Sal’s Gumbo Shack

So, I FINALLY made it to Sal’s Gumbo Shack on a Sunday. The restaurant is truly a «Shack» with a few inside seating tables, and an outside patio next to a church. We arrived before the lunch crowd and was welcomed with friendly smiles … very nice!
We ordered:
(1) Fried Pickles
Perfectly seasoned fried pickles served with a french/​mayo dipping sauce. Delish!
(2) Sal’s Louisiana Style Seafood Gumbo — Medium
A hearty and succulent delightful Gumbo with chicken, several sausages, shrimp and crab leg over rice. This was the BEST gumbo I’ve ever had. It had depth in seasoning and was an absolute delight. Delish!
(3) Shrimp Po ’ Boy Sandwich w/​Fries
I had to try their famous Shrimp Bo’ Boy sandwich which did not disappoint. There were plenty of lightly battered shrimp in a soft roll with a mayo based sauce, lettuce, & tomatoes. Those shrimps were a delight and the whole sandwich was wonderful!
(4) Three Piece Fried Chicken w/​Red Beans, Mac & Cheese & Corn Bread
Hubby devoured his hot meal. The wings served with his meal were HUGE and the breast and drumstick were also great! He said that everything was wonderful especially the wing! I had a taste of each of his entrée and agreed!
(5) Two Slices of Peach Cobbler
So fresh and tasty … a winner!
As we were dining, I believe the owner stopped by and asked us if everything was tasting fine. So welcoming and nice! I’ll definitely return to try their oxtail, fried okra and other entrée offerings.
A 5 Star dining experience!

Short and simple the chicken is Delicious. It’s literally the best chicken I’ve had in a long long time. so crispy, well seasoned Yum yum yum! The only complaint really would be is its a little pricey {I can’t make it my lunch spot daily} but the food is Great!

Hubby and I decided to go last min about 30 mons before closing time. Well, let me say the service was great even with a 20 min prep time for our food. I really was pleased with the lemonade we got and the lady mentioned it was the last of it. I must say for the last of it. It was the best lemonade ive had in years!!! Husband ordered wings which was perfectly seasoned and good flavor. I ordered the fried chicken combo with mac n cheese n rice n beans. The fried chicken was perfectly seasoned, tender, and crispy. The mac n cheese and rice n beans were just a bonus to the chicken. I will definitely be returning and i am happy we are very local. I appreciate the service as u guys were closing and didnt feel rushed out. I look forward to trying the rest of the stuff on the menu.
Gotta love hidden GEMS!!!

Sal’s Gumbo Shack is exactly as it’s named. Right on the corner of I forget what other street this establishment is on what I like to say the ‘Compton Side’ of The LBC. So if you’re the type to have a foochie face just because you decided to go here from the Unilocal reviews and wasn’t told of the hood then don’t bother coming here if you’re racially sensitive to the enviornment.
For those of you that don’t care, like me, once you find parking and brush away all the underaged prostitutes trying to solicit (I’m serious about that) as you make your way to the front door you’re ready for some dam good Gumbo. They have two sizes available and if you want to add more crab legs or shrimp that’s extra. They cut up one crab leg in half for the small. However the flavor is legit. They have chicken and other things on the menu but we only came for the GUMBO! Inside was a feel of being home and comfy with everyone down to earth. I will mos def come back. Thanks Sal’s Gumbo Shack for giving me another reason to stay fat with deliciousness!

Wow just wow! The beans and rice side were heavenly and so was the friend chicken! Was not a fan of the corn bread as it was cold when I got it but everything else was amazing!

I’d have to say this is one of the worse gumbo I have ever had. The gumbo I received was extremely thick. I think there was too much roux or flour or maybe something more interesting. Maybe it was a bad pot or an off day because it was very difficult to consume. For a place to call itself a gumbo shack, it was pretty horrible.
We also ordered the shrimp po’boy and that’s why there’s 2 stars. The po’boy was edible. Nothing special but it was good. I don’t know if I’d try them again because it was such a disappointing experience the first time.

