southern kitchen

i'm a bit discomforted by my recent experience atsouthernkitchen, the beloved tacoma famous for its screen door. i was making my first visit in many years, holding memories of delicious deep-fried dishes and big ball jars of mango lemonade. friends (fin

omg!!!! we are from the east coast (va/sc) and we have been looking for some realsoutherncooking for nights when we don’t want to cook ourselves. let me tell yousouthernkitchen feels just like home. you know when you pull up at grandmas house and can smell the food outside the screen door. front door ain’t even opened yet but you can still smell it. you name it they got it fried chicken, catfish, okra, corn cakes, mac n cheese, red beans and rice, stuffing and gravy all the deserts we tried to get as much as we could. we have to come back for the breakfast foods! for all my non pork eaters they cook with turkey ham and beef bacon no pork in my fork!!!! the greens!!!! omg the greens were amazing with that beef bacon. i’m in love with this place. don’t let others make the decision for you check this place out. this is the real thing!!! soul food away from the south. this is it!!!!

i had heard about this place for years, but never made it out there. today was the day! excellent service was just the beginning. we were greeted right away, a table cleaned off quickly and drinks ordered. my daughter had the mango lemonade with whipped cream on top. delicious with real mangos inside! my husband had the blackberry lemonade. equally as delicious with real blackberries inside. i had the sweet tea. definitely realsouthernsweet tea. you could tell the sugar was brewed in the tea. now the main course. i had the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. the chicken fried steak was mouth watering with brown gravy. flaky and flavorful to the last bite. the only negative thing i have to say is the mac and cheese could have been browned more. the cheese wasn’t quite melted on the top, but the flavor was great. my husband had the catfish and loved it. my daughter had the fried chicken. as soon as she took her first bite, she said the skin was crisp and flavorful. she loved the gravy in the mashed potatoes and rice. the server came back several times to check on us, ask how our food was and refill our drinks. there was an older man at the register and he greeted everyone as they walked in and either had them seated right away or said they’d be right with them. they moved quickly and got people seated and served with warmth and friendliness. i’ve seen some negative reviews about the service. i can tell you we had exactly the opposite experience. the staff was all warm and welcoming and made us feel at home. my daughter actually commented about how friendly they were not five minutes after we walked in the restaurant. we ordered peach cobbler to go and i can’t wait to try it once i recover from the food! huge portions and i’m so full and satisfied. we will definitely be back very soon. thank you to thesouthernkitchen for the amazing hospitality. ❤️

this is such a fun place to enjoy realsouthernfood! it's a really small diner, but it's worth coming here. the staff is very friendly and the prices are affordable. the craziness that goes on in the kitchen makes it all worth while. you really feel like you're in the south for some good grubbin. i had their sweet tea, corn cakes, classic fried chicken with mashed potatoes, and macaroni. so good!

used to be my favorite. i used to love thesouthernkitchen and told people all over the country that they needed to try it. i was especially a fan of the fried chicken, mac n cheese, and the strawberry lemonade. i moved from the nw and returned to visit and had to go to my favorite restaurant. the food had definitely went down hill - everything seemed out of a bag and lukewarm. the service even got worse (wasn't the greatest before, but even worse now) and we waited forever to get menus, our order taken, and finally our bill (they also never returned to ask how our food was).

overpriced. upfront, i will admit that i am not asoutherncooking expert. that stated, the food was mediocre compared to othersouthernfood i have had (fried green tomatoes, hushpuppies), the service was very slow, and the prices were 50% too high.

** $$ good, but could be better. i had a craving for fried catfish and somesouthernhome cooking before i deploy, and it did satisfy it, but it could have been better. the corncake (i.e. pancake) and sweet tea were awesome. greens were good, a bit tangy, but had absolutely no kick to them. i had to add pepper and jalapeno sauce which is incredible because i never do. catfish was good but not sure where they get it. you could tell it had been frozen (it was a bit watery), large but thin cut, no bones, fat or skin, and he cooked it just right. breading was good, evenly spread, but i had to add pepper and hot sauce to spice it up. last time i used hot sauce was 5 years ago, if that gives you some idea of how rarely i use it. mashed potatoes and gravy were good. i couldn't tell if they were real or instant, so could have been better. a bit pricy, which is why it was rated two $$, $21+ for the double filet, tea, and tax. like i said and rated-good, but with a few changes, it could be great! oh, and a lighted sign would have helped me find the place easier.

lovin that nw soul food. my son wanted to go here on his last night before hopping a plane to s. american for five months. great choice! this was our first time here. we were really impressed! the fried green tomatoes are not to be missed. what a nice big serving and so well prepared. the corn bread pancakes were unusual but tasty. our fried chicken was cooked just right and the sides were fine. way to gosouthernkitchen. we'll be back.

average at best. it was recommended that i grab a bite to eat here and apparently it has been advertised on the food network. i admit that atmosphere and the big mason jars bring eager anticipation to having asoutherndining experience. looking at the menu and seeing the statement about the food being homemade did not prepare me for the disappointment i experienced. the service was a shade below average. it looked like a number of people were at work but only one person was waiting tables in a crowded restaurant. i ordered the fried chicken and if i wanted fried chicken of that caliber i could've made it myself. albertsons serves better looking and tasting chicken. the sides were luke warm and tasted like poorly reheated food leftovers. i've learned that great food is prepared with love. this looked and tasted like they hated food and people. the only redeeming part of this meal was the sweet tea but that was overshadowed by the waiter dropping off a plate with a corn pancake saying, "oh yeah, you were supposed to get these." the place has won tons of rewards so i just don't get the poor service and food.

was everything i was looking for tonight. yum. gooodsoutherncooking.

