Coyote Blues

I go here a lot and the food is good.
My problem is with the service.
Although the service is friendly, I still have problems.
Takes a long time to get your meal.
The meal is not hot and may not even be warm.
The waitress is serving sever tables and may not check back to see if you need anything.
If your need more chips, you may not get them.
Takes a long time to get your bill and a long time to pay it.
I was tired waiting (1 Hr) so I brought the bill to the front.
I tried to pay my bill so I could leave.
They wanted me to go back to the table and wait on the waitress.
I told them I am not going back to the table and waited to see if they would charge my credit card.
Moral
Good food,
Unless you have a lot of time, get your food to go.
The to go line is very fast with no problems.

This has always been a hit or miss for me. I don’t hate it, but I definitely don’t crave it either. I like to go for someone’s birthday and have a couple of drinks with them but over all if I want some Mexican food, there are far better options in town for that. Service is slow, food is ok at best. Drink specials are not bad, specially their margaritas. Other than that, keep on driving.

I grew up on the southern border of Texas and Louisiana, where I had easy access to some pretty fantastic Tex-​Mex and Cajun food. I’ve since moved to St. Louis, and on a recent 800-​mile trip back home to visit family in Southeast Texas, I could hardly wait to sink my teeth into some of my favorite foods.
Imagine my delight when I discovered a restaurant along my route called Coyote Blues, a «fresh Mexican grill with Louisiana Soul.» Mexican food with a Cajun twist? How could we go wrong here? Unfortunately, wrong is exactly where we went.
I’ll start with some positive points. The exterior and interior of the restaurant really were quite lovely. It was a casual place with an upscale look. Service was fine, and my food was plated beautifully.
But that’s about all I’ve got.
I will cut them some slack because I arrived about 45 minutes prior to closing time. However, I kept it simple. I ordered a fiesta salad with jalapeño salsa ranch dressing and a cup of their chicken and sausage tortilla gumbo.
While waiting for my food, I had the complimentary chips and salsa. The chips were not crispy, indicating to me they were either old or had not been cooked properly.
When my salad and tortilla gumbo arrived at the table, both were adorned with tortilla strips. I thought, «Yay! Maybe these will be crispy!» Nope. They were chewy and inedible.
Beneath those tortilla strips, my fiesta salad actually was pretty good. With lettuce, tomatoes, olives, carrots, squash, onion, cheese, and a corn-​and-​bean salsa, it was quite the garden party. I, however, omitted the onion on my salad. I also ended up passing on my jalapeño salsa ranch dressing as well because it was excessively salty.
My tortilla gumbo contained chicken, jalapeño sausage, poblano rice, cilantro, avocado, and sour cream. It had good flavor, but it was lukewarm. And with chewy, inedible tortilla strips, my tortilla gumbo really lost its connection to tortilla soup.
The gumbo was served with cactus cornbread. I’m not sure if it contained cactus, but it was shaped like a cactus. It was okay.
Although my waitress was fine, I overheard a waiter complaining to another waiter about the low tip amounts he’d been receiving that night. Buddy, I have a tip for you: Never complain about your tips in front of other customers.
In the end, my Coyote experience gave me the blues. I will take responsibility for visiting 45 minutes prior to closing time, but shouldn’t they still have been able to serve crisp chips and hot soup? You’d think so. Seems pretty basic to me.

Of all nights that I decide to get to go order from this place had to be Cinco de Myo. I guess I just wasn’t thinking but I also wanted Mexican food at night. The food was better than average in the disco hostess was kind. I would like to visit again one day and try to see if the dining experience is good.

So upset! So disappointed! Tonight my family and I ordered the Deluxe family special, 2 desserts, 4 sides and an appetizer. What we got what 6 old tacos French fries, chicken fajita for ONE with no Tortillas and the dessert was the brownie and it didn’t come with any topping like advertised! We got there 5 mins after we called and waited 40 mins for the food. We had to ask to be helped and was sent to the bar and then back to the front register to get out food. 68.00 was the total and Taco Bell could have given me better food, better service and for 20.00! So upset this is one of are regular go to spots for good food!

They used to be my favorite TexMex, but now they are off my list completely. They had been going downhill on service, but I kept thinking I was expecting too much. This time, i took my 4 co-​workers with me, and had bragged on their good food. Now I’m embarrassed. Even though we told them we needed to be in and out quickly, they took 45 minutes to serve us, and brought cold burritos and greasy chips. When we told the manager, she said should we get us new plates, but we had already waited too long. She also tried to ‘explain’ the greasy chips. And she gave no offer of refund or drink or anything. I won’t go back because of this very distressing visit.

Indoor and outdoor seating, lots of live music. The seafood burrito is the best!!! And I love their salsa and green dip.

