Recently Cafe LaGrange moved from its original location on Cockerham Rd. to South Range Ave. in Denham Springs. I had driven by this place many times since its' reopening, and have always noticed how packed the place stayed. Today we decided to give it a try for lunch.

Me and my company all decided on a Pasta Marsala dish with different meat choices. I went with the Chicken Marsala, while the other two decided on the Veal Marsala and the Shrimp Marsala. The waitress was kind enough to bring us all a sample of the Marsala sauce to try before finalizing our decisions.

I dipped my finger in the sauce, put it in my mouth, and swallowed. It was alright.  I'll take it.

No more than five minutes later, she returned as the bearer of bad news. "We only have enough Marsala sauce for two", she said. (Wow, major negative for this review!) So we all decided to play paper-rock-scissors for the prize. We all balled our fist and patted our hands three times. Me and one friend laid out paper while the other laid out rock. I  won! Even though I was one of the winners, I decided to hand over my grand prize of Marsala sauce to the looser (Im just an great person:) ).  I wanted to go ahead and ask for the waitresses recommendation.

She told me to go with the Grilled Chicken Parmesan, and I so i did.

After she placed our order, we waited ....and waited.... and waited. It must had been at least twenty minutes before they finally brought out the food.

The plate came with nice portions and looked pretty good. I first tried out the chicken. It was very tender and had a great flavor bursting with Italian herbs and spices. This was more than I could say for the pasta and marinara.

The marinara sauce tasted like tomato paste straight from the can. It had an overwhelming tomato flavor that was way too sweet and very bland. What started as a great dish, quickly turned to crap!

I also tried my friends Marsala and found it to be a little to sweet and not that fresh tasting (of course they did get the pots back-wash).

Well what can i say? I had a horrible food experience. Throw on top of that a slow serve time, not enough food for everyone, and dishes that were way over priced and you have Cafe LaGrange.

Food Rating: 0.5 out of 5 Lagniappe

Service
Our waitress was very friendly and helpful. She did a great job, which is more than I can say about the management and cooking staff.

Service Rating: 1 out of 5 Lagniappe

Atmosphere
The atmosphere reminds me of the old Captain D's restaurants (which it may had originally been?), just a little classier. It was clean and nice, but was missing that personal touch that makes it unique from the buildings past tenants.

Atmosphere Rating: 3 out of 5 Lagniappe


Overall: 4.5 Out of 15

Cafe LaGrange
635 South Range Ave.
Denham Springs, LA 70726
(225) 664-9537‎
www.cafelagrange.com