Review: Dee Felice

I recently went to dinner with my 2 brothers and their significant others to Dee Felice in Main Strasse Village. Dee Felice is known for their Cajun style food, which they’ve been serving for about 25 years. I love, love, love spicy food, so this place is right up my alley!  

The ambiance at Dee Felice is very fun - but very loud. They have a 5 piece jazz band playing there most nights. They are very good; however, I really wanted to chat and catch up with everyone and I could barely hear anything.  The waiter had to yell for all of us to hear him, and he had to repeat things multiple times. We were sitting at the very front of the restaurant – incredibly close to the band. If I go back, I would definitely request a table towards the back of the restaurant. That way the music would be more in the background.  

My favorite thing at Dee Felice is by far the Ricardo’s Ravioli. I’ve had it once before and couldn’t wait to have it again! We asked for 2 orders for the table because I knew everyone was going to love it.  The ravioli is filled with ricotta cheese and jalapeños and deep fried. It’s topped with the most delicious crawfish- jalapeño cream sauce. Absolutely divine!! And I was right – everyone else loved it too!  

We also started with an order of the Cajun-style Calamari for the table. This was pretty good as well; however it could have been crispier. The calamari itself was good – not too rubbery, which is always my biggest issue with calamari – and the Cajun spices added a nice flavor and “kick” to the dish. (Sorry - no photo of this)

My older brother ordered the Crawfish Etouffée, which was easily the best entrée at the table. It was absolutely delicious! I’ve never had etouffée before, but I will definitely be trying it again. It’s a mixture of crawfish, vegetables and seasonings served over rice. It’s very rich, very spicy and very good!  The side of red beans and rice was also great!

Dan ordered the jambalaya, which was my second favorite dish of the evening. The protein in the dish included chicken, shrimp and andouille sausage with creole vegetables and rice. I’m not a jambalaya expert, but I thought it tasted great and was a good consistency.

Based on a recommendation from our waiter, Jen and I both decided to try the Tournedos of Beef. We each got the half order, which was 4 ounces of beef tenderloin topped with béarnaise (my favorite sauce!!) and red wine sauce with mushrooms. It’s served over deep fried linguine. My beef tenderloin came out well done the first time around, even though I’d ordered it medium. I hate complaining when I go to restaurants, but this was unacceptable so I flagged down our server. He sent it back to the kitchen and brought out a new one fairly quickly (and a free glass of wine- bonus!). The second time around, it was perfectly cooked and worth the wait. And the sauce itself was amazing. But the linguine was a huge disappointment. Not sure what I was thinking ordering deep fried pasta? It was almost like eating uncooked pasta….very crunchy and hard. I usually like all things fried but this is definitely an exception!

My younger brother Robbie ordered the Blackened Halibut, which was excellent! He let me try a bite and I loved it….this comes by no surprise since it is served with béarnaise sauce (which I mentioned earlier is my favorite!).

Robbie’s girlfriend ordered the Halibut Forté, which is sautéed in lobster butter with shrimp.  This was just okay, but probably my least favorite dish of the night. Compared to the richness and flavors of all the other dishes, it was a little bland.

Overall, we had a good time at Dee Felice. The service and the food were pretty good – although I think slightly over priced (entrees range from $17 - $37). I wish I would have ordered one of their Cajun specialties like the jambalaya, etouffée or Dee’s Filet…but I'm glad we went and I would be willing to go back.

~Kris

Food: 3.5

Service: 3.5

Overall: 3.5