Southern Fire Restaurant — Restaurant in Detroit

I once came to this restaurant years ago back when they were doing brunch and it was fantastic, so yesterday when our usual choice for soul food was closing soon and we were looking at an hour wait, my wife and I (at my suggestion) decided to go downtown and go to Southern Fire which I had hyped up to her for years that it was so good.

The first inclination that this was not going to go well was the confusion that occurred while waiting to be seated. We stood there at the sign for about 10 minutes waiting for someone to show up to take our names or take us to a seat or something. While waiting in the growing line, a waitress saw us and took it upon herself to take us to a table and we started walking...only for the one whose job it was supposed to be suddenly showing up, admonished her and backed us up because there were already people waiting to be seated behind. Like I said, a bit of a cluster to start but she took our names and after about another 10 minute or so wait, we were seated.

From there ensued some of the most "One Stooges" antics we have seen. The waitress (whose name escapes me now) came over and introduced herself and brought us two waters, gave us the menus and left. 15 minutes later she comes back and we order drinks. Another 15 minutes later she comes back with those drinks. Already seeing the "writing on the wall" here, we decide to order the appetizer and the entree's at the same time to speed things up. Another 15 minutes later, she comes back and tells us the food should be up in a few minutes and sure enough, some guy comes over and gives us the appetizer and my entree...my wife entree is nowhere to be found...okay, no biggie...it has to be coming so we start in on the appetizer (steak tips) and my meatloaf and potatoes with mac and cheese and collard greens...aside from the collard greens, NONE of it was particularly good...just OKAY...10 minutes go by, 20 minutes go by, 30 minutes go by...no entree for my wife but the waitress comes by twice in that time and we tell her we never got it...EVENTUALLY she came back with a plate with about 4 or 5 shrimp on it...only thats not what we ordered and says "I will be back with the rest"....um...WHAT the f...??...we say "NO" and she goes back and brings the entire original order fish and shrimp with the mac and cheese....while she is dropping that off FINALLY, I ask for refills on our original mixed drinks...(by the way we NEVER got any more water the rest of the time there)....10 minutes go by, 20 minutes go by....she DOES come back by and then asks us "if we need anything" and if "we would like another drink". So when we just STARE at her and say "WHAT?" she remembers that she still owes us the two drinks we asked for 30 minutes ago and says "I will be right back"....you guessed it...she never COMES back and when she does, she asks if we are ready for our check....HELL YES we are ready for the check...lol...but the check comes WITH THE TWO DRINKS ON IT THAT WE NEVER GOT...so we walk up to her and the manager and tell them that there is something wrong with the bill and we are being charged for drinks we never got. Her explanation? She only says " Oh, she was supposed to bring those to you"....WHO the f is "SHE?" Our waitress was HER not "SHE".....at any rate, they corrected the bill by applying a discount removing the cost of the other drinks (which I still think was shady because it looks like we drank them and we didn't) and we just left. I actually HATE that they automatically applied the tip because that little girl/restaurant did NOT deserve one at all. Oh, I didn't even mention the people they sat next to us that were loud AF and talking about "na this and na that for almost an hour of our time there...and THEIR order was messed up TOO I might add...and to top it all off on the way OUT of the parking lot, some young Thundercat decides that he is going to leave his running car in the middle of the lane and he just GETS OUT and walks into the restaurant to pick up either his food or a doordash....I will NEVER go to...

