Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen
Categories: Cajun/Creole, Seafood, Breakfast & Brunch [Edit]
798 W Algonquin Road(between Clearbrook Dr & Elk Grove Rd)
Arlington Heights, IL 60005 (847) 228-9551
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Fri 11:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m.
Sat 12:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m.
Sun 10:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. - Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
31 Reviews for Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen
I had their Stuffed Shrimp platter, and boy, did I love it. It was stuffed to the maximus with crab, shrimp, and crawfish and breadings. It was flavorful, not too salty, but salty enough, goodness. Loved it, absolutely LOVED it! I also came here when they were doing the AYCE crab legs - definitely enjoyed that. Keep ordering more and more when you're getting to the end, or just put in the next order before you start. Service was great, could get a little slow; place gets pretty full. In Arlington Heights, I thought it was a great place (especially for the Stuffed Shrimp!!!)
Yum, love the fried gator here...delicious and the spicy dip that comes with it is wonderful. All their desserts are scrumptious as well. Their banana wafer pudding dessert is especially amazing! It also has a unique presentation because it comes in a jar. Whatever you get here from the fresh fish to the fried stuff is delicious.
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Atmosphere: Seafoody
Service: Great
Bathrooms: Clean
Food: Fantastic
I've been going the the Pappas Restaurants for 10 years throughout the country mainly in Texas. I'm a big fan they really know the business.
Crab Legs are great, I love the Bacon wrapped Shrimp WOW!, The Mahi Mahi is a huge portion, Love the Oyster bar, The seafood brochette is my favorite with the dirty rice. The place is always packed and sometimes they have a dixieland band to spice it up a bit!
Wow, I've never been more disappointed in a restaurant in my life. Well, that may not be 100% true, but it was close to being in the top 10 disappointments in restaurants.
My sister and I came here for the all-you-can-eat King Crab special on Thursday nights. I felt as though the crab legs were recycled, and on top of it all they drizzle the crab legs with some sort of butter or oil or something that made it nearly impossible to break open the crab legs. I felt guilty for feeling this way, but meeting a "friend" in the bathroom, she confirmed every feeling that I had about this experience.
Service was awful. We were put up on the top tier, and I don't know if our server had tables upstairs and downstairs, but I saw her a total of 3 times. It took FOREVER to get our drinks (Water and a Coke), and even longer for dinner. In total, we were there for 3 hours...and not eating the whole time. Mostly waiting.
We won't be back.
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One of the reasons that I like the place is because I had a friend that worked there for years, but overtime I learned to appreciate the food more. I am not a fan of fried food, in my opinion once you fry it it all tasted the same. Two of my most favorite things at the restaurant are the crab cakes, they are some of the best crab cakes you will ever eat in your life; and the second fave thing is the lobster salad, yum I can eat it ever day. The prices are on the higher side, but are worth it. One little hint, don't get the sushi, this is not a place that specializes in making it, it's like ordering steak at a Chinese restaurant you know it will not be prepared the way you like it!
Louisiana-style food. (pronounced pa-pa-do)
This is one of the best places for seafood in the Chicagoland area. We came here for the first time for lunch and had one of the best times in recent memory (and we have been hitting some really decent places).
The ambiance, music, service, food and prices are very good. A hot loaf of bread and soft cool butter came out soon after we were seated -- so good. We ordered the blackened catfish that comes with dirty rice and the garden salad with your choice of fried chicken tenders or crawfish -- crawfish! The fish was done to perfection! Everything was soo goood!
The hostess, Tonni is a doll. Our server Soo is one of the best servers Ever. Both are thoughtful, unpretentious, hospitable, knowledgeable, down to earth and have a great sense of humor. Thank You both for making our dining experience that much more enjoyable.
This is Walter Payton's old nightclub space.
Update 09.21.07:
We have been back a couple of times since our first visit. Once on a Monday for 1/2 price on hot appetizers. We had the fried alligator, it was soo goood -- the taste and texture were similar to a pork tenderloin. Coconut shrimp -- Huge and delicious, comes with cajun slaw and a sweet dipping sauce. Oyster Trio A combination of Oysters St. Phillip, Baton Rouge & Pappadeaux, we're not big on oyster but they were good. Onion rings were decent. We had creme brulee with fresh fruit, it was so good with Huge and delicious raspberries and blueberries.
We went to the Sunday brunch (17.95) and it was one of the best we've been to.
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I've been here a handful of times and I'd have to say its one of the few seafood places I really enjoy. Even though most of the time when I go there I end up getting their Cajun chicken (which by the way is AWESOME and I totally have to talk about!).
