Black Bayou — Restaurant in Baytown

It was just ok. Have passed by Black Bayou hundreds of times since they opened and finally decided to give it a try. Visited on Saturday, August 23 around 12 noon.

A hand-written sign on the door said that dine-in customers would be charged an additional 5%. Odd, but ok. I’d think a to-go order would cost them more with styrofoam take-out containers, plastic forks and condiment packs but whatever.

I had prepared myself and expected to walk in and smell old grease and rotten fish. Pleasantly surprised that it smelled clean inside. Additional hand-written signs inside alerted to the 5% charge.

Orders are placed up at the cash register as there’s no table-side service offered. I ordered a shrimp po-boy and my friend wanted a fried oyster po-boy. On this day, they were out of oysters so he went with fried fish po-boy instead.

The place is laid out with a series of tables all lined up and then a row of seats at a high-top table. All tables are covered with cheap, plastic, disposable table covers as if it’s an outdoor crab boil. A couple of TVs hang on a wall and on this day were showing women’s college volleyball.

Food was prepared and ready pretty quickly and was brought to us in styrofoam to-go containers. Food was fresh and hot. My shrimp po-boy was loaded with large shrimps that had been fried in fresh oil / grease. They were probably slightly overcooked as they had a tough, rubbery texture. I had opted for the remoulade on the po-boy. It was just ok. The shrimp themselves had no seasoning at all - they need to add some sort of seasoning to the batter. Cayenne or even basic salt & pepper could help.

My friend’s fried fish version was a little better but the cocktail and tarter sauces were weird. Overall, it was an ok experience but I seriously doubt I’ll ever eat...

We had a large family gathering for a birthday here. This was my first time at this establishment. I was very excited as I love seafood boils. It was late in the evening, and they were able to accommodate us. The staff was very friendly and took the time to explain ordering and items on the menu. Between my husband and I, we spent about $68 with a tip. My husband ordered just a shrimp boil bag with house sauce. The house sauce is buttery garlic with seasoning, and you can go from mild to extra spicy on it. He didn't realize that it was just shrimp, and you had to add extras, like potatoes, corn and eggs, but he was fine with it as he also ordered the loaded gumbo. He enjoyed both. I ordered the shrimp lovers bowl(which is what my husband should've ordered) it came with a hefty amount of peeled shrimp, an egg, sausage link, 2 potatoes and 1 small corn. I got the spicy house sauce. I added a dry seasoning as well, but it really didn't need it as the house sauce was enough. Dipped in the butter, and I give it a 9.5/10 it was delicious. I also ordered the 6 piece fried oyster basket. This is where my disappointment came in. The oysters were obviously frozen, overcooked, and very hard. The batter created a shell around the oyster that you could just crack open. I didn't even finish them. The only good thing in the basket was the hushpuppies, which are probably also frozen, but at least i expected that. 2/10 at best. Overall, it was pleasant, and I would go again, but just for the...

I decided to try this place after seeing multiple videos on social media. I must admit a friend warned me that the crawfish here (Baytown) isn’t like at home and that they were garbage (my friend word not mine). I still decided to try this establishment while here visiting. I ordered crawfish, corn and potatoes, wings and a daiquiri togo. The food came out quickly and smelled amazing on the drive to the house. After sitting down to eat I immediately noticed I was missing the corn and potatoes and called the establishment. They apologized and offered to save my receipt to later correct at my convenience. I was going to drive back for the corn and potatoes but decided against it being that I was ready to eat and didnt want to reheat my food. I first tried the wings and daiquiri and they were good. Not amazing, but good. I can’t complain about them, however; they weren’t my first choice. I only wanted the crawfish, but ordered wings in case they were as nasty as I was warned about and a daiquiri because daiquiris go with crawfish. The first crawfish, fell apart. The second crawfish fell apart, after about eight I decided I couldn’t take it. They were over cooked and unable to be eaten. They were entirely too mushy. To the trash the entire bag went. Did I want to take them back, YES! Was I upset about wasting money, YES! The crawfish were unbearable and I didn’t receive the corn and potatoes. Was a lesson learned, YES! Next time listen to my friends over...