5 stars for one of the best meal experiences ever!
I've been to Michelin Star restaurants & James Beard winners all over the world. Some of those spots provided food that was like tasting a piece of heaven, service that made me feel like a king, or a venue that took my breath away. However, most of those places often had some missing piece or such high expectations that I felt more happy that the expectations were met rather than happy to have had the experience.
I hate that I might be setting those expectations so sky high for Southern Belle, located a few doors down from Plaza Theatre on Ponce in a relatively unassuming spot, but that is what I'm going to do. Southern Belle is a relatively new spot founded by Chef Joey Ward (aka the man behind Gunshow) that opened a few months before the COVID pandemic hit (talk about bad luck). It is not (yet) listed on any of the Top Restaurant lists due to being new/the pandemic, so I didn't know it existed until a couple friends of ours asked us out to dinner at their new favorite place.
We arrived at the venue about 10 minutes before our seating and the hostess at the stand outside (in the cold! Talk about a hero right there) offered to grab us some pre-dinner drinks. I looked at the menu and she recommended drinks that ppl really like. The drink I picked (I can't remember the name unfortunately) came out and was literally one of the best cocktails I've ever had. It had black salt on the side of the glass (to help y'all order it) which actually went perfectly with the relatively strong drink. I later ordered the old fashioned for my second drink and, while that was solid, my first drink was truly a memorable one.
We went inside to find a fun Southern decorated venue with nice low romantic lighting. The bar near the back center was illuminated by the words "Bless Your Heart" to really get that southern vibe. Our main waiter for the evening came to the table to begin the meal process. Actually, he started our process by telling us about each of our "auras", which I thought meant he was gonna be weird, but he was actually absolutely wonderful, charming, and (most importantly) extremely attentive and full of information. He would come out with each of our 7+ courses (only $125! What a deal!) to oversee transitions and answer questions, while other members of the staff were sent out to give course explanations in a very intentional manner similar to the Gunshow model.
The 1st course that came out for us (after getting all our add-ons and specifics set out) was something called the PSL. This dish involves some type of soup and coffee that to me tasted like a sweet potato or peanut soup. The really cool part about this dish though was it came in a little Starbucks cup! Even better was the staff intentionally misspelled our names so that we got the true Starbucks experience! Maybe it is just me, but this idea was super fun and a great way to start off the meal.
The 2nd dish that we had come out scuppernong granita, which is a tuna dish mixed with some creamy wasabi, truffles, and apples. This all sounds a little weird on its own (and I'm not a big spicy guy), but the little fishbowl shaped dish was cool and the dish actually tasted great! The flavors all mixed together well and was something I could eat over and over again.
The 3rd dish (I think) that came out is where the venue really built up the pizazz. 4 of the wait staff brought out dishes which to me looked like the Enchanted Rose from Beauty and the Beast with smoke inside covering the dish. The servers pulled the top off all 4 of our dishes at the same time to reveal (if I remember correctly) the pan seared diver scallop. The scallop was pretty good, but the presentation made it hard to remember that part so good job there.
The 4th dish that came out was something called the Egg in a Basket, which was a really beef tartare with egg. I ordered the caviar to go along with the dish. While the wait staff initially forgot it, they profusely apologized, brought it out right away, and then took it off my bill! I'm not the type who needs that type of show, but I really appreciated the effort and thoughtfulness in doing so. The caviar did go with the dish quite well to make quite an tasty dish.
(Yelp says I'm low on characters, so let's go quick): The 5th and 6th dishes came out pretty soon one after another and were both quite good. I can't remember the name of the fifth dish (they offered us a copy of the menu after the meal and I inexplicably declined, so forgive my forgetfulness), but you can see the picture attached and know it was quite good, as was the poulet rouge. However, the real star during that part of the meal was the ribeye. It was the perfect size for a 7 course meal and absolutely delicious. We then finished with a fun dessert and headed on our way.
Overall, Southern Belle provided me with one of my best meal experiences ever. The amazing and unique service and food make this an absolute must try! read more