3/5 Sometimes your…read morefourth choice turns into a worthwhile stop. On Father's Day, our original lunch plans fell through after Curry Up, Eugene's Hot Chicken, and Boston Fish Market were all closed. That led us to Thelma's Place, a restaurant that had already been on my list to try, so we decided to give it a shot and ordered our meal to go. The first thing that stood out was the hospitality. Everyone we encountered was warm, welcoming, and genuinely friendly. Around 1:00 p.m., the restaurant wasn't busy, and the service was prompt. From an ambiance standpoint, there isn't much to speak of. The dining room is simple and functional, and the overall presentation could be elevated with improved lighting and a more polished steam table display. Those details may seem small, but they help create stronger first impressions. I ordered the meatloaf with collard greens and candied yams. The portion size was generous, but the meatloaf itself needed more seasoning to really stand out. The collard greens were one of the best items we tried, full of flavor without being overpowering, and the candied yams were solid. The cornbread was also a nice addition. My wife and Bethany both ordered fried chicken wings, even though they weren't listed on the menu. Those turned out to be a hidden gem. They were crispy, golden brown, hot, and cooked just right. For sides, my wife chose cornbread dressing and macaroni and cheese. We both felt the dressing had too much sage, which masked the other flavors. The macaroni and cheese was decent but not memorable. Bethany also enjoyed the collard greens and agreed that the macaroni and cheese was just okay. One disappointment was that they were sold out of oxtails, which would have been my wife's first choice. I was also hoping to see smothered pork chops available but didn't notice them. The pricing felt fair, and the portions offered good value. The biggest takeaway? Order the fried chicken and collard greens. Those were the clear standouts from our visit. I'd also be interested in returning when the oxtails are available, as they appear to be one of the restaurant's signature items. Thelma's Place didn't hit a home run across the board, but the friendly service, good value, and standout fried chicken made it a worthwhile stop. With a few improvements to seasoning and presentation, it has the potential to leave an even stronger impression.

I kept hearing about this place on the radio and decided to try it after church. Well, others must…read morehave had the same idea, because the line was out the door. Fortunately, the Pastor had just given a sermon on "wait for it" which is exactly what I had to do. Although the line was long, the people were very friendly and kind, giving the restaurant a family vibe.I was pleasantly surprised to see so many young people working in all areas of the restaurant showcasing their professionalism while being polite. are all so polite. Now, let's get to the food.... The greens, pinto beans and Mac n' cheese were all seasoned to perfection. The servings were more than enough. The food is GOOD!!! 1 meat and 2 sides or vegetable plate, your choice. Plenty of seating. Great place for a friend's meetup, class meetup, church meetup, baby shower or any celebration!

The crowd spoke and the crowd was right. Yo Mama's serves up some tasty morsels at a reasonable…read moreprice in downtown Birmingham. I couldn't make my mind up so I got half hot chicken and hot regular. The regular was like Kentucky fried chicken on steroids. The crispy outer coating was really quite good and the food came out piping hot. For an affordable price you can right at Yo Mama's! Would love to come back and try some of the other dishes here. French fries were also tasty.

Everything went well during my lunchtime visit to Yo'Mama's restaurant. The Hot wings and French…read morefries was delicious. The waitress was cordial to make sure I enjoyed my "first" visit. The ambiance of the restaurant was calm and pleasant. There are several dining tables to choose and enjoy the scenery.

Solid meat and 3/soul food option in the vicinity of the Bessemer courthouse…read more They're doing it right in here. Good selection of things ranging from your standard stuff to some more adventurous options. Big portions. Quick, friendly service. Lots of windows so good natural light and an open feel. Easy parking. Priced reasonably. All the seasonings. A good option if you're looking for a quality meal and you're in the market for some serious comfort food. If you're in this area don't second guess it.

The food is pretty good and they offer meat and veggies as well as other menu items. The service…read morewas friendly and prompt. My only complaint is the prices on their drinks. $5 for a large tea. It's 32 oz and seems high for little more than a cup of sugar water also if you get bread with your meal don't get the corn bread. As a true southern boy I know good cornbread and they don't have any. For my plate which consisted of beef tips mash potatoes and peas, large drink it was right at $18. The portions are large so maybe it's not such a bad price, and if you drink water it's not bad at all.

