J Gumbo’s

i’ve been here several times and while the food is good, the portions don’t seem like they’re worth the price. on three separate occassions i had ordered the vegetarian dishes. each time its one scoop of rice and one very small scoop of the gumbo. it always ends up like i am paying to eat plain rice! since i am not getting meat, at least add more gumbo! i’ll update the review if management takes notice and things change.

Fabulous Cajun. I had the mixed bowl of gumbo and jambalaya. It was the perfect blend of spice and flavor. Price was reasonable and portions good for lunch.

J. Gumbo’s is pretty good. Especially when the weather is cold and blustery, a bowl of hot (temperature and flavor) stew really hits the spot. And if you don’t like the heat, they have options for you too.
Many of the dishes are variations on the same theme: stewed chicken in various spices or sauces. And most are pretty good. You can’t really go wrong with most of the choices. Several of them are not just tasty but healthy. (Sadly, one of my favorite menu items-​the voodoo nachos-​is also by far the most unhealthy. So it’s only an occasional treat.)
So why only the three stars, not four? I guess because I don’t usually crave it. (To be fair others, including a close coworker, do.) The bread that they give you is an apt example. It’s fine. But it’s plain. With just a little more it could stand out. But as it is, it’s solid and reliable.

My office is in the area of the Pearl Alley location so I have been a patron since this location opened. The food is good. When it opened the line was out the door everyday so much so that they had to have directional signs inside to keep the line in order.
The directional signs remain today but the lines do not. Perhaps the reduction in business is due to the following: skimping on servings (its like the servers get points for how little they can put in a bowl quite unlike how it used to be when it first opened) and new staff every month who are more concerned with the other people behind the counter than the people in front of the counter.

A friend and I stopped in for lunch today to try J. Gumbo’s at the downtown E Gay St location.
The food was fine; my friend had the NOLA Nachos and was pleased with the flavor of the dish although the tortilla chips were not the freshest. I had the Bourbon Chicken which was also good; it’s on the sweet and mild portion of the menu and that was an accurate description. There was enough sauce with the chicken to mildly flavor the white rice that was served with it but not so much sauce as to make the dinner swim. There were a few pieces of green onion sprinkled on top.
However, I doubt if I’ll be back. This being our first time to J. Gumbo’s, we were looking at the menu boards posted on the wall. My friend wasn’t able to see well enough to read the descriptions under the names of each dish, so she was asking the servers about the dishes. They repeatedly directed her back to the menu boards, either saying ‘it’s on the board’ or just pointing at the boards. They did give a couple of verbal hints about the food. As we checked out, my friend looked at an item that was for sale across from the cash register and said it looked tasty but she didn’t know what it was. So I read her the label including the description of the item. The server cashing us out said something like «Oh look! She read!» sort of sarcastically. Overall, I felt he was making fun of one or both of us. It was not a pleasant experience.
As the single star in the rating implies, I doubt I’ll return. That type of experience leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I Was there for lunch today and the food was cold. COLD!!! That is crazy, I was one of the first customers there, it’s a Monday so they are using food from when? It was dirty in the kitchen at least I think it was the kitchen, was a wreck. Told the people who work there and they were just a bit concerned, not about me but just that it was about noon and customers were going to come in… they did not even apologize to me. The customer after me came in and they did not even have his food ready, he left. This place is OFF THE LIST!

My first time having gumbo was at J Gumbo’s and it was great. Walked over for a quick lunch and was very pleased. The gumbo had just the right seasonings and was delicious. The service was also great. I was able to get in and out within 30 minutes since I chose to sit outside. Good food for a good price ($ 6.95). I recommend if you’re looking for somewhere convenient in Downtown Columbus.

2 stars for quick and friendly service and brown rice option but it stops there. The food was so salty — both the bourbon street chicken and the NOLA nachos –we just threw them out. The portions were big and others in the restaurant were chowing down on other menu options, so maybe our choices were not the best. Went during moonlight market on a Saturday evening.

Love the location off of Pearl Alley and the concept of a Cajun restaurant in Columbus. So, I ordered the gumbo, figuring it would be their signature dish, but while it was spicy, it was not hot – merely warm. My partner had hers microwaved hot. I found a bay leaf, so I know it’s pretty authentic. On the other hand, the soda fountain needed attention, but when I called it to their staff’s attention they jumped on it and then let me know when it was ready to go. And, while i like bread with gumbo, they do need a new vendor for the bread.
In sum, I still think you should definitely get out of the hotel and make an effort to find this corner spot.

