Stopped here for lunch on my way back to Youngsville. Not to sound any kind of way but I don't usually trust any gumbos that don't come from south of I-10 between Crowley and Morgan City but I took a chance and boy did I luck up. The gumbo at this place is really good. The fried shrimp and onion rings were good too but the cup of gumbo is so big I thought they accidentally brought me a bowl but they didn't, so I was too full to finish the whole shrimp plate. I could have gotten just a bowl of gumbo. I will next time. read more

Ponchatoulas - Seafood Gumbo. Really good. - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Ruston, Louisiana

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Crawfish Shirley is my go to when in town, but the fried fish is a close second. White chocolate bread pudding is yummy!! Drinks are good. Service is quick ad friendly. read more

It's good but I heard the owners own log cabin also log cabin is better for sure but it's not bad but it's in second place to log cabin

The name of this place is the closest thing you'll get to South Louisiana. I'd say the menu gives a great attempt to grasp customer's attention by portraying they will get awesome south Louisiana food but the execution is off by a long shot. If you're drunk and want food in your belly come here. The place could be cleaner. The service however is great read more

While traveling through Louisiana recently I ended up in Ruston for the night. After getting several recommendations from the hotel staff, the consensus was Ponchatoula for really good Cajun food. Nothing really fancy here - just really good food, cooked right. My server, Cate, was so pleasant, helpful in describing the various menu options and what she liked. After a local craft beer, from their lengthy draft beer selection, I settled on Cajun catfish fried and stuffed with Crawfish, served with dirty rice, Cole slaw and hush puppies. The Crawfish sauce was spicy hot - damn good - with diced hot green peppers. The place was busy for a weeknight. Everyone observing CDC COVID guidelines. Great location downtown with street parking. This was great meal, with exceptional service and affordably priced. read more

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We are on a road trip from Alabama and wanted some cajun food. Our hotel hostess recommended Ponchatoulas for dinner. The boudin balls were amazing, as was the muffuletta. The jambalaya was good as well, we added some more seasoning for extra flavor. Shrimp were tasty! Would recommend! read more

Bailey was killing everything and was very attentive. Would recommend anyone visiting Ruston to stop here and ask for Bailey. These are a couple of our foods, the Crawfish Shirley, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Gumbo. The music was excellent and I recognized every song that played which added to my experience. Thank you Bailey !!!!!! read more

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We can't get a Muffuletta in California so I asked around and in the Ruston area Ponchatoulas was the most recommended. I was more then satisfied with my muffuletta, I only got the half sandwich and it was more then enough. I was extremely full but powered down the last four bites because it was that good. Thanks Ponchatoulas, we will definitely be back. read more

Simply delicious! If you want a taste of LA in this small town, this is the place to go!!!

Great food busy plave fast Servies. This is what you expect from a Louisiana restaurant great fried food, boudin rolls are fabulous. Shrimp, catfish were both excellent as well Great place read more

Delicious! Crawfish etoufee every time! I had other items but the crawfish etoufee is worth driving to Louisiana for!

Excellent service, the food was delicious! I had the house special which was fried catfish stuffed with crawfish etouffee, house salad, fried mushrooms and fried hand dipped onion rings! read more

Pricey but a good variety on the menu. Stuffed catfish was good, but I'll ask for it grilled if I try it again.

Ruston is a pretty small town and this restaurant was recommended by a friend as a must try. It's a family owned restaurant that has been in business for over 2 decades. Me and the wife decided to go and we tried the crawfish étouffée and the oyster platter. Nothing spectacular about them. Not bad but not amazing either. It was average. The drinks that I ordered however were delicious! They have a drink called bayou water and another one is their specialty peach tea. I would recommend these for sure. The food however is decent and I am indifferent about it. read more