Huge portions, amazing flavor. I have to admit, Johnny's might have just topped every other meat&3…read morein town for me. Weekday lunch here is packed. Order at the front and sit down. In honor of the owners, they've named themselves a "greek & 3." I did just that: I got the greek meatballs with tzatziki and 3 sides: mac, collards, and cajun red beans. Everything was perfect. The meatballs and tzatziki sauce were amazing. The mac was exactly how I like it: casserole-y and a little eggy. The collards were good and the red beans had a great flavor. I believe I saw they had a red beans and rice special that involved some conecuh sausage. That might have to be my order next time. Staff was all very nice, tables are clean. You gotta go up the stairs outside to make it in.

I had never eaten here before but had two people recommend it recently and knew I had to try it…read moreout! The pot roast was tender and juicy and the mashed potatoes were creamy. The mac and cheese and chicken tenders were delicious, too!

My first time at Gabriella's was recently. This place gets really busy..... fast! When I arrived,…read more there were about 2 ppl already present and ordering at the hot bar. It's kind of hard to tell what all the food options are, so I had to ask what some stuff was. I managed to get a meat and 2 instead of a meat and 5! There were quite a few veggie options that looked amazingly delicious! I do not recommend coming here hungry or hangry. Ok, sooo I love meat loaf so naturally that's what I got. I also got collards and cornbread dressing & yes they had cranberry sauce. Everything was good tasting. The meatloaf was a little sweet to my taste so I probably wouldn't order it again. The veggies were not over seasoned or overcooked. I will definitely comeback here bc there is still just so much I wanna try. The staff is nice and took care of the crowd. I even witnessed them give a person in need food, as they were about to dig in the restaurant's garbage can outside for scraps. Made me count my blessings.. all of them! There is street parking only. I didn't have any issues parking on a Sunday afternoon. The inside of this restaurant is not big but I was comfortable dining in.

Good southern food on a Sunday afternoon while visiting. Couldn't tell from the Yelp pictures but…read moreit's a really small restaurant with food displayed buffet style behind the clear partition that they serve you in a container. Only about 3 people at a time can hold inside before it's starts getting crowded. It stay pretty busy. Options are 1 meat with two sides or 2 meats with three sides combination. A la cart is available as well. They have ice tea or lemonade drinks in a cup that they also serve you. Lemonade was good. There's a very small counter to pay after you order. Fry chicken is tasty with perfect crisp. Collard greens were seasoned well and perfect texture. Yams (my favorite) was perfect - flavorful, not too sweet and firm but not hard. Both of us thought the Black eyed peas looked really good but taste bland. I would have preferred it without the Okra. I didn't see that when I ordered. One in our group commented the meat loaf was good. The dressing was really good too - well seasoned and tasty. After paying there's a dining area for self seating. It serves the purpose to sit and eat but definitely could use sprucing up along with the restrooms. Please seriously consider! It would make the experience much more pleasant to enjoy their delicious food. I took off two stars for that reason and yes it's that unpleasant as the tables/chairs are also too clustered together. The chairs don't fit around the table properly. Overall good southern food at a reasonable price and recommended. Skip dining in if you don't have too. Just my two cents.

We visited this great spot in the gorgeous Ross Bridge neighborhood to try something new for my…read moreson's birthday meal. Because of the intense Alabama heat, we chose to sit inside, though they have a really nice screened-in patio available. The restaurant is intimate but well laid out, featuring a couple of distinct dining areas and a bar. Since it was our first time, our server, Daniella, recommended the candied bacon bombs to start. They came with a side of cheese curds, and both were absolutely delicious. Even as small as the curds were, they had a perfect cheese pull! For our mains, I ordered the cowboy burger with an added egg and a side of sweet potato fries, while my son chose the shrimp and grits. My burger was incredible, a solid 9.5 out of 10. My son rated his shrimp and grits a 7, though he has a lot of experience with that dish to compare it to. Daniella provided fantastic service, checking in at just the right times without hovering. I later realized I forgot to ask if they do anything special for birthdays, but honestly, my son was probably glad I forgot! Overall, it was a great meal, excellent service, and a very cool environment.

