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Categories: Cajun/Creole, Jazz & Blues
80 N Market StTell your waiter that Facebook/Yelp brought you there, and get surprise gift! Go to http://tiny.cc/GumboJumbo for details
Announced 5 days ago
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My friends recommended this place to me awhile back and since http://restaurant.com had one of their gift certificate sales going on... I bought a $50 certificate for $10, brought along 3 good friends, and had a very good dinner at Gumbo Jumbo.
The place is very new. We were the only other patrons in the establishment, so I guess not a lot of people know about the joint. The staff was still putting up art pieces on the walls while we were dining. I liked the theme and decor of the place. Very Louisiana, edgy.
I ordered a bowl of their special gumbo, the mixed Jambalaya, and a lychee champagne. I think I could have gone a little spicier on the gumbo and jambalaya, but they were still VERY good and flavorful. And that single glass of champagne got me pretty warm. My friends all said their drinks were strong too, so kudos to that night's bartender.
With the alcohol, appetizers, and our entrees our bill came out to $80 AFTER our $50 gift certificate. The total was really surprising to me, but I'd come back again. Next time I'll just grab drinks elsewhere, skip the appetizers, or just split fewer entrees. We all ended up taking some of our food to go because the dishes were so large. Live and learn, but I wouldn't hesitate to offer this as a suggestion next time someone wants to eat downtown or feels like Cajun for dinner.
I've driven by this place so many times and I finally came here yesterday for lunch with my coworkers.
The place is cute. It's themed New Orleans style with beads everywhere and a couple of flat screens showcasing the french quarter.
What we ordered...
Appetizers
**Crispy Calamari - Was good but not spectacular. I think the sauce could be a little better and the batter a little more like a crispy golden hue.
Main Entrees
**Veggie Jambalaya - Good, flavorful, full of spices, veggies were not overcooked however a little too much sauce to enjoy the rice that came with. You can choose your level of hotness too :)
**Cajun Lemongrass Chicken - could have been a little more tender and on the juicy side but otherwise still tasty. I didn't experience enough lemongrass on the chicken but we all enjoyed it along with the coconut rice that came on the side
**Coconut Prawns - consists of 4 huge prawns that were seasoned in some kind of shredded coconut seasoning. This was unique and the shrimp was cooked to perfection!
Overall the service here was good and attentive. I haven't really tried a lot of cajun dishes nor cajun fusion before so this was new for me. The corn fritters, sweet potato fries, and fried okra is what I'll try next :)
i ate here 2 times, once to go and another time for a birthday outing. the first time, i ate crawfish. i'm still unsure if this is even the place i bought it at because it was a long time ago and it seemed pretty good.
the second time i came here, i could not find parking, and the food was very expensive for such small portions. they didn't carry all varieties of liquor..all i remember was they had patron..which is my favorite! so that was fine with me.
the weird thing was that the "owner" or whoever he was, lectured me and my friend about "using fake id's". it was because he thought our id's were fake and tried to make us admit that they were fake, even after he brought out our drinks. that was VERY rude. and then he continued telling us about how he "KNOWS" how to tell if id's are fake or not because he owns a club downtown. later on, i asked him what club he owns and he changed the story and said he is "a part-time security guard"...and he still didn't tell me what club.
=P
2 stars for decent food and nice decor.......still too overpriced for my taste buds and pockets though
Came back for more, this time w/ a posse to sample more dishes. Shrimp garlic noodles, Blackened catfish that "bites back", BEST beignets I've had in the Bay area ever. We were heroes among our very satisfied friends for picking this place.
Slight snafu with our bill (errors) which they fixed & apologized profusely for. Other than that mistake service was friendly and helpful. Will be back, increased the stars.
Came over here after Jazz fest, had a great time. They were crazy busy but service came and checked… Read more »
This place is fun, but the prices are a tad expensive for lunch.
We ordered the combo appetizer plate with fried okra, sweet potato fries, and corn fritters. The corn fritters were tasty and were definitely the best item on the dish, but the fried okra was plain and didn't have any flavor. The sweet potato fries were good and took up a majority of the plate, but I wish the fries were a little sweeter.
I had their coconut prawns and it was very flavorful. I think it had too much pepper and garlic though, and the aroma coming from the dish stung my nostrils. Yes, it was that intense. Say goodbye to nice breath when you get back to the office after eating here.
