Bayou Jack’s Cajun Grill

I eat at Bayou Jack’s maybe once or twice a month and always try to get something different.
Having been to Nola a few times this is where I go for my Crawfish/​Creole cuisine fix. They have a very good standard for Cajun spices on all their dishes, and as of yet haven’t had anything disappointing. There isn’t a huge abundance of dishes but they are all pretty distinct and well done, especially the appetizers.
Jack’s also has a good selection of local draught beers, and mixed drinks. I think lately they’ve experienced some heavy employee turnovers as I don’t recognize any of the servers or hostesses but the service and quality doesn’t seem to have suffered.

Just an average downtown restaurant. Definitely nothing to write home about. There was the feel of New Orleans however the food was just average at best. The food was seasoned but just enough to give a little taste but more is needed. I think the food can get better but I was not the least bit happy with our server. She didn’t seem to know the food and how it was made or taste. She also seemed like she was there to get a check but not do the work. Not impressed with the service. I am sure some people will live this place but I will probably not come back.

We really enjoyed our lunch here. We can’t wait to go back with our husbands for a fun evening and good food. We had the dirty balls — so good! I had the jambalaya and my friend had the red beans and rice.

Friendly and unpretentious, food served hot and the service was great! We ordered gumbo and calamari as apps, portion of calamari is enough for 3 – 4. It was so good, the sauce — oh my, we had to box the rest to take home. They have deep ellum on draft, had a Dallas blonde. We split a shrimp po boy, the shrimp are smaller than I expected but everything was prepared spot on. Could use a little more shrimp meat to make the sandwich perfect, otherwise very tasty. The fries are coated with crispy seasoning and they use the perfect potato making them tender and crispy at the same time. Next time I want to try the shrimp Monica and more of that yummy gumbo! We are very picky about calamari; this place gets it right. So glad to have excellent eateries like this one here in MCKINNEY!

Um YUM!!! I’m Cajun and was skeptical but I am a convert. The crawfish was awesome! As was the bisque. And this is the only place that I’ve tasted in Dallas that has real bread pudding. Totally recommend.

Always great! Very authentic Cajun food with a New Orleans creole flair. We are NEVER disappointed with food or service. Bar selections have fewer choices than some downtown Mckinney restaurants, but if you are looking for Louisiana boiled crawfish and Abita beer, this is the number one place!!!

Note to the uninitiated: if you order the «Dirty Balls» be prepared for a huge portion of stuff your diet will die over. We were expecting something small and deep fried, and instead got a plate of three huge sort-​of-​fried rice balls the size of an Italian meatball, covered in cheesy goo. This is an «appetizer» that could easily feed six people.
Giant ordered the red beans and rice and a salad. The salad was pretty good! Crisp greens, carrots, etc. with a yummy honey mustard dressing. I am sad to say, however, that the red beans were lacking in that deep, rich cajun flavor that comes with cooking low and slow with all the appropriate goodies. It tasted like beans. That’s all.
After that caloric infusion for the appetizer, I thought I’d better keep it as light as possible for the entrée, so I ordered six cold boiled shrimp and a salad. The shrimp were done perfectly, not overcooked and had been purged, so no icky vein to deal with.
The place has a cute vibe like most of the businesses in downtown McKinney. Service is laid back, also like the vibe so if you’re in a hurry, you might want to not be…
Prices are a little steep for what you get. One «appetizer», two salads, six shrimp and a bowl of red beans with rice, plus two drinks, $ 33. Probably not my go to place, but it’s fine if you’re in the area.

Always have good service here, I could eat 4 plates of the oyster nachos for my entrée, they are awesome. Jambalaya is great, and when redfish is in season they do it well.

Speedy service. Reasonable prices. Fresh and flavorful food. Will DEFINITELY be back!

There’s nothing remotely Cajun about this place. It’s Razzoo’s, just with a different name. I got the shrimp and grits and I can tell you as a native Cajun, those aren’t grits and that sauce was disgusting. I love salt, but at this place they make everything overly salty.
The prices for the portions you get here are insanely downtown Mckinney (i.e. Ridiculous) and nothing seems remotely worthy of that price tag. Even with a groupon I felt like I had been had; service was dismal and there’s zero chance I’d ever done here again. If you want actual Cajun, keep looking.

Came in with a few co workers. There was two waitress for about 7 occupied tables. It started out good. Service was pretty good and the calamari was really good. It went down hill from there. I had the burger which was pretty large but nothing special. A co worker had catfish and shrimp. He said that the place has changed and the breadcrumbs used on the catfish had too much mustard. By the time we were done with life much it must have taken a good 20+ mins to get out the door. We had a coupon that they would honor at time of service but forgot about it when it was time to pay the bill. They didn’t know how to cancel the credit card auth so they just gave us cash. It too forever and we had to flag the waitress down. I don’t recommend going there.

Walked in, no one was in the front to greet us nor got seated so we sat ourselves down. While doing that we walked right past the host/​waitress & still didn’t get a word. Service were obviously dry and dead.
Food was okay :\

Everything was perfect. Jake was our wait staff. I had a po’boy, hubs had bayou catfish, kiddo had coconut encrusted mahi mahi. Omg!!! Love love.

