Cajun Kitchen Cafe — Restaurant in Ventura

On Monday January 16th at around 9:00 am, my wife and I went to have breakfast at Cajun Kitchen. Unfortunately, during our visit our server (Tatiana V.) did not provide us with good service and got confused/a bit aggressive in tone on how we wanted to order our regular meal. In the past, our server never had any trouble understanding how we wanted our meal, as it is a pretty standard split plate. She actively avoided and ignored our table even though the restaurant was fairly vacant & we were not finished with our orders. As she was walking away the first time, we politely attempted to grab her attention again and tell her that we would like to order more only to be met with unpleasant service. When she brought our food she said that the kitchen staff “didn’t understand how we wanted it” and made us feel the kitchen staff were not understanding, but that we were being difficult with our relatively simple order. I believe she lacked communication with the kitchen as well as us and was taking this out on us. She never went back to check on us after she quite frankly dropped the plates of food on the table except to bring a to go box and a bag along with the check while we were still eating, insinuating we were to leave soon or rush us out of the not busy restaurant. At the end of our meal, she didn’t ask if we wanted anything else or if our orders were correct. The food was fine at no fault of the kitchen staff, but her service was terrible and we didn’t feel welcome and she put this blame on the kitchen staff harshly. In fact, more attention was given to us by the busboy and another server who were being extremely attentive to us l, more so than her. This experience made us not enjoy our breakfast and is upsetting because we are locals and frequently visit Cajun. We are even more upset at this because she was serving the table right next to us properly and being polite to them, this may be due to our accents, but is no reason to treat guests or anyone as less than. This has been the only time that the server didn’t understand us and it made us feel discriminated...

My husband did a staycation to Ventura. We stopped for breakfast here at the Cajun Kitchen Cafe. It was a nice day so we sat outside. The staff was friendly and everything on the menu sounded delish. The cornbread was good.

My husband ordered Seafood Gumbo. I ordered Shrimp and Grits w/Andouille Sausage and Eggs. I am Creole, so I know my Gumbo and Shrimp and Grits.

Let's start with the Gumbo. Thr roux was a nice color, which I could see from the spillage from thre bowl on the plate. However, they did not soak up the grease from the top of the bowl, so there was that orange color from the grease on top. There was okra, shrimp, catfish and I think trout in the Gumbo. You could barely taste or see the okra, too finely chopped. The taste was a bit bland with a tiny bit of a kick to it. It was very soupy and hardly any rice. My husband did not finish the Gumbo. He took maybe 6 spoons and was done.

I am aware everyone makes their Gumbo different, but everyone knows you gotta soak up that oil before you serve. On to the Shrimp and Grits w/Andouille Sausage. BLAND, BLAND, BLAND.

The grits weren't salted even a little bit. The cheese was not mixed in with grits, it's was shredded cheese placed on top, then melted. The oil from the cheese was settled around the rim of my bowl, the sausage are not spicy either. I could not add enough salt. We all know Grits need salt. I was a bit disappointed, but I ate it.

I understand there are dietary restrictions for some folk, but if you are eating at a cajun/creole restaurant there should be some sort of flavor to the food. Shoot, put Creole Seasoning on the tables or in the food when cooking.

I do recommend this place, just know to bring some seasoning...

Outstanding service, great food, dog friendly!

The green chilaquiles (there is also a red version), reminded me of the traditional home style Mexican dish but with a delicious New Orleans, Cajun flavor twist of spicy from the hot sausage. The dish comes with sour cream and freshly cut avocado, for those who enjoy mixing for a more tame kick of spice. But really, it was the hot sausage containing most of the heat. The portion is perfect, not too too much and too little. Very fair price ($16) for the dish (and for the rest of the menu items). Rica and Ramón were very attentive and friendly, frequently asking if we needed anything.

The patio was clean and comfortable. Perfect since we had our little Lola accompanying us for lunch.

My friend ordered guevos rancheros and said they were hearty, flavorful and overall, very good.

Highly recommend...