It averages out to be $20 or so when you split a couple appetizers with a couple other folks in your party and add your own meal. We were the only customers when we went at 12 a couple days ago.
I came here for a few times for pageant dinners a while back and although the atmosphere and the restaurant itself was really nice, the food was alright. The crawfish was small and its shell was oddly too soft which I would normally never complain about but just something about it was flat out weird! I figured that maybe it was just that day but when we came back another time, the food remained the same. That was the only thing I ate there so I can't say anything about all their other foods.
The days we came they had set up a karaoke station so any of us brave enough to sing to a crowd of stranger did so. It's a fun place to go to at night with a group of friends and just get belligerent and wild haha! The decor of this place is really nice and modern.. Definitely a nice setting and layout.
Another thing is that I'm a big fan of their delicious strawberry smoothie! Everyone at our table ordered one and I think it complimented crawfishies quite well!
On our way to another cajun/creole restaurant, Google Maps led us astray yet again, but luckily, GMap's inaccuracy worked in our favor this time. I wasn't expecting much from Gumbo Jumbo, but I came away pretty satisfied. Walking in, the decor was stylish yet laid back, and we were immediately seated by the window. Seeing that they had happy hour on a Sunday until 7 pm, we ordered a couple of drinks and appetizers. I had a mojito, bf had a Stella, and we shared the cajun fries and crawfish wontons, which were only $3 each. We ended up sharing the seafood jambalaya, which proved a wise choice as it was a rather hefty entree for one.
We were too full for dessert, but I would've liked to try the beignets or the bread pudding. I'd definitely go back, especially for happy hour!
the food was definitely mediocre, but not bad.
It was my first time, and i came here with my coworkers as well for dinner. We had a $50 http://restaurant.com certificate, and that definitely alleviated the bill quite a bit.
the main entrees lacked texture; it was just one pretty huge pile of mush; because it was my first time trying creole cuisine, i was not sure what to expect. Despite that, it did not taste bad.
The beignets, which our waiter suggested, though, was quite a downer. heavily overpriced and overrated, these beignets were a disappointment. This could also be because my first experience eating a beignet was at Brenda's French Soul Food Kitchen on Polk St. in San Francisco.
I would not confidently recommend this place as THE place for creole food.
LOVE THIS PLACE!!!! Me and the family come here every other week and it's tradition for us. Staff is friendly and the food is GREAT!! try the dirty rice and the noodles with the prawns....Great for the fam or a romantic evening with the lady....You must try and eat and see for yourself. The staff and place greet my babyboy and they love him and he loves the place too. He's loving the food and screamin for gumbo jumbo instead of mcdeez so thats a good thing for us. Also try the burrito or get the kiddie plates like fries and chicken. In addition - live music on Fridays and great atmosphere. If your looking for a place to call home or call your Cheers- You have to set up shop here. 5 stars for me and I don't yelp much so trust me because the rest of the yelpers yelp so much they forget to do it honestly and not make there stats even out. haha!!
My boyfriend and I drive past this place so often we decided to try it. The food and service did not disappoint! We were seated promptly and the server had a wonderfully bubbly attitude. We ordered chicken jumbalaya, cajun seasoned shrimp, and cajun style fries. It was all flavorful, spicy, and delicious! Only downside was that my boyfriend wanted to try crawfish for the first time but they ran out just before we came in. They were also out of dungeonous crab but the shrimp definitely made up for it!
yummy!!!
we'll come back when theres music!
Corn fritters? Check.
Sweet potato fries? Check.
Fried okra? Check.
Veggie jambalaya? Check.
Tofu over garlic noodles? Check.
Beignets? Check.
Yep, they've got vegetarian options galore here in San Jose Cajun country. Far superior to the Poor House Bistro, AKA Land of the Stubby Fries.
Pleasant service, good soundtrack (jazz standards, of course), mild-to-spicy options, full bar with mojitos and mango martinis, what more could you ask for? OK, maybe a bug zapper. However, the presence of a handful of fruit flies in a place that serves food doesn't worry me too much. The good eats more than made up for the fly circus over our table.
Visit and be satisfied!
I've been here twice. The first time was for a private party. We were drinking and eating the leftover party food. Hahaha. Damn, everything tastes good when you're buzzed. Then I came back again for the second time with the bf and a large group of friends for dinner. Everyone looked disappointed with their food. My dish was decent. I ordered the garlic noodles with prawns. I enjoyed it! The prawns were good and huge! The noodles were ok. This place is pretty small and the food is average.
