Soul Daddy

Reading the reviews on Unilocal made me hesitate if I should try Soul Daddy while visiting friends in the Twin Cities, as a big fan as the show, I decided to give a shot.
It’s actually not bad at all, given my low expectation, the rib taste pretty decent, veggies are fresh.
Why not 5 starts? #1: Price is relatively high for fast food, I paid over $ 14 for my rib dish and drink. #2: it feels too much like Chipotle, the style, design, fonts, would like to see more of it’s own characters and style.

I wish Jamawn or Bobby Flay was there to check out the restaurant in action, because they would be appalled.
I’m a fan of the show, but really disappointed in the food (and where’s the seafood gumbo that was on the menu in the finale?). The coleslaw, greens, and wild rice were all flavorless. Grits were just a vehicle to move oil into the stomach. The mediocre dishes were the dense and small corn bread waffle, hot sweet potato salad, and pulled pork. It’s strange to eat a firm, undercooked sweet potato salad, but at least the flavors were good. The pulled pork was on the dry side and was slathered with sauce prior to consumption. When eating ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ sauce to meat ratio, it kind of defeats the purpose of healthy soul food. Good concept but poorly executed.
I would rate this at around 1.5 stars because I would eat it if I had to.

This is my first one star review.
it wasn’t anything on the service level because they were extremely friendly and helpful offering samples on all of the side items. I took up the offer for cheese grits which was one of the 2warm sides they offered and wasn’t impressed.
With all the hype that’s going on around this place I really wanted to give it a good review, butttt that isn’t happening.
I ordered the chicken meal which comes with 2sides. I choose the wild rice salad and the green bean salad. Makes me wonder why they don’t offer more warm sides because the cold sides weren’t very good at all. The waffle cornbread was also meh.
I say go to Brasa for your soul food and not soul daddy unless you really want your food cold and bland.

If White Castle and Famous Daves had an incestual baby together that they would hide from the world, it’s name would be Soul Daddy.
I can’t say anything more that what’s been said already to support the fact that this place is absoultly horrid-​Barf. nuff said.

I was a big fan of the show and watched every episode and I really wished that spice coast would have won. But even though I was never rooting for soul daddy, I thought I should at least try it out even though I already read the bad reviews on Unilocal.I must say as much as I wanted the reviews to have been too harsh, they are pretty accurate.
The only reason I was able to talk my BF into trying it was by telling him they had ribs which he was craving for lunch. So instead of just going next door to Tony Roma’s and having some ribs with no wait and nice tables, we stood in line for ever then when we got the counter they told they were out of ribs! Jeez, how do run out of ribs at only 5:00 pm? He had to get the pulled pork and he was not happy and it was my fault for dragging him here with perfectly good ribs next door.
Let me preface this with saying I liked the concept of healthy soul food and I am on a low calorie diet and eat light most of the time. One of the reasons I came here was so I wouldn’t blow my diet. But I was sad I had to put so much sugary BBQ sauce on my dry chicken to make it taste good that I’m sure I racked up the calories anyway. I like the baked healthy idea but either do a spicy dry rub or a light breading but bake instead of fry. I do this at home to make faux fried chicken all the time… you know kind of like «Shake N Bake»!
The only good thing was the side dishes, I really like the sweet potato salad and the cheese grits were ok but I never had them before so I’m not sure how they are supposed to taste. The corn bread waffle was interesting but kind of dry, I think it needed some syrup… Sugar free syrup now that would really make it healthy and taste better.
I think with some tweaks on the food it has potential if they can keep enough food in stock. I felt so bad for those 3 guys who had to stand around the table and pull pork all day. I mean what kind of job title do you give to a pork puller? Get a pulling machine please!!!

