Gene’s New Orleans Style Poboys & Deli

Gene’s is a very unassuming place. The first time I ate there was in early 2005, before the City of Austin started to try to revitalize East Austin. There was only a dirt parking lot outside of Gene’s, and plenty of hobos nearby, but I like hole-​in-​the-​wall places so the surroundings did not scare me.
I had a shrimp po’boy, and it was the BEST one I’ve had outside of New Orleans. I had been searching feverishly for years for a good shrimp po’boy in Texas since I left college in New Orleans in 1997, and I finally found one. Well, there’s a restaurant in Dallas called Shuck ‘n’ Jive which also has phenomenal po’boys, so if you’re ever in The Big D, give them a try. But here in Austin, Gene’s just rocks.
During the 2005 visit the restaurant was quite crowded. A co-​worker and I went around noon, so you can imagine. We had a waiter take our order, which Gene’s doesn’t seem to do anymore. I went back for my second visit earlier this year, and I had to order at the counter. I don’t remember what time I went to the restaurant, but there were only two other people in there. 11^th St has changed quite considerably in the last four years, I noted. It looks almost habitable now. And there is an actual parking lot next to Gene’s now instead of just dirt.
Some reviewers say the food changed for the worse since the new management took over. The only clue I had that the management was different was the change between having a waiter previously and having to order at the counter most recently. But the food tastes even better nowadays, in my opinion.
When I first moved to NW Austin in 2003, I walked from my house to the Spicewood Springs/​183 intersection and tried a po’boy at Sambet’s. Gene’s totally spanks Sambet’s.
Next I will try Ms. B’s and Nubian Queen Lola’s. Since Gene’s and Nubian Queen are so close in distance, perhaps I will get a sandwich from each place and have a dueling po’boy-off.

Sadly, everything about Gene’s that made it one of my favorites for many years — is gone. No more Gene. No more delicious Thursday pork chops or tasty poboys. New managements has replaced it all with bad food, poor, slow service, and an unhappy staff.
Yes, Gene’s was sometimes challenging — even in the good olé days. But the incredible food would always make up for an occassional problem. Now, with the food quality gone, there is absolutely no reason to go there.
Very sad to see a one-​time Austin institution go by the wayside. We miss you Gene! Especially on Thursdays. ..

Maybe it was a bad day, or maybe the roast beef poboy isn’t their specialty, but come on?! How you gonna call yourself a new orleans style poboy place, and serve crap like that?!
Waited an hour for the food, meanwhile the place was pretty much empty. The credit card machine didn’t work either.
If you want to get poboys in New Orleans that taste like Gene’s, go to some crappy place in the FQ like Frank’s. Just plain bad food.

So I’ve been hearing about it forevers and finally went. I guess I was avoiding it because really? New Orleans style poboys? Way to set me up for a big disappointment. But… what IF it really is as good as NOLA?!
It’s not.
I got fries (which were pretty ok) and a shrimp poboy… er…lettuce sandwich. My buddy even made up a lettuce sandwich song for me. After removing much lettuce and piling all 3 shrimp from one half onto the other half, the sandwich was actually really tasty. But, not $ 10 tasty. Let’s not forget the longest wait EVAR! (with only 4 other people in the place). No ones food came out at the same time and the bathroom was atrocious! Ugh. My lettuce sandwich song friend got an old dried out fried porkchop.

Gene’s is dead (to me).
Apparently I’ve eaten enough $ 10 po’boys over the past few years for Gene to retire back to New Orleans. I wish him and his family all the best, but Austin needs Gene. They were out of oysters and it was way too boring there without Gene singing his theme song. Although the catfish was excellent it was kind of sad knowing I’ll never go back there again. I honestly wish they would have lied and told me Gene was out getting more oysters instead of «the guy down the street bought it.» At least we’ll always have the memories.

Gene’s is a neat place. It is NOT fancy, so don’t expect a nice restaurant– what you see from the outside is what you get on the inside.
However, the food is fantastic. Be ready to wait– they don’t move fast, but you can walk across the street and get some beer to drink while you wait, so don’t get grumpy.
It’s a small business, and sometimes they run out of stuff– especially the specials. This is the only reason they don’t get 5 stars from me.

