Dani Rae’s Gulf Coast Kitchen

Both my friend and I ordered salmon, mine medium, hers well. Both came rare. The waiter — very friendly and helpful — took them back. Mine was returned well done — not the way I ordered it. She had hers as part of an entrée salad, but the salad was really small — side salad size. I ordered the garlic mashed potatoes, which were dry and didn’t taste like they had garlic in them. The grilled veggies were good, but almost all zucchini. I wouldn’t have gone back anyway, but my friend told me she had to stop on the way home because her stomach was upset.

This use to be an awesome place.
Unfortunately they got a new chef
Both myself and my friend could not believe how bad the food was. I ordered Jambalaya and he ordered étouffée. We pretty much order this every time we go there. The jambalaya tasted like tomato paste with Tabasco sauce poured in it. The étouffée was just nasty. I will not be going back.

We have passed this place for years and finally decided to give it a try and were somewhat disappointed. We each ordered a cocktail and they were out of various ingredients on both. What we did end up getting were a couple really good drinks though. I had a Red Snapper, blackened with Key Largo sauce, cilantro rice and grilled vegetables. None of the items had much flavor and the vegetables had no seasoning at all that I could tell. My wife had the Almost Stuffed Flounder and said it was alright, not that flavorful and wouldn’t order it again. We both agreed, we might would go back if someone else with us wanted to go but otherwise nah.

We were looking for a family friendly environment with good food, and we got more than that. Our waiter Aaron was very attentive and patient with our pray of nine! We tried almost everything on the menu. Frog legs were cleanly sautéed, the fried gator was a favorite. We had the fish tacos, jumbalaya, red snapper, grits, gumbo, the cod and cream brûlée and everything was absolutely perfect! This will definitely become a Sunday favorite

Food and service were both excellent. Pasta Mardi Gras delicious. My family members loved Almost Stuffed a Flounder and Mac n cheese with Crawfish. Hubs had fish tacos, liked the good big clean pieces of grilled fish, said overall dish good not great. Server very attentive and efficient, friendly. Definitely will visit again.

I took my parents out to eat here yesterday and it wasn’t a very good experience. It was my first time eating at Dani Rae’s but I’d eaten at the location many times when it was Three Fins and a couple of times when it was a Frilly’s. It was kind of shaky from the start, even though it wasn’t busy at all and there were only 2 – 3 tables occupied we stood around waiting for a long time to be seated. It wasn’t a big deal but it seemed unnecessary to wait around 4 – 5 minutes for no reason, especially since I didn’t eat lunch that day and was ready to get my grub on. I ordered the fried gator, every place I’ve ever had gator usually have it on their appetizer menu but if you order it as your meal will turn it into a basket with fries. Not here, no sides come with it, so I ordered a side of hush puppies for an extra $ 3. I don’t know for certain but I’m pretty sure it was just baked cornbread and not fried, it sure tasted like it. The gator wasn’t bad but kind of bland. My dad was less lucky, he got some sort of combo that came with shrimp and fish, his shrimp was fine but the fish wasn’t done. And I don’t just mean that it wasn’t cooked to his liking I mean the batter wasn’t completely cooked. It was crispy on the outside but underneath the outer crust the rest of the batter was still battery/​soggy and not fully cooked. Since the batter wasn’t completely done I’m guessing the fish inside probably wasn’t either. He’d already eaten a piece before he figured out what was going on. The manager on duty apologized and brought him some more shrimp (he didn’t want to chance any more of their fish), seeing as he could get sick and my parents are currently on symptom watch over at their house I half expected them to maybe knock a few bucks off the bill or something but they didn’t. No big deal, he ended up getting a meal’s worth of food, but when you potentially make a customer sick the least you could do is knock some hush puppies or a soda off the bill. My mom just had fried shrimp and hers was fine, which is good because the occasion was her birthday.
Update: Dad didn’t get seriously ill with food poisoning or anything, but the day after he had a pretty bad upset stomach. Who knows, could have been unrelated to the undercooked fish, but coming the day after that it would be a bit of a coincidence. He felt fine the next day though.

Service was ok! I’ll give them that. However, the gumbo, crawfish, and red beans and rice were the blandest thing I’ve ever tasted. Horribly disappointed, as my parents came from Houston and were really looking forward to my dad and mines favorite food-​crawfish. The «sausage» was literally a hot dog. Even my mom’s fish tacos were bland and her veggies undercooked. I’ve eaten at Dani Rae’s before a few years ago, and it was s good! What happened???

Stopped for some desert to go, the bread pudding was ok. The slice of pecan pie was insulting.

I really like the oysters here. They are fresh & the price is reasonable. The crab legs are really good & I like the way they do the lemon foam on top of the butter.

The boiled crawfish is awesome. This has become one of our favorite places to eat seafood. Very creative dishes and very flavorful. I’m a huge fan of hush puppies and this place has some of the best.