It's this grilled super flavored up piece of chicken that's really big by the way, you can't eat everything on your plate whatsoever without getting super stuffed. You also get served a piece of broccoli which is relatively large as well and it comes with this kind of weird but tasty butter/lemon sauce to dip in. It's steamed broccoli which ends up at a great consistency (I've never had super soggy or hard broccolli there). And my favorite part personally is the mashed potatoes which are super doped up with garlic and such and I could of ate alone as a meal by themselves.
They do for sure have humongous portions and the food itself is a bit pricey but it's still an awesome place to go for dinner. I wouldn't so much stroll in there if I was looking for a light lunch. They've got awesome dirty rice as well as appetizers like fried alligator. So there's definably an awesome array of food to try out.
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I love me an all you can eat brunch buffet......I wholeheartedly admit it. Theirs is one of the best that I have ever been to....plenty of variety, all for under $16 a person during the weekends. Some of their offerings include dirty rice, shrimp etoufee...yum, made to order omelets, peel and eat shrimp, waffles, carver ham and roast beef, pasta bar, I could go on and on. This is a great place to go if you have overnight guests or need to get together with family.
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Pappadeaux is amazing. I've been there three or four times already, and I am more and more impressed with it every time. I'm not the biggest seafood fan, but the Salmon Diablo special is one of the greatest meals I have ever eaten. You have to try the Swamp Thing, a mysterious green alcoholic drink. It's tasty and gets you buzzed fast. The atmosphere and service are excellent, and the restaurant itself is gigantic. I request we go there every chance I get.
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I like the atmosphere and the food is really good. I do get a little freaked out by the amount of food they serve though.
But they have THE best Salmon I've had in a long time. My husband, who's usually not food-jealous almost had a heart attack when he saw my Salmon which was 10 times better than his Snapper.
Worth going!
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Pictures posted in the other review
Face it, most of us are snobs when it comes to eating at chain restaurants. I resisted Pappadeaux Seafood (apparently, Pappadeaux has other themed restaurants, like Mexican) but the husband and I finally caved today and decided to join the ever-present lunch traffic we see from Algonquin Road in Schaumburg/Arlington Heights.
Peals of cajun music sing as you walk up to the restaurant. I started to worry that we'll be assaulted by tacky fishing nets and giant crabs decor like those at Joe's Crab Shack. Thankfully, the decor is well-tempered and casually classy. See my pics. They don't take themselves too seriously, however. Check out the small wall at the waiting area facing the booth with fishing rods for a back support, it's a hoot --- plaques honoring the first paying customer, the first bar customer, the first customer.
The seating in this restaurant is ample with 2 levels and private dining areas.
Prices are rather reasonable for seafood. The lunch features from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. start at $8.95 with the most expensive item (the fresh lunch catch) topping at $16.95.
We were hoping there'd be sweet tea given the cajun feel, but no.
We had the pasta mardi gras ($13.95). It is a big bowl and my husband could not finish it although he enjoyed every bite. The marinara cream sauce was not overpowering and we could actually taste the flavor of the linguine. I never thought of grilling my sausages but that andouille was certainly heightened by it. Crawfish and a jumbo grilled shrimp rounded up the dish. Delicious.
I had the blackened Alexander ($14.95) and for $2 more, I opted to go with a different fresh catch, the mahi mahi. The mahi was flaky and none too spicy for blackened, the crawfish plentiful. I was excited to see scallops in the menu, but I found only one in my dish. But it's nice and fat, and I mopped up all the seafood with the sweet white wine cream sauce. I noticed I wasn't the only one who didn't care for the dirty rice. I may sub that out with the garlic mashed potatoes next time.
This is definitely a place I would return to. The menu is vast, the prices awfully reasonable for Chicagoland, and I just gotta try their key lime pie.
07/05/2007
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OMG I love Pappadeux's seafood fondue. It is soo good. It's this cheesy mixture of well...cheese and seafood and they serve it with bread Mmmmm, it's like dying and going to a cheesy, seafood heaven. For dessert I always get the banana pudding. They serve their banana pudding to you in a big mason jar with the vanilla wafers. Oooo, it's good! I could just come here for the appetizer, dessert and a good strong drink and I'd be happy.
The restaurant can get kind of noisy but all in an all it's a nice atmosphere. Staff is very friendly and attentive.
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This isn't the best seafood restaurant or the most authentic cajun food but it is very tasty and the portions are huge. The service here has always been spectacular once seated. The prices are very reasonable with the portions and the fresh seafood. I like to go here when I'm in the neighborhood after shopping in the Woodfield area. As far as chain restaurants it's far better than most.
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My first thought when I walked into the restaurant was that I had just walked into some seafood-themed amusement park.
For appetizers, we had the Fried Alligator, which was quite the culinary experience. Highly recommended for those of you who've never had alligator before. Even my friend, who had doubts about trying it couldn't stop eating it after her first taste.