Holy Mother of God. Thank you
for showing me this place. If you’re cool with local delicious eateries like someone’s grandmother used to make, this is your place. If you desire culinary delights crafted by French trained chef, smartly dressed wait staff smooth enough to charm even Warren Buffet, and architecture and décor that screams historic art, turn around and leave. This is not the place for you.
I had the fried pork chop dinner, shared a shrimp gumbo, and had the peach cobbler. I have to start by saying that my sides, the tossed salad and potato salad were not top notch. They were sides, and they fulfilled their duties.
Pork Chop dinner — This pork chop rivals Miss Lola’s. Oh my. The battle is on! Spicy. Crispy. Who knew that there could be a pork product that was almost better than bacon?
Shrimp Gumbo — Spicy, hot, flavorful. Shrimp were tender. The sausage was yummy. And the crab claw fought back! That’s some mighty fine SOUL!
Peach cobbler — this this was still bubbling when it was brought out. I added some of the syrup to my carbonated water and mixed a peach fizz drink. This was good. This is almost better than any other alcoholic drive I’ve ever had. This cobbler is the mother and grandmother of all cobblers. The spices in this were incredible. I’m not really sure what else I can say besides that this should be on your list of 10 000 things to eat before you die.
Note: The food wasn’t actually prepared by someone’s grandmother. It was actually cooked by a young, half-​shaven, tattooed man who mumbled something about needing to spicy up the chicken.

Gene’s has great New Orleans-​style food. The Poboys are delicious (I love their rolls) and I like the red beans and rice. If I rated this place for food-​only, I’d give it 4 or 5 stars for sure.
Even though I was there last week and got speedy service, I have to agree with the other posters that the service is unnecessarily slow. I’ve called my order in ahead of time and still waited 20 minutes.
Give it a try sometime when you’re not in a hurry and you’ll love it.

I never realized that Gene’s was so hit and miss for so many people, but I love this place. I have never once had a bad experience with any aspect of Gene’s. The people working have always been very friendly, and the food has never let me down. I’ve brought friends and family, local or otherwise, there and it has never been any bit of disappointment.
Usually I stick to the Po-​Boys, but people I’ve gone with have tended to branch out more than I have, giving me a chance to at least sample the rest of what is going on at Gene’s. While it wasn’t enough to shake me from the po-​boys, it was still damn good.
I only wish that Gene’s was open later, because there have been plenty of times when I’ve gotten that craving that only Gene’s can satiate, and it has been like 11 o’clock and Gene’s is just entirely out of the picture.

Only in East Austin can I walk into a New Orleans style deli, eat some delicious cajun food and walk out after lunch to the accordian infused stylings of Tejano music. And that’s a big part of why I love this part of town.
Gene’s is the kind of place that makes me feel good about going out to eat. You won’t find any fancy or hip décor. But that’s okay because what you do get is awesome and pretty close to authentic food. I had a dressed Oyster Po’ Boy. The oysters were fried just right, tasted great, and were served on New Orleans style french bread. I could have used a few more oysters, but I couldn’t compain as I was already full from the gumbo we ordered as an appetizer.
And the seafood gumbo (Fri and Sat’s special of the day) was A-​mazing! Even my lunch companion, a NOLA native, said it would pass in most New Orleans restaurants. His smothered Roast Beef Sandwich had to be THE tastiest roast beef sandwich I’ve EVER had, in my entire life! The Boudain was great, too.
Yes, it was a little stuffy in there, yeah, the service was a tad bit slow. But if it means I can get a little bit of New Orleans this far east of the Mississippi, well then Gene’s is A-​Okay with me.

Dear Gene,
What happened? You used to serve some yummy food in a divey, authentic and soulful environment.
Took some out-​of-​towners there today and almost didn’t recognize the place when I walked in.
I should have turned around and guided our group back to the car right then.
It was like I stepped inside of a dry cleaner’s or something. Except I didn’t see a rotating rack full of plastic covered clothes behind the counter.
Nope. What I did see was a girl behind the cash register who handed me a Gene’s menu and picked up a guest check pad while looking at me expectantly.
What the hell?
What happened to walking us to our table so we could sit and talk and enjoy the funky New Orleans relics on the wall in the dining area while discussing what we would order? (Note: most of the relics are gone, maybe because it looked like the room had been recently repainted)
Instead I stood uncomfortably and tried to make a quick decision.
«I’ll just have the small gumbo»
«Oh, Gumbo is only on Friday and Saturday»
Okay…don’t remember this being the case before, but maybe I’m mistaken, so even though it’s slightly annoying, I’ll let it slide.
«OK, I’ll just take the shrimp PO Boy»
Play it safe, I told myself.
The rest of my party orderd shrimp po boys, and chicken and dumplings as well as some greens.
I am getting depressed just thinking of how to describe the food, but here goes:
My shrimp po boy was 2 six inch loaves of bread. I ordered it «dressed» which means it comes with pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayo.
It probably would only have been worse if the tomatoes had salmonella.
Nestled within the lettuce et. al. where THREE baby small fucking shrimps. THREE. They were slightly bigger than the yellow star I have given for the rating.
Ok – I don’t EVER remember getting only 3 shrimps in these things, and I don’t remember the loaves being so fucking huge.
Everyone else at the table was severely underwhelmed, and I just felt bad for taking them there.
Oh, and the chicken and dumplings were cold. So there was that.
I did hear the collard greens were good, if you’re into that sort of thing. Which I’m not.
Bottom line, I won’t be coming back.
Sorry Gene.

