Less Than 50% of One Louisiana City’s Restaurants Found to Be Serving Authentic Gulf Shrimp

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KMDL-FM) - Testing continues across the state to ensure that local restaurants advertising that they are serving authentic Gulf shrimp are doing so. But one Louisiana city just received some poor marks in a recent round of testing.

Testing Reveals Shrimp Fraud in Alexandria and Pineville

In a recent test by SEAD Consulting, less than 50% of the restaurants in Alexandria and nearby Pineville were found to be serving what they were promising customers.

Using its field-based RIGHTTest™ genetic technology, SEAD Consulting tested shrimp dishes from 24 restaurants in Alexandria and Pineville on June 3-4, 2025.

Get our free mobile app

Nearly Half of Restaurants Fail the Shrimp Authenticity Test

The results revealed that 11 out of 24 restaurants were serving authentic Gulf shrimp, while 13 restaurants were serving imported or mislabeled shrimp, often without disclosure (7 out of 24 labeled imports and 6 out of 24 were explicitly fraudulent).

Louisiana Shrimp Task Force Reacts to Findings

“This is about trust,” said Rodney Olander, Chair of the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force. “Alexandria is a proud river city with deep Louisiana roots, and its people deserve to know when they're getting wild-caught Gulf shrimp — or when they’re being served imported farm-raised substitutes passed off as local. Having one in four restaurants being explicitly fraudulent is not right.”

READ MORE: Three New Businesses Opening in the Lafayette Area -- Here's the Update on Each

Full List: Restaurants Serving Authentic Gulf Shrimp

The Alexandria & Pineville Restaurants Serving Authentic Gulf Shrimp include:

1. Brocato's Breakfast – 5515 Coliseum Blvd, Alexandria, LA 71303
2. Bucket's Crawfish & Seafood – 111 Maryhill Road, Pineville, LA 71360
3. Crawfish Port, Inc. – 4731 Lee St, Alexandria, LA 71302
4. Crazy Cajun Pineville – 6300 Shreveport Hwy, Pineville, LA 71360
5. Deborge's Crawfish – 1807 Andrew Street, Alexandria, LA 71301
6. Koal's Bar-B-Que – 5803 Coliseum Blvd, Alexandria, LA 71303
7. Pit Grill Diner – 2360 N MacArthur Dr, Alexandria, LA 71303
8. Red River Seafood & Sushi – 110 Versailles Blvd Suite F, Alexandria, LA 71303
9. Rosie Jo's – 3140 S MacArthur Dr, Alexandria, LA 71301
10. Rotolo's Craft & Crust – 112 Versailles Blvd Suite A, Alexandria, LA 71303
11. Swamp Daddy's Crawfish – 55 MacArthur Dr, Alexandria, LA 71303

“These restaurants are doing it right,” said Dave Williams, founder of SEAD Consulting and a commercial fishery scientist. “They’re supporting the local economy and giving customers what they’re paying for — the flavor of Louisiana, from the docks to the table.”

The 13 restaurants that were serving imported or mislabeled shrimp were not revealed in the report.

Imported Shrimp Use is Comparable Across the State

These findings in Alexandria are actually about on par with the rest of the state's major cities. At a 25% inaccuracy rate, it's lower than Baton Rouge's 30% inauthenticity rate, but well behind New Orleans, which had only 13% of restaurants serving mislabeled shrimp.

The Louisiana Shrimp Task Force funded this investigation, and they emphasize that supporting restaurants that serve wild-caught shrimp is critical to sustaining Gulf fishing communities and the working watermen behind them.