The Big Easy

I've never dined Downtown before. Yesterday was my birthday and my ""Special Friend"" took me out...it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The weather was great, the sax player was playing and the service was the best! I would definitely dine here again...the Taste of Louisiana is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! more

My wife and I eat there about once a month and have never been disappointed. We love the French Quarter ambience, the live sax player (5 nights a week), and the very good bands playing on weekends. more

My husband and I eat out at least 3 times a week cooking is not what I do and we choose to eat at The Big Easy at least once a month. The staff is quick, the menu is diverse and the food is excellent! We have never had a bad meal there. We were fortunate enough to catch the Jazz saxophonist playing there and it only added to the creole atmostphere. You should go. more

I went with another companion to this restaurant, because we both enjoy Creole food and she was looking forward to the fried oysters. more

I was not impressed, the food was not good, service was inadequate. If you are driving into Raleigh for dinner don't waste your time or money here. more

I went there for lunch during the weekend. The place was virtually empty. The sandwich I had was boring/tasteless and lacked effort. Nothing special at all. We went out to eat 5 times that weekend and both my friend and I said this was the worst place that weekend. The server was too talkative, but the service was great other than that. more

Alligator Bites were soggy, gumbo tasted old, smelled and tasted bad. Shrimp tasted like it was cooked in old oil. Soup was greasy. Would not eat here again. Cons: Bad food!! more

Amazing food, great service, nice atmosphere. If you are looking for good cajun inspired food, this is the place to go. The restaurant is in North Carolina, not Louisiana, so you have to keep that in mind and don't go with any 'Ive been to New Orleans and I know everything' attitudes. I have been there to eat many times in the past year and have always had a pleasant experience. There is always a smiling hostess to greet you at the door and the servers are always polite and know the answers to the most detailed questions about the menu. Any fan of spicy food, as I am, will love this place, but they also have things on the mild side for the others. A lot of the criticism below doesnt really make sense to me. If you are a vegetarian you should not be eating crab because it is an animal, so the bacon in the crab pretzel should not be an issue, but if you inform the server about your eating habits I'm sure they can help you pick out something appropriate. As far as the specials ""always"" being the same, well they do monthly food specials not daily ones so I don't see what the big deal is. If you are looking to go out and enjoy yourself and are not too pretentious I strongly recomment giving this place a try, no restaurant is ever going to be perfect, but The Big Easy has earned its place as one of my favorite places to eat. Pros: Great spicy food, live music, good service Cons: no place is perfect more

This place pretends to be something out of New Orleans but in actuality, it's just a wanna-be as most other Cajun places this far east always are. Their daily specials are always the same and as one of the others posted, the artichoke crab dip has bacon in it! Veggie eaters beware... Everything there seems microwaved and the bar is so big, it takes over the whole downstairs dining area. The staff are nice but this seems more like a bar than a fine restaurant to me. If you are looking for some real Authentic and fresh Cajun dishes, I strongly suggest Battistella's New Orleans Kitchen on Glenwood Ave. near I 440. Their chef worked at Commanders Palace in New Orleans and worked under a chef who trained under Emeril Lagasse. Everything I have eaten there reminds me of home. Pros: Pleasant atmosphere Cons: Not fresh ingredients, terrible food more

This place has all the staples - red beans and rice, gumbo, etouffee, etc. Great atmosphere, good food. Pros: Great traditional cajun selections Cons: None. more

I've been a couple of times and the food just isn't spectacular. Tastes like a lot of stuff is premade and frozen. Nothing fresh. Even the ""specials"" are the same time and time again. Kind of like amped up bar food. Also found a lot of unadvertised bacon in their artichoke crab dip - which is not cool for non-meat eaters. No apologies for it either - which screams that there's no on site owner who cares. Pros: Something different Cons: Nothing Spectacular more

The Big Easy used to have some great salads, but the quality continues to get worse and worse. The past few times I've picked up a salad for take out, the chicken on it has been horrible and nasty. The chicken used to be fresh, juicy, delicious, etc. Now whatever they use is obviously something pre-cooked, barely nuked in the microwave, and is dry and rubbery. I'm not sure why I thought maybe things had gotten better and gave it another try...big mistake. And $9 for the pathetic salad? i will certainly go elsewhere next time. Cons: Salads continue to go downhill more

