A friend took me to Acadiana for my birthday dinner and I absolutely loved it. Acadiana is owned by the same people as Ceiba, DC Coast and Tenpenh. Having eaten at 3 out of the 4, I can say that there are certain similarities between the menus (despite the very different cuisines, you can tell they buy food for all 4 restaurants together) and the pleasing decor. I like that at Acadiana you can sit in booths, which are a little more private. They also have these really cool looking semi-circular banquettes with high backs at some of the larger round tables. We went on a Wednesday night and the restaurant was pretty full, mostly people who clearly had just come from work.
Onto the food...if you don't like seafood, your options will be somewhat limited (out of 10 entree choices, 6 are seafood.) As my friend doesn't eat seafood, her appetizer options were limited to either a beet salad or a sausage gumbo (she also doesn't pork, so that pretty much decided that). I'm not a fan of beets, but the salad came and it looked like a regular green salad but with a bright red beet sauce, which was actually a very thinly sliced beet. It was like a beet fruit roll-up! She really liked it. I ordered the trio of "pies", which were like flaky empanadas filled with beef, crayfish or vegetables, all on the spicier side, which came with a little bowl of mild buttermilk dipping sauce. The pies alone are worth a visit here.
My friend ordered the glazed duck, which was a huge portion, served with rice and some green vegetables. I ordered the jumbo lump crabcakes and we also split an order of the buttermilk mashed potatos (did I mention this is definitely NOT the place to go if you are counting calories?!) I love crabcakes and these ones were quite good--almost all crab meat with none of the breaded filler that can take away from good crab. It came with a very light sauce with bits of corn and beans. We ended up ordering a bottle of wine, but I was surprised to see a number of wines offered by the glass.
Service was average, but honestly didn't matter to us very much. The atmosphere is very cozy and it's easy to tune out all the things going on beyond your table. If you go, ask for one of the booths that line the windows. You get the added space and privacy and will put you at the opposite end of the bar. The total for the evening (I peaked at the bill) for two people who ate two appetizers, two entrees and shared a bottle of wine, was $140 pre-tip. Not cheap, but for a special occasion, I would definitely recommend.
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