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This place was really good! Abiance was cool! I ordered the platter with shrimp and red beans and rice. Boyfriend ordered shrimp po boy Little bro ordered club po boy I didn't like my red beans and rice. The beans were oddly sweet? I'm not too sure if that's how they're supposed to be but it was actually really gross to me... the rice was okay. You can tell they wanted the beans to be the flavor in it so... imagine how I felt about that whole situation. But the salad I had was awesome and the shrimp was plentiful and pretty good! My boyfriend loved his po boy and said the fries were OUTSTANDING! Bro's Club was amazing! He said he doesn't even eat sandwiches and he loved it! OH and Abby was my server and she was as sweet as pie!!! read more

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Jamie B served us during a busy lunch and was kind, genuine, and on point with refills and small talk. We noticed some tables being EXTRA needy with her and she still kept pace, with a smile! My étouffée was great! We filled up on a sampler basket and my partner and I enjoyed the fact we could hear each other enough to carry conversation during busy lunch hours. Thanks, Jaime! read more

Great service. I had fried shrimp which were crispy and well seasoned. Easy parking and friendly atmosphere. read more

Good food, great service, nice town. Our server was new, but she did a great job. The atmosphere was very good as well. First time in Louisiana and had a great experience . read more

Ponchatoulas - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Ruston, Louisiana

A very uneven college hangout in downtown Ruston where they know how to fry and make gumbo, but not much else. The atmosphere here is fun and funky. We came for lunch after a tip from folks we know who said this was a great place for lunch, so we got off the I-20 and came to downtown Ruston. Shoulda stayed on the 20 and had fast food. :( First what was right: our server was excellent throughout the whole experience. The seafood gumbo was delicious with crab claws and nice sized shrimp in it, with not too much rice. BUT it was served sloppily, with rice spilled on the plate, and it could have e been hotter. Also pretty good: the fried shrimp platter. Shrimp were fried well and fries were crispy, but the shrimp are not fried to order and so were not served hot. What was truly awful: the Crawfish Shirley, which is crawfish tails cooked in a wine and velveeta cheese sauce served over pasta. IT WAS DISGUSTING. So bad I sent it back TWICE before deciding I had had enough to eat there, and I'd get something better from a gas station. What was wrong: (1) the pasta is not cooked to order, but cooked before the restaurant opens and (supposedly) reheated. (2) The pasta is also not salted when it is cooked which makes it bland. Pasta cooked 5 hours before plating, left to get cold in the kitchen and (I think) kept in cold pasta water to prevent the noodles from sticking together inevitably becomes oversaturated and the mushy noodles tasted like paper. AND THEY WERE COLD under the warmed up cheese sauce. One bite - disgust! I called the server over and asked her to have the kitchen remake the dish, including recooking the pasta from dry. I explained the issue with the pasta and showed it to her, but instead of remaking the dish from the start, the kitchen simply microwaved it and sent it back to me - complete with the 2 hush puppies my daughter had placed on the side. The dish came back with the sauce hot in some spots, still cold in others, and of course the 6-hour old waterlogged unsalted pasta was still underneath the sauce. I told the waitress there was NO WAY this dish had been refired, and she agreed that they had simply microwaved it instead. I rejected it again, and she said she would go back and tell them to make it all over, but that the pasta was already cooked so they would just redo the sauce. THE WATERLOGGED PRECOOKED PASTA IS WHY THE DISH WAS DISGUSTING!!! So I rejected that offer, and the waitress took the dish off the ticket. She was very nice and professional, the kitchen fail is not her fault. It is not hard to cook pasta to order: Italian restaurants do it every day. It is not hard to salt the pasta cooking water: that happens every day in professional kitchens too. So let's talk about the OTHER kitchen failings I observed by looking from my seat through the serving window. I saw 3 college kids in the kitchen using their fingers to take food out of pans and pop it into their mouths, then reach back into the pans for more, before sending up the plates. It looks to me like this is a common practice - and if adult management was on site I'm sure that would be stopped. So it was immediately and abundantly clear to me that there was no manager at all in the restaurant during the lunch rush. NO MANAGER AT ALL. Only a staff of college kids. Sure enough - when I asked to speak to the manager, the waitress admitted the manager was at Walt Disney World for 2 weeks. The staff were running the restaurant for her while she was gone. This is an unprofessionally run restaurant with lazy staff and disgusting food that they seem unwilling to prepare properly, even though all that is required is boiling water. A V O I D this place - there is better food on the roller grills at the truck stop on the I-20. read more

