The Smackin Soul — Restaurant in Lathrup Village

Excellent customer service & decent portions...I really loved the fried turkey chops, lamb chops, oxtails & the turkey ribs; all tender & seasoned well...the black eyes peas had good taste...the greens, dressing, mac & yams could all use some help...the greens were doctored up from a can & not the fresh ones pictured on Instagram, same as the dressing, not as pictured on IG or the other review I saw, it had good flavor but was kinda mushy in texture..the yams had too much nutmeg. I purchased two sides of mac & cheese and they looked & tasted totally different, definitely came from two different batches...one was pretty good and tasted homemade and the other order tasted like it came from a hospital cafeteria...the blueberry/peach cobbler were both good but were loaded with dough, no flaky crust & not enough fruit but were still very much enjoyable, as were the sweet potato muffins which tasted similar to carrot cake...I really think it's an inconsistency issue...the meat definitely outshined the sides...so overall I'm on the fence about going back...if I do it will be awhile...I'll give it some time to see if they improve/tweak the side recipes, as I wouldn't go back again just for the meat when the sides are mediocre at best.......then again I may change my mind and just go back for ala cart side of meat as they were all just that good & I really want to try the...

I stumbled across this establishment after a recommendation from a local business I was shopping at. Upon walking in the door I was greeted by a gentleman named Draco. Draco walked me through the menu and explained that this was the soul restaurant and showed me the menu. The atmosphere was very modern and had a lot of flair. It was Draco and a few others working. After browsing the menu with a lot of options, I choose the Oxtails, Mac & cheese and collard greens with a cornbread muffin. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, the price was close to 30 dollars.

I was expecting to be waiting for quite some time. My food came out in under 5 minutes. Normally soul food take a while, especially for the items I purchased. The plastic bag the food came I. Was custom with the business logo on it. The presentation and containers were not cheap at all. No styrofoam or paper all plastic.

The food was astounding especially the wait time for the quality of food that I received. I am speechless. Normally I have some sort of issue with something! This meal was prepared with love and seasoned to perfection. My only word of advice is do not eat here if you are not ready to take a nap and relax.

You know the food is next level when you burp and your burps...

I am disappointed that I walked into this soul food establishment and Caucasian cooks were cooking our food. It’s called soul food for many reasons, one the struggle we went through with having to make a meal out of what was thrown to us. 2nd we do not measure our ingredients. We cook from our soul. We have a different level of cleanliness period! We clean our meat, we wash our hands before during and after cooking. Why would you passed down recipes from our forefathers to a culture who could care less about us to make a buck. This reminds me of Paula Deen who stole her black cooks recipes and built an empire off of it. Soul food is a type of cooking most blacks hold dear because so much has been stolen from us. Stop sharing every darn thing. I don’t eat soul food from those that don't know our culture. Never lived it! Very irritated and will not return. You have two black ladies in the front to draw us, but you’re cooking our food in the back. I don’t trust everyone cooking my food. The dressing was too dry to eat, the yams were not bad, I pulled something hard twice from the dressing and Mac and cheese. This isn’t authentic soul food. It’s someone trying to follow a recipe and did poorly with that. Stick to...