Mama Sheila's House of Soul — Restaurant in Minneapolis

If possible, we would give this place not even an iota of a star! Don't waste your time, energy or money at this place. They have fake pictures of what you'd think were "famous" people who have never been to this hole in the wall and then they have a few other pics of a few that have. Go figure. It's like walking back in time here. The place is dark and old fashioned if you tllike that type of thing? But the waiter/waitress/bus boy/money taker has NO personality or character whatsoever. You can tell it must be related to who ever "runs" this place. This male and female we encountered upon our FIRST & LAST time walking into this "House of soul food(literally it is some type of house/duplex)has the most TERRIBLE understanding of what CUSTOMER service is and DEFINITELY has NOT been properly trained by the neighborhood drunk, who would probably give you better customerserice than the idiot we dealt with on the George Floyd Memorial weekend we flew in town for! We made the timely mistake of stopping by this place! Some of our out-of-town group wanted to try "soul food" while we were visiting Minneapolis and going to this place was the WORST decision we made over our week stay in Minnesota. First off, the place looks like it's in the lower level of some type of duplex that's been decorated with pictures of "famous" persons who has supposedly patronized this place only to find out the pictures are misleading. Why I'm not sure, now that we'd made the mistake of wasting gas to drive here. Once you grab the "handle(no door knob)" and walk in the tight slanted space in the front area, you'll notice the decor is out of the 70's era. A black guy that couldn't speak english well(not the type of foreign language, but some type of ebonics/slang/some jargon we couldn't understand)FINALLY proceeds to give us an a price of $24 for a buffet of some kind, that we couldn't view before making the purchase for some odd reason. 🤔Once this individual was at the..."counter" approached our group, after we waited in an basically empty area on a "Saturday" afternoon, stated we needed to pay for the food BEFORE we could even see what we're purchasing awhile standing behind the counter/scale/weigh your food area which should've been ANOTHER 🚩.In our group there were small children that were restless and want to sit down. As we tell the unkept male we wanted to seat the children, he proceeds to tell us we need to pay to be seated and that the buffet/food was behind some wall in the BACK of the place, so your essentially ordering blind. We walked out "NEVER" to return again! We will DEFINITELY tell any & ALL family/friends/colleagues to NOT waste your money here. We see why blacks get such a bad reputation with the idiotic way we were treated....

I definitely recommend Mama Shelia's House of Soul if you are in the Minneapolis area! My fav and I were in Minneapolis to see the Bears vs Vikings. Unfortunately, the Bears lost, but finding Mama Shelia's House of Soul for lunch after the game was a huge win! The establishment has dine in or carry out available. You are immediately greeted with soulful sounds of the best R&B/Soul has to offer. The walls are lined with pics of the biggest soul artist of our time, some beautiful hand painted pieces of Aretha Franklin & the legendary Prince! We dined in for a good meal before getting back on the road for a six hour drive to Il. When I tell you, the food was delicious it was DELICIOUS! It's a buffet set-up, All You Can Eat or Weigh & Pay. There was a good variety of soul food menu items available. Everything was hot & fresh, just seasoned to perfection . We enjoyed taste of: creamy, golden topped mac & cheese, palate pleasing greens w/turkey, cabbage, buttery corn-on-cob, yams, flavorful jerk spaghetti, red beans & rice (that were truly off the chain good) and a finger licking good smothered chicken wing. (For dessert chocolate cake to go! I cannot even tell you how moist & delicious this cake is! Even as I sit here & pig out on it as I write this review!!!!!) We also each ordered a catfish filet as our entree. They were prepared to order (not part of buffet price) and very much worth $10.95 ea. Delivered hot & fresh to our table; we were comped our glasses of red kool aid for the extended wait; which we appreciated. The food, the service & hospitality is just what you look for in local family owned businesses. We were asked several times during our meal if we were enjoying it, and if we needed anything additional. It was a complete pleasure to watch the owners young grands, move about the restaurant actually putting in service! Everyone --the gentleman that took our initial order at the register, the young man serving at the buffet, the woman w/dimples that ultimately took over at register Mama Shelia's husband & Mama Shelia Herself were phenomenal host! They make you feel right at home, like they appreciate your business. Mama Shelia took a moment to come to our table to greet us & chat. As well, her husband was quite welcoming; made sure we had everything we needed. We learned she is originally from Chicago & that alone would be enough for me to shout out & support her business.

It's more than that though.. great down home southern cooking & the excellent service at Mama Shelia's House of Soul left an awesome impression on us.. This is a fine establishment and I can guarantee you won't be disappointed if you check it out

Tip: Located blocks from historic Minneapolis street of George...

I thought the price, $18.95 was much too expensive for a buffet. And while I'm on price, there is an additional charge of $1.95 if you want dessert. Only 2 options here, banana pudding & sweet potato pie. I've never heard of paying extra for dessert at a buffet. Now, to the buffet itself: In my opinion, this place is not setup as a buffet. The food is located in a small room in the back all in stainless chafing dishes being kept warm by the use of Sterno fuel cans. Sort of like the set up one would expect at an office party, banquet or perhaps a wedding reception (temporary/mobile). With this setup, a lot of the chafing dishes had lift off covers with no place to lay the lids. I won't even mention the sanitary issues with everyone touching these handles with the cold & flu season approaching. Either hinged covers or roll top covers would be a better choice here if they are going to stick with this type of presentation. On to the food, which is probably why 98% of the people go there. I thought the food was just so-so for "soul" food, nothing really spectacular. The tiled dining floor was very slippery due to the fact that it was raining outside. I'd hate to be walking on that floor when the snow comes. On the positive side, I thought the atmosphere was great. Of all the dishes there on this particular day, I thought the fried chicken wings were the best. I really would like to see this establishment succeed, but honestly right now I can't recommend this place. I won't be returning until the issues mentioned above have been worked out,...