Ms. B's M & M Soul Food — Restaurant in Hawthorne

DISCLAIMER: Long post below

I’ve visited Ms.B’s on multiple occasions (at least 5 times) and waited to leave a review as I wanted a decent sample size and to be objective and fair.

Pros: Outstanding customer service! Each and every time I frequent, every staff member is pleasant, attentive and professional.

I’ve tried the fried catfish, red snapper, fried and baked chicken. The fried meats were hot and fresh but all lacked flavor and tasted very bland. I’m not sure if the intent is to allow individual seasoning but there was no flavor and not what I expected from soul food meats. The baked chicken was dry and bland. I ordered the baked chicken once right before closing so maybe that was a factor.

Sides: mac-n-cheese and yams. The Mac-n-cheese is a personal favorite. Seasoned, flavorful every time. The yams are hit and miss—mostly miss. The yams aren’t sweet enough (personal preference) and are sometimes watery. The cornbread muffins are pretty good.

Breakfast: I’ve tried the grits, eggs, sausage and salmon croquettes. I prefer thick grits. Sometimes the grits were thick, other times watery. The eggs, sausage and salmon croquettes were prepared to my liking.

I’ve noticed the fried foods are fresh and hot. The sides are only luke warm and get cold fast if there’s a wait and the food is delayed when brought to the table.

I think the prices are too expensive even for this area. Including tip, I paid almost $27 for one piece of catfish (although good size) 2 sides, cornbread and a large drink.

The wait times are excessive. I understand and respect that quality food takes time to prepare. However, there’s a difference between that and long wait times due to inadequately staffed personnel. I once waited 50 minutes for a breakfast order.

Multiple items listed on the menu are never available. In my experience, this is consistent among soul food establishments. Maybe there’s a good reason why this happens often.

Would I visit again?? The answer is yes!!!! Here’s why: I presume, Ms. B’s is a Black owned business. Her establishment is clean and as I mentioned above, the customer service is outstanding! Outstanding customer service alone is always a plus for me and will keep me coming back. Another factor is I believe in establishing patience in supporting Black owned businesses. Too often, Black owned businesses are not supported and quickly disregarded only to patronize other non-Black under-performing businesses.

Ms. B, if you read this review, please don’t be offended. I offer this review out of love and respect. I feel it’s important to have frank, honest dialogue—even if we disagree without being offended. At the same time, as a patronizing customer, I expect improvements to be made when/where possible.

I appreciate your willingness to serve your community and your family....

General- for the price of the food, I expected better quality, especially being located in the hood. I will grade this restaurant on presentation, cleanliness, customer service, food quality, and price.

Presentation (4 out of 5) - it was a standard looking restaurant with a few memorabilia of the past hung throughout the place. Nothing looked broken and it seems like the dining furniture had been kept up to code. Also, they really love that Apple Pay machine.

Cleanliness (5 out of 5) - I didn’t see any major issues that jumped out to me or anything else for that matter.

Customer service (1 out of 5)- there were to many acting Queen Bee’s instead of regular old honey bee’s. They need to get one manager and stick with it. The girl at the register look all sorts of confused and this other lady kept hollering throughout everyone’s transaction. Then there was another lady hollering and going back and forth with people on seating arrangements. It just became a bit to much.

Food Quality (2 out 5) - I was very disappointed and only went to this place because the more famous restaurant Duland’s was closed on New Years. The catfish needed a lot more seasoning and the cook should know better than that. The mac and cheese was my least favorite dish and someone put way to much sugar in that Mac and cheese. The rice and gravy was(smh)... and let’s not get started on the smothered pork chops that were warm on the outside and cold in the middle. The only decent side item was the collard greens. I am not happy with this level of food quality, especially driving 40 mins to get here. That brings me to my next topic

Price (1 out of 5) the price that they charge for these dinners don’t match the quality of what they are trying to offer. The pork chops are $16.99 and the Catfish is 19.99. However, the only item included in the meal worth mentioning was the greens, which were decent at best.

Overall- this business needs a serious upgrade and the cooks need to improve on their recipes. 2 out of 5 is being very generous...

To OWNER’S Grandson was acting as Manager/Server. He brought our drinks and thought our order for “Table #12.” Btw, we never received refills for our beverages. Then, we got warm cornbread-n-butter. Shortly we received our fried catfish and smothered pork chops. Well, here’s where everything goes WRONG. Unfortunately, the female waitress mistakenly took our side dishes to another table, and my hubby and I waited 30 minutes. I had to ask another male server to request our server to come over to our table. When he returned, he said, “yeah!” I informed him that we never received our sides. He went to the back and asked the Cook what happened to our food? He and the female server began arguing. Obviously, she took our sides to another table. My husband asked “how is this going to work, when my sides are hot and my meat is cold? Jared(Owners Grand/Acting Manager), said, well, I don’t know, I can heat it in the MICROWAVE.” After the Cook remade our sides, my husband was DONE! I had to as Jared for our check. He returned and I asked, “how can we make our experience pleasant, he replied, I don’t know?” I asked for the Owner/Manager on duty, he said, this is my Grandmother’s and I’m the Manager tonight. I asked if he could take my husband’s meal off, he said, he couldn’t. So, suggested that clearly he’s doing his Grandmother’s establishment a disservice due to his lack of restaurant savvy and lack of customer service skills, and basic professionalism. So, he said, what do you want me to do? I reiterated, removing my hubby’s food, he said, he’d GET IN TROUBLE. I said, why would you ask me “WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? Clearly, it was s no win, and I paid our food, and told Jared/Owner’s Grandsonacting Manager, WE’LL NEVER VISIT THIS RESTAURANT AGAIN! So, he gave me “QUARTERS “ for my change because he said he DIDN’T HAVE ANY ONE DOLLAR BILLS!!!! We try to support Black establishments, but we received horrible experiences....