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Categories: Southern, Breakfast & Brunch [Edit]
Neighborhood: CrenshawMon-Sat. 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Sun. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
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Big portions, friendly service for a late breakfast for me of French Toast, Turkey Sausage patties, and eggs. Yummy lemonade. Tucked into a small shopping center, you will find this place fills you up, and never lets you down. Forgot to mention the "I'm a Yelper" coupon, but still well worth it. My friend had Catfish (huge and yummy). $40 breakfast for 2. Not really sure about the price breakdown but it was good, can't argue. Couldn't finish the french toast, I was stuffed! Staff checked on us several times and service is excellent! Can't wait to go back.
The wait might be long on Sunday mornings, but it is so worth it. Cinnamon waffles, hearty omelets, and skillet cooked potatoes. What can go wrong?
Sometimes when I asked my waitress on certain things like "Was this supposed to come with cornbread?" "Oh yeah. Anything else I forget to bring?" "Um. No. Thanks." Is that attitude or sincerity? Having trouble deciding!
Otherwise, I'd probably go here rather than go to Roscoe's (which I haven't been, but have been told it's a bitch long wait. We didn't wait for more than thirty minutes at Serving Spoon and the hostess was very friendly to everyone.)
If you're one of the scenester kids that live off of skinny jeans, coffee, cigs and lip piercings; this is not for you or your vegan friends too.
This is for the regular joes who want real soul without the hype. *roscoeschiken&rofls*
My faith in LA got a huge shot in the arm over their soul food choices. I am a proud transplant of the Midwest and when I moved here, I found the choices for soul food sad and nasty.
Soul food is the underdog of culinary genres. It's not as pretty as seared foie gras, or as symmetrical as hamachi sashimi, but it holds a crown that only your Nana's borsch, Uncle's Harry's lox or Mama Rosa's menuedo can wear: it's the art of making cheap food taste like 5 star. The stuff our Grandmas would whip up when the cupboards were bare and she had an army to feed.
The Serving Spoon does that. Since I've been on LA's sunny shores, I've never tasted soul food so close to my Grandma's cooking that I swore she dug herself out of her grave, relocated and decided to cook in their kitchen. The servings were jammed back to the brim, cooked to perfection, not salty, greasy and perfectly seasoned. The grits?! There is love in them thar grits and were the highlight of my fluffy bacon riddled omelet.
The prices were the coup de grace...they were cheap! No shanking you for 2 dollar glasses of Kool-aid or 1 dollar for an extra biscuit. 9 lowly dollars for my huge plate and 11 dollars for the Rambo plate which brought my 6'4 companion down to his knees from 'itis' overload.
If you want non-pretentious, gonna fill you up for the whole day grub that won't make your wallet sing the blues about the economy, you found it. You won't go wrong and you'll have a solid bar to judge other joints.
This place gets 5 stars simply because it's one of the very few places that can make grits to perfection (outside of South Carolina). I stopped by at noon on a Wednesday, and was seated fairly quickly. They have high definition TV's with ESPN on (not that I enjoy the station, but any place that puts on sports gets a plus from me), and the waitress was hot (she looked like Gabrielle Union). I gotta say that the T-Bone steak wasn't that great, but the grits I ordered and the sample of fried catfish I tried ensured another future visit.
P.S. I don't think this place gets visits from Asians very often, since at least two people asked if I was John Cho, and how it was filming Star Trek/eating those White Castle burgers.
I come here sometimes for breakfast on Sunday mornings. The staff is friendly and the food is always good. I love the red snapper... or if I'm in a breakfast mood I go with the turkey sausage. I've never been disappointed with this place.
The wait can be a bit much on Sunday. Even calling ur order in could take a good 15 minutes. But its worth the fuss. Its tough loving breakfast when a lot of restaurants dont have turkey bacon, but the serving spoon does. And the breakfast is delicious. Fried chicken or turkey bacon. I actually get the rambo breakfast with a waffle, bacon, eggs and potatos and yes I eat it all. Remember if getting ur food to go no butter on ur waffle or U will get home and there will be a big wet soggy piece of waffle where ur butter has sank thru. But all in all good stuff.
Wait on Sunday morning may be long, but food is good and staff is friendly. Worth the wait!
I have not been here in over 15 years....
HANDS DOWN THE BEST CHICKEN AND WAFFLES IN LA! Everything that comes out of the kitchen is just great. The grits, greens, sweet potatoes. The people are welcoming and pleasant. Coffee could be a bit stronger but that's just me, I like it black, strong, with a nice French accent, just kidding, I mean a little French Vanilla cream. Best soul food in LA.
After searching on the yelp for couple of hours on where to eat last Saturday, My husband and I decided to take our chance on this spot.
