BB’s Cafe

Crawfish at this location is absolutely delicious. My boyfriend and I always get the half and half which is the half fried oyster, half fried shrimp poboy and its always good. The fries are also a must when they’re new and hot. What’s disappointing about this place is that it seems to have a huge turnover. The way the restaurant is run is a little off. Hosts, bussers, and servers are undertrained so they come off as amateurs. If they had better leadership the restaurant would definitely attract more people.

My first impression walking in was a nice young guy with braces that greeted me by the bar, then here comes the nightmare of a manager Chris.
First, I asked for the 3 lbs of crawfish & I asked a simple question, «do you guys allow guest to taste a crawfish before ordering» he very rudely responded no. I’m from New Orleans & it’s done at home as well as Boil House in Houston (which taste much better btw) so I thought I’d ask. So I said ok well can I just start off with 1lb to see how I like it? He snatched my original receipt out of the cup threw it in the trash as he stormed off in the back as if I was bothered him.
When he came back, I asked who was the manager & he said he was & I voiced my opinion about his poor customer service & how rude he was to me & he responded saying. «No, you’re on the phone, that’s what’s rude» mind you every time I interacted with him I pushed my phone to the side & even if I didn’t push it to the side I didn’t delay the ordering process. Then he says, «I’m sorry you’re mad we don’t let you sample the crawfish» which was not the issue. It was all about his deliverance! And as a manager coming from a manager in a larger establishment, I will NEVER step foot back in BB’s with that kind of treatment. I didn’t even stay there to eat, I took it home & was not happy with the crawfish, all of the seasoning is on the outside of the crawfish instead of being cooked & soaked into the seasoning so the actual meat has no flavor unless it’s dipped on what’s on the outside.

Great experience at BBs on Thursday 1÷28÷16. Ordered the boudin balls and the loaded pollo bullets for our appetizers and they did not disappoint at all! The bullets were just out of control and so unexpected; every bite was amazing, how could you go wrong with bacon-​wrapped, cheese-​filled chicken bites!!! The boudin balls were between baseball and golf ball sized and there were 5 of them which was plenty. Both apps were very generous in portion. We went for the 5lb crawfish for our entrée and were quite happy. Just spicy enough without being uncomfortable and weren’t greasy/​over buttery like some places tend to be*cough cough pappadeaux cough cough*. Another great aspect was that the manager, Brandon, was walking through the dining room checking in on guests and chatting with as they ate and making sure that their meals were up to expectation; that’s great service that most places just don’t care to give, it was a nice touch. I wanted to try every appetizer on the menu and want to venture into other menu items so we will definitely be back. Great job Brandon and BBs!

So far the service has been the worst. We called ahead for a party of 13. Upon arriving we were told there was a 20 minute wait. 30 minutes later we were still waiting for a table. After asking how much longer we were informed there was no way they could accommodate our party. Why would you accept a reservation for 13 if you can not accommodate! Worst
Reply: If your staff let us know in advance that you did not take reservations or that you didn’t have the resources to accommodate a party of 13; we would have never gone. Also we were asked by the hostess if we wanted to sit outside in weather of 40 degrees without heaters. The manager even try to split the group apart and sit some on one side of the restaurant and the others on the other side! The worst part after all these things happened the manager did not apologize and she was completely rude. We ended up at Carrabas and got seated as soon as we arrived as the whole party of 13. They even accommodate an extra 2 without a problem! (if possible I’d give this place no stars…)

A woman leaves a Mexican restaurant with a to go order fajitas. A guy walks out of a sandwich shop with a Cheesesteak in his hands. They collide (because everyone texts and walks now.)
Dude: Aww, man! You got fajita in my Cheesesteak.
Lady: you got Cheesesteak in my faji…
They lock eyes and realize they have something perfect. They elope to Louisiana and the Spicy Texas po-​boy is born.
Another awesome dish.