Our final bill was a bit pricey.......$60, no appetizers and only one bar beverage.
I had the lemongrass chicken with coconut rice and it was damn good. I cleaned my plate, even eating the salad that might be considered a garnish--the waiter tried to pull my plate as I was picking at it.
Dude had a cup of gumbo and the sparerib jambalaya and was thoroughly satisfied. He also had a pomegranate mojito which gave him severe heartburn...although that might just have been sympathy heartburn for me in my condition ;-)
Live band there rockin the house, playing all of the old skool faves. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Except I really didn't like my waiter...not only for trying to take my plate too soon, but not refilling my water and seating a prego in on a couch to eat. It was pretty uncomfortable. But it its what it is...next time I will demand a table and maybe give my updated review 4 stars.
My friend had her dinner party because she's moving to LA for grad school, which is awesome. Apparently, I didn't get the memo that the reservations were at 8 but the FB invite was 7 so I'm stupid for actually going at 7. It's because she knew people would lag. Anyway, this place is easy to find and there's a parking garage across the street or you can use the side streets.
The interior was nicely setup. There were seats and tables but there were couches for a lounge-y type feel. On the beams on the ceiling, you have the traditional beaded necklaces you see at Mardi Gras. There was a live jazz band but they did other songs that you'll be familiar with. It can get a bit awkward when they stop playing while you are in mid shout trying to be heard, which happened to a friend.
I ordered the Crawfish Wonton, which I thought was yummy. You think it would only have like 5 pieces but it's enough to make you full if you were a little hungry. There's salad underneath it too so you can still get your grub on.
I tried the Gumbo Jumbo Jambalaya, which was at medium spicy and that was spicy for me. Anyway, from what I could taste it was flavorful before I got hit with a burning tongue.
Also, tried the Cajun Steak and that steak was tender. The sauce didn't over power the steak but it was enough. The steak comes on a sizzling plate. And garlic spaghetti comes with it, which makes a good combo.
Cajun Asian Chicken Salad was ok to good. The dressing was a lightly sweetened vinaigrette. The chicken was shredded, which made it seem less but I don't know.
The Beignets were yummy but I thought the sauces weren't enough. You had to scrape just to get some sauce. If anything they should add more sauce.
I didn't get to try the Dungeness crab Stuffed Mushrooms but there were a few pieces and a salad underneath it.
The Cajun Popcorn Shrimp has a lot so it could make you full if you were a little hungry.
There still a few items on the menu that I'd like to try so I'd come back.
I've been here on a few occasions and tried many different things:
crawfish--not the best. Had it once and never again. too bad because i got the frequent buyers card, but only got two stamps :(
Cajun fries--a bit oily, but yummy
calamari--still oily but I enjoyed the sauces that came with it
lemongrass tofu--DEEELISH. The sauce was so yummy and complemented the tofu so well. drooolz
beignets ala mode--oh greasy greatness. perfect ending to any meal
the drinks are yummy. try the pomegranate mojito!
and of course, the best for last:
CRAWFISH CHOWDER! clam chowder with crawfish in it. SOO heavenly. sometimes i just call in and get this to-go. the reason for its 5 stars!
the decor is very cute. the bathroom is surprisingly very stylish, but kinda creepy since its so dark
there used to be a cute bartender/waitress that always served our table, but she is no longer there :(
Gumbo Jumbo's food is really good (4 stars). Their service is not (2 stars). It seems they don't have enough people in the kitchen. No bartender so your waiter has to make the drinks. We were there on a Friday night and the place was full up. Never seen it that crowded. There were only 2 service-people and we had to wait a REALLY long time for our meal. They ended up comping us an entree and a drink. Nonetheless, once you get your food... it's always interesting and usually quite tasty. I love the combo of cajun and asian. I'll call it "casian". We'll keep going there but not when we're in a hurry.
My family and I went here for the Dine Downtown SJ Event. You must make a reservation at dinner because there aren't that many tables in this place.
Just go to http://opentable.com to make the reservation.
I ordered the $30 option, while my family ordered the $20 option. The good thing about this meal was that we were able to try everyone's dishes!
Appetizers:
+ Sweet Potatoes, Okra and Corn Fritters- Mmmmm.. this was sooo good!!!! The corn fritters were delicious!! The sweet sauce complimented the corn fritters. The okra was cooked perfectly. I always love to eat sweet potatoes fries. The chipotle aioli was pretty good. I would definitely order this appetizer again. I was quite full after eating the fried food.
