Simply Soulful

My friend had the Chicken Wings dinner with mac & cheese and yams. I had the Catfish dinner with mac & cheese and greens. I’m not a big wings guy, but the nibble I had was perfectly seasoned. My catfish was amazing. Cooked perfectly, loved the flavor and texture. Mac & cheese was excellent — a tad oily (in a good way) and distinct cheese (blend?) flavor. Greens were good; I tend to like more flavor (some sort of dead pig). Yams were great — nice consistency with a hint of cinnamon. Very friendly service.

Fried chicken is actually chicken wings.

Amazing soul food and great people. I had the chicken wings dinner and savored every single bite. The grits had a bit too much butter in it but I didn’t mind. Having Frank’s hot sauce was a nice touch. And, the collared greens were perfect. I can’t wait to come back and try more from the menu. Next up is definitely the chicken and waffles.

The service is slow as molasses, and you may not get s refill on your water, but the food is SO GOOD that you just won’t care! Excellent!

Went to simply soulful for the first time tonight and was pleasantly surprised. I grew up in the south so my expectations were low, but this place definitely delivered quality soul food. I started off with a couple cornbread muffins and they were some of the best I have had. Real cornmeal cornbread and not made from jiffy box mix. First check! I had the chicken and waffles for dinner and it was great. Although the chicken wings were pretty small not comparing to places like Roscos or Gladys knights chicken and waffles. The flavor of the wings were great, very crispy and well seasoned. The waffle was amazing and on par with any I have had in this combo.

FINALLY! I’ve been searching for a soul food restaurant for the longest and this spot is THE. TRUTH. From the chicken to the cornbread, there wasn’t a single miss! I will definitely be a regular here! Oh, and the sweet tea is «Southern Sweet» for sure.

We shared shrimp and grits and a veggie frittata… YUM!!! The biscuit was large and a delish addition. Got the hen and dressing with greens and black-​eyed peas to go… can’t wait for dinner time. Waitress was nice and attentive. Will definitely be back.

A great addition to the area. The staff is very friendly, and the vibe is great. I recommend the cat fish and the chicken and waffles. The staff is all family, keeping the kitchen fun and lively. I will be back! Don’t get me started on the dessert spread… Banana pudding is EXCELLENT and they have peach cobbler too?!? What else do you need!

Simply Soulful is a small-​sized, family run restaurant with around 20 seating max (about 8 – 9 tables of 2 ppl each). So do come early, or be ready to wait if you happened to stop by around lunch time. The restaurant is tucked in Madison Valley and slightly hidden and facing away from Madison Ave (use your GPS/​direction to help you!). There’s very limited parking in a lot in front of the restaurant, but it’s not too hard to find street parking on Madison either.
The menu is slightly limited, but they offered basic soul/​southern foods like fried chicken + waffles with side dishes like collard greens, mac & cheese, corn bread, biscuits/​gravy, chicken pot pie fried catfish/​shrimp and grits along with home made desserts such as banana pie, coconut cake, and pecan pie. I had a chance to try their shrimp and grits ($ 13) and it tasted absolutely divine. The grits were creamy, but did not taste like ready-​made powder like at other restaurants I’ve been to and the liquid/​sauce that came along with the grits mixed so well with it. The cornbread was also soft and fresh and, having it with a slight dab of butter… ooo…makes me just want to tele-​port myself back there thinking about how I enjoyed the food there.
I asked the lady there what’s the dish that most people tend to order when stopping by here and she said grits… so if you can’t pick anything, pick shrimp and grits. and you won’t be disappointed! :D See photo for reference! :)

I’ve been too this restaurant a couple times before, and my experiences have all been great! The parking situation is a bit difficult, there are very limited parking spots in the lot, but the street parking is usually available, and never too far of a walk.
There are just a few tables for dining, but the staff are always friendly, and the food is absolutely amazing! Today I had the Chicken and Waffles, with a side of collard greens & my sister had the Chicken Wing dinner with greens and Mac & Cheese.
Originally being from the south, and currently living in Seattle, I’ve recognized that we do not have too many successful soul food restaurants, but I strongly believe this place will continue to grow!
I highly recommend anyone in the area to try this place out!!!