If you want to feel like you are cheating on your spouse, try the frog legs. The tender and succulent meat is seasoned to perfection in such a way that one almost feels guilty for such a personal indulgence. The boudain balls are akin to winning the lottery… the mouth lottery where millions of tastebuds will now sing your praises for the phenomenal decision you made to go to BB’s and get these lightly fried balls of unhealthy decisions and joy. Next came Maw Maw’s gumbo, which must have a file cut with a highly addictive substance meant for intravenous use. A dash of hot sauce takes it over the top and you are flung into a state of nirvana. Hide your children; hide your wives. Keep them away so you can enjoy all the yumminess that your stomach can hold… you’ll not want to share this with ANYONE.
Bottom line, if I ever become a bulimic, I will eat nothing but BB’s just so I could taste it twice.

Aside from the fact that my first glass of wine was brought to me in a glass with lipstick marks on it, my experience was okay.
I met up with some girlfriends for drink and hh oysters.
The oysters were a decent size and the ½ priced dozen during hh was great. We also ordered 2 apps and they were decent: fried pickles and cajun taquitos. Again, they were fried apps so they weren’t the worst thing I’ve ever had.
I could not order off of the menu. though. Being from NOLA the term «Tex-​Cajun» gives me the frissons. That’s not a thing. Tex-​Mex has become a thing and I like it, but I’m not from Mexico. I feel like Tex-​Cajun leads people to believe we put avocado on our poboys (that’s not customary) or season the outside of our crawfish (big no-​no) or that we would ever put crawfishs etoufee over dirty rice (just, no).
I will gladly go back for half priced oysters and hh beer, but that’s my limit.

This is my second visit to this location with a group of 8. We had a short wait, and the manager comped us some Texas Cajun Fries for being so patient. Amber was our waitress again, and she’s awesome! Everyone enjoyed their drinks and food, and the prices are reasonable. Will be back again and again.

Went here on a patio weekend weather and it was a great choice, the only problem was the parking lot, which can get quite full.
I had some fresh gulf oysters and the gumbo that’s better than my ‘Maw Maw’s’. The gumbo was a bit on the salty side from what I remember at another location but it was overall good. The bread was also on point too (had to order this as a side, not sure). Either way all of this food hit the spot and the patio environment was on POINT. Will come back here when the weather permits.

I visited BBs on Richmond for the first time last night. I have never been to a BBs before at all, but I hear that this location is the first. At first glance, I knew it could be a place that I would hang out at in the future. It has a faux dive bar feel, which I love. The drink and food men were pretty big. I ended up ordering the shrimp and grits. My only reason for not giving this place a 5 star rating is based on the fact that my meal was SOOOOO spice. There was literally no other flavor but spice. My boyfriend who loves spicy food had to agree with me that it was not the best for that reason. I would love to go back again though.

Went there last night with my boyfriend. We’ve gone to this location a couple times in the past since the food was decent and we were craving something fried. We had the Tex-​Cajun fries, the South Texas fire po’boy, Cajun Taquitos, and a few drinks. Bill came out to about $ 70 including tip.
All I have to say is that a few hours later, we got food poisoning, i.e. vomiting, diarrhea, fever, cramps and ended up staying up all night because we got VERY sick. My boyfriend had it worse than I did. Needless to say, I have seen this location on KPRC 2 news at least twice for food inspection violations, including roaches and food being off temperature which can make people SICK. I actually liked this place so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Definitely not coming back anytime soon.

