Gumbo Ya Ya — Restaurant in Nicholasville

I visited Gumbo Ya Ya today with some friends. It was my first and will be my last visit. Here's why:

(1) Our reception and first contact with an employee came from a guy leaning through the kitchen pass-thru asking what he could get us. I had to explain that we were first-timers and would like to speak with someone before anyone even came to the front counter to help us.

(2) The guy that finally came to the front was snotty from the get-go. He refused to give us any suggestions or help us make a decision in any way. He also never welcomed us or offered any smile at all. I had chosen Gumbo Ya Ya because their online menu included an alligator dish. When I asked about that, he looked at me like I was stupid and told me they only put gator on the menu when UK plays Florida.

(3) I decided to order gumbo, but when I asked for some extra filé, he looked down his nose at me and stated, "We don't have filé here. I stated I didn't want gumbo without filé and he turned around and loudly yelled, "Cancel the gumbo!" My boyfriend ordered the gumbo, and the response was another yell to the kitchen, "Just make that gumbo a large!"

One of my friends stated he would not eat there and left. I finally ordered the seafood ya ya, my boyfriend got his gumbo, and our other friend ordered chicken etouffee. The dishes we were served were decent food, just not extremely authentic Cajun, based on my familial experiences...and they all looked and tasted quite similar. Our friend, who had never eaten Cajun food before, commented that it all looked like different meats covered in the same sauce. The gumbo (in which my boyfriend found only 1 small piece of andouille sausage aoung all the inely shredded chicken) at least should have been a much darker roux than the etouffee, and the seafood ya ya was supposed to be a completely different sauce (tomato cream).

I did enjoy the praline I ordered, although the pecans were slightly on the soggy side. We were also charged for a drink that we didn't order. The bottled Louisiana-made root beer that someone ordered was also very good.

Needless to say, we are 4 customers who will most likely never return to this establishment. It felt like money down the drain to us. ...

I have been a gumbo Ya ya person for about 10yrs. I used to live close to the tates creek location before they closed up shop years ago. The food has always been great. I had always done maque chouix on rice until I heard another customer in front of me order maque chouix on jambalaya. So I tried it. That just enhanced all the flavors and that's all I have ordered for the last couple years. My last experience at the brannon crossing location was not very good. Although the service was good, the maque chouix had some kind of bread chunks in it that seemed like it had been in the freezer since the first time I ever visited (12-15yrs ago) i literally spit them out and gagged. Normally I would bring my leftovers home to my wife and she loves gumbo Yaya as well, but I threw half my plate in the garbage. I'm not sure if it was the young crew running the brannon crossing location or if the recipe changed for some reason. It also took longer than normal to get the food. When I order downtown, the food is usually out by the time I fill my drink. Don't discount gumbo Yaya at all, but I would recommend visiting the Broadway location because I've never been disappointed there. I will go out of my way to hit Broadway before visiting the brannon location anymore. Food looked amazing and the way I have always seen it but something was not good in it. I felt bad throwing half of it in the garbage. I took the picture to boast to my coworkers where I was eating. It saddened me to...

I was so impressed by my most recent visit. This was not my first time by a long shot, eaten there many times via dine-in, takeout, and delivery. I just have lived not particularly close for the last few years until recently.

First off, it’s clearly been renovated. It was beautiful in there, far nicer than i remembered.

I only dealt with one staff member but he was friendly and attentive while multi-tasking, and the kitchen staff were certainly quick about things because I got quite a bit of food and didn’t wait much more than five minutes if that even.

The food itself? Great, I got a variety, everything was good. Portions were good. I honestly struggled to decide what I wanted and ended up getting an extra small plate just because so much sounded appealing.

The big thing though especially nowadays are prices. $9 for a large plate of very good Cajun food with a good portion? That’s a fantastic deal, i can’t get a Big Mac with fries and drink for what I got my entree and a bottle of Ale-8 at Gumbo Ya-Ya.

With Gumbo Ya-Ya and B&T, Lexington is in great hands for fast casual Cajun food.

Now that it is nearby and after this experience, I will be a regular...