bayou bar & grill

alligator nachos - better pic. spicy! and fabulous.

philly portabella!. i absolutely love getting this sandwich. it's my main go-to meal when visiting bayou and i'm rarely disappointed. i've also been known to opt for the seafood platter from time to time to mix it up a bit. again, rarely disappointed.

we started with the gumbo. it was pretty salty. okay, it was really salty. but other than that, it was okay. christopher likes his food really salty so he actually really enjoyed this! the red beans and rice were up next! this is normally a favorite of mine, so i was pretty disappointed. it was over salted and the beans seemed mushy (over cooked).i was most looking forward to my shrimp po’boy...

fake crab in "crabcakes". read the mixed reviews but decided to give this longtime neighborhood staple the benefit of the doubt. but the so-called crabcakes were made with fake crab - inedible. seafood gumbo tasted ok but was low on the seafood. won't be back.

dirty. one of my fries had part of a wire grill brush inside of it. i chipped a tooth. the server said, "it's happened before." i'll never go back.

lackluster. i had heard good things so i decided to check it out. my friend and i entered and there was no sign saying to seat yourself or wait. i decided to be polite to the servers and wait for direction. several people walked past and made eye contact and ignored our queries about what to do. neither of us will return.

really good.... my husband and i dined here tonight and i was pleasantly surprised with how great the food and atmosphere was. we had a very sweet server, can't remember her name, but she was timely and got our orders correct. the drinks were very strong, which is a good thing, and i was happy about that. as far as food, here's what we ordered:

i got the seafood dip, which was a little thick for my tastes, but good. i also got a cup of crawfish and shrimp bisque, which was delicious, my only complaint being it was a tad too salty. the winner of my meal was the seafood fettucine acadian. absolutely delicious! it was a little spicy, but nothing too bad. i loved it!
hubby got the fried pickles, which he loved. he also ordered a crab cake po' boy and he raved about it! he said the crab cakes were soft and buttery, and very well seasoned. this is a huge compliment from him because he loves a well prepared po' boy but he can be picky about them.

overall, i was pleasantly surprised with this place and will definitely be going back.

my husband and i went for dinner, this was my first time here but he had been before. it was wonderful! from the service to the food. everything was fantastic! while i loved the food, ( i had the blackened grouper) there is something to be said about a great server. i don't remember his name, he was working the patio and wears glasses. absolutely fantastic! we couldn't have asked for a better experience. as a manager of a restaurant myself i have high expectations where ever i go. based on our there was not a single thing that needs improvement. thanks! we will be back very soon.

perfect! catfish acadian - .... perfect!
catfish acadian - this would be my last meal if i was on death row. prices are reasonable, staff is great. they had a new orleans type dixieland jazz band in the other night and they rocked! i'll be bringing friends when they come again. the bayou is in my top 5 places to eat in memphis. oh yeah, if you don't like the atmosphere, don't ever visit new orleans - you won't like it either.

wasted 32 dollars. we called in a carry out order for the first time. the people were nice. no problems with the service. they had it ready fast and they were busy. but the food was gross bar food that only a very intoxicated person would like. the sausage that was in the red beans and rice was the consistancy of canned dogfood. it tasted terrible. way to mushy and greasy. the whole dish was bland. the beans were so mushy and even the rice was mushy. like it had been heated, refrigerated and reheated several times over several days. just one bite and the inside of your mouth is covered in a layer of grease as if you tried to chew up a big mouthful of crisco shortening or maybe butter it took a while to wash the horrible greasy taste from our mouths. the bread was hard and tasted like it had been at the bottom of the container and was cut and wrapped with plastic several days ago. we ordered a piece of chocolate pecan pie. we could tell by the way it looked, old, separated, like it had been sitting. it tasted like they opened up a pie last week when someone ordered a piece and put it in the refrigerator uncovered right next to all the salad dressings and grated cheese containers and all week long it has been absorbing all the refrigerator odors and moistures from these different containers and now they finally got an order for one and they pull this pie and cut a piece of it. thats what it tasted like. not saying thats exactly how they operate. but the food was disgusting and ruined our night. we threw it out and just really felt like we wasted our money. ive enjoyed sitting on the deck for drinks and sandwiches here over the years and would maybe go back for that but will never call them for take out food again.

great food makes up for ambiance. our family of 4 dined for the first time on 4/20/2013 for lunch. the food quality and portions were excellent. the oysters were fresh and were served with a side of ketchup topped with fresh horseradish. for some reason i found this especially appealing over the standard bulk mixed/bottled variety of cocktail sauce. the jambalaya and chicken/shrimp pasta were loaded with meat and vegitables where many places fill the dish with the starch and then just top it with the good stuff. the staff could do a better job cleaning the place up though. windows and sills were peppered with debris. whle the menu has a new orleans flair the ambiance is in line with a standard burger joint.

mark is the best server! first time coming we had some male server not tell us his name and just worked way below average - bare minimum. we came back because we really wanted some seafood and bayou was close by so we just went for it. we got mark and he went above and beyond! told us his name did not have a long wait on first greet took great care of us and made us feel real welcomed. thanks mark!

there's absolutely no way i would eat at his restaurant. utensils were dirty. as well as the tables and floors. plastic cups that were cracked, and the service was atrocious. no way, no thank you!

usually like the food for the most part but..got the catfish po-boy (hard to mess up) the fish was old. no chance anything else went wrong, just old fish. i grew up in south ms and have eaten catfish at least three times a month since before i know. tried a bunch of lemon, just no.

my wife and lived in new orleans nearly all our lives, so cajun food was a staple. shrimp and grits, jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, raw oysters, gumbo, red beans and rice and po-boys were regulars at the dinner table. bayou bar & grill has all of those, but sampling most of those menu items on a recent visit proved to be a very different experience than what i grew up with. the closest to authentic would be the red beans and rice. all the others miss by a pretty good margin. the duck in the gumbo tasted gamey, the seafood gumbo was thick like there was too much undercooked flour and the shrimp and grits had loads of cheese mixed into them (cajun shrimp and grits are really simple - grits, butter, sautéed shrimp). the jambalaya had sauce mixed with rice - just kind of weird. surprisingly, even though the dishes were not traditional cajun, the flavored were still pretty good, and our order of raw oysters were fresh and shucked to order. also, our waitress was extremely friendly and pleasant. those qualities really redeemed the restaurant and made it place i wouldn't mind going back to as long as i wasn't really craving real cajun dining.