This location is… okay. If you work in or near the area, it’s a considerable option for lunch. I prefer the Westheimer location since it’s larger, but I love the outdoor patio here. Everything is MUCH better with a patio — when the weather permits.
My last visit here was after a few rounds of cocktails with friends. We came here around 9:30/10 p.m. because our usual breakfast or Mexican fare was out of the way. It was surprisingly full inside with not many tables open. Probably due to the small size. The patio was empty. Us and another table that eventually left. Our server was sweet and attentive. We didn’t have to wait long to order or eat.
I’m not sure what was going in the kitchen that night, but everything that came out was extremely salty and slightly overcooked. I ordered a cup of gumbo, which was my mistake. I should’ve went for a po’boy or something, but I wasn’t that hungry. The gumbo was salty and more like soup. Plus, some of the shrimp still had pieces of the tail on. Ugh. My shrimp and grits was also salty — you could actually see that they topped it off with the Cajun seasoning salt on top. (Please stop over-​seasoning Cajun/​Creole food. It’s not necessary).
I’m likely to return, especially for lunch since it’s not far from work, but I will steer clear of these items from now on.

As always BBs was very reliable. The service as it always seems to be was simply wonderful. We were there during shift change and both of our bartenders were excellent and very attentive to our needs we had boiled shrimp which was quite flavorful. Frankly I always find this restaurant both in the Katy location and this location very attentive to service and the food quite good. I would recommend this restaurant.

I can’t believe I haven’t been to BB’s sooner! Our party of 3 shared 2 poboys and a small fried shrimp plate– plenty of food with leftovers to spare. The half and half poboy is seriously delicious– tons of seafood and dressed lightly with their BB’s special sauce. I love how they keep it simple here, topping it with only a little tomato and shredded lettuce. This month’s special was the soft shell crab poboy, which was also fantastic. The fried shrimp came with some of the best fries I’ve had in Houston (super thin and crisp) and a small slice of delicious cheesy garlic bread. Highly recommend this place if you want some tasty seafood!

National Oyster Day… who knew!!!
Anyway, went here because the 1^st choice was out of oysters… no biggie. Oysters were a lil pricey considering we thought they’d be on special given the NOD. No big deal though. BUT as we all know, oysters don’t sustain nobody. I needed something else so I ordered a Catfish PoBoy.
Man please. The bread was nice and crusty as we like for a PoBoy but that piece of catfish was more like a pet goldfish!!!
The upside of it was the waiter was cool about it… had the manager come over and she agreed it was tiny and did the right thing and took it off our bill. The other thing we ordered — crawfish (yes, in August) were pretty tasty just tiny too.
So I’ll sum it up by saying that this place has great tasting food but the portion sizes we Houston folks look for just ain’t there. Price speaking, reasonable but they need to be more aware of portion = price. Recommended based on taste & service.

Pro tip: $ 5/​lb for crawfish on Wednesdays!
Can’t beat value like that. I usually eat crawfish from Chinatown (meaning flavors like Garlic butter, lemon pepper, Thai basil, etc.) so this Cajun style crawfish was definitely something different. It’s a little on the spicy side but not overly so. However it is incredibly salty and I was still thirsty several hours after finishing dinner. The crawfish will come with corn and potatoes unless you specify otherwise. We also had an appetizer of fried pickles with ranch ($ 5) which were pretty good as well. They were a bit busy so service was kinda slow but at least they tried to be accommodating.

I am a fan of BB’s I’ve been going to the montrose location for a few years and was excited when they opened this location on Richmond. It’s fully decked out with patio seating, a full bar inside, and plenty of seats for friends. They serve oysters here because I don’t think the Montrose location does.
I love the half and half Po-​boy because you get shrimp and oysters can’t go wrong there. The chalmete mac and cheese with jalapeño is super creamy and delicious. I had their gumbo a few times nothing spectacular. The loaded pollo bullets appetizer is pretty filling as well. I have yet to try the shrimp and grits but it looks amazing in photos.