don't believe all the glowing reviews. i grew up on a farm in the deep south in a family that has lived there for hundreds of years. and not only did my grandmother have a cafe, but she was well known as one of the bestsoutherncooks in the area, so, perhaps, i am a bit spoiled as far assoutherncooking is concerned. but, from all the great reviews i've read about this place i expected some really good food. what i had today was just awful and i'm having a hard time believing that whoever cooked it is from the south.

i started with the fried green tomatoes and they were the best part of my meal.

i also had the chicken fried steak with collards, black eyed peas and okra. this was supposed to be served with a piece of cornbread, but what arrived was a super thin, hard pancake looking item that wasn't tasty at all and didn't resemble any cornbread or corn pone or hoe cake i've ever eaten.

the chicken fried steak was mushy and tasted much like what you get in a cheap frozen dinner and was smothered in a gelatinous brown gravy that i can only believe came out of a can or a jar. everyone in the south serves chicken fried steak with milk gravy not brown.

the collards were okay, but i was still a bit surprised to see them listed as collard greens on the menu. perhaps it is a regional thing, but where i'm from no one calls them collard greens, just collards. it's a bit redundant to say collard greens since you never eat the collard roots. you refer to a combination of collards, mustard and turnips as greens, but you'd never call just collards or just mustard, collard greens or mustard greens. i know this sounds picky, but it just struck me as out of place.

also, in the south, whenever any type of greens are served, there is always a bottle of pepper sauce on the table. i'm not referring to tabasco or crystal hot sauce, though that should be there too, and it was, although it was extremely difficult to get it out of their proprietary bottle, what i'm referring to is a bottle of whole, small peppers bottled in vinegar that's allowed to sit for a time so that the vinegar gets flavored from the peppers. then the pepper sauce is sprinkled over the greens, or whatever else you want to douse with it. after you've emptied and refilled the vinegar a few times, the peppers will have mellowed enough that you can enjoy them with the greens, too.

the black eyed peas were "vegetarian", which is so wrong and tasteless that i hardly know what to say about them except that they were inedible and worse than any you'd buy in a can. i ate one bite and that was it.

finally, it was apparent that the okra was a pre-packaged frozen product that had just been fried.

all in all i was extremely disappointed and i truly do not understand all the positive reviews for this restaurant, especially those by folks who claim to be southerners themselves.


-----23 oct, 2010-----

can't believe all the good reviews. i grew up on a farm in the deep south in a family that has lived there for hundreds of years. and not only did my grandmother have a cafe, but she was well known as one of the bestsoutherncooks in the area, so, perhaps, i am a bit spoiled as far assoutherncooking is concerned. but, from all the great reviews i've read about this place i expected some really good food. what i had today was just awful and i'm having a hard time believing that whoever cooked it is from the south.

i started with the fried green tomatoes and they were the best part of my meal.

i also had the chicken fried steak with collards, black eyed peas and okra. this was supposed to be served with a piece of cornbread, but what arrived was a super thin, hard pancake looking item that wasn't tasty at all and didn't resemble any cornbread or corn pone or hoe cake i've ever eaten.

the chicken fried steak was mushy and tasted much like what you get in a cheap frozen dinner and was smothered in a gelatinous brown gravy that i can only believe came out of a can or a jar. everyone in the south serves chicken fried steak with milk gravy not brown.

the collards were okay, but i was still a bit surprised to see them listed as collard greens on the menu. perhaps it is a regional thing, but where i'm from no one calls them collard greens, just collards. it's a bit redundant to say collard greens since you never eat the collard roots. you refer to a combination of collards, mustard and turnips as greens, but you'd never call just collards or just mustard, collard greens or mustard greens. i know this sounds picky, but it just struck me as out of place.

also, in the south, whenever any type of greens are served, there is always a bottle of pepper sauce on the table. i'm not referring to tabasco or crystal hot sauce, though that should be there too, and it was, although it was extremely difficult to get it out of their proprietary bottle, what i'm referring to is a bottle of whole, small peppers bottled in vinegar that's allowed to sit for a time so that the vinegar gets flavored from the peppers. then the pepper sauce is sprinkled over the greens, or whatever else you want to douse with it. after you've emptied and refilled the vinegar a few times, the peppers will have mellowed enough that you can enjoy them with the greens, too.

the black eyed peas were "vegetarian", which is so wrong and tasteless that i hardly know what to say about them except that they were inedible and worse than any you'd buy in a can. i ate one bite and that was it.

finally, it was apparent that the okra was a pre-packaged frozen product that had just been fried.

all in all i was extremely disappointed and i truly do not understand all the positive reviews for this restaurant, especially those by folks who claim to be southerners themselves.

in yesterday's post, i made reference to a wish to visit asouthernrestaurant. why? well, in vancouver, we make a lot of emphasis in multi-culturalism but, even then, there are cuisines missing. as a result, whenever i go to the us...

good kumfort food. if you're in the puget sound, it is well worth the drive 2 tacoma to seek out thesouthernkitchen. bring an appetite and your antacid - since their selections may not necessarily b heart-smart but they sure r tasty.
c our pics on urbanspoon.com

amazing. okay, the food speaks for itself... it's your hole in the wall georgia cafe transplanted to the pacific northwest. the service is just as fine as anysouthernhosptitality you might be used to. and if you're looking for sweet tea, this is the spot.... served in a mason jar...soo good when it hits your lips....!!!

so-so. ate atsouthernkitchen this morning. maybe too late in the morning. i thought i saw the bacon deep fried, then received in an inseparable lump. the eggs were dry. the grits and hashbrowns were good. willing to give this place a second try but only going to order their fried chicken or catfish. reasonably priced. i guess i expected more from diners, drive-ins, and dives. service was good though so we tipped well.