Chef Marilyn’s: Queen of Down Home Southern Goodies

Great place, Great people, Great Food!!! Sometimes it’s a really long line but it’s worth every bite. I bring a lot of people from Chicago here.

The food is really good and the service is not quite up there, you have to be patient and just wait your turn. The management of the place isn’t the best as far as having most of the items available to purchase, so when you go there and expect to have an item for lunch you might be out of luck. The price is great, under $ 8 for lunch…

Honestly this was my first time eating food from Chef Marilyns and I will not be back. The cornbread dressing is awful with no flavor. The beef brisket was tough and dry. The potato salad had hard chucky pieces of potatoes with once again no seasonings. Soulfood is known for flavor that makes you finish your plate, not this food I bought today. I will admit the blackeye peas & lima beans were good but nothing else. The staff is rude, the parking is horrible, the location is worst, and to top it off as we were leaving their was a drug addict couple laid out on the corner having oral sex in the daylight on Mother’s Day. HOW AWFUL TO WITNESS THAT !!! Other bystanders were yelling at them to stop, one man ever threw water at them. I called the police. I’m done !

Waynesbori Mississippi, that is where I was transported upon walking Into the door. The food for the most part is buffet pick and choose. I saw the trays get filled 3 times while I stood in line (FREAH FOOD) the guys seem to be patient .
Parking seems to me like an issue and yes seems like a line is the way it goes. Portions are reasonable if not plentiful, flavor is all their. The only thing that I think would be nice would be a picnic tables for those that want to eat vs takeout

Delicious soul food on the go. If I’m in the area and need the soul food fix without sitting in a restaurant then Chef Marilyn’s is the place. Recommendations: The candied yams, collard greens, mac and cheese and baked chicken. Those are my favorites but pretty much everything is good. Lines can get long during busy days but it’s worth it!

I had the pleasure of catching their 99 cent special where everything on the menu is 99 cents. The line was down the block and we waited for over 2 hours in line but it was worth it. Sheree personally helped me and was a sweetheart and didn’t have to be. Customers were mean and demanding, people were knocking her plates off of the counter and she had to remake them and not once did she falter. In the face of the army she faced today she showed true grace and patience I applaud her! Thank you sheree!!!

Chef Marilyn’s food is good but the service here needs some SERIOUS work. They need to manage their line and food turnover a lot better. Food is definitely a 5! Service is not.
Common sense is if something runs out, have that person step out of line till it is ready to be served and keep the rest of the line moving along.
The staff sometimes comes off as they do not want to be here. They can have ‘tudes some of the time. Also, they need to maybe use a «Fireman carry» system so everyone is not running around bumping into each other. It’ll make the serving faster too.
I really love this place but the service here needs to be revamped

The food is good… But the service is horrible and it comes down from the owner the people are so unprofessional and ghetto don’t know how to talk to the people food is never ready on time… And when you’re standing outside 20 minutes waiting for them to open they look at you like you’re crazy… Horrible horrible service they need help but it all extends from the owner Harbor service… But the joke is a tip box at the cash register. Now that’s a joke !!!

Oh lord, this place is forever running out of things, and often very early in the day at that. I’m talking really basic stuff… like freaking white rice. Huh? I don’t understand it. If you know Fridays or Sundays or the second Tuesday of the month (or whatever!) is going to be busy, why are you not prepared to cook more items? You’d think it was a sign of good business but from what I’ve seen, it appears to just be sheer laziness and lack of foresight.
The fried chicken, oxtails, neck bones, backed chicken and smothered pork chops are delicious though (although the pork chops do require some additional seasoning at home as they’re meaty but rather bland). The various sides and veggies are great except the macaroni which is a hit and miss with me. Some days it’s VERY dry, flavorless and impossible to find any cheese, other days it’s gooey and delicious; so I really don’t know what the deal is. The spinach is surprisingly, really good (they don’t serve collard greens and tbh I’ve always suspected it’s because who ever does the cooking doesn’t know how to make them anyway but whatever) and so is the succotash.
But remember how I said they were always running out of things? Yeah, don’t think that was just limited to the food. Random things like hot sauce are a bummer but understandable however, not long ago they also ran out of styrofoam containers for the food to be placed in. Yes, we actually had to wait a good 20+ mins for someone on staff to run and purchase more containers from Smart & Final. Which, is RIGHT across the street. But not before all the cashiers/​servers disappeared to the back for a few minutes doing who knows what and not telling any of us standing in line what was going on. Very poor customer service.
Also, and I feel bad for saying this but all the cashiers/​servers run their damn mouths way too much. I have no real issue with cross talk but if you can’t talk AND serve at the same time, then maybe you need to STFU.

I was very impressed with this establishment. The food is great all around & does not disappoint. The yams, greens, mac & cheese, and mashed potatoes are all delicious. I also got some cat fish which was VERY good as well. It’s definitely a must try & at a very low cost.

Only went in there for the Mac and cheese can’t comment on any of the other food their, but the Mac & cheese was pretty fire. But honestly just go across the street to Philips barbecue trust me you won’t regret it.

Chef Marilyn’s soul food is the bomb. To bad the service is so terrible it ruins the experience. If you can put up with slow service, long waits to be served by a seemingly uncaring staff of servers, you will be rewarded with great home cooked food.