This place was excellent!! Our waiter Cheyenne was awesome and gave us so many good…read morerecommendations. The star of the show were the appetizers. The low country dip was phenomenal! Cheese with turnip greens and smoked sausage. Yum! The candied bacon bombs were delicious too. The appetizers were enough to get me full but to go I ordered the buffalo chicken wrap and my friend ordered the blackened chicken pasta. She said it was tasty but it needed more sauce. Overall this place was a 10/10. Lively with great staff really makes this place a gem. I will definitely be back.

Food truck at the Vulcan tonight. Ordered a burger and loaded fries. The burger was great except…read moreeverything my husband told them to leave out was still put on and the fries were extra salted. The loaded fries were epic--large portion and very tasty.

3.5ish, rounding up to 4 for nice service and a creative menu…read more I saw an advertisement about this Birmingham-area truck making the trip up to Huntsville for a Medieval Festival outside of Yellowhammer Brewing. I thought it'd be fun to see the costumes and vendors and the menu won me over, so I stopped by to grab a meal for me and my husband to share. The truck itself is large and impressively decorated/designed and really delivers on the sort of Valkyrie / Maiden of War fantasy. Food is made to order so they do tell customers about how long to expect to wait. I was fortune to arrive early in the event and only had one or two orders ahead of me. My fresh food was still out less than 15 minutes after I ordered it. Service was friendly, professional, and eager to answer questions. I ordered their simplest burger, The Primordial Axe (one patty, semi standard toppings like pickles, onion, lettuce tomato), a half order of their Locked and Loaded fries (bacon, ranch, jalapeños, cheese and grilled chicken), and I couldn't resist one of their limited time dessert specials, the Scarlet Orchard Bread Pudding, which was cinnamon bread with pumpkin custard, with apples, cranberries, and whipped cream on top. It was definitely a feast for the two of us! The burger was my least favorite thing. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't super flavorful, and I thought a little too much fat hadn't rendered out of mine, which left it chewy in parts. The loaded fries were solid. Crinkle fries are my least favorite cut of fry, but these were cooked nicely and salted and seasoned well. The half serving was still absolutely huge and the toppings were layered well and were quite flavorful. Generous, well-cooked bacon, and nice fresh jalapeños too. The grilled chicken was cooked perfectly, was flavorful and juicy, and a pleasant surprise honestly - I don't usually love grilled chicken in loaded fries. Speaks to the quality of the meat and skill of the cook! The best thing to me was the dessert, though. One detractor - the cranberries were very bitter lol. But other than that, the spiced apples were a nice balance of crisp and tender as well as sweet and sour. The bread was soft but not soggy and perfectly sweet. It was a super generous portion that made two dessert servings for each of us. Overall, I am glad I made the visit to try this truck and would recommend giving it a try.

9/14/26 Today I visited Ruby Sunshine on Oxmoor Rd in Homewood, Alabama. The food was next level…read moreawesome. The fried green tomatoes are the best in the world and deserving of a Michelin Star. It is clear that chef D'Angelo cooks from the heart. Our server Trey was kind, pleasant and very engaging. Service was quick. The French toast melted into your mouth and was perfectly prepared. Delicious. Or as my wife put it, "Slamming !!" The Ambiance was excellent, a combination of cozy and community very conversational. I had the omelette, grits and a pancake. Everything was seasoned to perfection. I will come back and bring friends. Chef kiss.