+ Crawfish Egg Rolls- There were 6 pieces in this dish. Deep frying the egg roll masks the flavor of the crawfish. In addition, the crawfish looked like meat. The dipping sauce had a pungent smell- maybe fish sauce?
+ Dungeness Crab Stuffed Mushrooms- There were 5 pieces, so it was enough for everyone to get 1 piece. You can't tell that there was crab, but you know that there is some sort of seafood! I would skip this appetizer.
Main Entrees:
+ Chicken Jambalaya w/ medium spicy level- You can taste the kick in this dish. The chicken was cooked well, and there was a lot of good flavors! Dish also had veggies.
+ Cajun Lemongrass Chicken- MmM.. the lemongrass sauce was delicious! The chicken was a bit overcooked though. The coconut rice complimented the chicken. I would order the dish again.
+ Chicken Garlic Noodles- Here is another winner! The sauce was sweet, and the chicken was moist. There must have been many cloves of garlic since the flavor is strong. The noodles are cooked al dente too. Yum!
+ Seafood Jambalaya w/ hot spicy level- Okay.. you can literally see a layer of chili powder on top of the food, and this dish was spicy!!! It was a bit too spicy for my family, but I loved it!!! The jambalaya had fish, shrimp, sausage, and veggies in it. The flavors were pretty good.
Desserts:
+ Bread Pudding- mmMmm.. the bread was soft and warm. The sweet sauce and rum flavor was delicious! Would I pay over $5 for a piece of bread as dessert? Probably not, but it was good to try this!
+ Beignets- Wow! I was expecting a couple of pieces, but this was a huge platter and it came with 3 types of dipping sauce (chocolate, strawberry, and caramel). The beignets were not as crispy as I expected. It was more doughy to me. However, they are not bad. My mom hasn't made beignets in a long time, so it was good to eat them again.
Service is excellent at this place. Our waiter was very patient with us since we waited on another family member to arrive. In addition, he explained our dishes and the sides to us.
There was a jazz playing when we went on Saturday night. Great ambience!
I am a huge fan of creole and cajun cooking and so when my gf told me she had a $25 dollar off coupon to go to GUMBO JUMBO i was ecstatic!! ;) I even went online and looked up the menu so that i could see exactly what i wanted to order! =)
From the outside this place looks like a dump. It neighbors a Moroccan restaurant which looks pretty run down even though it just opened. But thats another story. Once going inside the place though, its really nice. From the decor on the walls to the weird chirstmas white lighting by the windows, it all works. We got seated rather quickly as well, (http://opentable.com) so awesome by the way!
Our waiter was friendly, cracked a few jokes, but we waited a while to get our order in because they were pretty short staffed. We started with the fried okra, sweet potatoes, and corn fritter and it was pretty money!! The sauce that comes with that dish came with almost every dish, but i didnt care because it was pretty darn tasty! We also got the gumbo jumbo gumbo, i dare you to say that 10 times fast. It was good, it was my first time having gumbo and it was delicious. We also got a side of crawfish hush puppies (really dry) not a lot if not any crawfish, and a fried catfish side. Which wasnt really crispy, in fact really kind of wet, but the flavors were spot on. The Jambalaya came last, and we got it gumbo jumbo style, that was by far the best thing we had eaten all night, and unfortunately we were too full to really enjoy it. oh well. we took home left overs and called it a night.
This place is a little pricy, and if you use the http://restaurant.com gift cert, make sure you read it cause u had to get 50 bucks worth of food for this one. and that didnt include tax, so we actually had to order one dessert to make it to 50 bucks. =(
Tried this place out as part of the dine downtown san jose event - loved it! My fav's:
- Sweet Potatoe fries and corn fritters - delish
- chicken garlice noodles - a serious stand out. the noodles were perfection, nice and garlicy, yet sweet. normally i'm not a fan of chicken, but the chicken in this dish was seasoned well and juicy.
- beignets - fried dough with dipping sauce, hard to go wrong
- chocolate mousse - good balance between lightness and chocolateyness. hard to do.
The only thing I wasn't wild about were the crab stuffed mushrooms, because they were kind of spicey. Again - I don't like heat, I'm sure others would love them.
The BF wants me to note that when you order your jambalaya hot/spicey - it is actually spicy! I can't handle heat, so I didn't try his jambalaya, but he assured me it was good, and that it is rare to actually get food served spicey. I think it's because he's gwai loh . . .