I can’t write a fully objective review after one visit, so I hope to try Gene’s again at some point in the near future and update my review at that point.
They have a «fish, shrimp or oyster» plate for $ 9.25 (one item), $ 11.25 (two), or $ 14.25 (you get the idea); I ordered a two-​item plate (shrimp and oysters) and didn’t get anything you wouldn’t expect from a Long John Silvers (or Captain D’s, for those of you from the South). I also got some unremarkable fries and, for some reason, a pile of shredded lettuce with a few tomato slices on it. Some cole slaw, or another (better) side-​dish option would have been helpful. The oysters were good; the shrimp pretty much were what you find in the frozen food section of any low-​end grocery store. The nail in my dinner’s coffin was that they didn’t have any cocktail sauce (???), I had to hunt for ketchup for my fries, and the only tartar sauce they had was in little packets by the drink station.
Gene’s could REALLY help themselves out by making their own tartar and cocktail sauces. Keep some malt vinegar and – for God’s sake – ketchup within reach, too, guys!
My dining companion fared better; her «New Orleans Skillet» (?) featured chicken and rice in a very nice, spicy tomato sauce, with green beans and a respectable potato salad on the side. And her meal cost less than mine.
The atmosphere? Well, after getting our entrees (one served on a paper plate; the other on a real plate), we couldn’t decide where to park ourselves. The music playing inside was just about the worst synth-​driven, overproduced Christian pop-​rock you can imagine. And all the outside tables were in the direct path of the blazing sun at nearly 7 p.m.
The décor and overall feel are very small-​town Louisiana/​Mississippi/​Arkansas. In other words, it’s ugly, but it’s got soul out the wazoo.
Check this place out, but go with someone who knows the menu. Seems like the kind of place where the words on the page don’t really have much to do with what you end up getting.

Tried Gene’s for lunch today and I have to honestly give it a mixed review. I am a big fan of cajun/​creole food, so it was a highly anticipated lunch that we had planned. The location and ambiance is as most have described it, so I won’t get into that aspect too much. I often comment on ambiance, as it’s an important contributor to my dining experience, but when I go in knowing that the place is a hole in the wall, I don’t take points off for dinginess.
The wife and I both had po-​boys and really liked it. The price of $ 7.95 for a 12 inch sandwich was pretty good. They don’t come with any sides, though, so it’s not a great value. We ordered the chicken fries separately and it tasted an awful lot like the chicken fries at Burger King. That wasn’t impressive. Since this was our first time there, I am eager to go back and try some of their specialty dishes: smothered pork chops, red beans and rice, jambalaya. Won’t have a conclusive opinion on the food until I sample those, I think. One additional bonus was the live blues music! Not something I was expecting upon walking up to the place.
Like I said earlier, I didn’t have issues with ambiance… except to say that there were no empty seats left in the restaurant when we went. There’s an adjacent room next to the dining area, but it wasn’t set up for customers. When we finally got our seats, the group next to us had just finished their meal and told us that they had to wait almost an hour for all of their orders to come out. We wound up waiting about 40 minutes. That’s too slow for a high customer traffic time like a weekday lunch. The soda machine being out of order was another thing that seemed to go wrong. Perhaps these were just problems that came up today… or it might be an ongoing issue. It was obvious that there were some kinks that Gene’s needs to work out.

It probably deserves more stars, but this is my taste review and while I love a good shrimp or oyster po-​boy, and they do have fantastic po-​boys, what I really want, is red beans and rice. That’s all. I can’t get Trebeard’s out of my head and I haven’t found a place in Austin that compares.
So, yes, it’s great for lunch, but not so great that I’m there every week.

I tried to like Gene’s. I really, really tried.
The first time I gave it a go, I ordered some kind of shrimp plate or maybe it was a shrimp po boy… Maybe I can’t remember because it was so icky that I blocked it out of my memory. The batter on the shrimp was soggy and upon peeling it off, I noticed a strange discoloration and a bit of funk. That was, without a doubt, the most fiercely unappetizing shrimp I have ever had.
The second time I tried to forgive and forget and all of that nonsense so I tried the pork chops. I’m pretty particular about my soul/​cajun food as I grew up eating these dishes on a regular basis. The pork chops I had there paled in comparison to the pork flavored ramen noodles I had the week before.
If you want delicious, authentic food on the east side, your best bet is Nubian Queen Lola’s. I’ve never had a bad experience there and the food blows Gene’s out of the water. Lola’s po boy is the best I have EVER had. Hands down.
Maybe I caught them on a bad day once, err… twice. But I just don’t agree that Gene’s is the best in it’s category. The hype is far more impressive than the food.

