Yats

Having spent a lot of time in Louisiana and falling in love with the culture and food — my mouth starts to water when I come across a Cajun place in town that I haven’t been to. We wondered into Yats per a family members recommendation — the restaurant is easy to find in Grandview and there is plenty of street parking available and lots near by.
We walked in and we were greeted by the owner who asked if we’d been there before. He explained the menu and drink options. Fountain drinks for now but a license is in the works… honestly I was hoping for an ice cold Abita with my meal! The restaurant itself is nice and open and super clean. I hate going somewhere and feeling crowded by all of the tables and chairs on top of each other. We sat at the bar area and reviewed the chalk board menu in front of us as the owner went over the options. We ordered the drunken chicken, mushroom and spinach étouffée, chili cheese étouffée, chicken maque choux, red beans and rice. Loaded (cheese, sour cream, and red onion).
While the food arrived the owner discussed his business and his story which is always nice to hear. The food arrived promptly and served with a delicious Cajun buttered toast. The drunken chicken (one of their top sellers) is proper! The sauce is thick, lots of well seasoned chicken pieces, and just enough spice. The spinach and mushroom étouffée was wonderful. I’ve tried other Cajun places around Columbus and their sauce is too watery — everything that we ordered was great. The maque choux (pronounced mock shoe) is killer! The red beans and rice so flavorful!
Next to the fountain drinks you will find a sea of hot sauces if you need a little extra kick! We cleared our plates and decided to share the peanut butter pie as I can’t pass one up when I see it on the menu. It did not disappoint! Rich and delicious!
Overall our experience at Yats was great. From the friendly owner, delicious food, plenty of vegetarian options, and great location… we can’t wait to go back! I did notice some bad reviews and I can’t help but think they’re maybe from the competition or people who just love to look for the negative and write bad reviews! Make sure you check their Facebook and Instagram for daily menu changes and special events!

Delicious food in a fun atmosphere. Good prices and friendly staff. I really enjoyed the hot sauce selection – and THE BREAD!

So we are slowly knocking off Unilocal’s Top 100 restaurants in Columbus and we made it to Yats the other day. Let me start by prefacing that I have never had Cajun/​Creole before so I don’t have a basis for comparison. That being said, this place was AWESOME! I am not sure that I could have found it driving by but it was easy enough to find since I was looking for it. We walked in and found the place to be very clean and bright which was very nice. The guy behind the counter greeted us genuinely and walked us through how everything works. My wife ordered the Drunken Chicken and I got the Spinach Mushroom Etoufee. When they came out they were very good sized portions and had a piece of garlic bread on it. I tried both entrees and found that I preferred the Spinach/​Mushroom and my wife preferred the Drunken Chicken so it worked out great. What was insane is how good the garlic bread is. I do not consider myself a bread expert by any means but this bread made the entire meal amazing. We went back up and ordered some extra bread for .75 and killed that too. This is a nice little stop if you are in the area and has a great staff. I am a big fan and we will make the cross-​Columbus trip again to eat at Yats.

Best Cajun food I had in Columbus! Great service! And Great hospitality! YATS all the way!

Ordered the drunken chicken. There was barely any chicken in this dish (1 – 2 very small pieces, not even chunk size) and I got mostly rice and sauce.
Came out to $ 7 total What a rip off!
First time coming here and never coming back again!
Stay Away!

Wish there were more of these around here. It’s a lot like Da Levee, but a little nicer for dining in. Casual but classy. Similar food and quality, great prices, great service. Plus, a great hot sauce collection by the drink dispenser.
I had the two-​entrée combo, since I’m indecisive and like variety. Drunken chicken, with big tender chunks of chicken and tomato, in an addictive stew. Chili cheese étouffée– I thought the chili cheese part would overwhelm the other flavors that I love, but it was subtle, and worked well together. All over rice, with really good garlic bread.
We’re lucky to have several good Cajun options in town. I will go to Da Levee more often, but if there was a Yats location close to me it’d be a tough call.

The bread is absolutely the best part. There are good vegetarian options too (2 or 3). The cashier was super friendly and we had a decently long conversation since there was nobody else in the restaurant. Incredibly fast, and good food.

Awesome service! The man behind the counter was very quick to greet us and explain the extensive menu posted behind him. He was patient with me and I asked all of my questions and had no problem offering samples to help with our choice.
I would highly recommend the drunken chicken!
Also, kudos for having clean high chairs!

