Dodie’s Reef

Dodie’s Reef turned out to be better than expected. Previous experiences at other Dodie’s were not all that great and we came for the food and not the bar scene. Surprise! There was a pleasant ambiance in one of their intimate booths. Our waitress was wonderful, gave us ample time and helped us with questions about substitutions. I had the fried oyster po’ boy which was perfect. Numerous perfectly cooked oysters on a delicious baguette with a lovely aoli and tartar sauce on the side. You can get it loaded with veggie toppings or however you want it. Great sandwich at a modest price. My husband had the huge jambalaya portion and thought it had a nice Cajun flavor; but felt it was way too much rice and a little dry. Dodie’s fried okra seems to be house made and was scrumptious. They have good French fries, too. They have their own take on slaw. My spouse is a creamy slaw lover, so he didn’t like it as much as I did; but I found it refreshing, tasty and a nice side option.

I give this location 5 stars for the friendly bartenders (Sam & Kady) and the blackened shrimp and crawfish nachos. The cold bud light is a plus as well :)

A friend and I hit the town without a plan… And I’m not the Fly by the seat of your pants type of gal… For this very reason! We found ourselves at dodies at 9pm hungry! I will say the 3^rd floor outside patio is pretty! And would be a good place to drink!
We ordered a few beers and it seemed like they took forever to come! For dinner we ordered crawfish and Fried Green tomatoes. The crawfish were tiny (not their fault) and actually had a pretty good flavor! The Fried green tomatoes were OK too… Back to the service we had to track down the server for another round of beers! When the tab came my friend wouldn’t let me pay… So no clue how much the crawfish were going for!
Over all I won’t be back much better places around town for Cajun food.

We were here on a Saturday night, and there was no parking! Luckily, after circling around, we found a spot. FYI, there’s hardly and street parking, and you will have to valet on busy days. The atmosphere was great! They had live music which was very entertaining.
We ordered the sampler platter with alligator, stuffed jalepenos, fried pickles/​mushrooms. Everything was tasty and flavorful. My problem was that it was an appetizer and they brought it out at the same as the crawfish. We were starving and it would have been nice to munch on it before the main dish came. Secondly, you have the option of having the stuffed jalepenos grilled or fried which the waiters didn’t ask. We didn’t realize that until the order was placed.
We ordered 4 pounds of crawfish each were different flavors, but I couldn’t even tell the difference. I was so disappointed with the crawfish because about a pound total were dead (meaning they died before they cooked). Dead crawfish are mush and they have a strong pungent flavor that leaves a nasty aftertaste in the mouth. I could tell that they probably weren’t clean either because we had some grass in our crawfish. If they were properly cleaned, the dead ones wouldn’t have been taken out and there would be grass! I wouldn’t eat here again.

The only reason I gave two stars is because of the rooftop patio.
Service– The worst I’ve had in a very long time. This waitress clearly knew what she was doing just didn’t care. First she was rude when taking our drink order, I’m assuming because we didn’t order alcohol. When I ordered a sweet tea and he ordered a Sprite she stared at us for a minute and said… ok…well are y’all gonna order food?
Then brought me an unsweetened tea, his Sprite and one menu. It takes her forever to come back so once she does we order both our appetizer and our entrée. Mistake because we get our appetizer about five minutes after our entrée which took almost thirty minutes itself. Then she comes to check on us once grabs his Sprite to refill and we also ask for the check, her response is well are you paying card or cash? I can tell you how much it is… I have to go down stairs. We didn’t even understand what she was trying to convey to us. She brings the receipt but never the refill. We leave the cash for the bill and as we are leaving she literally yells out across the patio, um did y’all pay your tab?! Just wow.
Food was mediocre and over cooked. Tables were cheap and wobbly which is extremely annoying when you’re trying to eat crappy food with crappy service.
Maybe we should have just ordered alcohol.

The atmosphere was nice, but the food was average at best. I had the crawfish Po’ boy blackened and asparagus. The asparagus was really good but the sandwich lacked crawfish. It was basically a lettuce and pickle sandwich with maybe 3 crawfish tails diced up on it.

Great, friendly service.
And delicious cajun pasta.
A small bowl of coleslaw was served beforehand. I was thinking I would be getting something that resembled and tasted like KFC slaw for some reason, but the slaw was FANTASTIC! Big chunks of cabbage with a spicy slaw vinegar dressing coating the veggies. I would go back just for a huge bowl of that cajun coleslaw!

I absolutely love the food here. I’m a huge Cajun/​Creole/​Louisiana style food junkie so this is perfect for me. The crew and I can here for my birthday some years ago just to try the charbroiled oysters and every sense has been a staple for us. Every item that I’ve ever gotten was delicious and I can’t say enough about Who Dat salmon. It’s especially nice to sit in the roof top on and enjoy dinner and drinks with your family and friends. There are plenty of TV’s to watch your favorite game and of course there is plenty of libations flowing to keep the party going. Pretty much my go to spot if I can’t decide what to eat. «There’s always Dodie’s».

I’ll start out by saying I’m a foodie and love to try new places. Went here for the first time today and boy do I regret I wasted my $ 46. Tried the boudin appetizer, did not like it at all. It had no taste, then tried the ya ya gumbo, that was even worse. To make a long story short, I don’t know how this place is still in business. I’ve had a stomach ache since I ate there today. Please don’t waste your time here.