A great place for seafood and close-​to-​Cajun fare. They fall short on their andouille sausage – it’s just not authentic. But that’s the case at every Cajun restaurant I’ve been to in the metroplex. But I digress… Still, if you’re looking for excellent crawfish etoufee, fried pickles and shrimp, then this is the place in Denton!

Amazing valentines dinner tonight! Lovely atmosphere & friendly service. Only reason it’s not 5 star rating… They ran out of crawfish lol our fault for not showing up sooner. MUST TRY! You’ll be getting my business again. Keep on keeping on.

The food was good initially and the service was really great. I came in around 3 in the afternoon and it was mostly empty, very quiet, super nice. Ordered the fried crab legs as an app, which was pretty good — came with a very buttery dipping sauce that complemented it very well. Also had a round of a dozen oysters, and my boyfriend and I both ordered entrees with fish and rice. I also had two drinks, one of which was a margarita that was $ 3 because we came during their happy hour, I believe.
Overall, the whole lunch came to a little under $ 60. A little expensive, but worth the price. However, I unfortunately became very sick with some type of food poisoning shortly after my lunch here. I can’t pinpoint what it was for sure that made me sick, although I believe it was likely the raw oysters.
My boyfriend ate the oysters as well, and said he felt a stomach ache after the meal, but it wasn’t too bad. Mine was unbearable. I ended up throwing up most of my meal about an hour later. Along with other symptoms that I’ll spare you for.
I’d recommend giving the place a try. at your own risk. I’m not trying to knock the business based off of my single bad experience there, I just wanted to share my experience with anyone else who cares to read these reviews.
The food was good and the atmosphere was very relaxed — definitely my type of place. I’d go back, though I’d be weary of what to order.

Went there last night and it was very good. My girlfriend had the coconut shrimp and a bowl of gumbo. The shrimp were huge and had a very good Pina Colada dipping sauce. I thought these were better than the ones you get from the nationwide seafood restaurant. I had the shrimp cocktail and blackened redfish.
The shrimp cocktail cannot be missed. Very good. Very fresh. You get 6 huge shrimp, 2 slices of avocado, and a nice size serving of pico in a big glass dish. Again — I thought it was excellent.
I will definitely be back…

I love Dani Rae’s! I’ve eaten here several times now and I’ve always been satisfied. If you’re into Coors Original, they sell it for $ 1.50. My go to menu items are the gumbo and crawfish tacos. The apps are amazing, too. The only drawback, for me at least, is that they are only open til 9 on weekdays.

Being here thrice already for the past month and I most say I love it. The different times I was here, I ordered the crawfish boil, jambalaya, and gumbo. The flavors in these are spectacular! Best hidden secret in the Denton Area. I give 4 stars because there’s always a room for improvement.

Everyone needs to go here and get the Blackened Chicken Alfredo. I KNOW, it sounds like a boring dish from Olive Garden, but it’s spicy! And flavorful! And perfectly creamy. I’m in love. I never thought I’d be the person that always orders boring Chicken Alfredo, but theirs is Cajun spiced and impossibly good. My husband got the Almost Stuffed Flounder, and liked it! But liked my Alfredo better.
We got the bread pudding to finish it off and it was amazing. I’m a huge bread pudding fan. Here it’s covered in bourbon sauce and drizzled in caramel. It’s the perfect combination and you can actually taste the bourbon in the sauce. Sold.

Not bad for the area. Mac and cheese is on the smaller side but it is very decadent! My fiancé had the unlimited catfish which he thought was good. Everyone else in the family (all 8 of us) seemed to enjoy their food too. I wouldn’t travel out of my way for this but it’s a decent place for a casual family dinner!

Wonderful for lunch or dinner. The lunch specials are great, beverage included.
I’ve been here about 5 times with my husband or a friend. This is a place I’m comfortable recommending to my friends or dining alone.
Lunches AND dinners were memorable in a good way. Try the red beans and rice as a side. We loved the fresh and fried oysters. A favorite of mine is shrimp cocktail. It’s done with avocado and I’ve made a meal out of it.
I’ve been told that the seafood is fresh from Mississippi and Louisiana daily. It sure tastes like it!
We’ve always have had great service. Great drinks and music weekly, I like that too, so I’ll be back.
Punch in your phone number for frequent guest rewards.
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The restaurant has the typical décor of a Cajun restaurant. We tried different dishes and they were pretty good. The oysters were on HH for .75 each and huge! They had shucked them as they’re being ordered and you can tell because they do taste fresh. The crab fingers were delicious in the creamy sauce they came in. Very flavorful! The trout was tasty which came with two sides. The blackened chicken poboy although the chicken was tasty, it was more bread than chicken. Our server was great. Kept checking on our table and drinks filled.
I will have to wait until next year to try their crawfish but I will be back to try the Tuesday baked oyster nights!