Genes is a small hole in the wall on the east side with an unmistakable flavor that you have got to try. The first time I went was with a friend who told me about this wonderful creole/​cajun place that we had to go eat lunch at. After eating my first shrimp poboy I was sold. This place is solid and perfect for lunch. Its very casual and doesn’t have a ton of parking but give it a go on your lunch hour and you won’t be sorry. You will be sleepy afterwards but don’t the best dreams come from a stomach full of love?

The sign behind the register states, «Not responsible for keeping you awake after returning to work!». As I pulled away after eating, I giggled a bit because I all wanted was a nap.
If Creole food is what you are looking for, Creole food is what you will find at Gene’s! If you don’t know the difference, I can try to educate you but don’t worry… it’s not that big of a deal because it all taste damn good to me either way.
Everyone has given stellar reviews for Gene’s poboy’s but I, always choosing the opposite of the norm, opted for a daily special when I visited. It was a Tuesday and the special consisted of jambalaya, smothered green beans, potato salad, fried wings and two pieces of french bread. Oooh Wee child, I had enough to eat for days! I ordered it to go, even though I sat outside, because I knew I would not be able to eat everything in one sitting and wanted to save it for later. Note: I eat small portions but many times a day so I say a lot of food but it wasn’t anything to make your eyes pop out of your head. It was a Styrofoam to go box filled to the top. Now that you know… I’m moving on.
For those of you who are familiar with jambalaya, most of you know it as a dark rice dish mixed with a plethora of meats and ingredients. At Gene’s, it’s Creole style, meaning it is tomato based, which surprisingly makes it what color… that’s right RED! Way to go class. When I opened the box and saw the red mess, I was somewhat disappointed because I am not a big fan of tomatoes based dishes but being the trooper I am, I dug in. I was so shocked to actually enjoy the dish, I couldn’t get enough! And Gene uses andouille sausage which was another delightful surprise to the palate. The sides were just as delicious. Green beans smothered in a light creamy gravy, the potato salad rich and thick and the fried chicken wings… well they were fried. All in all, I was a happy little back bayou girl as I wrapped up my leftovers and went on my way.
The inside of Gene’s leave something to be desire but people!, you are not going there for the ambiance, you are defiantly going there for the good eats so leave the pretentiousness at the door and enjoy some comfort food.

There can never be too many five star reviews for Gene’s Po-​boys.
Best Po-​boys ever.
My personal favorite is the catfish. A Generous portion of freshly-​fried perfect catfish, with lettuce, tomato, slathered with mayo and just the right number of dill pickles on a gargantuan roll. Its 7.95, which sounds like a lot for a sandwich, but its really like 2 sandwiches, its so big. I’m full after I eat half. But — its so damn good, I have to finish the other half anyway and then curse myself.
My dh got some gumbo last time we were there. I asked him if it was good. All I heard was «mMMmmMMmMM.» through his closed chomping mouth while he shook his head affirmatively.
Gene’s is really slow, btw. Don’t expect to go there during your lunch break at work, or if you do, call ahead. If you can wait for some really excellent food, GO.

The day we went for lunch at Gene’s, smothered pork chops were the special.
We walked in to this tiny place that smelled so good, I felt like I was back at Miss Hattie’s place in Meridian Mississippi learning to make sweet potato pies.
We sat at a small table and listened to an elderly man strum on the guitar playin blues like nobody’s business!
We ordered our pork chops and I was in Heaven! They were tender, tasty and hot. The waitress treated us like old friends coming over for Sunday dinner with the family.
The entire staff was as friendly and happy as could be.
The sweet potatoes were yummy, the greens were good and the cornbread was great, as well.
The food, people and that man playing guitar made this a lunch that was truly a good thing.

I couldn’t agree with Jaye more!
This place is New Orleans, through and through.
The owner is out there having a chat with his friends (you know, you!) and discussing everything from the weather to local music, while the cook comes out and yells at you to take your order.
I’ve never had a po-​boy and I’ve been converted!

The ONLY reason I’m giving them 4 stars is that it took an hour to get our food today. Otherwise, this would be my first 5 star review in Austin.
Put quite simply, call your mama, get her on the plane and slap her when she gets here. This is hands down the best catfish I’ve ever eaten in my life. It tasted like… catfish! Not nasty, dirty, bottom of the lake. It was perfectly seasoned, the batter was light and crunchy, and the fish firm and flaky.
I had it with a side of green beans cooked with bacon and what I’m guessing was bacon/​chicken gravy. I wanted more. I broke my new «no meat unless I know the exact source» rule. The jambalaya was so good and I’m not even that in love with sausage. Or chicken. So go figure.
My friend had the shrimp po-​boy which he declared perfect. He loved the breading on the shrimp and the way the sandwich was perfectly «dressed» (minus tomatoes).
Yes, we waited forever and came close to eating some fries left on a table by previous diners, but when that food came to us, it was some of the most perfect New Orleans eating I’ve ever had… even in New Orleans!