Food was 4 stars, but service lacked. Waited for refills and check too long. Fish tacos were amazing.

Each time we visit (5 times total) the food is generally good but the service has declined to the point of never mind. I wrote detailed email with my concerns to websites contact link with no response. As the food prep area is open to the dining area one would think all cooks would be careful about hygiene. Not here I witnessed one line cook talking on his cell phone then drinking from a paper cup then placing cell phone back in his pocket and returning to food prep multiple times while I was there. Now I know this happens all the time in other places but I dont see it because the kitchen isnt open.
The only thing good about this place is cold Abita beer.

First time having cajun food so it was pretty good. I don’t know how authentic it should taste. But my taste buds liked it and I’m a pretty picky eater.

McKinney, Texas
3.5 Stars. Cool atmosphere, downtown McKinney is a great place.
Boudin Balls — pretty good but smothered in, I believe, a Queso sauce. Odd
Meat pies — whereas not the Natchitoches, Louisiana meat pies I was expecting they were pretty good. The filling was like a shrimp or seafood mixture. But again it was topped in this Queso. Had I known (and perhaps the menu said as much-​I didn’t notice) I would have asked for the sauce on the side.
Fried pickles spears — not bad.
Also had the lightly fried catfish, again not bad. Very good service, very reasonably priced.
Not what I’d call ‘traditional’ Louisiana food. At lease not what I grew up with. Not bad however, just a little different. I’ll be back to try the PO-​boys.

Nice little spot at old downtown McKinney right next to a pizza place. Parking at the back and if you are in luck like we were you’ll get a spot right in front. As soon as you step out of your car, you can’t help but notice the smell of Cajun food which is a good thing. With Groupon on hand we proceeded to walk in and a nice lady greeted us an walked us to our table. We started off with an order of Calamari (7.99) big serving for that price and if you join their Loyalty Program you can get free appetizer which is even a better deal. The Calamari was fresh and cooked nicely with its light batter. My boyfriend said their sweet tea is really good, not too sweet and not too strong just like how a sweet tea should be in my opinion. For our main meal, I had the Blackened Shrimp Po’boy (9.99)and he had the Catfish and Shrimp Combo (11.99). Both of which are served hot and plentiful with a side of Cajun fries. They are not stingy on their shrimp serving and it’s a decent size shrimp.
All in all, we had a nice visit and would definitely comeback for a nice Cajun meal. We highly recommend this place if you are in the area.

Being a former New Orleanian (I think that’s a word), I always get excited to try our new cajun places. My husband and I had a groupon, so we were like «why not»?
Located in downtown Mckinney. Parking lot conveniently placed right next to the building. If you’re lucky you get to park right outside in the front.
Atmosphere: very casual inside. Looks like they went to Hobby Lobby to try and find as many fleur de lis decorations as they could. There are some tv’s there. There’s a separate bar on the side. We came on a Sunday evening, so it wasn’t too busy.
Food: Appetizers — fried hushpuppies were pretty good; gumbo was actually not bad, I was impressed.
Entrée — I got the catfish and crawfish étouffée. Catfish was WAY too salty. I had to drink half a cup of water to compensate for the salt imbalance in my body. The crawfish étouffée was better tasting, but a little too dark in color. Hubby got the oyster poboy which looked ok, but the oysters were overcooked and way too chewy. Fries were pretty tasty though. I just couldn’t deal with the saltyness of the fish, so I got it changed to one of their signature dishes, the shrimp and grits. The sauce was pretty comparable to one that I’ve had back home, the shrimp was tender, but the grits were not grits. It was a square block firm and it didn’t melt in your mouth like grits are suppose to. Now I normally don’t eat grits by itself, but man if you’ve been to Surrey’s café, you would be a believer.
Service: It was good and the waittress was very attentive. She was so polite about changing my dish and really apologetic. She would check on me often to make sure I was happy.
Overall: Might come back for another try. Not a place I’d be excited to show off to my friends what cajun food is all about because it’s just not impressive.

When the BF was craving Cajun but didn’t feel like spending the money at his favorite place, Pappadeux… I researched some cheaper options and was able to score a groupon here!
Located in the Square it was our first time eating here even though we’ve been living in the Mckinney for the last year. The atmosphere is laid back and extremely casual. We went right after church on a Sunday and there was plenty of tables left. Our waitress was super nice, a little forgetful, but she was sweet.
Some of the food was great and some was just not what we expected.
We started off with the crawfish queso… I like how the chips were sprinkled with some cajun seasoning. Nice touch! The queso didn’t have much flavor and without the crawfish it wouldn’t have been that good. We will pass on it next time.
I ordered catfish and shrimp combo which was very good! The fish, fries, and shrimp were fried fresh and came out hot! Their batter was crispy and wasn’t falling apart. They use cajun fries which we love. Whether it was from a bag or freshly made, this is probably our favorite kind of fries.
The crawfish étouffée was pretty much a gumbo. They must have used the same base… yikes not good the flavor was obviously gumbo. I would definitely pass on this.
Not the best Cajun but the fried seafood will do.