Dat's

Dats is on Grant St., not too far off Kirkwood, just a bus ride and a hop away from campus.
The restaurant is very casual; you go to the counter to order your food, and you pick it up on plastic red trays. The plates and cups are Styrofoam and the utensils are plastic, so if you want to impress someone, this is would not be the ideal place. It is great, however, for casual meet-ups and for when you're eating with people you're close to. It's inexpensive, with a meal and dessert costing under 10 bucks. Because it's cafeteria-style, there's not a lot of contact with service, who seemed friendly. Good thing is you don't have to shell for a tip.
Dishes are listed on a chalkboard--all come with rice and French bread. Each plate is $6.25, and if you want half a plate each of 2 different dishes, you can get that for $7.25. I had Jambalaya with Chicken and Sausage. Admittedly, I picked that in part because I liked the way the guy at the counter said "Jambalaya" with a Southern drawl. I also got a peanut butter pie, which was recommended to me by a friend.
The actual Jambalaya was only so-so for me, mainly because of the rice. I eat rice often, so I'm particular about it. The rice at Dats was too spongy and squishy for my taste, although the French bread that came with it was soft and buttery. Other than that, the dish just had your standard tomato sauce (a bit too acidic for my taste), sausage, chicken, and veggies. It was a tad spicy from the sausage. I wasn't particularly impressed, as I've had similar dishes at home that tasted better. I can't comment on the other dishes, but I'd be willing to try them if I went back.
Now to the peanut butter pie. Granted, I have a special place in my heart for peanut butter, but it really was delicious. Graham cracker crust, rich and creamy peanut butter filling, and whipped cream sprinkled with chocolate chips and drizzled in fudge. I think I would go back to Dats just for that. It is very sweet (and yes, I did eat the whole thing), and I think it would have been better with coffee, but alas, Dats does not have coffee. The dessert was $3.50.
As far as the ambience, I found the restaurant rather dark, but they do play relaxing jazzy music in the background.

Eh...Dat's is alright I guess? I was expecting something better. Maybe I got an off day. My biggest complaint about Dat's was that the food was rather unmemorable. In fact, I can't remember what I got. It didn't taste great.

I've had creole before in NoLa and elsewhere. It seemed that this was trying to be an imitation. I expected a wonderful homogenization of spice and flavor...but I didn't get any of that.

The sweet tea was good. Food was out of the kitchen quickly. Price was a little much for a fairly simple dish IMO.

I'm not sure I'll come here again. I miss the creole place I used to go to when I was in Cincy and Dat's fails to fill that void.

Cheap and filling. You can get a huge plate of good food for under $8. It's pretty close to campus and a good alternative to on-campus options. The service can be kinda spotty but because it's an order-at-the-register kind of place I don't see that as a huge issue.

Definitely a casual place, and it never seems to be very crowded for some reason. Oh well, more for me!