Here’s Where YOU Like To Go For Date Night In Acadiana
I posted this question to Facebook yesterday: "What is your go-to place for date night in Acadiana?", and we have your answers.
A quick glance at the 80+ comments produced the following results (your results may vary if more comments have been added to the status update since this post):
Topping the list (only by the number of times these restaurants were mentioned) were Marcello's on Kaliste Saloom and Pamplona on Jefferson, with each getting 6 mentions. Both local, both delicious, and both on my list of personal favorites.
Half Shell Oyster House came in second with a total of 5 mentions. A chain restaurant with a home office in Mississippi, Half Shell does have a nice atmosphere and a great bar area. Though I've only been there twice, it seems to be a popular date-night destination in this thread.
With 4 mentions each, Charlie G's on Ambassador Caffery and The St. John Restaurant in St. Martinville are both great destinations for date night. Charlie G's is a more elegant restaurant with one of the best bars in town and, quite possibly, the most consistent service/quality of any restaurant in Acadiana. The St. John Restaurant has a solid menu (by "solid", I mean that it has a great variety of menu items, more than your typical Cajun restaurant). The interior has a modern-looking rustic look (does that even make sense? You'd have to see it to understand what I mean), the food is delicious, and the owners are great people.
Rounding out the list (a limited list, as I only went by the responses I received on Facebook) were Tsunami, Social, Riverfront, Riverside, Romacelli, Mr. Lester's, Blu Basil, Don's, Imonelli, The Yellow Bowl, Cafe Josephine, Cafe Sydnie Mae, Cafe Evangeline, Richard's, Alesi, Tampico, Ruth's Chris', Dupuy's, St. Street Inn, Shucks, Shinto, Bailey's, Central Pizza, Saltgrass, the list goes all the way down to Taco Bell.
This list tells me a few things: 1) People in Acadiana have a wide range of ideas of what "Date Night" should be, and I love that! (What I mean is this: society might have you believe that "Date Night" requires getting all spiffied-up and going out to a "nice" dinner. In reality, "Date Night" should be about where the two of you (or 3 of you - whatever you're into) like to go), and 2) in our area, locally-owned restaurants are KING when it comes to our tastes/preferences. Some chains made the list, but the majority are our favorite Mom & Pop restaurants, and I love that!
Please feel free to add to the list with your favorite go-to "Date Night" destination in Acadiana!