Cajun King — Restaurant in Warr Acres

We went to Cajun King for two reasons. First reason was I was craving fried catfish and second because they serve beignets which I've never had and wanted to try.

I read some reviews and it seemed a good place to go. Our mistake may have been visiting between lunch and dinner at around 3 pm. I knew from the reviews that it was a buffet but didn't think that was any issue.

Unfortunately, it was an issue. They charge you as soon as you walk in the door which was a bit over $30 for the two of us with a drink. I was a bit put off initially by the cost considering the place was small, a little run down and the buffet was really small but it smelled good and we'd already paid up front.

They bring you your drinks at the table while you get a plate and load it at the buffet. First thing I noticed was the food was mislabeled on several of the dishes. Made it a little difficult to figure out what to get. Eventually I decided to just ignore the label and pick what looked best.

Here's where it went south. At least 1/3 of the trays were empty or had very little in it. The only "main protein" dishes (chicken, pork,fish, etc) that had more than a serving in it was the fried chicken. I tried one of the two remaining chunks of blackened pork chops only to find they had obviously been there a long time and were so dry they had shrunk. It wouldn't have been a big deal if they had refilled the pans when we, and others, came in but they didn't.

Several of the side dishes had a really nasty smoky funk to them making inedible. Tasted like someone left a pot of something unattended and it burned badly but they served it anyway or that a pot that had just burned something badly and was reused without cleaning. Several of the items had the same funkiness so I don't know what happened. It was strong enough though that you could smell it once you got back to the table.

As I said the fried chicken was the only thing available in abundance. It, unfortunately, was pretty bland at best. The crust had no real flavor but was at least cooked well. One of my main missions for this trip was fried catfish. Ever since Catfish and Steak Barn closed down finding good fried catfish in OKC has been impossible. At Cajun King they bring you small plates of catfish tableside instead of serving it on the buffet. It comes with about 6 or 8 small catfish and a little cup of some kind of dip. It was far too sweet for me but it obviously appeals to others according to reviews. The fish was breaded in the same bland type of coating the fried chicken had. It was extremely hot, as in fresh out of the fryer, but the meat itself was sort of squishy instead of the normal firm flakiness it should be. I have no idea why. I've never cooked catfish that did that before.

The other main reason we chose Cajun King was because they also serve beignets tableside as they do their catfish. While we were there we overheard some other diners asking for beignets and being told they were out.

I get it, things happen but this whole meal was a mess. It was obvious that they weren't refilling the buffet in between lunch and dinner but still charging customers the full price. Let's look at the list - 1. Several of the items I tried off the buffet were tainted with that awful, funky, smelly burnt flavor. 2. Several of the things on the buffet were misidentified. 3. Most of the things on the buffet had obviously been sitting there all afternoon and were in rough shape. 4. Several of the buffet pans were empty or had only a very small amount of food in them. 5. The only "main protein" on the buffet that was stocked and fresh was the fried chicken.

Overall it was huge disappointment and we definitely won't ever return. Nor would I recommend it to anyone else. Prior to visiting the reviews seemed positive overall so if choose to try this place I would highly recommend visiting close to peak lunch or dinner hours when I suspect the buffet is better managed. Reviews seem to indicate it's much better during...

As always, the food at Cajun King does not disappoint. This was, however, my first visit that they did not have a buffet, and instead had a menu from which you could order. The pros were you wouldn’t eat so much that you had to roll yourself out with a wheelchair & the food was cooked fresh and hot to order. The downside was that you couldn’t just try a little bit of everything, in case it was your first visit to this restaurant. I was surprised that we were the only people eating at early dinner time and also that there appeared to only be one waitress and two people in the kitchen. In years past, the restaurant was almost standing room only. My guess is that when COVID-19 hit Oklahoma City, the buffet went away because of it . We still ordered our favorites, though..fresh fried catfish with their delicious sauce, jumbo fried 🍤, red beans 🫘 and rice, hush puppies, and sweet tea. And don’t forget about their absolutely DELICIOUS beignets!!It does make me a little sad that the beignets used to be included with your meal, and now you have to order them separately. But regardless, they are SO worth ordering them separately! If it weren’t for the risk of future angioplasty, I could probably live off of their fried catfish, beignets, and red beans & rice!!

The day that we visited, it was 105° outside. It was sweltering inside as well. I’m not sure if their air conditioning was down or wasn’t working very well, but they did have numerous oscillating fans blowing around the restaurant. That didn’t stop the ice in my glass from completely melting midway through our meal, however. I think the heat in the restaurant may have had an impact on the waitress a little bit perhaps. Don’t get me wrong… She was lukewarm friendly, and not rude at all, but there wasn’t that southern hospitality you might expect from a Cajun restaurant in the Midwest. All in all, though, I will keep coming back for the excellent food, even if the restaurant is warm, even if the hospitality isn’t all there. Because at the end of the day, this restaurant does serve the best Cajun food in...

I just finished eating here and I have to say, The food was rough. Everything was either dry, burnt, tough, slop (soups). I walk in and no staff was anywhere to be found up front. Waited to see if someone would come up front but no one noticed for about 10 mins till after I got food and sat down. (You have to pay before you get food $16.25). I tried to sample alittle of everything and apparently I got the scraps that were left of food even though they at most had 7 people in the place. I got to eat the last 3 frog legs and 4 pieces of shrimp. The frog legs were decent but the shrimp was rubber. The Alfredo sauce was watery and bland and the noodles were thin (angel hair). I was there for about an hour and a half killing time and as people walked in, they just kept wandering around looking for food that still hadn’t been replenished any of it except for the bread pudding finally. The bread pudding wasn’t bad but the sauce tasted a bit watery as well. The only major plus was the catfish I finally received after 2/3rds of my time I was there and it tasted light, crispy, fluffy, and flavorful. It was night and day with the catfish. Probably wouldn’t choose the honey sauce they pair with it but still it was good. It was as if some other restaurant chief made the catfish and they took it to serve to their customers. I could eat it all day but instead they give you only 6 pieces. Don’t bother hoping you get more though. I know the surrounding Chinese buffet places are cheaper, more verity, better quality, and keeps their dishes stocked when running out. Sorry but those are my thoughts. Didn’t have a conflict with the staff or anything like that. Just bad quality food. But if your hungry you’ll lower your standards and eat whatever....