Even though I'm a Hyde Parker, I haven't been to this place since the spring.
They were closed for 4 months; a friend told me the owner had been in the
hospital with some kind of tumor. Â Apparently he's healthy now because I
saw him on Friday night and he came to our table and was quite animated
and friendly.
Bottom line for my husband and myself is the stuffed Jambalaya. It's flat out
the best ever, although a bit weird as it kind of flows out of a crunchy chicken
breast. Â It has a kick but not overly hot. Â They use, instead of pork, chicken
andouille sausage in their Jambalaya. Â We shared that and the Louisiana
catfish, which was just crispy enough on the outside and the fish juicy on the
inside. Â Considering how many of us in the South Side have Southern roots,
it's annoying that you can't get a good piece of catfish around here.
We also tried the fried green tomatoes for the first time. Â Nice crunch and the
tomatoes had a nice piquant flavor....and the remoulade dipping sauce brought
out the Creole slant we were expecting.
Try the Seafood and Lobster chowder. Â I would have preferred it with more bite,
but it was filled with different fish and potatoes and dill. Â Good for a cold day.
Their beer selection was just so-so, but their Chocolate Kahlua mousse pie
was to die for.
We'll be back in a couple of months. Â Keep the owner healthy.
Diane G
We walked out.
We were seated pretty promptly, there were two other tables with customers. Â The waitstaff talked to them, brought them their bill, etc. Â We got nothing. Â Not even water! Â I'm not sure how long we waited but since we knew what we wanted before we walked in, it was way too long. Â They were too busy clearing the desserts from the brunch. Â
As we walked out, the person clearing the desserts asked if we were going to order and and we said we would have if someone had come to the table.
My boyfriend has been there before and he wasn't impressed with the service or food....
Imagine you're in China and you see some local folks staring at a brand new Panda Express  restaurant. The locals wonder how Americans make Chinese food, how is it different from the real thing?
As a New Orleanian I wondered the same about "The Big Easy" hoping to find an authentic representation of home cooking. Oh lord. These guys have never been to NOLA or hate the place so much that they decided to make fun of the place with this restaurant.
The Po Boys need to be made with French Bread, not with WTF bread. The catfish was passable, the only reason they get 2 stars, but the sides are pretty yuck. The sweet potato fries are cold, the mash potatoes not really true to form. I saw the beignets in the display case and wondered if modern people cannot faithfully reproduce something from a thousand miles away, then maybe nothing fossil hunters put together in museums can be trusted either. In short, the beignets look forlorn, like criminal pastries on the run from the law and caught on camera.
In short, this is not "cajun" it sho ain't "creole". The service staff was nice enough but the service itself is perfunctory. I think I have in passing said hello to the owner, who seems like a good guy, this place could be so much more than it is today I wanna tell him. I hope he reads these reviews--I would happy if he saved his business by trying harder and not phoning it in, like it seems has happened.
As the other reviews describe, the ambiance is not the best, and even though my friends and I went on a Friday evening, the place was not very bustling. Â The food was ok, no big complaints, but no awards either. It's just a laid back place to get some fried and cajun-ish food. The only thing that really bugged me is when the owner requested that we pay in cash when he brought the bill, saying that it's getting late and he wanted to give the servers their tips. I don't really get the reason, and I obliged since we happened to have cash, but it felt like a shady request. He didn't just ask the tips to be in cash, but the whole order.
Review Source:We had a great lunch here. The food was excellent, and the service was prompt. I had the gumbo dinner, the shrimp were perfectly tender, and there were nice chunks of andouille sausage and chunks of chicken. My companion had the Shrimp Creole with a side of sweet potatoes - she said both were perfect. We also loved the corn bread muffins. I can't wait to come back and try the Crawfish Etoufee, and some beignets that are said to be cooked to order and served hot and crunchy.
Review Source:I came to this restaurant on a Sunday around 2pm with a group of friends and had a blast.
The staff was very friendly and accommodating. We received a greeting at the door and timely service. They created a very warm environment and gave us the feel of being guest in their own home.
