Stroubes Seafood and Steaks — Restaurant in Baton Rouge

The Food: Appetizers: Baked Brie, Chicken Egg Rolls, Smoked Salmon Dip, and Bread The Brie was pretty fantastic; the pear on top was the perfect bit of sweetness to contrast the salty, creamy brie. I could also tell the brie was very fresh, as it wasn't as pungent as some of them are when they're a little "older," so I was very pleased by the mildness.

Chicken Egg Rolls - great texture, flavor, and the dipping sauce took it to the next level.

Smoked Salmon Dip - had a lot of potential, but was drowning in lemon/lemon zest, overpowering to a point that it was unpleasant to eat, so we didn't.

Bread - fluffy, pleasant, overall good

Entrees: Beef Bourguignon w Brown Sugar Creole Brussel Sprouts and Duck Louisiana Duck Louisiana was done well; tender and flavorful, and paired wonderfully with the delicious grits. Those were some of the best grits I've ever had from a restaurant. The gouda was the perfect compliment to the natural flavor of the grits, and I would much prefer this to cheddar in grits, any day.

Beef Bourguignon, however.......was a massive disappointment. The smallest scoop of potatoes was in the center of a shallow bowl that held way more sauce than was ever needed. The sauce itself was so acidic due to the abundance of red wine, making it very unpleasant to eat, and I found myself having to force it down, trying desperately to enjoy it, but really just wanting it to be over. The beef was chewy and tough, not tender as expected, and our friends who ordered the same dish expressed the same. Now, I love beef bourguignon, and even cook it myself, but this was awful. There's no other way to describe it other than awful and one of the worst entrees I've had at any restaurant, without question.

Brown Sugar Creole Brussel Sprouts: Oh my. Let me start by saying that brussels are one of my favorite vegetables, and when I see them on a menu, I get excited. They are always a must try for me. Now I'm not sure where the brown sugar was supposed to be on these babies, but.....eating them was like eating a salt lick - and I'm not kidding. I put one in my mouth and wasn't expecting it to taste like it had been tossed in a Ziplock of salt before being plated. I tried one more, hoping maybe it was just one that hadn't been properly mixed, and just as bad. There was no balance of salty and sweet; there was no sweet at all. Just salt. Salt on tasteless brussels. They were so bad, I sent them back. When the waiter asked if I wanted them remade, I politely declined because I didn't want to even attempt a take 2 of that.

The Dessert: Bread Pudding and Chocolate Brownie The bread pudding was very good. It was pleasant in texture, not overly mushy, and very sweet. Nothing stand out, just good, standard bread pudding.

The brownie was surprisingly enjoyable. It wasn't one of those overwhelming dark chocolate, bitter tasting brownies, which I'm not knocking - plenty of people love those - but I prefer a lighter, milk chocolate brownie, and this delivered.

Service: It was a slow Monday night but our server not reasonably attentive. We had to flag down another waiter to ask if they could find him for us at one point. He was polite and sweet, but on a slow evening, with only about 4 other tables around us with guests, there wasn't a good reason to have such poor service.

Overall Opinion: I went here with friends for my birthday, and honestly, while there were a few good notes (Moscato was also delicious), it was one of the biggest let downs of any restaurant I've been to, which I really hate to say. It was one of those experiences where you get a $$$ bill and feel like, " what a waste;" one where you leave feeling so disappointed and unfulfilled, a cheap burger from the drive thru sounds more satisfying than the half a car note you just paid for dinner. I apologized to my friends when we left for the poor choice. For this price point, I expected a much higher quality of food and level of...

