Big Poppa Burgers Chicken & Waffles — Restaurant in Louisiana

Big Poppa Burgers: a new Westbank burger, chicken & waffles joint with reviews that suggest people either really enjoying or strongly disliking the food/service/etc. The love/hate made me highly curious, so I tried it out myself. I'm here to report that it has a lot of promise, but seems to skimp on some pretty important basics, like the identity of Big Poppa itself. I left being confused as to whether they're trying to be a pick-up and go burger joint or a more refined dine-in joint. For example, why is your mascot a bear if it is nowhere to be seen in the restaurant? And at table side is the classic red/yellow ketchup/mustard bottle, but the fancy syrup-filled corked bottle next to them looks out of place.

Decor/Service: Walking in, the place has a yesteryear sodashoppe kinda feel to it. Strong bold red/yellow colors and a lot of checkered/alternating patterns. Clean space, easy to find the ordering area, and plenty of seating. The service was warm, friendly, and eager to get our orders in. Overall, positive and colorful atmosphere. The food also came out in good time (15-20 min wait). Order at the bar, get a number, and sit at the table. Very similar to NOLA Hamburger and Seafood.

One thing that stood out to me was that there are no fresh or unprocessed items on the menu. No salads, no fruit, no unfried veggies. For the upscale image they're portraying, these options are essential.

Food: My wife and I started the order with the house cocktail which was a hard fruit punch (w/4 liquors!). We also ordered the "fresh squeezed" lemonade. For food, we got the cheese Big Poppa dressed with sauce, the chicken and waffles, large order of fries, and baked beans. At the price point, I'm comparing to other higher budget burger places, local and franchise: company burger, five guys, shake shack, etc. Big Poppa is "world famous," so it should be equal or above all of these guys, yeah?

The cocktail: strong and worth the money. Spiked fruit punch and very tasty.

The lemonade: I'm not really sure if you can call pink lemonade "fresh squeezed." Is the pouch it came in squeezed or something? Obviously made from a mix, no signs of lemon pulp, and very syrup-heavy. Left a weird feeling in the back of the throat.

The beans: interestingly, served in a large saucer. It definitely had a visual impact. But! the beans were mushy and in a syrupy, overly thick and sweet sauce. Like from a can. Not a fan.

The fries: I think I know why people have been so inconsistent in their reviews of the fries. It's because the fries themselves are inconsistently and unevenly cut. They look good at first glance, but some pieces are really thick and some are paper thin. The size needs to be consistent for the quality and fry to be consistent. Some were fully cooked, and some were hard and chalky.

The burger: decent! Not memorable, but satisfying. The bun was not too thick but still held up, and the patty itself was pretty thick.The dressing was skimpy. The cheese didn't stand out. The Big Poppa sauce was interesting, like some kind of sweet and spicy teriyaki/maple blend. The burger patty itself may be 100% beef meat-wise, but there are very likely many fillers at play here. It tasted a bit like a meatloaf, as if there was some kind of bread and egg mix to bulk it up. Had a bit of that sponginess like meatloaf too. Good flavor though and moist throughout. I wouldn't call it world famous or #1. I think that kind of bragging/advertising without delivery is worse than not boasting at all.

The chicken and waffles: crispy fried and moist chicken. The waffles were fluffy and had sweet, crispy edges. The stars of the menu, honestly. However, the syrup had almost no flavor, and seemed watered down. The butter was just soy oil spread in a disposable cup. For such good food, it was hurt by these low quality condiments.

Overall, Big Poppa is okay but not yet recommended. For the price and image, I think they're more bark than bite but I hope they continue to grow and refine. Go here for chicken&waffles, but look elsewhere for...

I had the chicken and waffles with some steak fries and a lemonade, and it was one of the worst meals I've had in a long time.

The chicken was overcooked in old grease so it sat heavy in the stomach for hours, but at least it tasted decent - comparable to Popeye's so mediocre at best.

The waffles were inedibly sour. I've never had a waffle taste sour. I had to Google if waffles were sour in case I forgot something, turns out putting sour cream in waffles is a thing. If that's the case then they used way too much of it that just left a horrible tang after each bite of something that's supposed to be sweet. Gave up after 3 bites. It was such a jarring experience that MAYBE if there were advertised as sour cream waffles or something then it could be expected and appreciated for the novel flavor. But they were just supposed to be plain old waffles. Maybe the batter had gone bad, that could probably taste sour. Dunno.

Oh and they weren't crispy. If I want a soggy waffle that is just passable then I'd go to a waffle house and skip the premium price.

And the biggest thing wrong in the whole thing was the syrup. I was expecting actual maple syrup, what I got was maple flavored corn syrup. Disgusting. If nothing else changes then at least that should, because I may as well go to waffle house if I want some bottom of the barrel aunt jamima maple flavored corn syrup. Do better. Jack the price up a dollar to justify the cost if need be but trying to sell the premium experience of chicken and waffles with CORN SYRUP made me realize why the place was dead empty at 1pm.

Ah, and the freshly made lemonade is 100% freshly mixed Country Time lemonade or some other lemonade flavored drink mix. I've had enough lemonade flavored drink mix to tell the difference between the real stuff and imitation.

There was a haze of grease smoke that just stuck around the whole time we were there. A sign of poor ventilation so that might do wonders if you have a breathing issue.

The service was good enough in comparison to everything else. No real greeting, and took the cashier lady to finish up whatever she was doing before acknowledging us, no "just a minute" no "sorry about that" just right into "how can I help you". Honestly surprised I got that since I never got the fries.

Oh yeah, can't really say anything about the fries since they never came and. In their defense I only ate the food for about 5 minutes - after waiting a good 20 with no one else coming in - before being too disgusted to finish. So it may have taken them another 5 to get the fries out to me. They could've been good, but I couldn't have been bothered to figure out since everything else was was pretty bottom...

There was more pros than cons to this place which was why I gave it a 3/5. Let’s start with the pros. I went on a Friday @6:35 pm. The atmosphere was great with a live band playing music. It was great to walk into flowing vibes and this was a good way to set the mood for entrance...however, the service was not great. I was greeted with a smile & pleasant attitude as one cashier (a younger girl)took my order. After that, all was lost. Although no one else was waiting in front of us, our order took about 30 minutes to bring back 2 burgers & 2 fries. They never bought our milkshake out. They also didn’t put our bacon on our burgers. I paid a dollar extra per burger. All the girl told me was “I got you next time you come” when I told her they forgot our bacon. The burger was a quality burger. Meet was thick & flavored. The fries was real potatoes, but I wasn’t very pleased with the serving size or the seasoning they throw all over them without asking you do you want that seasoning first. I had a lemonade fruit punch. It sort of taste like kool Aid. I didn’t care for the dark colored drinking cups. I like to see my drinks in a glass or clear container. My son said the milkshake was good although we had to remind them twice during our meal that we still didn’t have it. Although I didn’t order any liquor drinks, the menu was tempting and of interest. They have a bar that’s enticing as well as a jukebox and ATM. Overall, the food was good, not excellent. The service was good, not excellent. The atmosphere was great. I was disappointed not to see pics of Master P. I thought this restaurant would be a walk through time with photos of the past decades with a journey through time of his career. There wasn’t one single photo to find. That in itself made it quite boring. I had nothing else to look forward to while I sit and wait. They close early at 8pm. I saw a mix of different races come in behind me and it was a peaceful environment. That’s all I...