This is a tough review for me to write. I'm a huge fan of the Wintzell's in Mobile AL. I've been there several times. Maybe it's like going to a reggae bar and drinking Red Stripe in Nebraska, it's just not the same as if you were on the beach in Jamaica. The place itself is cool and has the same decor and vibe. The menu is mostly the same but there are some notable differences. There are some cajun specialties left off the Pittsburgh menu. The service was very good but we were the only table there at noon on Monday.
I ordered the fried green tomatoes. They were delicious but the crawfish sauce wasn't the same. It just wasn't as good. It didn't look the same and it didn't taste the same. I don't want to know why. Next came the red beans and rice with sausage and chicken, house salad starter. It was absolutely inedible. It was buried in blackened spices and salt and you couldn't taste anything else. The chicken was pretty good. Red beans are simple. Trinity, beans, tasso and maybe a little bit of cajun seasonings but really the tasso should do it. You serve this with some sausage or even better a pork chop and I am ready! I haven't ordered this in Mobile so maybe that's the way they make it there but I seriously doubt it. I've eaten this dish countless times and this wasn't it by any stretch of the imagination. I sent it back.
I ordered 1/2 and 1/2 oysters and fish with hush puppies and slaw. The oysters were excellent and the saving grace of this review. Crispy, not greasy, delicious with their house sauce and Tobasco. The fish was ok. Maybe a little soggy greasy but not bad. The slaw was good. It was ok overall. I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been so disappointed with the beans.
I'm not a big fan of chains. You can't really replicate them unless you make some compromises along the way. A restaurant is only as good as it's team as well and great food is in the details. I would try it again.