O’Dessa Blessing Restaurant

It was delicious and O’Dessa and her husband were so hospitable! The banana pudding was sooo good.

Wow! What an experience. I came with a group from Dallas and it was my first time having soul food. Everything was delicious. The restaurant had character and looked like a glimpse of the past, with photos and music setting the mood. The owners and waiters were welcoming, friendly, and helpful. I definitely recommend!

This place seems to have had better days. I stopped there at lunch time. Nice friendly staff, I ordered Fried chicken, Greens and Mac N Cheese. The service was good. The chicken was very good, everything else was just okay. I would eat probably eat here again, but I would not go out of my way to do it.

A group of about 25 of us went to O’Dessa Blessings Restaurant on March 8 right after the 50^th Anniversary Commemoration march of «Bloody Sunday» in Selma. We were a private party for dinner. Odessa and Calvin were awesome. They fixed a huge (too huge!) delicious spread for us (fried chicken, black eyed peas, ribs, fish, greens, mac and cheese, peach cobbler, lemonade, tea) and we did our best to finish it. The instantly comfortable and comforting atmosphere and ambiance made it feel so homey and welcoming. After a LONG day of standing on our feet, it was so nice to sit and relax and eat great food with friends, including our hosts. A perfect ending to an inspiring day. You never know when we’ll be back to Selma/​Montgomery (maybe for the 55^th Anniversary?!) but we’ll be sure to get to O’Dessa’s Blessings. And tell all our friends! THANK YOU ODESSA AND CALVIN!

Recently had an amazing experience of crossing the Bridge in Selma on the 50^th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. This day was topped only by an incredible Southern meal at O’Dessa’s Blessing Restaurant in Montgomery. Calvin and Odessa opened up their restaurant, for a private meal with the most delicious Southern food imaginable. We felt like old friends of theirs as they shared stories of just how the restaurant came about and definitely it is a Blessing! If you are anywhere near Montgomery, eat at O’Dessa’s for a once in a lifetime home cooked meal!

If Unilocal would let me, I would give Odessa’s Blessings TEN stars. I was in Selma for the Bloody Sunday Bridge Crossing Jubilee, but drove to Montgomery to meet up with 25 friends at Odessa’s. During our six day stay in Alabama, we had lots of Southern food and BBQ, but this was by far the best. Good ambience, excellent service, and out of this world grub. You name it, Odessa fixed it. Lots of it.
If you’re ever in Montgomery, you need to visit five places: the Rosa Parks Museum, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Cilvil Liberties Memorial, Freedom Rides Museum and Odessa’s Blessings.
Thank you so much for a great dining experience, Calvin and Odessa. You are such nice people.
Mike from Culver City, CA

Oh dear O’dessa. You and your husband, Calvin are a God-​send. Several friends and I were visiting Alabama for a historical perspective on the life and thought of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught by Dr. Bernard Lafayette.
As his students, O’dessa and Calvin went out of their way to open her restaurant for us after usual business hours were over for a Sunday Lunch after church. The restaurant is a renovated pre-​war Victorian style home with yellow walls, historic art, and a feel of warmth and intimacy that can only come from dining inside of an actual home – not an industrial looking restaurant.
The food surpassed my expectations:
Well seasoned (not to be confused with spicy) chicken with fresh herbs
Okra sauteed with tomato
Creamed corn with just a dash of butter and black pepper
Freshly fried fish
Fried chicken which I didn’t eat but my colleagues DEVOURED
Squash soufflé
Fresh green salad with an assortment of dressings
Greens that were seasoned with turkey not pork
Desserts were heavenly:
Peach cobbler that wasn’t soupy and runny
Banana pudding with real pudding and home-​made whipped cream
An assortment of pound cakes
Sweet potato pies
I enjoyed the atmosphere, the service was excellent, and we ate so much that it was hard to concentrate on our lessons after lunch. There was a sweet spirit in the restaurant, and it felt more like O’dessa invited us to her home for lunch, than we went to her place of business.