Lagniappe Creole Cajun Joynt

This place was very sad indeed. There was noone sitting on their patio in 80 degree heat which i thought was a bit odd. After dining here I discovered it was either due to a number of things: no umbrellas on the tables to block the sun, poor tasting food, wine served in plastic disposeable cups, no restrooms, poor waitstaff (the waiter could not describe the food nor give us accurate prices, also did not know the serving size of the non-​refillable beverages). I asked for cheese on my sliders and to get the additional cost the waiter had to call the owner, who in turn had to call the chef over. Thats really, really bad when you don’t know your prices and you own the joint. The place looked unremarkable at best. Our food came out of a small metal shack, the kind you see selling funnel cakes on the street. And to top it off our receipt was some kind of handwritten carbon copy thing. What happened to good food, toilets, and technology? Epic fail.

Just disgusting. Smelly location with porta potties nearby and garbagey smells from lower Wacker, which is just behind a low wall. The food is repulsive. Found some scaly mystery meat in the gumbo (was told this was crawfish, but crawfish don’t have scales?). Spiced to taste like everything was covered with car tire particles. Inedible.

Located along the Chicago River, between Clark and Dearborn, is the downtown location of Lagniappe Creole Cajun Joynt. A friend recently suggested we check this place out for lunch, and since I love Cajun food I eagerly agreed. In hindsight, I wish I went to Heaven on Seven.
I tried the gumbo and the shrimp po’ boy. The gumbo was some sorry, disappointing stuff. Where’s the shrimp? Where’s the sausage? This was just a brown murky soup with some rice, shredded mystery meat (chicken? beef?) and large pieces of onion. The spices were good enough to keep it semi-​edible, but man, this should be called soup and rice, not gumbo. The po’ boy was ok, but definitely happy I only had the 4 inch smaller lunch version. That was more than enough to get the idea.
Service was slow. It took ages for someone to come by and take our order and it’s not like there were throngs of people there.
One star for the idea of eating Cajun food along the Chicago River. Hopefully they start executing that idea a lot better. For now, I’m going to continue getting my fix at Heaven.

This place is tucked out of the way on the River Walk. You can get take-​out, but I took one of the ~8 tables to eat there. I ordered fried green tomatoes (served with creole mustard) and the crawfish dinner (first time I have easten them, they don’t come up much in Ontario menus.)
The tomatoes were very good, pan fried until golden brown and delicious, served hot and fresh.
The crawfish was very tasty and I would recommend it for any adventurous eater! (The mess it generates puts ribs and wings to shame.) It came with a potato (the menu said corn too, which was mysteriously absent). The seasoning was plentiful and buttery. Keep in mind I have NO crawfish experience to compare against.
The total for this was somewhat less than $ 20 after tax and tip, not cheap, but I did get an awful lot of food (maybe 30 crawfish)

I’m surprised that no one has listed the newest and second location of Lagniappe yet, despite several people reporting fabulous meals there, so allow me to be the first.
Some months ago, several of my friends took a field trip to the original location on 79^th street. I was, sadly, unable to go, and listened with unbridled jealousy to their tales of perfect, hearty portions of jambalaya, gumbo, seafood, wangs and waffles, and beignets. Then the new location opened, and I was able to partake. Finally.
You know how sometimes after hearing something talked up for so long, its really not that impressive once one is faced with it? Well, not the case here. Since we’d heard rumors of them having their liquor license, we were a little bummed when we sat down and heard the tale of the city’s many required hoops before such a thing could come to pass. Sorrow. The waitress clearly sensed the dejection on our alkie faces, however, because she soon showed up with a pitcher of icy bright pink goodness, and kept our cups brimming with delicious (and gratis!) Hurricanes the entire time we were there. I was sold.
As if the awesome free drinks and super sweet and welcoming staff weren’t enough, it was all like, ‘here, have this plate of the awesomest food ever’. Ok, maybe not THE awesomest, but pretty amazing. I had a shrimp po’ boy, which had a nice amount of spice and came was super yummy waffle fries. Friend 1 had something involving many crawfish, which he enjoyed once we figured out the best way to consume them, and Friend 2, who was torn between the jambalya and the gumbo, was graciously accommodated by Mary the chef, who came out and talked with us and, upon hearing his dilemma, let the poor guy have both. The portions were huge, and there were many leftovers to be had, yet the bill was something like 45 – 50 for 3 people. Three very boozed up, full, grateful people who left a good tip – as you should too if you discover the same fate as us.
Hurry up and visit – they might have their license by now and they’re only going to be open at that location until October.

The only thing vegetarian is beans and rice — and they taste weird and nothing like the red beans and rice we had in New Orleans last month!
Surprisingly, the food was bland and not Cajun-​seasoned at all! We added a Caesar Salad to the order, but that was just a few pieces of leaf with 5 croutons on top!
The beignet was served in unbelievably large quantities — who can eat that much deep-​fried dough with sugar — not even a table of 10!
The riverside location is nice, but the bugs make the experience less than enjoyable!
Now the one thing that was indeed good — was the service! And I wish I could separately 5-​star that, but overall it was no more than a 1-​star experience, for us!

You couldn’t have a better experience — sitting along the river, eating perfectly sweet fried green tomatoes balanced with Dijon mustard, along with juicy fresh crab in a flaky crust, plus tasty complimentary sweet tea — I guess that’s the «Lagniappe». Service is outstanding. How’d I find out about the new branch? I was wandering up Clark this beautiful afternoon and saw a sign that said «LAGNIAPPE» on the river side of Wacker, with an arrow pointing down towards the river walk. A young man wearing a waiter’s apron saw how hungry I was ACROSS THE STREET and began eagerly rubbing his hands together. When I got to him, he escorted me down to the riverside and seated me near a couple who, like me, appeared pleased with their good luck. He then transformed himself into my waiter and even lent me his personal Sun-​Times when I asked if they had an extra paper for me to read. Top-​notch.