Yum. Like it.
It is a chain. No bells, no whistles (unless you count all the hot sauce, which I do). It is just above average creole food in Columbus for cheap. BYOB.
Super nice owner/​manager. Very quick. Very no nonsense.

Tasty, fresh, real and with outstanding service. Not to be missed if you’re in Columbus.

I love Yats! I’ve only visited twice, but both times it was amazing. The staff is super friendly, there are several (like 10 – 12) options of Cajun foods. The spicy sauces and Cajun spices close to the beverage station is an excellent perk. You can try anything off the menu before you order. It’s mainly ready upon arrival so there isn’t much of a wait at all. The location is perfect, can’t say enough great things about this place, I love it!

If you like freshly prepared cajun cooking and haven’t been to Yats, yet, you’re missing out!
*Located right on Grandview Drive
*Warm atmosphere — exposed brick walls, wooden floors, bar seating, high tops and tables. *Televisions visible from bar seating and some tables.
*Menu is on a blackboard located behind the bar/​counter.
*Order at the counter — then they bring the food out to your table.
*Several entrees remain on the menu and specials offered daily.
*VERY reasonably priced.
Food — My husband and I came for lunch. Orders arrived quickly. I had the Gumbo — loaded with meat and flavor. Roux was perfect. Not overly spicy however there is a variety of sauces to add to adjust to your taste. Husband had Drunken Chicken and a Crayfish dish — both perfect and no skimping on the meat/​seafood! Entrees are generous servings and accompanied by warm french bread with melted seasoned butter on top (yum!)
Good to know:
*They do not have a liquor license, yet hope to acquire it by this fall. Until then, it’s BYOB (or wine!)
*No outdoor seating. However there ‘is’ indoor seating right next to the window.

This was my 1^st time eating here, I work nearby and was looking for something new to try in the area. I got the half and half with Drunken Chicken and Red beans rice/​smoked sausage. (FYI their menu changes daily). The red beans and rice was just ok, it was slightly under seasoned but did have big pieces of meat in it. The drunken chicken was really good though! Slightly spicy and again big pieces of chicken. Oh and the bread that comes with it was sooo good and buttery. The man working there was very friendly as well, I will definitely be back to try some other items!

Popped in here today after passing it a few times on Grandview Ave and seeing it on Unilocal.It’s like a J Gumbos but it doesn’t feel as forced and chain-​like (although it is a smaller chain based out of Indy). Talked to the owner? Or manager? And he was very nice and helpful. We tried a few different things but settled on the chorizo and black bean. Delicious. The bread is great too. I’ll definitely be back to try more sometime. The food was very reasonably priced and they have lots of hot sauce and toppings (several from CaJohns).
I’d definitely recommend!

Good food. Quick for lunch and cheap. Very filling.
Food is good. Bread is good but a little too buttered/​greasy.
There was a great selection of hot sauces that were all fun to try!

I really wanted to give this place a good review, since I’ve heard good things… but our food was pathetic. I’d say our entrée was 75% rice. There was the thinnest layer of entrée over it :(
Between the 2 of us, we each did half and half so we could try 4 total: Chicken Creole, Chicken Maque Choux, Chili Cheese Étouffée, and Drunken Chicken. We weren’t wowed by any of them. Maybe because we couldn’t get over the mouthfuls of rice. We even had 1 of every hot sauce and tried those to add flavor to the dishes, but that didn’t help either. For Cajun cuisine we were really disappointed. I laughed at the bread that was included with meal. So I can soak up all the excess rice?! Thanks…
This restaurant is also a horrible location for parking. At the time I went in, it was completely empty inside. And the layout is terrible. You walk up to the counter and order your food, but you have no idea what anything looks like. They advertise free samples, but each time you want a sample the cashier has to go to the back to get a little sample for you. Why is the food not laid out like J Gumbo’s? Why is it all hidden in the back? You’re just pouring the entrees over rice!
Not worth going back to. I’ll stick with J Gumbo’s until I hear better things from this place. I’d love to try one of original Yats in Indiana to compare. Giving this 2 stars for the price, since at least it was cheap.

