The Bayou Camden

This entire place smells like a chemical toilet! Ugh.
We came here after seeing on Twitter that cocktails are half price at Bayou during happy hour. We arrived to be shown a happy hour menu of cocktails that cost £5 — originally priced at £7.50 each — I think that whoever operates their Twitter account needs to go back to school! That’s most definitely not half price.
Not deterred, we ordered anyway, as you can’t grumble at a £5 cocktail. I went for the Bayou sour which is a coffee twist on an amaretto sour. It was horrible. A combination of mostly weak coffee and lemon juice which culminated in a concoction that tasted of feet — where was the amaretto?! Both of my friends ordered mojitos and claimed they tasted too sweet and that it was more like drinking a glass of juice.
We stayed here long enough for our phones to charge and then quickly left. I would definitely not recommend this place to anyone looking for a well made cocktail. Just browsing their menu, it’s easy to see that they have no idea how to mix, as there are some incredibly bizarre ingredient pairings in their «signature» cocktails.
Oh, did I mention this place smells like a chemical toilet?

terrible terrible terrible. only positive thing to say is that the stuff was super friendly and fair

Worst food I’ve had in London. The pulled pork was bland and terrible and the gumbo somehow was even more bland and terrible. Avoid at all costs. Well in fairness, the sparkling lemonade was pretty good.

Waitress was really nice. She saved the dinner from being total loss.
Owner (?) french guy not so happy when I recommended not playing make out music instead of fun lively jazz music the way Good ol’ Louisiana folk intended. Amazing music /​real environment would have saved the meal.
Food… Ok. Not authentic nor gourmet, but pretty solid.
Most importantly, disappointed they only had Budweiser for happy hour beer. That beer is not good in any country … Why bother pretend it’s «American» if no one likes it?

In all honesty, it’s my fault for having expectations. I should have known that a ‘creole restaurant’ in Camden (of all places) was not going to be up to much. And yet, because I wanted the rich flavours I’d experienced in New Orleans I was bitterly disappointed.
I must make this clear, the food is not bad per se, it’s just not what it claims to be. For anyone who has ever had gumbo or jumbalaya you know it’s meant to be a taste sensation. The food looks like what it’s meant to look like what it’s trying to be but it has none of the flavour. We also tried the fried chicken and the batter was burnt and dry. I must say though, the chicken itself once you picked off the offending batter was nice but in that case you might as well go to Nandos. The biscuits were hard and cold.
On the up side… The cocktails were nice and during happy hour were only £5 so there is that. Would I recommend this place? Eh. To people who aren’t very adventurous with food then sure. The jambalaya wasn’t bad, it was just a British version I suppose. I won’t go back but to dip your little toe into that cuisine it has its uses.

Omg the cocktails!!! The desserts!!! Lovely little place with live jazz and authentic tasting creole food. I finally understand what princess Tiana from the Disney movie was making. Them beignets… Drool

I should have read the Unilocal reviews instead of trusting tripadvisor! I have to say I got suckered in by the branding and website, and the menu didn’t look too bad either so was looking forward to some southern style food. Unfortunately I didn’t get any food. Ok so it was a Friday night, it was quite full but only about 30 covers. Apparently the supervisor was sick and there were also two new waitresses working.
However it took 30 minutes for our first drinks to arrive and after one hour and twenty minutes our first course still had not arrived. It was time to walk out, the first time I had done so from a restaurant. Maybe I was unlucky but I have to review my personal experience. The manager kindly let us have the drinks for free and offered 25% off our next visit (which I will not be doing).
Here’s why I don’t think I was actually that unlucky: the overall concept of the bar/​restaurant is good, they also have live music to get you into the Louisiana mood, and as I said the branding is pretty good. But the restaurant seems like an after thought or designed by someone who has no idea. The kitchen is the size of a cupboard, the pass is tiny so waiters have to battle to get food in and out a 1 metre squared area and then traverse a step and then some tight tables around the pass. Management seems to just want their staff to have a good time rather than train them properly so customers have a good time. Even though they should have been pushing, waiters were strolling around dancing to the music, the manager was juggling the credit card reader whilst many tables were waiting for service. Maybe I was seeing all of this through negative eyes but what I did see was a table wait 40 minutes for their starters, and another table wait more than half an hour for their main course — one person left ¾ of their meal. Oh and finally I was told they don’t serve draft beer after 7pm, only bottles so they could presumably charge you more whilst they lock you in that place for a hellish wait for your food.
Harsh? Maybe, but the funny thing is that even though it was the first restaurant I walked out of I wasn’t even that angry, it was interesting to observe how a restaurant could be designed and run so badly — all this without even tasting the food. Thank goodness for Chillango down the road for a reliably satisfying burrito.