The food was excellent!!! We started out with fried green tomatoes and crab cakes for our appetizers. For my first time tasting them i am now a huge fan of fried green tomatoes and their crab cakes was one of the best. Â I had the stuffed Jambalaya and it was the most interesting version i have ever had but it was very delicious. Â The rest of the table ordered the catfish (excellent, fat, and juicy, the shrimp and grits (the apple gravy sauce is to die for), and the honey lemon chicken (great taste and very tender).
Thank You for the great experience. We will come back.
Sooooo disappointed! Â I was excited to come here at first since I love New Orleans and was hoping this place would bring me back to My Darlin' New Orleans. Â Went here for a Groupon (*which they didn't accept, despite it not having expired), they had a limited weekend brunch menu and we weren't offered their full menu. Â Half of the menu we were offered wasn't New Orleans cuisine inspired, so no Cajun/Creole vegetarian things for me. Â
My sister noticed many health violations while there including: the dessert table didn't have tongs or covers on the food, the ice bucket was also uncovered (and inches from my head.. all I had to do was turn around and sneeze..), and it was just below the electrical socket (which didn't have surge protection).
The decor left alot to be desired. It is so sad when you go to a restaurant and you feel sorry for the place because of how dated (and empty) it is. Â When we went it was not well lit- maybe they were trying to save money on electricity? Â
There seemed to be a lot of waiting on our part, despite being one of three seated parties and there being at least 3 wait staff. Â
The $16 brunch included: cinnamon/raisin sweet rounds (not rolls or buns..), Â a strawberry/orange smoothie, a fruit cup, the entree, and the dessert table.. not bad right? Â All in all it is a pretty good deal but..
1) the cinnamon things tasted like something I would have made in home-ec in Jr. High.. not a good thing.. I can't cook now, what makes you think I was any better then?
2) the smoothie was amazing.. all 3 ounces of it.
3) the fruit cup was... non-existent. As in we didn't get one.
4) the entrees:
I got the french toast with scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon. I asked for the bacon on the side so someone else could eat it. The waitress said ok. Â It came served to me on the side... of my eggs and french toast. Â On the same plate. Touching. Â I was like.. hrm.. whatever..not cool.. but didn't think much of it and passed it to another plate. Â Well I was really unhappy when I realized that my eggs were swimming in ham grease! Â I REALLY HATE when restaurants don't consider people's dietary restrictions! Â I got pretty sick after eating this meal, and I'm thinking it's due to me ingesting animal fat.. I am REALLY unhappy about this on so many levels!!!! Â I go to New Orleans regularly and understand that, for the most part, it is not a vegetarian friendly cuisine, but any restaurant should understand that if someone asks for certain things- it is for a reason. Â With that said, the parts of the eggs that I could eat (that weren't coated in ham grease) tasted like it came from a liquid, and the french toast was very crispy. Â I don't like maple syrup so I have the french toast plain, and alone it doesn't have alot of flavor. Â
My sister got some meat stew looking thing.  She liked it, but wished they cut the green peppers smaller or cooked them longer  and also cut the onions smaller so they weren't stringy. Â
5) The dessert table was not homemade, as they claim. Â A lot of it looks obviously store bought, and if they were smart, they would say it was.. it tasted like crap. Â Cookies were flavorless and undercooked. Â There was a peach something that was undercooked, but sweet. The muffins/cupcake looking things were pretty sad looking... Maybe I got sick from this buffet.. Undercooked, improperly displayed and served food..
We stopped in here for brunch. The food was quite good, although I wasn't a fan of the desserts and this coming from someone with a giant sweet tooth. Still, we loved the cornbread and those raisin popover thingies. The pasta dish was outstanding and the chicken fell off the bone. Our server was attentive and he appeared to be trying really hard to make sure we were taken care of.
Review Source:The food was pretty good and the decor is tacky, but I have to admit, I had fun at this place. The owner was cracking jokes that really weren't funny, but at least he was trying. Our visit came on the Friday after Thanksgiving and the place was dead. We were literally the only people in the joint by the time our food arrived. I would like to see what this place is like when it's busy.
 For my entree, I had a delicious plate of spare ribs that I really enjoyed. The sauce was quite different than anything I've ever eaten. It was more on the sweet side, but it worked. My wife didn't seem all that excited about her Cat Fish Po' boy though and she wasn't at all amused by the strange comedy routine that was thrust upon us. The jokes were so bad, that I had to laugh.
