Nawlins Café

Nawlins is a hole in the wall joint, that specializes in New Orleans style cooking… hence the name. I first learned to love mom and pop stores in the streets of Taipei, Taiwan. Street vendors and mom and pop stores such as Nawlin’s are truly hidden gems. Located across from the BMW dealership in the Texaco station, you can grab a cheap/​fast lunch on the go. If you love to get the most bang for your buck, then this is the place!
Now on to the review. I have had almost every item on the menu and none have failed me yet!
Wing combo… perfectly battered full chicken wings…4 full wings (8 at other wing joints) served with shrimp fried rice, dirty rice or french fries will run you around 5 bucks. They make it fresh so call before hand for pick up.
Catfish– fried with cornbread batter, crispy on the outside. Definitely brings me back to my days of Bourbon street!
Seafood Gumbo-​loaded with crawfish, sausage, shrimp! You can tell they definitely take their time to make a great roux! Better gumbo than Papaduex, which is saying a lot considering I am one of their biggest fans.
Chicken salad-​great for days when I am looking to eat healthy! Chicken is seasoned cajun style, not too salty at all.
Chicken teriyaki/​chicken fried rice– definitely not Cajun, but hits the spot every time. Owners are Asian and better than all the downtown Americanized Chinese food!
try it out! You will thank me later!

Like Howard, i came here based on a recommendation of a friend. I was thinking about ordering something relatively light, like gumbo or something, but the smell of fried cajun food became impossible to resist.
We tried the fried chicken wings, fried catfish and french fries. The wings were my favorite — one of the best I’ve tried in Houston. Well seasoned, crispy and very fresh tasting (clean oil, not too greasy). After seeing Richard’s review on the gumbo, i went back to try it. I am not a cajun food connoisseur or anything, but i thought the base rue for the gumbo was exceptional. Based on the food alone, I’d give them 4.5 stars.
It is somewhat in the ghetto (which some people like — adds to the hole in the wall experience) and I think they are cash only. Overall, I’d give them 4 stars.

In case you havn’t noticed, im a major fan of hole in the wall mom and pop places. and let me tell you, this place is the Epitome of the hole in the wall joint. heck, i would not have even found this place had I not been in the area to get some gas. But boy am I glad I did find this gem of a place.
Tucked inside of Texaco, next to BMW and across from greyhound, lies an unassuming Cajun joint called Nawlins. They specialize in comfort food: Gumbo, fried wings, catfish, chicken fried rice, all the way to eggrolls and chicken salads.
The food is excellent and very authentic. Everything is fresh to order. We always get the fried wings and gumbo and an order of fried rice. I just cant get away from their chicken and sausage gumbo. This place is ridiculous value from a food to price ratio.
the gumbo was around $ 3.50 and you get a lot. Fried rice cup was around $ 2.50, and 6 whole wings was $ 6 and it comes with rice or fries.
If you are ever in the mood for some good take-​out eating and are in the mid-​town area, definitely give this a try.
–notes, plan on taking it togo. I think they are closed on sunday.
great taste great value
— 5 stars — Rich out!

Went here on the recommendation of a friend.
Typical fare being:
Fried rice,
Chicken wings,
Fried catfish, etc… u get the picture
I and another Unilocaler got the full order of catfish, 4 pieces, and chicken wings, 4 pieces.
Luckily we got it fresh off the fryer. Don’t know how it would be if it was cold.
This place is pretty good for this type of fare if your jonesin for some of this stuff around downtown at lunchtime.
Its not a place i would put on my calendar and look forward to but still pretty decent eatin.