Just love this place. This is one of those places I hate writing an amazing review about because it will get super popular but I can’t say enough good things as I can’t imagine this place going away. It is tucked away and easy to miss but it just feels like you are at home when you are here and everything I have tried is just fantastic. Breakfast or dinner. I must admit they make a great cup of coffee too, I didn’t have high hopes and they surprised me in a great way.
A must visit and a gem of a restaurant.

If I hadn’t run into Ron, the guy who bakes the pies and listened to him talk about this place, I would have never known it existed. It’s set back from the well traveled path on Capital Hill. It was nearly empty when we walked in at 7PM. Café setting with plenty of seating but that’s where the café ends and the home cooked mama style kitchen begins. We were greeted so warmly by the women who work there. It really was just like walking into your mom’s dining room with the exception that they ask you what you would like instead of telling you to eat what’s on your plate or go hungry. :)
My boyfriend and I decided to each order something and then share both plates. I ordered the red beans and rice with cornbread and a side of collard greens. This tasted just like what my mom used to make only without the andouille sausage because we were too poor to afford that. It was so delicious and creamy. The greens made a wonderful side plate to this. I was in heaven.
He ordered the bbq chicken sandwhich. Talk about delicious! This bad boy is the real thing. BBQ pulled chicken topped with coleslaw and pickles on a biscuit! This is served with chips, but he ordered homefries on the side. I’m telling you this was to die for.
Everything in that kitchen is made from scratch. Just like mom used to do. I really recommend this place for all the homesick I’m missing mom hungry people out there!

Chicken and waffles and biscuits are off the charts. People have been telling me for weeks that Simply Soulful is the best new place in Seattle, but when I heard about where they are, I new parking would be a mess, so when I heard the amazing new curbside service FlyBuy was available at Simply Soulful, that was all you had to say.
So I ordered it through FlyBuy and as I pulled up, the Simply Soulful person came out, I drove home to eat it, and now I can’t stop talking about it. I have a lot of great food, but few truly memorable meals, and their biscuits are memorable as is their chicken and waffles. My friend Matt told me their turkey sandwich and Mac & Cheese are in the same category.
Not to be missed. Go. Even if you live as far away as Woodinville, it’s worth the drive. WOW.

Came here around noon on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon and it was HOT and stuffy in here. It was much hotter in there than it was outside. There are seven tables inside and one table outside that a lucky table took.
Simply Soulful needs more employees or they need to work more efficiently. The waitress was busy working with the ice or whatnot and kept us waiting to order. She then took another tables order before ours even though we had arrived first and had already signaled her we were ready to order. She also forgot my iced tea and I had to ask for it again. Later, a family came in and was asked to wait for a table to open up. However, once a table did open up, they took a while to clear it.
After ordering, we spent another 30+ minutes waiting on the food and it unfortunately wasn’t even worth it. I got chicken wings dinner with mac and cheese and home fries. Both sides were bland. As you can see from my photo, the chicken wings were dry and clearly overdone.
The shrimp and grits is its only redeeming factor as it was pretty good, but it wasn’t great. The portion size of the side of meat ($ 4) was disappointing. $ 4 for a chicken sausage is much lolz, it was literally 6 small slices.
It felt so good to step outside after the meal and get some air.
TL;DR
–Slow customer service
–Bland food
–Feels like you’re sitting in an oven

I’m all for supporting local Black businesses so I was very eager to try Simply Soulful. I have been hearing so much buzz around town about it.
You seat yourself and the menu is already on the table. It’s a very small menu but don’t forget to look on the wall for the daily specials. You could miss out like I did if you don’t look on the wall.
I ordered the Chicken Wing Dinner with Macaroni & Cheese + Collard Greens.
Now you don’t receive actually chicken wings, you get party wings. Very highly disappointed in this. I could of had my aunt try up some chicken for me if I wanted party wings, honestly.
The Collard Greens could of used much more flavor to them! I know I’ve had better!
Surprisingly the Macaroni & Cheese was really good but they give you such a small portion it’s like you only get a taste.
I took some Banana Pudding to go. It was good but personally I hated how some of the Nilla Wafers were extra soggy. If I worked their I would add them before serving or sending someone home with the dessert.
Overall, I expected way more from this place. It just took forever for the food to be served you would think they cooked a fresh pot of Collard Greens & Macaroni for each person.

