Katherine Lowe grew up in Liverpool and graduated from Manlius Preble Hill School. She moved out of…read morethe city several times but always returned to Syracuse. She took some culinary courses, but most of her cooking skills are self-taught and some of her recipes are inspired by family. In searching for an idea to open a restaurant, she took a look at what the city WASN'T offering, and settled on a Southern-inspired menu.
As soon as I heard of Sugar Magnolia, I knew I wanted to try it. Luckily, Salt City Eats was offering a certificate for them, so I picked up a $50 for $25 deal. My wife and I met some friends to give it a try for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was a Saturday and the place was completely empty other than us, but we chalked it up to being there right at 5 when they opened.
We sat and were given menus. Small menu, but interesting choices. They serve sweet tea and lemonade and we all went for lemonades. I chose the sweet heat chicken with collard greens as a side, as did one of our friends. My wife went with their shrimp and grits, while my other friend went with their shrimp po boy sandwich.
Food took a bit to make. We all dug in when it was brought. My dish wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. It was two drumsticks that had been deep fried, then rolled in seasonings. While it was called sweet heat, I found no heat in it, and it kinda tasted just like sugary chicken. The collard greens we're good though, with a strong smokey flavor. My friend who got the same dish as me felt the same as I did, while my other friend and wife really liked their dishes.
So my wife and I went to use our second certificate yesterday. This time, I went with their fried green tomato BLT with collard greens again, and my wife went with their Magnolia Burger, a burger topped with a friend green tomato with mixed greens, onion and pimento cheese, with a side of thick cut fries.
We were again the only ones in the place, again right at 5. A band was setting up to start playing some live music. Our food was brought pretty quickly, but unfortunately, we didn't have a very good experience again.
The fried green tomatoes on my sandwich were good, but that was about it. Plain old bacon on some toasted plain white bread. There was a sauce on it that I could barely taste cause there wasn't much on it at all. Small sandwich as well. While I really liked the greens last time, this time they were not very good. They tasted like they were just bathed in salt.
I knew my wife was gonna be disappointed with her burger as soon as I saw it. The burger patty was grey in color, which usually says to me that they are preformed, frozen patties. She was not very happy with it, as expected. She didn't even finish it. On top of the bad tasting patty, she also had almost no sauce on it, and barely any pimento cheese. She also liked the fried green tomatoes, but again, that's all she enjoyed about it.
Our service was fine both times. The first time, Katherine herself came out of the kitchen at the end and spoke with is. She was very friendly. Prices are comparable and fair to other types of restaurants.
I really wanted to like this place and have them succeed, they have so much potential. But after two disappointing experiences, I don't see us coming back.
