This was our first time visiting Cactus Jacks. It's a bit pricey, but very good. I love the…read moreatmosphere... it's rustic but cozy. They do have live bands so it may get loud, if that's not your thing.
Now for the food... there was so much we wanted to try like the fried trio (zucchini, mushrooms, and pickles), but we chose the bacon deviled eggs and they did not disappoint! The bacon was candied and oh so good.
They have a really good salad bar, and the waitress charged us for the kids portion since we were all getting meals that didn't come with a trip. Lots of good toppings to choose from. They have yummy rolls with honey cinnamon butter. My only complaint was the ranch and blue cheese was a bit too runny, and the blue cheese lacked flavor.
My bonus daughter and I split the wings and the seafood platter. The wings are really good, we got hot and cherry jalapeño barbecue. The seafood platter was very good, huge portion, 6 shrimp and 2 large pieces of catfish, and the french fries were awesome. I just wish the tartar sauce tasted a little bit better. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it wasn't my favorite. My husband had the signature sirloin topped with a seafood sauce. It was really good and cooked perfectly. He got the loaded mashed potatoes, but they were very dry, they needed some cream or some butter or both. I also got a side of fried okra, I didn't care for it, not very flavorful and not crispy. My daughter got the kids cheese enchilada dinner, she didn't care for it, she said it was mostly cheese and no tortilla.
The dessert menu is extensive, and it was hard to make a choice. I wanted to try the brownie bottom cheesecake, the Keylime pie cheesecake, the bourbon, pecan cheesecake, and the Texas velvet chocolate cake. My daughter and I both went for the Texas velvet chocolate cake. The waitress failed to tell me that the portion size is HUGE. Wish I'd have taken a pic! It's two huge slices of chocolate cake on top of each other. Let me tell you, though, this is one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever had. The cake part was moist, I hate that word, but I can't think of another word that describes it. Very flavorful and chocolatey. The icing was one of the best I've ever had, it's a chocolate buttercream and so good. We've eaten on this cake for a few days and it is not going to waste, that's for sure. I think the cake was the best part of the meal. Soooo good. My husband got the salted caramel pecan pie, it was very good. He's not a crust person, but he actually ate all the crust, it was so good.
Overall, I really like cactus jacks and I would come back. The waitress was mediocre, for example, she told me they didn't have blue cheese, but they obviously did. She wasn't very attentive at the table, took awhile to get refills and we weren't able to get her to get us some butter for the mashed potatoes because she was rarely there, just a bunch of little things... She was very sweet though . The only reason why they got five stars was the chocolate cake, I think they really deserve four stars because their sides and condiments need some work. But, we will give it another try for sure.