Razzoo's Cajun Cafe

Located at 8011 Concord Mills Boulevard in Concord, Razzoo’s Cajun Café serves Cajun cuisine for lunch and dinner seven days a week. There is a full bar, and lunch specials are available on weekdays.

This Concord Mills establishment is the lone North Carolina outpost of a Dallas-area chain specializing in Louisiana cuisine. How’s that for geographic confusion? Whatever its origins, Razzoo’s is kitschy beyond belief. Everything from the brightly-colored menus to the ceiling-hung instruments and fishing gear to the music to the very name itself seems like an attempt to be “fun” that instead ends in “Umm….”

Fortunately, the complaints end there. The menu rounds up the familiar candidates (gumbo, po boys, fried or blackened seafood, etc.), and adds gator, ribs, and raw oysters for some additional variety. For our first visit, my wife and I went with a jalapeno catfish and a Cajun combo skillet respectively. The food greatly exceeded expectations. The catfish was nicely breaded, and there wasn’t a thing in my combo skillet (shrimp creole, crawfish etoufee, red beans and rice, and andouille sausage) that was a disappointment. The sausage in particular had a welcome spicy kick and a firm bite.

Though our server was a bit difficult to hear at times (blame the music, maybe), she did a good job of letting us know what was popular and got our food out quickly. Pricing left no regrets. The catfish (which came with bread and a side of corn) ran $10 while my very generously portioned skillet ran a mere $13.

Razzoo’s isn’t likely to impress Louisiana-bred purists, but for a chain offering in North Carolina, it’s a lot better than one would expect it to be.

7.75/10