MudBugs - A Cajun Joint — Restaurant in Buda

So we placed a reservation for 8:15 for our anniversary dinner. This past Friday the 28th. We arrived at 8:10 and we were told to take a seat in the waiting area, they would be with us shortly. After checking in we waited until 9:15 for our table. Mind you this whole time we're with our newborn who is a ticking time bomb. It wasn't until we decided to get up to leave, and go to the one and only place in Buda that is consistent with their service , and that is Brooklyn's, it wasn't until we decided to get up to leave that the hostess tried to get us to stay by saying they had our table ready. When I could clearly look through the restaurant and see no empty tables ready to seat us. I'm sorry but why have a reservation system if it isn't going to be implemented well. People make reservations and rely on that time. If you have some customers there waiting for a table for over an hour past the reservation time, maybe you should offer them a free drink or something for the inconvenience. Maybe an appetizer Jeff. Mudbugs failed us in that department, first impressions is the most important . Especially for a new restaurant. Not only that , the owner , mr. Jeff who in his own words , on his mission statement for his restaurant , says he takes his customers very seriously and likes to talk with them and what not, get to know them and their story , blah blah blah. Well if that's true then maybe the owner should also interact with the people sitting up front for over an hour to get a table to eat his food. I witnessed him going from table to table and giving them his fake utmost attention, but totally ignore the people waiting up front. Knowing that everybody up here has been waiting well over an hour for the reservations , he couldn't take the time out to speak with us? We will not be going back because there's no food on this Earth worth going back to that experience again or even taking the chance that that experience might happen again. I doubt that this review will change anybody's mind that will go there in the future but just be very leery about their reservation system. And to be honest from the food that I was seeing it's all overpriced, we could over hear the table closest to us talking about the steaks , they were not impressed. Also don't order the bloody Mary. Probably the worst I've ever had , it tasted like a holiday meal, way too much clove or allspice , wasn't too sure what was added to that mix, but if it's any indication of the rest of the menu , well not interested. I'm pretty sure the rest of the people leaving good reviews on here are easily pleased and shallow when it comes to really truly judging a restaurant's worth. Mr Jeff your mudbugs restaurant was the worst experience me and my wife have had to date. We're used to Perry's steakhouse level of service and ambiance, and you have a long ways to go ...

This review is delayed by a few years because I really am reluctant to leave bad reviews. Especially in the small town of Buda, that we love so much. Since I won’t visit this establishment based on my experience, I do feel like it needs to be shared.

We came here for our first dinner outing after COVID in July of 2020. We read that they were following masking protocols so we felt comfortable dining here outside. Our server did not wear a mask at all during our meal which made us uncomfortable. On top of that, one of their outdoor chairs collapsed out of thin air on my husband (he is not a chair breaking size, mind you). He had mentioned earlier in the night that all the outdoor chairs were built improperly (they have all been rebuilt since). It scraped his back up pretty bad and was embarrassing to say the least. The owner gave us a free dessert for the trouble.

Once we got back home I privately messaged the owner letting him know that we were disappointed that they didn’t follow their own Covid protocols (wearing masks). He apologized, thanked me for privately letting him know and offered to “treat us to a really special night” the next time we came in.

About a month later I messaged him letting him know we wanted to take him up on the offer. He made us a reservation for that evening which is when things went downhill even more so than the first experience. We waited over 10 minutes at the host stand in a near empty restaurant before we were helped. Once seated we waited over 15 minutes for WATER. Cocktails arrived around 30 minutes after we were seated and dinner took about an hour from the time we ordered. Once our dinner came we waited over 5 minutes for silverware and finally had to get up and get it ourselves. At the end of this awful experience that we were being “treated” to, we received a bill for the entire meal without the owner ever even stopping by to check in on us.

Again, I sent him a private message after the horrible ordeal where he offered to “make it up to us the next time”. No thanks. I can forgive subpar food, but not service, and even more so...

Was looking for a good cajun food experience in the Austin area, and MudBugs was recommended. I had the meatloaf, which was a decent sized portion for the price and very good. Granted, not exactly cajun food, but the lunch menu is a little limited, and I noted a lot of recommendations for it, which is why I chose that.

My only complaint is that they are possibly understaffed. One waiter was drenched in sweat from running around, and the other waiter was working the bar and tables, while what appeared to be the manager was moving slowly and letting them carry all of the weight. I personally observed guests wait at the hostess booth for over 10 minutes before the exhausted waiter was able to get them seated. They actually had to stop someone to get acknowledged, which is not a great start for any dining experience. It could be that they had someone call in or had an unexpected volume of people visit during lunch, but there were only 8 tables seated and eating during my visit, which based on the space available would be less than 40-50% of inside capacity? I am sure that either an additional waiter or a hostess who helps keep drinks topped off when not greeting and/or seating customers would completely change the experience of many. This place has tons of potential to be great, and the waiter and bartender that were working deserve recognition of some kind as they didn't let the stress of being overworked show. I would recommend waiting a little bit before trying lunch so some kinks can be worked out or, if you're not looking for a quick lunch, then you can give it a shot as the food is great. If they are not able to find additional help, then maybe it shouldn't be opened during lunch and just specialize in an excellent dinner experience for their guest. I would visit again as I understand that things happen and that you can not plan for everything. If the other person who appeared to be a manager had stepped up and set the example for the team, I am sure it would have been a totally different experience for every patron who visited. Teamwork makes...