My guy and I visited here recently and I must say, it's been awhile since I've had such a poor…read moreexperience at a restaurant. It's been a few years since I've been here (since they first opened), and I am in no hurry to return. What went wrong shouldn't be the question. What actually went right should be asked. Let's start at the beginning. We visited on a beautiful Saturday mid morning but were quickly seated after arriving. The server asked us if he could start us off with drinks. I shared I was there for the Yelp event, and he ignored that and repeated his question about drinks. He also stated he was busy, which I didn't know how to take. I felt rushed to make my drink decision, which ended up in me not enjoying the iced vanilla coffee I settled upon. For our order, we ordered the original beignets, the breakfast sandwich with potatoes and the 3 Little Piggy Omelette with cheese grits. After waiting for 20-30 minutes, our server returned to say that he just realized that our order was not in the queue. He said that that had never happened to him before, and said that maybe the weather was making the computers mess up. He said he would put in a rush for our food. I can say he seemed apologetic but I think it was an error on his part, not the computer. After all, he had already mentioned how "busy" he was. And I've never known a sunny, cloudless day to mess with computers. He typed our order in again and this time, the food was out within 15 minutes. The beignets were the best part of the meal. The breakfast sandwich (on sourdough) was hard and dry. The potatoes looked unappealing and lacked salt. My guy remarked his food was ok but commented on how "used" the butter looked. See included picture. The server checked on us periodically. We are not complainers so no we didn't mention any of this to the server. After requesting a box for the leftovers and the check, it was another 15-20 minutes before we saw either, even though he came around twice more and repeated what we had asked him for. We did leave a tip although this was one of the poorest experiences we've had in ages. We will not return anytime soon to this location.

Great service. Great food. Great drinks. The bar is where I always sit. It's faster (in my opinion)…read more Kendall was the bartender on duty during my recent Wednesday evening visit. She's amazing!! I really enjoyed the crab claws app- $23. They are served chilled & steamed. This was the perfect little snack. I also had a nice glass of sparkling wine. It paired well with the crab claw appetizer. I always have a great experience whenever I come here. Current is definitely worth checking out if you are in Birmingham, Al

My friend, Julia, and I tried current the other night! We walked in and immediately loved the vibes…read moreand upscale, quirky, modern feel of it all. High ceilings and exposed brick are a few of the ways to my heart. If you've seen a post about this place, you've probably seen a picture of the crackly round, artistic dish and wondered what it was. There are dumplings on the underside of it and you break each one off of the crackly part to enjoy. We did enjoy these but I would've loved a soy sauce to dip them in. They came with chili crunch, peanuts, and green onions but I wanted an actual sauce. They were very standard tasting dumplings and there was nothing extraordinary about them unfortunately. As always, we'd looked at the menu beforehand and decided what we wanted. It does state on their website that their menus can change due to freshness and availability. But we'd both decided on an app and entree we wanted only to get there and have none of them on the menu. I do appreciate a rotating menu to accommodate local items, but I would also love for those to be updated on a regular basis. So after rerouting, we decided on the chicken skewers as another app with the dumplings. These were chargrilled, flavorful, and had a nice crust on them. I got shrimp fried rice and Julia got spicy beef noodles. It was fine but I wish the shrimp wouldn't have been cut up. It felt like they chopped them up in order to not put as many in the dish. At $25 for this, I'd like whole shrimp please. There were a few pieces of raw spinach with pepper on the top. I would've loved a sauce of some kind. I would've preferred shrimp hibachi with fried rice from a Japanese place that included vegetables and sauces. This was not *bad* there was just SO much room for improvement. We both agreed that nothing was awful, but for these prices and the hype, we expected more. Our waitress was super friendly. Bonus points because they had match boxes at the host stand! There was a paid parking lot diagonal from the restaurant, so we had to walk through an intersection to get there. There are some spots up front if you can snag one. Overall, we enjoyed our time here but won't be sprinting back.

The food was delicious and had great portions sizes! The service was excellent with smiles on…read moreeveryone's faces (even in this extreme heat)! We learned about their Saturday brunches so we will definitely be bringing the family with us next time.

Classic cafeteria line, ideal for a quick weekday lunch downtown. You grab a tray, go thru the line…read moreto pick out your meat and 3, and sit down. The bring you a check to pay at the end and handle your drinks for you too. The fried chicken here is great. I'm normally a creamed corn lover, alas, none today. They have any sort of soul food classic you could want: cornbread, fried okra, pies, iced tea, etc.. It's not super huge inside, but things move fast. Parking is easy, there's a lot plenty big outside. It's been here over 50 years!