Bronzeville Soul — Restaurant in Hyde Park Township

I went to Bronzeville Soul with a couple of lady friends of mine. I parked on the street and it was about 5:00 PM on a Tuesday. The food was pretty good although the menu wasn’t that great. It was limited in my opinion.

I had the short ribs with cabbage and macaroni and cheese and I got a catfish dinner with corn and candied sweet potatoes To take home. All meals come with two sides and a corn muffin. All of the food was quite spicy in my opinion. I’m a little older than most of the customers and older people have sensitive pallets. So, it might not be spicy to others, but it was certainly spicy to me. The macaroni and cheese had red pepper in it I believe, because it was spicy, too. The cabbage was spicy. The sweet potatoes were so-so, because I think he might have used corn syrup in the sweet potatoes. I cook, so I’m a harsh critic. The catfish was delicious, because I talked to the owner and he rinsed the catfish before he fried it, so it wasn’t so spicy. All of the entrees were generous. I don’t know if he always does this, but he gave me three whole fillets of catfish. There were a lot of short ribs, but they were cut very thin. The fried corn had green peppers and onions in it, but, it was pretty good and it was not spicy, because it was sweet corn. All of the food comes in to go containers. They don’t give you plates or silverware, you get plastic forks, and the food comes in plastic containers. Another thing, he was running out of everything! He didn’t have any dessert, no peach cobbler and we had to wait 30 minutes on the short ribs and we went at 5:00 PM. I can understand though. He doesn’t want to throw away food as expensive as everything is now.

The manager/owner was very nice and the food was good overall. Without the spice, the food...

This was my husband and I first time coming to this restaurant. We had just left the Shedd Aquarium and decided to come here to grab something to go before driving home. We got there and we placed our order with the woman at the cash register and she was super nice.

The place was packed which was a good sign to us along with the many great reviews they had received. After placing our order, we took a seat not to far from where we placed our order. After 15 mins went by I admit I was wondering why it was taking so long.

Then the woman that took our order came up very nicely to tell us that they ran out of dressing. We said that is fine and took a side of sweet potatoes. Then 25 mins went by and the same woman came back to let us know that they didn't have the short-ribs my husband wanted.

She apologized and offered him not only 3 recommendations she said she would comp him for it. He decided to get the lamb chops. Then another 20 mins went by for a total of 45 mins plus the 15 mins it took standing in line for us to place our order for a total of an hour.

Our food was FINALLY ready, and we left. I admit I was bothered that it took that long for takeout but the food made up for it. It was really good. Everything was seasoned well, and I would definitely go back.

But next time, we would place our order online or phone it in so it would be ready when we got there. Overall, again, the food and the...

This soul food restaurant with EXCELLENT food is suffering from an identity crisis. You can't quite tell what kind of experience you are about to have when you walk in... Black table cloth, self seating, plastic food containers, large televisions and party back drops all send conflicting messages. My advice is remove the table clothes, turn up the lights, put in some good music (not too loud) and let the food and the crowd define this place. Light the outside up and get better signs so more people will know that this establishment exist. If you can get past the look, you will be swept away in the flavors of the food. We didn't have one bad item. Everything we ordered, we loved. The three member staff worked their culinary magic on the chicken and beef short ribs, as well as the sides. Grandma must have been hiding back there somewhere. The food "down home" kind of good. This is where you go when you want to eat good food. It was so good that after I post this, I am heading there to see what tasty surprise they have waiting for us today.

I went back on "Superbowl Sunday" ... Food was still good. We had baked chicken, short ribs and ALL of the sides. Excellent!!! The decor in the restaurant was upgraded. I guess it is a work in progress. Hopefully they get signs for the outside soon. I will continue to post as this may be my new...