The Bayou Camden is anything but authentic. Am from the States and a bunch of us ate a selection of dishes and I tasted each of them. I have visited Louisiana, specifically New Orleans dozens of times and spent countless weekends eating my way through the Southern States. I know what Soul food is and Bayou Camden is definitely NOT!!!
Bayou is soulless. Best thing they could do is:
1, hire an American chef from Louisiana
2, actually use traditional, correct ingredients making NO substitutions
3, hire American staff who can actually talk to the heritage of the dishes
4, compose a menu which describes the dishes as they would be in Louisiana
5, hire a bartender who has actually drank a hurricane
* the cocktails are weak, not enough alcohol to waste a fly
6 Bayou, Creole and Cajun are not interchangeable.
Soul food has a voice, when prepared authentically with both love, devotion and respect it sings … Bayou Camden hit every sour note in the book and then some.
And don’t get me started on their piano player.
If I could rate them ZERO stars I would. What angers me most about this place is that they received a review on Unilocal this past July from an actual Southerner who pointed out issues with the food and it would appear that 7 month later NOTHING has been done to address those issues.

Huge portions of food, and a lovely atmosphere. We came here for lunch and there was live piano music, and the service was attentive and friendly. The Gumbo is rich and delicious, packed with veggies and seafood. The milkshakes are truly sinful! :)

I came here after seeing a review on Shortlist Magazine’s newsletter. I usually check out Unilocal opinions but neglected to do so on this occasion. I would have thought twice about coming here had I checked Unilocal in advance because it’s clear how split everyone is.
I booked a table for a work lunch a week in advance. I had to give card details for our table of 10 with the agreement that they’d charge me £5 per person if we didn’t turn up. You can imagine my surprise that the place was empty when we arrived. By the time we left only a couple more tables had been seated.
The venue is quite small but quite nicely decorated. I can imagine it’s really nice when a band is playing.
Onto the food… most of the party had seen the menu on the website already so we were gutted when they handed us a brunch menu with most of the main menu items missing. Fortunately for me the gumbo and jambalaya options were on the smaller menu anyway but I think it’s poor to have two menus and not mention it on the website. People were ready for steak and had to settle for breakfast burritos (which actually turned out to be very tasty). The gumbo was alright but I would try something else next time. I did enjoy my Hardshake (alcoholic milkshake) and the Strawberry Kiss mocktail was also really refreshing.
The service was quite slow. The waitress really struggled with the different beers on the menu (Brooklyn and Brooklyn IPA). The kitchen did take about 30 minutes to bring out our order too.
I’m not sure. Everyone seemed happy enough with their food and said they’d go again, but it would certainly be in the evening when we could pick from the main menu.

First time i’ve been to Bayou Soul, i liked it, was a shame that it was so empty on a Thursday night though.
The food was good, we shared the meat platter with coleslaw and hushpuppy sides. The cheesy grits, steak and chicken were great. Good quality meat, well cooked, really tasty.
I love love the condiment selection — a choice for however hot you like your food.
I didn’t like the ribs so much, they were quite sweet but the texture was good.
We will be back, hopefully on a busier night!

This is going to be a harsh review. First, I am American. Specifically, I am a southerner. Even more specifically, I am from Louisiana, the area of the US from which this establishment purports to derive it’s inspiration. As such, I found the inauthentic food to be borderline offensive.
Back to the beginning, I had some hopes when we walked in the door, as the décor was stylish and southern jazz was playing in the background. it was downhill from there.
We ordered two breakfast plates, with pancakes and bacon, along with a plate of biscuits and sausage gravy as an appetizer. After about 30 minutes, the appetizer and one breakfast plate arrived together. The pancakes were too dense, but passable. They were not served with butter, only syrup, which is NOT the southern US way. Also, bacon rashers were served. In the US, we ONLY eat streaky bacon. The gravy and biscuits were as far from authentic as one can get. The buscuit was rock hard, where as in the southern states, they would be very fluffy and buttery. The gravy was brown. Southern US sausage gravy uses American breakfast sausage and is thick and white from wheat flour. If you can’t buy American breakfast sausage in the UK, the restaurant should make their own. It’s basically ground pork with spices. If they can’t make their own, they shouldn’t be selling a «southern» dish that they can’t make properly.
After about fifteen minutes with only one main course, we stopped the waiter, who rudely implied that he knew we were missing a plate and that the kitchen was still working on it. How hard can it be to griddle cook 3 pancakes and a rasher of bacon? That shouldn’t take but 5 minutes to begin with. In any case, we waited another 15 minutes, after which time, both the appetizer and the first plate were finished, at which point, we asked for the check. The waiter had the balls to include the discretionary 12.5% service fee that many UK restaurants add in lieu of customer tipping. It wasn’t worth a hassle to get the fee removed, but it soured an already poor restaurant experience.
To sum up, this was probably the worst restaurant experience I had in London over a 4 week business trip, during which I ate in restaurants 2 or 3 times a day, with only a handful of repeats. If that doesn’t sum up how terrible this place is, nothing will. God willing, this place will be closed before ripping off any more unsuspecting customers.