It’s hard to rate these places when you’ve had Cajun and Creole food in New Orleans that supposedly inspired these dishes. With that said (and like other impersonators) the food falls flat in flavor and just lays there on mushy white rice. The artistry and culture is stripped away and it turns into mush served on styrofoam.
I tried their Chili Cheese Étouffée with Crawfish and Chorizo Étouffée for lunch-​half-​and-​half option. Both were okay but that crumbled chorizo was pretty greasy, as expected. I thought I had an iron stomach until I tried these two brave interpretations of my beloved étouffée. Rough ride for the rest of the day.
I would go back only one more time to try their Gumbo, just to see what they chose to do with it.
No booze but posted signs said you could BYOB while they wait for their license to clear. I see Abita bottled beer in their near future…
One suggestion would be to hang an «ORDER HERE» sign above the register. That would help the flow and confusion from newbies. Unless I missed it, being a newbie…

Whoa, it looks like I am in the minority ratings. Won’t be the first time, or the last I’m sure. SELF DISCLOSURE: I am not a fan of chain restaurants, Waffle House being a rare exception (its complicated), nor chicken. I didn’t want to turn down an invitation by Olé Boy, so I decided to «bite the concept». I should mention Olé Boy enjoys plain chicken and canned tuna on lettuce for a meal. :/​
The place, looks new, bright and clean. But something is missing… a real Cajun feel, including music. You have to go up to the counter to give your order. At that moment, I realized it’s FAST FOOD! The menu is on the chalkboard, cute but hard to read. The gentleman taking the orders was gracious, helpful and friendly. He even offered us a sample taste before we ordered. I am so happy he did, otherwise I would have been stuck with the chili cheese étouffée with crayfish. Little crayfish, lots of cheesy stuff.
Olé Boy had a half order of red beans and rice which included «smoked» sausage, and half an order of the chili cheese with chicken. (Chicken can not be substituted for the smoked sausage in the red beans and rice dish) I also ordered red beans and rice because it is a simple and standard dish. Here’s where we agreed: not much meat in either one of the dishes. While he enjoyed his meal, I did not. In my opinion, both the rice and beans were mushy. Pre– cooked? I thought it lacked any real flavor and freshness. Red onions can be added for an additional $ 2.54; the same goes for sour cream and cheese. The white toasted bread with garlic powder, is not authentic. I didn’t even finish my order. However, Olé Boy decided to take the rest of my dish home for leftovers. I did finish my carry-​out order of «homemade» peanut butter pie. (I am a sucker for peanut butter pie.) With each bite, I kept thinking I was eating peanut butter out of a jar. Fair tasting at best, not memorable.
Two entrees and a piece of pie, cost just over $ 17 with tax.
So it ended, one thumb up, one thumb down. Olé Boy will come back, I won’t. This place is a reminder of why I rarely like chains, particularly fast food. Once was enough.

Awesome Creole/​Cajun food and a spicy new addition to the always exciting Grandview food scene! I’ve been to the original Yats in Indianapolis, and was excited to hear about their new expansion to Columbus. The name lived up to the expectation whole heartedly.
The drunken chicken is fantastic and spicy. Great flavor, but not overwhelming. I also had the crawfish which was perfectly mixed in with corn. Both were served over rice and went together really well. Their menu is written on a chalkboard because it’s ever-​changing and you never know what that day might bring, but you should know that whatever it is it’s going to be delicious. Every dish comes with some excellent fresh garlic bread.
It’s a brand new restaurant with plenty of seating, and is also BYOB which is a perk. I’ve tried a couple of the other «creole» spots in Columbus, and so far this is definitely my favorite. When you go in ask for some samples!

I had been to a Yats several years ago when visiting Indianapolis. When Da Levee (owned by a former Yats manager, Justin) opened up a few years ago in Short North, I was pleased to have access to Yats-​style cajun food in Columbus.
I guess Yats must have noticed because now they’re here in Columbus (and a bunch of other places per their website). My wife and I happened to be in Grandview around lunchtime so we stopped by the new restaurant today and got our fill.
No new ground is being broken here. If you’ve been to Yats elsewhere (or Da Levee) everything is comfortably familiar. Tasty, very rich food (we both went with half and half drunken chicken and chorizo étouffée.) Both orders came with bread and totaled $ 14. Pretty cheap for a lot of food.
So now it seems there’s going to be bit of a battle for your cajun creole fast food dollar – do you go with Big Corporate in the form of Yats or do you throw your cash behind Justin and Da Levee. Personally, I’m a fan of the little guy so I’ll probably continue to get my cajun from the man on North High, may he one day be as omnipresent as the Yats empire.