THE CAJUN BOIL & BAR — Restaurant in Torrington

9/23 - Cajun Boil has added live music nights to their schedule on Fridays and Saturdays. Seeing Timmy Maia on the list, we made sure to attend. Great performance as always.

The fried calamari had a nice crisp to the coating but was chewy. From the Mexican menu, the grilled steak hard taco was also chewy so a clean bite could not be made. The lobster soft taco had real lobster but was not detectable with the sauce on top. The shrimp fajitas were flavorful but the tails were left on. After we both swallowed one or two building them in the dark, we cut the tails off, but this left us done for the night. Our tall drinks had light pours. We ordered two dry martinis that had good pours.

7/23 - Revisiting since spring '22 for their karaoke night, we were surprised by changes in the menu items. Originally billed in local press as a fusion restaurant, run by a Chef who is Asian and grew up in New Orleans, the one-sided dinner menu consisted of 2 choices: boiled in the bag shellfish with flavor options & fried baskets including gator.

Notable to us now is that the other side of the menu consists of Mexican food. Perhaps the owner thought this would increase his customer base or a new partner or Chef in the kitchen made this change. Hamburgers have been added, too.

Working on a top ten chicken wing list, Cajun Boil was on it until this new outing. Not sure what changed - sometimes there's a new Chef, a recipe change to cut costs or a new style. Biting into them, our friend and I both noticed the flesh had a yellow color to it. He said, I've never had a yellow chicken wing before. Maybe it's some kind of marinade. If saffron, even though it goes a long way, would be too expensive. Turmeric? Possibly. There was no flavor element if so. The original wings we had came with a fine coating - panko? Whatever they use now is heavy and thick and covers a palid piece of skin. But at $5.00 for 8 wings, what can you expect?

On the upside, I had an absolutely delicious bowl of clam chowder, and a few of my companion's all-you-can-eat shrimp order for $25. bucks. The shrimp comes with 8 choices. We did not try the sauteed, fried or buffalo, but enjoyed the boiled in the bag and cocktail versions.

An appetizer of grilled oysters was very small in size. Special drinks were okay. Karaoke was well timed for singers.

Visiting a friend opening a restaurant next door, we walked over to The Cajun Boil for a unique experience. Empty of customers aside from us, we loved the big space and design. The booth had surprisingly low bench seats.

Beer and wine only license now. Ordering two white wines at $8.00 each, served in small plastic glasses, I suggested if they're going to sell customers wine for this amount in this "glass," they should not expect to sell much wine. She said people tell her this but it's a true pour. We agreed this was 2 oz of wine and there are many places with better pours. For $16.00, we could have brought in a nice bottle. Consider a corkage fee.

The best thing about our meal were the wings. Unbelievable. Fried like no other, they were incredibly crispy with no hint of oil, cooked perfectly yet moist and lush, flavorful and a decent size. When asked, in some monosyllabic word we said they were great busy devouring them. Fried shrimp rolls were no different from a Chinese place.

For dinner, the menu promotes a steamed in the bag combination of a choice of shellfish or a fried basket.

Staff told us the Chef learned to cook in-the-bag meals in New Orleans where this is common. I've been there. My partner's been there. Friends have been there. None of us remember this cooking style. Nevertheless, the two lobster tail dinners with garlic butter & Old Bay seasoning, medium, were very tasty. Really messy to eat, especially since they only provide plastic forks and knives and no dishes.

Two people had fried basket dinners which looked easier to enjoy. Our wait staff got it right when she said some customers don't want to eat out of a plastic bag. Understandable.

The lunch menu offers a variety of tacos...

I would give this place zero stars if I could. Walked in and no hostess. Waitress yelled from the bar that we could just sit anywhere we wanted. So we sat at the first table and quickly had to move. The seats were so low to the ground, my knees were up to my chin. Imagine taking a truck bench seat out of the vehicle and putting it on the floor. Ok.... so we move to a table with chairs, fine. I understand that most restaurants have a lounge or bar and that is fine but they usually keep the areas separated. I was with my kids so naturally we sat in the restaurant side. Next thing I know they were setting up a stage for trivia night right in front of my table in the restaurant section. Who goes to a restaurant for trivia night? You need to pick a lane, if you want to be a bar be a bar. If you want to have a restaurant, keep the two separated! Confusing..... Anyway onto the disgusting food. The calamari was completely over cooked and was like chewing on rubber bands. My wife tried to order the taco special but because she wanted a specific beef taco on their menu, which for some reason wasn't part of the special, we had to pay extra. OK fine, I don't mind paying extra for something if she wants it, I'm not cheap. She took one bite of it and spit it out. Asked her what the problem was and she told me to try it which of course I did thinking it can't be that bad. I had the same reaction, took one bite and immediately spit it out. It was the most vile flavored steak taco I have ever eaten. It was loaded with grease and not sure what it was seasoned with but it had an allspice/clove flavor. I think the chef mixed up his spices on that one or maybe never actually tried his own food because NO ONE would enjoy this. Tried a bite of her chicken taco. The chicken was so cold, I swear it went right from the fridge into her taco. I understand prep but you could have warmed it up a bit. My daughter did eat her cheese quesadilla but how hard is it to melt cheese in a soft shell? I'm not giving any props for that! Lastly my son refused to eat his chicken nuggets. When I asked why he said they tasted like oil. I picked one up and gave it a slight squeeze and watched, in disgust, as the oil from the fryer covered my fingers. One and done. Will never set foot in this place again. My advice to the owner is turn it into a bar full time or get a new chef, otherwise you're...

Hi Everyone I'd like to share my experience on 2/14/23. I arrived with my girlfriend and when we entered the one waitress they had asked if we had a reservation. I looked around and there were many tables/booth available. I had asked did we need reservation?

The Response I got from the waitress was a laugh and then a yes and her attitude. I responded with if it's a problem we can leave.

Eventually we were given a booth. We placed two app orders one for chips and salsa, chips and guacamole. It took over 35 mins to get them but only after me approaching the one waitress to see when would we be getting them.

The one waitress, with her attitude, replied with there many orders before yours and it may seem simple to get your appetizers but its not. We eventually got the two appetizers.

My girlfriend and I were shocked on the kid size portions. Just image a small bowl and then cut it in half. That's the size of the chips we received. They have the audacity to charge $4 for one app and $6 for the other. We had placed our meal orders when we placed our appetizers. We had waited over 1 1/2 hrs for our meals and still nothing. I can't commit on portion sizes but the prices are truly super high. If you go be ready to spend money. In the time we waited we only saw one couple received a meal. I called over a gentleman/possible owner and asked him to cancel our meals. I offered to pay for the apps we ordered and he said don't worry about it.

There are many red flags, from the attitude waitress, to the delay in food, to the small portion, to the high prices that we will not be going back and I don't see them staying in business to long.

We went somewhere else where the chips and salsa were actually complimentary and had great meals. A great end to a not so...