Crawdaddy’s Kitchen offers Southern Louisiana vibes

Frequently, 318 Forum’s always-hungry reporter has lunch at a local restaurant and tells you about the experience.

A while back, I received an email from a reader (keep ’em coming) suggesting a review of Crawdaddy’s Kitchen (9370 Mansfield Road, Shreveport). Soon after, I received an email from a reader asking me to review restaurants in Shreveport’s Southern Hills area.

That would work out well! So, I invited a friend to join me on a recent Thursday for lunch at Crawdaddy’s.

This was a first-time visit for both of us. I had heard the restaurant’s name for many years but never found my way there. That’s probably because I haven’t lived in, or relatively close to, that part of town. So, while using my GPS as guidance, I drove while looking for the restaurant’s sign. However, it was faded and barely readable. At the last minute, I saw a couple of bright yellow awnings with the restaurant’s name in red and made a quick turn into the parking lot.

I had reviewed Crawdaddy’s menu on its website, so I knew what to expect food-wise. But I didn’t know what to expect regarding the restaurant’s atmosphere. When I opened the door, I was pleasantly surprised. The first thing that hit me was the gold and purple colors of Mardi Gras. The place was decorated to the nines with Mardi Gras-themed ribbons and bows. The modern-looking dining room would have looked fine on its own, but the decorations brought the place to life. In addition, there was ample seating (all tables, no booths) despite a consistent flow of customers, as well as a couple of big-screen televisions and a small bar.

Within two minutes of our arrival, a little after 12:30, my friend and I were seated and served our drink order (two glasses of water with lemon). I appreciated that our very nice and patient server, Vanesha, brought several lemon slices so we would not have to ask for lemon with each refill.

I say Vanesha was patient because my friend and I are not ones to be in a hurry when having lunch. We don’t see each other often, so we take time to catch up. Twice, Vanesha offered to take our food order, and we asked her to give us more time each time. She did so without complaint.

Since this was a bit of a late lunch, my friend and I were really hungry and decided to share an appetizer. Sure, we could have chosen fried cheese stix or fried dill pickle spears, but we could get those at a lot of places. At a place called “Crawdaddy’s,” we had to go with something seafood or Cajun. So, we ordered crawfish cornbread ($8.99).

As my friend said while eating, “This isn’t ordinary cornbread.” No, it wasn’t. The square-shaped piece was enough for both of us, but it didn’t taste like ordinary cornbread. It had a distinctive Cajun flavor and was thick (not gooey). You know how sometimes when you eat cornbread, it crumbles to pieces, and you’ve got a big mess? Not at Crawdaddy’s. It stayed together through our last bites.

When it comes to the main event, Crawdaddy’s menu is not short on choices. Of course, as an ode to the restaurant’s name, there are several seafood selections. But if you’re in the mood for a burger or pasta, you can get those, too. My friend thought the prices were a little on the high side, which is when I pointed out the lunch specials section of the menu. There were four choices, as well as four fried lunch combos.

I kept seeing servers bring out plates of delicious-looking fried food. For the most part, that’s something I stay away from. You know, cholesterol and all. But on this day, I caved. I ordered shrimp and fried fish. If you are OK eating swai, you can save $3. However, I upgraded to catfish for a total of $15.99. My meal was promised to come with Cajun fries, hush puppies, and, if I wanted (which I did), cole slaw and pickled tomatoes.

My friend chose the combination of a Natchitoches meat pie and a cup of chicken and sausage gumbo ($10.49). But here is where there was confusion. He was concerned that might not be enough to eat. However, my friend decided since the menu read “All lunches served with Cajun fries and hush puppies (cole slaw and pickled tomatoes available upon request),” he would get filled up. But while discussing with our server, she said there was a mistake on the menu. The crawfish pie and gumbo did not come with the extras. So, my friend reconsidered his choice when our server said that since the menu read what it read, she would make it right.

Now, that’s customer service. Vanesha did the right thing, and my friend was appreciative. If you go to Crawdaddy’s and order a lunch special, I suggest confirming with your server what it comes with.

When our food arrived, I was pleased to see that my plate looked as good as the other plates I had seen served. Mine was loaded with three large pieces of fish, four plump shrimp, three (small) round hushpuppies and plenty of fries. There were also (small) containers of cole slaw and pickled tomatoes and containers of (without me having to ask for) tartar sauce and cocktail sauce.

The fish and shrimp were fried to perfection. Not only was all of my food served hot, it stayed hot until I could see the bottom of the plate. By the time I finished, I was very full.

My friend’s first thought when eating his gumbo was that it was “very heavy on the roux.” He doesn’t usually add spices to food but felt the gumbo needed a pick-me-up. “It lacked flavor and kick for Louisiana food that I would normally expect it to have.”

Fortunately, within my eyesight were several bottles of Louisiana Hot Sauce. I gave him one, which seemed to do the trick, as my friend emptied his bowl.

He said his meat pie was hot temperature-wise but not hot spice-wise. “I would describe it as just a meat pie.” In other words, nothing special. He felt he could get that meat pie just about anywhere.

My friend was more impressed with the restaurant’s look and feel than he was with its food.

“(The building) didn’t have a whole lot of appeal on the outside, but the inside was amazing.” He took note, as did I, of the music (think Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson), decorations and TVs.

The cost of our meal before tax and tip was $36.89. Know before you go that Crawdaddy’s assesses a 4% service charge if you pay with a card.

I was happy with my visit to Crawdaddy’s Kitchen. I enjoyed a delicious, well-portioned meal in a nice, relaxed atmosphere with good service. Therefore, I give Crawdaddy’s a solid Three Forks. For me, Crawdaddy’s is out of my way. But, if I am within 15-20 minutes of the restaurant, I would definitely return. There is plenty of food from which to choose, but I would be hard-pressed not to have their fish and shrimp again.