When we showed up at Cap’t Loui for lunch last Saturday, we were shocked to see nearly every table occupied just five minutes after they opened their doors at 11:30. I ran into one of my former high school teachers, gave her a hug, and asked if she’d been to Cap’t Loui before.
She said no but that her daughter had and loved it, so she came to give it a try with her as a weekend mother/daughter lunch date.
I was also there to dine with family members who were excited to give Cap’t Loui a try. My in-laws and brother-in-law love seafood, as do my husband and children. I’d first visited Cap’t Loui in August and came home with rave reviews not only about the food itself but the entire boil experience. I was excited to bring my family and to see them hopefully enjoy it as much as I predicted they would.
Cap’t Loui opened in June 2022 here in Madison in front of Walmart on HWY 72. It’s located where the former Cuban Cafe use to be and has been completely transformed into a seafood boil destination.
The Madison location of Cap’t Loui is only the 15th location in the country and the only one in Alabama. It’s also the only majority seafood restaurant in Madison.
Cap’t Loui has a non-intimidating atmosphere with roughly 15 interior tables as well as a future patio space. When we arrived, the staff was able to accommodate our party of eight before being warmly greeted by our waitress, Kim. We loved how she wrote her name on the table, which made it easy for us to have conversation throughout our meal. We then threw our kids a few pens and let them have a great time playing games and coloring on the paper.
Because I was the only one in our party who had dined at Cap’t Loui before, Kim took her time explaining the menu and the boil experience. All of the seafood is listed at market price, meaning that it may subtly vary from day to day.
Though the menu does list individual meals like chicken finger baskets and fish & chips, we decided to order the “Pick 3 Seafood Boiler” which included three pounds of “mix and match” seafood. We selected shrimp (head off), crawfish, and snow crab. This also came with corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, and our pick of a spice. We selected a medium spice, and in our opinion, it’s a true medium. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.
We also added on a chicken tender basket and fries, a side of sweet potato fries, and a couple of sides of garlic noodles (which are so garlicky and just the absolute best. I knew my family would love them).
With our fries order, we could select between lemon pepper, cajun, or regular seasoning. We went with lemon pepper!
The spice (and the seafood, corn, etc.) that you select for your boiler bag is all tossed in butter with no oil whatsoever. We all found ourselves dunking our fries and the noodles in the sauce because it was outstanding!
Kim, our waitress, did a fantastic job of walking us through the amount of food she’d suggest that we order since we weren’t quite sure how many pounds to get. She hit the nail on the head with the three-pound option plus a basket and some sides.
When the boil bag came out, we all perked up! We threw on our plastic bibs (our kids loved that!) and our gloves (for the seafood eaters) and watched as Kim poured the bag onto a couple of platters for us to divvy up amongst the table.
We were also served a few, small paper containers that we could use for eating our seafood before disposing of the waste in a handy metal bucket.
The entire table’s worth of food did a disappearing act in about 20 minutes as everyone delighted over their favorite items. My husband and middle daughter couldn’t get enough of the crawfish and snow crab while my mother-in-law enjoyed every bite of the shrimp.
Our oldest hogged one of the garlic noodle orders for herself and has begged to go back to Cap’t Loui ever since because she enjoyed the noodles so much. I’m not even sure what our three-year-old ate as she picked here and there at everything on the table. The whole experience was thrilling for her as we’d never had a restaurant boil-style experience like this as a family before.
I knew from my first visit to Cap’t Loui that the beignets can’t be missed. Each order comes with two piping hot beignets, so we order four beignets total. It’s sinful how many of those I could likely eat in a sitting, especially when they’re served as warm as they are. Divine!
For beverages, we all started with water (and drank plenty of it to keep up with the heat of our meal!), but the guys all had a beer and I tried one of their glass-jar pineapple margaritas, which I enjoyed. Though Cap’t Loui doesn’t have an expansive alcohol offering, their beer selections hit the spot for those who were interested.
Including the tip, our entire family dined at Cap’t Loui for $160, or $20 per person. This included several alcoholic drinks, enough food that left eight people (more than) stuffed, and some dessert. If you’ve dined out recently, you understand that $20 total per person is a SLAM DUNK, especially for a mass amount of food like we had.
In a nutshell, Cap’t Loui is a fantastic addition to our community (in my opinion). It fills the gap for those who are looking for an assortment of affordable seafood. It’s also a unique, very casual dining experience that is suitable for families, couples, and multi-generations to enjoy together. It’s also open on Sunday which is often hard to find.
PS: It also doesn’t hurt that the owner Haden Kim could not be more kind. He is so excited about what he’s brought to our community and can’t wait to see it thrive. I hope you’ll swing into Cap’t Loui for lunch or dinner sometime soon to see what it’s all about. Enjoy!
Quick Links for Cap’t Loui Seafood Boil in Madison, Alabama
5510 Promenade Point Parkway, Suite 195, Madison, AL 35756
(256) 858-1388
Friday – Saturday 11:30-9:30
Sunday 11:30-8:30
Monday – Thursday 11:30-2:30 & 4:30-8:30
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