I have been here multiple times. It’s a great place for a quick lunch. Today I had the white chili which was OK. There was a hint of sweetness in the chili which stood out from the rest of the dish.

It’s amazing how many people don’t realize that the food is premade and shipped to every store. Sometimes problems arise at the factory and all stores can only state the obvious. No one even factories aren’t perfect. I personally love the Bourbon Street Chicken with the Bumblebee Stew topped with fresh green onions.

Bad mall food. Outside the mall.
This place screams inauthenticity. It’s neither cajun nor creole.
It’s like someone read a book on cooking «New Orleans food» then thought «Hmm, I can make this better» and didn’t.
Literally, you will get better bourbon chicken at the crappy asian place in the mall. And better «beans and rice» at any craptacular Mexican restaurant.

I’ve been eating J. Gumbo’s almost every week for a year now since they cater at my work. Today I decided to go to their actual location and see what else they had. I didn’t see a whole lot that was different from what they served at work. I decided to try the Jean Laffitte Burrito Bowl, which is a combination of the Voodoo Chicken (their hottest dish) and the Bumblee Bee Stew (they said it’s mild, but I think it’s on the sweet side) on top of a bed of rice and topped with cream cheese (which I thought was weird). There was barely any rice with the burrito bowl, which was unacceptable because there’s no such thing as too much carbs! Other than that, I really like J. Gumbo’s food!

Just bad. bland food with a too runny consistency, and their «sangria» turned out to be a wine cooler. C’mon now.

I am in town for a conference and came for lunch. I had the drunken chicken over rice. The chicken was well seasoned, unfortunately, that is where the positive part of my review ends.
Regarding the overall menu, I thought it was a bit strange that a restaurant that touts authentic creole cuisine had items that come in a tortilla bowl with guac, cheese and sour cream. I suppose if people like fusion cuisine this mexi-​creole menu might be appetizing.
My BIGGEST problem was that lack of customer service I experienced here. Hopefully, the tall caucasian gentlemen working behind the counter is just an employee and not someone in charge, because he showed no appreciation for the customers. Myself and my two companions were the only people in line to order. It was our first time there so we had some questions about the menu. He was behaving very frantically as if he needed us to hurry up and order, which I would have understood if there were others in line, but that was not the case.
One example: I asked him, «what is the most popular item on the menu?» he briskly responded «I don’t know, I only have 12 things on the menu, people order all of them.»
He gave similar rude responses to my friends. By the time we finished eating there were only 2 other diners in the place. We got up to leave and were half-​way out of the for when he shouted to us from across the restaurant, to inform us that we needed to bus our own table. Now, I know that there are several burrito spots and places that expect you to throw out your trash and leave your basket etc… I’m not against the concept, but obviously we didn’t realize this was that type of place. (It was not noted anywhere by signage) If this was my restaurant, and I’m not busy and group of customers clearly don’t know the rule, I think the appropriate thing to do is to just bus the table and not summon the customer back to do it!
In summary, the food is marginal and they have a bad apple behind the counter. There was a young short african american girl working behind the counter who was actually delightful, and when I became irritated with the first gentleman, I just directed all questions to her. It was because she was so nice that I gave this place 2 stars instead of 1.

Went here for lunch.
Had the zydeco chicken — it was tasty.
The prices are slightly lower than average (it seems)
The menu is easy to understand, and it really all looks good.
I recommend for lunch!

