Tad's Louisiana Cooking — Restaurant in Lake Charles

Why TaD's on Ryan Street in Lake Charles, LA won't last long...

(Note: I intentionally did not reveal our server's name for two reasons. 1) There is no intention to shame or put fault on her, and 2) we do not want social scrutiny placed upon her personal life. Also, a normal tip is 15-20% but we left 10% though it could easily have been less because it wasn't the best service; however, the fault rests upon TaD's to  properly train its staff and we believe her service is a reflection of this improper training and not her true potential ability.)

Now...5 people in our party; a teen, a 5 yr old and 3 adults; tab pre-tip $80; time on tab 5:17 p.m. ~Seating wait time--8 minutes, not busy, plenty of servers on the floor (obvious wait staff shift change happening for but not hostess staff; no excuse for any wait when it is not busy). ~Asst. Mgr-- either too young, under trained, or improperly trained.. We asked him for napkins-- he turned to a waitress (not ours) and said, "They need napkins." Seriously! Managers who build relationships get the napkins. ~Server was affable but indifferent. Felt like she was providing the service according to how she was trained. She's probably very dynamic under dynamic leadership/management...sadly, our party saw no dynamic management on duty. RR- 😳 yuck. White walls show every bit of filth. ~On staff: 2 hostess 2 bartenders 1 asst manager 7 servers ~Again, server was affable and would probably florish under correct training and management that was actually invested in making this location last. ~Iced tea...no ice...so it was just luke warm tea in tall glasses. Again obvious lack in point of service. A server ought to be able to see that there is no ice in an iced tea. ~Grilled chicken sandwich was ordered "no sauce" came plain-- literally without anything on it. ~Dinner salad was obviously premade as it was wilted onto the bowl it had been made in. It had 1...yes only 1... cherry tomato and 1 very thinly sliced cucumber. Seriously--that's not a salad worthy of linen dinner napkins. A better side salad could be gotten at Outback and/or Logan's and they use paper napkins. ~Don't get me wrong... Linen napkins are wonderful but usually bespeak a better dining experience...not food one can get down the road at a similar joint using paper napkins. ~Blackened shrimp salad had ready-made bacon bits including rubbery fat chunks instead of actual crispy bacon crumbled onto it. ~Fried catfish with flour breading that was just bland. ~Food and pricing not competative--- food was ok but not that impressive. ~Better food and service could be had within a small radius at multiple places. Two examples: Steamboat Bills or even RickinJaks just down the street on Ryan. ~Sadly, no one ever asked us how things were until we were done. ~After the bill was paid, the asst. mgr finally found his way over (at this point there were only 4 tables being served and 1 bar customer) to ask "How was everything" as he kept walking by...not stopping we responded very flatly and slowly "It was o-k", but he just kept walking-- no response.

Nothing-no questions- no inquiry--nada.

It seems obvious to my very well trained mind and years of experience that TaD's has multiple issues but correcting them needs to start at the top. Don't just keep flipping the management team. Find a manager and/or district supervisor who cares to build this location, cares about building customer relationships, and devotes herself or himself into developing a dynamic team at the top and middle then the bottom will follow.

Until then, closing is in Tad's near future.

(Let me follow up by stating that for 9 years I worked as an executive manager in a very profitable full service restaurant before entering the education field. I currently live in the greater Houston area--were eating out is king in the industry. I enjoy visiting Lake...

I am so bummed with this place. We drive in almost 3 hours to eat at least once a month. This was probably our 4th visit. The last visit was kind of off, I remember thinking maybe they are having a long weekend. It happens. So today is a wed night . Not a weekend. We arrived went straight to restroom after the 3 hour drive. It was gross. It was about 6pm. Got out of bathroom and there wasn't a hostess so we sat ourselves. The ambiance in the room was weird. There were about 4 young black girls who looked to be the servers for the night. 2 were on their phones and one was at the bar making drinks. The other one was getting food out. There were 7 black men sitting at the bar and a,couple at a table near the bar. Thats it. We seated ourselves at the last 2 seats at the bar. Waited about 10 minutes for someone to cone and take a drink order. They saw us there but kinda was just ignored. I got the attention of the server making a drink. Order 2 teas which were cloudy and tasted old. Returned them and got water. I didn't see any food comin out but there was a lot of drinks being served.. we were hungry so my patience was zero. We needed some food. Ordered cup of sausage and chkn gumbo. After 20 minutes I asked the server to check on it.as,she was going to it came out. It was cold so she sent it to be warmed up. By that time I ate half a pound of crackers..I kept the menu to decide what I wanted for entre'. Food was coming out to the guys around the bar finally and wow what a mess. Food looked thrown on the plates, and they were all screwed up. The server wasn't trained on the menu or food delivery so she had to have help trying to straighten it out and get it to the right people. Right when she would give them their plates the were complaining about something not right on the plate. At that point were felt defeated , decided to pay for our gumbo and give up. It was 8 by the time and still hungry so we paid and went elsewhere to eat. ĹNever have we done that. We drove to eat there. Didn't happen. The place has no management there that night. The clientele was different and uynot motivated to eat but hang out and drink..only 9 tr3le ttyhere and maybe that's why. Dont know what's the bigger conern..service or quality of food served and staff without culinary class to understand àow to do their jobs. We hope lthey get it together. We won't b returning..too many other places to go to for the...

Update- I want to say it's better. I suppose it is. However, last time I ate there my food did not seem to be cooked all the way. I only like to eat sushi at a sushi restaurant. It has seemed to have gotten really hit or miss lately. Either that or during the week is not when the "A" list is working in the kitchen. So..yea, sometimes it's good and sometimes you pay a lot of money for undercooked and mediocre food. At least it's not the worst I've ever had.

I have heard, and read that the wait is terrible. Our wait wasn't bad. It was the kitchen staff. Our waitress seemed new so a few mix ups are easily forgivable. When the waiter or waitress double checks themselves and then comes back to apologize for the kitchen just plain not making your food...that's kind of messed up. I don't like giving negative reviews. I really don't, but this place needs to really step it up. I have hear many people complain about the slow service. For me it wasn't slow just not on their game at all. The waitress did fine. She made things right for us, and I tried to assure her it was not her we were upset with. My other complaint is the food. It's expensive for what you get. I ordered the fried catfish dinner. It was a few pieces of thin sad looking catfish with fries. It was 18.99. That never got made until my wife was done with her food. Don't waste your money though. Go to a seafood restaurant, and pay less than that for a good plate of fried fish. My wife ordered some sort of bowl. Even that was pricey for a hastily thrown together mixture of chickens corn, and cheese. Maybe a few other things in it I saw. Come on guys and gals in the kitchen. This is just my opinion, and just my opinion, but the mess ups like this will send the business into a nose dive. I will wait a good while before going back to see if TaD's had...