Shucks… I am always sad to report a «miss»…
I was in Lafayette for work and was taken here with a small group of coworkers (four of us, total). Two of us drove together, the other two drove separately. Walking in, there were two employees at the hostess stand, neither one of them looked up to greet us. We were able to spot our party and helped ourselves in. There were maybe four or five tables of people, not busy at all.
Our server was very sweet. She took our drink orders and brought our menus along with chips and salsa. What was pretty awesome is that everyone got their own little bowl of salsa. She offered to bring us some green salsa also, which we accepted, but the green salsa never made it to the table. I don’t think anyone else noticed, so I didn’t bring it up again.
The menus looked great and we had a difficult time deciding what to order. I find fusion restaurants exciting! And with Mexican meets Louisiana, I was pretty jazzed.
We started out with an order of guacamole for the table. Our drinks came out, and my margarita (on the rocks) was a little off, something bitter hit me, but I’m not sure where it was coming from. It took a while for the guacamole to arrive and our server kindly explained to us that she didn’t know what happened to the cook, so she had to make the guacamole herself. I am unsure if she actually MADE the guacamole or if she just plated a pre-​made guac herself, but either way, this was awkward and slightly alarming (who the heck is back there making our entrees, then?). The guacamole was served with fried tortillas triangles. The guac was average, I enjoyed it enough to nibble on it. For some reason, it was served on a bed of shredded lettuce. The lettuce did not add anything desirable to the flavor, plating, or texture, and it made it a little harder to scoop onto the tortillas. I don’t know if this is how they usually serve it, or if our server was not sure what she was doing, but I didn’t understand the purpose of the lettuce. The fried tortilla chips were heavy and filling. One or two little chips were okay, but that was plenty of oil for me.
Our food took a very long time to come out. When our server asked us if we wanted another round of drinks, she perked up and remembered that she had forgotten about our food. It was hard to be upset about it because she was really cute and naïve about it saying, «oh ya, your food»… ya, food would be kind of nice.
Two in my party ordered some kind of skewer which sounded amazing on the menu. It was plated with the skewers standing up like a teepee, held together with a pepper at the top. It took several minutes for them to negotiate their plates, figuring out how to snatch up a skewer without the entire dish toppling over like a jenga puzzle. Don’t get me wrong, I love puzzles a LOT, but if it is a road block between me and food, well, things are guaranteed to get feisty. Glad I steered clear of this dish!
I tried to go safe and ordered the fajitas. The hot food came out on an awkward tall metal box. It was placed in front of me at a weird spot on the table, but I didn’t know if it was hot, so I didn’t dare touch it to move it. My tortillas were dry to the point of cracking and the small bowl of cold fixings were placed on top of my tortillas. I was not given a plate to build my fajitas. The chicken and steak were dry and bland, and were served with mostly onions. There were only about 2 strips of bell peppers in my fajitas and it was served with a side of garlic butter… not sure if that is what made it «Louisiana» fusion? Unfortunately, I didn’t like it.
When the server came around the first time to ask how our food was, she offered us to-​go boxes. We looked at each other awkwardly and responded with the politest «not yet» we could muster. She smiled with a «okay, no rush,» and asked if there was anything else that we needed. And then she asked us two more times during our meal if we needed boxes (which we continued to decline, as the food was not worth finishing). This young lady was seriously a darling, but clearly inexperienced. We pretty much had to ask her twice for everything, but she apologized every time and always had a cute smile on her face. Her kindness is what actually pushed my one star into two, because a great attitude is important in the service industry, and she nailed it.
Overall, would I come back? If I had to, but I’d rather not.

A lot of franchisees in Lafayette so places to eat are very limited. When I go home to visit my friends they always like eating either here or at Olive Garden. This place is like Mexican food meets Cajun food. They give you free chips and salsa. The salsa is pretty good and free chips can be so tempting that you don’t realize you’ve eaten the whole basket before your food arrives. On two different occasions I’ve tried the shrimp and crawfish chimichanga and the Cajun pasta (I think that’s what it’s called). The chimichanga had a ton of seafood in it, but I wish it was spicier. I’m used to chimichangas beings crispy on the outside but these come out soft because of the sauce. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but I probably wouldn’t say it’s great. The pasta is good as well. The fajitas you would think would be a bigger portion because of the price but it doesn’t come with that much. One order wouldn’t be enough to feed the whole table. My siblings got two orders of the fajitas for three people and that was perfect. Overall, for a franchise it’s not bad, but I would probably like to try a more authentic place with cheaper prices.

Best Mexican food in town, but a bit expensive. Margaritas are cheap and I love the corn grits.

We went for a late lunch with a group of 7 on a Saturday. I ordered the shrimp and grits and my husband ordered the shrimp and crawfish enchiladas. We really enjoyed both! The Cajun/​Mexican mix is a little new to us, but we really liked it! The chips and salsa were plentiful and tasty. Each person had their own salsa, which was nice (especially when your husband is a double dipper!!!). Drink refills came quick and without asking. I would definitely recommend this restaurant!

My wife and I just got back from here with our kids for kids night. Food was excellent as always. We had steak quesadillas. Best steak quesadillas ever and consistent. I don’t understand why all the negative reviews.

