Boudreaux’s

In reading through the reviews for Boudreaux’s, I can understand the mixed reviews. There are some definite pros and cons for this downtown Blacksburg spot. There are many things about Boudreaux’s that I absolutely love, while others I could leave.
I have to say I love the brunch. This is my go-​to Blacksburg spot for brunch. You do need to keep in mind that you only get what the menu lists. For example, the omelet is just an omelet. If you want fruit or hashbrowns, you need to get an extra side dish. I can see why that may be off-​putting to many people, and I do wish some of their brunch entrees came with a side, but for the most part the cost isn’t so bad that you can’t add an extra dollar or two for a side if you want it. The Bloody Mary’s are the best I have ever had. The perfect blend of spices. I seriously would go just for the Bloody Marys.
Take advantage of the brunch specials if they are available. One time they had a Stuffed French Toast, and it was probably one of the best brunch items I have ever had: two thick pieces of French toast with a strawberry cream cheese in the middle. So simple but seriously delicious.
The roof top bar is amazing. You get a perfect view of Downtown Blacksburg. These are the prime seats and they go fast, especially in good weather.
And of course, get the Gator Bites. Its always a must have for us.
Now, where Boudreaux’s starts to lose some of its luster for me is at dinner, but I have learned its all in what you get. To me, I think many of their meals are over priced for what you get and in many cases I wasn’t a huge fan of the dish. For example, most recently my husband and I each got a bowl of soup and then split an entrée. For soups, he got the Gumbo YaYa, which he said was good but was lacking any andoullie sausage, and I got the Shrimp Gumbo, which I loved. It was the perfect level of spice, and honestly, with the rice (and the Gator Bite app) probably enough for me for dinner. We then decided to split the Chicken Creole, which was something new for us, and while it was OK, we both weren’t huge fans. I think we were expecting it to be a bit spicy but it was actually sweet. That is fine, just our misunderstanding of the dish, but overall it cost $ 17 and it was mostly rice and sauce. Seemed very expensive to me. I think you are better off sticking with the gumbos and sandwiches. You can’t go wrong with their Po’Boys.
The waiters and waitresses are always really nice here, and very attentive.

I had much higher expectations for Boudreaux’s. Their menu items look exciting, but are hugely overpriced for the quality. I paid nearly $ 17 for a bland plate of rice, corn and gravy. This is a common problem in Blacksburg, restaurants overcharge for sub-​par food, but Boudreaux’s has been the worst so far.

Dined here once with my girlfriend at the rooftop area. It was pretty decent, a little pricey but the portions were huge. Food and service could be a bit better but overall not too bad.

Great service at the front of house but the kitchen has significant issues. Took an hour and 20 minutes to get food, half of which came out cold. Server did a great job covering for them but at the end of the day, nothing was apologized for and there was no reason offered on why we should return. Avoid this place for now until they get the kitchen straightened out.

Sat at the bar on the rooftop! Great atmosphere. Awesome bartenders. Very welcoming! Jerk Chicken app is delish! Highly recommend.

Very good! We were there visiting our nephew, didn’t know the first thing about any of the restaurants. London underground was closed, so wandered in here and was glad we did! Shared a jerk chicken appetizer, flavorful and not *too* hot, and i had the seafood gumbo which was good too. Scratched my seafood itch. It was actually better food than we had in New Orleans when we went there.

Well I will say my drink wasn’t bad. However, the gumbo ya ya that I had was cold. My boyfriend ordered the Cajun popcorn crawfish appetizer and the gator bites appetizer. Later that night he had food poisoning. We most certainly will not be back. Too expensive for pretty much nothing.