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Do not give these people your money!! There are much better places to eat in Ruston. The OWNER is very rude, disrespectful and unprofessional. I loved eating here for years and many of my family loved coming here as well, but my last visit showed me how much these people do not deserve your time or money! If you ever have a complaint (whether it's about the food or the wait time) at all to the staff or to the owner, they will ridicule you and call you a liar instead of trying to better themselves or improve their service. And to the owner: people do not deserve to be treated the way you treated me and my family. You need to fix your behavior before you lose more customers. read more

Food is good. Service is always good. I usually eat here whenever I am in town. I would recommend.

We came into town for a graduation and picked this place and we are so glad we did! Get the Boudin balls appetizer! You won't be disappointed, they were huge, fried perfectly and tasted so good. I got the red beans and rice and it was a very large portion, my dad got the jambalaya which was also very large so we shared so we could have a little bit of both...the jambalaya was my favorite. My 17 year old son got a shrimp platter that even he couldn't finish. So glad we decided to drop in here, and the vibe and atmosphere was great too...families, college kids, couples....great little place in downtown Ruston! read more

Ponchatoulas - Boudin balls, jambalaya and red beans and rice - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Ruston, Louisiana

Great restaurant for the area. We were traveling through area and didn't want average chain restaurant or fast food, so we listened to reviews and tried this place. Food was decent, service excellent. Oyster poboy was good - only 4 oysters and smaller size. Bread was not crusty either. Seafood gumbo was watery and although flavorful didn't have a very large quantity of seafood. Oysters added on the side were fried to perfection. Fries were meh - may have been sitting under a heat lamp for too long. read more

Ponchatoulas - Seafood gumbo with oysters - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Ruston, Louisiana

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Stopped thru coming from Mississippi heading back home to Dallas. My husband and I got Catfish poboys and drinks. Upon walking in we were greeted very nicely, since I called in our order we sat at the bar to get a glimpse of the Saints game while we waited. The bartender was very attentive (it's was a slow Sunday) but she made a wonderful peach margarita daiquiri for me and an Deep Eddy's peach and Red Bull for my husband. Food came out quickly and the bar star was very nice and engaged in conversation. This location is in the college town of Ruston (Louisiana Tech) And has a great "Cheer's" Like Vibe. I would definitely recommend coming her if your in the area for some good food. The catfish was clean and fresh which is a big plus for my husband who is from New Orleans. read more

Ponchatoulas - Catfish PoBoy and Fries - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Ruston, Louisiana

We like this spot. Every time we come to town, we eat here one of those days. The food is good and tasty for area. We stopped in today and the fries were old and you could tell because everything was freshly fried. It seemed to be an issue with us saying the fries weren't fresh. I could hear the guy in the kitchen and we were sitting at the top!! Definitely didn't want to send them back but they were hard and cold. read more

Stopped here while on the road so I could get a Cajun/Creole fix. This was a convenient downtown stop with a public parking lot across the street. We stopped for lunch and got in just before the rush. I ordered the sampler appetizer and the crawfish étouffée lunch special with an additional side of red beans and rice. My wife ordered the seafood platter. The appetizers were good. Most items were too spicy for my wife so she got the cheese sticks and I enjoyed the rest. The onion rings were so good. Lightly floured and fried to perfection. I would order just them if we ever get here again. The meat pies were delicious as well and I enjoyed the fried mushrooms and boudin balls as well. The crawfish étouffée was bland to my taste and barely warm. The red beans and rice were also bland to my taste. I have had them more flavorful elsewhere. The seafood platter had great oysters and I enjoyed a taste of the shrimp since they were a little spicy for my wife's taste. They were also good. My wife thought the catfish was delicious. The fried crawfish tails were not much to taste. Obviously there are better ways to cook and eat crawfish. We also ordered the bread pudding with praline sauce for desert and it was delicious. The atmosphere is casual. The service was superb even with the lunch rush. Overall an enjoyable dining experience even with some taste disappointments. read more