First off how the hell re you going to open ur store and not have everything available for the customers??? u open at 10 – 11 yet its almost 3pm and u dont even have everything ready??? thats horrible business. on top of that you have one person doing the ordering and she is slow as hell!!! bad business!!! place was dirty inside. dont be fooled people this place has def went down hill since the olé days.

Wow let me start with how amazing the crew is here, they communicate and work well with each other and still please the guest. For a Mom and Pop shop this is easily one of the best in the South Central L.A. Area. Thank ya’ll so much cause I’m from Texas and could not have done it any better. What a incredible experience. Not to mention THE FOOD IS SO BOMB! Much love put into it. Thank you Chef Marilyn’s :) til next time!

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. If you want delicious, homemade comfort cooking you have to come here! They have everything from juicy, perfectly cooked meat and a variety of tasty sides to fresh desserts! The staff is extremely friendly and quick. The food is cheap and you’re in and out in about 10 minutes because they are always replenishing the buffet. Try the smothered chicken thighs, bread stuffing (I didn’t even like bread stuffing until I tried this) and the collard greens. Cornbread is a little dry but that can be fixed with some of Marilyn’s perfect gravy. THEY ONLY TAKE CASH but have an ATM inside. Guarantee that you’ll be full and your taste buds will thank you for under $ 10.

I will make this short and sweet. The food is great. The prices are quite reasonable. The staff are friendly. And the service is great. The only parking is on the side, which you have to drive through a narrow, trash ridden alley to get to.
But despite these applases, there is one major flaw. This is not a place to go if you are short of time or patience, as I am most of the time. Although the staff are fast and friendly with the customers, there is always that one customer who is indecisive or choose to order enough items to feed an army. Last week, I was behind a guy who, for himself, ordered 3 different meals with 12 different sides. Needless to say, I was the 2^nd of 3 customers when I first got there. By the time he finally got to the cash register (no one in front of him), there were 4 more customers in line behind me… lol

I’ve been coming to chef Marilyn’s for years.
Great soul food!!! 4.5 stars.
Take out only. Wide selection of food.
They don’t have parking spaces. You can just park on the street, right in a front of the store if no cars parked.
I see some people park their cars in the liquor store parking right next door but I don’t think you should.
I always order spinach (99cent), mac n cheese ($ 3), mashed potatoes with beef gravy ($ 1.50) make sure to ask for the gravy or you’ll get only mashed potatoes, and beef brisket ($ 3). That comes out to be less than $ 10! Their tuna casserole is the bomb too! Sometimes I order a piece of friend chicken too and it’s ONLY $ 1 and tastes so good!
Portion is BIG and one container of food turn into 3 meals, lunch, dinner and next day’s lunch!
I remember seeing people complaining about this place on previous Unilocal.
They expected everybody is supposed to smile, customers wanna hear your life story or expect you to have everything they wanted when you show up within 10
minutes of them closing. I do notice some workers don’t smile sometimes but I don’t get how some people rated this establishment 1 – 2 stars only based on the attitude of the workers and forget about rating on their great food.
Anyways…their food is fab, service is not too fast, you may wait 10 minutes just to get your order started when it’s crowded because there are only 1 – 2 workers taking orders. But it’s definitely worth waiting!

This place is in no way fancy. But it is amazing! Theres isn’t a place to eat inside so it is all take out.
Everyone who worked there was nice and helpful, and they seemed to get a lot of regulars because they knew a few of the customer’s names. The food itself is pretty good. I ordered mac n cheese, mash potatoes, fried wing, smothered wing, and a hot link. It was all very good, make sure to ask for some gravy on your mash potatoes. The chicken was nice and crispy, the hot link tasted great, not just another store bought one. I will am definitely looking forward to eating here more often.

This place is great. No frills just great food. The service was friendly, the food was delicious. We got short ribs, smoothered chicken, Mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, yams and greens. Most of it was perfectly seasoned, nice textures and flavors. I highly recommend it if your looking for a highly quality quick meal.

Love the food good portions at a good price and reminds me of the food I grew up on. My one complaint is the run out of the good stuff to soon in the day. Definitely worth a try

The food is delicious! I have had the chicken and it is delicious! The sides are good too… Greens, mac and cheese, & the cornbread… They also have black eyed peas! This is one of the few places that does not cook everything with fatback/​lard/​pork. That was exciting alone as I am a non-​pork eater. This place has something for everyone. I only gave it four stars as the ambiance is lacking, the people aren’t courteous, and they run out of food.

Soooo I’m at Chef Marilyn’s Southern Cuisine getting something to eat, they had one fried chicken Breast left and wasn’t frying no more, just as I was about to get it a chic (employee) came from the back and snatched it up talking about she tired and hungry. DaFuq!!!

In reading previous reviews on the old Unilocal page for this establishment, I’m always tickled by what people bitch about: owner is unfriendly, no one smiles, etc etc. WHO CARES? If the food is THIS good, I don’t care if they start yelling insults as soon as I walk in — just FEED me. I’m not brave enough to go for the turkey neck bones but they do look juicy. The meatloaf melts in your mouth ($ 1.85???) — the thick slices of beef brisket are outstanding. The mac & cheese and collared greens are muy tasty and the portions are heaping. Don’t judge Marilyn on previous reviews and don’t trip if the staff doesn’t treat you like Norm’s on «Cheers». Judge Marilyn’s on the orgasmic reaction of your taste buds and the subsequent food coma. ‘Nuff said.