Sal's Gumbo Shack

Drove by this location and I saw the door had a closed sign and almost went to one of the other locations for lunch. I decided to park and check them out. I was greeted lovely lady that made me feel right at home. I put my order order in lemonade(fantastic by the way) jambalaya and then the shrimp amd grits. The lemonade was sweet and addicting. The jambalaya was flavorful and the rice wasn't mushy. And my favorite those shrimp amd grits.I dont know if the cook was feeling special on that day if that's how they normally make it but I was blown away. I have to try try it again to make sure they got that recipie on lock. It was creamy cheesy, flavorful, spiced to perfection. Honestly one of the best representations of this dish I've I've ever had ( top 3 for sure ). Nice amount of shrimp and omg when you eat a large bowl of grits you stay full for a long time.The interior didn't really look like alot of people actually sat in the business to eat, but I did notice alot of Togo orders constantly at this location.I cant wait to come back!

The food was delicious. However, my turkey burger and catfish was a bit saltier than expected. I rarely eat salty foods. The greens were perfectly cooked, and my cornbread was good and complimentary of the fish but there was not enough greens to balance my meal and the cornbread was a little too sweet for me.. I prefer my cornbread without it being sweet. I was disappointed in the very small portion of greens because they were the Best but not enough to balance my catfish dinner plate.

Food for sure gets a 1 star. Never had gumbo that tasted like gravy. Rice was as crunchy as the crab. Crab might have been anorexic and the worst part was we got the deluxe which is supposed to have extra crab and shrimp and all we got was extra gravy and sausage. We also tried the ox tail plate and guess what ox tail had the same gravy as the gumbo. No rue? Mashed potatoes and gravy has to be good though because they specialize in gravy. Mac and cheese was basic and cornbread was hard and gritty. The only reason this place gets 2 stars is because the lady working was really nice.Sal wtf?

The food and the service was beyond satisfactory. this is a place that I'm personally gonna make my own whenever I'm in Long Beach.this is my go to spot . You have to go with the gumbo. And then the Oxtail are beyond delicious

So delicious! The inside is small but the food is amazing! You may not know what you're going to get when you walk in but you won't regret it.They are on the corner and easy to find. Street parking by a residential area. I ordered the catfish poboy and my goodness was it the best I ever had. The bread was soft and it was very easy to bite into. Each bite was deliciousness. I didn't even need any hot sauce or lemon and I put that stuff on everything.The gumbo you can order small, medium or large. I loved how much crab that came with it and the shrimp was deliciousness. I enjoyed the flavor.The seasoned fries were immaculate. They are homemade cut fries. I would come back!We ordered Cajun wings. To me the sauce tasted like sweet chili. Not my fav sauce but the wings were cooked well

This place was so yummy. Best corn bread I've ever tasted (I dont even like corn bread) but I'm a huge fan. The only complaint I have is I forgot to get my peach cobbler I ordered. I was stuffed. I will be going again for SURE!

Sal's was a wonderful delight. It's not for people who can't stand flavor in their food. True Southerners flock here because it's like going home! Don't get it twisted! Sal's Gumbo Shack is worth the drive with two locations and the same "your tongue gon' jump up and slap your brain two times". Old fashion recipes! A taste of Nawlinz!