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Started off the night with meat pie appetizers, which were literally that and nothing more. Meat in pie form. Bland and underwhelming, so don't expect your socks to be knocked off. My pasta salad must've been an episode of The Office, because it was dry. My gumbo was giving me strong "sat out in the kitchen since 1pm" vibes. With that said, my shrimp, bread pudding, and Black & Blue Senorita were all good, just not good enough for me to recommend this place. read more

Received a message that my order was ready after traveling there I still had to wait , bartenders were young and careless, never once stopped their conversations to wait on me . After waiting and coming back once again never stopped talking to wait on me I finally just assumed the plate on the bar was mine , took it and left . This is what the sampler platter is .. $17 more like a $10 plate . Fish isn't so good Also soggy since it was placed on top read more

Ponchatoulas - Sampler platter - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Ruston, Louisiana

15 minutes after being seated we had to get up and ask for someone to take our order. No waitress yet, the hostess brought our drinks. Finally the waitress arrived, waited far too long for gumbo, which was room temp and not very tasty; waited much longer for terrible food. Sad but true, we will never go back. read more

This dish is not a traditional cream sauce and it reminds me of cheese whiz. It definitely is not good. It should be made with parmesan and heavy cream. read more

Ponchatoulas - Crawfish Shirley - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Ruston, Louisiana

First time here! Atmosphere is great & An okay was great waitresses!!! The chicken was good but a little spicy!! Grilled veggies was delicious!!!!! The boudin balls were really tasty!!!! The fall back is use cash cause they charge a fee to use a credit card! read more

Love it the food was delicious and the atmosphere was great. The waiters was fast and nice

Passing through for work and found this great little restaurant. Excellent food and excellent service. I will definitely stop in again.

Great food....questionable bar service. We've eaten here plenty since moving to Ruston. Have even ordered gumbo from catering. Always love the stuffed catfish, gumbo, boudin balls,etc... Tonight we had our my in-laws with us. My father law tried to order a bourbon but was told they were out did he want a whiskey instead. He said yes only to be told they didn't have whiskey either. Mother in-law ordered a margarita on the rocks. What she got was a screwdriver-Vodka and Orange juice. Sent the screwdriver back and was told "that's how we make them here." We will probably continue to eat here just wouldn't waste my time/money ordering a drink. read more

It was busy for lunch on a Friday. We had some boudin balls to start. I enjoyed the hamburger steak and my son had the Gumbo. Everything was delicious! read more

Had a decent dinner with the family. Everything was just ok. Not a bad experience but it definitely isn't top rated amazing food. A little pricey to me. The menu has fancier options than the atmosphere suggest, or what the staff can put out. Again not bad just not anything spectacular to share read more

Another great place to eat in Ruston if you're looking for authentic Cajun cuisine. No matter what you like they have it - from crawfish and shrimp to catfish or chicken. It's ALL GREAT!! read more

Food was dry ! Broccoli was burnt ! The food tasted so terrible I most definitely wouldn't recommend! Ughhhhhhhhhh read more

Ponchatoulas - Grilled chicken with broccoli and rice - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Ruston, Louisiana

Great little place downtown. Ordered the Gumbolaya with seafood gumbo, fried mushrooms, and red beans and rice platter. The gumbolaya was fantastic! Definitely the star of the show. Fried mushrooms had a light crispy batter and delicious homemade ranch. Red beans and rice was smokey and came with three links of sausage, big ol' plate. White chocolate bread pudding with praline sauce (made in house) was so dang good we went back the next day for two to go. Great service, nice local beer selection, go try it out! read more

Atmosphere is great ! Food is good. Pasta salad is off the chain. You can get your down south food, to your mommas back door.