"I am Ozymandias, king of kings, look on my works, ye mighty and despair..."-oh never mind. Pappadeaux Seafood was never the king of kings, but it was a family favorite, requested for birthdays and other special occasions. Recently, one of my offspring commented that Pappadeaux wasn't as good as it used to be. An errand nearby led me to check it out.

My visit to the Houston,Texas Kirby at Richmond restaurant was at an off hour- 4PM. When I arrived, only 5 tables were occupied, plus a handful of folks at the bar. Having used Metro, I was laden with school materials and a heavy shopping bag of reams of paper. Despite this, it took the hostess and some other inexplicable person nearly 10 minutes to find me a table. I requested "as far from smoke as possible." I have allergies and asthma, and sort of enjoy breathing and food that doesn't taste like an ashtray.
I was finally seated, and very shortly the people two tables away lit up cigarettes. Another waiter (mine hadn't shown up yet) told me the very next table was the start of the smoking section.

I nearly left- it takes this long to find a table exactly where I asked not to sit? But I was hungry, and missed the food, so I got moved to another table and ordered. Sadly, the lovely old boiled potatoes cooked in Cajun spices have been replaced with mundane, lukewarm French bread. Not bad, but very dull and ordinary. The food came as soon as you could reasonably expect for food cooked to order.

I spotted an acquaintance having a nice platter of boiled crawfish and corn on the cob- the crawdaddies were large and succulent, a nice dish. But I decided to have the old favorite seafood platter.($15.75- most meals are the $12-$20 range.) The plate holds a catfish fillet,three oysters, five shrimp, 1 stuffed shrimp and a stuffed crab on a bed of french fries. Sadly, the fries are the frozen,tasteless variety.

The quantity of food is generous, but the fries are hideous, About 3 full cups of them lie under the other food, and the ones under the fish were grim- soggy with fish drippings. A quality restaurant should have good,fresh fries,or at least offer an option. (A baked potato is a $2.55 additional charge- rather a lot for a potato that costs about 50 cents at the priciest market in town.)

Accompanying the food were the ubiquitous tartar sauce and red sauce in sad, sodden paper cups. Neither was bad, or for that matter very exciting, but they'd apparently been filled far in advance and were very droopy. Again, poor attention to detail. The fried shrimp were fine, as was the catfish. Pappadeaux uses cornmeal breading and both were crisp outside and perfectly cooked inside. The oysters also wore cornmeal coatings-two were cooked almost to overdone and one was perfect. The flavor was excellent.

Stuffed crab hopefully features recognizable crab- abandon hope of that here. The stuffing was more a crab-flavored dressing,but did have many juicy and baby to medium sized shrimp. The stuffed shrimp seems to use the same filling. The stuffed shrimp was quite tough and the breading somewhat dry-edible but disappointing. What sauces I could rescue from the rapidly dying paper cups helped.

To be fair, I tasted a few of the 10,000 pallid previously-frozen fries. Big mistake- tasteless, greasy, and mostly limp potato adds nothing to a meal. Despite abandoning these monstrosities, there was plenty of food on the plate. I cannot imagine why they bother with such an obscene pile of inferior fries.

The dessert tray looked very tired and unappetizing, despite tempting descriptions of the offerings. I didn't want dessert and wanted it even less after seeing the display.

The ambiance is a cross between industrial exposed beams and ducting, funky eclectic light fixtures, beer signs, and 50's dinette style tables and chairs. Lighted candles adorn each table,and enclosed and partially open patios are available. Music is highly annoying muzak of the uneasy listening variety- during busy times you won't hear it. A horseshoe bar, with full bar service is available for those who want to pull up a stool. There's a modest but adequate wine list, but some servers seem clueless about recommending wines. ( Drink what you like, even if it's not traditional, but the fellow at the next table was disquieted by his server pushing Merlot with a mild fish entree.)

Service was decent, about average. The hostess left a lot to be desired, and to leave I had to ask a roadblock of employees to let me through. No manager thought it necessary to apologize for the wait or the seating in the smoke zone. I doubt I'll ever feel it necessary to return.

Equal or better seafood is widely available in Houston and the surrounding area, and at a better price. Lunch was about $22 with tip but without wine. (The ice tea was great,though.) Fresh Gulf seafood is one of our regional delights. Pappadeaux used to be a place I'd happily send visitors and newcomers, but no more. Try Khyber next door or any of the half-dozen restaurants within half a block. (Avoid Pappasito's on the corner- same owners, and never better than Mediocre Mexican food.)

Change in a restaurant isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the change's at Pappadeaux since my last visit are negative. It was sort of like losing an old friend. Like Ozymadias, nothing remains of past greatness but sand.




Recommended: No

Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: No
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Whatever you do, don't eat the french fries! Order the jumbo seafood platter and substitute the baked potato- plenty for 2. (Has more shrimp and adds fried crawfish.) Grilled items are an excellent choice.
Best Suited For: Friends