Some of the best spiced and well cooked crawfish I have ever had at a restaurant. Yes, at 7.99 a pound they should be. But MAN, I could spend the kids’ college fund on these. They weren’t all big. There were some tiny ones in there but they were perfectly spiced and boiled. Popped right out with no problem at all.
That should be enough to make you want to go. But noo… they have this dish called Maw Maw’s Grillades & Grits. Bring me a bucket of this! Tender steak tips cooked in Cajun gravy and topped with cheese grits. Served with a very soft warm biscuit. Imagine meat and gravy heaven meets creamy clouds of grits. You just moaned a bit didn’t ya?
Oysters coulda been cleaned better. But they are large and plump.
The Half and Half po boy with fried shrimp and oysters was ok. Yeah, just ok. Breading didn’t dominate and the oysters were fried well. But I don’t know if the shrimp wasn’t frozen. Anyhow, I am not a po boy fan. They are boring to me. This one looked boring. The wife at the insides but didn’t finish the bread.
Service here is fairly amateurish. We sat after seating ourselves for nearly 10 minutes before anyone came up to wait on us. Several waitresses passed by and none even looked at the two of us. Food came out in no certain order. Took forever to get the check and then give it back to our waitress, who we could barely understand she mumbled so softly.
Parking is limited in the lot behind the café. But they do have extra on the street and in a small garage across the street. They have a pretty good sized patio, mostly covered, for pretty days. Inside is kinda crowded but the noise level is tolerable. They are $ 3-​$ 5 overpriced for most of their menu items, imho.
If the crawfish weren’t so damn good I would give this location 3 stars. We’ll go back when crawfish season is over and try other things off the menu. Who knows, we may have found a cool new little place to grab some red beans and rice, oysters and rib stickin’ grub in this part of the city.

My wife and I *love* BB’s in the Heights. The deliciousness is never-ending…tex-cajun fries, the authentic grillades and grits, the chalmette macaroni, damn good crawfish and one of my favorites, the Bullet for the King po-​boy (chicken stuffed with cream cheese and jalapeño, wrapped in bacon and topped with bacon ranch sauce).
I’ve been to Greenway Plaza location a couple of times now and enjoyed the food despite ho-​hum service, but after our recent Friday night experience, it will be a while before we return.
Knowing that crawfish season is underway my wife calls ahead and they assure her there is (and will be) no wait for a party of 6. For reassurance, she explains we’re in route and asks to put our name on the list. They respond that they do not do that.
When we arrive we’re (not exactly) greeted by two hostesses. Yes, they evidently need two… despite the fact that they spent most of the evening whispering to each other behind a menu they held up to cover their faces. Trash talking patrons, perhaps? Why else would you cover your face? They seemed genuinely lost/​flustered by the Friday night crowd. (I get it. It’s crawfish season).
We’re told the wait will be about 30 – 45 minutes.
Wait a second. I thought there wasn’t a wait?
It seems that in the 7 minutes since we’d called a group came, put their name on the list, and walked across the street to drink. Another individual showed up and put a group of 6 on the list as well — despite being the only person from her party present. Explain to me how this is any different than us calling ahead to say we’ll be there momentarily? Because one person was physically present from the group of 6? Give me a break.
We stood, mostly in the way, for about 45 minutes before the manager/​bartender (pulling double duties?) made a wise crack about us eyeing our potential table (s). I suspect he was trying to ease the tension as we grew increasingly impatient with the fact that seemingly everyone was being seated except our party.
As for the dining experience, the food was your standard (good) BB’s fair. The crawfish was also delicious (good spice, hot temperature). Our waiter was nice enough and, candidly, more attentive than I’ve had in previous encounters with this location on less crowded nights.
The food did come out sporadic as hell. I got mine first despite the fact that I ordered last (after being told I might want to hurry up and order given how busy they were). Again, I understand crawfish comes out when it’s ready. We’ll sacrifice logistics for hot crawfish. (Pro tip: serve it in a bucket instead of spread out on a platter and it stays hot longer.)
I won’t pretend to understand the intricacies of running a restaurant, but by and large it was an awfully frustrating dining experience with friends.
In conclusion: The cajun food is as delicious as any in the city for that price point and I like trying to support a U of H alum. I think Brooks does a good job with restaurants, but man does the Greenway Plaza location need some customer service training for peak crowds.