Excellent service, and a decent mojito (classic) made for a nice meal. Place got pretty packed for a Wednesday night, I would recommend making reservations.
I went here with 7 of my office mates for our quarterly lunch outing. Wow. I guess I was not expecting much being a vegetarian. I was wrong! They have a variety of vegetarian options that I did not expect at a Cajun restaurant. I asked for something not on the menu - a vegetarian lemon grass tofu Po Boy sandwich. They were happy to accommodate my request. I was in heaven eating that sandwich! I can't put into words how delicious that sandwich was. And their thai iced tea was excellent. I highly recommend this place, especially for vegetarians looking for something different.
I've been craving creole food and found this place. Came here on a weekend night and they had a really good perfomer. I think his name was Mr. Blue. He played the guitar while singing some blue toons. It was enjoyable and made me want to take a trip to New Orleans. I ordered the dirty rice. It was ok. The service was friendly but incompetent. I came here with my husband and 11 month old baby. The waiters brought out a glass of ice water and eating utensils for her also. Strange. They were not that atrentive and we would always have to look around and ask for our waiter. The three stars are for the music, and the beignets we ordered for dessert. Not as good as the ones I've had in New Orleans, but they satisfied my cravings.
I went here for the dine about town menu which had three courses for $20.00. The portions were huge!
For Dinner-I had the ...
Gumbo Jumbo Soup-pretty good-came with a bowl of rice
Garlic Noodles-Nothing spectacular here, but they garlic taste wasn't overwelming-it was just right
Fried Yam, Okra, and Corn Fritters-This was really good
Chicken Jambalya-Pretty good, but had better
I went back at lunch due to the lunch deal $8.88-if your meal doesn't come in 20 minutes, it's free!
I got the..
Prawns garlic noodle
Tried the chicken jambalya
They serve dinner portions which was very surprising. I couldn't finish the whole thing.
Service-I love the service. I had the same server twice and she was a doll. She was friendly, helpful, and talktive. The others are just as nice. They'd refilled our water the whole time.
Decor-I like how it has the hole in wall-diamond in the rough feel to it. If you're standing outside, you wouldn't think that this place was good. Once you're inside, the decore is a little hippieish...couches for people who are drinking..live band...tables everywhere. I like the low-key, but trendy feel.
Will definitely go back.
Just came back from celebrating my birthday at Gumbo Jumbo. Usually its difficult organizing a dinner for 20+ people at most restaurants because some places force you to order from their limited banquet menu, or have a fee/down payment for large parties. I also had a maximum amount of money I wanted to spend per person, so that made options even more limited.
Got in touch with one of the co-owners who happens to be the very talented/gifted chef, and she was such a pleasure to work with. She was SO incredibly accommodating and allowed me to choose dishes for my party from the entire menu! there was no additional fee for having a large party, the service was great, AND..the food was delicious. Got great feedback from everyone at the party. =)
This is what we ordered:
- Sweet potato, corn fritters, okra
- Crawfish eggrolls
- Gumbo Jumbo
- Gumbo Jumbo Jambalaya (spicy! soo good for those who like spicy, but you can ask for mild)
-Spicy blackened catfish with coconut rice
- Prawn and Veggie Garlic noodles
- Cajun Lemongrass Chicken
- Beignets (a MUST try! the brandy dipping sauce is my favorite)
I've eaten here 3 times now, and I've never been disappointed. =)
The impossible!
The unthinkable!
The SHAME!
THEY... RAN... OUT... OF... CRAWDADS!!!!! =O *faints*
This was not a good start to the night. My group got there around 8:30PM on a Friday. And they were already sold out??? I would expect this place to know how fast their inventory goes out. Total turn off. I was looking forward to the garlic butter crawfish. But I guess not!
But... life goes on...
We had a gift certificate for $50 that we bought from http://Restaurant.com, so we decided to order a few things and eat family style.
For starters...
Dungeness Crab Stuffed Mushrooms: These could have been a whole lot better. They were a little sad looking. And very small. It only came with five mushrooms. The "field greens" they claim are underneath is just your basic lettuce. The dressing on it was tasty though.
Fresh Raw Oysters: Pretty good. The presentation was nice. A few of the oysters were a little on the large side, and they had a little bit more of a "from the sea" taste. Not my cup of tea. I only ate two of them. The oysters at The Fish Market are better.