I mean what can I say… This place is fabulous. The food is mouth watering home made. Everything on the menu is to die for.

Good spot. Only thing is, not everything is available everyday. But other than that, this place is just like walking into a family home. I’d come back. Oh… and that jambalaya tho… amazing.

Let me begin by saying, I’m a southern boi. However, I reside in southern CA. With the cold weather this fall season, I was craving some gumbo and never thought I would go beyond Lucille restaurant. Well, a co-​worker surprisingly brought me to Sal’s Gumbo Shack and we ordered the gumbo; it was delicious and full of meat as it should be. Also, the gumbo had flavor, bu not like the south. I was perfectly happy and excited about being introduced to this establishment.
The service was great and the cashier was friendly. It’s a small hole in the wall place, but those usually the BEST.
Happy to have experience Sal’s Gumbo Shack and I will be returning.
Happy Customer.

I had high expectations on the gumbo and was overall disappointed. If you been to New Orleans or had some good olé homemade gumbo you know what I’m talking about.
The soup had no kick or flavor (seasoning/​jucies). The amount of crab meat was small portions compare to their flyer. The service was great however I had better.

Once again I came, I tried, I’m done. I had been craving gumbo and finally ordered it today. Got home and was super disappointed. It was very thin and lacked flavor. Just like the bbq shrimp I ordered a while back, the entire top was a layer of grease. I’ve never had gumbo so greasy. I literally took my spoon and tried scooping out as much as I could. There was an abundance of chicken skin floating around. Yuck! There was more skin and gristle than chicken meat. The tiny cubes of sausage… I scooped every single piece of that fatty meat out. Blah!
I took home an order of fried pickles and peach cobbler as well. I like the fried pickles and was happy they weren’t as salty. My friend ate most of those. He took a few spoonfuls of the peach cobbler and liked it as well. I’ll determine that tomorrow when I’m not so full. Wish I could give more stars, but it’s not happening.

I came by for lunch last Saturday. When I arrived at 11:30 am it was pretty slow inside this hole in the wall type restaurant. You order at the counter and I went with the Remy shrimp po boy with fries for $ 13.99.
The Remy is a po boy that has extra shrimp on the 6″ bun and extra fries. I also got some of their home made ice tea. My tea had some black specks on the ice and I thought it was bad but then was told that was normal because of the way their boil the tea. It tasted good.
The food arrived about 10 minutes later. The po boy has a remoulade sauce on the shrimp
which is different than what I am used to. It was very good however. The po boy was stuffed with shrimp and tasted very good (4). The fries also were good seasoned well (3.5).
They also had seafood gumbo to try for another time. I think this is a good place for an informal good meal. Street parking only.

The inside décor is as if you were in New orleans for Mardi Gras, but it definitely has a homey feel to it. The service is superb and the food is made right after you order it. I ordered the Shrimp Po’ Boy sandwich and I could smell the shrimp being fried right after I had ordered. The batter on the shrimp is soooo good! I also enjoyed the sauce on it and they didn’t skimp out on the amount of shrimp. It is definitely one of the best Shrimp Po’ Boy, but the only thing was that i wished was that they added a tad bit more cabbage or lettuce in the sandwich to balance out the bread and batter, I felt as if it was too much dough. The Po’ Boy came with their homemade fries that were delicious, their seasoning on it is just too good!
My boyfriend ordered the medium size gumbo (24 oz.) and he said it’s one of the best gumbo he has had and he definitely enjoyed his huge crab leg that was in there. The medium is definitely a good serving size for two, he was super full eating it by himself. We will definitely be returning back to try some other items off the menu. I would definitely recommend Sal’s Gumbo Shack.