Yesterday 7/22/23 we had my daughter’s birthday dinner Southern Fire Bistro & Lounge. I made reservations on Tuesday for Saturday. Her hair appointment was running late. I called to have the time pushed back. We get there and our name was not down for reservations as they stated “We don’t take reservations” it’s “First Come, First Serve” Even though their website says call for reservations. Okay cool. We put our name down for party of 15. We eventually were sat at 2 booths. We had no server come to us for over 25 mins. When she came she didn’t have enough waters. She brought 10/15. We placed our food orders and drinks. She never came back to say they were out of Sprite as many ordered Shirley Temples & the Coke was flat and she never told us. They just didn’t get drinks. So she only brought over 5 drinks for 14 teenagers. A guy comes over he seems concerned and hears my complaints and stated he would check on the soda in the basement. I ordered medium steak bites, yams & Mac & cheese with cheese sticks as an appetizer. All our food comes out together (including appetizers) not all the sides were there because they had no more greens. The guy (I say the guy because he NEVER introduced himself) comes back over and we tell him what the concerns were. He said he would be back. The server never informed any of us that there were no greens prior to getting our food. We substituted the food and not all of us received the substitution because now they are out of Mac& cheese. A lady walks up and says “Am I needed over here?” I ask and who are you? Are you the manager? She replies yes. I explain the whole scenario from the beginning. She is defensive about it she stated it’s a 30 min wait after we are seated. Umm why would I ever wait to be seated and wait again to be served? She also stated they were out of greens when we walked in. She sat us so we could get Mac & cheese.😒 Why would the server let us order greens? 🤦🏽‍♀️The server had poor communication. She didn’t respond when we asked for things that she didn’t provide. She never said anything about our drinks. No one did. We had to ask for more water. My steak bites were not medium. I never got my Mac & cheese. So I have yams and cheese sticks. I only ate the cheese sticks. As I have nothing to go with yams. Then she just brought 2 bills to the tables and set them down in front of me. Okay cool. I check the bill… not correct. She charging for greens we didn’t receive or substitute. She then tried to correct the bills. Still haven’t gotten my steak bites. She trying to charge me for something I didn’t receive yet. I finally get them in a to-go bag. It was 2 bills with 18% gratuity for both bill. I paid for the bills on one card. I didn’t realize the 2 bills & gratuity until I woke up this morning. So I call and ask to speak to the manager. I tell her I was given 2 bills & gratuity is on both bills. She said you paid with 2 different cards. I said no. I paid with one card. She said well I don’t understand what you’re talking about unless you send me a picture or bring the receipt in. 🤬I said okay or I’ll just dispute it with my bank and hung up. I also realized she charged me for the steak bites again that they didn’t make medium the first time. This is HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE from management on down. I will not recommend this place at all and this was my very...

I’ve been to this place a few times. More not so good service than usual in the past few years but the food always taste good. Yesterday i went 3pm, as soon as they opened. They instantly had a wait simply bcuz the staff was moving w/ no urgency as if they didn’t just open. Some lights still weren’t on and their was no music playing when we were waiting/standing at the host area… it was only two of us to eat for my table. When we were sat, i looked around and noticed how filthy the place was with dust/dirt. Especially the ceiling fans. I told my partner to order us an app n waters while i went to wash my hands. The water took a long time to get hot & soon as someone flushed the toilet the water pressure dropped… i came back to the table to no waitress coming or being over. At this point 18mins passed. I kept looking at my watch & around the restaurant. Another server asked have our waitress been over and i told her no. She went to get her; she came back and said a few more minutes she’ll be over. I said at this point its been over 20mins. As we were about to walk out the lady came over & said what can i get you. She had no friendliness, no hospitality, and didn’t introduce herself… i was beyond hungry so i sat back down and said ok lol. What is your name? I believe she said candice or something. But her vibe was nonchalant. I ordered steakbites app, 2waters, catfish w/ 3 whole wings & 1side of salad. She said you can’t just have a salad as a side. You gotta pick a side & pay extra for the salad.. I said why if they are all sides? Can you go ask? & she came back so fast saying the same thing so I went w/ just the seasoned fries. My partner had catfish w/ mac & greens. The food came out pretty fast and in the order as it should (meaning the app 1st, then entrees). The guy who brung out our steak-bites was nice. He even grabbed us some app places like i asked. My partner asked him how was the steak cooked bcuz our server didn’t ask us how’d we like it & we forgot to mention it as well. It was more onions/peppers than steak but it tasted great w/ that sauce. Could’ve been hotter temperature tho but we enjoyed it. The entrees came shortly after but my waitress tried to take my plate back after asking me “you said seasoned fries right?”.. I said yes but leave em & my partner can eat them, just add on a salad for me cuz that’s what I originally wanted anyway. I didn’t understand why she’d take my plate back as if it’s still not a pandemic and that’s just plain nasty. The salad came out great. I asked for a knife, napkins and the bill. We finished eating & lost our server who never came back w/ the bill. Only the knife n napkins. After about 15mins we saw her at the bar n my partner went to her to inquire about the bill. They said their card machine is down! I questioned why wasn’t that told at the door before we were saw by the host… then my partner had to pay that atm fee which isn’t a big deal but it wasn’t apart of our plan to get cash. Also we waited an additional time to get change cuz the lady said she had to fine some. My issue started from the unnecessary wait at the door at open time && we were like the first 10 tables in line. That 20min wait of looking for a server is when I could’ve been eating appetizers. I should’ve have been there over a hour. It wasn’t the...