Since the crawdads were no more, we decided to try some of the other entrees...
Tiger Prawns in Garlic Noodles: The BEST dish I had here. I could actually taste the garlic in the garlic noodles! And it wasn't super oily like at some other Asian restaurants. The tiger prawns were HUGE. There were five prawns for our enjoyment. I would order it again but it's a RIDICULOUS $17 for it.
Seafood Jambalaya: This was only OK. The portion was kind of small and I was expecting more flavor. I think the worst part was that it tasted the same as our next entree, the etouffe.
Crawfish and Giant Prawn Etouffe: This was also only OK. I really wish it was better. This even looked like the jambalaya. I was so disinterested that I just stopped eating even though I wasn't full.
All the portions in general were pretty small. Very disappointing considering all the entrees were $17 or $18 a piece. Luckily, the dessert and drink I had saved the night!
Lychee Mojito: A very sweet drink. There was tons of lychee syrup at the bottom of the drink. Make sure to mix it up before you drink it! Or else you'll have a very sweet and thick surprise. It was a good mojito. I just wish the drink was bigger.
Beignet A La Mode: GREAT stuff! If you've never had these before, it's like little square donuts with powdered sugar on top. It comes with three dipping sauces: chocolate, strawberry and brandy. The beignet's were good with the sauces but it was GREAT when you add the ice cream in the mix. Totally yummy.
I was pretty disappointed with this place. And even though we had the $50 gift certificate, it was still an unreasonable $28/person (between four people). That's no good. I don't think I would have mind paying that much if I felt satisfied with the food.
I don't plan on going back. Save your money and go to Crawdaddy if you want some crawfish like I did. At least THEY don't run out of crawdads.
I have to preface this review by saying I am not an expert on Cajun food. Gumbo Jumbo was decorated very nicely. I wanted jambalaya and they had several dishes; seafood jambalaya, chicken jambalaya, vegetarian, and maybe 1-2 more.
I ordered the chicken jambalaya. It was a good sized portion. The chicken and sausage were excellent. The rest (rice, veggies, etc) were good.
This is not a traditional Cajun restaurant, but a fusion one instead. You know what you get with a fusion restaurant...nice decor and higher prices. Still, my dish was not priced super-high....about $18.
I am not a Cajun fan but had heard that the Crawfish was great here. Well thanks to Gumbo Jumbo I have a whole new outlook on Cajun cooking. The lychee and pomegranate Mojito's are FAB!
So I don't like giving low meh stars but what can I do! They made me 15 minutes late for work =(
Went here during my lunch hour while at work (key word- HOUR). There were three of us and we ordered the lunch special for $8.88. It consisted of one entree and an iced tea or nonrefillable soda. I ordered the prawn noodle dish and an iced tea. The prawn dish had 3 huge prawns and fairly greasy noodles--a bit bland and chewy. I got tired of eating the noodles but I was hungry so I charged through. Overall the dish was much too sweet. I would have loved a little kick to it or at least some more salt. I had to add a lot of salt and pepper to attempt to bring this dish to life but to no avail. The iced tea was a perk though- it came in a long cocktail-esque glass and was pretty sumptuous with a slight hint of lemon.
My co-worker ordered the beignits (don't know how to spell it :/ ) pastry dessert to go---they took FOREVER. the waitress was sooo slow the entire time we were there already--it seemed that ordering a dessert to go set her off the deep end. She disappeared without giving us our check for quite a while...we waited....waited some more....getting bored yet?
Oh look at that, the dessert just got here and we're already late for work. We still need to pay too. Crap. Late. Forced to sing retarded songs as compensation. Not cool.
Marie Laveau would be disappointed because there is no magic at Gumbo Jumbo. Starting with the Cajun popcorn shrimp with anemic breading, lackluster taste and even more lackluster canned sauces (the tartar sauce was particularly bland). Where is a nice roumalade sauce with a nice cayenne kick to it. The only saving grace was they had Louisiana hot sauce we could give it the flavor it deserves. My wife had blackened catfish with dirty rice with the catfish being nicely cooked but small portion and again didn't have the flavor you would expect. The dirty rice was very nice though with a bit if a kick. I had the Gumbo Jumbo jambalaya which was a generous portion with nicely done rice, reasonable flavor and generous portions of meat (chicken, fish, shrimp, scallops, etc.) but the Louisiana sausage was a real disappointment being very thinly sliced, small quantity and bland flavor. The only saving grace from a 1 or 1.5 star were the beignets which were nearly perfect although they went light on the dipping sauces (caramel, strawberry and chocolate). On the culinary side I would say "pass" and try the Cajun restaurants in the Bay Area. (NOTE: There were some fusion Cajun/Asian dishes that might have been interesting to try).
