The Cajun Steamer

Good food just very small portions for the price. I got a shrimp dish with a mushroom sauce with rice and all of it literally took up half the plate.

Went for my birthday meal with my mom. I’m pescatarian, so it’s a bit hard to find places where I have variety but this place had lots of good choices so we decided on here! They were happy to seat us in a booth like we requested and we even got a corner away from other guests. Our waitress was amazing! Quick to offer refills and check on us. I let her know about my mom’s shellfish allergy and she told kitchen personally and made sure we knew she has let them know. Really good service! She even offered us to go drinks when boxing us up, which not many places do. Food was also amazing. We had grouper finger app and I got a build-​your-​own-​catch plate with pan seared tuna and Cajun potatoes. Was delicious and my mom loved her food to.
Thank you for making my birthday special!

Yummy food! My husband and I go here fairly frequently. I love their Bayou Chicken and crawfish étouffée. Their crawfish enchiladas are good but super rich. Their fried green tomatoes, crab cake, tuna dip, and crab claws are also good. The only thing I have gotten and didn’t like are the alligator bites — they are really gamey, which leads me to believe the meat wasn’t fresh or just wasn’t prepared properly. My husband enjoys the seafood medley and loves that you can get royal reds here too. You may have to wait for a table sometimes, but it is always worth the wait!

Good food, a bit over priced for quality. But our server made it such a lovely experience. Her name was AJ, so sweet.

Great cajun food and a good price. It wasn’t too hot yet to sit on the patio and enjoy an early Sunday evening. Several fans were running and the umbrellas opened helped as well. If we had come earlier, there was also live music. Just a light meal tonight, but the fried green tomatoes topped with crabmeat and roasted corn were fantastic! The tomatoes were thicker cut with a cornmeal (I think) crust and a tons of crab– no skimping with a nice remoulade. My friend had the crawfish etoufee, which is one of my favorites. Service was great– we were just relaxing and she checked in enough without making us feel rushed.

I think one star is high, should be no star. Service was horrible. Ordered gumbo and an entrée. The gumbo never came out. They brought it with the entrée. Then expected me to pick which one to eat first while they kept the other one warm.
Tea glass wasn’t filled for the first time until I finally tracked someone down and then they brought me the wrong kind of tea.
The general manager never really tried to give options and felt totally ignored after their screw up by the waitress and GM.
I travel for business constantly and this is the worst dining experience I’ve had in a long, long time. This is an independently owned restaurant and they clearly didn’t care about our dining experience.
I even had to send the check back with the waitress telling her the meal should be on the house for their screw up. GM told me he would only comp my meal, which I sent both items back and didn’t eat anything.
I won’t be back, ever.
The General Manager was not receptive to taking care of our check. I even told him if I owned the place and a couple had such a bad experience I wouldn’t have even brought a check to the table.
Almost made me feel like it was my fault.
Clearly a restaurant chasing the dollar and has zero regard for customers dining experience or satisfaction.

What a great evening last night. We had amazing service. The hostess was friendly and very accommodating for our birthday group of eight. Our server was outstanding. She made sure our water and beverages were full throughout the evening. The food was great. Can’t wait to come back next week.

Lots of fun every time. Food is great! Atmosphere is too. We like to sit outside on the back porch. Feels a little New Orleans out there. Food is very fresh. I enjoy the head on shrimp and the bacon wrapped shrimp. The jambalaya and other Cajun dishes are well done. My wife likes the make your own fish. All fresh, cook as you like add sauce or toppings. Prices are as expected but have a beer before you get there. Beer is a little pricey.

Good food, no space, and they ridiculously charge 10% gratuity for takeout! There should be easier way to get takeout and not be charged extra!

Excellent experience eating cajun food! Feels like Louisiana in here. Just finished eating a plate of Jumbalaya and crawfish! wow! A must not miss place! We drove here from Montgomery just to enjoy this! Go check this place out.

