bayou bar & grill

good, not great. i like this place... the food isgoodbut not the best. i like the patio area and the mardi gras beads hanging from the ceiling on the inside. the service is slow which is a major turn off. overall, a prettygoodplace if you are looking for a chill night with a few friends.

mixed reviews. i am represeting in this review a small group of people who go to a different restaurant each month for the purpose of expanding their culinary palates. this month we chose creole. the food is excellent. 11 of us showed and each had different items. we all highly suggest the crab stuffed shrimp app. the jambalya and jacuzzi dishes are great. the only main complaint was the creole catfish which was a sizeable fillet but smothered in some sort of a thick hot sauce. my friend was unable to eat most of it, but did not complain. in general, everyone loved the meal but some expressed it wasn't asgoodas creole one can find downtown. now for the really bad part of the review. most of us got there at 6pm on a sat. when it wasn't busy but didn't get out of there until 9pm. why? our waitress was highly disorganized and rude to the table as a whole. many of the group felt she was slighting or dismissing them repeatedly. when it takes three requests just to get a beer and then the checks, there's something wrong. the manager apologized. personally the food was loved by most but all hated the service. from personal experience, i could handle three tables of at least 11 ppl each in two different rooms by using a little bit of patience and organization. i won't name the waitress because for the most part is has to be the fault of management's training of their wait staff.goodfood but i guess they're more worried about being a sports bar than a restaurant.

atmosphere. this place had a great atmosphere and it was easy to relax and enjoy spending time with friends here.

pros:
1) food wasgood(i had red beans and rice w/sausage) and the crab stuffed shrimp. flavors were decent, but no real stand out qualities
2) beer was ice cold (important as tonight was a warm night)

cons:
1) service: assigned waitress was not very good, she was unable to handle two groups without attitude.- we brought this up to the manager, and he addressed the issues we had and was able to compensate us for her lack of professionalism.

so to conclude: it is decent place withgoodfood and is a great place when you are looking for a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy a meal and drinks with friends. so this will be a place i visit again and i will try other things on menu!

i had heardgoodthings about this place..... we started with the sampler which was tasty (the alligator chili was great, red beans and gumbos were decent) .

when our entrees came, i was immediately disappointed. the shrimp poboy has these planko breaded crustations. louisiana style seafood is always breaded in corn meal.

the catfish acadiana was this massive piece of undercooked fish with this glob of seafood over it. to top it off, the dirty rice was terrible. there was no meat in it and the rice was mushy and wet (which was actually the same mushy rice we avoided with the sampler)...

i guess it's back to dejavu for my new orleans fix...

cool place with a fun vibe to hang out, enjoy nawlins’s po boys, gumbo, alligator chili, alligator nachos, brunch on sunday’s & watch every game!goodfor big parties. big bar. great service. another memphis favorite. we will be back.

lackluster. i had heardgoodthings 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 agoodthing, 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.

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 thegoodstuff. 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.

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 prettygoodmargin. 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.

overall ok. the location is the best thing about bb&g. everything else is just ok. i used to live on the gulf so i know whatgoodcajun food is like and this is decently close. the oysters on the half shell were a little tough getting off the shells due to their lack of freshness, but they tasted great. the cajun catfish was smothered in a cajun wing sauce that was extremely spicy, surpisingly. i took agoodbit of it and put it on my crawfish poboy which set it off. all-in-all, it was agoodmeal for the price withgoodbeers on tap, enjoyed on a nice patio before a movie at the studio.

great fried pickles!. bayou is a fun atmosphere, especially when the patio is open and the weather is nice. i hate how smoky it gets inside, so definitely a plus when the patio is open. they have agoodbeer selection (when everything is in stock) an delicious fried pickles and great crispy french fries.

i only wish they had some more vegetarian entree options other than boca burgers and portobello mushrooms! i'm not a vegetarian, but i don't eat meat too often so i have a hard time finding things i want to eat here! guess i'll have to stick to the fried pickles!

service is very inconsistent. sometimes is incredibly slow but other times it's fast and friendly.

all in all, bayou is a great place to hang out in overton square!

it's bar food...what were you expecting?. food prettygoodfor what it is (although the eggs sardou for sunday brunch are amazing!). service is typically sub-standard. if you're patient, it's worth it.

great patio. bayou has one of the better outdoor patios suitable for eating. their food isgoodas well, even though i've only tried a couple of items, both were above average on the food scale. agoodplace to go before or after a movie at studio on the square.

good food, slow inaccurate service. this is agoodplace to try if you want to try somewhere new. their po-boy sandwiches aregoodand so are the fries. they also have a daily lunch special for agoodrate. with this said, i rarely go there these days. at lunch, it usually takes a minimum of 35 minutes to get your food, often longer, which leaves no time to enjoy your meal before rushing back to work. also, the male waiter insists on taking orders by memory (no pad or paper) and his orders always come back wrong, which is really frustrating.

$3 mimosa/bloodymary/sdriver on sundays. love this place! reallygoodcajun fixin's and awesome bloody mary's louisiana style!! sit on the deck and enjoy the $3 libations on sunday's....