Here's the bottom line: The Big Easy provided us with a interesting dining experience. The food was good. A lot better than the comedy routine the owner provided us with. Let's just say he shouldn't quit his day job just yet.
Well, I am trying to cut this joint a little bit of slack, mainly because we were there on an off day (day after Thanksgiving), but I still can't overlook a few things that are obviously not due to the holiday weekend:
First off, the decor was exceptionally strange. Â Never having been to New Orleans I don't know what is typical down there, but I am going to guess it isn't turquoise, black and cream painted walls, a Mexican tile floor, old green vinyl diner booths and terrible lighting. Â I could have forgiven most of it (especially the floor, which was in great condition and the little handpainted tiles really too pretty to rip out) but the lighting was just so bad. Â The only way it could have been worse was to have a giant, humming fluorescent light bar over each table that flickered on and off randomly. Â It was dim, cold and sent unpleasant shadows around the whole space. Awful.
Next was the service, and that was also completely bizarre. Â We had this older gentleman waiting on us, but he wanted to make strange jokes the entire time (like saying he was going to take Andy's phone and make all sorts of long distance calls on it, and that Andy had to clean his plate because there was no dishwasher in the back and the plate had to go right back on the shelf when he was done. Â OK???) And the other weird thing was that he was a little obsessed with Andy, only speaking to him and making all the odd jokes with him. Â Aside from him asking if I wanted more coffee, I was virtually ignored. Â Which was AOK with me because he had such a heavy accent it was hard to follow the jokes in the first place.
As for the food, it was decent. Â I had the Catfish Po' Boy with remoulade. Â The fish was a thin cut and heavily breaded, but still had a nice fresh flavour. Â It came with a side, I chose the collard greens, which were well prepared and delicious. Â I was sad they were out of quite a few things on the menu that day (no chicory coffee, almost all of the beers listed except 2, and one of the appetizers, I forget which one exactly). Andy had the rib plate which was gigantic, but I wasn't a fan of the sweet sauce used on the meat.
As much as I like coming down to Hyde Park I think the next time I am there I might skip The Big Easy and go to another place that is Easier to understand.
The food was not very good. Greens were not clean, the chicken was luke warm, and the service was mediocre at best. The shrimp po' boy lacked shrimp, but the water was to die for. Overall it was not a good place to eat at. I guess I should have known due to lack of patrons that were there at 7 for dinner. Definitely would not recommend this place.
Review Source:I went to the Big Easy for lunch because I had a Groupon. Â This restaurant has been different food themes in past years. Â I think they got it right with Cajun cuisine. Â It was a good day, because we got seated promptly and didn't have to wait long for our food. Â The server was kind enough to split our BBQ Brisket sandwich and give me & my guest our own plates. Â The sandwich was massive. Â Lots of sweet sauce, is that's what you like. Â Coleslaw was a little dry and the red beans & rice were served with or w/o meat. Â The food was mild in general and our table could have used a few hot sauce bottles to add our own heat. Â
Nice beers on tap, and we did get a slice of chocolate cake to finish out our Groupon. Â I wish this place was more consistent with their service so lunch could be an option, since it's close to work. Â Prices might be a little high for the average student, but it's a nice "family dinner/special event" Â spot.
Despite mixed reviews I decided to go here because 1) I was in Hyde Park 2) I was crazing Cajun. Â So I hiked my ass across the UIC campus to The Big Easy for lunch. Â I get there and find a hand taped note on the door saying that they are not open for lunch and will re-open for dinner. Â WTF! Â Lesson learned: call ahead.
Review Source:I have to put my review here on The Big Easy because I noticed how wide the range of ratings are! Wow! I've never seen such a range on Yelp. Â This appears to mean there is a really large gap in the consistency of the restaurant... even though my experiences over the last 2 years have been very consistent.
Service has been the lowest point of all the important facets of my visits. The wait staff are friendly if a little slow. Â We never received a wrong order, and we often had a visit from the owner/co-owner/manager who was congenial. Â The fact that he has been onsite always was a plus, showing that the people who own the place also care about what's going on there. Â So maybe when he's not there, that's when things go bad?
