I'm giving this place 2 stars because the muffuletta was decent and they let us sit on the porch with our dog. If rating on service, cleanliness and overall experience I would give it a 1 star. I walked in to ask if we could have our dog on the deck and the bartender who was rude and completely drunk replied"uhh yeah ok" wow great customer service. I had to repeat my order , 3 times(which was one sandwich) before she understood. No one came to check on us and when I went in to pay the bartender said" I'm the only person here" I saw at least 2 other people with Bayou Cafe shirts on. Not to mention there was only 3 other people in the place. Do not waste your time visiting this place.. it's honestly a joke and disgrace to the amazing river walk . read more

Solid little lunch spot but as I can see from these other reviews, I should've come to Bayou for some live music at night! A few friends and I stopped in for a quick lunch before heading to a house tour and I ordered a pretty tasty (albeit a little soggy) fried chicken caesar wrap. I also had some kind of cocktail with lavender in it, which ended up being a bit too sweet. Overall, as far as vibes go, it's hard to get a good read on Bayou from my mid-day experience but it was fine as far as lunch goes. read more

Bayou Cafe - Seafood Near Me

The food was on point ! Colorful and tasty. I had a blackened mahi mahi and really enjoyed it. The atmosphere is simple, not the prettiest restaurant but the food was great ! read more

Bayou Cafe - Seafood Near Me

STAY AWAY!! Well, my husband and I came in to hear live music as it was advertised a guy was playing. I can't begin to describe the array of people that were outside and inside. I understand this is a bar but seemed more like someone's neighborhood party with the crazy drunk uncle, etc. Our waitress was nice enough. Food, eh. Ordered a pulled pork sandwich. As we were tripping by before entering the bar, we had seen what i think was the shirtless smoking cook. There was a lot of patrons who I believe were workers enjoying a drink or two. Lots of men in Bayou Cafe tshirts, drinking, smoking, yelling, hugging, laughing. I wasn't sure who was working. We noticed many people (mainly women) going upstairs. My hubby went up to check it out and came back with a bewildered face. He first walked into a dark room and was greeted by a mannequin head. He then noticed two women dancing in bras. ????? The singer was good but no one was listening to his stories or songs. The bartender eventually turned off the canned music. The singer noticed I was listening and started addressing his stories to me, which is fine but felt awkward! All in all, the vibe was off. Everyone seemed friendly to each other but not to patrons. I've been all over the world and have seen/experienced many things. This experience left me feeling off kilter! read more

We stopped here for lunch shortly after arriving in Savannah. It wasn't very busy around 1:00. We ordered shrimp sandwiches and fish and chips and our server was very friendly. 45 minutes after ordering our food wasn't yet out and asked the server about our order. The fun, friendly personality left her body and we were curtly informed this was a "dive bar" and we should expect that kind of experience. When our orders finally arrived we were underwhelmed by the quality of the food. A "dive bar" experience should make up for their divey surroundings and filthy bathrooms with great, flavorful food, not hide behind the genre like a free pass for rude service. There are many other good options along the riverfront area that offer a better experience and value. read more

Only ended up here because everywhere else had a 45 minute wait. A woman handing out samples from the place underneath warned us not to come on. No breakfast or brunch menu was very disappointing, but lots of Cajun dishes to choose from. I got small burger which was served on dry white toast. The pulled pork nachos were great, smoky and topped with fried pickles. Very flavourful, juicy pork. Service was slow, but everyone was really nice. No alcohol until 12:30pm. C'mon Savannah! read more

I am not entirely sure how I could I have picked the slowest place to eat in Savannah on my first try, but here I am. I ordered my food about 45 minutes ago and still no food. Tried their version of a Bloody Mary and it was disgusting. Bitter. My wife seems to like it, though. Don't really care if the food is good anymore. read more

This has to be one of the WORST places in Savanah! Dirty interior, food wait was over 50mins 3 tables came in after our order and they got their food before we got ours. Drinks were made poorly and the waitress seemed like we were pissing her off because we were not from the area! DO NOT GO HERE! I hate to say this about a place but I'm not apologizing for it! This has got to be the worst place we have ever had the misfortune of running into! read more

