Shaw-nae’s House — Restaurant in New York

The restaurant doesn’t look particularly warm and inviting from the outside, but once you pass through that threshold, you immediately feel like you’re stepping into a family member’s living room, decorated with floor-to-ceiling drapes, pictures, books, and news clippings celebrating past and present achievements. Warm greetings from the staff follow next. Good vibes all around. I almost took my shoes off because we don’t wear shoes in the house, but then I remembered I was at a restaurant.

The waiting area, affectionately called the living room, features deep, squishy couches, stacked books, and warm white pendant lighting overhead. It also doubles as seating for large parties. It reminded me of your favorite auntie’s house because only the favorite auntie would allow you to sit in the living room and make an exception to eat there, too.

Once seated, we were poured some high-quality NYC tap water—seriously, NYC has amazing tap water, IYKYK—and served six perfectly squared pieces of cornbread: plain, blueberry, and one with strawberry jam sandwiched in between. Just as I was debating whether to choose the blueberry or strawberry cornbread, a server brought out sweet potato cornbread. Pure brilliance! Warm, gooey, chewy, chunky, sweet, and downright delicious. It felt like a crime to be eating something so decadent. If that was the opening act, I knew the headliner would bring the house down, and thankfully, we had front row seats.

Jennifer, our server, had main character energy. Her big, bubbly personality was perfectly balanced with professionalism. We now refer to her as Cousin Jen, though she doesn’t know we’re play cousins yet.

Every dish was cooked to perfection—nothing over or underdone, no rubbery or dry textures. For appetizers, we had fried catfish and fried chicken. The catfish was well-seasoned with a flaky, tender texture. The fried chicken was the perfect color brown, crunchy, and crispy. We had mango habanero sauce on half and plain on the other. The plain was my favorite because the chicken truly doesn’t need anything else.

For the mains, we ordered fried whiting and smothered turkey wings. The sides were mac and cheese, collard greens, and string beans. Sadly, no potato salad. It’s listed on the menu as “Potato Salad (Sometimes).”

If you prefer a looser, runnier cheese sauce, this mac and cheese might not be for you. I love a more solid, macaroni pie-style mac. This mac and cheese had an extra sharp cheddar, rich umami flavor. I was fortunate enough to get a corner piece with those crispy cheese edges. The string beans were peppery, garlicky, and sauteed with onions. They were a little softer than I like, but I’ve been told my string beans taste like a pile of sticks because I cook them lightly.

The whiting was seasoned well and fried perfectly. You can tell the oil is changed frequently because the food isn’t greasy or rancid smelling. As for the turkey wings, I’ve tried smothered turkey wings three times in my life now. While they were cooked well and fell right off the bone, they didn’t quite do it for me. Part of the issue is that I don’t love the look or texture of turkey wings, so I start from a negative. I think I’d enjoy them more if they were fried hard and then smothered.

Overall, the presentation, portions, flavor, and price point earn a solid 10 out of 10. Taste is subjective, of course. The food was a bit salty for me, but that’s a personal preference. I grew up in a house where salt was used lightly, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

We met the owner and chef, a warm and passionate woman who walks the floor engaging with customers and staff alike, sharing stories, taking pictures, and handing out hugs and kisses. She’s the reason this place feels so familiar. While you might not be able to bring your “spinnanight bag,” you can certainly make a plate to enjoy later. We definitely...

What can I say about Shaw-nae’s house that hasn’t already been said by the hundreds of 5 star reviews, people on instagram & even by food critic Pete Wells?

Everything everyone is saying is true. The owner, Shaw-nae, has a truly significant place of business and history in Staten Island. From the layout of the restaurant, the atmosphere, her presence alone felt much more like a curated dining experience meant to invoke feelings of comfort and acceptance rather than just another place to grab a bite to eat. Especially if you’re traveling from Brooklyn to get here. As soon as I walked in, we immediately sat in her “living room area” which was located at the very front of this six table restaurant. About a hundred books were available to read while I waited to be sat. I saw the owner making her rounds to each table, she handed out hugs and back rubs. Making the guests genuinely feel like her cousins, which was she referred to the patrons who ate at her house.

