Cafe Nola

We ate dinner here recently. The atmosphere is very friendly. There was music and a fun vibe.
I ordered the clams, mussels and wasn’t impressed. There was a serious fishy taste, like «maybe I shouldn’t eat this» taste.”
The sangria was excellent as was the service.

Last week DH and I went here and really enjoyed the place… gave it a 4 star… I liked it so much I brought my sister here last night. I’m rating the food only as the décor etc. hasn’t changed in one week… :-)
We were seated upstairs and ordered the sangria, blackened chicken and fresh cut french fries @ $ 8.99. My sister ordered pulled pork sandwich with side of fresh cut fires @ $ 8.99. She didn’t really like it as the barbecue sauce was not mixed in the sandwich but a side so you didn’t have the flavor through the meat. My french fries came up just warm not real hot waitress replaced them which was nice. We ordered Beignets @ $ 5.99 in which I’ve had in New Orleans and these couldn’t compare… They were a little over done.
There was entertainment playing which was nice. Feel bad that it wasn’t as good as the first time. Oh well… you win some, you lose some.

I gave this place more than one shot and every time has been a disappointment. In fact, I held my first review in hopes of having a better experience the next go round. Frankly, I’m surprised this place remains in business based on the food and my experiences there.
My suggestion is if you have even inkling of how Cajun food is supposed to taste … stay away or you will be disappointed.

My wife and I had a very nice dinner at the bar. We met the owner Robin, who was very friendly and informative. We started out with red sangria, which was very tasty. Next was the gumbo, made by Robin herself. I am not really a gumbo fan but Robin recommended it, so gave it a try. It was OUTSTANDING. For dinner, my wife had the crab cakes, and I went with the shrimp and grits. My wife LOVED the crab cakes and wants to come back so she can order again. My shrimp and grits were tasty, and filling, but if I were to order again, I would ask for extra cajun, as I like spice. As good as the mississippi mud pie sounded, I had no room so maybe next time. There was a small band with a lead singer named Linda, who sang very well, and was so nice. Service and atmosphere were also very good. Is a bit pricey but really enjoyed our experience. We look forward to our next visit!

We love coming here, the service is always so friendly and the food is fantastic. So many great food choices for a reasonable price. Hands down my favorite part of every meal here is dessert– we always order beignets, and they are so good! I love the 3 dipping sauces they come with. Sometimes the restaurant has live music, other times not. Either way it’s always a fun, relaxed atmosphere and the owners usually stop by to say hi and chat.

This restaurant has architectural appeal and is located on lower Union Street right next to Union College. The waitress seemed friendly and helpful. Our food didn’t seem to have much flavor. This place seems to be more bar than restaurant. Majority of their customers were bar patrons. I suppose this is why the food was lacking.

Such a cute place with friendly service, it’s a real shame that the food is severely lacking — in both taste and execution. I may go back for drinks and apps, but not for an overpriced below average meal.

I had been wanting to try this place for sometime after hearing about it from friends in the neighborhood. My experience was very good. The restaurant is welcoming and jovial without being too over-​the-​top-​mardi-​gras-​or-​bust. We were welcomed warmly by one of the owners, and were immediately spoiled for choice with an excellent selection of local beers on tap. I found the menu to be reasonably priced, with a good assortment of options. We very much enjoyed our dinners. Blackened catfish done to perfection — light and flaky. The pulled pork was tender and flavorful — likely due to having been smoked for twelve hours! The portions were generous and everything was fresh and tasty. Café Nola was a nice cajun treat and we will be returning!

Ordered a couple of pulled pork sandwiches and drinks. One of the sandwiches tasted like moldy bread and the drink had a bad aftertaste. Service was ok but slow. Cross this one off our list.

To start on a good note, the servers were all very friendly, attentive, and the atmosphere casual, but I was disappointed from there, but was going with high hopes from what someone had told me.
They ran out of clams, alligator, and shrimp (Big bummer for me because I don’t eat a lot of meat, but I love seafood), and I only found out because I happen to ask for everything they were out of (Not because they told us ahead of time), which they said it was because they were more busy than usual earlier, so I was like okay… It had to be really good! (we got there at 10:15 for a late dinner)
We ordered the friend beans, which came out burned. Then they brought out the gumbo, which was only luke warm (that’s saying a lot for me because my tongue burns easily!). I got the salmon and it was dry, and the veggies were the ones that were frozen from the bag, then sautéed in butter, and for $ 25.00, I would expect something a little more creative, and better tasting. Unfortunately all of it was lacking much flavor as other users mentioned.
I was really looking forward to going there, so I’m disappointed to write a bad review, but hoping they read reviews, and take inspiration to make improvements!
Unfortunately because of the price VS. value I won’t be going back. :(

Enjoyed dinner very much. Shrimp and grits, gumbo and étouffée were excellent. Owners Kevin and Robin were gracious and very anxious to please.

