The Bayou — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Follow Up on previous review. My wife and I tried The Bayou again after Mark's kind offer.

We enjoyed the food our first time eating there. We loved the food this go around.

We started with the Cajun Seafood Balls. These were lightly coated with a flavorful batter. We expected it to be thicker, but were very pleasantly surprised at how the coating was just enough to hold on to all the deliciousness of the insides. Really, really good. They had a sauce and ketchup. I usually skip the standard ketchup for the fancier stuff, but these were really good with ketchup.

We ordered the Crawfish Etouffee to see how it had improved. It was far and away superior to the first time we tried it. Where it was bland, this was very flavorful and delicious. My wife was really impressed with the flavor. She remarked that the sauce even looked correct. She will want to come back to enjoy this dish.

I ordered the Gumbolaya--so good. The gumbo had a deep and rich flavor. It was excellent. The jambalaya was just the right amount of spicy. I really enjoyed this dish. The wife kept stealing bites.

I enjoyed the bread pudding for dessert. This is a substantial dish. The bread pudding is done really well, but the star of this show is the bourbon caramel sauce. Again, my wife ended up dishing up a bunch of my sauce off my plate to put on her pecan tart that she ordered. I am not a fan when she steals my deliciousness.

Her pecan tart was excellent as well. I love pecan pie so this was a little bit of heaven.

The only disappointing aspect of our visit is the fact we weren't able to meet Mark. He was gone for the day. Maybe next time!

Give this place a try!!

Service was outstanding. I really liked the atmosphere, which is pretty rustic. Very friendly place.

I've spent a lot of time in New Orleans. So I was excited to try this place.

Overall, the food was really delicious.

The Alligator Cheesecake was outstanding. The savory flavor with the pecan crust was so good. It reminded me more of a souffle, just so yummy.

I had the Cajun pasta. The flavor was excellent. It was done really well. So flavorful.

The 50/50 fries were perfect. Great temperature. Great crispiness on the outside with tenderness on the inside.

The crawfish etouffee was kind of bland. This is my wife's favorite dish when in New Orleans and this is just a little too bland.

Overall, a fantastic place that I will visit again and...

It's a bar with an astounding amount of beers available, but I do not drink. However, it is a GREAT place to have some good Cajun food. No reservations needed\taken, so arrive early as it's first come\first served. Wife & I ordered the Bayou lemonade, cranberry ginger punch, 50\50 fries (regular & sweet potato), crispy ravioli, popcorn crawfish, alligator cheesecake, a side of fried catfish, ahi tuna tacos w\ gumbo & the fried Twinkies. First, the alligator cheesecake. It's not a cheesecake, more like a quiche or a light & fluffy bread. Interesting texture and delicious. Would order again. 50\50 fries: the fries of both kinds were cut & cooked perfectly. Most SP fries are cut too big and undercooked, but these are great and exquisitely crispy. The sauce is a perfect complement to the fries; kind of a Utah fry sauce, but with a Cajun kick. The crispy ravioli were different than I imagined, but delicious. Cheese stuffed, lightly deep fried and then baked, I think? The tomato dipping sauce was a great pairing. The popcorn crawfish and the spicy (yes, every has a spicy component. It IS Cajun.) sauce were delicious together. The gumbo came out before the tacos & maybe I do not know what gumbo is supposed to taste like, but this bowl tasted scorched. I don't know, will have to try again. The fried catfish was thin & flaky and delicious. The ahi tuna tacos were different than i was expecting, but that was my own misunderstanding. Still great. Then the fried Twinkies with a side of ice cream (pictured). Simple, yet delicious. Probably the highest evolution of the delicacy. My favorites were the fries & the crawfish, but next time we will be trying other dishes. Well worth the 40 minute drive. Why 40 minutes? They support being vaccinated & we wanted to support people...

we had such a nice date night here! It was Sunday night, so things were a little bit slower and no live music, although I’m sure if there had been, that would’ve put it over the top for the fun factor. We sat down ordered a round of drinks and the fried crawfish appetizer. The crawfish appetizer was good, but I would’ve liked it a little bit crisper. Adding the lemon wedges was a great touch, and the tomato sauce was just spicy enough to add a little interest to the app. They gave us plenty of time to look at the menu and munch on our appetizer. There was no rush. We ordered a sandwich and the shrimp étouffée over the catfish blackened fillet. The entrées were excellent, incredibly flavorful, and huge portions. We couldn’t finish everything even if we wanted to. We did a second round of drinks, a gin and tonic, and a glass of Merlot. The Merlot had good body and was a little light but not as stringent. We also had ordered one of the many beers on top. If you are a beer aficionado, you will love this place. I also got the highball lemonade; it wasn’t my favorite drink in the world, but it tasted very fresh. I wish we had had room for dessert, but clearly we didn’t. We spent a lovely 90 minutes here, lounging and enjoying the atmosphere, the extremely competent and friendly waitress, and the delicious food. For an app, 4 drinks and 2 entrees it was...