Nate's Seafood & Steakhouse — Restaurant in Addison

4/13/19- Have been eating at Nate's for multiple years and the food has always been Great !!!!!! Never left hungry, and have left with a doggie bag several times..... Myself, my wife, and her friend dined at Nate's on this day.... The place was packed but we got a table quickly.....I normally eat boiled crawfish there and today was no exception.....My wife ordered Shrimp and Raw Oysters, myself and her friend teamed up to tackle The Bourbon Street- a platter of 7 lbs of boiled crawfish, a dozen shrimp, 2 lbs of snow crab, sausage, potatoes, corn, with sauce and clarified butter- had to ask for that...Also ordered some turbo charged seasoning on the side which they normally use to spice your boiled crawfish up......... I also upgraded from snow crab to king crab legs.......While you wait they serve you complimentary hushpuppies and mini loaf of garlic bread which is delicious by itself and even better for dipping in the stock from the boiled crawfish......Our platter arrived hot and ready to devour......It did not disappoint !!!!!!! Was wonderful !!!!!!! Wife thoroughly enjoyed her shrimp and oysters......Wound up taking some home as we were full before we finished the platter.......The Bourbon street ran approximately $125.00 which to me seemed to be a fair price for all we received......... Our server Blake was very good and nice even with the stress of a full house......I have always had great food at Nate's including other dishes on the menu but mainly crawfish.......If you get a chance to say hello to Nate do so, he is a cool guy with a cajun accent and he circulates around the restaurant talking with the patrons from time to time... I definitely recommend Nate's for your Cajun Seafood cravings !!!!!

4/3/23- My friend and I went to Nate's at about 2:00 pm for lunch/dinner..... We are both old customers at Nate's. Our server was Kevin and he was outstanding !!!!!! He was friendly and helpful, kept checking on us throughout our visit..... Nate's is fortunate to have servers like him !!!!!!!! We initially order some cold boiled shrimp which were outstanding (see photo) !!!!! He also brought out some garlic bread and hushpuppies which are very good !!!!!!! I like to use the garlic bread also for dipping in the stock from the crawfish, it is outstanding !!!!!!! The cocktail sauce that comes with the shrimp is very good and not overpowering with horseradish...... I ordered 5 lbs of crawfish turbocharged (extra spicy)( see photo).... They arrived fresh and hot and well seasoned. The sizes were of the crawfish were excellent and they were wonderful !!!!!!! My friend ordered a bowl of seafood gumbo (see photo) and crawfish etouffee to eat later.... Both were very delicious per her taste buds !!!!!!! For beverages we had iced tea unsweetened which was good also. We both left with full, satisfied stomaches and look forward to our next visit !!!!!!! I cannot thank Kevin enough for being such an excellent server also !!!!!! I continue to recommend Nate's for very good seafood and outstanding crawfish !!!!!!! The last 3 photos are from...

The host sat us right next to a table of about 10-12 people. There were 4 of us , we all ordered different meals. One of the people at our table sent their food back and order something else and the next dish came out just as horrendous as the first dish did.. we all thought the food had no flavor, was under one for some of us and underdone for the rest of us. We only went there because it was recommended by a friend of ours years ago that had went there. NEVER EVER AGAIN!!! DO NOT GO THERE! I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. Read the reviews and look at all the pics being posted on the reviews. Just icky!

Here is my response to your reply to me since there isn't a way to click reply to you.

Regarding Owner Response to 1-Star Review

Thank you for your response, but I must respectfully clarify a few things regarding the standard protocol and the severity of our issue.

Regarding Management Protocol

You stated that I should have asked for a manager when I was unhappy.

In most reputable full-service restaurants, the standard protocol dictates that when a dish is sent back to the kitchen, a manager or chef should automatically approach the table to understand the issue and attempt to rectify it. It is highly unusual and poor service management that this did not occur. We should not have had to seek out a manager to address unsatisfactory food that was returned.

Regarding the Food Quality

The issue was not simply one person being "unhappy"; the food quality was fundamentally poor across the entire table, and a replacement dish was also inedible.

The first dish sent back was replaced with fried gulf shrimp that were mushy and had a terrible taste, confirmed by two separate people at the table. My daughter and I split a meal where the french fries were inedible tiny bottom pieces and the sweet potato fries were firm, tasteless, and improperly cooked. The entire table of four agreed the food lacked flavor and was poorly prepared.

The quality issues were so pervasive that I stand by my assessment: the only true rectification would have been a full refund on the food, which was never offered or pursued due to the lack of management presence.

Regarding Expectations

My disappointment was amplified because I chose your restaurant based on a friend's recommendation and the local connection to the Lafayette, Louisiana area. Knowing the high standard of Cajun cooking from that region, I arrived with high expectations for a delicious meal, unfortunately, those expectations were severely unmet.

While I appreciate your sentiment that all restaurants have bad days, based on the consistency of the poor quality across multiple dishes, I maintain that our experience merits the 1-star...

I'm not even sure where to begin. I ate here on a Sunday evening with a friend because we wanted seafood and Nate's was one of the few places open. The reviews were good and the menu looked appetizing, so we decided to take a chance and make the 40 minute drive to Addison.

Let's start with the pros: nice atmosphere, live music, free valet parking.

That's pretty much it for the good stuff.

Food:

The Mother Tucker Oysters were the only decent thing flavor-wise, but they were pretty small. A dash of lemon, horseradish, and cocktail sauce made them much better. The shells should've been cleaned more thoroughly. I managed to get small bits of shell on some of my oysters, but most of them were fine.

The crab cakes had way too much filler and looked more like fried fish patties or something. When I have a crab cake, I expect more crab and less filler. Too many binding agents give a crab cake a floury cheap taste.

The side of Louisiana rice dressing that came with the oysters was awful. Absolutely no flavor. It was basically blended beans mixed in with rice. Bland and forgettable.

My main dish was the Seabass Atchafalaya. Unfortunately it also came with the bland Louisiana rice dressing. The dish was a waste of $34.99. Absolutely little/no seasoning whatsoever.

My friend ordered the boiled snow crab with Desi's Bon Temps sauce (which she never got) with some corn and potatoes. Shockingly bland as well. Zero seasoning on the corn and potatoes.

Anyone catching the theme? The food is not properly seasoned!

Service:

Maybe our server had an off day, because the service was lackluster. I don't expect rainbows, unicorns and smiles so wide teeth fall out, but I do expect a certain level of enthusiasm. He forgot my friend's sauce and her drink. She did eventually get her drink but was so over the experience she nixed the Desi sauce.

My friend spoke with the manager after our poor experience and I commend him on how he handled the situation. If I ever give this place a chance again it's only because he actually cared about our experience and tried to make it right.

Summary: Decent atmosphere, but bland food. I'm shocked by the many 4.0+ star ratings (are y'all crazy?). Go...