Soul & Sea Cafe — Restaurant in Baltimore

So normally I’d never leave a review, and I’m sad I have to, but this place smh the owners disposition was just like the food BAD. I will never come back to this establishment I’m actually really shocked it’s still in business, but I traveled almost an hour to this place, it was posted on instagram so why not support my small black businesses, got there about 3:45ish walked in and it was hotter inside then the outside and the air unit from outside was inside in the corner by the door, the young man that took my order was super nice even tho he didn’t really know the menu. We asked for a few items and was told they didn’t have majority of the menu yesterday, and only 3 sides. Cabbage, Mac and candied yams. I ordered 4 platters (surf n turf, stuffed salmon, double crab cake and friend whitening) my order went in at 4:01 with out rice and asked to sub for cabbage instead that total was $146.00. He said it was cool, I forgot to add a crab cake egg roll and went back in, there was a woman there I’m assuming the woman was the owner. She snatched the paper from the young man that helped me the first time and kinda went in on him super aggressive infront of customers due to his incorrect charging (some in-house training would help) I guess and by the time she finished there was another $63.00 added to my bill, she said it would be 30 minutes, and she’d come get my ti get my food, well an hour went by and I went back in and was told it was almost done, there was another customer there and they messed up her order as well and the “owner” got mad aggressive with her also, about wings and “they only have party wings” for 20 a plate smh. Anyway….im standing there hot as hell smelling burning food, I asked the cashier if that was my food burning said no, still standing there I see food leaving out, I asked for a “lemonade” they gave me a lemon drink not lemonade which was so nasty. Another hour goes by still waiting and she comes out y’all food almost ready, the food finally comes at 5:58 two hours for what’s pictured below, $200 and something later and the food I smelt burning and mind you I head her say it was burnt and to just turn it on another side was mine. As I’m looking at it she said super aggressive “what’s wrong, you can taste it”, I closed the boxes pissed for 2 hours you gave me burnt food, the crab cakes were not edible, the lamb was rough the Mac had more grease then Mac the yams were under cooked and no flavor, the stuffed salmon was the smaller piece of salmon I’ve ever seen and she had the audacity to try to stuff a strip of salmon, the fish wasn’t cooked the saving grace was the cabbage, the seafood didn’t smell fresh at all, the crab cake egg roll which was $13 for one small roll was decent and the only edible thing we had ,we threw away $200 plus worth of inedible food. The store was super hot and the owner has a shitty attitude, if you know you’re business is going to get more patronage due to a social media post maybe revamp some things for a smoother flow, get a fan in there if the air isn’t working, train your employees and don’t burn an order that’s over $200. Carolina kitchen would never and that’s exactly where I went after I had to throw away an order I was told would take 30 min that’s turned into 2 hours and food was burnt, didn’t smell fresh and greasy. I would have offered some constructive advice but you can tell who and who can’t take it by how they carry themselves. Ohh and when you do glove changed you’re supposed to wash your hands in between each change. Never again I want my money...

Around 2:30pm on a Wednesday I walked into this place due to the Jamaican place across the street not having what I wanted to order. I was about to get in my car and saw this soul food cafe and figured I'd give it a try and I also needed to feed me and my hungry toddler after running errands. Walking into the establishment it looked dirty and in need of TLC. Mind you for this side of town I wasn't expecting too much. I was in line behind 1 person, l had already overheard the cashier/cook telling the customer he didn't have the item he wanted so the customer ordered something else, it was a meat option. The guy goes to the back of the store and I'm still standing there. I pickup 1 of the 2 menus on the counter to look it over & immediately noticed how sticky the menus were. In come two females that I wouldn't have assumed worked there, I noticed they had supplies in their hand and walked to the back of the cafe behind the counter. I hear a small argument and cursing ensue and then 1 of the girls comes to the front to take my order. I'm vegetarian so l usually order sides platters from soul places. I asked the girl if any of the veggies contained meats to which she stated 1 of them did not so I asked her for the cabbage, yams and macaroni, she told me to hold on and then walked to the back to ask if they had those items. I overhear the other lady (manager) that walked in tell her we don't have ANY sides except macaroni. The girl comes back to relay the message and I tell her that's fine I'll just get the macaroni so I could at least put something on my toddlers stomach and I pay for the macaroni. The girl walks to the back to get the macaroni and I overhear the manager again state it's not going to be ready for another 10 mins. She comes back out again to let me know this and at this point I just wait thinking that "well at least it will be fresh" then the cashier takes more orders. She walks to the back and grabs my food and starts bagging it. I suddenly realized from the time she walked into the store to handing me my food and handling my utensils that she did not wash her hands & there were never any gloves involved. At this point I convinced myself that at least she didn't make the food and that she only handled the containers. I waited until I got home to open the bag and was disgusted with how much grease was seeping off the containers. The appearance of the Mac & cheese was questionable looking burnt, the taste was VERY questionable! I've never tasted macaroni and cheese as bad as that it tasted sour, I've had better boxed macaroni & cheese.

I found them on social media , the way they likely the manager responds to customers on their social media is...

This is my second time here. Very good food/quantity for your money!! I haven’t tasted anything I ordered that I didn’t like!! Not sure what that house sauce in the small container is but it is soo good!! Not sure if it was the owner but a woman came in while my order was being prepared and had pretty good customer service. Only reason I took away a star was because the guy that took my order didn’t explain to me that there were quite a few other things they had available outside of what was on the menu. I only found out because the woman that came in and took someone else’s order explained that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very satisfied with my food. Just would have chosen one of the other options, as they had stuffed chicken breast, crab cakes, etc. So it’s more so an employee training thing or keep the menu updated. Outside of that, I DEFINITELY recommend this spot and it will be one of my top go to’s for soul food from now on!! Sorry my pic is blurry. It’s a screenshot from a video 🤣

Update: I’ve been here twice after this last review and unfortunately they’ve lost a customer. Service was terrible last two visits. I figured the first time, we all have bad days but the second time I was done. I ordered a chicken bowl $15. I ordered extra onions which spiked my total up to $21. I also asked them not to add broccoli which is a part or the dish so not only did you still charge me full price but when I got my food, it was your average amount of onions that you’d add to a dish and that was considered extra. I asked for a refund(food had not left employees hands yet) if this was considered $5 worth of extra onions, I wasn’t satisfied. I was told that the refund was not allowed and that they’d add more onions but it still did not meet expectations for what was paid. Will not be returning...