The entrees were incredibly well thought out. I'd never seen so much variety in their sauces, and for the most part they matched the fish they topped very well. However, as I am a person who refrains from too much butter and salt into his food, that I found their sauces a little too much of both for my taste. Their dirty rice was also very mediocre, specifically in it's texture, but that again is a personal culinary opinion.
The food had to have been amazing because one friend, who has a aversion to most sauces and only eats food that is white in color, used his bread to sop up the salmon juice that had seeped onto his cedar plank and finished all of his asparagus.
I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I don't feel justification in critically reviewing their desert, but the portions are huge for a reasonable price. I'm pretty sure that after your meal you won't have much room for dessert.
There definitely will be a next time at this restaurant, even though it is well out of the way, and when that happens, I'll probably try for some of the healthier entrees and see how they taste.
Great service, great food, great decor.
2.5 stars really.
I started going to Pappadeaux when I lived in Austin, TX. That was back in 1992 and P's was "the place" to go for great seafood in town (the whole "Pappa" family of restaurants was started in Houston). Boy... things sure have changed since then!
I was thrilled when the Arlington Heights location opened several years ago. However, after going there several times over the years, I noticed that the service, quality of food and overall experience have totally gone downhill. Crab legs are dry and flavorless, lobster is awful (aside from the presentation which is pretty cool) and the service just plain sucks. It's hard to pinpoint one specific experience but there have been several times where we waited almost 10-15 minutes just to have a server come take our drink order, only to have to wait another 10-15 minutes to have our drinks brought to us. On one occasion, we were actually there almost 45 minutes before the server returned to take our order - this after speaking to OTHER servers and a manager. We got up to walk out and were more or less begged by a manager to stay and have dinner comped. We stayed, but still ended up spending almost $40 on drinks and another $15 on a tip. Oh yeah, another "con"... this place is usually VERY loud. The acoustics suck and it can be extremely difficult to hear conversation at your own table.
Bottom line - this place is ok. The bar drinks are awesome (try the Swamp Thing or Firecracker) but a bit pricey. The seafood etouffe (appetizer) is great. Service is more miss than hit and the food quality is inconsistent. Give it a shot, but beware of the negatives.
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The consensus is that the food is good and I liked the food portion of the dining experience, but I had a very poor, overall dining experience and would rather not go back. What can I say other than they just rubbed me the wrong way. The overall service of the restaurant was very poor and I'm not pinning this on the server. Most of the blame, in my opinion, lies in the ownership and management. Maybe I've been spoiled by how well run the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants (Shaw's, Wildfire, Big Bowl) are.
I think the dining experience at Pappadeux is closer to the Applebee level than it is the Shaw's level. There was nothing special about it, in my opinion. It was just a painful dining experience. When people complain about chains, this is the chain that personifies all the negative like: impersonal, synthetic and artificially flavored.
For people that say, "oh, the food tastes so good" well, anyone can throw a stick of butter and over salt a nice piece of fish to make it taste better than it should. I'm not criticizing the quality of their ingredients b/c they're not cheap, but adding fat and salt to anything will make it taste better than it should, so I don't see why I would give them anymore credit.
Very expensive with high value. Be ready to drop serious cash whether on a date or just having drinks. Very fresh, very unique dish offerings.
When I first started dining with Pappa, I wasn't a big fan of seafood. Every time since, they were able to supply me a dish that satisfied my taste buds and opened me up to something different. If you are the same way, don't do surf'n'turf. Try the Mahi, I think you'll like it. Stuffed crab shell I didn't find to be very tasty, but you can request for it to be doctored with some spices while its cooking.
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good but pretty commercial- pretty expensive but a nice splurge every once in a while
we recommend: the yummy cheesy dip appetizer! And the ponchartrain sauce on fresh fish
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Ugh. This place was awful. Where do I start?
We went there on a Friday night after work. I work in the 'burbs, so we decided to try this. Jen loves seafood, and this place was supposedly decent. But not really.
It started with bad service. It wasn't busy, but they wouldn't let us choose our table. They made us sit at a middle table two tables removed from where we asked to be seated. The waiter took 10 minuets to say hello the first time, then took another 10-15 minutes to take our order. He forgot our appetizer, and asked us if we were okay long after serving our main course. Yea right.
Food--bland, overcooked, rubbery and memorable only in a bad way. I ordered shrimp po' boy, and Jen had tilapia. Well, at least her rice was good...
The prices were bad, $11-20 per dish, and the portions were not especially large. As far as the interior, the decor felt like Hotel 8 meets captain Nemo.
If you can venture into the city, try Sushi Samba (which serves more than sushi), or Rosebud (which is great for more than just steak). But if you're limited to either Long John Silver, or here, then this is ok.
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They have excellent food, great servers, and a fun atmosphere. I would reccomend the Sunday morning brunch, it's amazing. My grandma loves the crabcakes, I love the desserts! My mom likes the seafood fonduex! There is something for everyone here!!