First off great environment, atmosphere, and staff. My wife and I came here for the first time on a Thursday night. We started off with fried calamari and it was cooked to perfection. We both decided on the Cajun Baked Seafood Medley as our entrée and when it first came out it was not what I either of us had expected. It was more of a bake than separate pieces, but to my surprise it was outstanding. I would love to come here again and support this great restaurant. Phenomenal food, decent prices, and a great staff.

My husband and I tried this restaurant for the first time tonight. The menu has a decent selection and the food is reasonably priced. I ordered the Cajun baked seafood medley with crawfish étouffée which came out almost immediately. The Parmesan cheese on top of my entrée was a little much but other than that it was great! The crawfish étouffée was amazing, although beware: it is a bit spicy. Our waitress was very attentive and the atmosphere was fun and casual. We will be back!

Disclaimer: If you don’t like reviews where the author asks then answers their own question better move along. Is this legit cajun food? Not exactly. It uses the names of southern Louisiana food and tastes somehat like it on certain menu items. Does it overdue the cajun theme? Not particularly. There are accents but there aren’t beads and mardi gras masks everywhere. Is their hurricane good? It is good. It’s not Pat O’s but they don’t have a flaming water feature in a courtyard so how could it be? Is this a good place for cajun influenced food and drink? You betcha. Try the crawfish enchiladas for an appetizer. Delicious. Could eat them for days. Boudin is a uniquely Louisiana sausage and Steamer does it pretty well. For an entrée their Voodoo chicken is excellent and an indicator on why the food here is not 100% authentic. And that’s ok because it tastes great. If you like oysters their raw have always tasted as fresh as you can get them this far inland and their oysters rockefeller and grilled oysters are superb. Shrimp creole and crawfish etoufee, quite good. I haven’t had anything I didn’t enjoy. Not everything hits the bullseye dead center though. Shrimp and grits aren’t bad but if you’ve had John Besh’s recipe at Luke in New Orleans CBD you’ll be ruined for any other after. If you are going for drinks and like a bolt of lightening (and arent driving) try the cat 5 hurricane. They do reach a bit too far at times like with having beignets on the dessert menu. As someone that lived in new orleans these are 3 am to 8 am treats served with strong chicory coffee on an open air patio. The seating isn’t great for large parties but if you know that then it’s not a problem. You don’t take your 12 member group if you prefer to sit together. There are some outside patio tables in the back overlooking «downtown» Patton Creek which can be a very pleasant experience. Does Cajun Steamer hit every mark? No but they rock a lot of them and it is a good choice for many situations. Like food and cocktails and isn’t that what you want from a bar restaurant? Yes. ;)

My customer suggested it and so I gave it a shot. It was a little busy for a midweek evening, but there was a booth open near the bar and the TV’s. Quite dimly lit, I had to use my cell phone to be able to read the menu!
I had the «Big» stuffed shrimp as a starter and they were okay. Lots of stuffing, not much for the shrimp in the big ball of fried. Still, it was tasty.
For main, I chose the Catfish Pontchartrain. A very big piece of grilled catfish topped with shrimp and crab stuffing with a spicy sauce poured over the top. It was good and hot, a nice big portion but the sauce was just too spicy to be able to taste anything. About half way through, I did manage to get used to it and enjoyed the catfish. I’d have something different next time.
Good service from an attractive waitress, it was a nice meal.

Great food with excellent service. Came on a bus with 23 at lunch. Sat outside on a beautiful day in December. Service was fast and accurate. I ordered the Broke PO Boy and Gumbo. It was excellent and authentic Cajun food not just splashed on seasoning. My companions had a several different dishes that all seemed to enjoy.

As soon as I walked in the door, I noticed how filthy the place was. The floor was covered in trash and the windows looked like they had never been cleaner. But I was with a group and this was were they wanted to eat.
I ordered the shrimp poboy and fries. Not that great unless you like a lot of white bread roll with your shrimp. Fries were fine. Pretty much everyone in there was drinking beer and not eating. Makes you wonder.
Would not be back and would recommend you find out their food inspection number.