3 stars only because it’s a Saints bar. New management? What’s with the shit service? Sit for 10 minutes until someone I flagged down comes over and says «yeah? Well what do you want?» Fire these losers. Please don’t fuck up my Saints bar.

New Owner– it’s not Dodie’s anymore and it was completely disgusting.
Appetizers:
Fried pickles– Salted. Pickles are already salty. No need to add more salt.
Calamari: best thing we had. Still over salted.
Seafood gumbo: no seafood.
Crawfish étouffée: tasted like a can of tomato paste. Tomato paste in étouffée is for color. Not flavor.
Jambalaya: baby food. Rice was so over cooked we were able to mash it into a paste. Again, tasted like a can of tomato paste. Jambalaya should never have tomato paste in it.
Mushroom crab balls: we cut into it and it farted the smell of a rotten vagina. I still have the taste of bad crab in my mouth and I only took one bite.
We’ve been eating here for years. Have never had a bad experience. Will not be back again under new ownership. This is not Cajun food. Horrible!
Back at home eating Tums and trying to drink the rotten crab away. Somebody come over and make us some mind eraser shots.

This place definitely would be described as a dive. After eating here both my wife and I had digestive issue that lasted two to three days. Enter at your own risk, you have been warned!

Great food if you’re NOT going for something by the pound. Ordered 2lbs of crawfish and some of them were the size of my pinky knuckle-​not worth it, plus the prices are higher than other crawfish joints. Crab stuffed mushrooms are great. DO NOT do carry out-​we did and they forgot half our order. Not recommended unless it’s for sit down seafood not by the pound.

Another great Doddie’s experience. Loved the completely weird music play list, from Southern Rock, to 80s, to Top 40 Pop.
Only thing to improve, please de-​vein the shrimp. Ick. I got the nachos, and while a great dish, that is a major short coming. I expect it at a non-​seafood restaurant, but not at Doddie’s.

I have eaten here twice. The food is consistently good however the service is consistently bad unless you are sitting at the bar. It’s not fun chasing down your server for every little thing you need. No smiles or thank you even with the 100% tip that I left. My service is obviously better than theirs.
I love Cajun food so if anyone can recommend some better choices I would love to hear them

Miniature Crawfish.
My wife and I saw a report on the local news about a booming crawfish season. We love crawfish. I was excited to go out to dine on our favorite shellfish. We called around and searched the web and ended up here at Dodies. At $ 10.00 per pound, I was expecting some good mudbugs. These were tiny, over cooked and just plain bland. Not the value I was expecting. MY suggestion, Don’t bother.

I definitely appreciate the cajun-​themed café, since there are not too many around these parts. Walking in the door, the décor was alot of fun and the rooftop was pretty awesome. Came for dinner and the food was solid, but nothing too amazing. The gumbo was a little loose and the etouffe was a little bland. I say this probably, because I came here AFTER a trip to New Orleans… but I’ll digress.
The drinks were just alright, nothing spectacular and a little watery, but the ambiance and awesome servers makes this place, a worthwhile stop if you’re in the area.

My first visit here was a while back on a Red River Shootout weekend. The rooftop was nice for chillaxing, and maybe dancing after a few drinks. A few year later, I came here for food and don’t remember what I ate. I’m sure it wasn’t good, that’s why it escaped my memory. Then a few days ago, I came back because I was told Dodie’s make good chargrilled oysters. Nope. Their chargrilled oysters were bland and small. I felt really greasy eating it. The scallops wrapped in bacon was even worst. It didn’t taste good and the plate was filled with tons of oil. I wish it was olive oil, but I doubt it. The bread was so hard, and it seemed like they are old bread. Gosh! What a waste of my cheat meal. I feel so gross just think about how greasy the food was.
Dodie’s must be popular around this part of town, because there are 2 Dodie’s on Lower Greenville. This particular one has 3 floors and a huge bar on the first floor. The rooftop has a small bar, and it’s mainly for people to chill and smoke. They have DJs on the weekend. The rooftop is cool though (except for the smoking part). Would totally just chill there with some drinks, and pass on the food.

Yay for rooftop bars! This Cajun eatery is nestled in the hustle and bustle of Lower Greenville and does the Spring justice on any warm breezy weekend.
We found ourselves here after celebrating National Margarita Day at Blue Goose Cantina next door. The service was pretty great, especially considering how energetic our group was. We feasted on appetizers mostly, but I still got an overall feel for this Big Easy style restaurant. Between several plates, it was clear that the spicy crawfish and well-​seasoned fried alligator were menu winners. And while the food satisfied my craving, it was the ambiance that took the cake. It’s a bar/​restaurant that’s perfect for outdoor dining and live entertainment downstairs.

My first review as a Unilocal Elite! =]
It’s my first time here and I’m so glad my friend introduced me to this place. Most Cajun places are boring but I really like this place. I have my few favorite places for seafood so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get shrimp or crawfish stuff but we asked the waitress and she recommended the pasta Monica and the trio. It was for lunch and we were full from our entrees.
It was really flavorful and they did a better job with the pasta than any other Italian restaurants like Olive Garden. It came with a big portion side salad, all at a reasonable price! I would love to come back to try other things here.