Jolynn’s Crawfish

I’ve ate here twice, very nice ppl serving you. The only thing about this place is that it’s BYOB but they will charge you for every beer you opened. It’s ridiculous. It’s good but doesn’t deserve five stars.

Not a favorite… selection is not huge for some reason the crawfish taste sweet which I thought is odd.

Crawfish was good but I have had better from them and I can remember a few young kids working the front OMG where were y’all today smh three elderly people manned the front and tried to take orders the best they could but customers were getting VERY FRUSTRATED and they did not have ANY CRABS

Yummy crawfish.
Good flavor.
$ 8.99 a pound but worth it.
BYOB there’s a liquor store next door.

The crawfish was super fresh and the service is good. Good place to bring Ina twelve pack, watch the playoff games, and thrown down in LIVE, Fresh crawfish.
I deducted 1 star as I though it was a little on the sweet side. Will be back.
Serving crawfish with integrity; a dying breed. Everyone knows who I’m calling out with that comment…

Came here yesterday. Service was friendly and attentive. Honest place as well. We ordered 5 lbs. She came out with a bag that was labeled 3.8 lbs. And then she brought out 1.2 lbs later. Although, they are a bit pricey. I understand that their crawfish was pricey as it’s the start of the season but their corn and sausage are pricey as well. Overall, place has great crawfish.

Well, crawfish is very good but service is still slow because they dont hire servers.

Their crawfish is the best ever. It may be better than The Boiling crab. I tried the garlic butter crawfish and my friend was so surprise about their style. Its so delicous.

Went for lunch today. The is a paper sign on the door «Open Daily» 1pm — 10pm. This is a no muss not fuss place … It is all about the crawfish. We sat down and they came to take our order. I got 2lbs garlic butter spicy it had a decent heat. The tables have butter, spice shaker and lime juice. You can ask for mayo. This place gives you an apron for serious eating. Unfortunately they did not have potatoes, really… what crawfish place doesn’t have potatoes when you ask people to pay extra. And you know business is good when they don’t seem too concerned about it. Anyway, the crawfish was fresh and the tails were sweet and the crawfish was average size.

One of best crawfish places in Houston! I heard about JoLynns from family and friends from Austin who frequent Houston often.
You walk in and can either sit down or wait to be seated. I heard on the weekends there can be a wait, but both weekends I visited, I didn’t have to wait.
The first time I visited, I was with my kids and aunt. I ordered two pounds of the mild garlic butter for the kids and two pounds of the spicy garlic butter crawfish for my aunt and me and a couple pieces of corn on the cob and sausage. We donned our plastic aprons that were provided to us when we were seated. We received our food and started to devour it. The crawfish had a sweet and spicy garlicky flavor being there there was a ton of garlic on the crawfish. The size of the crawfish for the spicy were small and some were overcooked (we probably got the bottom of the batch) and the mild had decent size crawfish and was cooked perfectly.
By the end of the meal, we probably drank a gallon of water (I know water only spreads the spicy) but we enjoyed every morsel of crawfish meat and the corn and sausage was pretty good. Next time I go with the kids, I’ll make sure to get non spicy.
The came back the next weekend with my husband and I warned him about how spicy it was, but he can definitely handle spicy. So, he ordered the spicy garlic butter and I got the mild garlic butter. The crawfish for both spice levels were decent size and cooked perfectly. Needless to say, we enjoyed our me. My husband’s only regret is that he didn’t get extra spicy.

Crawfish is well seasoned here. Flavoring is delicious. We got 6 lbs of crawfish in mild garlic butter and 1 lb of blue crab to try among 3 people. This is the best crawfish place I’ve tried ever!

I got the extra spicy garlic butter and it wasn’t even that spicy. :(The crawfish was really juicy and the flavor was okay, but it was a little too fishy for my taste… They also had a very limited amount of items on their menu, which made me sad. I spent $ 18 on 2 pounds of crawfish and 1 little corn that didn’t even satisfy my hungry belly.

Favorite. Owner is awesome and always treats us well! I’ve followed this place from when they started at 529-​Eldridge and am a loyal customer! Crawfish is the perfect balance between sweet and Cajun. It doesn’t get any better than this.

First time here we couldn’t even get seats and went to wild Cajun instead. Second time made reservations and everyone talked about how good it was back then, keyword: back then. I like how they gave us bibs and hand wipes. Crawfish was not juicy and was just a mixture of garlic and water, very plain, no seasoning juices– nothing! Shrimp came in 8 tiny cut up pieces of for 1.99 only too spicy and garlicy. Corn wasn’t good neither. Everything came out separate and was just plain watered down taste to it. No tin bowls, just came out in bags… Very cheap. They didn’t even have lemon neither. I’m not ever coming back.

Not a bad joint for crawfish. We waited 30 mins for the crawfish and you can tell the crawfish are fresh boiled unlike LA crawfish. We picked medium it has the right kick and the taste is little bit sweeter than other joint. Nothing really impress me and probably won’t go back…

Even the mild can be spicy, so if you want just a hint of spicy, mild should be sufficient.
My rec:
— garlic butter flavor
— mild
— sausage
— corn
FYI, there can be a wait, if it’s the weekend. No wait on weekdays

Last I heard, Jolynn’s was trying to sell. I’m not sure if they were successful… I just long for those blue crabs and crawfish in that amazing garlic butter.
Please come back, we miss you.

