Southern Queenz — Restaurant in Atlanta

Visited 2/1/25 DETAILED REVIEW !!

This was my first visit here , we came for a friend's birthday there were about 12 of us my friend made reservations .

First there was a $10 valet only parking fee .... I go out to eat often lots of venues if you follow me on here or any other platform you know I go out lol . So parking fees are pretty standard and $10 isn't bad ...... usually. The parking lot isn't big most the other establishment are closed and the "valet " literally was him parking your car in a normal spot and he didn't even retrieve it just handed us our keys ..... lol so yeah that's that part paid but highly confused as to what I paid for.

When you read the reviews that say the space is small believe it I was taken aback the smallness of the space I was thinking forsure there had to be a back room or space nope you walk right into the entire dinning area.

Service was pretty smooth honestly.. I'm usually very intentional and good with remembering names but I can't remember our servers name it was a blk male with like braids he wasn't like the best server nor the worst lol there was an woman maybe mid to late 30s short chocolate toned with a Bob she kind of filled in when he wasn't around she was very friendly and helpful . They automatically gave everyone water ... but only had six cups available had to wait for more cups to be cleaned ... on a Saturday night and there was literally I kid you not only one other party of 4 there at this point ... so I was thinking omg lol this is not going to be a good time.

My sister and I ordered 3 appetizers and they came out hot and rather quickly when we asked for silverware we were asked how many... and at this point the whole table had ordered so why not just bring out silverware for everyone lol .

I'm a frfr foodie .... THE FOOD IS GOOD !!

With a table of 12 of course I couldn't get a pic of everything but I saw everyone's food I heard no one complained about their food and my food I know was good I only photographed and tasted mine and my sisters . We had fried green tomatoes , deviled eggs with fried shrimp , Calamari ,French toast sandwich , and lamb chops with Mac and cheese and spinach. It was goooood ,and I'm a medium done woman and it was cooked very much how I like it .

Now they do after going to look have a disclaimer on their site that says tickets on their large parties cannot be split at all !! Not even by two and gratuity is added. I feel something like that should most definitely be restated at the beginning of service as you can imagine a few ppl were not happy with the no the server gave as it pertained to separating the checks. Me , I definitely was like that definitely should have been stated but if we split the ticket here's how much it is everyone and of course we worked it out but that should definitely be made clear to large parties and not assume ppl know or read it less headache on your patrons and servers part.

Overall I'd give it and 8.5 out of 10

Service 6 Location 5 lol doing the best they can praying for a bigger venue and location that warrants that 10$, or and dollar amount parking please tell your valet if you parking my car retrieve it also other wise it's just paid parking not valet .

Food 9.5 !! Keep doing what you doing lol

Atmosphere/decor : 7 for the space it's nicely decorated

Overall for maybe a cute date night or grab a meal I'd recommend a party larger than 4 I wouldn't but I do wish them much success apparently they do well so continued success the foods good but those other aspects servers the valet could be...

Let me start by saying the restaurant is clean and the staff is super friendly! I took my son there for dinner and he was so impressed. He (an 11 year old boy) was really feeling the music they were playing and the atmosphere.

We ordered Fruity Pebble French Toast ($23-$25. I don't have my receipt), Chicken Rasta Pasta ($21+$2 for adding chicken) and the Queenz platter which consisted of 2 philly, 2 "soul" and 2 seafood eggrolls cut into halfs ($25).

My son loved the French toast and seafood egg rolls. He doesn't like cheese so the other egg rolls didn't entice him. I have no complaint about the egg rolls, but they weren't amazing in my opinion. The Rasta pasta wasn't authentic at all. I'm from Miami, so my bar for Jamaican food is very high. There was no green or red peppers in it and it was sweet. No spice at all. And the noodles were tough.

After informing our waiter that I wasn't happy with the pasta, he offered to either take it back and fix it or replace it with another meal. I sent it back and got the teriyaki glazed salmon, with black eyed peas and greens. The salmon ($33) was good but the black eyed peas were kinda salty and the greens were sweet.

When the bill came, it showed that I spent $83 and there was a "service fee" that was $14.94. When I asked my waiter if the service fee was his tip, he said that 10% went to the house and 8% went to him as a tip. I asked why I was paying the house an extra 10% after I was spending $83 on food alone, and he said that was just the way it was. Remind you the tax on my food was $7 and some change, so why would I be paying the business extra?! I expressed my displeasure with that and told the young man that they had just messed up his tip because why am I paying the establishment another 10% on top of the price for the meal. I added $2 when I got my bill and was about to leave when the waiter came back and said to me, "It's my first day back and I didn't know...that whole amount comes to me. They just told me that they changed it".

Now I'm no fool so I know one of 2 things happened. Either the waiter was lying about the majority of the 18% service charge going to the house so that he could get more of a tip OR he asked a manager and told him what he'd told me and they made him retract that statement because they know that's bad for business.

Either way, I didn't like it. I don't like forced gratuity because who is the establishment to make me tip the amount THEY feel is appropriate. I was planning on tipping the young man $20, until I saw there was a $15 "service fee", that according to him I wouldn't have had to pay for if I ordered the food takeout instead of dining in. That part of the evening ruined the experience for me because it made the young man so uncomfortable he lied which killed the whole vibe.

Another thing to note, for a such a small restaurant in such a beat up spot (messed up pavement in the parking lot, unclean shopping center and boarded up family dollar building across the street) the food is expensive. $20+ for all plates for mid food is a lot, especially when there's an additional 18% added to the price and then tax. I'm glad a supported this black owned business but I don't know that I'll return. I wish them all the success...

Just left such a disappointing Mother’s Day experience that I had to write a review. From the moment I walked in the door with my two year old I was treated as though I wasn’t welcome. The waitress tried to direct us to the high top tables. When I informed her that wasn’t a safe seating option for my toddler, she told me that the tables were reserved for parties of three or more. Mind you, there were only two other tables occupied, both seating two adults each. So…? She had to go ask a manager if we could sit down because they were expecting a large crowd. Spoiler alert: the tables weren’t full when we left. I was hungry so I didn’t leave but I definitely wanted to and should have.

So boom, we sit down after she separated a 4 seater into 2. The menu looked promising and I was excited to order and try a few things. We got the pancakes, side of potatoes and the catfish and grits. First, TWO pancakes for 15 dollars that tasted like they came out of a box mix. My toddler wouldn’t even eat them willingly. They were chewy and didn’t cut well and most definitely were made with water and not buttermilk. The potatoes came completely unseasoned with bitter and burnt peppers. Like I could not even taste SALT on the potatoes. $5 for about ten pieces of flavorless potatoes. I asked for ketchup and was offered a little container of previously squeezed out ketchup that had obviously been sitting for a while as the water was separating. Gross, god only knows how long it had been sitting. The $30 catfish and grits… again lacked seasoning and tasted fishy. The saving grace was that it was at least fried well. However, the cheese grits were plain tasting and the topping was the same. Onions and barely cooked bell peppers. I don’t expect every meal I eat out to be bursting with intense flavor but I definitely want to taste SOMETHING.

Highlights: two employees told me happy Mother’s Day and offered me a long stem rose. That was sweet.

Other than that, I had to flag down help at least three times, so I didn’t feel attended to. Spent $70 on a meal for two because I added extra tip onto the already taken gratuity. I won’t be returning. Which I hate to say because I am a black woman who loves to support other black women. But Sourhern Queenz won’t see another...