A great find for an excellent Southern brunch. Only opened a year, its still relatively undiscovered. The décor is modern, bright and inviting. The staff is friendly and welcoming. The menu is short, but comforting.
We had the Chicken and Waffle, which was very good but not sock-​knock-​off great. The fried chicken wings were so well fried that it was almost dry. The waffle, though flavorful had a very chewy texture.
Our other item did indeed knock our socks off. The Shrimp and Grits were wonderful. The grits were as good as the best we’ve had. The sauce was flavorful and bold, but allowed the sweet shrimp and creamy grits to shine through. The corn bread that came with was yummy. We will be thinking about this dish for a long time.
Their desserts looked great and the menu offered many more enticing items to draw us back.

Went here for brunch on Sunday with my husband and the both of us were VERY surprised. This place is tucked away and the parking isn’t very customer friendly, however its worth it to park on the street and walk. Madison valley is a very «walk» friendly neighbor hood anyways.
The place was packed, but when I walked in all the employees were VERY friendly. I received a greeting from all 5 – 6 employees that were there. We got a seat fairly quickly and ordered the catfish and grits (cornbread) and the chicken and waffles.
We usually order the chicken and waffles in most of the establishments that we got, and this was one of the best. The waffle was delicious, and the chicken was friend perfectly with hints on syrup glazed on them. I can usually only eat 3 wingets and forced myself to eat more as it was too good. The sweet tea was good, wasn’t too sweet and not bland. The grits were delicious as well, no lumps and tasted like it may have been made with cream which made it flavorful.
We are looking forward to coming back, probably next sunday.

Now I really wasn’t expecting to find this in Madison Valley! lol
This is a cute café tucked away amongst other small businesses (can’t see it off the road so make sure you look for the sign). It’s small, but real inviting with very friendly service!
The food is BOMB and pricing is very decent for the quality you get in each meal!
Food I got to try on my first visit:
Chicken Wing Dinner w/​2 sides of your choice (I got mac n cheese & collard greens)
— the fried chicken was crispy, juicy and flavorful! The only downside is the pieces were really small, but still very tasty!
— mac n cheese was greesy, cheesy and f*ckin bomb… haha!
— collard greens were also good, but a little bitter.
— the corn bread was HEAT! Not to sweet, not too savory… just right and baked to perfection
I also go to try the red beans & rice which were some of the best I’ve ever had with savory pieces of hamhock!
I put this place up there right with Southern Kitchen in Tacoma, but obviously prefer this more since I ain’t gotta drive 45 minutes to get to it. Haha!

Walked in on a Sunday morning expected the typical breakfast and was blown the F away. Oh my goodness! I was eating with both hands and did not care one bit about being embarrassed. I’m not a huge biscuit fan but they had the best biscuits ive ever tasted in my life. Warm and doughy delicious bites that melt in your mouth. The grits were nice and creamy just the way I like. Even the coffee was kicking. I can’t wait to return and try everything.

Even though I live in the neighborhood, I had somehow never heard of Simply Soulful until my friend took me there for brunch. It’s a tiny little restaurant with a big heart, run by the sweetest people. The first and second time I visited, I wanted to order the entire menu. I’ll get there eventually, but so far I’ve tried two sides (collard greens and yams), biscuits and gravy, shrimp and grits, a biscuit sandwich, and chicken and waffles.
Everything is ridiculously good; it’s clear that a lot of love and skill goes into this food. I’m especially enamored of the shrimp and grits and the biscuits and gravy, which are just divine; not sure I’ve ever had better. The service can be a little slow on weekends, as they only have 2 – 3 people working there, but each plate is delivered when it’s ready and everything is worth the wait.