Goode Co. Fish Camp — Restaurant in Shenandoah

WOW! Let's start off with this: it ain't a cheap lunch spot during work. This is a nice restaurant with upscale food, your typical expectation from Goode Co. This is their newest concept, filling out the trifecta of Texas offerings, meaning they now serve BBQ, Mexican Food and Seafood in their restaurants. What a hit.

THE STORY:

This is Gulf-Style Seafood, the Texas way. They offer a wide variety of food, even some great (non-seafood) items for those of you that are like me, married to a seafood hater. If you want the ultimate experience (and act fast as she is soon to be a trainer), ask for Jessica at The Woodlands location.

THE FOOD ORDER: Appetizers - Cracklins and Crispy Boudin. It was good - not great. I would order and eat it again, but there is better on the menu. The flavor is decent, but not the level you would expect from Goode Co., it is just mediocre.

Entrees - Redfish, Crab & Shrimp Mac n Cheese, Crab Boil Potatoes and hushpuppies. The redfish was an amazing, charred, moist fish. No fishy taste, all amazing flavor. The skin and fat is still in the fish and makes for some amazing flavor. The mac n cheese is to die for. Creamy cheese, lots of meat and huge penne noodles. Amazing dish all alone. The hushpuppies are special. If you like cornbread, think of thick cornbread with chunks of corn in it, that was what I was immediately reminded of. Huge hushpuppies, lots of flavor and cooked perfectly. The sauces served with it were next level. The cocktail sauce is to die for. Chunky, yet smooth and packed with flavor beyond the normal cocktail sauce. The tartar sauce? I can't even do it justice. You will just have to try it.

Dessert: Banana pudding, Key Lime Pie. Order anything but the banana pudding. The drizzle on top was amazing, as were the fresh bananas and cookies. However, the pudding tasted like Jell-O boxed pudding. Also, I would prefer a batch made pudding vs. fresh made to order (I know that sounds silly), as you don't get the layered, soggy cookies in the middle. I wish they would put a spin on it with some cream cheese infused into the mix, or some type of interesting creation. It was good, but again just mediocre. The Key Lime Pie is to die for. You can taste the fresh squeezed key limes and the crust is absolutely mind blowing. Every part of the Key Lime Pie was phenomenal, I will order this again.

THE SERVICE:

You must stop in and try the food! You won't regret it! Service at this location was top notch and the manager was very friendly. Jessica was so nice and answered so many questions for us. She is very familiar with the company's story and happy to share. Her bubbly personality brought the whole...

I visited The Woodlands location and if you're not careful, you could easily pass by it because its hidden behind the natural vegetation of the area and sits behind a Circle K gas station. Once we arrived, we made the mistake of Entering the Goode Co. Cantina because they share a parking lot, business sign, and entrance. Don't worry it happens more often than you think and the hostes are friendly and will direct you to which restaurant you want to dine at.

The hostes greeted us and quickly escorted us to a table. If you choose to dine inside the interior of the restaurant will remind you of an old school dinner. It's well lit, and some neutral music playing in the background creates a good atmosphere to enjoy your meal. Our waitress was easy going, and answered our questions on the menu, made sure her presence was none if we needed anything but made sure not to interupt our meal by hovering over us being.

They offer a variety of options for food and drinks. They menu displayed the many different styles of seafood from cajun dishes like Po Boy sandwiches and gumbo. Then there were traditional options like fried shrimp or catfish. Then other seafood staples like grilled fish, raw oysters, crab cakes, and shrimp cocktail. Honestly they have such a diverse menu you can't go wrong no matter if you stick to what you normally get at a seafood spot or if you decide to be more adventurous and try something new. Between myself and my family we ordered a catfish Po Boy, Christmas Bay gumbo, mesquite grilled gulf snapper, and coastal fried catfish. The food was good my only complaint is it lacked enough seasoning for my taste buds but overall the consistency of the gumbo was solid, the fish catfish was fried to perfection and the portion of food was good for the price. It ranks high among its competitors like Papadeaux, Bluewater Seafood, Bubba Gump Seafood co. or Rockfish Seafood Grill.

The food, service, and atmosphere were all on point and worth a try. And if remember if you change your mind they have a Tex-mex restaurant right next door owned by the same company. They are worth a try and a return...

Is it fair to evaluate a restaurant based on one meal, on a busy night on Memorial Day weekend, less than a month after opening? Maybe not, but it's all I've got, so here you go... We've been to every Goode Company restaurant in Houston a dozen times, some several dozen. This is probably going to be a very very good restaurant, but for now there are too many kinks to recommend it. As noted above, it was packed on a holiday weekend. But still, every dish came out separately, drinks took 20 minutes, apps were served after entrees. Just a completely random dinner service. As for the food... Outstanding: Crawfish hand pies (worth the trip all by themselves), red beans and rice Very good: Campechana, lemon drop martini Just Okay: Gumbo (all roux, no complexity) Damn Good Margarita (why is it so much better across the patio at Goode Company Mexican Kitchen?) Needs work: Baked Oysters (tiny oysters, overwhelming topping, and every oyster had chunks of cracked shell in it, making it dangerous to chew), Redfish on the Half Shell: Still moist but overcooked, and the coal-black char on the "shell" permeated the fish so that it had a faint burnt taste in every bite. I've made this dish a dozen times and you just can't leave it on the flame that long. And then, the bottom line - this is a pretty expensive restaurant. Not Mastro's or Truluck's expensive, but for a casual eatery with a fish camp vibe, $17 for 5 tiny oysters is nuts. Two people with drinks, apps, entrees, tip and tax, figure at last $150. Ours was higher. Now, having said all that, we know this company and believe that they'll iron out most if not all of these issues. We'll come back when it's less crowded, in a month or two. As we've learned from 30 years of dining at Goode Company restaurants, when they're on they're pretty great. We're crossing our fingers that this one gets there...