Mojo: A Cajun Bar & Grill
"Mojo Bar & Grill is Downtown Orlando's only Cajun restaurant wit a full liquor bar, frozen drink specialties, raw bar and great soulful music! We went deep into da bayou to round up MawMaws recipes and bring dem home to ya - from authentic gumbo & jambalaya to traditional bbq ribs & poboys. Mojo has Cajun fixins for ya mouth and ya ears too. Jazz, Blues, & Zydeco fill da room all day & night. Dis ain't no knock off…Ya'll gon be tawkin bout us f'sho!"
So that is how they bill themselves. I'm a true cajun so I'll give it to you straight. This new bar & grill located off Church Street (across from Hamburger Mary's) is spirited and does a decent job providing a knock-off version of a New Orleans restaurant. But here is the thing... New Orleans isn't the true bayou. And the bayou isn't nearly as fancy as New Orleans. I'd bet money you won't hear people talking like "dis" in New Orleans. Now... in Iowa... or Dulac... maybe. Anyways... I'm overly critical. Can you tell? So the decor is decent... nice feel to the place. Some of the staff are actually from Louisiana so that helps. The food on the other hand.. not that authentic. When I asked about the crawfish, the response given was "they're great - not too spicy". Well folks, they certainly weren't spicy but I also would never describe them as great. More along the lines of something boiled in muddy water. Drinks were good (prices ok); Abita beer is sold so that's a plus. The two saving graces were the Shrimp Po'boy (actually quite good in spite of being on the wrong type of bread) and the fact they put the Saints game on every TV (there were mostly Saints fans in there so it only made sense).
The staff were friendly for the most part. We started off with a server who was just terrible. Maybe it was his first day? Regardless, the day was all about random acts of kindness so we didn't make too big a deal out of it. I found out they play the LSU games and run lots of specials if you wear your LSU gear those nights. Score. I'll be sure to stop in for the next game. Overall I will definitely be back. Simply because its a small sliver of home. However, I will say that they hype this place put out is questionable. NONE of the owners are from Louisiana. They simply wanted a "cultural" restaurant and chose our cajun style to mimic. No complaints other than you can tell its not authentic.
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