Gabe’s Cajun Food — Restaurant in Rayne

My husband and I were tired and hungry after a long day of traveling in the rain. We were in the mood for some Cajun food and went first to Cajun Claws. It was very busy and very loud with live music, and had at least a 45 minute wait (on a Thursday night). Normally, a festive place would be our cup of tea, but not today. We saw that Gabe's Cajun Food was fairly closeby. It's a small place, not much fan fair, not loud, not so busy that we couldn't find a parking place. I ordered the 12 piece fried shrimp, onion rings, cole slaw, and water. My husband ordered the Cajun hamburger with cheese, fries, and water. My shrimp was delicious, hot, and crispy. The onion rings were overcooked, but they tasted good. The coleslaw was coleslaw, not special, and not bad. My husband's order came out cold. The cheese wasn't melted. He said there was no Cajun seasoning at all and that the burger tasted like meatloaf. I didn't get a picture of it because he returned it to the cashier. They sent it to the back, it was reheated and sent back out. No apologies were offered. We were surprised to see we were charged .30 each for water. I really wish businesses wouldn't do that. That seems so petty and nickle and dime-ish. Just include the price of our water/cups in with our order. I was going to give 3 stars simply because my shrimp and onion rings were good, but after seeing the .30 per cup was added, it's a one star finish. Our order costs $28.30 and wasn't great. We walked away disappointed and...

I was not overly impressed by this place.

I ordered a Seafood Platter, which comes with 5 fried shrimp, 2 fried fish filets, 2 stuffed shrimp, 1 stuffed pepper, coleslaw, 1 stuffed crab, and fries.

The stuffed pepper was the star of the plate, unfortunately—from there, it only went downhill. As for the rest: the fried fish was mushy and under-seasoned; the fried shrimp were good, but very small (think slightly bigger than popcorn shrimp); as I said, the stuffed pepper was tasty and not too spicy, but just enough to make it interesting; the coleslaw was decent, but watery; the fries were not salted for some reason, and I only managed to get one packet of ketchup in my to-go order. All the remaining stuffed items relied too heavily on the stuffing. The stuffed shrimp fell apart while dipping in the tartar sauce, and the stuffed crab seemed like it was strictly stuffing, no crab. Everything fried was excessively oily.

For a meal that cost nearly $20, I expected better. Wait time was over 15 minutes from order to food, which is a little excessive given I was the only Inside order during most of that time, and only about 4 drive thru orders were placed during that time.

Overall, I’d say make a pass...

To be fair in this review I have to provide a thorough explanation of the review. I have been eating at gabes now for 10+ years now, and normally I do not take the time to sit down and hammer out a review but I feel this is in order, I am hoping someone in management will see this, and perhaps take it to heart. The food has always been great, The fact that we can call in orders on the way home from work to pick UP NOONE else does that. But for the last 6 months or so the cooks are dousing the food in red pepper, im not talking about spicy here I mean its unedible. Ill give you examples. Rice dressing i can no longer order. The gumbo, same thing. Whats the point of eating at a restaurant you love if you have to avoid items on the menu? And it wasn't always like that before.im a loyal customer.please don't...