Podna’s Catfish and Po’Boys

I am bummed Podnas closed… It’s a crying shame!

This place is now CLOSED! Just drove by it yesterday, Feb 9^th. I wanted to try it…

Food was good not great. I did love the red beans and rice. I had the blackened catfish and my hubby had the shrimp poboy. I am from southern Louisiana and the fish was not blackened but well seasoned a little too much salt. Hubby’s poboy was good, lots of shrimp. We will go back.

Our post-​soccer game lunch was great – we ordered and split 3 poboys among 6 couples (fried oyster, fried shrimp, roast beef), and there was more than enough food. The standout was the fried oyster poboy – really good, crispy, meaty fried oysters tossed on a perfectly dressed sandwich. The bread is delicious – flaky and crisp on the outside, creamy-​smooth on the inside. I was disappointed in the roast beef, which I remember having more gravy and debris, but it was a nice contrast to our seafood sandwiches. Love the big, cold, squeeze tubes of remoulade and ketchup. Our tween twin boys were happy with their catfish plates, and our little girls enjoyed kids’ meals with fried shrimp and fries. The only thing that would have made our meal better is if we had been able to order ice cold Abitas.

I grew up in New Orleans, and I grew up eating po’ boys, gumbo, and muffalettas. This place ain’t exactly DiMartino’s or Liuzza’s in NOLA, but it’s just the thing when I need a sloppy po’ boy.
PROs: The roast beef and fried shrimp po’ boys are surprisingly good for Texas. Good brown gravy, and the shrimp are battered and fried well. But the bread isn’t as good or fresh as you’d get in NOLA. I guess you can’t get Leidenheimers delivered. I’d rate the gumbo ⁶⁄₁₀ (pretty good roux, ingredients only OK). I give their jambalaya ⁶⁄₁₀ too.
CONS: The place is not very clean, and I do not eat in the restaurant. I always phone in my orders and do take-​out. The people taking the orders are not attentive and frequently get my order wrong. I don’t leave the restaurant without checking my po’ boy first.
I ordered the muffaletta once, and it was way undercooked — not long enough in the oven. There wasn’t nearly enough olive salad or meat either.
I give ‘em props for bringing NOLA food to San Antonio, and I’m a tough customer. I’ll continue to support them, and I think anyone who thinks it’s important to support independent restaurants should do the same.

You know what would be real good? If we took it and deep fried it!
The fried fare here never disappoints, nor do the muffaleta sandwiches but now some whacked out weirdo gets the notion to start frying chicken! Have you heard of this stuff? They take chicken (yum) then they batter it (ok still with you) and FRY it! (WTF) Yeah and it taste really good too!
Podna’s is on to something over there, who knows, maybe it will catch on? All i know is that I’m headed to get some fried chicken at Podna’s!

This place is an odd purple building off of Austin Hwy. While it’s not the flashiest location or environment, the food is good,
well authentic at least. The menu is comprises primarily of fried offerings and tasty sides, they even have a Tropical Punch koolaid beverage option!
+ authentic poboys and fried dishes (excellent breading)
+ Tropical Punch Koolaid!
+ very nice cashier
— Could be considered pricey for deep fried food
— small dining area and parking lot
— odd location
+/​-​nothing very healthy on the menu

Great Louisiana style food! Great prices and menu has good selections for spicy & mild dishes

This is the only Cajun restaurant outside of Louisiana that I can recall exiting with a smile. This food is authentic Nawlins’ cuisine and culture. No, it doesn’t look like much from the outside, but neither does Mother’s in New Orleans.
Huge servings, friendly service, and that roux-​based flavor that only comes from southern Louisiana. Definitely give this place a shot… It will be worth your effort.

Okay, if you are looking for a fantastic place with ambiance then you need not read any further! Aside from the obvious fact that you can tell this is not a high class restaurant from the outside décor, this review and any others should be about the food. As a native of Louisiana who happens to take his residence in San Antonio now I can say that finding a good place to eat seafood is extremely difficult. Rants about the pricing of Podna’s are overrated. Eat lunch at Pappadeaux’s and you will feel extremely grateful at the costs at Podna’s.
The banner of choice for this Cajun is the shrimp Po-​Boy. Those who have had real Cajun food from the heartland would know that the key to a good po-​boy is the bread, period. Podnas has their bread shipped in from Gambino’s bakery in New Orleans. The moment they stop doing this they will struggle to stay afloat. Your po-​boy is served to you wrapped in butcher paper and when you open it your shrimp are falling out. The roumalde sauce (not tartar) is the best I have ever had and is a must on your fried seafood. The staff are extremely nice and know me on a first name basis. I will drive the 15 miles from work to eat there and the frequent dinner card grants the holder a free lunch on the house after a few visits. Although you will be stuffed, make some room for the bread pudding.
Go in your t-​shirt and jeans and relax. This is southern Louisiana faire at its best. Down home and real…