Just a warning: this is going to be long.
I went here with a group of 8 on a Sunday afternoon around 1:30/2 p.m. The wait was about 25 min before we got seated, which wasn’t a problem seeing as the place was packed. We told them we didn’t have a preference for seating so they seated us outside, which wouldn’t have been a problem because the weather was really nice, BUT they gave us a table that should have been for MAX 6 people. When we asked for an extra chair, the lady that seated us said she would «try». We did end up getting a chair from her though. And when the people next to us left, we grabbed another chair. The chairs were significantly lower than the bench tables so it was pretty awkward trying to eat while sitting, but that was the least of our worries.
To describe our experience in one sentence: with a few exceptions, the service was horrible and the food was good. It took us ONE HOUR AND TEN MINUTES to get our food after we ordered. They didn’t even bring out any of our appetizers before that. That’s just ridiculous to me. We had to wait another 35 minutes after that to get our crawfish. Like we were finished with the food we did get, still hungry, and sitting there wondering when our crawfish would come out. We had ordered 1 dozen raw oysters, and 2 dozens of the baked classic cajun oysters. When he came to our table 1 ½ hours after we ordered with our oysters, that was when he decided to tell us there weren’t any more raw oysters for us. I was planning on only eating a couple of appetizers and the raw oysters so I was pretty upset and ended up sharing food with someone else.
I’m not sure if our waiter was having a bad day or something, but his actions were in no way appropriate for someone in the customer service business. First of all, he had a sarcastic tone to his voice throughout almost our entire encounter with him. And there were others that noticed it too, it wasn’t just me. When he was setting the baked oysters down, he spilled a friend’s lemonade on me and his response was «great.» GREAT. No sorry, no apology whatsoever. And then he got me a smelly towel so I could wipe myself off. Oh and apparently they ran out of lemonade at that moment so my friend ended up just drinking water. We ran out of paper towels almost as soon as we got our food, and he didn’t bring us any new ones so we just grabbed the roll from the table next to us when they left. My cousin ordered a po boy with shrimp (not sure of the name) and asked for it without the tomatoes. Of course it came with tomatoes. She didn’t even bother to tell him because we had bigger struggles on our plate at the moment. The manager did end up coming to our table and apologizing for all of the problems and said the oysters were on the house. I told him about the the whole lemonade situation and I guess he told the waiter because he apologized to me later on but a forced apology just isn’t the same.
As for the food, it was the only good part of my experience at BB’s. The boudin balls were really good. The baked oysters were good as well and the bread that came with them was delicious. My cousin said that her po boy wasn’t tasty at all. Our table ordered 3 lbs of crawfish. When he brought it out, I literally thought it was just the first pound. But when we asked the waiter if that was 3 lbs his answer was yes. Now everyone at that table has had crawfish many times and we all agreed that it looked like one, MAYBE 1 ½ lbs of crawfish and we let the waiter know. He later brought another pound of crawfish for us «on the house.» I’m not sure why they felt the need to make up for the crawfish if it really was 3 lbs. Just saying. I didn’t try the crawfish, but the others said it was good, but they had had better. They just had the regular cajun flavor to choose from and you could make it «extra spicy» if you’d like, which they did.
Last but not least, you could tell that the staff had been talking about our table in the kitchen or back of the restaurant or whatever. Now I expect that this might happen at a restaurant, but please don’t make it obvious. Waiters/​waitresses were literally looking at us from afar and pointing. The waitress who was setting up the table next to us was literally staring at us. I mean, come on. We aren’t normally rude people. My sister and two other people at the table have been servers or in the customer service business. We generally are really nice and tip them generously because we know how hard of a job it is. But no matter what kind of a day he was having, some of his actions were inexcusable. I might go to another BB’s location for the food, but I would never return to this location again. BB’s I was truly disappointed.