Once we actually sat down our server Jennifer, who was incredible, gave us some recommendations but I was here for two things. Sugar daddy wings and the mac and cheese. We placed our orders and Shaw-nae eventually made her way to our table. She greeted me with a hug and we started to talk about her placement on the New York Times top 100 restaurants in NYC. #50. The only soul food restaurant on that list. After experiencing her cuisine, I see why it was well deserved. The complimentary cornbreads were delicious, she then gave us this sweet potato cornbread concoction. She dubbed that “ignorant.” 10/10. No words. I jokingly challenged for her to show me why she was on the top 100. She accepted my playful challenge and swung even harder as each dish came to our table. She definitely showed up and showed out. Everytime a plate of food came out, she made sure to ask if we were good and if I enjoyed it. Of course, I bowed to her everytime. The mac and cheese was so good, I got another serving. Yes, the hype around it was real. You cannot leave here without trying it.

Everything was delicious, but the star of the show for me was the Mac and the oxtail. Oh the catfish.. the best catfish I’ve had yet. Hands down. The oxtail had a very seasoned but also a sweet undertone element to it. Not overpowering but a nice balance to the traditional savory and spicy Jamaican oxtails you might be use to having. They were a fall off the bone type of tender. No pull. Each dish I tried I was overjoyed by how every bite had was a unique experience of soul food rooted in Staten Island history. You can taste the love. Not only that, she made you feel the love. Her presence in the restaurant was felt, sincere and reassuring. She said now that we made it, we’re cousins now. And truthfully, after leaving I felt like a cousin to her. The hospitality, and love was unmatched. Shaw-nae’s kitchen was the best dining experience I’ve had all year. Well worth the wait. Thank you for a memorable experience Shaw-nae. Until next time cousin!

TL:DR: It’s worth the wait. I know reservations may be hard to get, but once you’re finally in Shaw-naes House you will understand why. Get the Mac and cheese. It’s better than your mommas,...

Utterly disappointed! Understand it bothers me to write this, as we wrestled with posting a review. Love supporting black businesses, but when we fall short of expectations it is thought to be cruel or unsupportive to speak the truth.

My Husband and I had research this spot based on a TicTok food blog. We were very excited about having a good soul food experience outside of our normal travels. As we came from Brooklyn to rugged lands of Shaolin to represent and show love!

We were seated by a nice young man, his service throughout the experience was fine, no complaints with him as he didn't prepare the food. Starting with the drinks, kept it simple, ice tea and lemonade. Neither were sweet nor cold, when my husband asked for ice, he was told, "at present there was no ice at the time". Mind you we were amongst the first patrons to enter and be seated. I may say, the cornbread was excellent! Still nursing warm lemonade and ice tea.

After further review of the menu, I was confounded that there was not any combination of GRITS and anything to be found. As grits are a southern staple. Moving on, the menu seemed to more of a Caribbean and Southern fusion style menu. Our food arrived, I got the oxtails with white rice and Mac n Cheese, my husband got some version of Chicken wings and originally asked for Jerk chicken rice, which was unavailable, so he settled for the Mac N cheese, mind you they just opened!

The Oxtails were extremely salty and seemed to be more Caribbean than southern style. The Mac n cheese had 3 types of cheeses in it and was also somewhat bland. My husband had no real complaints about the chicken other than it tasted like it was rolled in waffle batter with brown sugar. As he's not a chef, how he made that acute distinction was astounding to me.

As we all have been raised on these dishes and culinary styles of cooking most if not all our lives. I was truly looking for a great dining experience. I'm sure Shawnae wasn't in the kitchen so this isn't a slight on her personal cooking, just this dining experience. Maybe we ordered the wrong dishes, as others seemed to be enjoying their food. We just didn't have that same experience.

Also we noticed all of the accolades and certs in the window. My husband made the suggestion that they should be shown in shadow boxes, it would've made for a nicer presentation. While I won't discourage others not to support and experience Shawnae's house. I'm sharing our experience. Maybe in the future we may try again. Just...