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Soul
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- None
6 reviews for Soul
i wrote this on the J's Pots of Soul page, but seems better appropriated here:
UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP.
what they should have done was change the name. it's hard to undertake new ownership of something as amazing as delicious, authentic soul food in san francisco... when you don't have what it takes. if you can top it, then by all means, go ahead and dazzle us... but...
i write this review with a very heavy heart. i always gun for good people trying to start up a business, i really do. especially these days. i'm a nice person, i rarely complain unless service/attitude/product is absolutely abysmal. so when we walked in to the completely vacant new "J's" and met the new owners, we were a bit thrown off, but it didn't dull the excitement. this was my would-be second time at J's and it was jake's first time EVER... i was stoked on jalapeno cornbread, but alas, that's no longer a menu item. i also checked the breakfast listing and they no longer offer pumpkin pancakes. how could they take something like THAT off the menu?! sigh.
onto the experience: we were sat and looked over the menu. i saw lots of old things gone and new things come. the woman, who was SUPER NICE and very sweet and helpful, brought us a plate with two small pieces of cornbread and two hush puppies, "like we do them in Africa". the cornbread was pretty bland, but those african hush puppies were pretty damn good. they brought the liquid butter in a syrup container, so that didn't change.
i went to order a Veggie Jamaican Patty, but they only had chicken and beef. as i am a vegetarian, that wouldn't do for me. jake wanted to order fried chicken wings, but they were out of wings. he opted for breast and thigh anyway, with a side of coleslaw, since i wanted some, and hush puppies. they had "regular" hush puppies and the African ones we'd tried. in a moment of indecision, she said (with a sweet and pretty smile) she'd bring out two of each. i went on to try and order the "mixed greens", which is a sort of hot vegetable plate as she explained, but they were out of that too. she offered me collard greens, but i reminded her it was "probably" made with meat. she said "ohhh, oh yeah," and started to look visibly nervous. not sure how many customer's they've had since reopening, and i felt bad making her uneasy, so i went with the yams, and jake and i decided to split a large order of the macaroni and cheese.
again, it breaks my heart to write less than sweet reviews about seemingly good-natured, good-hearted people... but... this is yelp, and brutal honesty's the name of the game here...
macaroni and cheese: i said "cafeteria style" as we ate it, but i think even THAT falls short. it didn't taste like anything at all. and the cheese was odd and mushy/stringy. it would have needed tons of salt. there was none at the table, and i didn't want to ask for any.
the coleslaw: your standard run-of-the-mill coleslaw. i put a bunch of black pepper on it to bring out whatever flavor was in it.
the yams: DELICIOUS. so there, you guys... a step in the right direction.
jake enjoyed his fried chicken plenty, but it *IS* fried chicken after all... i guess there's little you can do to make "bad" fried chicken.
regular hush puppies: seems like they're doing a pre-made boxed thing for the filling, although i couldn't say that with absolute certainty... but alas, it was bland.
so... all in all, it was a less-than-satisfactory experience. let's call it by it's name... a letdown.
however, the service was stellar, and they make a really nice sweet tea.
i hope they're able to get things sharpened up from here on out, but they're starting out on wobbly legs.
i also want to add that this song...
http://www.dailymotion...
...was on repeat for about 80% of the time we were there. we seriously heard it about 12 times. i guess someone finally noticed because they changed it. oddly though, all songs on this station or CD or whatever it was, were bizarro covers of the following classics -- "knock on wood", "don't stop 'til you get enough" and "play that funky music white boy"... we got some chuckles out of that.
i look forward to reading more reviews of the Under New Management J's... since i live so close, i'd like to see them shape it up. if they do, i'll give it another go.
Date & Time: Friday November 6, 2009 @ 7pm
Location: Former J's Pots of Soul
Hours: 9AM-8PM Daily
Vibe: Cozy
Music: Soul Gospel
Decor: Unpretentious & Comfortable. Small Space w/ Cheery Orange & Green Walls Decorated w/ African Tapestries. Tiffany Lamp. Tables for Deux & Quatre
Service: Awesome One Man Show; Warm, Humble & Hospitable Chris Nwagwu is Host, Server & Chef
Imbibe: Coffee, Juice & Soda w/ Generous Refills
Devour: Fried Chicken Wings w/ Sides of Hush Puppies & Sweet Yams, Meat Loaf w/ Red Beans & Rice, Shrimp Gumbo, Mac n' Cheese & CornBread. All Entrees Accompanied by Two Choice of Sides. Will Definitely Be Back to Try Breakfast & Peach Cobbler
Total: $38.48
This place was much better when it used to be J's Pot of Soul. My friends and I decided to give it a try for brunch today with high hopes of delicious and filling soul food. Disappointment prevailed.
I understand that they are relatively new, and all new restaurants go through that awkward stage where they're trying to figure out how everything works. But that doesn't make up for the fact that the food kind of sucked. Well...the breakfast food was sub par. The eggs looked lonely sitting on the plate next to the very, very small fatty pieces of sausage (my friend claims there was no meat whatsoever in them). The blueberry pancakes were served without butter or syrup, and it just seemed pointless to ask. Nothing would have made them that much better. The grits were okay, but slightly watery. Would have been better if they were thick cheese grits. The potatoes served with the eggs had absolutely no flavor. I'm talkin' zero seasoning.
The fried chicken is what earned this restaurant the extra star. It was crispy and deliciously flavored. We got it with hush puppies and mac n' cheese, which were both pretty good.
Next time (if there IS a next time) I'll just order myself a huge plate of that fried chicken.
Can you give no stars (Ouch!)
