SOUL BOWL — Restaurant in Minneapolis

Not stealing this post exactly but a lady said this (below) 3 months ago. Today same exact experience. I actually ordered from door dash and they had a good number of stars.. any ways I received the food and boom! Gross! I was soo mad because I was really hungry and looking forward to this food. I’m really not trying to be mean but I couldn’t eat it all (and I’m normally an eater no matter what). I was going to tough through it because again I was hungry and it was kind of expensive especially ordering on door dash but I literally could NOT… any ways after tasting the food I had to come to google to see if other people had this experience or did I just get a bad cook today AND.. NOPE! this lady below me said EXACTLY how I was feeling (not sure why they have as many stars as they do). So I had to copy and paste it because I couldn’t have said it better myself! Again..gross. And I’m not even a soul food person but I know this is not soul food. They took the soul out of the food! P.s I was really hopeful for the corn bread AND…NOPE NASTY TOO! 😡😡

Let me pre-face this by saying, I’m not one to write reviews unless the experience is above and beyond or absolutely terrible…… I was so excited to try this place as I’ve been traveling back-and-forth to Minnesota for the last month and really tired of eating out. So I chose some thing that isn’t typical takeout food or fast food. I thought the menu was very clever and interesting so that made me believe the food was going to be amazing. Unfortunately, the food was far from amazing. I ordered the Southern hospitality meal which comes with fried chicken, greens, mac & cheese, and yams. I also ordered the peach cobbler cheesecake. I honestly can’t say anything good about ANY of the food.

Chicken - over cooked, over seasoned, batter falling off, fatty.

Greens - taste dirty (like they were picked from the ground and not washed)

Mac n cheese - all noodles and 5% cheese

Yams - not seasoned with that sweet southerness I was hoping for.

Peach cobbler cheesecake - tiny slice for $9 but it didn’t matter because it wasn’t even good. I took one bite and trashed it.

I was really disappointed because they have a 4.5 rating and I’m so confused on how. Visually, it doesn’t look that bad but the taste is off. Maybe it was an off day but for the price, I will not try this...

As much as I would love this place to succeed…. It lacks significant elements.

Customer service is laughable. Tonight in particular, I was met by people with their backs turned having a conversation which they seemed genuinely into. This unfortunately ment that I stood waiting for them to notice even after I spoke up. Once I finally got their attention and ordered, the food took 3 times longer than promised to receive. While waiting two individuals came in slurring speech, wobbly, and otherwise clearly intoxicated on something. Again, had it been a different place It wouldn't be an issue and this is obviously out of control of the establishment but just added to the poor experience. The final straw was after asking politely for how much longer to wait, I was informed the order was nearly ready! That was a huge relief for me as I had to get to work, but then a full 3-4 minutes elapsed waiting for it to be put in a bag with the requested sauce.

Every single time I have been here there is never any haste, theres beyond poor communication, people will legit take their time talking to each other rather than moving with any sense of speed and purpose. They do not give a flying f* about what they do, how they do it, and it shows in absolutely every aspect of this place.

For a total of 4 different times ordering, only 1 was enjoyable. Also, beware of being charged for an item only to not receive it and refused a refund. Each time customer service left a lot to be desired, wait time was absolutely ridiculous, and 3/4 times the amount of salt in the food was genuinely dangerous. My dislike for this place is not for a lack of trying as a total of 6 different menu items were ordered. Twice the excessive salt content caused two otherwise healthy people to feel woozy and experience elevated blood pressure.

This is not the place...

We were in town for Gay pride and looking for food that was nostalgic and that presented our West Indian culinary and Afro-American traditions in a tasty and meaningful manner. While the vibe of the place overall is amazing because Graze hosts different restaurants which also attracts so many people of varied cultures under one venue with relaxing yet hip music in an inviting setting, Soul Bowl is a bit of a let down.

Our order was about $34, we ordered the southern hospitality with includes Mac and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, and fried chicken. We thought to enhance our meal with a side of sweet plantains, and finally a peach cobbler cheese cake.

I would like to preface this review by saying that we were so excited by the gentleness and general kindness of the very busy staff, we feel bad about what we will share.

Soul food need not be Michelin star quality to make one feel comforted. That said, the mac and cheese did not have any cheese flavor, in fact all we could taste was salt. The collard greens were mushy and did not have elements of smoke or ham. The most difficult bit to share is that the candied yams while approaching the proper texture lacked in depth of flavor and not even the slightest bit of sweetness was discernible. The fried chicken was crispy and juicy but there was not any sort of spice or seasoning that could be tasted.

Lastly, the fried sweet plantains were simply inedible and fried completely through so as to rob the dish of any sweetness or tenderness.

The peach cobbler cheese cake tasted fine but it was nothing to write your grandma about.

We literally threw out all of our food and felt terribly about doing so but we were afraid of experiencing...