Not good. Service was well below the standard. I ordered shrimp and grits and got shrimp with cornbread. My husband ordered steamed crawfish, Cajun style. They were delivered with zero seasoning. Once our food was delivered in styrofoam plates we NEVER saw our waitress again. I could not order a drink nor pay for our bill without going searching for our waitress. Our bill was $60 for a meal worth $15. read more

My husband loves all good Cajun! The menu for this place looks yummy. We were meeting another couple from out of town and got there before them. There were no patrons, with the doors open there were flies everywhere. I was actually happy when the bartender apologized he had no wait staff or cook, so no food! Ended up at The Cotton Exchange around the corner, wonderful experience! read more

I'd give it a zero if I could; my son wanted Cajun food so we decided to try this place. They were playing extremely loud obnoxious Christmas music; I polled the other table & they said the same thing: ask them to change the music. The woman behind the bar was extremely rude AND refused to let me sample a draft beer so we went and spent $60 at another establishment with great food and good music... read more

I went thru these reviews and I cannot believe no one has left one about their AMAZING chicken wings!!! We have lived in Savannah for 4 years always in search of the best chicken wings in town and we have finally found them! Don't get me wrong all the food here is good and the live music is always awesome and never thought to order chicken wings. Lol the Cajun and lemon pepper were equally the same amount of delicious with some cold beers! read more

I never write reviews , but I had to especially after spending so much on terrible food, by the way I used Uber eats.. I requested for my meal to be spicy & instead I received cold gumbo with no flavor, it look better than it tastes & ended up feeding this food to the trash what a wast of my money.. I really was looking forward to this order based on the reviews. The Chef did a poor job they should give the job to someone who wants to be there.. lemon pepper wings way to salty, someone must of pissed the chef off while he or she was cooking, how can you mess up frying wings.. Very disappointing read more

Not the best place to dine or eat. Especially, if you are trying to aviod COVID 19. No one in the restaurant has in a mask including our server. The cook brought our food to the table, he was sweatty and dirty with no mask. read more

Marginal food, marginal service. Frozen shrimp, Corn crap chowder with almost no crab. And the drinks: After the waitress told us they had a full bar, they did not have the ingredients to produce the first two drinks requested. Oh, and they were out of iced tea. A restaurant in Georgia without iced tea.... The food wasn't all that bad, but really barely above Captain D's quality. We had to fetch our own flatware after the food arrived. Wasn't worth our time or money. read more

1 star because you can't give 0. Food took forever to come out. We ordered raw oysters and they did not come on ice, so hopefully we don't get sick. We got shrimp and grits. The grits were in cake form and dry and flavorless. The greens were not cut small enough to put in your mouth. Also ordered crab cake and fried catfish. The crab cake was burnt and the fish was mostly breading. Sad to say the best thing were the crinkle cut fries, which are the worst kind of fries. Cool dive bar with terrible food. read more

My wife and I are fans of Cajun food and this place did not disappoint. We had a late lunch and had the whole place to ourselves for about 10 minutes. It had a hole in the wall feel and might have felt crowded for the dinner rush, but there was plenty of room for us at the time. One of our favorite appetizers is Fried Pickles, so naturally we tried them out. We didn't expect to get a whole jar! We were only able to eat about half, but the were fantastic! My wife got their BBQ Sandwich with chips on the side. 1. It was huge. 2. It was delicious. Very tender and great flavor to the sauce. The chips were awesome too. I was stuck between the Crab Cake Sandwich and the Po' Boy. I got the Crab Cake which was good but a little on the dry side. In hindsight, I wish I would have gotten the Po Boy. But I still enjoyed my lunch. If you like Cajun food and are in Savannah, this place is definitely worth a try. read more

Bayou Cafe - Seafood Near Me

See all

Wanted some creole food on our visit to Savannah so what the heck. Gave it a try even tho it's basically a bar and we had our kids with us. Ancient building and u can feel the ghosts! Loved the low country boil, hit the spot. Shared with husband, no extra charge! Teen got Gumbo which she gave thumbs up. Preteen got plain noodles, as desired. Memorable and good, if not exactly a family atmosphere; ) FYI long wait. read more

