J Gumbo’s

For a place with gumbo in the name the gumbo was horrible. We ended up throwing a entire bowl in the trash because everyone though it tasted rancid. With that being said the jambalaya was great. I would go back simply for the jambalaya. The service I received was nice and friendly. I did takeout but I did sit at the bar and drink a beer while I waited for my food. The place seemed clean and tidy.

Food wasn’t bad, but service was quite poor. This place was very much like an airport restaurant so don’t go here if you’re looking for a Pappadeaux style place to sit down and enjoy a good Cajun meal. There was one guy up front who was very slow and one girl in the kitchen — all serving about 20 people. Ambiance was lame, my food was served in a plastic bowl and the patrons were all getting quite impatient.

2.5
It’s a chain restaurant located in a strip mall in a Cleveland suburb. Some things are what they are. When it comes to JGumbos, however, some of those things aren’t very good. But, let me start with the positives:
1.) When you walk in, it looks like a counter-​service establishment. But, it’s not. You get table service and that helps to elevate the experience and make things a little nicer;
2.) Speaking of table service, our server, Erin, was fantastic. She was sweet as pie, funny, patient, and incredibly helpful. She gave suggestions, offered samples and helped a group of people decide on what to get. She definitely helped make the experience much more than it could have been;
3.) HAPPY HOUR AND SUPER BOOZY DRINKS. Yes, JGumbos serves booze (as well as NOLA-​styled eatery should). Yes, the drinks are good. Yes, the bartender had a heavy hand. Yes, the drinks come in pint glasses. Yes, the happy hour prices will make you over indulge. Yes, you should have a DD if you come here during happy hour.
BUT!
The food is awful. Seriously. It’s not good. Like, at all. I can’t say that anything looked appealing. More dishes had the appearance of slop on a plate. I’m not even pulling the ‘I used to live in New Orleans’ card. This was just, objectively, nasty-​looking food. If you eat with your eyes, you might go blind from starvation. Wanting to minimize the prospective damage to my stomach but needing something to soak up all the sweet sweet booze in my belly, I decided on the NOLA Nachos. I can hear you laughing. Yes, NOLA Nachos. That says it all. NOLA.Nachos. Some of the highlights: store-​bought Tostido chips. Barely solid ‘chicken.’ Some sort of indistinguishable ‘NOLA’ sauce. Ugh. I can’t write any more. The flashbacks are making me ill.
Come here for happy hour.

I went to J. Gumbo’s with my family tonight (As you can see by my profile pic: D) and i have to say it been a while since i found a nice looking bar that also has amazing food! Usually you have to chose one ort the other like cleats. The food was amazing especially the CORNBREAD, I CANT STRECH THIS ANY MORE IF YOU LIKE CORN BREAD GET TOU BUT UP THERE RIGHT NOW!!! The service was also great, The server that helped us was named rocco and he was kind and attentive, my drink was never empty, and my food arrived hot and delishious!!! Also my sister made a mess allover the table and floor by dropping her cherry coke and a nice young girl lexi promptly came to the rescue and cleaned the mess my sister made in no time flat!!! I look forward to going again and all you Unilocalers out there should do the same: D.

Arrived Friday night and it was very cold inside. Everyone was wearing thier coats. We were seated promtly and offered menu. I asked waitress if heat was not working she said they would turn up heat.
Menu was limited and no Mardi Gras specials. Drink order was taken and our food order as well. Food arrived promptly but my etufee was cold to the taste. Waitress took it back and had it warmed up.
My wife’s food was somewhat hot wich leads me to believe that they don’t have it hot and ready to serve. Was not satisfied with it in the least and will not be returning.

Wanted to try this place since I was taking a class in independence. The place was clean and newer looking. It was a Saturday around 11am so it wasn’t busy. I ordered the Drunken chicken per the recommendation of the waitress at the counter. They brought it out in less than 5 minutes. It tasted unique and very good with a slight spicy kick. It was over rice with garlic toast. I’d come back here again to try the rest of the menu. They also seemed to have happy hour specials at the bar.

Came here after a movie yesterday because my boyfriend has been wanting to try it, and we were in the area. Décor was nice, warm and inviting and very clean. Our service was prompt and friendly, and our food came out promptly. I knocked off two stars because I wasn’t enamored with the food at all, but it wasn’t terrible. I ordered the Jean Lafitte Bowl complete with corn, black beans, voodoo chicken over top of white rice and topped with sour cream, cheese, and scallions. I have a few complaints about this dish. Firstly, it was way too sweet. Not just a hint of sweet… sickeningly sweet for a savory dish. The ratio of sauce to rice was approximately 1 part sauce to 2 part rice… barely any black beans or chicken. Also, rice was unseasoned and bland.
Boyfriend got gumbo and jambalaya. To me they were lacking spice and flavor. Again, both were incredibly underwhelming.
Drunken chicken po boy was decent. Needed something else than just chicken on an open faced bun. Perhaps coleslaw for texture and interest?
I wanted to like this place, but I probably won’t come back because to me, the food was simply not memorable enough.