The decor was nice. The live music was a nice touch but on the loud side and clearly didn't match the the restaurant (Would a little Zydeco be too much to ask?). The other real negative is having to pay for parking which I guess is the price to pay for being downtown San Jose. Next time I will pass Gumbo Jumbo by and try Morocco near by or a number of other restaurants in the area.
I've read a lot of these reviews and it seems most people either love this place, or hate it. I can understand why. The food is actually pretty good. I'm not an expert on cajun, but I was quite happy with the taste of the jamalaya and the gumbo. Me and my honey went there and decided to splurge and we spent $100+ for dinner for two. The appetizers were decent but the main courses were much better. The portions were very large - large enough for lunch the next day, so that was a plus. The service was very interesting. We went on a Thursday night and we were the only ones there at the time (more people came in later). There were two young guys working the floor and both were VERY attentive. They were so attentive that at one point, we were a little annoyed and just wanted them to fill our waters and go away, not have a conversation. I knew they were just thinking about the tip, which is understandable, but subtlety goes a long way. They tried very hard to please us when we really just wanted to have a nice quiet meal. They made it a little too obvious that they knew we intended on spending a lot of money there, and they wanted to get their share. As for the prices, they're on the high side, so I suggest they lower them a bit. The desserts were good, but I could get the same quality at Costco. If I'm paying $7-$10 for a tiny dessert, I expect it to be a little bit more orgasmic. The experience overall was nice, and I'd go there again if they lowered their prices. My advice to the waiters: Yes, you're young and cute, and that helps, but service is the key to getting good tips, not pretending to flirt with the gay couple. Just do your job professionally and the tips will come. And no, that's not a double entendre. ;-)
I went here about 6 month ago or so and forgot to review it. I had the gumbo and it was the worst I've ever had. Gumbo should not be sweet. I think my friend had jambalaya and it was terrible too. I dont think the Cajun/Asian theme is working for me. I wont return again.
I went here with a 14 person birthday group. While the rest of the restaurant only had about 3 other tables sat, we were still given our entrees about 25 minutes apart from the first dish to the last.
The appetizer portions were generous during the Dine About Town San Jose promotional.
However, the main course when ordered medium hot, was so venomously hot that you couldn't taste anything, much less converse after consumption. What's more nauseating was that my date's entree when ordered Hottest, was actually Less hot than my entree or Gumbo.
The Bignet (spelling?) dessert was delicious, but not enough to keep me going back. The chocolate mousse cake was just over the counter, nothing special.
I feel kind of bad for giving this restaurant a 3 stars because the waiter was really nice and the service was great, but I was un-impressed with the food and it was overpriced.
We ordered the fried catfish, seafood jambalaya, the gumbo jumbo gumbo and beignets. The fried catfish was the most disappointing. It taste OK, but there was only TWO pieces! The fried catfish at Boiling Crab came with 5 huge pieces with french fries and the batter was tastier.
The Seafood jambalaya was my fav. I though it was spicy and flavorful and the seafood was fresh, but I've had better for lower price. The gumbo was good, but again not impressed considering it's their signature dish. The beignets were yummy. I liked the crispiness of the outside and soft inside. The portions were good except for the fried catfish.
The decor was a nice surprise. I liked the colorful paintings and fun lounge seating. This would be a good place to take a date to, but I'm still a little disappointed with the food.
This place was a little of a disappointment. The gumbo is not like the one you would get in Nawlin's. The host declares that it is more cajun based than creole, more rustic than creamy. Apparently, it is Mississippi based gumbo. When you think of gumbo, you think of Nawlin's, not Mississippi. I think it's just a weak excuse for a bad recipe.
The dirty rice was literally Chinese fried rice. It was good, but it wasn't dirty rice.
The best part of the dinner was a sampler appetizer. Fried okra, corn, and mushrooms. Delicious.
Service was pretty good.
OMG! Gumbo Jumbo is AWESOME!
A coworker gave me a flier and I thought I give this place a try. I was there for the Grand Opening back in 2007. I went there for lunch a few times and I was very impressed. The atmosphere and setting is very beautiful. The staff was very polite and helpful.
