Babalu Jackson - Tougaloo

Tk , scottie , lakeisha and Faye were absolutely Fabulous!! Very attentive and catered to our every need!! They went above and beyond!! We had the Guacamole, Queso and Calimari....it was all on point!!

Ate here for lunch and loved it , I had the smoked salmon dip , AMAZING and the bartender TK was very nice ?

It is rare that I write about a service issue. I have a brother that is a general manager of a restaurant and I am very sympathetic to the current restaurant climate and how covid has impacted ability to staff. So, I'll place that caveat there for the fact that I still feel the need to give this review. My husband and I have gone to Babalu several times over the years. It had been a regular date night spot for us. The service has gotten increasingly worse, in terms of being checked on. Last night, the restaurant was about 30-40% full. They asked us to wait 25 minutes. We were okay with this even though the restaurant was not at capacity. We waited and were called to sit. They sat us by a table with two bins of dirty plates and cups. We had noticed the bins when we were first on the wait list, but no one was right beside those tables and figured someone would get them. Nobody did, and there were flies circling all around them. We waited at our table 14 minutes for someone to come and ask us for drinks. Nobody did. We went back to the hostess with our card and she took it and turned right away to join her conversation with another employee. No care to have a conversation or ask us what was going on. We left and went to Aladdin and Aladdin was awesome.

My pregnant wife and I had been here once before and the food was great and service was also very good. However, we went again yesterday and were seated immediately, the server came out took drink orders and got some of the guacamole going. After that it was 180 difference. She checked on us maybe 1 other time and after we ordered we waited over an hour and our food never came out. The manager came to our table and stated “their computer system went down” and that was why we didn’t have our food. Other tables outside in the servers section also didn’t have food but those inside were being served no problem. I could also see the station where all servers were putting their orders into the computer. After sitting for nearly an hour and half after ordering and seeing all others around us get their food, we got up and left. I’m not sure what we did to offend our server so much. 2-stars for the food the first time.

Wow was this place busy on a Sunday night. We were told there would be an hour and 20 minute wait for a table but we were able to catch a couple getting up from the bar and take their place pretty quickly. The bartender was awesome! She made wonderful drinks and kept everyone sitting at her bar happy. We had the chips and salsa which were excellent, and also shared some tacos which were tasty. They have some good house cocktails. Atmosphere was hip and clean.