Great location, food is outstanding. The staff are great and very friendly, my hat goes off to Na, she is very friendly and takes care of you very professional and very kind.

I have to apologize to the other reviewers. I didn’t take the bad reviews seriously. It’s New York so I assumed (incorrectly) that you didn’t know good Cajun food. Well… this place isn’t it. The etouffée was bland and boring. The rue was thick but not seasoned. The crawfish weren’t seasoned either and way too fishy tasting. Good seafood shouldn’t taste fishy. The rice tasted like it had been sitting in the fridge. There was no tomato or veggies so it was rue, rice and crawfish. I agree with others that it is way overpriced. Good Cajun food is flavorful and not expensive. The gumbo wasn’t much better. There was no broth, just the bland rue and a little meat and rice. I recommend looking up a good Cajun recipe online and making your own. Although, the server was great!

I ate here yesterday and got the crawfish jambalaya. The dirty rice was really bland and the meat was not very good. However, this morning my mom and I woke up with food poisoning and I had to call a sick day at work. Really disappointed especially at its really expensive prices. UPDATE: Just found out my dad and grandma also got food poisoning!!! Please take caution if you plan on eating here. We ordered the catfish tacos and also the cajun wings.

I joined a few friends at Café Nola on a hot and muggy July evening. We had an umbrella outdoor table and caught up with each others’ lives by chatting so long we didn’t look at the menus until much later. The selections were many but our choices were rather amusing. A catfish salad for one, a fried something I can’t recall for another and two of us ordered the fried green beans. But for the salad, all else was fried but so good. Not healthy for sure but delicious, especially dipped in the incredible lightly Cajun spiced sauce. We also ordered the beignets, a cajun specialty pastry of several fried dough balls with powdered sugar and three dipping sauces, including a chocolate, as well as a chocolate cake. Service was wonderful with no problem for separate checks and the evening went quickly by. The outdoor dining venue makes for great conversation.

Stopped here for dinner with friends before a movie. Café Nola seemed like a good place to go for some cajun/​creole food and the menu reflects a good selection of food and some crafted beers. Ordered the Crawfish Jambalaya with the chowder. The service took a very long time to get our water, drinks, and silverware. The soup was okay with more celery and potatoes than clams, but the broth was tasty. The main course took a very long time considering the minimal amount of people in the restaurant at the time of order. On the whole, the food was underwhelming; the dirty rice was not very flavourful, the Jambalaya was cold, the fried chicken my friend ordered was, according to him, ‘tasteless’, with the only thing being of note was the cornbread which was surprisingly good.
I wish I could give it more stars, I want to like it, but I’d be doing a disservice to those who want to enjoy a good Cajun. Disappointed all around.

I’m a huge fan of Cajun food, so having a place like this in the downtown Schenectady area is a huge plus to start with. When you walk into the place, the atmosphere is very New Orleans, they nailed the décor, and the balcony is a nice touch.
Highly recommend alligator bites — they do them perfectly here, which is difficult to do (most places have really tough and chewy gator bites, these guys do a nice tender one). The Cajun wings are AWESOME! Jambalaya is very good. Blackened catfish sandwich is one of my favorites.
Only drawback is that I’ve experienced some inconsistency in their food prep, and have been with others who weren’t totally satisfied with their dishes (often when they don’t order a real Cajun dish…). But I have had some GREAT meals here, and highly recommend it.

I wish we read the reviews before wasting our time. We had a coupon but still over priced. small portion.
What was the worst service I have had. We waited over 15 min for the chowder soup. The grossest soup it had No claims, all potatoes no taste. His fried fish was tasteless,
The Owner should really do something soon.
Lower prices or bigger portions, better tasting food.
Get wait staff that know the job
waiting for 15min for cold soup
The best was the crying baby in the packing play near tbe kitchen.
I wonder what tbe health dept would think

My boyfriend and his friends ate here this past Saturday night, seven of the nine people who ate are all home sick today with food poisoning! And to top it all off the service was not good and the food was expensive for such small portions. Step it up Café Nola! Can’t be poisoning your patrons.

We stopped at Café Nola because it was next door to a work related event at Bier Abbey we were attending.
When we first walked in the door, I was a bit apprehensive. The restaurant looked a bit dive-​ish. The tables and chairs are cheap, and the tables (if I remember correctly) are covered in vinyl «tablecloths». Plus it was very brightly lit and the restaurant looked cluttered.
Nevertheless, we sat down and perused the menu. I ended up ordering the shrimp and grits with a side salad.
My salad was fresh and I quite enjoyed it. It had fresh dill in it among other typical salad accouterment and a nice mix of greens.
Our entrée’s took a bit of time to come out, despite the restaurant not being that busy. But I don’t mind that, because if they’re making the dishes fresh back there it’s worth the wait in my opinion.
And my shrimp and grits were fresh. It came to the table piping hot. It was delicious. And my companion enjoyed his dish too, though I forget now what he ordered.
Our server was great, no issues there.