Austin Axis welcomes all comments about Austin-area seafood. Please send remarks to:

Comments will be attributed to their author, unless he or she requests otherwise.

The latest version shall always reside on Austin Web Publishing's WWW Server at:

	http://www.awpi.com/

Permission is given to repost on all non-commercial WWW, Gopher and FTP servers (and to commercial sites upon approved request) as long as the file is not changed in any way and the information is made available free of charge.

Captain John's Seafood

2021 Guadalupe Street

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 474-5823

Reader Remarks

Captain's Seafood and Oyster Bar, The

5700 North IH 35

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 452-1417

Reader Remarks

Catfish Parlor

North

11910 Research

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 258-1853

South

4705 East Ben White

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 443-1698

Reader Remarks

Catfish Station & More

418 East Sixth Street

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 477-8875

Reader Remarks

City Grill

401 Sabine Street

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 479-0817

Reader Remarks

Deep End Restaurant

2219 Westlake Drive

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 327-9500

Reader Remarks

Gilligan's Seafood

407 Colorado Street

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 474-7474

Reader Remarks

Tom Painter (3/27/95)

I generally highly recommend Gilligan's for seafood to everyone that asks. I say "generally" because there might be a before and after story here. It used to be a very nice quiet place to eat. Then for some reason, they decided to make it more appealing to the masses. They shoved the bar against the wall, added cocktail tables and a piano. The crowds came. The food is still good, but the place got real noisy and crowded, so I'd recommend a weekday visit. I have been there many times and enjoy their grilled fish dinners. The exact entree's escape me now, but I'll go back and refresh my memory and this list. Gilligan's puts out what I would call a Carribean seafood fare. The sauces and preparation methods lean towards the sweet and fruity or light vegetable. The portions are large, usually come with rice and black beans. Before, we particularly enjoyed the coconut shrimp, but after we couldn't taste any coconut. They have some excellent desserts. The service at the tables is very good and friendly. We've always walked away full. Prices are moderate to expensive.

Mike McNally

Good service, fairly reasonable prices, nice place. The "Wild Boar Potstickers" are a treat. All the fish I've had there has been very creatively prepared.

Larry Buickel (6/12/95)

In spite of the corny name, I and everyone I have ever gone with have had great food at Gilligan's. Not a bad entree yet in 8-10 visits. City Grill has very good fresh fish too.

Ray Shea (10/9/95)

I agree with Tom's comments about "before" and "after", but not necessarily because of the atmosphere. I've been there four times now; three times back when the bar was in the middle of the room (I didn't think it was necessarily a "quiet" place to eat, but not loud either, just very fun), and once just recently. The food the first three times was excellent, a little pricey but worth it. The last time I went, it was still pricey, but really nothing special. I don't remember what I had, but it was fairly bland; I could have done something much more interesting at home with a couple of filets. My wife ordered the coconut shrimp, which she had had before and loved. This time, the shrimp looked just like fried shrimp; we thought there had been a mistake, but the waitress said they grind the coconut up really fine so you wouldn't be able to see it. This was baloney, why order coconut shrimp where you can't see the coconut and you can't taste the coconut? We didn't press the issue, but it kinda tainted our opinion of the place.

Craig Becker (2/18/96)

Granted it's been awhile since we went there, but my wife and I weren't impressed. It was noisy and crowded and had too much "downtown Austin upscale trendyness" happening...certain aspects of the menu reminded me of the restaurant scenes in Bret Elliot Easton's _American Psycho_. All of which I could live with, except that I didn't think the food was that good.

Landry's Seafood House

600 East Riverside Drive

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 441-1010

Reader Remarks

Ray Shea (10/9/95)

Not bad Louisiana-style seafood for this part of Texas. Not great, mind you, but not as overpriced/overrated as places like Mardi Gras. The view of the city from the outdoor riverside patio is extraordinary. The wait for a table on the weekends can often be more than 90 minutes, which is completely unreasonable.

