Soulé — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

This was my second time being a patron of this restaurant. The ambiance is amazing, and the food was superb. However, the service received was less than stellar, and quite frankly, it needs some improvement. When we walked in and checked in, the hostess was nice and cordial, however, we had to wait for about 10 minutes to be shown to our table, which was fine- we just sat in seated area. We were shown to our seat by host. We sat at the table for about 10 minutes before anyone came by to offer water or anything to drink. The hostess provided the table with a QR code to scan for a menu after she saw us sitting there for a while with no water. She told us that the waitress would be there shortly. The busboy brought us water and waitress came and took our order shortly. The appetizers of salmon bites and fried green tomatoes came out fast, and they were delicious! Our food came out not too long after. We ordered fried catfish with sides of asparagus; salmon and shrimp with side of greens; fried chicken with sides of red beans and rice and greens. We all thought the food was delicious, however, once food was brought out, our waitress was no where to be found- didn't check on us to see if everything was alright. Although everything was seasoned to perfection, the red beans and rice was cold- we had to flag down waitress (since she was not coming over to check) to come to table to tell her we wanted drinks and to heat up red beans and rice. New red beans and rice was brought to table quickly. Once we were done with meal, we stacked plates and utensils (helping out busboy). The plates sat there for at least 12 minutes--our waitress was not in sight. A busboy came to remove plates. We flagged waitress down again once we saw her, and we asked for dessert. Since meals were pretty filling we decided to split peach cobbler between 3 of us just so we could all try it. We advised the waitress of this, and you would think that she would bring extra mini plates and utensils, but we had to flag her down once again and ask for those. Once we were done with dessert, we sat for another 15 minutes waiting for the check and to get to-go boxes for food. When we saw waitress again, I asked her if the restaurant serves cornbread as complementary considering we saw other tables with it, or do we have to order. She stated that she usually waits for people to ask for it, instead of bringing it out or asking if people want it. I was baffled at that and asked for some to go. The food was excellent, but the service was subpar, and left much to be desired. I'm not sure if this was an "off day," as I have been a patron once before and the whole experience was great. The waitress and some of the other staff definitely need some customer service training. There was a 20% gratuity included in the bill for parties of 3 or more, and I'm usually a great tipper, but I think I added like 3 dollars only because the service just was not there yesterday. I'm not sure if I have to be a local or a celebrity to get good service, but I'm willing to train the staff for FREE, because I want the business to continue to flourish and win. The food was a 10, but the service we received...

I had the best experience with the quality and quantity of the food @ the Roosevelt location. I had the pleasure of having a really sweet young lady that waited on me and was willing to talk to the owner to change my catfish dinner to the Salmon and potatoes with shrimp and a creamy spinach glaze sauce. This dish delivers with the well seasoned taste the quantity of the food was enough to have for the next day. Furthermore they had Banana Pudding that was decadent.I should come to the Rosevelt location just for that. So to my surprise that since this a black owned business team you by a very skilled and vision worthy black woman. I decided to try the Chicago Ave location with family since I always eat at the Rosevelt location. After I post what I'm about to say I'll never return to the Chicago location for the unprofessional, sarcastic, disgusting service that I and my family received dining at this location which is BYOB. Unlike the other location we were not greeted when we came in red flag number one. Secondly I asked to have a booth table closest to the bathroom due to being disabled that was not honored or offered so it didn't appreciate an establishment not being ADA handicap accessible. Secondly I mentioned this my family was from Mississippi and asked our server JaMile what does he suggest and nothing was said just crickets. I understand that if you're the only server but you still are serving the public. However from the beginning our food came out luke warm even after repeating our order twice my family asked for sweet tea being from Mississippi she was given Arnold Palmer. However it had lemon in it which she was allergic to no suggestion on another drink or anything just given water with no apology or concern from JaMile. I ordered a tea as well to have the waiter come and take my drink when clearing the table without asking me, spraying the table next to ours with large blasts of the disinfectant, I asked for the BPudding before it ran out and didn't get it I asked for it the minute we entered and didn't get it because it was given out already when it could have been brought out with our warm meal which was seasoned well but overcooked I'm glad I put my meal away for fear of having my leftovers trashed. In addition I was given the check without the tea that gave my family a reaction taking off my bill and I ordered sides to go that I the continually had to remind JaMile to bring out only for to be told you sure you done or what and my first thought was to make a phone call and get this establishment reviewed for discrimination of people with disabilities. Overall a major disservice at this location due to the lack of social morale, being sarcastic, unprofessional, lack of compassion, and sensitivity. Moving forwards I'll just remind family and friends to dine...

We arrived and received attitude. The host, a very short, light-skinned black woman, basically wanted us to dine at the bar, telling us the kitchen closes in 15 minutes; we arrived at 8pm, they closed at 9pm. We wanted a table but we didn’t make a fuss over it; another lady came and seated us at a table swiftly(bless her— the only employee that showed respect and professionalism), I told her that I hope it’s no issue and she was adamant in her decision in seating us at a table so I thought all was fine. The host came to our table telling us she would be taking care of us and gave us no name. We never saw her again. When I attempted to get her attention she strode past our table avoiding eye contact and rolling her eyes, blatantly ignoring us. Disgusting. All because she wanted us at the bar, smh. We finally got the attention of a female bartender: a tall, brown-skinned, skinny black woman with long braided weave going down her head in the back. She SEEMED nicer at first— I told her our host disappeared and she replied that she was going to take care of us and we can relay any concerns to the owner. I asked her her name after she took our order, she looked at me blankly and said “Edna” … she looked at me like she didn’t want to tell me her name and made something up. Sad. As the food is being made, I’m literally thinking of all the reasons why I should just get up and walk out at this point: terrible customer service straight from the gate from people who look like me who I came here to support, blatant attitude— will it ever stop?...

The food was being brought to the table and my company’s food arrived, but the woman had brought the wrong dish to my side and turned around to go and correct this. When my food arrived— I’m skeptical if someone had did something to my food because of all the attitude and unprofessionalism, I didn’t wanna risk it—the energy was just completely off; the unprofessionalism had set the tone for the night. My company and I got up and left expeditiously. Never again. It’s very unfortunate. I was so excited to eat there. A few years ago I dined in at the other location and had a nice time. How I was treated last night, I will not be back. I advise that you support and spend money somewhere actually worth it, do not even spend your money here....