Very, very good.
Danielle and i decided to have J Gumbo’s for dinner tonight after running some errands nowhere near Independence.
She had the chicken and Sausage Gumbo and I mixed the Crawfish Étouffée with with the Voodoo Chicken. we each also bought w piece of corn bread.
I tried her gumbo — or a slice of sausage from the gumbo. the sausage was good but i couldn’t get much idea about the rest.
My meal was really good. At first the sauce/​gravy in the Étouffée seemed a bit too thick for my liking but then i mopped it up with my bread and cornbread and absolutely loved it. The Voodoo Chicken was very tasty and quite spicy.
Holly, our server, was great. she offered us a sample of their bread pudding. I had to decline due to my diabetes. Danielle took her’s home for later.
Speaking of Holly, i felt really bad. The place is set up weird. when you walk in you order at the front register. I paid with a card but didn’t tip. i was confused thinking it was going to be a «self serve» kinda place. she however, took care of us real good and i had no cash or anything to leave for her after our meal.
i hope she’s there on our next visit so i can make it up to her.

Went for lunch and had the drunken chicken which was excellent. Ordered take out via Unilocal and was easy to pick up. Owner was very friendly and if I lived in the area I would go back to.

This place is a solid fast food Cajun joint. I like to go here sometimes for lunch when I am working because it doesn’t take long. Some of the food is pretty spicy! I had the Jean Lafitte bowl and a soda for $ 12.50. The people that work here are very nice. The place is decorated for Mardi Gras year round. It has a very fun atmosphere. I guess they have live bands during happy hour from 4 to 7. The employees were telling me that is very popular and packed during happy hour time. Me? I like to go home and get the hell off Rockside Road after work.

Checked this place out while in town for a conference. I expected more of a table service place, but it’s not. Order at the counter and seat yourself. Nice place, though. Food was great, portions were ample, and prices were reasonable. I had crawfish étouffée and it was delicious!

I know I just ate out yesterday, but whatev’s, I have no shame. Somebody needs to explore all of these food establishments! I am taking one for the team! My cholesterol is good so bring on another fried oreo! Just kidding! My nutritionist is gonna be pissed.
So I’ve heard about the J Gumbo’s located downtown and it’s been on my list to try so imagine my excitement when I discovered there’s a location down the road from my work! A couple co-​workers and I headed on out for lunch. This place is located in the plaza behind Wendy’s and the Shell gas station on Rockside road. It’s a bit newer as I think it opened up December 2014 so inside is relatively nice with a bar and some neat artwork on the walls (that crab painting has a Van Gogh quality to it). I also liked how they were playing some music by Tab Benoit. The lady at the register was friendly and when we walked in she had just brought out a tray of little samples for the customers in front of us to try. That is awesome! I am always so indecisive so I think it’s great when a place let’s you try a couple things to help you make up your mind. You can’t always just ask about the items because staff will typically say «Oh everything is good».
I decided to do a mix and get two entrees in one bowl for $ 8.95. Half was the Crawfish Étouffée and the other half the Bourbon Street Chicken (each bowl also comes with a piece of buttered French bread). One thing I need to mention is that when I asked for a cup for water I was given a regular sized cup! Not a tiny plastic baby cup! Thank you! We were given plastic order number cards and sat down at a high top table where a staff member would bring out our dishes when ready. We didn’t wait very long, maybe 5 minutes max. The food looks appealing and they definitely give you a decent sized portion that will fill you up. The flavors were great too. First bite of the thick/​mushy étouffée and I was like «eh», but it grew on me and I really enjoyed the spiciness of it. Definitely made me drink a lot of water! I found there to be an adequate amount of sauce to cover all of my white rice, and although the crawfish meat was not overly abundant, there were some good chunks of it. The bourbon was on the mild side and had a sweet taste to it which I enjoyed. Lots of chicken in this dish. I think mixing the two really aided in making this meal so great because it then wasn’t lacking in sauce or meat like other reviewers mentioned.
The only minor downside to our experience was that the food came out somewhat lukewarm, so my only suggestion would be to turn up temperature a little bit. Also, this isn’t really a complaint, but I did notice we were just about the only women in the place. Lots of men; maybe they are more inclined to eat a heartier lunch than women?
After we were done with our meals, what appeared to be the owner or manager came over and took away our plates, graciously accepted our compliments about the food, and gave us $ 2 off coupons to share with our other co-​workers. Overall we all enjoyed our meals and I would definitely come back!

