Sal's Gumbo Shack — Restaurant in Long Beach

Again, Sal’s never disappoints. This is my second review of Sal’s. My first was a Yelp review. Sal’s is so good I’m too often thinking about when I should go back! LOL I’m a creole of color born in New Orleans, LA. So, many of the items on Sal’s menu are foods that I grew up eating. And, therefore, I am a very harsh critic of this type of cuisine. Having said that, Sal’s is the bomb! So far I’ve had their turkey chop with greens (twice) and with yams (once). The turkey chops keep calling me back. Because the batter that they use tastes so good, and has the perfect color and texture. And the meat is always juicy and actually tastes as flavorful as a pork chop except it’s turkey. How do they do that?! LOL.

On this last trip I ordered (1) three fried chicken wings, (2) Louisiana BBQ shrimp (small) w/bread, (3) red beans and rice, (4) five flavor pound cake, and (5) sour green apple lemonade.

The fried chicken wings were huge! I’ve never had them that big before and didn’t even know you could get them that big. They were the size of turkey wings. They were fried to perfection just like the turkey chops. Seasoned excellently. So the mouth experience significantly stimulating the release of dopamine from the pleausure center of my brain! LOL.

The Louisiana BBQ shrimp consisted of a generous number of shrimp (I didn’t count. I was too busy! LOL). The shrimp come in a small container of a special sauce. I noticed fennel seeds. The flavor of the sauce that bathed the shrimp was absolutely exquisite. I’ll definitely be craving this again. Plus, the bread had some kind of seasoning on it as well. Much more flavorful than garlic bread. It was the perfect pairing with the shrimp and sauce.

The red beans and rice were just as good as my creole mom’s. Excellent.

The five flavor pound cake was really good. Not something that I would get again, though. I would probably prefer a peach cobbler or banana pudding next time.

The sour green apple lemonade was kind of disappointing, because it didn’t really taste like sour green apple. It just tasted like a specially flavored lemonade. It was good, just not sour green apple good. I love sour green apple flavor, so, I was really looking...

I visited this restaurant on a whim a couple of months ago after it caught my eye while driving past. For starters, I couldn’t get into contact with anyone at the restaurant to order over the phone, it kept going straight to voicemail. Then when I got to the location and explained to the cashier that no one was answering the phone she said that they were really busy but when I looked down the phone was off the hook. Anyway, onto the food. I ordered a watermelon lemonade, gumbo, red beans & rice, candied yams and eventually the greens. Being from the east coast I subconsciously compare foods to home and they always disappoint me and I thought that was the case here but nahhh it just wasn’t good. I’m a huge fan of red beans & rice so when I asked the cashier how they were and she said “FIRE” I ordered them and I asked if I didn’t like it, could I exchange it for something else and she said yes. I waited for nearly an hour for my food and “gumbo” that had a faint burnt taste to it, was really loose like a soup which is something I’m not used to in gumbo, there were probably 5 shrimp and 2 very small crab legs but it was full of chicken and small pieces of sausage. The candied yams were okay. I ended up taking back the red beans and rice because they didn’t live up to being “fire” like I was told. The greens were okay and the watermelon “lemonade” literally tasted like overly sweetened kool-aid and I have never in my life had a problem with “too much sugar” in kool-aid lol. Bottom line is… I wouldn’t eat here again and I don’t recommend anyone who’s ever tasted REAL gumbo to...

My post-NOLA craving for cajun food lead me to search for a place with some 'legit' gumbo's / jambalaya / po' boys.

:: FOOD :: LOVE their food! I want to get my own shrimp/oyster po'boy next time I visit. The gumbo had a great kick of spice, perfect if you have a soar throat. Jambalaya was good enough to split if you're not that hungry.

:: SERVICE :: C+! She was a sweetie but we waited quite a while for our food. Once the jambalaya came out I had to take it to-go because I was 15minutes late for work. Getting a to-go box took a while too. They had no change for cash, so I paid with my credit card...but the credit card machine had no ink so we had to trust them when they said they charged us the right amount (they did).

Usually I'll give a place 3 stars if the service is horrible.The cajun food was so satisfying I don't mind coming back to give it another try and keep it as 4 stars for now. I've tried few other places and they were pricey and not amazing.

::TIP:: Call and make an order for pick up during lunch time so you won't be waiting...