Mamas Oyster House -Food CA (Near Natchitoches)

2 /5 M W: Service was great especially during a Saturday in December during the Festival of Lights. They were the only place that could get a table of 7. Our server was very respectful and was trying his best during a busy night. The aesthetic of the restaurant was very nice and had that old school bluesy vibe. Unfortunately, the food and pricing was absolutely horrible. $23 for the catfish creole and it was just horrendous. You get a handful of fries, TWO hush puppies, two little slivers of catfish and some of the worst étouffée I’ve ever had. Now, being a south Louisiana native I wasn’t expecting it to be the best of the best and I don’t have super high standards , but man it was bad. My advice to them would be to cut prices or better the food.

1 /5 Danielle White: Recently visited this restaurant with our family. We showed up at 8pm. Sign on door and online says they are open until 10pm. We had a large group, but made sure to tell them we were ok with splitting up or doing whatever we needed to be seated as this place was recommended to us by local family. The bartender rudely yelled across to the hostess that they were shutting down the kitchen at 9 so we better be ready quick. We said that was totally fine- it was 8pm… once they finally sat us, it took the server 30 mins to bring us sodas, a bottled beer, and 1 draft beer. Finally came back to take our order right at 8:57pm. Food came out cold for everyone in our party. We were told there was no manager in the building. Food sat in the window for quite a while before being brought to us as some of our party witnessed. If I could leave zero stars I would. Don’t bother trying it.

2 /5 Jonathan Speck: The food is lacking in size and flavor. The catfish creole is bland. It is very small for the price with mostly rice and two small fillets. A place in Pineville charges $16 and gives you a huge fillet and fills the plate with crawfish etoufe. Yours has a few pieces of crawfish and all rice. It has zero flavor or spice. Very underwhelming. It’s a rip off. The men’s bathroom had me gagging it smelled so bad. I hoped for better from this place. It’s sad. Mop your bathrooms with a clean mop. They smell like urine and feces. I had to pull my shirt over my nose to take a piss while gagging and trying not to throw up. It ruined my appetite. I didn’t want to touch anything in your bathroom. It was worse than a port o potty. With your prices you think you could afford to clean the place better. There were five tables and three servers. Yet the service was very slow. We will wait a few months and give this place another chance. If they haven’t cleaned the bathroom and fixed the portions we will drop our review to a one star.

3 /5 TheCherry RVLife: This solidly falls into the tourist trap restaurant genre. I was there alone midweek in late summer at lunchtime - not too many other people (tourists) wandering around. I had my pick of tables, but somehow got the one with crumbs still on it. Server was quick to get the drink order and menus out. Someone had recommended this place, so I wanted to give stuff a try. Ordered the oysters Rockefeller as an app and the catfish/oyster combo plate. Server returned, saying they were out of spinach, so asked for grilled oysters with butter and garlic. They came out hot, but the main plate followed before Id eaten my first oyster. Server blamed it on the "oyster oven" being finicky. (Former server here - its on her for not alerting the kitchen). Grilled oysters were bland ... no garlic as requested, or not enough. At this point Im trying to get *anyones* attention to get a tea refill. Main plate was okay. Fried oysters were okay. I didnt like the catfish - too much flour mixed with the cornmeal. Fries were good, but seemed Sysco standard. Atmosphere was fine. Nice mix of at the bar seating, high tops, and standard tables. Lots of TVs (tuned to NFL Network). Music on, but not too loud. If youre looking to get food in your belly, this place is perfectly adequate.

5 /5 David Cardenas: I was greeted by a familiar face (James)who once worked at the hospital and now is the manager. The server, Cris, took my order and pretty quickly, my seafood gumbo arrived. It was hot, fresh and savory. Before I could finish, my catfish platter was being placed in front of me. It too was fresh and hot. The food overall was well cooked and seasoned perfectly. For dessert, it was the bread pudding that capped off an already wonderful experience. James not only upgraded the menu from the last time I was here, 4 years ago, has a vision to make it more of a gathering spot for friends and family. Larger TV’s have been added, they will be opening up on Sundays and the quality of food is constantly checked and improved. I definitely will be coming back here when I visit the historic city. Thanks to James and all the staff for treating me like family.