Cornbread Maplewood — Restaurant in Maplewood

The experience was horrible from the time me and my family walked in, until the time we left. To start, the cashier had the nastiest attitude no matter how nice I tried to be with her. I had never been to the restaurant before so I had a few questions about items on the menu and each response she gave was in a nasty or sarcastic tone. After sharing with my family the experience that I had with the cashier, they all stated that they had the same experience with the exception of my father (there were 6 of us). After ordering, we waited around the front counter for our food not knowing that our food would be brought to us. We surely found out when the nasty cashier rudely stated "y'all could go up. imma bring y'all food" in an annoyed tone with her lips twisted. So upstairs we went. The upstairs area was the nicest part of the the experience. Nice and open. Though there was hardly any air circulating. The cashier brought the food to our table with the same nasty attitude that she had behind the register. With the exception of my father. He noticed and grinned "she likes me" lol. Lucky him because she definitely hated the rest of us. Sheesh!! The food was WAY below expectations. I ordered the "whiting" meal with mac and cheese and collard greens, potato salad, sweet tea and peach cobbler. The "whiting" was not whiting. I don't know what kind of fish was, but whiting was not it. The collard greens lacked seasoning. The mac and cheese and potato salad were good. The sweet tea and peach cobbler were absolutely disgusting. Oh, and the cornbread was good. Thankfully, hence the name of the restaurant. My family had some complaints about their food as well ranging from uncooked chicken, the questionable fish species, season-less greens and extremely nasty sweet tea. BUT my parents raved about how good the rice and gravy was. On the way out my mother stopped to buy a bottle of water. A different young lady was behind the counter by this time and she had a little pink fan blowing on her. My mother said "oh! you have your little fan to keep cool?" in a sweet "sing song-y" voice. The girl sucked her teeth, rolled her eyes and walked away". My mother told me after we were outside because I most certainly would have asked what the problem was because: "WHAT WAS THE DAMNED PROBLEM??" The females in this restaurant need to check their attitudes and find a different field of employment because they are not suited for the customer service industry. And I have no clue how this place got good reviews on the food because the majority of it was trash and a complete...

I ordered the 4pc fried chicken with two sides, potato salad, and macaroni and cheese. My wife had the ribs with collard greens and macaroni and cheese. First thing I’ll say is we caught it during a slower lunchtime between 1&2. This was our first time there so we decided to sit down and enjoy it fresh. I think the young lady who took our order could have been more welcoming. She just stood by quietly while we decided on what to order. It’s cafeteria style, prepared foods under heated displays, but you don’t serve yourself. The price of the meal gives plate vibes but our food came served inside of a to go box and KFC style plastic containers(small serving).

I was given four pieces chicken of different parts but was not satisfied with the size. I noticed inconsistent sizes of the same parts, for example, she prepared another box for someone else and I noticed their chicken thigh was bigger. This type of inconsistency shouldn’t happen in any restaurant. If I’m going to be served food inside of a box and plastic container like a KFC, I’d expect to pay KFC prices.

The food was delicious which is why they received five stars. The fried chicken, although small, was delicious and tasted like it had just come out the fryer. I don’t think I’ve ever had a better tasting potato salad and I don’t eat just any potato salad. I enjoyed the mac as well but it didn’t have the same impact as the potato salad. I also tried my wife’s collard greens which were very well seasoned. I have to admit that the ribs were pretty basic. To impress me with ribs, there needs to be some type of smoking or grilling in the cooking process. These appear to be boiled and baked… that cornbread though… that’s very different but in a good way.

Prices are up everywhere. People want their money’s worth. Leg quarters are cheap and big. Replace whatever little chickens you guys are using and make people happy with a bigger leg and thigh. If you must use those little serving bowls for sides, make sure you over stuff the bowl. Don’t ration the food if you not gonna lower the prices.

I highly recommend trying them and I plan...

As of October 2023, Brooklyn, NY and Maplewood, NJ locations were takeout and sit-in (cafeteria style) restaurants. Reservations were not required. No hostess, so customers had to find their own seating, but a staff member took the food to customers' selected seating area.

The food was fresh and satisfying. The cost was $$ out of $$$$$. The cornbread was awesome! The ribs were good. Turkey wings were okay but lacked favoring. The fried chicken and fish were okay. Although posted online, oxtails were not on the menu at either location. According to the NJ manager, they removed oxtails from the menu over a year ago.The collard greens (somewhat sweet) and potato salad were good. The peach (can peaches) cobbler, to me, was awful. The cobbler lacked that southern favor, and the crust was too soft.

At both locations, the service was excellent. The employees were professional yet personable. The premises were clean, including the restrooms.

The Maplewood location had seating available on the ground and upper level. There was seating on the balcony for a party of approx 10 guests, with a view of their parking lot.

There was limited parking in the rear parking lot of the restaurant (approx 10 slots). Limited free parking was also available on the street near the restaurant.

The Brooklyn location was in a great area. This location was extremely crowded around rush hour. It had indoor and outdoor seating. Wheelchair accessible. Location was walking distance from the subway, Brooklyn Museum, and library (approx .5 miles).

Parking... it's NYC, so good luck-but it was not impossible.

The decor was nice at both locations. However, my last visit at the NJ location was a disappointment. They removed the historical black and white photos of jazz and blues musicians (why?). I am assuming to place at the new NJ location (if...