The food has always been delicious, plentiful, and priced reasonably. Between me, my brother, and our multiple out-of-town guests (coincidentally, all family members from different branches of the tree), we've ordered at least eight of the items on the menu, and they have all been great. While I know there are people who are much better attuned to Cajun cuisine than me, I've had my fair share of jambalaya, gumbo, and fried green tomatoes. Â I'm quite sure what I've tasted at The Big Easy is authentic. I could name some other competitors in Chicago and the surrounding area that also serve excellent Cajun cuisine (three come to mind), but that's not what this review is about. It's about giving my experiences, over 4 or 5 visits. Delicious baked goods. Well-balanced flavors. Nice people.
For those who had bad experiences -- and the people on Yelp have described really awful ones, even though I've never encountered anything close -- I suggest focusing some of your writing talents on notifying the owners/management. I also hope these owners/mgmt are reading Yelp.
This sole star represents the fact that there was an exchange of food for money. This restaurant is so bad that it has taken me about 7 months to write a review. Just...awful. There are some restaurants where the service is really good and the food really bad or vice versa but everything about this place is horrible. This is not hyperbole. I had just moved to Hyde Park and my best friend came to visit, we decided to go to Big Easy because it was Cajun and not far from my apartment. Apparently, we both wore our "bad idea jeans" that day.
It was a Saturday night and the restaurant was not crowded at all (I guess we were the only ones who hadn't gotten the memo). However, we waited about 5 minutes for someone to seat us. Now mind you while we waited employees walked past us without a word. No, "Someone will be right with you" or "Seat yourself" or even "Go home" Finally, we decided to seat ourselves. After we sit down, the manager comes over and announced that he would be our server. When we told him that we had no menus because we had to seat ourselves, he said and I quote verbatim, "Oh, you should've come and got me." I know, we should have left then.
We ordered drinks, pomegranate lemonade which would have been really good except for the fact that there was a taste as if the cups had been washed with a rag that had gone sour sitting on the counter. When we explained this to the manager, he took our drinks and came back with new ones with "more syrup" they still had that taste. Same rag.
The food was awful. The fried green tomatoes had so much batter on them that the tomatoes weren't cooked and the crab cakes as stated earlier are made with imitation krab. My friend had the catfish for an entree, which she described as "edible" but she also hadn't eaten all day, so....
Anyway, unless you are a food and/or customer service masochist, don't go here. Don't trade places with what I've been through. My friend to this day gets angry every time she passes by the restaurant. It's just that damn bad.
The fact that place is still open and Calypso is closed is proof positive is the best argument for atheism I've seen in a long time.
The Big Easy is sort of hit or miss - but the hits are really quite good, enough for four stars.
The fried green tomato supreme sandwich is really worth a try - fried green tomato, guacamole, bacon and cheddar. Good stuff! And the stuffed jambalaya which they call their specialty is pretty great too, and it's plenty of food.
Their "bakery" spread always underwhelms me for brunch - it's fine, but tastes like something you'd get off a catering tray. And the service can be totally fine - or it can be awful, depending on the night.
But all in all, the food is good, so I'm not going to complain too much.
This is the third time my husband and I have visited the Big Easy. Â The service has improved but the food is still so-so.
We went for lunch, so it was rather empty, which may have contributed to the better service. Â We started with the gumbo. Â Wasn't the best I've had, but it wasn't bad either. Â Our muffins were fresh from the oven (not cold as others have indicated). Â My lemonade left somethings to be desired. Â It wasn't sweetened (I had to add 3 packs of Splenda) and smelled of that terrible sewer smell that permeates the restaurant.
My husband played it safe and ordered the jambalaya as he usually does. Â They highlight this as their signature dish and I venture to say it probably should be their only (maybe it and the shrimp po'boy). Â His jambalaya was delicious! Â My shrimp & grits left a lot to be desired. Â The sweet creaminess of the grits did not have enough savory to cut it, even with the cheese, the applewood-bacon gravy, and the few shrimp. Â It could benefit from a revamp with maybe some andouile sausage and mushrooms and a less-sweet gravy.
I also ordered the beignets. Â Major letdown. Â I was polite and ate them, but really needs some place that makes them close to Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans.
