Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen — Restaurant in Grapevine

I do recommend making a reservation on-line before going to Pappadeux, as we are seated more quickly with reservations.

We were disappointed with Pappadeux in Grapevine. Although our server was friendly, service still lacked consistency. As for the food, the baguette and whipped butter were perfection.

Unfortunately, my gumbo was thin, watery and too spicy. It had the dark color of roux, but not the deep flavor or viscosity of a proper roux. There were absolutely no traces of okra, celery or onion, which the manager surmised was because I ordered a cup instead of a bowl of gumbo. Yet, as someone who makes homemade gumbo, I know it is unusual to ladle a cup of properly prepared gumbo without any okra seeds, celery or onion. If the ingredients are balanced and plentiful, every ladle should have elements of those ingredients- even if the okra pods cook down. There was, however, a finger sized piece of green bell pepper, as if it were placed on top of the broth along with the 3 shrimp and piece of crab. The large piece of bell pepper was out of balance and overwhelming. I know from eating at other Pappadeux locations that it is possible to get a well balanced cup of Gumbo with thick tasty roux and all the vegetables visibly included. The okra and the trinity all add to the viscosity of the gumbo even if file is no longer used in the dish. They also add dimensions of flavor and make the gumbo tastier. Proper gumbo is a time consuming endeavor. The cup I was served was not worth the $12-13 per cup.

For entrees: I ordered the wild caught red snapper with jumbo lump crab. The three small pieces of crab were not worth the extra $7 thus I recommend ordering it naked and saving $7. The red snapper was delicious, cooked to perfection and seemed to be a whole fish although it was completely skinned, deboned and cooked in pieces. The side of sauteed spinach was fine also.

My husband ordered the Crispy Salmon with jumbo lump crab, shrimp and scallop. It had one of each on top of the salmon steak. The side of manchego pureed potatoes just tasted like thinned out whipped potatoes. No detectable manchego cheese. Unfortunately his salmon was cold and raw. The sear on it was negligible but the manager was so condescending when I complained about the gumbo, my husband said he would just take the salmon back to the hotel room and microwave it. It actually went in the trash since the hotel room didn’t have a microwave and we had to leave for airport at 4:30 AM the next morning. $40 in the hotel trash bin.

We finished the meal off with banana pudding in a mason jar. It was delicious, even though it only had 3 banana slices. The homemade custard, real heavy whipping cream and the homemade vanilla wafers all but made up for the missing banana slices. The strawberry on top was pretty but didn’t enhance the flavor of the dessert at all. We would have preferred more banana! We will not be returning to this location!

We highly recommend the Pappadeux in Norcross, Georgia if you are in the😴Atlanta area. Norcrosse is a beautiful little walk about town and worth a day trip that includes lunch or dinner at Pappadeux.

We will try other DFW Pappadeux locations on...

Update: 10/06/19 Absolutely disgusted with Pappadeaux Management today.

We came in today for my birthday and 2 minutes after sitting down we were greeted with by the manager informing us of their NO outside drinks policy. Two $6.00 ten minute old Starbucks drinks on the trash. Of course we understand that theres a policy were just now hearing about but im just curious about the nine previous times we've eaten there in the past nine months - why did no one ever say anything about my Starbucks outside drink that I had brought inside with me?

Rules are rules and thats fine. My boyfriend and I both lost our drinks. The server lost her $50 tip. Our new server next door at P.F. Changs greeted us with a kind smile and her tip just doubled.

Thanks for the great Birthday dinner Pappadeax. Its definitely one ill never forget.

Update: 8/29/19 Another great visit with absolutely a wonderful server. Yes, we've always had great'ish service but no one has ever been able to top the service we received while having CURRY as our server.

Well tonight we found a server that may not top past CURRY but he does line right up there with him as THE BEST SERVER(S) that Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, Grapevine TX has employed and we are so glad we had the privilege of meeting him on our date night.

So a big THANK YOU to our server ANDREW! We ha fantastic night and it was everything and beyond we come to expect from our visits at Pappadeaux.

Original Review for 5/28/2018 visit: We ate here on Memorial day 2018. They were pretty busy but we were sat immediately and in my opinion the best table in the place. Our servers name was NEZAMODEN and he gave us excellent service and made sure we had everything we needed but without bothering us constantly as we were eating out meal. You could see that he was busy with multiple tables and guests to attend to but he remained cool under pressure which is hard to do at times under such a fast paced setting during peak hours and...

Update: I contacted Pappadeaux management using the survey link they included in their reply to my original review. They replied but asked for my home address so they could send something via USPS. I do not like giving my home address or phone number, mainly because I would end up in their marketing loop and I already receive enough unwanted mail every day. I replied to their email and said they could send whatever follow-up via email. That was 3 days ago and I have not heard anything else. I did not ask them for anything when I replied to their initial outreach, although some form of incentive to return would have been welcome. The lack of response from the Pappas Guest Relations team made a negative experience even worse so I am lowering my review from 3 stars to 2 stars. I am extremely disappointed in a restaurant that I have enjoyed and visited many times in the past.

Original Review: I’ve been a fan of Pappadeaux for as long as they have been in business. But the experience at this location needs some adjustments. The receptionist/hostess (blond hair) was just terrible. She had an “I hate my job and I’m going to make sure it shows” expression when we walked in the door. I asked for a different table that was not up against a server station (the restaurant was probably 20% occupied at the time). What I got was even more attitude. The hostess spun around and walked back to her station at the entry door. No interaction at all, she just turned around and walked away expected my group to follow.

The good news is that Josh was a good waiter. He knew the menu well and made some good suggestions.

The bar on the other hand was extremely slow. We ordered drinks before ordering appetizers. The drinks finally came out when our entrees were served. For a nearly empty dining room it was ridiculous.

So Josh was a good waiter but the hostess and the bar were terrible. One appetizer, three cocktails and three entrees with no desserts = $200+ with tip for Josh. Terrible value when I factor the negative experiences with the hostess...