This was our first time and was pleasantly surprised. The decor is not much to look at but the food is awesome. I ordered Salmon croquette with side order greens and Macaroni cheese. My husband ordered Deep fried Red Snapper with Eggs and Potato. My order was perfect and everything I order was delicious. Although they messed up on my husband's order by over cooking the fish and under cooking his eggs. They quickly fixed their mistakes and everything was perfect. The place was jammed packed. The staff was friendly and service was great. We plan to go back with our close friends and family in the near future.
My Fiance and I realized we haven't really had any opportunity to enjoy all the local favorites around our newly acquired neighborhood. Although, we live in Leimert Park, The Serving Spoon is only a few miles down the road in Inglewood.
We arrived around 10 am hoping to miss the crowds. Obviously everyone else had the same idea! We ended up waiting around 45 minutes to get a table, which is my only gripe about this place (but that is pretty much every breakfast in So Cal on the weekend). When we sat, there was a very relaxed, enjoyable vibe, and everyone seem to be happy and having great conversations. My Fiance ordered a cheese omelet with swiss with a side order of grits and cornbread, and I ordered the two eggs over medium with spoon potatoes, turkey sausage patty and a side of sour dough toast. Everything was delicious, and Lauren who was our server, was very sweet and pleasant.
The Serving Spoon has a great menu, a mixture of old standards (which we had) plus some soulful favorites like chicken and waffles. I would absolutely recommend this place to anyone, it's truly a diamond within Inglewood!
This place is great breakfast with a history as deep as the grits. It's a very inconspicuous place, seeming not that exciting. But inside you'll find the old dinner feel, but black people can actually sit down... yea... I went there.
The best time to grab a meal is on Sundays, because that's when they seems to have all the cooks working hard. The grits come out the best then too. They have fish breakfast meals but i prefer not eating fish... at all... ever... unless it's in a taco. But I hear it's great.
My personal fav to get is the Huge Hugo with cheesy eggs, so great.
The only real downside is that some of the staff have very strong personalities and may seem rude but they are just working hard and trying to make a dollar. So don't be offended.
Great place for some great breakfast.
YUM YUM YUM! It is truely a special thing when you are craving somehting and a restaurant delivers. I had the Salmon Croquette plate. It came with 2 croquettes, 2 sides ( I had green beans and Mac and Cheese), and cornbread. For desert I had a piece of Sock-it-to-me cake.
IT WAS DE- LI- CIOUS I am not a veggie lover, but I am trying to turn over a new leaf, and I like it when a restaurant's veggies explode with flavor, and at the serving spoon ,they got it right. The corn bread was like It had came out of my oven, damit it was good. The cake was "DA BOMB, THE BEES KNEES, AND THE CATS MEOW!" Today was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Basically if you are looking for home cookin' without doin the cookin, keep their menu handy.
I give the Serving Spoon my "Sop it up with a biscuit stamp"
Well.... Hello Serving Spoon.... Were have you been all my life!!!
You are the hidden jewel of Inglewood serving up those lovingly real southern breakfasts that MAKA MY MOUTH WATA... MMmmm mmm Goodness ;)
I mean really.... Thats how I felt after leaving here.
So the wait can be a little longer than a half an hour especially on a Sunday but, all in all" They Da Bomb"
Yes the food is greasa but, thats what makes it real Soul Food
"THE GREASE BABA"
They do have turkey bacon for those who stray from red meat the portions are healthy but not overwhelming and the staff is AWESOME!! Surprisingly UN YOUNG waiters who can serve you food with a real smile! Now thats HOT!!
Atmosphere is very energetic and fun with great music playin
(At all times)
All Im sayin is... Check It Out... Why Not?
Decent food. We didn't order anything out of the ordinary so maybe if you are a soul food expert you would have a better opinion.
We got there at 9:30am on a Saturday (April 25, 2009) so there wasn't a wait for the table. But because of all the to-go orders, there was a long wait for our food.
I ordered:
chicken & waffles. the chicken was kinda salty and was just okay. The waffle was good but nothing special.
I liked the atmosphere. It's a well lit small restaurant (don't let their website fool you).
The best part is the great and friendly service.
With tax & tip it came out to about $13 per person for breakfast.
It's hard to find a good southern breakfast anywhere except a relatives house. Well the Serving Spoon has won me over. It's located in a small strip mall so don't miss it. I don't think ever in my life have I cooed after taking a bite of salmon cake. The catfish was so well seasoned I didn't dare ruin it Red Rooster hot sauce. My plate was so full of food that I could only eat half. I wasn't expecting much from this place but apparently if you train a bunch of Latinos properly they can produce a great southern style breakfast. I could not see any "American Southeners" in the kitchen.
We went on a Monday and there was a lot of foot traffic. It seemed to be a place where everyone knows one another. However, that didn't stop the waitress from joking around with the newcomers about our choice of Football team.
Love Love Love! this place.
My mom says this place is a Greasy Spoon, which is a small African American mom and pop type restaurant that serves soul food. She says "I used to eat at these all the time as a child, this isn't anything new!". Yeah, Yeah Yeah mom, well nowadays they are few and far between.