I finally had the chance to come by here after reading so many of my trusted yf’s positive reviews. Sal’s is located on Long Beach Blvd, about ½ a mile south of the 91 in LBC. In addition to gumbo, Sal’s offers jambalya, po’boys, and fried chicken.
We shared a small gumbo ($ 8.99) and a shrimp po’boy ($ 9.99 — inc fries). First of all, the gumbo was OK. It had a nice dark roux. However, the broth should have been thicker. It was lacking one common ingredient, okra, which is surprising because they offer fried okra. In addition, it was served in a styrofoam container on top of a plate. A better presentation would have been in a shallow bowl w/​a scoop of rice. Nonetheless, there was a lot of Andouille sausage and shrimp: 3 Stars. On the other hand, the shrimp po’boy was dank! It had a ton of shrimp, and the remoulade sauce tied it all together. The only downside was the fries could have been crispier: 5 Stars on the po boy, 3 Stars on the fries.
Regarding the ambiance, its a hole in the wall. It is located on a corner and seats about 20: 3 Stars. On the other hand, the service was really good. I believe the cashier (and owner) was super friendly and nice. In addition, the food came out quickly: 4 Stars.
Having been to N’Awlins a few times, I would say the food here is better than locally based Ritters. Now that I know where Sal’s is, and how convenient it is to the freeway, I will definitely be back soon.

I had initially planned on awarding this place 5 stars, but on my second visit, I had to endure waiting at least 45 minutes for my simple cup of gumbo (isn’t this cooked in huge batches??) at lunch, so I decided 3 stars was a fairer score to offset my fumes from getting back from lunch late. Such a shame since I had such a great first experience here after craving NoLa cuisine when we couldn’t make it to Oyster Bar in Vegas Post-​EDC.
Eileen L.‘s REFVIEW for Sal’s Gumbo Shack
RELEVANT INFO
* Tiny, brightly-​lit restaurant with 5 or so tables
* TV broadcasting the news
* Reminiscent of an old school mom ‘n pop shop, except with an upgraded cashier system (Square)
EXPECTATIONS
* A good lunch spot — my coworker/​college friend recommended this spot for lunch, and I was immediately down to try
FOOD
* Gumbo ($ 8.99 small | $ 11.99 medium | $ 15.99 large) — none of that bitter taste I thought Gumbo was supposed to taste like because of Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
* Jambalaya ($ 10.99) — packed with so much shrimp and umami
VALUE
* Sounds pricey for a hole-​in-​the-​wall and for lunch ($ 8-​$ 16 entrees) but I guess you can’t place a price tag on home-​cooked food, which is essentially what the food is here, and the portion sizes are grand
IMPRESSION OVERALL
* Soul food with the cashier addressing you terms of endearment like «suga» and «honey»
* The wait varies — my first time here, we waited no more than 15 minutes (which is still considered long for lunch) for our entire meal to arrive; my second time here, as aforementioned, 45 minutes was no fun, costing me half an hour late back to the office — I will never come back on a weekday, but weekends when I have few plans is a different story
ENVIRONMENT /​AMBIANCE
* Glaringly white interiors with big splashes of Mardi Gras purple
WOW FACTOR
* The food really speaks for itself