Strategic misfire. With all the options on River Street, this small establishment seemed a good bet, but I should have stuck to my gut and pulled an about face after three people were seated at a table smaller than a hula hoop. I was after some Cajun food, being in Savannah, the oldest city in Georgia and a legendary port city at that. And the restaurant is the "Bayou Cafe." What could go wrong? My seafood gumbo was not as warm as the outside temperature, translation: it was served cold. (Insert unhappy face here). It was also missing flavor. My colleagues, who ordered a crap cake sandwich and sirloin tip appetizer/dinner were also served lukewarm meals. Ah nuts. From a taste standpoint, the food might have been decent, but it wasn't, 'cuz it wasn't served properly (hot). I think scientists would say all flavor wafts into the ceiling under those conditions. We passed by other viable options, much to my dismay now that dinner has passed, but over time you learn that choosing a restaurant while on vacation is like playing darts blindfolded. If you're lined up correctly, you'll likely hit the target ... otherwise it's a lot of luck. On this night we were unlucky and there won't be a redemption visit; only a 2 star rating just cause I'm feeling charitable. read more

Came in late night as live music was wrapping up. Dive bar vibe with decent drinks at a good price. Also upstairs they have pool tables, foosball, and darts. Saw others ordering food and it looked pretty good so I can't judge the food. read more

Cool little hole in the wall, upstairs bar looking over the river. Ordered the southern pulled pork nachos and they are AMAZING! The pork was cooked just right, BBQ sauce is really good and the fried pickles are very tasty! Definitely recommend! read more

Bayou Cafe - Southern pulled pork nachos. Fried pickles were the best I've ever had! - Seafood Near Me

This place has the best etouffee outside of New Orleans. The service wasn't very fast, but the place is small, and I don't think a lot of people work there. If you go here, definitely get a gumbo or other actual Cajun dish. I had the Cajun shrimp scampi and it wasn't very good. It's also kinda pricey. read more

Bayou Cafe - Lol list of songs they make you pay for to request :p - Seafood Near Me

Stumbled upon this place while starving and desperate to eat in Savannah! The place wasn't very busy, but we sat down and ordered relatively quickly and proceeded to wait at least 45 minutes for our food to come. There was only one server working so I do feel for her, but there's no way it takes that long to make pretty basic bar food. There were 5 of us dining, and 4 of the 5 orders came out, and our last friend's order didn't come until we were all already done with our meal! The server was somewhat apologetic, but then when the bill came, she actually charged for the meal that came out last after we were all done! The food is okay, but definitely not worth the wait. My other friend ordered a cocktail and it wasn't even clear what was in it, it was so bad! Sadly I do not recommend this place in the slightest. read more

I would consider Bayou Cafe on of my happy places. My husband and I have come here every time we visit Savannah, since we first discovered it on our honeymoon 15 years ago. Friendly staff and good food. Very good drink selection. But the main reason we keep coming back is the chance to listen hot blues music by talented artists. Its well worth stopping in for a pint and a song. read more

Bayou Cafe - Seafood Near Me

See all

Jesse is an AWESOME some server! Bloody Mary was right on. Had oysters for lunch, hubby had fish & chips. Come when there's live music, it's packed but so much fun, great vibe. read more

Great service!! Great place to watch live music in Savannah! Cricket, our server, was awesome!

We were soo hungry and after bad service from one restaurant we came to the bayou cafe and was greeted by Ana. She definitely made our day so much better. She was quick with what we wanted and was very attentive. The food was great and the service was better. If you come to the Bayou, ask for Ana if she is working. She's amazing! read more

Total dive bar not to be missed!!! Stopped for lunch and had a 1lb. of fresh shrimp & 1lb of crawfish with 2 pitchers of beer!! $19 ea. doesnt get better than this. Unless its NOLA!! Food was made to order staff was great!! As to the other not so "step off the curb reviewers" who the hell goes to hole in the wall, shot and a beer joint and order a martini??? and if you are stopping in a bar for dinner after 9pm dont expect to get the royal treatment. They are going into bar mode and closing the kitchen you are going to get the leftovers.!!!! Lets not get the panties in an uproar and take it for what it is. Try it during regular lunch and dinner hours you wont be disappointed! By the way if you dont like something send the shit back! What so hard about that!!!??? The Bayou hot sauce is homemade and is awesome!!! read more

