Mama Lou’s Shrimp & BBQ

Just finished my order of beef tips and they were delicious! Too much for one meal so I’m looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Super friendly staff at Mama Lou’s and the cook even took a few minutes to come out and talk to me.
If you go there you should be aware that this is a cash only business.
If you like bbq and friendly folks you should give this place a try.

I’ve been here a few times. Definitely one of my favorites in the area. I’ve had the pasta really good as well as the catfish the best and the rib too combo. I never had to wait long either.

This place has the best pulled pork, I have had in a long time. The sauce was superb. I definitely recommend this place. It may take a while to get your food if they are busy but it is WORTH the time. Side note bring cash as they do accept credit cards at this time. Can’t say enough on how good the pork is. The owner is friendly and a joy to talk to.

I’m writing this review without eating Mama Lou’s food. But with good reason.
We arrived at 1pm on a Saturday so the farmer’s market crowd was pretty much gone. There was one table open (there are only six or so tables and booths). Someone did eventually clean off the table (and under it — pretty dirty) and we sat down.
A waitress asked us what we wanted to drink. My wife wanted water and I ordered a diet pepsi with no ice.
Their sodas are in cans (so not fountain drinks) so when the waitress brought it out, I asked for a glass.
The waitress passed by our table three times, each time bringing out one item to a table.
Repeating, every time she came out, she carried one thing (and twice it was one styrofoam to-​go container).
As we sat, we noticed that the waitress was very single task oriented. She would take an order from a table.
Go back to the register and check one person out.
Grab something from the food window. And so on. Everything — one — at — a — time.
After waiting twenty minutes for a glass (and to have our order taken), I asked the people (with little kids) next to us if they had been waiting long.
They had.
While waiting, I pulled up some reviews and noticed a common thread — the place is very slow.
After sitting for 25 minutes without anyone even attempting to take our order, we left.
Note to owners (who I highly doubt read online reviews):
You really should take your wait staff to a busy diner and have them watch real waiters and waitresses at work.
The service is terrible.
The seating area is dirty.
The menus are placed in a plastic covering and were sticky.
I can only imagine what the kitchen looked like.
Sad. My wife and I are both cajun food fans and wanted Mama Lou’s to be good.

I had the Shrimp gumbo and it was really good. Better then I anticipated!

Visited for the first time this past weekend.
Pros:
–Delicious food
–Reasonable prices
–Extremely friendly staff
Things to be aware of:
–It’s more of a take-​out place than a dine-​in restaurant. (This is especially noteworthy when it comes to ordering drinks while dining in.)
–The wait was fairly long. During my family’s visit, others were waiting as well. Probably best to call approx. 45 minutes ahead of when you plan on picking up your food.
–They run out of some items, particularly sides.
Definitely plan on visiting again. Pulled pork was fantastic, jambalaya was spicy enough to add flavor without excessive heat, and the other members of my family enjoyed the jerk wings and catfish. Also — out of left field — the salsa was delicious.

The three bones I ordered was covered in a spectacular sauce that was just slightly too sweet. The pasta was savory but not to strong. The jalapeño hush puppies were obviously the star of the meal. They were crispy on the outside, and smooth on the inside. The jalapeño hush puppies are a must. The wait was fine. There was another order placed before us but they were never served. We left before they saw a drop of BBQ sauce.

I don’t usually write reviews, but one meal at Mama Lou’s will convince you. The food was dynamite. I stumbled in here with my boss on a lunch break just on a whim. They served portions so large I got full, which is rare occurrence indeed for a 6’2′ 23 year old male. Bravo! The service reflects that of the sleepy South, which is no knock on it, just something to be aware of for us fast pace Northerners. If you have a free hour at lunch hit up Mama Lou’s

I went to Mama Lou’s on a Wednesday with some co-​workers. As a big fan of Cajun, I am very happy to see a restaurant like this in the stateline. The sausage gumbo I got was spectacular, which is a shame since the rest of the experience was one of the worst I’ve had in a restaurant.
It took well over an hour get food in a restaurant with 5 tables. I watched the other four tables around us be cleaned, seated, and fed while I waited. In the end, I had to ask for the food that I never got to be boxed up since my lunch hour was over.
As an apology, the server gave me a 25% off coupon for «next time». The owner never acknowledged us, much less apologize for the horrible service. On the way back, I looked in my bag and found that they had forgotten a part of my order that I was charged for-​effectively negating any benefit of a 25% off coupon.
Mama Lou’s serves some great food. I really hope they can get their act together before their poor service runs them out of business.

Everything we ate was good and I was surprised it was in Beloit. I had brisket which was not smoked but still was very good, but a little greasy. The hush-​puppies tasted like they were made in the south and I could have eatin 2 more orders of them. Before I forget the Jambalaya is probably the best i have had. Good balance of flavor. The drink selection is small right now but I heard they are working on getting everything up and running. The owner is very friendly The reason it is only 3 stars is that the service is not good. Each time I have eaten here, it has been a different server. Even though they have all been polite, you can tell they are new. Also the food wait time is horrible. Expect to wait over 45 minutes to be served food.

This is the real thing. The restaurant is just getting started so everything is not set up — — there’s not even a sign — — but the folks are very friendly and the food is excellent. Try the Mama’s Boy sandwich and the hush puppies.

My mom and I were at Beloit’s Farmer’s Market, when we came across MaMa Lou’s Shrimp & BBq Smokehouse, the soon to open up restaurant, owner was giving out free samples. Let’s put it this way, he is a racist if you were not of his ethnicity you were either ignored or given a sliver of a sample while being ignored. But, if you were of his ethics you would walk away with a brat size sample as he was being friendly to you. So, if he does this while he’s giving out samples what is he going to do when you order from his resturant? He ignored us, without giving us a sample. When we went back and my Mom confronted him, he agreed to what he did! Then acted like it was nothing. So he lost potential customers before he has even opened his doors! If I were anyone else I would think about it before going there, I know for a fact, I will not be back!