Mardi Gras Cafe

2531 West Anderson Lane

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 451-2200

Reader Remarks

Tom Painter (3/27/95)

As the name implies, Louisianna is the theme. The decor is bright an cheery with jazz combo music in the background (live and taped). The menu is large and varied. I've had a couple of the fish plates which were decent. I often go back for the Po'Boys. At 7.95, these guys are big and very filling. The bread on the table lacks a certain something which I call "taste". The red beans and rice didn't do anything for us. All in all, I wouldn't drive across town to eat there, but if I'm in the area... Prices moderate.

Mark Herro (4/12/95)

I took a date to Mardi Gras and we sat at our table for over 20 minutes without a wait-person coming by. The place was not busy. We finally just got up and left (after making my displeasure known to the management).

Blake Krass (7/25/95)

Nice atmosphere, decent prices, large portions, good menu. With Jambalaya having gone by the wayside, this is about the best place to go for New Orleans style food.

Ray Shea (10/9/95)

Atmosphere is very fake. Service sucks. Food is bland and overpriced.

Craig Becker (2/1896)

What can I say about a Cajun restaurant that has bread, cocktail sauce, and remoulade on the table, but no Tabasco? My wife and my little girl and I had the Sunday brunch buffet at Mardi Gras this morning, and even though it's a very pretty establishment, the service and food are flawed. For starters, the woman who seated us seemed less than happy that we had a one year old child with us, and there was a non-trivial wait for a high chair. Our waiter was friendly enough, but we didn't see much of him, and when I finally snagged him to ask for a bottle of Tabasco, he brings me an almost empty bottle with about three good shakes left in it. Which, given the food, wasn't nearly enough.

Ah yes, the food: a nice array of salads, including slices of muffuletta sandwich (which proved to be a disappointment), Eggs Benedict and Pecan Waffles (included in the brunch price) could be ordered through the waiter. The hot food at the buffet included eggs, beans, pasta with tomato-mushroom sauce, rice, fish, gumbo, and etouffee; sorry, no oysters or shrimp. But everything was remarkably tasteless...Roberta and I puzzled over this on the way home and concluded that they were using cornstarch or flour to thicken their pecan sauce and etouffee and such, which will indeed thicken a sauce, but it won't result in a very _flavorful_ sauce. The etouffee suffered especially badly from this.

Desserts were a little better: the star was a chocolate cup filled with a cream custard and sliced kiwi and strawberry. The cheesecake and cocoanut-almond cake were good, too. But watch out for the dreadful, thick, tasteless chocolate pudding cake.

To end on a high note: the fellows bussing tables were hauling tail: our water and tea never fell more than an inch below the rim of the glass. On the way out I slipped the busboy a few dollars, partly because our daughter had made a bit of a mess, but mostly because he seemed to be the only person there (chefs included) who was doing a good job.

Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen

6319 North IH 35

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 452-9363

Reader Remarks

Tom Painter (3/27/95)

A Cajun seafood chain out of Houston(?). They serve all the traditional Louisiana favorites from grilled fish with shrimp, scallop, or crab toppings to fried shrimp, fish, and crab to etoufee and creole. The portions are large and usually very good. A couple of times that Ponchetrain(sp?) was too rich. The salads are often not as crisp as I'd like. Service is decent. It's kinda noisy and it's one big room. They are very crowded on weekends (90 minute waits) and less so during the week. Appetizers are available at the bar and there is outside seating so the time passes quickly. Prices moderate.

Mark Herro (4/10/95)

I found Pappadeux's (sp?) to be too noisy, over-priced, over-crowded, and mostly fried.

Blake Krass (7/25/95)

Over-hyped, over-spiced, over-priced (though portions are decent). I was born and raised in New Orleans and find Pappadeaux's to be disappointing. What makes it even crazier is that people are willing to wait for an hour or more to be seated. Oh yeah, and I hate the atmosphere too. Hundreds of people packed in, and you can hardly hear yourself think, much hear someone else at your table speak!

Ray Shea (10/9/95)

I agree completely with Mark Herro.