Bayou Cafe was the worst dining (or bar-eats) experience I've ever had. Granted, we went on New Years Day when many other restaraunts were closed, but if you're going to be open then you should treat it like a normal day of buisness. There were about 10 people in the place when we went. The waitress consistently forgot about our table (not giving us menus until 15min after seeing us) and didn't bother checking up on our food (our app. came out cold, our over-priced entrees came out colder). The only "plus" was that, after complaining about the service and cold food, our bill was comped and we left to eat real food elsewhere. I hope that my experience was an anomaly and looking at the other reviews here, I think that it was. But regardless, just know that dinner at Bayou Cafe is a roll of the dice. read more

Good little spot we stumbled upon will exploring River Street. Vibe was good and decent beers on tap. We came for a drink and ended up staying for food. Favorites: fried shrimp was perfectly cooked and yummy potato salad on the side Least Favorites: Creole was full of imitation crab. Not worth it, stick with the jambalaya. The ladies restroom was pretty gross and sticky. Could use some Lysol. read more

I am surprised by the positive impressions of this place. It's probably the WORST RESTAURANT in the United States. I have dined at many places in my culinary travels and this is by far "THE WORST" place on the map. It's a blatant rip-off! There should be a law against places such as this existing and remaining in business. If there was such a thing as "The Food Police", it should not only be closed but flattened by a bulldozer. If you do go here, enter at your own risk and bring a tube of KY, because you will be screwed out of your hard-earned dollars in more ways than one. We arrived late from a long day of traveling and were hungry as bastards! We headed to the waterfront of Savannah hoping to hit a spot for some decent dinner. We saw this spot Bayou Cafe and decided to enter through the doors. And we did most certainly enter at our own risk. Upon arriving through the door of this low-rent, dingy spot there was a live band performing on the ground floor. We asked if they were still serving food and the hostess mentioned they still were and to proceed upstairs. After climbing upstairs, we noticed the surroundings being more of a bar area which included pool and foosball tables with no actual dining tables available. The bartender said "not to worry", they pulled out a table reminiscent of a picnic table and some lawn chairs. We asked for a round of drinks. I made the mistake of ordering a Martini. The bartender had to embark on a challenging search for vermouth. Obviously they didn't have any at the bar, which in itself should have been a warning. Once he returned with it, he made the Martini and delivered it to us along with some beers. The Martini was poured in a plastic dixie cup and was horribly mixed. I am not sure if there was more vermouth or vodka. It was horrible beyond belief. It would have been more preferable to drink Robitussin cough syrup. I decided to switch out to beers after my dismay. Looking at the menu, we decided to order some appetizers. We decided to shoot for 2 orders of crab-claw apps. We also decided to order dinners. Upon recommendation from our server as "being the best East of Louisiana, I ordered the Jambalaya. When the appetizers arrived, they were served on plastic plates! Plus, they were of the frozen variety you can purchase at any grocery store. This was quite the disappointment! My Jambalaya also arrived in a plastic plate. It was covered over rice which resembled quite closely to the consistency of Minute Rice. This was without question the worst jambalaya I have ever ingested. You can forget about tasting any shrimp, peppers or whatever in the hell was in it because the blandness overtook any flavors. This sorry ass excuse of Jambalaya was definitely out of the tin-can because it wreaked "canned soup"! In fact, I have had far better Campbells Chunky Soup. Also, it was nuked, the reason being, there were bits and pieces of this dish which were "hot and cold". By this time I was ready to hit Wendy's or McDonald's. All I could think was "How in the hell could people get away with this atrocity of a dining experience?". I am bewildered by the lack of dining sophistication of people to even allow a place such as Bayou Cafe to remain open. At all costs, stay away from this place. The building is about ready to fall apart, I am certain there are rats and roaches infesting in the kitchen as well. Oh, did I mention how clueless the wait-staff-bartender was? read more

