Cajun Ni Kuya — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We went here because boiling crab was out of crawfish and crab at 6pm, and we had been wanting to check this spot out anyway. As Filipinos, the trip did not disappoint.

Cajun ni kuya is actually a sit down extension of Kusina ni kuya (translates to Kuya’s kitchen), which sells affordable Filipino meals and street food like $2 skewers or $5 taho. Patrons can order skewers in addition to the seafood boil orders. We liked how they offered a full range of skewer options from standard chicken bbq to pig ears and chicken tails.

We went in on Friday night, which turned out to be karaoke night. It was on the louder side during this time. The restaurant was a quarter full around 6:45pm but was close to full by 8:30pm. Clientele is mostly Filipinos.

Food was excellent. The oysters had some fish roe and were served with sriracha. Cajun fries are a must! We ordered a variety of seafood boil options and appreciated the Filipino inspired add-ons, like the quail eggs, steamed okra, steamed eggplant, as well as classics like sausage or corn. Medium was not very spicy. I’d recommend requesting lemon to pair with the sauce and bring the flavors out further. Crab was super tender and perfectly cooked. Only downside was that some of the food took time to arrive — we ended up canceling our Cajun rice order since it wouldn’t have come until we were done with our meal.

Lastly, the place seemed very clean. There were two large bathrooms and a public sink for washing hands after eating.

Overall, we know we’ll be back, whether for a seafood boil or skewers from kusina ni kuya. They even have morning silog (meat / egg / rice) plates at $10 and unlimited coffee for $1. Definitely...

I ordered the $45.99 special (1/2 lb mussel, 1/2 lb shrimp, 1/2 lb clam, 1/2 lb sausage, 2 corn, 2 potatoe, 2 rice).

Sauce was flavorful. It is on the greasy side, but that's okay. It's a matter of preference. But the rice was definitely a smaller portion compared to other cajun restaurants. You can only select rice only or fries only. No half and half. Sausage was tasty. It wasn't a cheap sausage. Everything else was good.

I prefer the sauce at this place than kickin Asian nearby.

In terms of atmosphere, expect mom and pop shop deal. No A/C. It wasn't hot... but we had to turn on the fan ourselves. Again, mom and pop shop 😅😅 Seemed like good folks.

Lemon was not served with the dish btw.

Server was nice, so I left her 18...

⭐️ 1 Star (Would give 0 if I could)

I came here really looking forward to a seafood boil, but the experience was incredibly disappointing. We found a hair in our food — absolutely unacceptable. When we told the server, she just pulled it out and said “sorry” like it was no big deal. Then she told us the only thing she could do was give us a free drink. A drink?? For finding a hair in our meal?

After we demanded to speak to a manager, she offered 10% off, then eventually 25%, but honestly, that’s not the point. The food itself was already a 0/10, and the way they handled the situation made it worse. I expected better hygiene and much better customer service. Definitely won’t be...