Craig Becker (2/18/96)

I'm sorry, but my wife and I love Pappadeaux. Yes, you need to get there early to beat the crowds, and it's a bit noisy for my taste, but we love their food. In general the fried entrees are of only average quality (except for the fried crawfish, which are exceptional)...on the other hand, Pappadeaux's consistently has the biggest, plumpest, tastiest oysters in town. They also serve a mean Bloody Mary. Helpful hint: sit at the bar in front of the shuckers to get a few freshly shucked "freebie" oysters (you'll want to tip 'em, but it's worth it). As for entrees, we generally get the Blackened Opelousas (sp?), a large portion of blackened fish topped with a light cream sauce containing oysters, shrimp, and crab meat. It's enough food that we'll often split a single order.

Red Lobster Restaurants

North

109 West Anderson Lane

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 451-6406

South

3815 South Lamar Blvd.

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 447-1824

Reader Remarks

Blake Krass (7/25/95)

Seems to me to have consistently good food, surprisingly so for a chain. Prices are a little high, but portions are a nice size. Alcoholic drinks are over-priced. Gets quite busy at times.

Ray Shea (10/9/95)

My wife and I once went to Red Lobster thinking we would just slum it and pig out on some cheap lo-fi chain restaurant stuff. We were shocked when we got the bill. Way way overpriced. If you want cheap mass produced seafood, go to Sizzler.

Craig Becker (2/18/96)

Is it just me, or does the food at Red Lobster look a lot better on television than it does when you're actually at Red Lobster? The last time (and I do mean _the last time_) we ate there was when they had their "steak, shrimp, and lobster special": miniscule portions of tasteless, rubbery food. I'd rather eat at McDonalds.

Shoreline Grill

98 San Jacinto Blvd.

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 477-3300

Reader Remarks

Susan Kough (4/6/97)

Beautiful deck. Smokers allowed. Great place to impress visitors with the bat flight. Fine food, uneven service, great atmosphere.

T.J.'s

East 7th Street

Reader Remarks

Kathy (4/21/96)

It's fried, but it sure ain't Long John Silver's!

This is our favorite fried fish -- always hot, not greasy, with a nice light cornmeal batter. It's cheap, too. The fries aren't so hot, and it comes with one of those "salads" (a smidge of iceberg with a schmear of French dressing), but the fish is great.

Retail

Bay Seas Fish Market

7105-4 Ed Bluestein Blvd.

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 928-1095

Reader Remarks

Central Market

4001 N. Lamar

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 206-1012

Reader Remarks

Groomer's Seafood

1151 Airport Blvd.

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 926-8862

Reader Remarks

King Shrimp Seafood

111 North Bell Blvd.

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 335-7719

Reader Remarks

Maine Lobsters

2211 Denton Drive

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 834-2444

Reader Remarks

Quality Seafood

5621 Airport Blvd.

Austin, Texas

Tel: (512) 454-5827

Reader Remarks

Special Bonus Section -- Best Seafood Anywhere

Ray Shea (10/9/95)

Anywhere? Like anywhere in the world? There are three:

Franky & Johnny's (New Orleans) -- a dank little neighborhood restaurant where you can get cheap and delicious crawfish, gumbo, alligator pie, you name it, in a fun no-frills atmosphere. Uptown, near Tchoupatoulis.

Pacific Cafe (San Francisco) -- out on the foggy end of Geary, very intimate casual dining, the salmon and the mussel dishes are incredible. Plus they serve free wine to the people waiting for a table. We went there every year for Valentine's Day.

??? -- some restaurant my mother knows about in Boston where you can get steamers by the bucket.

Contributors

Craig Becker (beckers@bga.com)

Larry L. Buickel (llb@getinc.com)

Chris Kiser (ckiser@bga.com)

Mark Herro (markh@austlcm.sps.mot.com)

Susan Kough (SGraham333@aol.com)

Blake Krass (JJGT16A@mail.prodigy.com)

Mike McNally

Tom Painter (painter@us.dell.com)

Ray Shea (shea@eden.com)

Kathy (KMcT@aol.com)

Created and maintained by Brian Combs (combs@awpi.com).

Copyright (c) 1995-1997 Austin Web Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

The comments made in the document are the opinion of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Brian Combs or Austin Web Publishing, Inc.