Everyone has their own tastes and opinions, these are ours. I will say though, support this business, give honest reviews so adjustments can be made if they chose to do so, and tell a friend to check it out. I would come back and try something different, but this particular meal, wasn't it. Hopefully it'll be better next time. Maybe it's because we came within 90 mins of closing. Or perhaps the bixby location is a bit better. We'll find out!Pros: - Service is SUPER friendly & prompt - It's a small minority owned business and we enjoyed giving it a try to support- there are 2 locations! One in north Long Beach and one in bixby knolls. This review is for the north Lb spot. - it's on the corner so there's plenty of parking out front on Lb blvd or along the side street. - Cornbread is delicious, a little hard, but very good. Pairs well with the greens! - Greens are tasty! I was looking for smoked turkey based on some photos I saw but it was good without. - Mac n cheese does all that it's supposed to do! It is VERY tasty with great texture. - Red beans and rice are good, a bit on the salty side, but good. - The Catfish batter is very tasty- Fries are yummy - Turkey leg is ok- portion sizes are nice for the price. You can make 2 meals off one dinner if you're a lighter eater. - they have a vast menu from burgers to Poboys, gumbo and jambalaya and entree dinners like catfish, fried chicken, and fried turkey chops. They also have desserts and a variety of punch/juice up front. I shoulda got me one while we waited for our food. Next time. Cons: - you can't smell any food in there, not when we walked in, not while our order was being prepared, not even when we got the food in the car. I didn't hear any fish fryin. We had to sniff the bag to get a whiff of the food in the car. That's always a flag for me. I want to smell and hear the food when I walk in, let me know that some cooking is going on and not just reheating. But that's me. - We paid $78 for: gumbo with rice on the side ($2 extra for on the side rice instead of leaving it inside the gumbo - same rice right? Guess I'm paying for the extra container), a peach cobbler, a turkey dinner and a catfish dinner. I teased about the price, but I honestly don't mind paying for good tasting and good quality food. Unfortunately, the price did not match the taste of the food, at all. Like, at all!- medium Gumbo $23 + $2: super fatty and greasy (see photo). We can see the grease congealing at the top when we opened it. Although it was warm, the grease was already forming a skin on top. With grease like that, it covers your palate and stops you from tasting anything. Also, doesn't seem to be made traditional style from a roux, it's more brothy and thin, even when adding in the rice. And the broth isn't very flavorful or maybe the grease just interfered with the taste. It's full of meat, which is great (shrimp, small sausage pieces, pieces of crab leg and I think chicken or turkey), but the flavor is just one note. I think it's due to the grease. It doesn't taste like gumbo, it's more of a soup. We only could stomach a couple small spoon fulls each. - peach cobbler $4.99 on menu, $5 on the receipt: looks amazing, but it taste like sweet grease. The peaches are cut super small, the dough looks like it has amazing texture but it's hard to taste anything beyond grease and sugar. Can't taste cinnamon, nutmeg, peaches, or any traditional peach cobbler flavors. It also left a film of oil in my mouth, similar to the gumbo, after just a few small spoons. Peach cobbler is my favorite dessert but after a couple bites we couldn't do it.-catfish dinner $20: (see photos). It is full of the silver skin, which is really slimy and doesn't taste well ever, and it takes away from the flavor and consistency of the fish so it's traditionally removed or at least the pieces covered in silver skin aren't cooked, or at least they're fried harder to crisp it up a bit. This catfish had it on every single piece. It was super rubbery and unappetizing. Although the batter was pretty flavorful, most of the fish was left on the plate because of all the silver skin. - that's $50 worth of inedible food. Not bashing. We were asked to give a review, good or bad. So I want to be honest because I really wanted to like it. Sometimes it takes reviews to make improvements. My tastes are my tastes but the amount of grease in the gumbo and cobbler and all that silver skin is a universal no no. Hopefully when we come back it'll be better. Rooting for improvements!!!

Gumbo, fried catfish, Po'boys and more! Need some southern soul...here you go. Hole in the wall spot with very limited seating but they treat you like family and feed like it to.

I found this place on TikTok and I really wanted to try it and I have to say I was very disappointed! I don't know how they can call what they gave me Gumbo! It literally had 1 snow crab legs, 5 shrimp and cut up sausage , NO CHICKEN, and it was in more of a broth, NOT ROUX nothing else!! for 22.99! HORRIBLE! Anyway, we did try the turkey chops- good, shrimp and grits-good, Mac and cheese was not seasoned, not even salt! Greens-ok could have used more flavoring and meat in greens! Yams -good . Cornbread was hard and tastes a few days old. We also tried the peach cobbler, it was waaayy too sweet! Like eating a bowl of syrup! and that's about it. Overall, I would rate it a 6/10 The service was ok. I probably would not go back there again