Jambonz Grill & Pub

1 Reviews on “Jambonz Grill & Pub”

• WAherron

  Mixed Bag – 2 Stars. I love the tastes of Louisiana. When I found out there was a Cajun/Creole place up in Sturgis, my brother and I made the drive for dinner. I was looking forward to it.We arrived on the Thursday night before Memorial Day weekend. The place was pretty busy. Only two tables open. We were promptly seated with menus. We ordered a half rack of Louisiana Dirt Rubbed rubs as an appetizer. We also ordered the server recommended chicken tortilla soup. My brother went with shrimp Po Boy for an entree. I settled on the Jambalaya Pasta with Andouille sausage and chicken. Our server was friendly and did a good job keeping up with our drinks. We were downing them like crazy. We were very hungry and thirsty, being outside all day. Our ribs and soup came out in about 8-10 minutes after ordering.We’ll start with the good. The chicken tortilla soup was quite noteworthy and delicious. It was a creamy and cheesy soup base with fresh tomatoes and peppers. It was garnished with crunchy tortilla strips. The chicken was very tender. After eating the soup, I was feeling happy with selecting Jambonz and looking forward to the rest of my meal. Then we sink into the ribs, which were not good. The ribs were advertised as having been rubbed with a Louisiana dirt rub and smoked. Our ribs seemed like they were boiled or braised. The meat was bland and did not have a good texture being cooked in a liquid. There was no hint of smoke whatsoever. If they were smoked and then braised, that might explain it. However, the BBQ sauce was most excellent. Sweet and savory with a hint of spice. A good sauce can cover a multitude of sins!Our entrees came out about 10 minutes after finishing our two appetizers. Our server still did a great job with keeping up with refilling our drinks. Noteworthy since she appeared to be very busy. My brother was not impressed with his Shrimp Po Boy. He described it as just fair. He explained that the shrimp was lacking flavor, the shrimp portion small, the remoulade as tasting a little off and it was way over dressed with lettuce. He scraped off the dressing and was able to finish his sandwich. He said he would definitely not order than again.My jambalaya pasta was a mixed bag. The linguine was a little over cooked, but the jambalaya sauce was extremely tasty. One of the best jambalaya sauces I’ve ever had. The chicken used in it was also very good. But there was a big problem with the andouille sausage. It had no sear on it whatsoever, which was disappointing. But worse than that, it was a little soft and squidgy. A weird texture. The first one I bit into tasted off. Kind of yeasty and funky. However, the second one tasted OK. But the third one tasted funky again. I picked out all the sausage and notified the waitress. She said she had heard another complaint about the andouille that night and she removed a few dollars from the bill. I’ve eaten dozens of different types of andouille and pretty much like them all. This one was not right.With the sausage removed, the jambalaya was quite good. It also came with a fried breadstick. I’m not a big fan of fried breadsticks, but it seems rather Louisianian to do such. Kind of reminded me of an unsweetened beignet.All in all, our experience was a mixed bag. Service was good. Every element of our meal was either really good or poor. Maybe it was an off night? However, with the andouille and remoulade tasting funky, it does cause me concern to try it again.

  August 30, 2014, 3:03 am

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