When I CRAAAVVVEEE a good shrimp po’boy and hearty gumbo, I run straight for Sal’s open doors! My southern roots call out to it like the wolf does to the moon! Heck, I even fell in love with oysters because of her delicious oyster po’boy! Sal knows how to take a girl home, and my tummy can’t get enough! I used to make it a weekly (okay.some times twice. don’t judge me!) thing, but now that I don’t work as close by, I get here maybe twice or three times a month! Not nearly as often as I’d like haha.
Sal’s is a cute, homey little joint, decorated up a little like good ol’ NOLA! So it makes me feel close to home, and the heat from the kitchen, ooh wee, that’s a southern day in the summer. no big thing, but a chicken wing! My makeup is MELT proof (^_​~). Most of the time I’m greeted by Sal herself, a warm and cheerful woman who runs this place with ease! I love the little chit chat as I wait for my food when the place isn’t busy as a bee, but even when it is, and she’s there, she still attempts to make her rounds (especially on Sunday y’all.after church let’s out. oohh weee) don’t close that front door though, she’ll holler at you. There’s not outside seating, and no private lot so if you might have to park down the block some and walk it in LOL!
Yesterday, the craving for shrimp poboys hit so hard. So I got up, and drove to Sal’s.doing that 30 minutes before closing was all bad LOL no shrimpies. there were oysters. but that’s not what I wanted. Told her I’d come back in the morning. So, now it’s Sunday morning and I rolled into Sal’s at about 12:45pm, wasn’t crowded yet! Woohoo! Placed my order and took a seat. It takes about 15 – 20 minutes for your food to be made, so you know it’s fresh! Something I love about this place (^_​^) Today it was just me and an elderly gentleman, who was enjoying his lunch. We started talking and I ended up sitting there for almost 30 minutes after Sal brought me my food! I absolutely LOVE that you can pop in here and just have a nice little chat with the patrons, especially the elderly ones. I said good bye to Carl as he finished up as he finished up and left just as it was starting to get busy.
And when I finally got home and dug into my gumbo, oh boy. So rich, and flavorful. The broth isn’t so much of a roux and not completely a broth, but it’s not watery or soupy at all. It’s just right! I had 4 or 5 large chunks of crab legs and 4 huge pieces of shrimp in my 16oz container, and sooo much meat. It was chock full of hearty Louisiana goodness. My tummy was so happy. and my poboy? Delicious as always! 10 cruncky, crispy shrimps tucked into a bed of lettuce inside a bun topped with amazing, creamy sauce and paired with a hefty helping of Cajun fries! The Cajuns fries have a good kick to them, especially when they’re still piping hot! Always fresh and never soggy, the fries are cooked to perfection! Don’t leave them in your to go box for too long because then they’ll get kinda soggy. but they’re still BOMB!
I love Sal’s and I think I’m gonna have to start popping back in on Sundays after services for my fill of gumbo, because it’s just good, southern cooking filled with love, and tastes just flat out amazin’!

I give this place 3.5 stars but first things first. Yes, I will be back to try their jambalaya and their boo fries. I came here to try their gumbo duh & I also ordered a shrimp po boy that comes w/​fries.
Customer service: it was good, I was greeted, people were smiling. I took my food to go & a gentlemen offered me some water while I waited for my food. That was nice.
Gumbo: I was a little disappointed. Maybe I had high expectations but I went for the small gumbo to play it safe. It was a little too watery, it had a good amount of crab legs in there so that was a big plus, but my order only came w/​2 pieces of shrimp and no chicken at all. It was full of sausage & turkey ham. What a bummer :-/​You can choose if you want your rice inside or on the side. The more you eat it, you really start feeling that nice and subtle kick it has but for me it was very oily, a little bit too oily if I might add.
Shrimp po boy w/​side of fries: the fries were good, they aren’t spectacular just good, they were a bit too dark though (see pix) I was a little afraid to taste them. I love soggy fries so that’s why they were good. I couldn’t really taste much of a seasoning in em but if you like soggy fries like I do, u will like them. They are a tad but greasy but don’t worry about it enjoy the moment. The shrimp po boy was decent, the batter was good, well seasoned, shrimps were medium size, bread was soft (would have preferred it a little crispier) and a bit more shrimp. My shrimp never fell out like other Unilocalers claim.
Also, I found the place to be a tad bit pricey. Just a smidgen, but overall I’m looking forward in trying something different next time.