I’m from Maryland and came in to visit family. They took me to this place, I was NOT impressed at all! When we got there the hostesses were very nice and friendly but it went down hill from there! It took at least 10 minutes to be acknowledged, 5 more minutes for drinks.
The food is sub par at best, the service was horrendous! I will not be returning while I am still in Lafayette for a few more weeks. Food and service ruined it for me.

I travel and look for new local places to eat, avoiding chain restaurants. I saw this place and wanted something different than the typical Cajun and fried in the area.
What a surprise. My server, Nick, was awesome and created a great experience.
I wanted guacamole and added grilled tilapia tacos. Both were excellent!
I loved the grits too. Must have the recipe or figure out how to make them.
Again, Nick did a phenomenal job appearing at the right time, made good recommendations, and light conversation with a great attitude. I enjoyed his service almost as much as the food.
Only negative were the hostesses. They never smiled or spoke. I told them «one» and one hostess looked to the other as if it’s your job. I was led to my table without a word or eye contact. I’m glad I didn’t let them set the tone for the experience.
I will be back if I’m in the area even though it’s a chain.

First time I have ever been to this place. But, my family that lives in the south loves it!
Apparently it is very hard to find good Mexican food in Louisiana. They want to give it all a Cajan flair.
My daughter says this is one of the best Mexican food they have found here. Most authentic.
They are very friendly here for sure, From the hostess to the servers. We had a great server, he was very patient and very helpful.
Here is something a little different for me, cheese grits with my meal instead of beans. Now you do not have to have the grits, but it is an optional so I thought I would try it. They were good, you just have to be very open minded to trying new food combinations, and I was.
The server made my a fresh pot of coffee which was really good, and I love Mexican food with coffee. I had crab enchiladas and yes it was real crab!
Really good, I have to say. If I would visit that area again, I would get Duck quesadillas. My granddaughter got those and they were wonderful! Even served with a plum sauce. We all got something different and all was really fantastic!
By the way kids eat for free every Tuesday after 3pm!
Chips and salsa were filled continually and drinks refilled as well. He checked on us many times, including giving us to go boxes. Because, believe me it is a lot of food here. clean restrooms, lots of parking.
We liked it very much.

No.
No, no no no no no no no no.
No…but if you were thinking about going to Tampicos or whatever that other place in the mall parking lot that has karaōke… then yes.
Otherwise, no.
Just no.

Don’t waste your money or your health! The veggie fajitas were cooked in so much butter that it was completely disgusting! And they were wayyyyy overpriced!
Don’t even go to drink because if you want a margarita that is top notch, go to La Fonda!
Not the quality I expect for my hard earned money and my precious health!

This place strikes me as a Chili’s, but with even more southwest and seafood flare. It’s not as generic feeling as Chili’s though, which is definitely a good thing.
I had their corn and crab poblano soup and the fiesta salad with jalapeño ranch on the side for $ 10.99. The soup had lots of chunks of crab… oh yes. The salad was pretty good too… for a salad with lots of veggies. Not very exciting, but not bad.
I would eat here again, but honestly, when I’m in Lafayette, I’d rather eat cajun food or plain and simple seafood.

Stopped in here the night of the 29^th with my 2 sisters, 2 nieces and a friend of the nieces… the building and setting and general feel of the restaurant is very cool and mellow… however things went down hill from there…
We stopped in around 8 PM and while the place had a number of customers it was by no means packed especially the area where our 6 top was seated… Service was just above non-​existent, from no set ups at the table, to inability to locate our server, to lengthy wait for drinks (both of the alcoholic and nonalcoholic variety), to server’s inability to remember said drink and appetizer order… NOT IMPRESSED
Now, for the good… they carry a nice selection of cerveza which includes Sol, my fave, plus the Queso, ordered as appetizer, came with some delicious in house made chips and the tasty green tomatillo and avocado salsa…
Back to the not so good… no one at the table was impressed with their meals with the exception of one niece who ordered Mesquite grilled Tilapia…1 sister ordered beef enchiladas with chili sauce and it was HORRIBLE (beef was stringy and tough and the chili topping the enchiladas tasted like it came out of a can from the Hormel factory)…other sister went with Chimichanga and after eating about ¼ said she’d take the rest home to the dogs… I said «Wow musta been bad cause if it was good and you were full you’d be saying I’m taking it home to heat up for me tomorrow»…She didn’t argue
The other 3 entrees were Cheese nachos, Beef nachos, Taco Salad with ground beef… as to the nachos I’ve made better in my kitchen and the Taco Salad was bland as bland could be… No one was impressed…
Now, the sisters make kick ass Margs and are the aficionados on the topic… at most places I’ve been they tend to come out in at least a short beer mug… at this place they come out in a freakin’ Old Fashioned whisky glass… WTF???
All in all very crappy experience and when back in Lafayette and feeling Mexican-​y this place will not be considered…

My fajitas were in an inch of oil. It was disgusting. Had it not been, it might not have been bad but I couldn’t taste anything but oil. The «homemade» tortillas weren’t very good either.
I doubt I’d go back. How can you mess up fajitas?!