It must have been the first day that they re-opened. Or maybe the first week? Very early on. This place was Jay's Pot of Soul, which I discovered on Yelp (of all places!) boasting great brunch, sassy pumpkin pancakes, etc. Jay's Pot of Soul was a home run. However, what is left now, is an awkwardly painted dining room, with cafeteria-esque furniture, and friendly - but clueless and SLOW wait staff.
Let me preface by saying this is the only place I have ever walked out on.
It started when we sat down to breakfast one weekend morning. It took a few minutes to get acknowledged by the wait staff, even after we smiled, and waived. . . We had to ask for everything - for water, silverware, menu's - all standard eating equipment, and all at multiple times. For the two of us diners, we only received one menu, one water, only spoons, and very socially awkward verbal exchanges from the waitress who were always surprised that we were in the dining room. (You know we're here- why are you surprised to see us every time you walk into the room?) This is so strange we thought! It didn't seem to phase us - YET.
It had the appearances of a busy place, the staff was always shuffling around, in a hurry to get back to the kitchen, never wanting to make eye contact with any of the diners. I understand a place being busy for brunch on a Sat morning, but not for a dining room that has 4 other people in it. Then we see the sign on the wall for cash only, so we apologized and leave. The waitress RUNS outside after us, asking us to come back as if we had personally insulted her by only having credit cards. We reluctantly came back; we were still hungry afterall, and we still thought this was "Jay's". Only upon walking back did we notice that the "Jay's Pot of - " was painted over and just the "Soul" remained. Oh yes, 3/4 of the sign is painted over - all ghetto-like, with one coat. You can still see the "Jay's Pot of - " beneath the paint that looked like a monkey did it. [HAHA you can see a picture of it in the Yelp Photos].
We ordered, again at our own request to order, not because the wait staff asked if we were ready. Then we waited. . .and waited, we were served dry cornbread with spoons (WTF?) and waited. . . . .20+ minutes for - wait for it - EGGS. Seriously, for eggs. The cook comes out and asks my husband if he wanted the bacon AND sausage, which was how they had listed the menu item (#3 I think - if he only wanted one or the other he'd have ordered #1 or #2, the items for only one type of meat). She was put off that he wanted both, went back to the kitchen, which was immediately followed by one of the 2 waitresses sprinting out of the restaurant (I think, sadly, to go purchase some bacon). "What the hell is going on" we thought!
By now it had been over 30+ minutes. I could have slaughtered my own pig and gotten my own damn bacon by now. We had watched another party trying to leave but anxiously waiting too long for their check, asking the wait staff multiple times. We had made eyes at the other couple who just walked in to leave and leave fast. By this time we were hungry and cranky.
Finally, my husband got up, walked to the kitchen, and politely asked if they knew how much longer (30+ minutes by now, mind you). The cook was apologetic, said it was done, it was right here. So we sat back down. Another few minutes pass and we make to leave. The waitress sees us, and says, no it's here, it's coming, so we sit down again. I AM PISSED. My husband again, politely walked to the kitchen, apologizes (he's more patient than I) and says we have to go, the cook is flustered, yells "Fine. GO!"
We leave. We're like W - - - T -- -F. Random, and that place SUCKED!
You know, the staff seemed like nice people, just not really versed on having a restaurant or business, pretty clueless actually. And it was exacerbated by the fact that they were always so scared to talk to you. Oy! never again!
I just discovered this today with a friend and I have to say I am puzzled at the negative ratings. I don't have J's Pots of Soul to compare to, just going by and seeing an interesting menu and having it confirmed.
Yeah, it appears to be a one-person show so it does take a few minutes for somebody to pop their head out of the kitchen, and the service is slightly quirky, but friendly and we got our orders taken and the food brought out in a reasonable time.
They brought us each a square of cornbread to start. It was moist and tasty.
I consider it a good sign when a restaurant runs out of dishes, as it means fresher food than if you can always get anything anytime. In this case, I wanted to order the curry goat but they were out so I ordered the salmon croquettes with grits and salad but they were out of grits so the guy asked me if rice was okay and it was.
The croquettes (3) were tasty and the rice was reasonably moist but not too moist and was also flavorful. The salad came with a strange brown dressing on the side; the greens were interesting, probably leaf spinach, and the strange brown dressing also turned out to be tasty. It was all good and I was full before I finished the plate.
My friend got the catfish with mac and cheese (they were out of collard greens, listed simply as "greens") and fries. (The next table apparently got the last order of greens, so it's not that they never had them.) I tried both the catfish and the fries; the catfish was good and the fries were excellent.
I would definitely eat here again. The great food is worth the slightly quirky service. Neighborly vibe: folks at different tables talk to each other.
Oh boy, this place is off to a rocky start.
I recently brought some out of town friends to, what I thought was, the newly reopened Jay's Pot of Soul. Nope, it's just Soul now. But it wasn't busy, we were hungry and I thought I'd give it a shot after loving its previous incarnation so much.
We ordered coffee and received it promptly. The creme however took 20 minutes and numerous requests to arrive at the table. At that point the coffee was cold. While we were waiting for the creme (we gave up on ever seeing menus) we watched as other customers walked out after never receiving their food.
The woman who was helping us, or rather, the woman who worked there, walked out the front door and as far as I could see didn't return.
The nice young gentleman who brought us coffee half an hour earlier returned, apologized and asked us for our orders.
We were honestly too embarrassed to point out we had never seen menus. We discretely paid $6 for four coffees we hadn't drank and went down the street to Stacks.
They seemed like nice folks but I don't think they're ready to run a restaurant. I would like to see this place turn around as the neighborhood needs a down home place to eat. Hopefully they can pull it together.