I love the food so much! The garlic pasta & shrimp was mmmmm good! The Strawberry lemonade is to die for! I had to bring my husband and he was very impressed also.
It's been too long since we've been there! I think it's great that they have live bands there. We must check it out soon.
Keep up the good work!
I was really hoping that this place would be a hit since I enjoy cajun food, but I was truly disappointed. At first, I thought it was weird that there was no one else in the restaurant at 6pm on Sunday, but I've been dying to try this place out. Don't be fooled by the outside look of this place. The interior is nicely decorated with a trendy vibe.
I had the crispy calamari for the appetizer. Pretty basic! Then we ordered the crawfish and giant prawn etouffe, which was good. The main thing that totally turned me off about this place is their crawfish. We ordered 2 pounds of garlic crawfish and it didn't taste like anything and it's probably because the bag they served it in barely had any sauce. Being that it's a cajun restaurant, one would think that they'd serve better crawfish!
All in all, I'd probably take my money elsewhere to get a good meal and come here afterward for the bar. They had a nice drink menu with lots of infused cocktails.
This is a great place with great food. The only set back is that their portions run on the small side. The place has a very friendly atmosphere and the decor of the restaurant is also very nice.
The food is great. I really enjoyed the times I visited. This is a spot definitely worth checking out when you are either in the mood for crawfish or cajun food. Service can be slow at times when they have few servers staffed for the evening. Other than that, there seem to be no problems from this restaurant.
The Kobe cajun burger. Motherhumpin DELICIOUS. That's a burger that doesn't even really need sauce - the beef is that good.
The spicy shrimp po-boy. Ooooowheee! My wife said it was "sooo goooood" except it needed more shrimp, because the shrimp was "even goooooooder". Yeah, she knows that's not a real word, lol.
The chicken and giant shrimp etoufee! Helllla spicy, just like I like it! Although, it could use a little more shrimp, too, haha.
The service was fantastic - the gentleman behind the bar was friendly and helpful and our waitress was not only gorgeous, but probably one of the best servers we've had in a long time. Always paying attention to your table to make sure your drinks are topped off and quick to bring you what you ask for. Speaking of which, I'm not sure about some of the complaints of timeliness - our order was taken right away, and our food came in less than fifteen minutes!
The ambience is nice - very Vieux Carré - lots of brick and style. Plenty of elbow room (which is great, I'm a big guy) and even though the prices are a little...well...pricey...we felt right at home in our jeans and t-shirts.
We'll definitely be back. Oh, yes, we definitely will.
My Ratings:
Quality of Food - 4 Stars
Quantity of Food - 3 Stars
Price - 3 Stars
Location - 4 Stars
Parking - 3 Stars
Service - 3 Stars
Speed - 4 Stars
My Opinion/Story:
To be fair, I've only been here once but I'm willing to try them again if I get a chance to. Craving for a New Orleans style dish, my husband took me to Gumbo Jumbo just because he just discovered the place. We decided to have dinner there and was quite surprised how the place is nicely decorated... looks like everything is coordinated down to their plates. I ordered something etouffe and had their fried donuts. My husband had the jambalaya rice. When we got our dishes, we could barely eat it. It was so spicy that it gave tears in my eyes. For someone like me who doesn't like spicy dishes, it was really hard for me to enjoy it. In the end, I didn't eat my food. I just had their fried donuts instead which was yummy.. I think better than what I had in New Orleans.
The place isn't bad and the food isn't bad. Perhaps, I should have ordered non-spicy instead. I'll definitely try them again but not anytime soon. The service is good and the price reasonable. I didn't try their crawfish but I've seen several customers ordering it to go and they leave with huge brown bags full of crawfish... hmmm must be good then!
The ambiance of this place is beautiful with its colorful decor and live music. Ordered the Mumbo Gumbo Jambalaya, it was decent but the seafood could have been fresher--certainly couldn't eat the leftovers the next day due to the smelliness.
Who knew Vietnamese and Cajun food could fuse? Great food, great live jazz, great prices. Service was a little slow, but it was very busy on a Saturday evening.
San Jose, CA
Category: Cajun/Creole
San Jose, CA
Category: Jazz & Blues
San Jose, CA
Category: Cajun/Creole
San Jose, CA
Category: Lounges
San Jose, CA
Category: Cajun/Creole
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