The other day I was stationed at the Compton Blue Line station for work. I was craving some food, but sick of the fast food that I usually have to eat on my lunch break. Being not too familiar with the overall area, and after another coworker had said «well, just go to Chipotle!» (an idea that I scoffed at, I wanted something new.) I turned to my handy Unilocal app to help me find something to eat. Sal’s came up in my search and with a score of 4.5 stars (out of 180 previous reviews) my interest peaked. My decision to try Sal’s was solidified when my break-​relief arrived at the station and showed me that he had Sal’s address and phone number saved in his phone; he further recommended the gumbo — which is highlighted in many reviews.
After a quick drive my partner and I arrived right after 11 (their opening hours). At first they did not look open, but after circling the block we noticed their front door was now ajar. Happily we parked the car (street parking available out front) and as soon as we entered we were greeted by Sal herself (who was wonderfully kind and happy during our entire visit).
I chose the shrimp po’boy and cajun fries (meal with an added Arnold Palmer — which renamed here at Sals but still has the same great taste) and my partner chose the 3 piece chicken and fries. The prices were incredibly fair and we both ate for under $ 20.
We took our meal to go, however as it was cooking (about a 15 minute wait) we were able to relax and enjoy the New Orleans décor. Once we got back to the Blue Line station we were both able to tuck into our food. My partner really enjoyed his chicken and sampled one of the shrimp from my Po’ Boy (my sandwhich was loaded with shrimp, and it was just the basic one, Sal’s also offers another with extra shrimp). I really enjoyed my sandwich (my first Po’ Boy ever). The shrimp were tasty and flavorful, and the dressing and the fresh bread really added to my overall enjoyment. Also the cajun fries were delicious — and they had quite a kick to them! My Arnold Palmer was also super tasty, albeit very sweet (which is fine with me!), it really balanced out the spiciness of the fries.
Overall I am very happy with my meal at Sal’s. I looked them up online and saw that it really is a one-​woman operation. The food was delicious and really had that home cooked feel to it. I would be happy to visit again when work brings me to the area.

OMG is the only way I know how to explain how amazingly yummy this place is. A little local «hole in the wall» type eatery that packs a big punch in flavor.
Staff is just Sal and another cook/​preparer in the back. Very nice and helpful when it came to deciding what to order. If you’re not sure on the gumbo Sal will give you a sample and you’ll definitely be hooked.
Parking is found on the street along the neighborhood
FOOD– We ordered the shrimp po boy, medium sized gumbo, 3 piece fried chicken, and a side of Mac and cheese.
SHRIMP PO BOY 9.99 was good. Had just the right amount of bread to shrimp to lettuce/​tomato ratio. The po boy itself is dry except for the sauce that is drizzled on top unlike other places where it’s drenched in sauce that it causes the bread to get soggy and the sandwich to fall apart. This order comes with a side of seasoned fries which are just ok in my opinion.
****My only problem with the po boy is its quite small compared to the many other po boys I’ve had. Especially for the price. It’s about the size of a hot dog bun, I think it might even be a hot dog bun that they use which I wasn’t too crazy about. I just wish there was more of it for the price.**** 3 stars*
SEAFOOD GUMBO is ridiculously good. 11.99 for the medium size is loaded with chicken, turkey ham, several pieces of sausages, shrimp, and crab legs and a side of rice. The blend of all the ingredients and seasonings just works. It is a bit watery compared to other gumbos I’ve had. Not too salty and not too bland, just great flavor over all. 4 stars***
FRIED CHICKEN– This was my nephews order and hes normally a really picky eater and he didn’t want to share. Lucky for me I snuck a bite and it was really good too.
Seasoned, Breaded, and fried to perfection. Had a side of the MAC AND CHEESE and let’s just say if I didn’t love my nephew I would’ve snatch it right from up under him. 4 stars****
Food is made when you order so can take a little bit before you get your food, but it’s hot and fresh. Didn’t get to try the desserts but I’ll more than likely be back to try it.

It’s not likely I’ll be back.
I came for the gumbo and was pretty disappointed. It was thin and watery with no very little seafood.
My sister, on the other hand, enjoyed both her po’boy and her her fried okra. The peach cobbler was delicious too. However, for a place with gumbo in the name, it doesn’t measure up.