As always I am traveling and came across this place. I’ll start by saying TERRIBLE location, TERRIFIC food. Completely blown away by this place and will recommend it as it was a great place to grab some Cajun cuisine.
I had the étouffée and added shrimp and crawfish to make it a manly serving of meat. Additional charge by the way, but worth it as I think it was the perfect portion for me. Huge bowl mostly rice but the taste was awesome. Also bought a slice of cornbread which was awesome, just sweet enough for my taste buds.
Great place and great vibe spending a lot of time in the great state of Alabama and the service was spectacular. The lady in the kitchen actually came out and had a great convo with me and details about the city since I was heading dt for the Cleveland Indians game. Kudos to J. Gumbos!

I was in town on business and couldn’t pass up a place with gumbo in the name, even if it is in Ohio. I was the only customer at around 7 pm, which was odd, but it didn’t really help with the service. The girl was kind of rude and inattentive. The voodoo chicken was pretty delicious, but not as hot as it’s made out to be. I took advantage of the hot sauce and spiced mine up quite a bit. The best thing about this place is they give free samples to indecisive people like me. I would eat here again, if I ever visit again, but the place only gets three stars because of the bad service.

I love this place! First fast food gumbo place I know of. The food is excellent and it has a bar and bands. I highly recommend it! I have tried most all food and really think it’s the best.

Been there twice so far. I had the jambalaya… just the right amount of spicy and heat — loved it and highly recommend the dish. My friend had the drunken chicken and she thought her dish was excellent as well. They also offer samples!

We found this by accident and are so glad we did. The food is excellent and definitely reminds us of the Cajun we had in New Orleans. We tried the crawfish cheese dip, bourbon chicken, and jean laffiette. All were excellent.

Outstanding food at below fast food prices. Rich, the owner, came out personally to insist I try samples of several other things besides my entrée. I will be back here in a heartbeat. This is how you run a restaurant.

First time I have been to J Gumbos and was pleasantly suprised. It has a very good size bar and dining area that I noticed right away even though I did take out. I wish I knew about this place during the freezing Cleveland winter! Friendly staff that offered me some samples of a couple of different options. The only complaint that I have is they need to add a bit more sauce with the rice bowls. Taste was great but got a little bland once I ran out of sauce towards the end even with mixing it up before hand. I will definitely be back to try the other dishes. Overall this place is priced great and worth a try if you like cajun food.

I have been there twice now in the last month. First time I had the gumbo and is was spot on. Owner gave some samples of th the voodoo and drunken chicken and they were great. Went back the second time and decided to have the drunken chicken, once again the flavor of the food was awesome, except this time they poured it over a huge bowl of rice. Way too much rice in my opinion and ran out of the tasty drunken chicken before I knew what hit me.
I will be back but for the 9 bucks spent, I had expected less rice (filler) and more of that tasty chicken, would have almost preferred it to be by itself in a bowl like a soup. That being said, portions are huge. However I will be going back for the Gumbo t get more bang for my buck.

J Gumbo was my first (and not the last) experience with Cajun cuisine, and they made it easy for me. When you arrive, the staff guides you through the menu and even offer samples. For someone who thought gumbo was jambalaya and vice-​versa, this was super helpful.
I ordered a half-​and-​half combo with voodoo chicken and red beans/​rice. I don’t have a biggest tolerance for spicy food, but I thought the food could have been spicier. The voodoo is one of the spiciest they offer, and while flavorful, was missing the cajun kick I was expecting. The entrees are served over a huge bowl of rice and with a large piece of garlic toast. Entrees are inexpensive, filling, and packed full of different spices and ingredients. They offer vegetarian and healthier options for those on a special diet as well.

Just landed in cold-​artic blasting-​snow falling Cleveland. Get to my hotel room, and dinner time arrives. Started looking around on here I did notice that there were plenty of good eating spots close to the hotel, so decided that Cajun was definitely what I wanted. Arrived at the place, and it was a nice chilled out spot, Nice place overall. Food was sorta salty, but it is expected with this type of cuisine. Spicy enough, which made it very pleasant to eat. Waiters were very helpful and gave me some free samples of their dishes. Overall, liked the food, Might go back if i get some time while i’m in town!

Great food fast and affordable!!! I have only gotten takeout, but each time I was offered samples and greeted by friendly staff. Portion sizes are very generous and filling. I have tried the Voodoo Chicken which is deliciously spicy as well as the red bean n rice.

Just ran across it @ lunch time, so glad I stopped in. The items on the menu don’t get any better. The food, value and service were excellent. They get it !
Ya gotta go !

…Excellent Food, as the Manager here at J Gumbos We Offer Samples of All our Dishes. COME CHECK US OUT