So my visit here tonight has a story that would be a bit too long to include in a review, but what I will let you know here is that I first came across this business that literal day before the historic floods of August 18th, 2024 at a food truck festival in downtown New Haven. Ever since that day and the subsequent floods, I've been wanting to give SNG a proper visit and give a proper review. Fast forward to July 22, 2026 in Hartford and the walk I made to the ice cream right on the same street as the state capitol building. When I reviewed that place, I had to look back at my old reviews and found I had had those guys before at the Hartford Taste Festival of 2025. At that moment, something clicked. Didn't I first find about Sandra's this exact same way? I knew my job had a sponsor event the Saturday of that following week (now today). I came to a revelation. THIS was the night I had to go! I NEEDED to get to Sandra's and I needed to do this now!
Upon arrival, the location is very unassuming. It has such a huge following, yet one can easily pass by this place if they don't know what they're looking for. Coming inside, I had found it to be a bit of a learning curve to even find a menu, let alone order. Turns out, you have to go outside and look at the menus outside to make a decision, something I am definitely not used to. Not a bad thing, but just something to keep in mind. After you order, you are given a number, and then you wait outside until they text you that your order is ready so you can go pay. What is a plus here is that I got my food in a considering less than the amount of time I was promised. It was maybe about 10 minutes after I ordered when it was ready when they I was told it would be ready in 20.
Now, back at that fateful festival, I did have the fried chicken, the Mac and cheese, and candied yams. Now, let it be know that I NEVER eat yams. I just never felt the need to have those in my life. That being said, I do remember being pleasantly surprised by how they tasted. That night was a great lesson in getting through your dinner before going to have dessert in a way that it didn't feel like I had to have a parent tell me to do exactly that. I remember liking the dinner overall, but not being wowed enough to really give it 5 stars if it were a proper review. Maybe a 3.5 or 4.
Tonight, the Mac and cheese makes its return, this time with string beans, blackened shrimp, and BBQ Pork Ribs. Oh, and I nabbed this neat container of fruit punch because it was so humid it was like Connecticut just moved South to Northern Florida. Yeah, we'll go with that. Between the 2 Mac and cheese's, I would say tonight's edition was better than what I had at the festival. The string beans are a good vegetable side that definitely has an authentic Southern taste to it. The blackened shrimp is on top of a small bed of brown rice and beans. You do need to take the tails off each the shrimp, but if you know how to eat shrimp, shouldn't be an issue whatsoever. The rice and beans are cooked pretty too might I add. And the ribs. Oh my GOD the ribs! Most times in CT you have to go to a true BBQ spot to get good ribs. But they did well with this rib. Fell off the bone, and the BBQ sauce had a nice kick to it without being overpowering. It didn't feel too skimpy like the ones I had from that Dominican spot I went to last week. The authentic, homemade soul food is worth the hype.
Speaking of the hype... So when I first read reviews of Sandra's and ironed through who was reviewing this place, I did not have a good first impression. It was as if because of some of the people who rave about the food, they intimidated me away from making my visit here for a while without saying a word. What if I went, didn't have a good experience, leave a bad review, and then I end up summoning an angry mob chanting to have my head on a spike? It was a real thought that went my head at one point in time when thinking about going there.
But still, I needed to come here, and now that I've been, I can say I'm glad that I did. Sandra's serves soul food that they have every right to be proud of. It's not a place I can come to often, but I would be happy to come here again to try more of their food items, especially now that my first memories of Sandra's are now completely behind me. read more