Amongst most people I know, Jolynn’s Crawfish is top choice. Although, crawfish experiences are always inconsistent, depending on size, wait/​service, defected batch, and etc.
After trying Boiling Crab, Boiling 88, and a bunch of cajun style crawfish, I have to say, Jolynn’s is my favorite.
FOOD:
Everyone agrees that the crawfish here is definitely sweeter, which I desire. The sweetness is balanced with the garlic saltiness. Or if you’re getting lemon pepper (for a buck extra/​lb) the lemon tartness and zest still comes through. Therefore, I don’t think the crawfish should be too sweet for anyone’s palette.
As for freshness, my batches were always succulent. No grayish gills spotted. I also never saw disappointingly small critters here. Maybe I just keep getting lucky. But if you call ahead, asking for the size they seem to be pretty honest.
As for the potatoes and corn, they are bagged and seasoned separately. At first, my friends were disappointed on their lack of flavor. But the guys learned to appreciate how the neutral starch acted as palette cleansers to the strong flavors elsewhere. Similarly to how we enjoy white rice. In other crawfish restaurants, the potatoes and corn get mushy and overcooked when boiled in with the crawfish, due to osmosis. I believe.
So, if you dump your potatoes and corn on a plate, before dumping your crawfish, the starches will have time to absorb the flavors without getting mushy. Extra yum!
DRINKS
BYOB with a 50 cent corking fee/​bottle. There’s also a liquor store, next door. Crazy convenient and fun. Recommended drink: Dos Equis. Good match with the salt and lime.
Water there is 50 cent/​cup.
SERVICE/​AMBIANCE:
This aint no boiling crab. For no decorations, unflattering lighting, and a sketchy neighborhood, you get half the wait time (typically) and I believe a cheaper price. And BYOB.
As for the location, its only 3 minutes away from boiling crab/​la fisherman.
Service was great for us. She spoke clearly, confirming our orders and making sure we knew everything there is to know about ordering, such as average lb/​person, spicy levels, etc. Unlike some places, they aren’t afraid to hand over entire tubes of mayo.
There has been times where the wait was long. No tables for us and then waiting on the crawfish made us moody from hunger) But thats where BYOB comes in.
BOTTOM LINE: Its the first place i’ll recommend for crawfish. But crawfish can be a hit or miss.

My first crawfish experience! I’ve only had crappy crawfish from China and from Chinese buffets in the US. Nothing like the meaty tails you can get here.
Since I have nothing to compare to, I wouldn’t know if other places are better, but I was told the garlic butter and lemon pepper flavors are not always offered. Garlic butter… I don’t know how you could possibly ever go wrong with that. Garlic. BUTTER. But yeah, it was pretty delicious. I’d choose mild unless you enjoy blasting your palate and not being able to taste it at all.
They toss the shells in the flavorings so I’d probably say you should wash your hands well and prepare to lick your fingers to get the meat and the flavorings in the same bite.
I also took the suggestion of adding some of their squeeze bottle butter and juuuust a few drops of super concentrated Rose’s lime juice for an extra dipping sauce for more richness.
Basically, lots of ways to eat the crawfish here, and I like options and variety.
Unfortunately, service was pretty much nonexistent, so you better expect to walk up to the counter and ask for water or not be shy to wave people down. At the end of the day you don’t really NEED service to eat here, unless you want to be lazy and demanding… but why would you choose to not have a good time here on purpose?

How to have a 5 star experience at Jolynns:
1. Come with a group and don’t come at night. Neighborhood is a liiiittle ghetto.
2. Sit down and put their provided bib on. You’ll need it for all the… squirting.
3. Get at least 1 pound of Garlic Butter and 1 pound of Lemon Pepper (+$ 1 per pound), just to see which one you like better.
4. DON’T expect fast service. This is a key step!
5. Make a sauce from their provided condiments (butter, chili sauce, lemon juice). Personally, I think the crawfish is flavorful already, but some people like to dip.
6. Crack the tail. Eat the tail. Open the heads. Eat the heads. Crack the claws. Eat the claws. Tip — the claws are easier to crack cleanly if you don’t break off the pincer.
7. Wash it down with some potatoes/​corn/​sausage/​beer.
8. Enjoy smelling garlic on your fingers for 2 days afterwards.

Omgahh, I am so disappointed, I have no idea what happened but I know for sure they must have changed the recipe from the last time I had it. First of all every single time I’ve had crawfish here in the past it always had this yummy garlicky buttery almost gravy type sauce, my hands would literally be drenched in this goodness after peeling the crawfish. I came back over the weekend and it ordered my usual spicy garlic butter, it was not how I remembered it and it was sooooo sweet, more than usual and not as spicy. Really sux since this was my go to spot for crawfish. Bring back the old recipe or try to keep your recipes consistent! No longer is it BYOB folks.

I came here with a friend and we had 3 pounds of the spicy garlic crawfish and a pound of female blue crabs. My favorite was the female blue crabs. They open up the shell a bit to let all the seasonings infuse inside of the shell (I must try that some time at home). The crabs were delicious and decent sized. My only regret was ordering it spicy so I had to eat it extra slow. =/​
The crawfish was good, but the seasoning was a bit on the sweet. Not really used to that but I think I could get used to it. I really liked all the garlic they used — and you can tell it was fresh garlic and none of that in the bottle stuff.
Also, just be warned that this place is located in a «rough» shopping center. We did not feel safe walking in or out of the restaurant. When we left we had some guy persistently try to sell us car fresheners, like the one you hang on your rearview mirror. That was quite interesting. We’ll be back again, but only during the day time.