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It's not very authentic at all with respect to Cajun food, but it sure is good. I had the crawfish sampler- the etoufee was pretty garlicky, which I love, but some people may have a problem with that.
It's a huge place, and I've never had to wait for a table. Our service was great, too- Anfisa was one of the best servers I've ever had.
It may be a little pricy, but all told you get a lot of food and won't leave hungry. If you live in the city, you may already be used to these kinds of prices for entrees- but not this much food!
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Seriously - unless you LUV Red Lobster, this place makes no sense. Mediocre seafood, medicore service, mediocre decor. I guess this is a "FAB" seafood place for those in the McMansion crowd. Ever had real seafood???
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if you're looking for a lobster fix, head over to this pappadeaux location on thursdays for AYCE lobster at $49.95. lobsters averaged about a pound a piece and of the 25 that our party of 5 polished off, ~70% of them were berried females. some of the lobsters were a bit overcooked but all were fresh and flown in from alaska.
all lobsters were prepared the same way: steamed, with a side of seasoned and buttered corn on the cob and potatoes. service was excellent; they really seemed to know what they were doing. none of us actually asked for additional helpings, it was just offered when our plates were empty.
make your reservation soon if you want in on this deal. i believe they'll be substituting lobster for king crab next month as lobster prices have skyrocketed.
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Amazing seafood - service was fantastic and the lobster/crab dishes were just fantastic. Came here for a birthday celebration - definately recommend reservations on the weekends. I heard that it seats 700 but the waits are normal on the weekends. Since it's out in the suburbs - they have a free parking lot (nice since I'm used to paying valet in the city) Oysters were really good - not too much seasoning so it really brought out the flavor. Found out that on Thursday nights after 5pm, they have all-you-can-eat lobster for only $44.95 so I'll definately be back for that!
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Although the Pappa-XYZ chain seems to be a bit commercialized, I really enjoy this particular variation. I first started to come here for their all-you-can-eat lobster night. Since, I've moved on to try some of their other fare. They've delicious scallops and I love the gator strips - really tastes extra chickeny! :-P Whenever I can't decide on what to order, I default to their sampler platter/meal. They've a good beer selection to go with your meal as well so drink up.
The atmosphere is festive and even though they've entensive seating, the place still manages to get packed. Calling in for reservations is highly recommended. Sometimes you'll get to enjoy live music at the doorway while waiting for your table.
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The best Sunday Brunch for the price.! Where else can you go and have above average brunch food for under $20??
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hmm, what can I say? 7 animals had to die for my meal, can't beat that...:) (gator, squid, tuna, snapper, crawfish, sausage, and lobster)
The experience here at pappadeaux was pretty good. I've never been here before and wasn't expecting much. Though I know my brother in law and sister in law really enjoy this place so I gave it a try. The place is pretty big, you first walk in and see all the cooks and there is a bar to your right and the front desk to your left. We made reservations because I wasn't sure how long the wait would be but we were seated immediately. Our hostess gave us a quick tour of the place when she found out that we had never been to Pappadeaux before which was nice, but honestly, I just wanted to sit down and get started on the dinner.
We started off with the gator strips, crispy tuna rolls, calamari and some drinks. The appetizers were pretty awesome. My favorite was the crispy tuna rolls, very good tuna and not fishy at all. The calamari and the gator strips were also very well done. I decided to take one of the specials which was a Costa Rican Snapper with some special sauce that included mushrooms, crawfish, and lobster. Pretty good imo. The dirty rice was pretty good as well. And finally finished up with the banana pudding dessert.
Overall, the service at Pappadeaux was pretty good and the food was very good. The dining room was rather loud, but I think that's because we had a large party and several birthdays there. I think next time I'm going to try the crab or lobster or maybe the grouper. I will definately return.
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Ok, so I've only been to the Arlington Heights locations once (Westmont is closer to me), but this place rocks. I had slow service a couple times, but the food more than makes up for it. Soft-shell crab is to die for. The chicken salad and salmon are also good. This place is always consistently good.
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This place specializes in seafood dishes, some of which have a bit of a cajun flavor. The best meals I've had here have been lobster tail and king crab dishes, the appetizers are worthwhile too - the fried calamari is flavorful and MUCH more tender than what I've become accustomed to from other restaurants. This is a pretty huge place with lots of seating, but on a Friday or Saturday night you still might experience a pretty long wait - make reservations if you can.
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This is a nice place. Very cool decor. Tasty sea food, without breaking the bank. And yes, it's definitely a step above Red Lobster.
I second the comment about those gator strips...quite tasty, indeed.
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This is a really good restaurant. The place is really nice with huge windows to look out at the scenery. The shrimps here are the best. However, it is a bit expensive.
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