Mr. Volland, I am writing to express my deep disappointment regarding the service my family and I experienced at Stroubes Seafood and Steaks, where we had reserved a large table to celebrate my husband’s birthday. As lifelong Baton Rouge residents and local business owners, we have always valued the unique hospitality and high standards that define our city’s restaurant community. Unfortunately, our recent visit to Stroubes fell far short of those expectations. From the moment we were seated, the service was disorganized and inattentive. Two servers were assigned to our party, yet one disappeared. The waitress who was very sweet was struggling because she had to wait other tables in addition to our large party. During our nearly three hour wait, several other customers arrived after us, had their meals, and left while our party remained unserved. We were not late for our reservation in fact, my sister and niece, who both live downtown, arrived well before our scheduled time. Our gathering was meaningful. Four generations of our family came together that evening, including my 83-year-old mother, myself and siblings, our children and their spouses, as well as our grandchildren. What should have been a joyful family celebration became an evening of frustration and disappointment. When our food finally arrived, it was cold and clearly reheated, and our drinks were served at room temperature. The bartender was unable to prepare basic cocktails. A Bloody Mary without tomato juice and a rum punch made with cranberry juice were among the most concerning examples. When we raised these issues, your manager, Ben, approached our table with a dismissive and defensive attitude, which only made matters worse. His lack of professionalism and courtesy reflected a disregard for our experience, and it’s hard not to feel that our treatment may have been influenced by our race. We were deeply disrespected and made to feel unwelcome in a restaurant we had trusted to host our family celebration. As a lifelong resident of our great city, I recall visiting the downtown merchants as a little girl. Those memories are filled with pride and affection for Baton Rouge. Sadly, that endearing memory is now marred by the fact that someone who upholds the mistreatment of customers and serves substandard food owns multiple establishments in our beloved downtown Baton Rouge. I have dined at Capital City Grill and have entertained clients at City Pork, but after this experience, I will do so no more. We have dined at many of Baton Rouge’s premier restaurants. Ruth’s Chris, The Little Village, Fleming’s, Stab’s, Ruffino’s and always left proud of the excellence our city offers. We had hoped Stroubes would deliver a similar experience, but instead, it became an embarrassing and disheartening evening. There was no altercation, no “incident” only our justified frustration at being ignored, mistreated, and served substandard food on what should have been a joyous occasion. The true offense was not our reaction, but the service itself. As a fellow business owner, I know that every customer’s experience reflects directly on one’s leadership. I urge you to address these serious issues within your staff and management team to ensure no other guests endure what we did. Baton Rouge and visitors of our great city, be warned: what we experienced at Stroubes was not reflective of the warmth, respect, and quality service our community is known for. The experience was embarrassing, disheartening, and unacceptable for any establishment representing downtown...

On Saturday I attended a dinner at your restaurant celebrating my sister's 50th birthday. Originally the reservation was for a different restaurant, but was changed to here, as the thought was that we'd have a "fine dining" experience celebrating a monumental birthday. However, we quickly realized we were very mistaken. We were a party of 14. Drinks were provided, then appetizers were ordered for the table to share, but the complimentary bread service had to be requested, and was brought to the table well after appetizers. Drinks were very slow to be refilled throughout the dinner, so much, that the birthday girl went to the host stand to speak to someone in management. However, the Assistant GM seem unenthused in being proactive on checking into the lack of service we were receiving. She didn't even come by the dining room to see how she could assist and possibly turn our negative experience around. Half of the party ordered salads, and we all ordered entrees, with a few sharing. It felt as though the restaurant was short staffed, as the service was far from "fine dining" caliber, but came to understand that you actually were staffed adequately, but allowed for major party changes that overwhelmed the restaurant. However, none of that should have been reflected in our service, or rather the lack there of. The birthday girl, the host and myself all went to the host stand requesting to speak to someone who could/would address our service. I'd like to mention, that most of the party is currently in or have been in the restaurant service industry. I personally have 30 yrs from fast food to fine dining, and it was clear that there was a major lack in support/team work from co-workers and management. I could tell there was a huge lack in training, as the server wasn't as knowledgeable as a server should be. One server is not capable of handling, and should not be expected to handle a large table without some support. Whether it's having a team member swing through to refill water, take a drink order, or even remove/bus dirty dishes from the table. We stacked all used dinnerware as we waited for anyone to check on us. We had to insist that support be provided to our server, but at the point entrees were being delivered, it was just too late, as entrees were expo's a couple at a time by our server alone, leaving our party partially done eating while others were still waiting on their entrée. Entrees were being sent back, as some steaks were under or overcooked, and barely warm, which meant they had been sitting on the expo line. Again, as soon as entrees were being plated, our server, along other team members, should have been lined up and ready to walk food to the table, allowing our server to drop the entrees according to seat, instead of auctioning the plates off. The server was evidently shaken by the lack of service she was not able to provide and our disappointment. This ticket, BEFORE dessert was even offered, was nearly $900, but the host refused to address the bill until we were able to speak to the GM or owner, which we still waited on. It was extremely disheartening, from a management perspective, that IF we had been offered dessert the bill could have easily been $1000, but was substantially reduced due to our experience. Please note, we would have eagerly paid above and beyond for the experience we should have had. I am open to further conversations that can help you improve and...