Kelly’s Cajun Grill

I eat at this Cajun Grill every time I’m taking the train to/​from Union Station. The bourbon chicken sauce is like crack, and it pairs perfectly with the Lo Mein noodles, which I add tons of hot sauce to. Yes, it’s a little heavy for lunch, but it’s so good and enough to last me thru my 2 hour and 58 minute train ride. The fresh squeezed lemonade here is also really really good for those hot summer days. I love it! Yummy and quick, woop!

It’s quick. It’s cheap. It’s bourbon chicken.
There is nothing Cajun about this place at all though. The «world famous» bourbon chicken is effectively some kind of chargrilled chicken slathered in a sweet sauce. I wouldn’t even venture to call it Chinese food. It just is what it is. The steamed cabbage is ok. Many places like this cook the cabbage too long so it gets soggy, but this cabbage still has a nice crunch to it. The fried rice could very easily be the rice from yesterday or the day before, so I stick to the steamed rice and hope for the best.
The egg rolls aren’t good. The filling is flavorless and kinda mushy. Skip those.

I had the bourbon chicken with cabbage and steamed rice the other day and had the worse case of the runs… TMI… they should re name this to dog on a stick. The nerve of them calling it Cajun Grill… Popeye’s is more Cajun then this place…

I had the bourbon chicken with fried rice and cabbage.
I’d reccomend the bourbon chicken and cabbage. Both were as good as you can expect from fast food. The sauce had a good tastem and wasn’t too strong and they gave a reasonable amount of it with the chicken.
The cabbage was a decent texture and taste.
The fried rice was pretty average, typical cheap fried rice, nothing memorably good or bad about it.

I was drawn to the cajun and yet did not order a cajun dish. I was totally distracted by the lunch special for $ 6.50. I ordered the fried rice with cabbage and lemon chicken. I needed a good meal before my four-​hour bus ride back to New York City. It was satisfying and delicious. The lemonade was pretty good too, nice and sweet.

The lunch special is pretty reasonable, and decent food quality. For $ 6.50, you get a large portion of the entrée, a vegetable and your choice of steamed or fried rice. Lately, the special has been the Lemon Chicken — which is fried and glazed. This is my first goto when I forget my lunch.

Rude servers. Found hair in my food once. Disgusting greasy food.

Bourbon chicken, the end.
Just kidding, I wouldn’t leave this review hanging by simplifying an entire restaurant in a busy Union Station food court like this. It’s a tad better than Sakura, which is a few stations down the row, only because Cajun Grill seems to stay average very consistently, where Sakura has its good days and really bad days.
The one thing that will jump out at you is they love giving you samples. The manager will keep repeating the phrase «yummy yummy» as I was a 5 year old kid. It worked, because I tried their sample every time I go down there. I had the fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on your view of American Chinese food) opportunity to try every single one of their dish, either by sample or ordering it as an entrée. And which food items should you get that will make your taste buds go bonker?
Cue the drum rolls please…
Bourbon chicken, the end.
Skip everything else. And grab a big cup of water, because you’ll thank me 10 minutes after your meal.

It tastes like classical Chinese food. The price is very reasonable and the chicken is great.

I love my «yummy yummy»! Fast and tasty.
The bourbon chicken is absolutely delicious. I’ll admit I wish the chicken pieces were butchered a little better, and sometimes some pieces are a little burned (otherwise they’d get 4 stars), but you can’t argue with the flavor. Extra bourbon sauce please! Just put it in a glass and I’ll drink it!
The vegetables are usually dry and flavorless, so I just skip them and get a second type of chicken for slightly more money (lemon chicken is pretty good too!). Yes, that’s the healthy choice.
Very reasonable prices as well. They of course overcharge for beverages (every place around here does), but if you just get an entrée it’s generally $ 7 – 8, and I’m not sure I’ve ever finished mine.
I’d say it’s probably my favorite food court restaurant at Union Station.
Also they started taking credit cards (even Discover!) in the past year or two, so no more ATM runs needed!

Now I’m quickly loosing any foodie status by posting about a Union Station food court eatery, but it’s only right that people know this place is a decent place to eat. Cajun Grill is also known as «Yummy, yummy,» not because of the quality of the food, but because the workers get you to try samples by saying «yummy, yummy» over and over.
This actually a decent place to eat and it’s easier to find than King’s BBQ, which is tucked in the corner of Union Station. I always go with Bourbon chicken here with white rice and veggies. I think everything kinda tastes the same, so it’s hard to go wrong.
My only qualms with this place is that they’re overeager to charge me the DC bag fee when I don’t need a bag and they’re located in tourist infested Union Station.

One of the few places in the Union Station food court that is not absolutely terrible. In fact, surprisingly enough, they are decent. They also have two other plusses going for them: they offer free samples so you can’t lose and they take credit cards when most of the surrounding places do not.
Their menu is somewhat extensive and includes a number of cajun specialties. Don’t get your hopes up though. There isn’t anything authentic about any of the offerings. Knowing that Kelly’s Cajun Grill is a subsidiary of the Asian-​owned International Restaurant Management Group should squarely dash those hopes. However, if you dutifully do away with those expectations and just try it, you may come out surprised. I had the Bourbon Chicken Combo which I took served over fried rice with a side of roasted potatoes. The chicken was really plentiful and thickly cut, yet tender. Rather than bourbon, I picked up more of a syrupy taste that became cloying with time, but was ultimately tempered by the rest of the food on the plate. Those pieces of chicken actually tasted pretty good, dubiously enough. The fried rice was surprisingly bland, but I really liked the roasted potatoes which had a nice flavor. Overall, this was a very filling dinner for under $ 10, and it actually tasted okay. For this food court, that is almost unheard of!