Fun environment for a casual place. Prices are pretty reasonable and portion size is about average.
Abundance of choices on the menu with all the Cajun classics you would expect. I couldn’t decide what to get so I opted for the Cajun Trio that lets you choose 3 different items in smaller portions. The flavor of the food was really good. The spice level was too much to handle so I wasn’t able to eat it. I went with a coworker and they thought it was too spicy as well.
I know Cajun food is known for being spicy but it was a bit too much for us.
I heard they have delicious beignets that are made from scratch. Unfortunately they did not have any made tonight so I wasn’t able to try them.
If you enjoy spicy food and Cajun food, this is probably the place for you.

One of my favorite spots in B’ham. The food is better than average, and the menu is outstanding, they just need more space.
Always been happy with the kitchen here, and my whole family has a great time whenever we go. There’s always something new on the menu it seems. The «Build Your Catch» seafood options are out of this world. If you can’t find something here that makes you happy, you have issues. The fried items are always perfect, especially the catfish, oysters, and alligator bites. And for lunch I always get the Shrimp Po Boy, its as good as it gets.
So many things to choose from on the menu sometimes its hard to decide. The beer is cold and the bloody marys are top notch, the perfect cure for what ails you. For desert we really enjoy the fried cheesecake and key lime pie. Got a nice patio for when its not scorching hot outside, and they always seem to have a wait. Would do more business if this place wasn’t so cramped.

Found this place via Unilocal and I’m pretty excited about it! Smallish restaurant and seems pretty busy for a Monday night. Lots of TVs strategically placed so you can see one from just about any seat. I’m able to see a baseball game, basketball game and Nancy Grace from my seat. Music is also playing on speakers tonight. Nice crowd — families, couples, small groups and people flying solo like me. Pretty loud but lots of conversations so not too loud. Service tonight is mediocre. It wasn’t too crowded when I first arrived but took awhile to place drink order and then a little more while to place dinner order. Décor is New Orleans barish… beads, neon crawfish/​crab beer signs, fleur de lis, etc.
I’m drinking a draft beer but the bar seems to be fully stocked with booze. Looks to be a good variety of that. There were happy hour specials from 3 – 6 but I missed out on them.
I didn’t order any apps but good variety to choose from. I ordered the crawfish étouffée for dinner which looks to be a side dish for some meals (probs in a smaller version). It was delicious! Came in a bowl with white rice. Very spicy! Yum! I was offered crackers with it but declined. Wish I hadn’t BC it would have cut the spice a little. Only thing I would change is to have bread/​cornbread served with it. It did fill me up however. I spied two others having the steamed shrimp/​crawfish platter which I would have ordered but too much for just me.
I will definitely return to this place next time I’m in Birmingham. Hidden gem for sure. Bonus for me was the music playing… Island Song by Zac Brown Band came on which was randomly awesome!
If you haven’t been here and enjoy creole, you must check it out. Would have given 5 stars except for service. Maybe off night for my waitress. There’s a lot of wait staff tonight but she seems slow. She hasn’t come by often to check on me at all.

Ok food, fun atmosphere!
I’m not from the area but I was going to the Galleria Mall and our taxi driver recommended this place since it was a short drive away.
I love the cajun seafood I’ve tried in places like the Boiling Crab in California so I was expecting something similar.
I started with the corn and crab chowder that was very creamy and tasty with a lil kick. For appetizers, we had to try the grilled Alligator bites (best way to describe is that it has a chicken/​calamary taste, medium soft texture and very garlicky), hush puppies and crab cake. All were good to try but not memorable.
We also ordered the boiled seafood platter for 2 which came with lots of crawfish, some crab legs, grilled oysters, corns and shrimp. I like my sauces with lots of flavor and not spicy. This was the exact opposite. They give you butter and cocktail sauce as dipping sauces. Not bad but definitely not the best seafood I’ve had. Portion was pretty good as we were three and hardly finished it.
Atmosphere was fun and our server was nice as well! Wouldn’t go out of the way for it though.
Unilocal 100 Challenge! 2015: ⁸⁄₁₀₀