Herby-K's — Restaurant in Shreveport

I feel so bad leaving this review because our waitress was really nice and and gave us directions to the highway. My husband and I are on a road trip from Texas and decided to stop in Louisiana for lunch since we’ve never been and wanted to experience Louisiana cuisine. We read this was one of the best restaurants in LA and we saw all the reviews were great. So we had high expectations. Unfortunately we were very disappointed.

Way overpriced. I understand inflation sucks and it’s seafood, but serving us tiny portions of seafood and filling the rest of the plate with bland fries and garlic bread ain’t gonna cut it. We started with the gumbo ($7 for a cup EACH). Wasn’t impressed with the gumbo at all. It tasted weird to me.

I ordered boiled shrimp and my husband got the shrimp buster. The shrimp was ok, it was cooked fine and the seasoning wasn’t bad, but all the seasoning was on the shell which I had to peel so the shrimp was bland! I tried dipping it in the buster sauce and I didn’t care for the taste of it.

My husband didn’t care for the shrimp buster and said it was mediocre. Not really sure what the hype is all about.

The fries were soooo bland and tasteless. No salt, no seasoning, and I can tell they’re frozen fries and not homemade.

The only thing that was passable was the garlic bread, but it’s hard to mess up garlic bread.

Again, I’m really sorry, we came with open minds and tried to enjoy ourselves, but it just didn’t meet our expectations.

We are out of towners from Indiana (originally Chicagoland) so maybe Louisana cuisine just ain’t for us. There’s lots of reviews who like this place so please don’t think my review is what defines this place. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Herby-K has been around for a long time and they must be for a reason. Unfortunately, we won’t...

I loved the ambiance and vibe and history; my server and other staff were very friendly and fun to talk with; I had a good conversation with the folks there to refinish the picnic tables.

But I somehow I managed to order the wrong menu items that do not contribute to the high ratings for Herby Ks. Or maybe I'm insufficiently acquainted with cajun cuisine to know what distinguishes a good po boy from a bad one. Or maybe it's because I walked in 45 minutes before closing and things were winding down.

I started with the chicken and sausage gumbo which came sided with a piece of toasted bread. The number of meatballs was impressive and the broth was unexpectedly dark brown but with a good spicy flavor profile. The chicken was sawdust sized.

I ordered the half shrimp and oyster po boy with the onion ring option for an extra $1. And this is where the real disappointment registered. Their was one piece of leaf lettuce and one tomato slice, 2 shrimp butterflied and pounded paper thin, a few smallish fried oysters, a dollop of mayo, all on a toasted white bun. The shrimp were so thin that the breading was all I tasted. Compared to the fried oysters I had at John's Seafood on Jewella for lunch, these were half that size. And not nearly as tasty. The most memorable impression, aside from only 3 coolish onion rings, was how very dry the sandwich was. I hit with lemon and hot sauce but still needed glasses of iced tea to...

Herby K’s isn’t about the food, as much as it’s about a dining/cultural experience. Go there and eat the food and then decide for yourself if it’s food you love. We personally will always visit this establishment when in Shreveport, but ours is as much about the experience, as it is the food. Pulling up to this truly “hole in the wall”restaurant, we both knew we were going to “experience” something. Kristina the GM, and Jim, her right and left hand man, greeted us upon arrival. From that moment on, we lived a true, Northern Louisiana hospitality filled couple of hours. As we burned through the menu, we had the pure pleasure of becoming educated as to everything associated with this 80 something year old icon. From the eclectic but authentic LA staff, the history of the building and its founder(s), the ups and downs of a restaurant’s life, to just watching the truly diverse patronage, this place has it all for those wanting the full culinary package. Insider info says you may wait an hour or more to get in, or you may be blessed, as we were, and walk right in and sit in the front row. Again, this review is more for those looking to experience something that seems to be fading away. Catch this beauty while you can, what you eat is your choice, but if you don’t bag a piece of the potentially elusive bread pudding, you’ve basically clowned yourself. Peace and blessing to the...