There’s a lot of criticism about this place among the other reviews and the comments seem to fall in two camps: people who don’t think there can be such a thing as light soul food and people who think the chef/​creator should have stuck with his original waffles-​and-​wings concept. As someone who didn’t follow the TV series but who likes good eats, I think Soul Daddy has more good than bad. Maybe people should lighten up and let this place just evolve on its own and enjoy it how it is.
One point to make early on: Just because a TV show says you’re «America’s Next Great Restaurant» doesn’t make it so. But, with a little care and attention to the responses of the patrons, Soul Daddy could be a decent alternative in the McLongJohn bourbon-​chicken-​Thai-​burrito food court fare.
I tried the roasted pork, which had enough flavor on its own to not need sauce. I sampled the mustard and my friend used the hot sauce, and both were fine. She had the wild rice, which we both agreed was not tasty, and her grits were great. I had the black-​eyed pea salad and the green bean salad, and she said I scored the win with sides. So, stick to legumes, and you’ll be fine. My waffle was fantastic, and she liked her biscuit (though it didn’t appeal to me). I thought the sweet tea could’ve been sweeter, but that’s a personal taste.
The service was brisk and efficient, and the $ 10.51 meal (combo plus drink and tax) wasn’t outrageous but wasn’t cheap. One worker stopped by while wiping tables and asked how we liked our meal, which I thought was nice. Would’ve been nice to see a manager do the same as a way to gauge response in the first days.
Soul Daddy takes its inspiration from soul food but offers a lighter take on the fatty comfort food. I’d suggest adding a couple dessert options to finish things off — surely there’s a way to make a pecan pie or something, right? I won’t be back every week, but I would stop in again and think others should, too.

Looking at the previous poor reviews had me wondering. My parents are from the south and Mom and Grandma and my aunts know how to cook soul food. But living in NY, my mom also experimented with all types of food and did quite well. Then having a Spanish wife, and having college roommates from the Caribbean, you could say I have learned to appreciate a lot of different tastes. Now, for Soul Daddy’s. I was intrigued after watching the TV show and knew I would be in the MN area when the restaurant opened. I decided to order the ribs and had to try the collards. Then I didn’t know what else to get for my next side. I am use to eating grits for breakfast and not for lunch, so I had to pass, although others had them on their plate and it looked good and hot. I chose the sweet potato salad for the health benefits that sweet potatoes provide and was curious how the hint of vinaigrette in there would taste. I also got the waffle corn bread. I got there after lunch and there were no tables available in the main dinning room. I ended up eating in the outside eating area.
I sat down and realized I had bypassed the station to get the sauce for my ribs, but the ribs had a nice smoky smell and I was hungry and didn’t want to risk losing my table. So I took a bite of a rib, and…
I took another bite and had a big smile on my face. The ribs were not salty at all. Not only that, they had a nice smokey taste and had some spiciness to them. I can’t identify the spice, but it was just enough to give the ribs a nice flavor without cutting off your breathe.
The ribs were tender and they were hot. As a matter of fact all the food was hot and very tasty. The collards were not vinegary as some people cook them. If you are expecting South Carolina style Collards, then you may be upset, but it was a good balance between healthy and really tasty. Big smile after I left and would definitely go back before leaving MN.
The manager also made the rounds checking that people were satisfied.

Soooo disappointed! My soul definitely does not crave this food! I watched the «Next Great American Restaurant» on NBC and I was very happy that Jamawn won, however the food was far from a home run!
The baked chick was bland and dry once you got past the skin. The cabbage slaw was bad, the biscuit is basically a whole wheat bun with a hint of biscuitness. The collard greens, I won’t even go there, just don’t do it! I and to top it off $ 9 for this tasteless yuck, I’ll pass! I could easily make these dishes at home, and make it taste better! Everything was bland and only left me desiring a few bites of each item on my plate. My mind raced off thinking about how many pieces of baked chicken and sides that I could get from KFC for $ 9.
I know that the investors on the show wanted a healthy soul food option for Americans, but soul food and healthy don’t go together and will probably never go together. I loved this because when you look at Chipotle, a 1,000 calorie burrito on top of chips and a soda isn’t anywhere near an apple a day keeps the doctor away– kind of healthy!
I feel like everyone else that has reviewed has hit the mark, and I am pretty much saying what everyone else has said. I feel bad for Jamawn because he probably had great tasting food before the investors got on a health kick!
Also the set up was pretty bad in terms of after you placed your order. The pop dispenser, silverware, napkins and the BBQ sauce area all smashed together making it only possible for one to two people to get BBQ sauce at a time. If you are trying to get pop and or done getting pop, the people getting BBQ sauce or vice versa have to move out of the way to let one another through.
I got my food to go and they placed my food in a brown paper bag. The bag had no branding or logo on it. From marketing stand point, major fail!
Long story short, I love the show, I love Jamawn and I am happy he won — the investors killed Jamawn’s concept and they are only setting him up to fail! I won’t be going back there unless the menu is changed or re-​worked.
I had so much faith in the show that I didn’t want to be believe the reviews on Unilocal.Fellow Unilocaler’s I apologize, I should have known better!