I think the key here is to just drink and not get any of the food. Service was good and the bartender was the precise amount of snarky and easy-going. He poured heavy. Heavy. Good man. We were a party of five and I'm not sure anybody enjoyed their food. I had a po'boy that was more like a pile of fried salt held in rough place by a liquid salt on top of a salt slab of bread. The other po'boy in our party was more of a sandwich...again, of salt. You get the idea. The best seat is probably the one in the far corner by the window. You're near the bar and you can still check out all the happenings on the river. It's not my first choice, but it's not my last choice either. read more

Ate here a few years ago and made it a point to return. Any time I'm in Savannah I must come here for the Cajun catfish. It is absolutely THE BEST fish you'll ever get. read more

Bayou Cafe - Seafood Near Me

Has that great dive bar feel to it. Good music choices. Bartender, Jordan, was friendly and on top of the service the entire time. Now let's talk food, it was gooooood!! We just ordered a ton of appetizers. Fried crawfish, peel and eat shrimp, jalapeño poppers, and fries. All of it was damn good!! Their signature hot sauce is delicious. We ate all of this for less than $30. I have a feeling this place is mega fun at night. If you're looking for upscale, this isn't for you. If you're looking for fun atmosphere and really good food, this is your place. read more

Bayou Cafe - Seafood Near Me

kitchen nightmares...maybe they should write in and get on it! Man if I would have just read all of the reviews before I went I wouldn't have wasted my time, or money on our restaurant.com certificate. No wonder! Ugh...the soup had no flavor, tasted like cream of mushroom..with some crab in it..(my sister did like it tho) and the cajan catfish had no cajan on it..they just freaken fried it, so we had to dry off the extra grease and put hot sauce on it (which was ok). And don't even get me started with the shrimp po boy..that came out dry with no sauce, and 5-6 shrimp :( slaw was good tho. Overall...don't get fried...it's overly greasy. read more

Bayou Cafe is a must on River Street! Live Southern Rock - what more could you ask for! The drinks and service are about the same as anywhere else on the block, but the music really sets it apart. I don't remember the first time I went to Bayou Cafe (honestly - I'd had a Call-A-Cab at Wet Willie's, and there's a reason they call it that...), but it's not a trip to Savannah without it. It can be quite crowded since the downstairs is not that large, but it's worth it for the music. We've seen any number of Southern rock bands, and it's always a good show, with plenty of soul and oomph. Just watch out for a guy named Big Irish - he doesn't like to be bumped into, but the waitresses always manage to bump you into him. He seemed to warm to one of our party who made that mistake, but that guy ended up with an ulcer from the shot of 151 that he gave him... read more

On the advice of fellow Yelpers, we didn't try any of the food. Seeing what other patrons got, I'm glad. However, the atmosphere can't be beat. We wandered in here looking for some happy hour drinks and this place hit the spot. Small but decent tap selection and strong drinks. Plus 2 for 1 wells during happy hour! We ended up back here later on a Friday night to grab some more drinks before a ghost tour. They had a musician playing, which based on the small stage, seemed like a regular thing. I wouldn't say he was good, but he was entertaining. Friendly bartenders. If I lived closer, I could easily see myself being a regular. read more

An amazing place to say the least great food Stunning musical talent. I highly recommend visiting. read more

FOOD: Pretty good. I appreciated that I could have a vegetarian meal. Corn/Crab soup was very tasty. WAITRESS: Abrupt. Attitude suggested she wanted to be someplace other than work. VIBE: Clean Dive bar with a story to tell. Not a tourist trap. Why were we the only customers at 6PM? I am not sure. A little better service and a little better wine choice might make this a dinner destination. Even tho I gave it a 2, I want to give this place a chance so I suggest you check it out. read more

I enjoyed the Flounder basket and my husband was pleased with the Low Country Boil. Waitress was less than stellar...not friendly and welcoming, never offered refills and overall sucked as a waitress spending more time smoking or on her phone than taking care of her customers. Helpful suggestion...if you work at a restaurant that offers raw oysters, know how to open them so you can assist your customers. read more