Tonight, two colleagues and I stopped by Bourdreaux’s for a few after work drinks. Given the nice summer day, the rooftop deck was a welcoming location. Shortly after we were seated our waitress (who shall remain unnamed because she was courteous and helpful) arrived. One colleague and I ordered caipirinhas (which aren’t discussed below as they were passable and tasted like one would expect). The other colleague decided on a Maker’s Mark Mint Julep, which is offered on the menu.
After the drinks arrived, we immediately noticed that something was visually wrong with the mint julep — it was almost as clear as a vodka tonic. After tasting the julep, we discovered it was also carbonated and tasted suspiciously like Sprite. Not wanting to make a scene, my colleague asked her companion and myself whether we thought the drink lacked «something.» After tasting it, all three of us agreed that it was short (i.e. not enough bourbon to even make it appear tan in color) and more importantly (for this story), it was carbonated (with a strong hint of Sprite). After noting our concerns to the waitress and politely returning the drink, mentioning we weren’t pleased with it, the waitress indicated it had «seltzer» water in it. No harm no foul. My colleague ordered a different drink.
When we paid the tab, however, we noticed the mint julep had not been removed. Our waitress indicated that despite our dissatisfaction, the manager had denied her request to remove it from the tab. My colleague went to discuss this issue with the manager, Charles, who stated that he wasn’t removing the drink because he watched the waitress prepare the drink and the preparation was «fine».
This brings me to the focal point of this review. There is no universe in which a traditional mint julep recipe includes carbonation. Moreover, even if the house recipe did call for such an aberration to the traditional recipe and failed to note it on the menu, decency and common courtesy would suggest that an unsuspecting patron who did order such a drink and was disappointed with the outcome, should at least be given the courtesy of removing the almost untouched (and returned) drink from the tab.
We’re not unreasonable people. We didn’t demand «crushed ice», the traditional four mint leaves, or a chilled metal julep glass. Moreover, we weren’t rude (in all fairness, we weren’t accused of being rude).
Therefore, recognizing that this a «teachable» moment, I thought I might provide Manager Charles with some reference material regarding the classic Mint Julep recipe, ingredients, and preparation. That way, he won’t embarrass himself again by referring to a carbonated (and under-​poured) concoction as finely made.
Even a cursory Google search reveals the primary ingredients and preparation of a Mint Julep as follows:
The mint julep is a mixed alcoholic drink, or cocktail, consisting primarily of bourbon, water, crushed or shaved ice, and fresh mint.
Main alcohol: Bourbon whiskey Ingredients: 1 teaspoon Powdered sugar, 2 oz. Bourbon whiskey, 2 teaspoons Water, 4 Mint leaves. (source, Wikipedia).
Hopefully Charles will be able to put this information to good use for other patrons, however, my colleagues and I will not be frequenting this establishment in the near future.

I’ve been here multiple times over the past 3 years and service is always slow and the food is always sub par. I do enjoy the «Cajun Mayeux» that seems to be on almost all the sandwiches and is paired with the gator bites. Also the rooftop bar is a great atmosphere to enjoy brunch or some drinks with friends. Overall though, I always leave slightly disappointed and have something to complain about. I really want to like it more which is why I’ve given it so many chances but I think I’ve finally given up. There’s too many better places close by

Their rooftop bar is among my favorite places in Blacksburg, and we frequently go to their Wine Wednesday (half price bottles). However, their food (outside of the huspuppies) has been consistently mediocre.
Last night, we went to Wine Wednesday hoping to sit outside. However, all the tables outside were full, so we agreed to wait and asked if we could drink wine downstairs in the meantime. They said yes, so we picked a table and were served. Then, they asked if we could move to the bar so that they could fill the tables with other customers, even though we had ordered wine and were paying customers. We had to close out a tab downstairs because they can’t connect both of their systems. Once we got upstairs, we just took an available table and were served. A friend ordered a cocktail and it took an hour for the waitress to get it to him. Overall, a bad time. I love Wine Wednesdays, but I’m not sure if I’ll be back after last night.

Delicious breakfast choices. Service is subpar. Still worth a try for all who haven’t been

I love this place for the ambiance and the people working there but I’m always pretty underwhelmed with my food. As someone who loves spicy food, I always expect to be wowed by the Cajun flavors here. However, if they didn’t have a great hot sauce selection, I would probably rarely eat here. I got a Cajun Po boy which was mostly bread and had no flavor. Their gumbo is decent but it’s not as spicy as I’d like. Best thing here is their brunch and their bloody Mary’s are the spiciest thing they’ve got!

Went in for brunch on the weekend knowing that they had a separate menu for the occasion. The menu items are definitely a little different from your average brunch menus, sticking true to the cajun cuisine that they are known for! I really like their take on ham in our ham egg and cheese croissant, and some of their dishes were very delicious as well.
The only complaints I had were that it seemed to take a few tries for the waitress to get our order correct. Keep in mind we weren’t exactly asking for anything special or out of the ordinary, but we had to ask for a few changes to what was brought out because it wasn’t what we had originally ordered. The service wasn’t exactly what I would consider timely either, and it wasn’t a full house or anything that I can understandably see that would cause such a slow-​down. Anywho, definitely try the food at least once if not for brunch.

Slow service even when they weren’t busy. Food is average for the price you pay. Gator bites was disappointing. Seafood Gumbo and the Spinach and crawfish dip was decent/​good.

