Indulgence Southern Bistro — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Sometimes, you just have to listen to your gut. My gut was telling me that it wanted some authentic southern food and a quick search led me to Indulgence Southern Bistro. After braving Jacksonville traffic and construction that would have made me pull out my hair if I had any, I found this absolute gem of a dining establishment.

The atmosphere was very relaxed with soothing R&B accompanying local artwork on the walls that reflected the community of Jacksonville. I was partially afraid that at any moment someone would turn the dial up to 11 and this would turn into a club, but that moment never came. It was a positive, relaxing environment.

My server ran through the options and it was clear she was familiar with the menu. There was no pretense or forced upselling; just honest conversations about the food. It felt like I was kicking it with an old cousin (except my server never tried to swing on me - I still haven't forgotten that, Trika!)

She answered a few questions and left me to make my decision, and that's when the only real disappointment came: the menu was different than the one I looked at prior to arriving. My eyes failed at the one task they were given by neglecting to recognize that the previous menu was for Brunch (which, much like Sza, they only cover on the weekends).

Not seeing the catfish and grits I had my heart set on, I tried to find another option as my stomach grumbled and called me goofy for not reading. I threw up a middle finger to my lactose intolerance and settled on some mac-and-cheese and some cheese grits to go, so no one would see me crying over the fish-and-grits I had my heart on.

That was my second mistake. Both catfish and grits were on the menu, but because my eyes are apparently bad at their one job, I missed it. Defeated, I left with the sides and went to my car. I sat down and absolutely crashed out over those sides. If I jammed that spoon any harder into my togo box, I would have dug a hole to China. The grits were seasoned so well I shed an involuntary tear over how delicious they were. The mac-and-cheese was one of the best I've had in the city. If it weren't for the grits I would have tossed the spoon and eaten the mac-and-cheese with my bare hands. Before I knew it, I was out of my car and already running back in.

I ordered the fish and grits, with another side of mac-and-cheese because I needed to know if lightning could strike twice. It did. I also got an order of the chicken alfredo because I owed my stomach for teasing it.

The fish was fried a golden brown. It was crispy, delicate, flaky and BIG. I braced myself for a greasy bite, but it wasn't greasy at all. Each bite produced a satisfying crunch and it never got soggy. Like everything else, it was seasoned like somebody's grandma was back there. It came on a bed of greens that I didn't even notice until I had eaten half of them by accident.

The alfredo sauce was different than traditional. No bland white sauce here. The slightly tanned coloring is indicative of the seasoning that makes it so delicious. I used the accompanying bread as a spoon and ate until the itis popped up like an ex I had forgotten about. My only complaint is that it wasn't the fried catfish. The catfish is that good.

If you're in the Jacksonville area and haven't been, GO! If you're not in the area, and haven't been, GO! If you're in the area or not in the area and you have been, GO BACK (although I shouldn't need to tell you that!) The food here was so good that I literally spun the block for it. I can't wait to go back for brunch. 🎝I gotta say, I'm in the mood for a little bit...

Visited this establishment this past Sunday with a few friends & I must say, it was a bit overrated. Although my experience wasn't met with great expectations, the owner Spencer did apologize for the poor service & lack thereof from staff. The restaurant itself is very small and not fit to accommodate large quantities of guests. When trying to make a reservation, it tells me no availability for a party of 5 (4 adults, 1 child), so we decided to go anyway to see if there were any cancelations. Upon arrival, it was NOT busy at all, and we were met by a slender fellow with long locs who greeted us and told us the best he could do is sit us separately @ 2 different 2 seat tables (that were back to back to eachother along the wall) because the other two big tables were reserved. That's fine and dandy, but when you are waiting for your waitress to come to your table and take your order or to give you your food/drink in a place that's not busy for 45 plus minutes and the "reservations" never show, and still being told "no we can't seat you at a bigger table" and refusing to get a chair for the child, is very concerning to me. My friend had to have her son sit on her lap, or they shared the chair by sitting on each corner. The staff seemed like they didn't want to be there. It took way more than adequate time to place and get our food (which came to us cold), there was no reason for all the delays or wait time endured. My butter wouldn't even melt on my pancake. The grits tasted ok, just lumpy and lukewarm, and the eggs and bacon was sub par and cold. The food was plated nicely. However, it did not match in taste. Everything tasted like it was reheated from a previous night, sat on the counter for 15 minutes, then sprinkled with some parsley and served. Be careful of the prices when ordering VS when you pay. The prices are not the same! We were met with so many red flags and should have just left, but we wanted to see why people raved about this place so much. I still don't see why. I was definitely not satisfied with this experience and probably won't be back again nor recommend it as a group...

I wanted to celebrate my birthday which was on 12/22/2024 by having brunch with my family and friends. I chose to select a place that i'd never been and it was black owned so why not? When trying to make reservations online it states that there no were no available tables but upon calling we were able to reserve a table for 10 people. When we arrived I was shocked and not in a good way! The place looked too small and there were no tables that would accomodate my party. If I had to guess it looked as if the place would be able to hold more than about 15 people tops. They were able to place us in a back room, which we loved however the table was one on those card tables that fold out with a plastic dollar tree table cloth on it. Thank God that no one had to use the restroom because the person on the end would have to get up to allow them access into the restroom. The food looked better than it tasted, I ordered the shrimp and grits and an over meduim egg, the waitress took my order but later explained to my sister that the used liquid eggs when she asked for egg white. I was very dissappointed that they chose not to serve REAL eggs. My party was not happy at all. I ordered a slice of cheese cake too, but it was no surprise that they were out of that. The owner stated that he would be sending over a special surprise for my birthday but never did, thankfully the best thing going in in there was the waistress NeeNee and her cute outfit, she made sure to gift me with a free drink! My overall opnion of the place is that it is definitely overated, too expensive for the portion sizes and too small to accomodate large parties. I will likely not visit this place again. I noticed alot of good reviews on google but after sharing my experiences with others even a stranger that I met at Copeland's that same day, he expressed a similar experience, and others rated there experience...