J. Gumbo’s

This place is solid. Is there a cajun grandmother carefully stirring recipes in the back? No. Does this place still deliver a solid, delicious, cajun-​esque, friendly lunch with infinite people watching opportunities? Yes, absolutely.

I don’t normally like to leave poor reviews but I can’t stomach the thought of people eating here and thinking this reflects real Cajun food. I sampled the gumbo and étouffée and both tasted heavily like ketchup. I asked for the crawfish bisque and they were out. I asked for the crawfish dip and they were out of crawfish. What? So I got the crawfish dip with shrimp instead. How bad could it be? So bad. Ketchup and cheese and watery shrimp that tasted like it came straight out of a frozen bag. I asked for a fountain diet coke. They were out of it. –_–
The peach cobbler was great. It’s the only thing I can recommend.
If any other Cajuns in Nashville can recommend a good Cajun place to eat, please do!

Price is decent, food is tasty. Quality control could be better. Sometimes I would get a lot of meat, sometimes just the sauce with very little meat.

This place is my go to for lunch downtown I love the drunken chicken and the price is right

Damn good étouffée, I had it with crawfish. End of the arcade by fourth. Good place tp people watch as well.

Had the Voodoo Chicken. It’s a great spicy treat for under $ 7! If Nola, India & Jamaica had a threesome, this would be their child. It’s inside of the Peabody Marketplace on the corner of Peabody & 4^th. Give it a try!

Ok so being from SE Texas right on the border of Louisiana, I’m pretty biased when it comes to gumbo. The bowl I had was ok /​mediocre. The rue was correct but it could have had a lot more flavor and spice. The bread that came with it was nice. I haven’t tried anything else yet, but if your name has the word gumbo in it I would hope you knock it out of the park. The Southern’s gumbo is the best I’ve had/​found in town so far. I’ll give the place another try on another day.

When I get a hankering for gumbo. I like to stop here while I am at work. I was not impressed with the étouffée but enjoyed the drunken chicken.
I like the Mardi Gras décor.

Yum. Try the Jean Lefitte. Spicy comfort food.

The décor is really cheesy. I tried a crawfish queso… it was not good. This place is definitely not authentic in any way.

So, I generally die over creole food. I’m from California, living in Michigan, so when I get the chance to eat real southern food you can bet I take it.
SERVICE: Fabulous. They’ll let you sample everything and talk to you about the strength of each dish, as well as which toppings work best.
THE FOOD: The menu is varied and awesome not to mention affordable. I got the Voodoo Chicken (WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND; INSANELY TASTY) and the Bumble Bee (would NOT recommend; too sugary by far) over rice. The portion is large without being overwhelming.
HEALTHY? QUALITY INGREDIENTS? I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, this was tasty stuff but I knew I wasn’t doing my waistline any favors. I wish there was some way to know which ingredients are included in each dish.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Stop in and check it out, see which dishes work for you.

Étouffée is Scrumptious!
It is rare that I’m in downtown Nashville for lunch. I was in town for a board meeting and I had to make a dash down to the arcade before the meeting started so I could finally try the cajun food here.
I ordered the crawfish étouffée. It was the perfect delicious cure for my cajun craving. The service was fast and the staff was very friendly. This great lunch made my day! I can’t wait to try other things on the menu.

J. Gumbos is one of those places that you crave, but wish you hadn’t. They have a great selection of cajun flavors and entrees. They allow you to mix and match for a great price. Be careful on the heat, as some of it can be a little spicy. Good food, great selection and flavor and best of all it is fast, fast, fast. J. Gumbos is a short walk from the office and one can have a solid and flavorful meal fast and affordable.

Well I’ve been 3 more times, and they’ve been out of jambalaya every single time… But it was now explained to me that they run out «in about an hour». You’ve been consistently running out of jambalaya in about an hour and you still can’t figure out to make more? If only they could make enough jambalaya, I’d upgrade the review to 5 stars, but hasn’t happened yet.

Decent Cajun food. Big portions that include lots of rice and sauce but low on meat. I had the crawfish étouffée which was pretty tasty. The French bread was the highlight. Good for a cheap/​quick meal.
3.5 stars

Very average and bland food, Ive ate here 3 times now thinking that maybe I was just ordering the wrong things but have now given up on it. Items that are 3 – 4 on the «hot scale» are very mild and also very salty. I would look elsewhere unless you have a huge craving for some Cajun food

J Gumbo’s is a pretty solid choice for a quick, affordable meal downtown, but if you are looking for «authentic» cajun cuisine you will most likely be dissapointed. First thing first, J Gumbo’s is basically a heat and eat establishment. Almost all of the food is prepared off site and «re-​thermalized» on site. This is not necessarily a bad thing. You will get consistent food that can be prepared extremely quickly with this method. What you will not get is a very unique dining experience.
I have had a the vodoo chicken and the drunken chicken, both served over a heaping of rice with a side of toasted bread. They were both satisfying and the portions were more than enough for a single serving. I had almost half left over both times.
The service is very fast and efficient. In fact, that was the main factor for choosing J Gumbos the last two times I went. There is a great deal to be said for being able to grab a decent sized lunch for under 8 bucks in less than 5 mins when you are downtown.
Actually that would be my primary recommendation for J Gumbo’s. I think this whole review can be boiled down to a one convoluted question. Are you really hungry/​in a hurry/​a little bit cheap/​in the mood for kinda «cajun» food? Right then, try J Gumbo’s.

Fun. Friendly staff. Interesting décor & music – provides a little respite and change from your office or usual eatery. Decent portions and reasonably tasty. One bonus for non-​hot food eaters – you get to decide how spicy your dish is (although obviously some of the spice is cooked in). Not sure this will actually help you if you don’t like any spicy, but is helpful for me who stays on the low to moderate spice scale generally. Oh… also they allow you to taste dishes before you purchase.
I don’t eat cajun much, but I thought the food was heavy on rice and light on meat. I had the jambalya, so that may be par for the course.
For folks that eat downtown on a regular basis, this is probably a nice alternative to the usual fare.
I will be probably be back to try something with chicken. (3.75)

this place just isn’t consistent yet and I hope they get it right. Lunch today was eh… so so to say the least. I don’t like the fact that they are advertising «gluten free» when they don’t have a separate prep/​cooking station specifically for this. Please be advised, if it says Gluten Free chances are it isn’t!

OMG! This food is so darn good! I’ve had the hot chicken po boy and the bourbon chicken rice bowl. I was not disappointed either time. The food is about $ 7 either way you go rice or sandwich. The location is great because I work downtown and we were/​are in desperate need of variety. And the staff is very nice.