The owner came in as we were finishing up and talked with us. Â He's looking for ideas to bring in more business. Â I think a total revamp is needed.
It looked so good online but fell slightly below average in person. Â We went there Today (Saturday) for lunch. I ordered the Jambalaya stuffed chicken breast. Â Our other dish was Gumbo. Â Let me describe this to you with some help from the lyrics of Rappers Delight. Â
Have you ever went over to a friends house to eat & the food just aint no good.
I mean the shrimp are soggy, the rice was mushed & the chicken taste like wood".
Actually the chicken was ok but I got carried away in song. Â But the shrimp tasted like they were soaking in water for a week.
I really, really want to love this place. It always sounds good and is within two blocks of my apartment, but every visit has failed miserably. The food is not good. The first time I went, I had a chicken pasta. It was so salty that I couldn't finish it, which is unusual for me. I eat pretty much everything...and lots of it.
On my second visit, I had a sandwich of some sort. It was equally as bad...bland. The sides weren't fresh, either. My boyfriend and I left food on our plates and didn't take it home. He had the gumbo...terrible.
On the plus side, both times our waiter was very funny and nice. However, the service is slow.
I actually like this spot a lot. The reason why I'm giving it an okay rating is because the last time I went the food wasn't all that great. It was cold and my fried green tomatoes were burnt. I was angry but since when ever I'm there I'm greeted with awesome service. The first three times I went (three days in a row) I left with free things. The staff is great, nuff said!
The only thing I don't like on the menu is the peach cobbler brownie. It wasn't very good and lacked sweetness. Other than that everything is pretty good.
I just like a place that is consistent with its awesomeness, and within the past month this place has really fell off. It will be a long time before I go back there again.
I live in the neighborhood and was looking for a place for a fast but complete meal Sunday afternoon. Â The Big Easy seemed to fit the bill, so I stopped in. Â I didn't want anything "breakfasty" off the Brunch menu so I ordered off the regular menu.
The catfish was so delicious. Â I'm used to having fried catfish served either whole or cut into steaks, but the filets served here were so good. Well seasoned and crispy, the fish was served with a choice of 2 sides. I had red beans and rice and cole slaw, my favorite sides with fish. Both sides were perfect with the catfish.
The corn muffins served with the meal were some of the best I had ever had. They were served warm with a sweetened butter. I ate three with the meal!
I was in a bit of a rush so I got dessert to go - turtle cheesecake. - which I had that night with coffee. It too was delicious.
Since this was my first time eating at the Big Easy, I don't know if all of the food if this good or if I just got lucky and picked the right things, but I know I will be going back soon. If my second visit is as good as the first, I'll be adding the 5th star.
Cheap. Delicious. What more do you want?
We happened upon this place on our way home from the Museum of Science and Industry. Stumbled in to find it'd be $15 for a four-course brunch--I had the fruit cup, strawberry punch, muffins, catfish (with scrambled eggs and seasoned taters on the side) and gut-busting dessert buffet. The food was amazing, and the owner stopped by our table; he was a character and a half. I'm a sucker for fried green tomatoes, and theirs is the best I've had in the city so far.
Awesome.
I have confirmed my original assumption that there was nothing special about this place. The first sign should have been the amount of times that I've actually passed by and never went in. The confirmation came after not completely finishing any one dish and leaving with a doggy bag. I'm a person who really enjoys and appreciates good food and rarely ever have anything left to take home.
Everything about this place was mediocre except the speed at which we received our food after ordering. My theory is that the food was already prepared and sitting in the kitchen. When we ordered, they slapped it on a plate and served us. The food may have been better if we had come three days earlier.
We started with the fried green tomatoes. I had the shrimp creole with a side of sweet potatoes and the wife had shrimp and grits with a side of cornbread dressing. Nothing really stood out about anything that either of us ordered. Everything tasted old and bland. After finally eating at The Big Easy, I realized that I haven't been missing out on anything.
Here I go again being a sucker with a groupon.
First, I purchased the groupon because I liked the idea of cajun food on the south side. It sounded good and from the pictures, it looked nice. The groupon was a great idea. $12 for $25 worth of food. So with a couple of clicks, I had a Big Easy groupon.
