Southern Grocery — Restaurant in Sheffield

We were traveling back home from working in Nashville and Michi wanted something unique. We were also celebrating learning on Inspirational Country Radio that our new song has gone #1! Our Google search drew our attention to Southern Grocery - and specifically, the zucchini fritters.

The ambience was classic and the atmosphere was laid-back. We were initially impressed by the details in some of the decorations. Just entering the door gives you somewhat of a cozy vibe.

We were seated in the bar area . Our server was Abbi and she was magnificent. It was quite funny that we initially decided on the zucchini fritters which are no longer being served. So we drew our attention to the Gator bites which are no longer being served . Neither of those were a deal-breaker with us and we thought it was quite funny. Our server did her very best to accommodate us as it was our first time ever there. We initially settled on the feta dip.

Whipped Feta Dip - Feta cheese, cream cheese, greek yogurt, olive oil, & garlic whipped together, drizzled with local fermented garlic honey, sprinkled with chives. Served with sliced naan and cucumber.

This dish was so light and full of flavor. The contrast between the honey and the cheese along with the cucumber and the naan bread was perfect. It almost made us glad there were no zucchini fritters.

Michi enjoyed the Debris sandwich -Thinly shaved ribeye soaked in our homemade cajun au jus' on a toasted Gambino roll, served with onion, lettuce, tomato, mayo, & pickles.

The portion was more than she could finish - It was enough to bring home for later. She also enjoyed the turnip greens and absolutely love them.

I chose the blackened salmon over the Famous Nicoise Salad - Crisp romaine lettuce topped with herb roasted tomatoes, sliced new red potatoes, feta cheese, greek olives, whole marinated artichoke hearts & greek vinaigrette with your choice of grilled or blackened chicken, shrimp, or salmon.

The flavor and the amount of ingredients in this salad is overwhelming. The Herb, roasted tomatoes were perfect! I'm a sucker for a Greek salad but this is Greek salad on steroids.

There was a bit of a mix-up in the kitchen with our order. Apparently, another table ordered the exact same meal that we did and our order went to that table and ultimately the kitchen canceled our other order. So it was a bit of time before we got our meal - The fact that they corrected it quickly and honestly we didn't have a problem with waiting. They even offered to comp us a dessert that we did not get because we were perfectly okay by not accepting.

We did however order a cup of gumbo that we never got. And the only reason I remembered that we ordered it was because when I got home it was on the ticket. The reason that we continued to give five stars all the way across the board is because the staff went above and beyond to make sure that our meal was complete (except for the gumbo) and it was a Sunday afternoon. I would imagine that the staff was probably stretched because Sundays can be difficult.

We would have loved to have tasted the gumbo since everything else was exquisite! We will return the next time we're through the area and make sure that we do enjoy the gumbo.

Maybe everyone at the restaurant can go and like our social media page and check out our music...

As a whole, this is a breath of fresh air. Upscale food, thoughtful and tasteful decorations that were trendy but not cringy, and unexpected menu items like the Purple Rain cocktail made with Empress 1845 Gin, and a Brunette Mary, a Wisconsin style Bloody Mary with a Guinness chaser already added. Trust me, if you've never had a Bloody Mary that's half beer, you need to.

We ordered the crawfish and shrimp stuffed jumbo shrimp to share adding a bowl of gumbo and crawfish shrimp bisque. The entree didn't disappoint, with the exception that the rice pilaf was overwhelming and a bit overcooked making it a bit gummy. I added the Corn Maque Choux which could have blown my socks off had they not made it with commercial frozen corn. Farm to table folks. This could be a signature side but it fell flat because of inferior ingredients. At $20 for the shrimp, it should have been a larger portion of 6 rather than 4, especially compared to how much rice was served.

A note, our server did recommend substituting cheese grits.

The bisque was wonderful, full of seafood, but just a bit salty.

Now the gumbo. Oh... So so so sad. I don't know where Chef learned to make gumbo, but being a Gulf Coast girl, making gumbo since I was a teen, I could feel Momma turn over in her urn. This was not roux based; and if it was, it was not done correctly. As my husband called it correctly, gumbo should be the color of muddy water. It should be silky and most definitely NOT be tomato based. There was no okra and I was hard pressed to find any andouille sausage. Compared to the bisque, very little seafood and WAY too much of the starchy rice. Chef, if you want to know how to make a proper gumbo, you're welcome to respond. Your gumbo was more like etouffe, and not good etouffe at that.

No apologies. I call it like it is.

Dessert was Millionaire Coffee, Irish coffee with Bailey's, Kaluha and Frangelica, and King Cake which was supposed to have brulee bananas on top but they were out of them. The coffee at $14 failed to impress. It was weak, drip coffee. The King Cake was a show stopper without the bananas and the portion was enormous!

Lunch came to $102 minus tip. Because there were no bananas, the King Cake was comped. That was a $14 item (I think).

Nevertheless...

Ouch.

My advice. FIX THE GUMBO! Make the Millionaire Coffee with a fresh pull off espresso and learn to cook rice correctly. Use fresh sweet corn, not cheap restaurant frozen corn, and there should be peppers in the Maque Choux.

We will be back at some point to try other items. Taken as a whole, this is a great place, but for signature Southern dishes, especially given the name, you can do better. And while we're on the topic, if you're going to be Southern Grocery, then farm to table is...

Eaten here twice. First time was great. Party of 6 and everyone enjoyed their food (steak with herb butter, monte cristo, pork tenderloins, grilled chicken) and crafted drinks) The atmosphere was great and our waitress (Cymbree) was pure joy. The second time was just my husband and I, and I realized just how few gluten free choices they have. (My husband and I decided to split the steak on first visit without looking over menu much) and no, they don't have a gluten free menu so you have to feel like a heel asking a lot of questions your waiter probably won't know the answer to. I didn't want to spend the money on a steak by myself bc it was expensive and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat it all fresh. I was not in the mood for grilled chicken, so the waiter suggested they could do grilled shrimp on skewers. I said that's fine but instead of serving on a bed of rice just bring me the twice baked potato and turnip greens. The twice baked was cold and dry but flavor was good. I would've asked for extra butter to moisten but it was too cold to melt it. Shrimp were big but a little overcooked and the seasoning is tasteful but very salty. The turnips were excellent. My husband ordered the zydeco chicken and it was good. He drank a beer and I had water and when we got the ticket the potato I ordered, and didn't return after it was cold, was $6.00. I took it home and ate it the next day with extra butter to make it feel like not such a waste. I guess I was hoping a newer restaurant with that atmosphere and things such as crafted drinks would be more accommodating to the ever growing gluten free community (blame that on roundup). I would suggest to at least train the staff on gluten free as there are some people who end up in the hospital from eating it and I read another review which said they took the salad in the back and scraped the croutons off and returned it so she couldn't eat it at all. Just for the record, gluten free folks are just as disappointed about the situation as the gluten eaters who think we just like to be difficult. We didn't feel like it was overpriced the first time but definately did the next. When we go back it will probably be to split the steak served with...