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| - I know I just ate out yesterday, but whatev's, I have no shame. Somebody needs to explore all of these food establishments! I am taking one for the team! My cholesterol is good so bring on another fried oreo! Just kidding! My nutritionist is gonna be pissed.
So I've heard about the J Gumbo's located downtown and it's been on my list to try so imagine my excitement when I discovered there's a location down the road from my work! A couple co-workers and I headed on out for lunch. This place is located in the plaza behind Wendy's and the Shell gas station on Rockside road. It's a bit newer as I think it opened up December 2014 so inside is relatively nice with a bar and some neat artwork on the walls (that crab painting has a Van Gogh quality to it). I also liked how they were playing some music by Tab Benoit. The lady at the register was friendly and when we walked in she had just brought out a tray of little samples for the customers in front of us to try. That is awesome! I am always so indecisive so I think it's great when a place let's you try a couple things to help you make up your mind. You can't always just ask about the items because staff will typically say "Oh everything is good".
I decided to do a mix and get two entrees in one bowl for $8.95. Half was the Crawfish Étouffée and the other half the Bourbon Street Chicken (each bowl also comes with a piece of buttered French bread). One thing I need to mention is that when I asked for a cup for water I was given a regular sized cup! Not a tiny plastic baby cup! Thank you!! We were given plastic order number cards and sat down at a high top table where a staff member would bring out our dishes when ready. We didn't wait very long, maybe 5 minutes max. The food looks appealing and they definitely give you a decent sized portion that will fill you up. The flavors were great too. First bite of the thick/mushy étouffée and I was like "eh", but it grew on me and I really enjoyed the spiciness of it. Definitely made me drink a lot of water! I found there to be an adequate amount of sauce to cover all of my white rice, and although the crawfish meat was not overly abundant, there were some good chunks of it. The bourbon was on the mild side and had a sweet taste to it which I enjoyed. Lots of chicken in this dish. I think mixing the two really aided in making this meal so great because it then wasn't lacking in sauce or meat like other reviewers mentioned.
The only minor downside to our experience was that the food came out somewhat lukewarm, so my only suggestion would be to turn up temperature a little bit. Also, this isn't really a complaint, but I did notice we were just about the only women in the place. Lots of men; maybe they are more inclined to eat a heartier lunch than women?
After we were done with our meals, what appeared to be the owner or manager came over and took away our plates, graciously accepted our compliments about the food, and gave us $2 off coupons to share with our other co-workers. Overall we all enjoyed our meals and I would definitely come back!
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