Touch of Soul — Restaurant in Emeryville

We visited a Touch of Soul yesterday. I purposely did not read the reviews because I wanted to try the food without having a biased opinion from others. Visiting from out of town, I really had a craving for soul food so we decided to check this establishment out. I also wanted to support this establishment because it’s a black owned business, being African American as well I feel and growing up with a momma that cooked everything, I was looking forward to this experience. Below is just my personal opinion Food: Touch of Soul does fried food good. We ordered the fried prawns and catfish along with a whole fried crab. The seafood was fried and seasoned very nicely. I would definitely come back for that along with the urge to try the fried chicken. Unfortunately the party stops there… with our food we had sides of Mac and cheese, collard greens, sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Sadly all of the sides were a major let down. The Mac and cheese had little flavor and was very dry with little cheese. The collard greens unfortunately were in the same condition as well as the cornbread which was also dry. The Brussels sprouts were deep fried and on the salty side. The crab($45) appeared to just be deep fried, so basically it was a crab with breading on it(albeit seasoned good). One major issue I had was there was no crab cracker to utilize so you have to use your hands and teeth to eat which was difficult.

Service: I really wanted to give them a pass on service because there was only one server and I can understand it can be difficult but it left much to be desired. Our server never checked on us the entire time . After our food came the only time I saw her afterwards was when she left and noticed her outside on her cellphone. I understand there might have been an emergency but it left us having to go up front several times to ask for items like drinks. Also they only had plastic silverware and plastic to go cups which took away from the experience. Many of the tables were occupied with people who were waiting for to go orders so a lot of the tables were unavailable for dine in. I think this place is good for to go but some work needs to be done to make people feel the dine in experience is worth it. The gentleman who I think was the owner was very engaged and seemed like a very nice person. I hope this place improves as it has a lot...

I ordered the smothered chicken meal with my sides as rice and gravy, green beans, and macaroni and cheese. I was hopeful that because this was a Black owned soul food place that the food would be good. I was wrong. Now first let me say the customer service was good. I was greeted with a smile and a “welcome in” and did not wait more than 3 minutes to get my order. However the food is nasty yall I can't even lie. The chicken was under seasoned and super soggy (I’ve made and had smothered chicken more times than i can count the skin should not be slimy either). I used the salt and pepper packets that come with the utensils and that brought it from a 2/10 to a 3/10. I’ve never had gravy so bland in my life. The macaroni was so dry it was actually crunchy (if i can post a video to show you i will) and that was the best thing at 3.5/10. The beans were by far the worst. They tasted like someone just grabbed a can from Safeway and warmed it up in the microwave but with A TON OF SALT. I think I downed 12-16oz of water just from trying to eat the beans alone. The rice was also unseasoned and was under the gravy from the Smothered Chicken. It was practically mush. I’m sad because I have yet to find halfway decent Soul food here in California (im from Detroit) and this was probably some of the worst food I've ever had. My stomach is actually growling as I write this review because of how much food idid not eat because i could not force myself to suffer through and eat it. The only upside is that I know to never recommend this place to friends and family when they come visit. I try to give Black owned businesses a lot of grace but I’m a grad student yall and I can’t believe I just wasted $20 on food...

I could say so much about this place, so I will try to get to the point. Got there around 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon and there were not too many people there. The lady at the counter gave me a menu with a few minutes to look. She came back and when I was ready to order se stated that the special was not available, along with a lot other items on the menu. I took it as a sign to just order something else. Everything I ordered was phenomenal. Seafood was seasoned and cooked perfectly. Mac and cheese was “cheesin”. Yams were soft and sweet. Blueberry lemonade was out of this world. I know this restaurant does not have an issue with cooking the food. Shout out to Yaya. Heard her name multiple time being yelled to the kitchen (I assume she was the one throwing down in the back). Sitting at my table, hearing multiple customers being told that their order could not be fulfilled because they ran out of supplies before the dinner rush even began, was a little disheartening. I felt bad for the customers, as well as the worker telling them. The server was doing her best to keep things afloat by herself until two more workers showed up to alleviate her. I truly do wish this restaurant can see the issues it has and correct them. There was a long line of people ready to order and pick up their food. Not one of them left the line to go elsewhere. That how I knew that they have a quality product. I’ll definitely be back. Wish...