Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen

11051 N. Black Canyon Highway
Phoenix

I ate at Pappadeaux exactly one year ago, and decided to give it another try. I arrived by myself at 5:15, and was seated immediately.

My first impression was how very noisy it was. All the wait staff was busy yelling at each other and most of what they were yelling was personal business and not about orders.

The waiter sat down at my table and asked "what are we going to eat?" I was wondering if I had to feed him too. I'm not used to having the waiter sit at my table.

I started with a dozen Blue point oysters on the half shell. After a 15 minute wait, the oysters arrived. At $17.95 a dozen, they don't come cheap, but to be fair, they were without any sand or grit. On the down side, some of the oysters were just put haphazard on the plate, and lost all of their wonderful liquor in the ice. Also bad was the horseradish, which tasted old and had absolutely no heat at all. After dumping the entire amount of horseradish I was given into the oyster sauce, I still had to add a generous amount of hot sauce to bring it up to a tolerable level.

For the main course, I ordered the large order of Fried Shrimp ($22.95). The waiter assured me that these were butterflied shrimp, and they were ordered with a baked potato ($2.95 extra). I was also offered a loaf of fresh baked bread. After an interminable amount of time, the shrimp finally showed up, having been brought by a different waiter. Generally, butterflied shrimp are around a U-10 size - large meaty morsels that will normally fill you up after eating perhaps a half dozen. What came to me might have been U-25 or U30 shrimp, which were improperly cut all the way through so that it looked more like a butterfly than a butterflied shrimp. It came with a tiny cup of tarter sauce. I had to ask the waiter which particular shrimp the tarter sauce was for, as it certainly was not enough for them all. I ended up ordering 5 more cups of tarter sauce. As for the potato, it was close in size to a small football, and could have used a little more baking.

After I finished the main course, the original waiter reappeared, and promptly sat himself down at my table again. His question was "What dessert are we going to get tonight?". After looking at the dessert menu and the prices of the desserts, I opted not to have any.

I was extremely disappointed in the restaurant, and have downgraded it since my last visit. I'll give them 3 stars, but I must say it was a challenge not to give them 2 stars this time. They have cheapened the food, the service is poor, and the noise close to unbearable. I'd give it a lot of thought before going to eat in this restaurant. 3 stars

Addendum - since publishing the original review, the owner has contacted me and offered a replacement free meal. Since I take no free gifts from anyone, I have accepted the offer and given it to one of my employees.