Lion's Den Soul Food Cafe — Restaurant in Minneapolis

Update: I circled back 🤤 and it was mouth watering and fulfilling!

This establishment has grown since last time I came. It’s still worth every ⭐️!

My friend and I ordered at their new temporary location which is the building behind where they were.

We ordered the spaghetti greens, chicken and pork chops. All the food is hearty, flavorful, and fulfilling. The spaghetti was my favorite because they give you so much meat which isn’t normal for a restaurant that I’ve been to yet that has served spaghetti. The greens provided a flavor that is not your moms cooking but finger licking good. My friend had the pork chops and stated that she waited for those because they are so good and had difficulty choosing between original and smothered. Either way they were gone!

The price was to be expected at about 30.00 for a smaller establishment who is black owned and newer. Honestly when I do go out to eat anywhere else I spend the same or more now a days- just because it a black owned restaurant I don’t expect it to be a cheap business- I digress.

Customer service and cleanliness was 10 out of 10.They greeted, polite, and was patient when I wasn’t sure what to order and provided assistance accordingly. Cleanliness was up kept-I’ve even seen people actively cleaning while there.

This is a cook to order restaurant so there is a bit of a wait just like other cook to order places. I would rather wait for my food because it is fresh to order every time that I go. I like that is not frozen in the bag and then taken out, but it’s well prepared and seasoned for you and made to order when you requested so I always get it hot and fresh.

They had wheelchair accessibility that takes you around and towards the ordering window and gives you access to the restrooms.

Parking like any other place NE Minneapolis was a minimal but there were spaces available that provided a short walk to get to the restaurant.

You could dine in, or take out and I just learned that there’s delivery of course they’re like Uber Eats Or DoorDash which I am excited about Because I can get my soul food anytime!

Recap: Customer service- 10/10: polite,patient, friendly and joyful staff.

Cleanliness- 10/10: I’ve seen it be cleaned (tables,chairs, floors) while there.

Food- 💣 10! It’s what you come for! It’s hot, fresh and anything worth it takes time.

Price- between $20-30 depending on what’s ordered. It’s a business so you get what you pay for in a good way because there is nothing bad on the menu.

Parking- 6/10, limited spaces but available and much like anywhere in NE Minneapolis. Take it up with city.

Wheel chair accessible and restrooms available.

Enjoy and small taste of black soul food- everyone does it differently but if you’re craving it then you’ll be satisfied with one of the few places Lions Den Soul Food Café is worth it.

—————————————————————————- Past experience

You need to come here for your chicken and Soul food!

If you've ever been here before then you need to circle back and try again.

The Lion's Den Soul Food Cafe is worth every ⭐.

The first moment I entered, it is clean. You can tell they value cleanliness. All food is cooked to order so it's nice, fresh, and hot. There are many food options for varying budgets. The service was friendly and respectful in communicating with customers. My friend and I purchased chicken (white and dark meat) yams, collard greens, JoJo potatoes, and cornbread. The chicken was so flavorful and Krunchy. The greens were well seasoned and bussin'. The only words to describe the sides were "delicious and filling".

Check it out. I'll be back and bringing others...

The prices are high, but based on reviews, tries them anyway. Dinners- Catfish dinner- Expensive. Catfish had a taste that was very off putting. 5/10 Smothered pork chop dinner. Very tough. Flavor Just ok. 2/10… maybe a 3 Chicken wings (not whole). Just ok. Wouldnt call this soul food seasoned. Just seasoned. 4/10 Sides- Mac n cheese. Just ok. 3/10 very dry. Greens- I’m old school south and for me, sugar does not belong in greens!!! 1/10

Service, I don’t think they started making our food until some man came about 10 - 15 minutes after we placed our order.

We paid $60 for 2 meals and an order of wings based on reviews. Well my HONEST review is never will I ever go back. It’s priced too high for just ok food and my wait time was longer than if I was in a restaurant, and ours was the only order. Well, people came after us…

10/14/25 Ok Christian establishment! You tried it! I don’t know you. I’m from out of town. What I DO KNOW, is I was trying to be polite and not say your food is trash. But I just did. The fish tasted like it came out of muddy waters and not cleaned. The greens were sweet, so if you put sugar in them or not, is not my recipe. They were sweet. The Mac n cheese was BASIC or MEDIOCRE at best. My husband’s smothered pork chops was TOUGH! He said they had an ok flavor, but who wants to pay $25 for OK? The wings were pieces. So if you don’t serve them usually, y’all did on that day!

Your workers were polite to me when they brought out my food. We did wait about 45 minutes. So long, my husband went to the chicken and fish place across the street and bought food. So not only could we afford YOUR Mom and Pop over priced food, we bought food from across the street! And let me tell you since you said if we couldn’t afford it we should have went to McDonald’s, KFC, or Popeyes… YOU ARE Absolutely RIGHT! At least our $60 food would not have ended up in the trash. Which is what we did with it. We would have gotten good food we could eat. All the pictures of you and your husband in your make shift restaurant, the pictures of Jesus on the cross, all the resolutions hung up on the wall, don’t make you a Christian. See, the spirit of discernment captured me when I walked in and it looked like you idolize yourselves more than God. However, you POSE as Christians so I wanted to support. Matthew 7:15. Your viscous response shows me you are a wolf. 2 Peter 2:1-3 I rebuke you, your spirit, whatever evil within you, I rebuke you Satan cause there is no God in your response to my honest...

I have been looking for a soul food restaurant that makes fried pork chops. I couldn't find Nobody in town. I searched on Google and when I looked on the menu, I was pleasantly surprised that they fried pork chops. My pork chops are very good. My husband's fried chicken. It's good. The greens, cabbage and macaroni and cheese was excellent. When I want some good food and I don't want to cook.I know exactly where i'm going and that is Lions Den. I really enjoyed the friendliness of the two ladies that brought me out my food and the one lady that took my order. To me food tastes good when you get a good atmosphere, people that have a good personality. That makes you want to come back and patronize the restaurant. There are so many restaurants that try to make soul food and they weren't even raised on soul food and I believe that what they're serving is not up to quality, just feeding us anything to make money. These women are cooking with love that makes the food taste very 👍🏽 good. 😋

Second review.I've been here before and it was excellent.It still is the only thing I have to say is the meat that was fried.Pork chops and the catfish should have had a piece of tinfoil over it to prevent the food from sweating because of the plastic container it lost its crispiness, but the air fryer...