Don’t go here if you want a quick meal.
I’ve given Boudreauxs a few tries now. Every time, except once, it took forever for our food to get to us. This past weekend I went on a Friday morning, and apparently the kitchen is way too small for the amount of people they can seat. Our food took over 1 hour to come out to us, we were lucky we had absolutely no where to be. If you know your food is going to take so long at least bring me some free bread… The ladies next to us ordered soup and pancakes and bacon and it took about an hour, a little bit ridiculous if you ask me.
After being really patient the food finally arrived. If you go her, get the po’ boys. I got an oyster po’ boy and it was quite delicious. I ordered extra sauce and that was a good move. However, my mom was in the mood for a burger. She ordered one, and it looked pretty boring and over cooked.

I’ve given this place a try a few times and sadly have been more than disappointed each time. This might be one of the most expensive places in Blacksburg and unfortunately it doesn’t rival the flavor the food carries. When you spend $ 18 on a dish at lunch and leave half of it because it lacks authentic Cajun flavor there’s a problem here.
Let’s start with Gator Bites. Normally, gator bites are the size of half a Chicken McNugget, not comparable to M&M Peanuts like they were here. Also, the gator tasted like all batter and no meat. It was an embarrassment to anyone who’s eaten gator before.
The main dishes struggled. I had Crawfish Creole and am still wondering what I ate. It resembled nothing like the dishes I’ve been served in Louisiana, Texas and along the Gulf Coast, even at major chains like Copeland’s and Pappadeaux. I think someone dumped way too much pepper in the sauce and the crawfish tasted old, not fresh, or maybe freshly thawed.
My two friends ordered the etoufee, which came in a brownish sauce this time. Ironically, when I ordered it last year it was a red cream sauce. Maybe they changed their recipe, but it wasn’t for the better, unfortunately.
Sadly, this place has what appears to be a wonderful full Cajun menu, yet little of it seems to be Cajun or at least taste like it. And, what Cajun place doesn’t have a Louisiana hot sauce? Their «Hot Sauce Bar» was only Mexican hot sauce. On the bright side, the service was good and the casual atmosphere is inviting.

Fun place to decompress with some wine on a Wednesday night. Decent, if lackluster, food options. Slightly awkward atmosphere due to seating layout? Maybe I’m too sensitive to it, but (and it feels as weird to write this as it probably does to ear it…) I think it lacks Feng shui. Yeah, I went there. The black bean/​veggie burger is good; a bit spicy, not a wonky texture. Overall, not a bad option in Blacksburg, but Boudreaux’s would fall short when held to a higher standard.

Meh. That pretty much sums up my feelings about Boudreaux’s. The boyfriend and I wanted to try something new for his birthday dinner so he picked Boudreaux’s. I was so excited to go after looking at the menu online beforehand. I thought the N’awlins cuisine would be extremely appetizing and I was kicking myself for not having been to Boudreaux’s as an undergrad.
Fast forward to the actual experience. We loved the atmosphere and the menu options. We got calamari as an app and it had absolutely NO flavor. It was the darndest thing! After that we were admittedly discouraged about this restaurant. He ordered the pork chop with mashed potatoes and I ordered the shrimp e’touffe. While I thought his dish was pretty good he wasn’t impressed with it. The mashed potatoes were definitely good though. However, I didn’t like anything about my shrimp e’touffee. It, like the calamari, had absolutely no flavor. I never do this but I politely told the waitress that I didn’t like my dish and asked for the shrimp po’boy instead. The e’touffee was $ 17 and I didn’t want to spend so much money on something that I just didn’t like.
The saving grace of this experience was the shrimp po’boy. It was so good! The potato salad that it came with was fabulous! Who knew something so simple could (slightly) save a restaurant experience. Would I ever go here for dinner again? No. Would I order takeout for that sammich and potato salad? Absolutely.

Not bad for a college town restaurant/​bar. The oyster po boy was tasty, with huge, plump, perfectly-​breaded oysters, and a good supply of them. I wish the sandwich was a tad saucier, but it was still quite filling and tasty.
Tom N got the mufaletta and said it was good, but not wow. He also mentioned that being hungrier than usual may have made the mufaletta more appealing than it would be on a less empty stomach. The fries that came with his sandwich were praiseworthy, well-​seasoned.
I enjoyed my dish and the potato salad that accompanied it. There isn’t as much in this college town’s main strip of dining and shopping than some other college towns so you’re a bit limited, but Boudreaux’s is an okay to good choice if you’re passing through/​visiting Tech.
With the friendly service and mostly good food, I’d give this place 3.5 stars.

Recently ate here again for a friends birthday. Waited an hour for the food with no apology from the waitress who also neglected to remove our appetizer plates.
Mediocre food, and terrible service.