We were visiting family in Toledo OH from Detroit and they take us to Josephine kitchen's to order…read moredinner the food was very tasty and next time I'm in town I'll be coming back again. Friendly and family feel.

Ordered the meatloaf Sunday dinner. Absurdly huge slice of a dense meatloaf with gravy. Very tasty…read more Came with two sides and a bread option (roll or cornbread) I went with the Mac and cheese which was extra buttery and yummy and the greens which were a little salty for my taste (but I think most would disagree with me). I called ahead and my ordered was ready in 15 mins. Inside there is limited seating. Everyone was very nice. Mainly posting to update the menu pictures :)

My food was cold and under seasoned staff was pretty friendly, but don't mean to sound…read morecondescending, but you know how our people are

I will admit, I have a problem when it comes to soul & southern food. My problem is that I cannot…read moreget enough and will eat it every single meal if possible. In fact, I was in Dallas last week and had the same fried catfish three nights in a row I'm that big of a fan. So when I discovered there was a new soul food restaurant near my home in Toledo, I absolutely had to check it out. And by checking it out, I invited 10 friends over to my house and ordered everything on the menu. Boy oh boy was it good AND reasonably priced! The ribs were great! The fish was great! The meatloaf was great! Everything was great and from order to delivery, it showed up at my house in under 30 minutes. I highly recommend Elsie's kitchen and wish them much success. I will definitely be ordering again.

Wow! Passing by at…read moredinner time and saw the pepper steak special on their billboard, so we stopped in. The manager met us and told us he was short on staff, but he would be happy to seat us if we wanted to dine in. It was a completely on the fly accommodation, and was very much appreciated. The restaurant was spotless with a "warm", friendly atmosphere. I had the pepper steak I was after and the Mrs. had the meatloaf. The first bite of my dish stopped me in my tracks, it tasted exactly like my grandfathers recipe. The flavor was completely perfect. And the rice peppers and sauce melted together with the flank cuts, which were tender and popping with flavor on every bite. It came with a balanced cornbread muffin to help shovel the happy goodness onto my fork. And the portion size, well. I usually clean my plate, but not tonight 3/4 of the way in I had to call it because I was absolutely stuffed. The Mrs. meatloaf was tender and moist and packed with flavor too. She ordered the ketchup glaze with it which was good, but was a little too sweet for my taste. Her dish came with three sides, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, and green beans. It's kind of hard to screw those up, and it's just as hard to make them stellar too. And that's just what they were, superbly stellar! There was a definite note of love and pride in the cooking. I can't believe I've overlooked J Mae's for so long. I will be going back again and again to sample all of their awesome menu.

Some of the best soul food in Toledo they have a little something for everyone great tasting…read moredesserts as well.

I had a chicken dinner that came with two sides cabbage and spaghetti.the chicken wings were so…read moretiny they should have given a few more, the cabbage was so full of crushed peppers that I couldn't enjoy it and the spaghetti was mediocre. My husband had friend pork chops Mac and cheese and greens the pork chops were definitely old and dry the greens and Mac was okay nothing to brag about

From the owner: Bbq and delicious sidesread more

I came for the gumbo, and I stayed for the cheese fries…read more This little diner has been so many different things over the years and has sat empty for so long, it's easy to forget it's even there. The current tenants are serving up a mixed bag of southern fare, burgers and a bit of soul food along the way. Sadly today, the one thing they were out of was the one thing I came in for... the gumbo. Long story short, I will be back because I've heard it's really good. As for the burgers? Super fresh with a home cooking vibe. The fries? Cooked to order with skins on and really great! I added cheese and recommend you do as well. To note: their menu is super limited in addition to their "daily" specials, but it looks like their "daily" specials might be available all the time. Also note: beverage offerings are super limited. No tea or coffee. Just canned soda and bottled water. Next visit, I'm going to hopefully try that gumbo... and maybe some fried fish. Hoping this small joint succeeds, as it adds a missing element to downtown Toledo. Super friendly staff and great prices. This is not fancy food, it's just good food.

I was visiting our office downtown and the meeting group planned to order in. I didn't want to be…read morehigh maintenance, so I just ordered a salad - no dressing. I didn't request chicken or anything on it as I didn't want to spend the extra money (or have the company pay extra, more precisely). Our orders were called in and I didn't think anything further of it. When the order arrived, the staff handed out containers of food. I waited and waited and waited. At the end, there was an extra grilled chicken salad (what I would have ordered if I really got what I wanted) - and they handed it to me. YAY! The salad was much like a cobb - with some mixed greens in addition to iceberg lettuce. There was some cheddar, cukes, egg, cut up chicken breast and more. It came with dressing, but I do eat my salads dry. There was enough stuff on it that I really didn't miss having a dressing (I do like oil and vinegar - but again, wouldn't get that on an order being delivered in). Was the salad the best ever? No. But considering I had packed fruit and assume they would bring in something I don't eat, I was quite happy and enjoyed my lunch. I would definitely order this again so I return and be given the same menu options.

I wish I could give 4.5 stars honestly because this was almost a perfect 4 meals. I ordered the…read morecurry goat (my personal favorite) with rice and peas (beans) with green beans, the oxtails with cabbage, the red snapper with cabbage, and the jerk chicken with rice and peas. Wow. I was very satisfied with all of these meals. Plenty in portions, tender meat (a couple of oxtails were majority fat) but the flavoring of the curry and sauces and seasonings were perfect (and spicy ofc!). The jerk chicken is probably the spiciest. I wouldn't say the curry goat or oxtails aren't that spicy. The red snapper had a good amount of spice. It also had a lot of bones. So prepare for that & be careful. This location only offers pick up orders inside of a carry-out so the process was efficient, organized, straightforward and easy. Amazing dinners!

Another bad experience. Put in special instructions please pack meat separate. Got soggy Mac n…read morecheese after ordering jerk and chicken curry. No curry chicken patty. Not available. Take them off ur menu then. Fried okra was so mushy. Ick . When i called to inquire. Told they will not pack meat with juices separately. Ok. You cool with that? Like I told the manager we won't be ordering there anymore. Not tough to just add an additional box Im willing to pay for

our waitress Sarah was amazing she was very polite and sweet I really enjoyed talking to and she is…read morea very good waitress

I frequent this restaurant because it is close to my workplace. There is ample parking but it can…read morebe hard to access if you haven't been there before if you're coming from the expressway because you enter off of a smaller side street after a u-turn. The restaurant is reasonably clean and the store is well stocked. I have not experienced a wait, even if there were charter buses in the parking lot. The service is good; my regular server recently retired, but she was great and greeted me personally and knew my order specifics. The hosts and hostesses are friendly as well. The food is standard Cracker Barrel, which is pretty good in my opinion. I enjoy their pancakes with peach topping, broccoli cheddar chicken and macaroni and cheese. The pancakes are a little crispy on the edges and go wonderfully with the peach compote that is served warm on top of the pancakes. The broccoli cheddar chicken is a Wednesday special that is topped with crumbled Ritz crackers. The creamy sauce and crispy crackers make it a very pleasant dish. Overall, this is an above average example of this chain and I will return regularly.