Good Times Family Restaurant

The food was above average - the Cajun / Lousiana style dishes are excellent. What really wowed me was the service. I was really pleased at how attentive and quick the servers were. We even got free sides because they accidentally cooked too much food. I would definitely go back, and this time be more adventurous with my order.

For down home good food, this restaurant probably desired five stars because almost everything we had so far has been good.  So far, we have tried the catfish, shrimp, red beans and rice and etouffee. All were really good.  Only the side dish of black-eyed peas was a little disappointing because it was too salty.All other

Service was friendly and good.  They have really updated the place and it was clean.

Really like that the chef came out to ask us if we liked our meal.  She is from New Orleans so the cooking is authentic.

Reason for edit.

I "edited" this review instead of "updating" it because the times visited were within 5 days of one another.  I will continue with saying that the food has always been really good but I cant seem to grasp my head around what I was told for not having gumbo on the menu. After the third visit, without being able to have gumbo, I asked the server why wasn't it a staple on the menu since they were going with a cajun theme. Her response about made me spill my 5 gallon pitcher of tea that they give each person. Her exact words were, "She only makes it a special because it's so expensive to make."

Gumbo expensive? The entire premise and concept of gumbo was created by people who weren't able to purchase the finer cuts of protein and could be made relatively inexpensively. It's a soup made with oil, flour, celery, onions, bell pepper, orka and what ever meats or seafoods you want to put in it. I can make a pot of chicken and sausage gumbo that would feed 20 for less than 40 dollars (labor included).

If you were making a seafood gumbo, I could see a higher price maybe 60 dollars for that same pot for 20 people but that is still well within profit margins for a restaurant.

The only way I could see this as being expensive is if they were buying ready made gumbo and selling it. Since I haven't tried it, I cant give my opinion of that.

Now, still, in saying all of this, I am a fan of this place. It is clean with great service and food that has yet to disappoint but the lack of gumbo and and being a "cajun" restaurant makes one's head spin.

Past review.

Being a Chef from South Louisiana who loves good Cajun food, I had to try this place and review it.

With this review, I am breaking a Cardinal rule of mine, YET AGAIN, and that is to not review restaurants in my hometown in fear that my review will be because I know the owners etc. In saying that, I DO NOT know the owners of Good Times. This review is solely because I am from South Louisiana and the food was outstanding.

Starting with the negatives first isnt the norm but this negative has to be said.  If you are going to open a cajun restaurant anywhere, there is one that that you must never run out of and that is gumbo. Without okra you have no gumbo, without gumbo you have a partial cajun restaurant. Actually gumbo wasn't even on the menu so it must be a special.

The first time I visited Good Times was earlier in the week and I  went to try their gumbo. When I walked in, I heard two servers tell guests that they were out of gumbo. SO I mentioned that I heard that they were out of gumbo and the server said yes. Well then I went to my second staple of a true cajun eatery and had the Fried Oyster po-boy. While looking over the menu, I noticed that they were serving it on New Orleans bread so my tastebuds went ballistic. You cant have an authentic cajun po-boy without this bread. You can have a great, excellent, awesome one but never an authentic one. This bread had just the right amount of salt and flakey crust that led me to believe that it was from New Orleans. In New Orleans, you have an option to have your po-boy 'dressed' or 'not dressed' (lettuce tomatoes etc.) At Good Times, it comes 'dressed' and the taste is wonderful and it reminded me of what I would get when I was growing up.

Today, I was telling my wife how good the po-boy was and that we must go soon so she recommended that we have lunch there today after we did a little shopping. We entered and I heard yet again the dreaded, "We are out of gumbo" from servers at tables. Man I was bummed. I was eager to try the gumbo but wasn't able to. We ordered our lunch and once again it was outstanding with excellent service. We ordered a Fried Shrimp po-boy with onions rings two teas and for dessert, the Jack Daniels Pecan Pie. All were delicious.

PLUSES  +  Great po-boys, great onion rings and great service.
CONS       -  Havent tried their gumbo yet.

The service is wonderful, the food is excellent and the price is fair just waiting for the gumbo to be added as a menu item.

My 5 stars is because what I have tasted is well within the boundaries of Cajun food but if I can't get gumbo when I visit, then a dip in stars may be on the horizon.