I was coming from an appointment downtown, when I decided to stop in there for lunch. When I use a groupon, I try to be fair. I went in the afternoon when it was empty. I don't want to complain about the service when I'm trying the food for the first time. (isn't that fair?)
My waiter Rochelle was superb. He was very attentive and helpful. This is the reason for the 3rd star. The food in itself needed some assistance. I ordered the wings as an appetizer with the peach-mango bbq sauce. The wings didn't seem to fresh to me and the sauce was OK. The presentation was nice but the actual taste was meh. I ate 1 wing and that was it.
For my entree', I ordered the shrimp creole. The is where the disaster begins. Again their presentation was great but the actual food was a BIG disappointment. The shrimp was overcooked and so was the rice. Cajun food is suppose seasoned and spicy, not overcooked and bland. I had to add half a bottle of hot sauce just to get some spice on the food. What actually took away from the dish for me was the overcooked rice. It came with a side of which I choose the collard greens. Now the collard greens was delicious. I don't know how they could get the sides right and not the entree?!
If you ask me, I wouldn't recommend this place. But if you want to judge on your own, be my guest.
So glad this restaurant is in Hyde Park. Â Last night my partner and I dined at The Big Easy for the first time. Â
We were treated very well by the staff. Â More importantly, we had some real southern cooking. Â It started with amazing fried green tomatos, the kind you have to go to Liuzza's for. Â She loved her beans and rice dinner. Â But, the pinnacle of the evening was my chicken and shrimp gumbo. Â It was complex, perfectly seasoned, and deep as a Louis Armstrong ballad. Â We will definitely be returning.
Our only complaint was with the space, which is a bit like being in a maze. Â But, it's more than compensated for by the food and the warmth of the staff.
I heard about this place on Groupon. Me and wife went on a Saturday night which wasn't too packed. Overall we had a pretty good experience. The food is pretty good. To start we had the fried green tomatoes which were tasty minus the cinnamon. We wanted to try the lobster and crab chowder but they ran out. They also ran out of the cornbread and gave us bagel chips instead which was disappointing. For our entrees we had the grits & shrimp (which also had cinnamon) and catfish. Both were pretty good, but the cinnamon just seemed out of place.
Overall, it was a good experience. The staff was extremely nice, but our waiter was SO slow. Big Easy has the potential to be a nice spot, just need to keep food stocked, speed up service, and add bread pudding to their menu :)
3.5 stars, rounded down because the service was soooo slow.
Having just come from the South, it was nice to find a restaurant in the middle of Hyde Park (random location, imo) that served Southern/Cajun style food. Â You start with a basket of cornbread and butter here, which was really good. Â You do not get the luxury of sweet tea here, which is a bit disappointing for a Southern/Cajun style restaurant!
I ordered the fried shrimp po boy sandwich, which was $11 and came with a side. Â The sandwich was decent - the shrimp were medium sized and the roll came garnished with lettuce, tomatoes, and a cajun mayo liked sauce. Â The shrimp was breaded in corn meal but did not have a deep fried taste to it. Â Overall, a decent po boy sandwich, although it could use a bit more shrimp in it. Â
Everyone else's dishes, ranging from the jambalaya to other sandwiches seemed to be great! Â My main gripe about this place is how SLOW the service is - it is ridiculously slow. Â Certainly, if service becomes better, I would happily give this place a solid 4 star rating (as long as the food stays good).
Still in the mood for a burger, I meandered over to this place after an experience at Bar Louie. Unlike the other place, The Big Easy realizes that people who walk through the doors are actually looking to get seated and order food. Happy to have found a place whose definition of 'restaurant' was at least marginally similar, I chose to order the cajun Turkey Burger.
Service was pretty quick, though the waitress was clearly still learning the menu. She had to check what the burger was topped with and confused the garlic mashed potatoes with the mashed sweet potatoes. But everyone is new at some point, so this wasn't an issue.
On first bite, I thought the burger was a bit bland. This thought prevailed through the next few bites. It was not challenged until, in effort to reconstitute the rapidly disintegrating sandwich, I took a bite of the burger that was falling out of the other side. It had a surprising amount of flavor. I don't know what kind of bread the bun is made from, but it seems to nullify all the flavor. I ate the rest without the bun and was happy. Satisfied, I left. Well, I paid and then I left. Actually, I finished eating my mashed potatoes, drank more water, waited for the check, paid, and then left.