Well call me a greasy spoon loving braud, because I'm hooked. Closest thing to a homecooked breakfast when you are out and about.
Come on Sunday because they have complimentary champagne...woo-hoo!!!
Then if it is your birthday, you can dance up and down the aisles while the staff plays the Happy Birthday song (Stevie Wonder's version) on the boombox and the patrons pin dollars on your clothes.
Gotta love it!
I always order the chicken wings and waffles with a dab of cinnamon.
Just went back last weekend and I must say I like their new decor. The food is still just as good and the smiles are everywhere. Champagne brunch with family...Can't beat it! No alcohol but they do serve Champagne on Sundays.
Long a$$ line to get in but worth the wait. The folks are very nice waiting in line. The best time… Read more »
I would give this place 5 stars, but they do not use real butter & the hot chocolate is from a pouch and mixed with water.
Wait, let me start over. I am giving you the impression that this place is not good, and that is a very inaccurate impression. The Serving Spoon has satisfied many of my cravings for a back home breakfast.
Living in Los Angeles is really wonderful, but every city has its pitfalls. In LA one of them is how overly concerned women are with weight, so there aren't a lot of places you can get catfish and grits or fried chicken wings & gravy.
Is this food healthy? NO! Do I believe in health? Of course, but every once in a while our bodies need some grease to keep everything running smoothly, and the Serving Spoon serves it up with a smile.
There are always lines, so don't wait until you are starving to get there. The waitresses do seem over-worked, but they will always greet you with a smile.
If you are not African American I imagine it is a real cultural plunge, but we all need those, cultural plunges keep us open-minded.
Check out their website, and then give them a visit. If you like a good Southern breakfast I know you won't be disappointed.
FYI- The Serving Spoon has been known to feed a few celebs in its day.
Serving Spoon is delicious. Big portions of tasty breakfast fare with a Southern flair. On weekends expect a long line.
I love Serving Spoon! Their hospitality is the best. I feel like I am apart of the family from the moment I walk in. The wait to be served and/or fed is minimal. And you are guaranteed to spend an average of $10 and leave with a full stomach. I recommend breakfast...Angie's Special #2 and Gerry's Special #2. LOVE THIS PLACE!!!
This place is phenomenal! My boyfriend and I went there in a Sunday and Monday. Sunday there was a 45 minute wait which seemed pretty long and the hostess didn't tell us it was going to be that long, but I just had to try it. Service was a little slow because there were three servers, but we got the really friendly smiley one. I was determined to have the fried chicken breast breakfast, and I went for it and the spoon potatoes were awesome! I had the home cooked corn bread and some grits. Everything was great and they give complimentary champagne on Sundays, but you have to ask for it. We went back Monday morning before the drive back to Sacramento and I had to have the same thing...and I did. It was just as good, minus the wait! So overall, great food, great price, just be prepared for a wait on the weekends.
I loved the food! We had a long wait, we had about 10 in our party. The owner made it up to with with 2 HUGE bottles of Champagne to go along with our brunch. I would definitely go back, those pancakes were super good and I want to try dinner next time
Love this place. Service is great and the food is even better. Make sure to check this spot out if you like original soul food
Very friendly staff. Great family/diner atmosphere. Seems like they get a lot of regulars and its a big community spot to see people. I heard this is a popular joint with some of the Lakers and the Sparks. Last time I went in there I saw Willis McGahee. That being said they were very friendly to this honkie from the Westside.
This is soul food and its damn good. Coming from Orange County I never grew up with the southern dishes and damn I been missing out. Candied yams, Catfish, Mac and Cheese (like no other). And Cornbread and tarter sauce. Yes its all goodm but its a bit greasy to. Gotta take it in moderation.
Greasy goodness. This place serves up a mean soul food breakfast. I've been here twice and each time I've had the same thing: cheese grits with catfish and eggs. *mouth waters* Large servings and good food. They also serve omelettes, waffles, pancakes, etc...The only pitfall? The wait is longggggggg; especially on a Sunday morning right after church. Therefore this is not the place to go when you're in a rush. Also, the coffee is not so great. I would probably bring my own from Starbucks when I go again :)
This place is really popular on Sundays, I had to wait at least 30 minutes to be seated, but it was well worth the wait. Their breakfast is delicious! I love a good home cooked meal and I ate everything I ordered (which is really rare). The staff is very friendly and kind. Good service, good food what else can you ask for?
This a great place to have breakfast in LA!! This restaurant makes me miss home! If you are looking for a down home Southern breakfast, this is the place. If you are looking for health conscious, this is not the place.
its so freakin delicious!! this is the first place i ever had chicken & waffles and i am hooked!!
Neighborhood: Westchester / LAX
Category: Coffee & Tea
Neighborhood: Mid-City
Category: Cajun/Creole
Neighborhood: Crenshaw
Category: Cajun/Creole
Los Angeles, CA
Category: Diners
Neighborhood: Crenshaw
Category: Diners
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