N’Awlins Jazz Bar and Restaurant located at 299 King Street West in Toronto

This cozy spot in the entertainment district of downtown Toronto called N’Awlins Jazz Bar and Restaurant hosts an interesting menu of Cajun-Creole dining.  They have live performances every night except for Mondays.  Unfortunately, my friends and I had to leave before the music could be heard since we had to be at another function that night.  I also wanted to try this restaurant because their menu featured “alligator medallions” as one of their appetizers.  Unfortunately, I also was unable to try this unique dish as they didn’t have it on this particular night. 😦

We arrived at N’Awlins Jazz Bar and Restaurant a little after 5:30 p.m. and quickly chose from the rich menu (literally as they boast an average of $25 spent per diner on their website).  The food came quickly and the server was very nice to observe our time restraints.  The restaurant was decorated nicely with lots of paintings and portraits of famous jazz musicians on the wall.

Cajun crab cakes — pan seared and served with their herbed dipping sauce

Since we were unable to try the alligator medallions, my friend and I opted to try the crab cakes instead.  I’m one to order crab cakes pretty often if I see them on the menu since I think they’re usually very tasty.  We were very surprised to see that there were only two portions on the plate.  The inside of it was a little spicy and the salad wasn’t very fresh.  The herbed dipping sauce that came on the side was very delicious though!

I picked the Cajun catfish as my entree.  I was originally thinking of choosing 2 appetizers since all of them looked so good, but the catfish also peaked my interest.  I was a little disappointed with it.  The Cajun rice was very good and soft.  The roasted vegetables were also very well cooked and juicy.  However, the catfish was cooked quite too much on the sides so that it was a little charred.  I also didn’t like how it was a bit dry.  The lemon on the side helped though.  Even though I know the catfish was supposed to be “blackened”, it was not quite what I wanted to see.  I guess I’m more used to fish cooked tenderly and more soft.

Cajun catfish — tender 8 oz farm raised catfish fillet pan fried and blackened. I could have done without the blackening..

My friends ordered these other Cajun dishes which they really liked!  Yay!

That coconut tiger shrimp looks delicious! Stephanie also ordered the gumbo soup which she found was good but too thick; she was full very quickly. Holly found the linguini grilled chicken to be yummy as well!

More appetizer selections to choose from their extensive menu. Lots of interesting and yummy-sounding dishes!

Here’s a glimpse of the other appetizers that they have on their menu.  Everything is so good!  The server recommended the coconut shrimp and calimari.  Next time that I’m here at this restaurant, I will love to try out more of their appetizers (including the alligator medallions that I missed out on this time) plus sit and enjoy their nightly live entertainment.  All in all, although I didn’t have the best experience with what I ordered this time, I’d love to come back to this restaurant again in the future to give it another shot. 🙂 Oh, and also next time I’ll sit at the bar since they serve half-priced appetizers during happy hour!