No. Just, no. Why am I giving this place 2 stars instead of the 1 [or fewer...there should really be an option for that] it deserves? I honestly couldn't tell you. Maybe because I feel bad for a place that is trying [or are they??] and just gets it so so *wrong*
I've been here for both lunch and brunch [why did I go back?! It's bad when you can't even explain your behaviour to yourself, isn't it. I should see somebody about this.] Both were forgettable and regrettable. The standout at lunch was a basket of mini corn muffins which were fairly palatable. Veggie options are sadly lacking here [what do I expect at a BBQ place though] so I got a simple grilled cheese. Not great, not vomit-worthy.
The brunch was the truly epic fail here. It's a set price, and you get to choose from a baked-goods table to begin [weird, pretty tasteless- the food I mean] and then select an entree. I forget what entree I got. BF got a BBQ platter [yes, for breakfast. He is a fiend.] He puked it up not long after we got home. Huge win all round!
Seriously though. Don't let the frequent name changes fool you [what is WITH that, btw??] The menu remains as disappointing as ever.
PS- After reading over my review, I'm changing to one star. Yikes.
Decided to come back since I was in the neighborhood and I found close parking. This time I tried the stuffed jambalaya. I am now glad that I came back. Very flavorful. I would come back again just for that. jambalaya stuffed in a seasoned chicken breast
The owner stopped by several times with samples. This was a much better experience that my first visit. This is a place that I will add to my list.
I am shocked to see so many bad reviews, me and my husband have been here 3x and each time it was a great experience. The food was delicious the service was great, and really loved the atmosphere.
I had the stuffed chicken jambalaya which is superb, the fried green tomato's were also very tasty. I think people better check this place out for themselves and don't judge by these reviews!
Yuck.
The Fried green tomatoes were great, but my shrimp creole was cheap canned tomatoes and frozen shrimp with some seasoning stirred in. The cornbread was dry and I think it was our server's first day...or something
My BF's crawfish etoufee was a little better than mine, creamy and flavorful, but our friend didn't like her gumbo.
Dixie kitchen is a much better choice.
The music is too loud, but it's so good that that doesn't matter, unless you're my friend at the end of the table, who gave up trying to talk over it. (The rest of us just orated at each other and managed to communicate.)  One star for the nice middle-aged Latino manager or whatever his official role is who bustles around competently forging order out of chaos (or that's how it looks).  He showed up after we'd waited half an hour for the wine we'd asked our waiter  for, and not only asked if we had everything we needed, but also actually produced a bottle of mediocre, overpriced shiraz within five minutes, hallelujah.  The food is OK, but nothing to write home about.  The atmosphere is also OK because the customers have a lot of charm.  The view out the window induces a wistful craving to be at one of the six Asian and/or Middle Eastern restaurants across the street instead.
Review Source:This place was once called 'Orly's" .it suckked. Then it was "Hyde Park Barbeque & Bakery" still suckked (and by the way..BBQ and Baked goods are NOT a good marriage. )"Pardon me waiter..May I have some more BBQ sauce for my BAGEL?" .....(Words you should NEVER Â hear together) Now it has been Re-Vamped into THE BIG NASTY..I Mean "THE BIG EASY"!...still HORRIBLE! I don't think an eatery should be in this particular location..It's not working..BUT if someone decides to puts something there..PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE..install more lights!
Any whooo..The food was the same food that had ALWAYS been served but it seems as if they sprinkled a lil CAJUN Seasoning on everything and called it..A CAJUN RESTAURANT...
I do however have one OK thing to say the beignets were decent and I did not wanna throw up on my plate. There.
Final suggestion..If you are looking for a good meal save your money and walk right out side look left towards the corner..there is a garbage can sitting there..stick your hand in and eat the first ting you pull out...it will be 100 times better that THE BIG NASTY..I meant EASY..Oops
Went with wife on a Tuesday night. Â We walked in and waited for service, but no one was greeting customers. 10 minutes later the bartender approaches us and tells us that they can't seat us because they are too busy. We ask to order carry-out and she tells us that they can't let us carry out either. (Can't fill a carry out order? Are you kidding me?) Then she adds, "Why don't you come back when it's not Fat Tuesday."....Well, why don't I not bother and just write bad reviews all over the net about your crap service and lousy management and decor that hasn't been replaced since the last two occupants of the space.
