| rev:text
| - Soulless,
This is my second review of this place in as many weeks because I wanted to go back and see how consistent the food and the service were from my first trip.
God, have things changed.
My first review was glowing; I gave it four stars. Now, Soul Food Cafe barely earns one; here's why:
At my last visit, the meatloaf was among the best I've had anywhere in the country. You could savor the quality of the beef on your tongue as the meat mixed with the fat as it mixed with the spices as those mixed with the rich, dark gravy. It was that good. The gravy was the gold-plating on the dish. Most everything else that I or my girlfriend had was either very good or great (read first review below).
This time, however, the meatloaf was dry, hard almost like a roofing tile (I swear, I almost refused to pay for it) and came with no gravy (although I specifically asked for it). The black eyed peas tasted like a salt lick, and the rice and gravy was a warm, tasteless paste like the kind they'd serve us in elementary school. Gross.
The tea tasted like it came from a powder, the potato salad tasted old and I swear the chocolate cake this time could have come from a grocery store.
I'm not trying to slam these people. My first visit was incredible. In fact, I was psyched that Vegas finally had a great soul food restaurant. But in a matter of days this place has gone downhill. It tastes like what you'd get at some cafeteria that caters to folks in their 80s, where everything is stale, old and bland.
I'll give this place one more shot, but it'll be months before I do. These people had such a great start. They need to get it together before they lose more customers.
Read original review below:
Simmering in Soul
I wanted to marry the meatloaf. Right there on the spot, in front of the chef and everybody. I had only been there 10 minutes.
Truth is, I didn't know what to expect from Soul Food Cafe, the newest such joint in the valley. My girlfriend and I have almost always been disappointed by the lesser-quality soul food spots in town, so we didn't have high hopes.
But two bites into the meatloaf (in the picture I took here), and I felt like I was back home in the South, where we're steeped in gravy and simmered in iced tea.
This place is the first soul food restaurant here where the high-quality ingredients match the ability of the chefs to churn out the kind of soul food that tastes like it's right out of your mama's kitchen.
I think I'm on record about how great the meatloaf was - perfectly seasoned with a slight crust swaddling the thick, warm slices of soul on a plate. The mustard potato salad is the best I've had anywhere in Vegas at any restaurant, but the mac and cheese was a little dry. The book-size slab of chocolate cake, however, more than made up for it.
My girlfriend had a perfectly fried piece of catfish with a side of sweet potatoes she loved and a dish of greens that while cooked with either smoked turkey or ham (it was hard to tell) tasted, she said, "flat and needed soul." That's a serious deficiency for a soul food restaurant, but the rest of the food is good enough to make up for the lapse. I should add that she ate her banana pudding so fast I barely got a look at it, much less a taste.
Lunches come with two sides; dinners come with three. All meals are also served with crispy, buttery cornbread cakes that are as good as any I've ever had anywhere in the country. That's not an overstatement.
If, like us, you have a deep-seated love for soul food and have been disappointed by what's available in Vegas, you'll probably love Soul Food Cafe. They've only been open about a week, and they're obviously working out some kinks, but this is seriously good food at fair prices cooked by a staff who know what they're doing and have the skill to satisfy your hankerings. Oh, the wait staff is also very good: attentive, friendly, efficient. Give Soul Food Cafe a shot.
I know we'll be back soon.
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