
Service — 3 stars
Overall — 2.5 stars
Sadly, we will probably not make a return visit to knotty pine due to the distance, prices, and atmosphere. There are better seafood options in downtown/​OTR…

Their quality and prices are not in balance. I understand smaller restaurants might charge more in general for fresh, local ingredients but this is not the case here. Being said, the environment and ‘support local’ aspect is the only reason I am not truly disappointed I tried this restaurant.
The best item from our two meals was the crab cakes. Being from Maryland, I am picky but these were decent, sans Old Bay. The sides were green beans and fries. The fries are just large semi spiral cuts of potato and the green beans looked like they came right out of a can.
The gumbo had two, maybe three pieces of chicken and no mention of other meat. It was mostly okra. The flavor was OK but I lost interest and didn’t finish it.
I recommend trying this place if you are in the area and have a coupon (Groupon or the like) so you don’t pay full price. Maybe then the quality will meet your expectations.

I really want to love the Knotty Pine. I’ve been here to the new location twice now and the old location once. The concept is great and not something we have around here. But alas, the food is just OK.
Of all things I ordered, my favorite thing was the lobster bisque. It had huge chunks of lobster it in, but they were slightly over cooked, I would suggest not putting the chunks in the soup but pouring the soup into the chunks at the table.
At our table, we ordered 2 orders of the blackened sea bass, which wasn’t really blackened. One order was cooked well but over seasoned, the other order was over cooked and seasoned better. Neither of the orders had that blackened crust you usually get when you get a blackened order.
I was really looking forward to the étouffée. It was good, the right amount of spice, but the seafood in it was hard to find, all I saw were teeny tiny shrimps.
We loved the collared greens.
The opera cream cake was pretty good but not as good as I was expecting.
The cocktails were not amazing, I had the fashionable, which was a play on an old fashioned with simple syrup so it was less strong, I would not recommend it. I also had a Manhattan which was not the best I’ve had.
They have a wide selection of Abita beer in bottle and on tap, which is fun and true to the theme.
I may be back to enjoy the view and patio in the summer but I am not chomping at the bit to revisit any time soon.

If there is a phrase that sums up this evening’s dinner at Knotty Pine, it is «rather disappointing.» After reading so many complaints about service, I was afraid of what we might encounter in that department. However, the food was the real stinker.
In the spirit of saying something kind, there were some good things worth mentioning. For example, the Bleu cheese dressing was VERY good, as were the collard greens. Paul enjoyed the chocolate Kahlua pie.
In the okay category fell the following: my sea bass, which was under-​seasoned, and Paul’s lobster bisque, which would have been much better had it not been both under-​seasoned and served lukewarm. Also okay was the atmosphere, which would have been good but for the constant draft coming from God knows where.
The disappointments began with butter and ended with my dessert. Putting slightly warm bread on top of stone cold pats of butter does not defrost the butter. Also, sauteing catfish in butter and then loading it up with Cajun seasoning does not make it blackened catfish. Serving it undercooked does not help either. I would have sent it back, but Paul is too nice. In addition, you can’t cover up waterlogged red potatoes with Cajun seasoning and fool patrons into believing they are meant to be eaten. Finally, serving «the most widely ordered» opera crème cake with a raspberry sauce that tastes like cough syrup might prompt Chris Rock to shout, «Put a little ‘Tussin on it,» but it does not make for a tasty dessert.
Service ranged from poor to good. The bus boy removed plates from our table without asking but then later redeemed himself by keeping drinks refilled. We waited far too long for our main course, especially considering the fact that there were only two other parties there when we arrived. The manager stopped by to ask us how our meal was, which was appreciated.
It’s worth mentioning that I visited the Knotty Pine several years ago and enjoyed everything about it. Unless Robert Irvine visits this place and helps them overhaul it, I don’t imagine myself returning.

Knotty pine was my first birthday adventure of the year. I had heard so many good things about this place and it did not disappoint!
When you pull up the restaurant has a really nice and at home vibe. As soon as you walk in the Louisiana theme rings through, from the décor to the music it was all New Orleans. Some of the table and chairs are outdoor metal furniture but that’s okay it gives the place an awesome feeling of being outside when your inside.
I ordered the crab cakes, it came with the choice of rice or potatoes, green beans or collard green, and a side salad. I ended up getting rice, green beans and my salad which were all great choices. My crab cakes were so moist and delicious.
This was my first birthday fun adventure of this year and I am so happy with this decision.

We purchased a Groupon to try out the revamped Knotty Pine. It is very expensive for what is offered on the menu. I could never see paying full price for any of it.
I had the crab cakes with roasted red potatoes. They were both spicy which kind of overwhelms the entire entrée. My mom ordered the catfish with potatoes. Her catfish was greasy and we have both had better seafood elsewhere for a fraction of the cost. For dessert, we had the opera cream cake which tasted like Duncan Hines chocolate mix. The icing and raspberry sauce on top made it pretty good. Not really worth $ 6 though.
The atmosphere is very 90’s and they didn’t spend much on furniture. We were literally sitting on deck chairs with table cloths inside of the restaurant. Very eclectic decorations but I understand that they are going for Cajun/​New Orleans style in Northern Kentucky. The parking lot is extremely worn down as well. Service was decent but I will not be a regular customer at this establishment. Once was enough for me.

I feel like Knotty Pine on the Bayou has a lot of unrealized potential. There’s a dearth of places to dine outside in the area and KPOTB has a large deck overlooking the Licking River. However, there are only tables on about ¹⁄₃ of the deck and the surrounding grass/​weeds are overgrown and unkempt-​looking.
It’s also suffering from a bit of an identity crisis – the interior and exterior of the building says «dive», the servers’ tie-​dyed t-​shirts say «casual, fun», but the menu prices say «upscale». Seriously, the prices at this place are shockingly high.
On a recent visit, our server was inattentive and actually rude at times. Our party was 2 adults and a reasonably well-​behaved toddler and he acted shocked that we dared to bring a child with us. We had to ask for a booster seat and ask for a kid’s menu (they have one, we just weren’t given it at first) and ask for a 3^rd set of silverware and then ask again for the applesauce that was supposed to come with his meal, but didn’t. Kid’s menu options are the standard awful, unhealthy stuff that too many restaurants think are the only things kids will eat (e.g. chicken fingers, PB&J on white bread, etc.).
The adults’ food came out before our drinks. I ordered the crab cake appetizer and small bowl of étouffée. The crab cakes were small and overcooked to the point of almost being burned. The étouffée is the only reason this review is 2 stars vs. 1 because it was actually very good (ridiculously over-​priced, but good) – a slow burn heat in a rich gravy sauce with chunks of crab and crawfish over rice.
There is clearly some real Louisiana cooking expertise in the kitchen – if they would re-​focus their menu, reduce prices (or make the experience and quality commensurate with the current prices), hire/​train professional & friendly servers, and revamp the outdoor dining space, this could be a real dining destination in NKY.