Managed to get here on the soft launch — the atmosphere was great towards the back they have a piano with old school mic, I can only imagine the vibe being great when the stage is occupied!
Can’t remember the exact name of my starter but it included Crawfish fritters of some kind and deep fried Aubergine with a side of aioli. The fritters were super but the Aubergine was a tad on the salty side probably just a slip of the hand!
For my main I went with the Chicken & Shrimp Jambalaya. While the spices were there I felt it was lacking a bit of punch and could have been turned up a notch or two.
They have an extensive cocktail list which is great, started off with a Cherry & Cinnamon Daiquiri — both tart and sweet at the same time. Also tried the infamous Apple Pie cocktail as per recommended by the waitress and I have to say, this is one of the best constructed cocktails I’ve had in a while! I was a bit sceptical at first but it actually tasted like apple pie.
I had a great time and the staff were all very friendly, overall I would definitely recommend trying it out — I know I’ll be back to try something else on the menu for sure!!!

Camden seems to be becoming the home to wanabee Americana dining …
And this place is in no way improving on any of the other venues … Everything about it screams cheap apart from the food price …
I really prefer to review places after I have tried a range of dishes but after paying fifteen quid for a shrimp étouffée that consisted of 6 shrimps and a total bill in excess of thirty quid for one cocktail and 2 courses I really don’t want to give them a penny more of my or my friends money.
I will admit I found the obviously microwaved pumpkin pie too insulting for words … The pastry was rendered soggy as a result of the microwaving … The miserly portion of rice had seemed pretty insulting but apparently my ordering of a dessert had merited a greater insult.
There are worse places to eat in Camden … Given the cheapness of the décor and the high prices for the food it is safe to assume this place has been knocked together on debt which needs to be paid off quickly … I suspect that is how to go bust …
I look forward to the next place to replace it.

This newly opened Creole style restaurant is just what I needed. They offer so many meals that you just don’t find in London.
For starters we ordered the Louisiana crab cakes and the calamari. Both were very delicious. The calamari arrived with hush puppies and was seasoned very well and was served with a chipotle dip which actually worked really well. The crab cakes were amazing, I loved it. Generous amounts of crab inside and it was served with a lovely avocado sauce and with mango which also all tasted really great together.
For mains, I ordered the jambalaya with crayfish and tasso (tasso is Louisiana style spiced pork, thanks Wikipedia!) The portion isn’t very big but it’s very filling. I think the jambalaya was good but could have been better. The seasoning was a little flat and the tasso was a tad underwhelming, it could have been a bit more smoky or spicy.
For dessert, I chose the pumpkin pie. It was very light and delicious and not as sweet as what I’m used to. They use fresh pumpkin too to make it!
The cocktails were excellent here also, they mix them strong!!! Unusual but delicious mixes too. I quite liked the apple pie cocktail.
Also, the service was excellent. Really friendly upbeat staff. Big thumbs up!

Spot-​on, well-​seasoned chicken in a perfect combination with a sweet pumpkin side and crispy thick-​cut chips. All served by friendly and efficient staff.
After I read about this new restaurant, Bayou Camden, I decided to check it out during its soft-​opening.
I was served quickly and was offered a free starter — roasted bread with an olive and tomato spread, I think. On request, I did not see it on the menu, I even got a freshly pressed lemonade, which was really refreshing on a warm summer evening.
I ordered chicken breast and got a perfectly seasoned, succulent and tender piece of chicken. It came with a Pumpkin LaFourche, and I was a it sceptical first, but I soon understand the pairing. I found that the sweet pumpkin side was an excellent complement to the spicy chicken with its sauce. Really a tasty and balanced combination.
I also ordered a side of fries and they were really good. Thick cut, crunchy and fluffy. Not entirely consistent, but still among the most delicious chips I had in London.
As dessert, I ordered beignets and they were as delicious as the other dishes. I am not entirely sure, if the apple compote and cinnamon I read on the menu were missing, but even without it was a nice and light dessert, and came with a fresh raspberry! And most surprisingly, they tasted almost exactly like the seasonal dish «Fastnachtsküchle» I know from the South of Germany.
I concluded my dinner with a cup of coffee. It was okay, not my favourite flavour, but alright. And it came in a fancy cup.
Overall, the food and the fresh lemonade at Bayou Camden were delicious and the service was friendly and efficient. Definitely a place I can recommend if you like chicken.