The salmon was terrible. Basically it was a mediocre dry rub and the salmon, then they over cooked it. (I guess it was healthy ,no fat either from the salmon or the rub) They cooked it out!! I also ordered a Caesar salad. This was a house salad with Caesar dressing on the side. Come on guys, I would expect that at a sports pub....but here? They were nice and served it with tomatoes ! again,come on.. Pros: great location Cons: food was terrible more

I really enjoy the food and atmostphere in this restaurant. The Po Boy sandwiches and the soft pretzel with crab dip are my favorite. It's a great location downtown and I love the decor of the restaurant inside, giving it a French Quarter look. Even though this food may not be as authentic cajun as another favorite of mine, Papa Mojo's Roadhouse in Durham, it's still tasty!! Pros: Good food Cons: What are the drawbacks? more

i had dinner at big easy when they first opened. the service was great, and the food was delicious. i recently visited there again for lunch and my experience was completely opposite from my first visit. we walked in and there was a group of people waiting to be seated in front of us. they seemed to be frustrated about the fact that they had been waiting a while to even be seated. when it was our turn, about 4 different waiters came up to us telling us that it would be a minute. the line just kept growing and growing out the door. they seemed to be either understaffed or overwhelmed... it was busy but not THAT busy. when we finally got seated, it took 10 minutes for anyone to come and even get us drinks. she was friendly but just seemed like she was out of it. the food took a long time for it to come out. our waitress never even came back to our table to check on us. we had to stop a guy who seemed to be the manager there to get more water, condiments, etc. the staff seemed nice but they were all running around crazy. it just seemed like they didn't have their stuff organized at all. Pros: average food, located downtown Cons: not that great of service more

As a repeat customer, I think this place is great! I went there on a Thursday and it was actually crowded. Having been there before, seeing a crowded room was a first. The service was great, my salmon was cooked and seasoned perfectly, and the guy playing jazz music was awesome. The only downfall I noticed is that I got my entree about 2 minutes after my side salad arrived. Overall, I love the place and will definitely come back. Pros: Food, Staff, Music, Atmosphere Cons: Timing on food delivery more

I know I haven't been to the heart of the Bayou so I can't compare to true Creole food but I found my experience at the Big Easy a great one. Wait staff were friendly and prompt, food was great, and the live sax player was awesome. I have pictures on my blog if interested. Pros: Awesome space. Tasty Food, Live Music Cons: I was hoping for more impressive bathrooms! more

I decided to try this place for lunch with a friend. It took about 20 minutes from when we placed our order to receive our appetizer. We ordered oysters on the half shelf for our appetizer and in its place we were given fried oysters. After we told the waitress that wasn't what we ordered she claimed oysters on the half shell weren't on the menu. Why didn't she tell us that in the first place? Pros: Location Cons: Food more

The Big Easy should be renamed to The Big Letdown. I grew up in and about New Orleans and I can tell you the food at the Big Easy is anything but authenic. I placed a take out order of over $50 and when it arrived it was cold, salad was wilted, the french dip came with no gravy or ""dip"" and the seafood gumbo was thick with sand. Yes, sand. The cook thought it pertinent to make it look authentic and left the oysters in their shells and put them in the gumbo like that. Any true NOLA-ite will tell you that oyster shells are part sand and if you boil them the shell will emit and decompose to some sand. Needless to say the delivery of that gumbo was not worth its ride to my home. I did call The Big Easy and the manager did attempt to make ammends so I reordered the chicken gumbo and they remade the french dips. This time they arrived with water down bullion as dip and covered in cheese. Not a typical po-boy from NOLA. Also not very tasty and the bread should not be a subroll. The chicken gumbo had the consistency the ""dip"" should have had and was only peppery. No okra, no trinity, just thick brown and peppery. Pros: touristy Cons: pricey for the the size portions and terrible food more

A co-worker and I tried the Big Easy today for lunch. I ordered the shrimp po' boy with onion rings for my side. She had the half and half po' boy--one half oysters and the other half shrimp--with fruit salad for her side. Pros: Quick Service During Lunch Cons: Inconsistent Portion Sizes and Canned Fruit Salad more