The local cuisine of New Orleans fascinates me with the worldwide influence that created it, and how it can’t be easily found outside of the city.
I must have driven past Podna’s dozens of times over the past ten months, and have always meant to stop. Po’boys, though, have never enthused me — fried catfish is tasty, but it’s basically just a sub sandwich. Little did I know that Podna’s offers a full menu of other New Orleans fare, like their gumbo — a rich dark stew of shrimp and sausage, or the muffaletta, made from ham, salami, mortadella, and provolone cheese. The traditional muffaletta usually has at least two go-​rounds of each of these ingredients, and I was a little disappointed to find only one layer of each on the sandwich, giving more weight to the bread. The olive salad was pretty darn good, though.
The prices may be a little high, but Podna’s has some great New Orleans cooking for those who might not be familiar with the treasures that that part of the world can provide. It’s wasy to see why the restaurant is a San Antonio favorite.

Even though I am quite averse to frequenting chain restaurants, I can understand the logic. Sometimes there exists a comforting sense of continuity in choosing something over and again. If my question is, «Why not choose something worthwhile?» Then my answer to that would definitively be to choose Podnas…
As of yet I have only tried the catfish and the fried shrimp poboy; both are excellent. The gumbo always leaves me wanting more. What stands out to me is the potato salad with crawfish mixed in and also has a surprising spiciness to it. The sweet tea is so delicious that I almost feel bad in asking the friendly staff for refills.

Regardless of whether you hit the drive through or not, load up on their homemade tartar sauce. It’s packed with seasonings and I can’t imagine eating another po’boy without it.
The gumbo was well worth $ 3.99 for a relatively big «cup» and the muffeletta is one of the best I’ve had outside New Orleans. The ingredients/​flavor of both were spot on, although I would argue that the muffeletta was short on meat. I also would have preferred a darker roux and a little more salt in the gumbo (I’m not a fan of seasoning my own food — I’d like to trust the kitchen). Minor complaints!
Prices were higher than I expected, but not unjustifiable (see menu in Unilocal’s pics, Podna’s doesn’t have a website).
Bonus points for particularly helpful, friendly, and energetic staff, even in the drive-​through!
I can’t wait to go back and try the blackened catfish (and/​or flounder) as well as the red beans & rice.

Podna’s sure does make some good Po’Boys!
Having recently returned from a trip to New Orleans I can assure you that Podna’s po’boys were as good as anything I had in the crescent city. They even go so far as to have their bread shipped in from New Orleans and then bake it here in SA. The fried shrimp and fried oyster po’boys are both outstanding and the muffaletta is very good. The hushpuppies are nicely done as well. The only thing that kept this review from being a 5 star was the fried catfish — I honestly wasn’t very impressed. I even went so far as to try it a second time and yep, just as mediocre as the first. Everything else I’ve had has been great though.
The bathrooms are a little sketchy, the building is ugly as hell from the outside, the décor inside is bleh with a side of meh, and you’ll leave smelling like fry grease — which is why I use the drive through every time!

I must have passed Podna’s hundreds of times before I finally stopped to eat: WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE! This small and very plain storefront on Austin Highway is the site of some of the very best — and most reasonably priced — meals in San Antonio. While po’boys are their specialty, they make a good muffaletta (on divine bread!!), and their lunch specials all look and smell simply wonderful.
Patrons order their meals and pay at the counter, then find a seat; the meals are brought to the tables when they’re ready. And a word about the staff: they are the most congenial and personable lot I’ve found anywhere.
My only caution about Podna’s is that this is not a dieter’s paradise: if you are on a fat– or sodium-​restricted diet, you should probably consider going someplace else for lunch… but if you’re NOT, you should go to Podna’s and ENJOY!

Being rather new to the Unilocal scene, I am not sure if many places… especially of the fast food sorts… will fit the bill for a 5-​star rating. Still, Podna’s Catfish and Po’Boys was an easy choice for being my first top rating.
Having spent 6 months living in San Antonio, this place became one of my favorites. Although it is a place that could be easily overlooked on Austin Highway, and generally would not be fit for a 30 minute lunch if you work downtown, I found as many opportunities to go back as my co-​workers would allow.
The food in general is really good, but of course, we would go back for the po’boys. My favorite was the 12″ ½ fried oyster, ½ fried shrimp. Whatever you choose, it is overflowing with meat, the roll that it comes in is fresh and the sauce that you can add on your own is great. The fries weren’t necessarily my favorite, but they are still really tasty and not overly fried or salty.
This is a pretty basic restaurant, and watch out for the high noon lunches, as it might be difficult to find a table. But the staff is pretty nice and the owner, who willingly shares about his visit to New Orleans which led to the start of his business, is definitely a friendly character.
Although I was never that rushed, they even have a drive-​through, and I have heard that you can call in orders and have them cater.
Now, I am off to new eating adventures in Dallas, TX as a next step in my own professional pursuits, but Podna’s will definitely be on my list when I take my next trip to SA.