Spahr's Downtown — Restaurant in Thibodaux

My daughter and I were excited to try a new restaurant for us after we moved here. I heard the Bloody Mary’s were good as well. The reviews are spotty with some bad ones here and there so we decided to try it out.

What a mistake! There was a 10 minute wait to be seated and was called at 12:42 to be seated. Was seated immediately and drink orders taken. Went over the menu (it was brunch) and decided on some items to try within a few minutes. Shrimp remoulade, shrimp and grits, grilled chicken and fries. The grilled chicken was butterflied and cut thin.

We had been watching about four tables order, eat, and leave. Those tables were filled again and orders taken. The table next to us noticed we had been waiting a while and started talking. By this point, it had been 40 minutes waiting for our food.

I asked the waitress, Kaitlyn, if our food was coming out soon and she said “we are really busy and have a very big table”. So I decided to get up and look around the corner and the only big table was 6 people in the corner. Most tables were two tops and several 4’s. That’s when Kaitlyn asked if I was looking for her. I politely said no.

At approximately 1:50 our food finally came out. The second round of tables around us all received their food right after we did. Which led me to believe the waitress forgot to put in our order.

The remoulade barely had any sauce and was mostly a dry salad. The shrimp tasted old and was not very good. I sent it back.

The (baby) shrimp and grits was extremely bland with barely any flavor. The grits were alright. My daughter liked the plain butterflied chicken breast with fries.

When I received the check, it had Chicken and broccoli (2 sides) meal for $18 charged on the ticket. I asked the waitress what it was and she said she charged that for the grilled chicken and fries. I had told her she didn’t get two sides and only got fries. I was very patient and kind just asking questions to understand. I also reminded her how long we waited. She made excuses saying the butterflied chicken takes a long time to cook and they were busy. We all know it doesn’t take that long! Especially the salad and cold precooked shrimp. Kaitlyn decided to get rude and said she was getting a manager. I told her it’s ok I just want to pay the $60 bill (after the remoulade was taken off).

The manager came up to the table so I mentioned we had waited an hour for our food while watching everyone around us get attended to promptly with their food, drinks, silverware, napkins,(we never had any utensils or napkins until our food came out) and checking in. She started making excuses saying they were very busy and only had two cooks. I asked what time our order was put in and wanted to see the ticket but she refused and said it was put in after the order was taken because she saw personally. I was just trying to let her know about our negative experience but all she did was argue and make excuses! Not once did she apologize! After I mentioned to her that we were the customers and I didn’t know why she was acting like this towards us, she hastily snatched the check, said “we’ll just pay your check” and walked away.

I was so shocked and so were others around that were listening to this entire debacle with frustrated and rude managers and waitresses. Staff temper tantrums don’t work in the restaurant industry! I was completely embarrassed and felt humiliated.

Whoever owns this restaurant needs to train their staff to be more kind and customer service oriented.

Needless to say, I will never go back to this restaurant. This is only because of the experience we had and the mediocre food. Apparently everyone’s experience there is different and not consistent. There was not one time anyone said,...

I'm excited to find this place, I actually lived there in 2004 and somehow did not know it was there. Went back to visit and needed a place to eat some gumbo , was referred by a friend, now it is my go-to place. At first, the service was a little questionable, but all was soon forgotten when the food arrived. For the appetizer, we tried the Boudin egg rolls with a homemade hot jelly, I should have just ordered that as my meal. My wife had a crawfish pasta, which she loved, and she is not a big crawfish eater. My friend had the breakfast bowl which he had had before and loved it. I had the Crawfish pepper jack soup as an appetizer, it had a very unique flavor pleasant but not overbearing I also had a bowl of gumbo, now I am a Georgia Boy who spent a great deal of time living in Louisiana and I consider myself a food connoisseur. the one thing I've learned about a good gumbo that fits my taste is that I want to taste a little bit of that roux, not just seasoning. I like it a little strong, where you have to ask for a little extra rice or potato salad. The gumbo was perfect. To finish the meal, we had the bread pudding like Mama made it, minus the raisins with a phenomenal rum sauce. My wife had the peach cobbler with ice cream, I'm used to a doughy cobbler, but this was more of a softer breading, and it was unbelievable. I have to stop now. My mouth is watering, and I can't get back down there to Bayou Country for...

"Nothing to see here, move along please".

Okay now that the croud has moved on, I can tell you:. this place is a true gem. Great service, attentive waitresses, everything we eat here is fantastic. This time we started out with their Crawfish soup, which always leaves you wanting more. Then we ordered the Crab Cake Appetizer and the Blackened Snapper covered in Crawfish Sauce. Six larger-than-golfball sized Crabcakes which were lightly crunchy on the outside and densely chewy and bursting with crabby goodness inside. The Blackened Fish was equally mezmorizing, cooked to a light flaky perfection and swimming in a sauce that coulda maka you cry. Still reeling from all this Spahrry goodness, I am now trying to devise a way I can stow away in the ceiling in the back of their establishment somehow until after hours, then make my way into their Kitchen. There I can eat my way into oblivion, laying on my back on one of their nice clean tables while I feed myself twenty of those Crab Cakes like a hungry sea otter on shore leave. ...