J. Gumbo’s Cajun and Creole Cooking Co. is a self-​styled southern restaurant that sports a menu that, on the surface, looks legit (and by «legit» I mean, «suitably Southern in tone»): gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, etc. They even have themed dishes to get you in that rabble-​rousing, backwaters groove over a lunch hour, like Bourbon Street Chicken and the Jean Lafitte Burrito Bowl and Voodoo Nachos. The menu prattles on in this mish-​mash of French Quarter speak to the tune of about 20 dishes.
This is all, of course, farce. This is hipster food, done just well enough to make one feel like they’re getting the real deal while they tick one more cultural experience off of their local paper’s City’s Best list. Except I don’t think J. Gumbo’s ever made any of those lists. At least, I hope not. The menu, while loaded with Louisiana-​sounding finery, basically boils down (literally) to variations on shredded chicken, pulverized chicken, rice, and whatever they shoved in a blender set to purée to call a roux for the rest. The food is largely prepped ahead of time and isn’t labored over once it’s done. There is no «service» here because you’re basically in a lunch line for all of four minutes, door to plate. And because much of it sits out in pans all day it gets weak. Fortunately, they use very little in the way of ingredients, so your chalk-​dry chicken gets lots of celery-​soft soup gravy to endow it with enough softness to allow passage into one’s esophagus. They’re not big on spices, cooking long or presentation (meals are accompanied by the hardest, palest slice of thick bread this side of a county jail), but hey, if you’ve never had Creole food, what are you really missing? (The answer is, «a lot.») And hey: if you want that real down-​south po’boy experience? They’re all too happy to slap the same shit chicken on a hard piece of flatbread and call it a po’boy for you! Seriously, this is the anti-​thesis of a po’boy. How your po’boy gonna be smaller than a bag of chips, J?
No review of a supposedly Creole/​Cajun affair would be complete without mentioning the paucity of seafood on their menu. Sure, they feature a couple of dishes with crawfish, but let’s be clear: they give you such small portions of this meat you might as well treat it like the vegetarian version of a nicotine patch. There is no shrimp to be found, no other seafood either, so you almost have to stand in awe at the balls it took for someone, somewhere to suggest they call this place Cajun, Creole or any other C-​word that has to do with food, like cuisine. I get that those meats are sensitive and actually need to be handled well and cooked and are best the closer you get to an actual coastline. That J. Gumbo’s has essentially opted to ignore seafood while attempting to sell a culture largely based on seafood is like eating in a diner in the Twilight Zone.
The ambiance at the ones I’ve been to isn’t much to speak of. They plop these into whatever space they can and throw some Mardi Gras beads up and start serving food. The one in Downtown Columbus was a small, black-​tiled deli. Now it’s a small black-​tiled deli-​looking J. Gumbo’s. Even if you’ve never had this type of food before I think it’s safe to say that once you finish a meal here, you still haven’t. Bön appétit, mon ami!
Going back to my original point about Columbus being a test market, it stands to reason that something as bland as J. Gumbo’s would be here. Companies don’t just test things on us to see if we will like them or not. They also test if we can be suckered by them enough to be successful. Considering Ohio has more J. Gumbos than any of the other six states that have a J. Gumbo — NONE of which are Louisiana or Mississippi — I think their front office can consider the marginalization of Southern cultures and a sapping of their cuisine a resounding success.

I stopped in while I was downtown at the Moonlight Market on Saturday. It’s been awhile and I had forgotten how good their food was. I got an order of Bumblebee Stew and it was just great! I only got a small order and now I’m sorry. Bit I think it’s great that the willingly sell the small size. That’s darned nice of them!

We came downtown to go to Maki Go! but were sad to see that it was permanently closed. We wandered over to Gay St. and stopped at J. Gumbo’s.
We weren’t sure what to expect, as neither of us had been to one of these before, so we stopped and read the sign outside first. The only thing that appealed to me (as someone who isn’t a big fan of spicy food) was the bourbon chicken. My boyfriend and I both got the same thing, as well as a couple of beers (which I appreciated; a nice variety too!)
We started eating and I was disappointed to find that my chicken wasn’t hot at all, was pretty salty, and seemed undercooked in some places. I asked my boyfriend if the chicken that looked somewhat pink in places was okay, and he said it should be fine. Sadly, I’ve been sick most of the weekend since then, so I don’t think it was fine. Of course, you can never know what made you sick, but J. Gumbo’s was the only thing I had eaten out of the ordinary, and I found the chicken suspect at the time.
I am sad to give this place such a bad review, because the guy who was working was really nice, attentive, and helpful. I wish the food were better! My stomach is still churning as I write this review, so I don’t know that I could give more than 2 stars; hopefully this is not a trend at this location.

I don’t know what is wrong with this location but their food really sucks compared to other J Gumbo’s. Their bourbon chicken is really dry (see picture) and disgusting, it’s nothing like the bourbon chicken at other J Gumbo’s locations. I’ve tried their Jambalaya and their White Chili downtown and they are soupy and gross. What are you guys doing to your food at this place?! Go to any other J Gumbo’s and the food is great. Don’t go here!