CreoLa

Great food,
Lovely ambience as of old Victorian furniture, upstairs and downstairs...

Good staff, they are busy, but everything gets done. I liked our server Edward.

I highly recommend it

I love this restaurant! They're a mom and pop that specializes in Creole/Louisiana style food. I'm so glad they're bringing this cuisine to SF, as it's not that common in the city! Their dishes are always beautifully plated and the flavor is great! My favorites are the chicken jambalaya and the etouffee.

You also can't skimp out on the drinks and dessert! The Bourbon street is my favorite - it comes with a shot of champagne and has a fun sprinkle of peppercorn. Beignets are a must!

The ambiance is beautiful and the interior is so wonderfully decorated. Such a great spot for a cozy/intimate meal. Your meal is always accompanied by some great jazz as well. Love!

So good! We had made an early dinner reservation for CreoLa, but probably didn't need one, since they were pretty empty on a Saturday evening. The interior had two stories and reminded me of a traditional southern home. We were seated in a comfortable booth, and our server Julian was friendly and personable. For drinks, I ordered the Tropical Breeze mocktail, which was amazing. The flavors of the pink peppercorn shrub and cayenne pepper made it very unique, but it was still so refreshing - highly recommend. We also ordered the Corn Hush Puppies and Corn Bread as appetizers for the table. The texture of the Corn Hush Puppies was fantastic, and adding the Crawfish Remoulade was totally worth it. The Corn Bread was also great, and I loved that there were actual corn kernels in it. However, we probably would've skipped this, had we known that all the entrees already came with corn bread.

For entrees, my friend and I shared the Buttermilk Brined Fried Chicken and Abita Turbo Dog Beer Braised Beef Short Ribs. Both were tasty, but the Short Ribs were easily my favorite. The beef was so soft, it was basically falling apart, and the flavor was excellent. The chicken was well-prepared, but a little less memorable. Both of these items came with two sides, and I chose the Wild Mushroom Jambalaya and Cream Cheese Grits. I'd never tried a vegan Jambalaya before, and really enjoyed it. The Cream Cheese Grits were even better though - one of the highlights for sure! For dessert, I tried a bite of the Creole Pecan Pie. CreoLa's take on this was also super unique, with a layer of Cheesecake baked in. It had the perfect level of sweetness, and the whipped cream on the side tasted homemade. Overall, we loved this dinner - totally worth the visit!

Located in a peaceful neighborhood 2 minutes from Golden Gate Park, CreoLa is a cozy two story restaurant with lots of natural lighting and beautiful interior. Everything from the decor to the bathroom is spotless and well decorated.

The menu highlights Southern classics, such as catfish and crawfish. There is also a pretty extensive cocktail and drinks menu that come in the cutest glasses. I got the boudin balls, catfish st. charles, and the blackened catfish.

The boudin balls were a 3/5 - crisp and served with a creamy sauce but the filling was not my style personally.

The catfish st. charles was a 4/5 - the catfish was buttery soft and well seasoned with a buttery crawfish sauce. Very well portioned but the dish was a bit heavy so it would have been nice if there was more spice or a bright, tangy side sauce like sour cream. The corn bread that came with the dish was soooo good, which I was pleasantly surprised by because most restaurant side corn bread is dry and chalky.

The blackened catfish was the star of the night. Seasoned to perfection, perfectly-cooked, and accompanied with cornbread and two sides you can choose from their whole side menu. Highly recommend as the all-around meal.

Prices are also reasonable for the price and service is also super friendly although it's a one woman show.

Food: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Ambiance: 4/5
Overall: There are very few southern places in town and this was pretty standard fare.

The extended review...

Food:

Buttermilk Fried Chicken - 3/5 - The chicken was standard fare. What I loved was that you get two sides with the entree so I opted for two servings of Jambalaya which was standard fare was well.

Service: 4/5 - Friendly service.

Ambiance: 4/5 - Nice indoor and outdoor seating.

Very welcoming and helpful servers. The place is clean, the decor is homey with a bit of class and nostalgia. You'll know what I mean when you come :)

The shrimp and crawfish etouffee is delicious and came out nice and hot! Collards greens are good. My friend said the wild mushroom jambalaya is flavorful and it's a huge portion. The beignets are hot pillowy goodness and came with a salted caramel dipping sauce and chocolate sauce.

Excellent excellent EXCELLENT Cajun restaurant! This place is pretty lowkey, even on the internet, and I've been curious about it -- was not expecting it to be so good. I ordered for takeout, but the restaurant inside is so beautiful and charming. Would come back to dine in.

We got the brined chicken with sides, hush puppies, and gumbo. The brined chicken was probably the best fried chicken I've had -- juicier and saltier than Brenda's and it stayed crisp even in the takeout container. We got it with jambalaya which was super flavorful and tender, as were the collard greens.
Cannot forgot the hush puppies, they were incredible! So flavorful and packed with corn and herbs. They came with a remoulade that had ground mustard which was the perfect complement. Would recommend the vanilla scented lemonade to wash it all down. I'm definitely going to be a regular here :)

The service was warm, but they were a little confused about the order. May just be because they were short staffed, and it didn't change the experience at all

Good southern comfort foods

Fried chicken - great crispy well seasoned skin and JUICY MEAT

mashed potatoes- thick, creamy and buttery, definitely one of the better ones I've had

Jambalaya- standard

Cornbread - definitely tastes like a boxed premix , just the texture of regular bread rather than the real deal

Hush puppies- addicting

Overall the food was great, service was nice and definitely the wooden feel to the room gave french quarter vibes, would recommend!

Mixed feelings about this place. I really like the cozy feeling and decor of this restaurant. They have both upstairs and downstairs seatings. Service was ok, but we waited a long time in between our appetizers and main dishes. We were a big group, so that could be the reason why it took so long for the kitchen to cook everything , but at the same time there were only one other table beside us, so why did it still take so long? Amongst all the dishes we tried, my favor were the mash potatoes, the red bean side order, hush puppies and boudin balls. Everything else were just ok, especially the jambalayas, we tried the wild mushroom one which barely have any rice, the Cajun chicken jambalaya were little lack of flavor. I don't really enjoy their gumbo, it has this off taste, not sure how to explain. Fried okra was not to my taste too, they chopped a bit too small and bit lack flavor.

Brilliant first experience! I loved everything about this place - from the smell of NOLA when you first walk in, to the excellent food and service we received. The decor and music perfectly captured the NOLA vibe they were going for.
BB