Can I give this place a negative star rating? Like –4 stars?
I would really love to know how the judges on that show can hold their head up knowing that the restaurant that won is complete and utter crap.
As I have explained in my thread on Talk, this isn’t first week pains… First week pains would include longer than expected wait times, staffing/​scheduling snaffoo’s, and supply shortages (excluding food).
The fact that by design, the food here is crap… I give it a few months before the novelty wears off and they have to shut down completely.
Now, I’m not saying I’m some kind of soul food expert, but I have done enough travelling to know good soul food. And this, is NOT it. When I think of soul food I think of baked gritz, collared greens, mac n’ cheese, ribs, fried chicken, sweet potato cakes, cornbread… mmm my mouth is watering thinking about it!
But what this place is serving… is cold. It’s tasteless. It’s bland. It’s ‘healthy’ and there by definition, is NOT soul food. Conceptually I am happy that someone though it would be nice to make soul food accessible and maybe just a little healthier, but this is a really poor attempt.
For one person, my bill was $ 12… And I still can’t figure out what I paid for.

I almost never return my food, EVER, but we had to at this joint. Walking in, the place reminds me of Chipotle, which isn’t a surprise since the owner of Chipotle helped start Soul Daddy (or so I hear). You walk up to the cough guard and pick everything you want just like Chipotle. Long story short, its Chipotle that sells soul food… except Chipotle tastes good.
So, sat down very excited to eat our food, but before I could take a bite my fiancée tells me to try the coleslaw and says, «I love bland food, but even this is to bland for me! How do you mess up coleslaw!?» The cheesy grits was like malt-​o-​meal + yellow food coloring. I can’t explain how much I love grits, I’ve had some crappy grits, and still loved it, but this wasn’t even grits, it wasn’t even close. The black eye peas were disgusting, they are served cold (intentionally), I’m not sure if this is the traditional way, or just some crazy idea they had, but its not working out either way. Who makes cornbread waffles, they weren’t to bad, I kind of enjoyed them with the weird colored butter, but still, they were cold and not worth paying for.
The main courses weren’t any different, dry, cold and small portion for the price is the story here.
Even the Dr. Pepper out of the fountain wasn’t mixed right… *shakes head*
Steer clear of this place, especially with some many other great options at the mall. Let me put it like this, we went to the Twin Cities grill on the first floor at MOA, that place is known for being more on the expensive side. Well I payed $ 20.99 for a half rack of ribs and just under four pounds of BBQ chicken that honestly fell off the bone. The meal came with the complimentary bread and a large side of mashed potatoes that far surpassed the portions at Soul Daddy. The cost for my fiancée and I to eat at Soul Daddy $ 25, the price for her and I to have WAY more and WAY better food at Twin Cities grill $ 21, laughing at the 15 year old spoiled blond girl who refused to eat with her parents at Soul Daddy, priceless!!!

I went in really wanting to like this place. I love BBQ and was a big fan of the concept from watching the show.
Unfortunately I was extremely disappointed. I had the ribs with wild rice and green bean salad as sides. The greens beans were bland and tough, bordering on absolutely no flavor. The wild rice was actually the best thing I had, but not great, also lacking flavor.
For $ 12 only three ribs felt like a rip-​off. I tried them without any sauce to judge their natural flavor. Again, bland almost flavorless. The sauce was great, but anyone who truly appreciates good ribs knows the flavor shouldn’t depend on the sauce.
I really liked the concept but it was not executed well. The concept of healthy soul food is fine, but if healthy means bland no thanks.
Bottom line I was very excited going in but I don’t plan on going back. Very disappointing.

Soul Daddy had this great concept of making soul food accessible to all, but it has so far failed. For a fast casual restaurant, the prices are too high. Soul Daddy is just down the hall from Famous Dave’s in Mall of America, so let’s compare what they offer:
Soul Daddy– Country style ribs (3) meal with 2 sides and 1 bread with a drink totals $ 13.80+tax.
Famous Dave’s– Regular ribs (4) with a corn bread muffin, corn-​on-​the-​cob, and 2 sides (with no drink) totals $ 13.99+tax
To me this reads as a poor move on Soul Daddy’s part. Yeah, the food is fast because it is already prepared, but that also leaves the error for cold food. You can also get Famous Dave’s to-​go and sit in the food court just as easily.
Soul Daddy needs to make it’s food more than ‘A-​Ok’ in order to compete in this market, but as it stands you will probably get your money’s worth at Famous Dave’s more so than Soul Daddy. This staff deserves better, they were truly welcoming and genuine.
Fun Fact: The other Soul Daddy locations are averaging at 3 stars on Unilocal