Hire a manager and staff who knows how to run a restaurant and knows something about customer service, if you happen to survive by turning away and insulting customers.
Update: Â
I've moved this down to one star, went back there the other night because I was tempted with free money from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> and The Big Easy is one of the few Hyde Park places that was an option. Â The food and service were worse than I remembered.
My friend got the chicken and shrimp plate which came with mashed potatoes that tasted like fish and the red beans and rice side tasted like it had gone bad.
I of course had to get fried green tomatoes despite previous bad experiences (see below) and was let down even more: couldn't taste any tomato as they were cut very thinly and had way too much cornmeal/batter so that was all we could taste.
I'm struggling to remember the entree I got (tells you how memorable it was) I think it was fish... very very flavorless fish. Â For a side I got their homemade sweet potato fries -how can you screw up frying potatoes?- but it can be done, they were soggy and limp and in great need of some salt.
RESOLVED: never again.
Original Review:
They seem totally lost and confused here. Â I called for a pick up order and the guy on the phone I think didn't realize he was working and just kept saying "hold on, what?, yeah, food"
Needless to say, I wanted some fried okra and fried green tomatoes. Â Both were mediocre. Â The tomatoes were cut at different thicknesses making some overcooked and some undercooked. Â The breading/cornmeal was also uneven, with big chunks in some places and overall was just too hard. Â The okra was overcooked as well and I think it was more of a thick beer batter as opposed to the type of fried okra I've experienced in New Orleans and the South.
I had eaten there once before it got re-vamped and it wasn't much better. Â ok food, bad service, weird decor (was it a Mexican restaurant at some point?)
After listening to a co-worker rave about this place I decided to stop in with him to try it out (despite my diet) and I was extremely pleased. Â We were seated at a table in a location we didn't particularly like and were reseated with no problem. We simply asked. Our waiter, Shane was very courteous. You could feel the newness of the location and staff but they all tried very hard to get things right and we interacted with several staff members, all of whom made us feel very welcome.
The food was amazing. Â I loved the corn muffins and biscuits made with ginger I think. They could have been a meal in themselves. We devoured them and they brought out more at our request. I had the Shrimp po' boy and it was sooo good. The bread was soft and delicious. The fried green tomatoes were seasoned to perfection and so were the red beans and rice. My co-worker is a vegetarian and they were very nonchalant about making vegetarian versions of the things he wanted to eat. The cornbread stuffing was to die for as well. That has my vote for the best thing on my plate.
The co-owner, Jennifer came out and greeted us and was very sweet and humble. It was a pleasure to meet her. My only regret about eating here is that I was too full to have the peach cobbler brownie for dessert :-(
When we got to the Big Easy (Thursday night, 6:30-ish) the restaurant was mostly empty. Even still, we were seated right next to the station where one of the bus boys would loudly stack plates and slam down pitchers of water every couple minutes. After waiting a while for the waiter to come take our order, we ordered drinks, crab cakes, and two entrees with rice and beans as one of our sides.
We sat there waiting for our drinks, but when the waiter came back it was not with drinks, but with news that there were no rice and beans. We asked him for a menu to choose a different side, at which point he simply disappeared.
More than five minutes later, our patience ran out and we left. The atrocious service on a not-particularly-busy night, combined with the fact that a restaurant marketing itself as New Orleans-style was out of rice and beans (which aren't even perishable!) was just too much.
I've tried out most of the incarnations of Orly's over the last 7 years, and this was the worst experience I've had.
This place was formerly called the Hyde Park BBQ and Bakery. Recently reopened as the Big Easy, but is only on certain days of the week as of right now. I came here on a Friday with some friends and I ordered the Jambalaya. Our food and appetizers were made to perfection. The servers were the coolest, as they were cracking jokes and acting like they enjoyed working here. The chef even came out and introduced herself to us at the end of the night. It was a fun time and I will definitely come back!
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