SO happy to have found where Messi Soul Kitchen in Riverside went. Now, instead of a brick and mortar, this is a rental kitchen where all orders must be take-out or delivery. The food is still incredible; my favorite soul food in the area by far. At the new location, the prices are slightly higher than at Messi, but it's still a good deal for the portions you get! Although the food is amazing, the ordering process could be improved. I ordered online through their website, and was guided to a tracking page that said I would receive a text once my order was confirmed. I never got a text, so called the restaurant, and luckily my order was in the system. The tracking page notified me at 6:30pm that my order was ready, and to call the restaurant upon arrival to pick up the food. When I called, they said the order was not ready yet, but to wait by the door. Here is where things got confusing - several people were waiting by the door for their food, but there did not seem to be a method for picking up orders or seeing where you were at in line. It wasn't until 7:10pm that someone came out with my order. I have no problem waiting for this delicious food, but a more accurate tracking system would be ideal. read more

The Soul Kitchen - Pot Roast over rice with Yams and Collard Greens - Soul Food Near Me - Norco, California

First, the restaurant or business is hard to find the signage is nonexistent and there's no lights on the building. I called the number and they answered and told us it was behind this other restaurant. It seems to be a building with three or four restaurants in it. You can't sit down to eat you have to pick up or have it Uber'd or something because there's no seating. There is really no pick up place, when you open the door you are in their actual kitchen and it was a chaotic mess. There were three ladies working who were very kind and helpful. But when I called, she didn't say you had to order your food online and Yelp didn't say that either so I didn't get to order my food until we were already there. This meant it's gonna take longer to prepare and receive it. I was starving because I just finished chemo and was on my way back home to the high Desert and found this restaurant on the way. If I had known all of that, I would've ordered it before I left the hospital or chosen another place to eat. I went back to my car and ordered online: two smothered pork chops with sides, yams, and greens and a smothered chicken with Mac and yams and then I ordered two sides of cabbage. The sides were delicious the meat however, my husband said his pork chops were dry and they were not smothered. They were baked, and then gravy was poured on top of them and so he did not like those. He did enjoy the greens and said the yams were good. I would say the same with about my chicken. It was not very flavorful nor actually smothered. They gave large portions, but again I enjoyed the sides, not the entrée. I also bought a humongous piece of peach cobbler for my husband, which he liked. It looked different than most as it was crusted all over, like a deep dish. I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures, but but he liked it. It smelled good. I had to reheat it in the oven because it was in an aluminum tin. They also gave me a few free desserts, a piece of cake and a cinnamon roll. I couldn't eat any of them per doctor , but the other couple that was with us enjoyed them both. In their defense, they were called Messi kitchen in Riverside and they've now moved to a new location. The other kitchen may have been messy per the name, but we weren't able to see it. The young girl said they've been there about four months so they'll probably get it together, but first impression of the new spot they've got a lot of work to do to change their name. read more

We had issues with their system for picking up food from the new Norco location. But since they were just getting started there we gave it another try. Process is much better now and food is still great with generous portions. Chicken was overcooked but still good! read more

The Soul Kitchen - There were three pieces of chicken with yams, greens and cornbread. - Soul Food Near Me - Norco, California

Food was amazing as usual, serving sizes are humongous and the service is always great!! I was a customer at the Riverside location and was worried that the food would change, but it tasted even better. Its take out only, but it tastes just as good when you get it home. Bring a big appetite and enjoy a delicious home cooked meal, just like grandma used to make!! read more

This is formerly Messi Soul Kitchen! I ordered the Pot Roast with rice, greens and yams. My food was delicious. I will say that it wasn't hot though. The new location is to go food only. They still give you a nice amount of food and the price has gone up a bit, but for me, I can eat off of it a few times so it's ok for me. The service was great and I'm glad they are now closer to me. read more

The Soul Kitchen - Pot Roast with rice, greens and yams - Soul Food Near Me - Norco, California

Finally got a chance to try this today and everything was fire the yams were perfect my wife is the pickiest person on yams and she liked them will definitely be ordering here again!! read more

Food had a good flavor but heavily salted. Chicken could not be eaten. Staff was nice and willing to accommodate and offer substitutions for items not available if you were willing to wait and additional hour. A total of 3 hours there seemed to be no tracking system for the orders as they appear to be randomly filled. I'm pretty sure a repeat customer got my pot roast that I waited 2 hours for. Some of the most desirable dishes could take up to three to four hours wait. We opted for a refund on partial order and it was processed right away. I Was most disappointed and hoped this would be an alternative food option I hope they work out food prep time and customer service and less salt African Americans are ranked #1 for high blood pressure and cardiac arrest please consider your customers i would love to have a good soul food place nearby read more

I was excited to see online that there was a soul food spot near me. I'm a vegetarian and wanted to know which of their items were meatless, so I called the number listed for the restaurant, but no answer. Instead, I decided to go there and see the food for myself and ask. It was very difficult to find since there was no sign to identify the business. When I got there, it was an older looking building behind some restaurants and I saw no one coming out or going in, so I sat there for a few minutes to see if there was any customer traffic. After sitting for a few minutes, I saw 2 guys arrive and stand out front of the red door to the building. I walked up and asked them about the place. They said that I had to place my order online and the wait times can be long. One guy said that during his last visit, he waited 3 hours for his order after placing it. I should have taken that as a sign and left, but when one of the employees came out, I asked about the wait time for food, she mentioned that it was about 30 minutes after it was placed online. Here's how my visit went after I place my order. I waited the specified amount of time as indicated online and then knocked on the red door as the directions stated, but either they ignore the knocks or can't hear them....and I knocked pretty hard. I opened the door to ask if my order was ready and was informed that they were waiting for corn bread and yams to finish cooking. After about another 20-30 minutes of waiting, my food was finally ready. I was advised that they were out of the red beans from my order and offered another side instead. Since this was my first time there, I asked for a refund for that item instead. They did not appear to have a system for expediting orders. Most people showed up and opened the door to ask about their order and the door opens directly into the kitchen. Now for the food. I ordered cabbage, black eyed peas, yams, mac n cheese and cornbread. The cabbage was terrible! It looked more like some type of soup with some cabbage in it and it was salty. It also did not smell good. The mac n cheese was not good at all. The yams were ok, very sweet on top and some on the bottom seem to have no sweetness at all....very inconsistent. They yams also kind of smashed up, not nice cut yam pieces that I'm used to. The black eyed peas were good. The cornbread was slightly overcooked (burned) on the bottom and slathered with butter that did not melt totally. I didn't care for it at all. The prices were also a bit high for the small portions of food offered in the little containers. I only ordered 5 sides and it was almost $40. Needles to say, I will not be going back to this place. I observed a lot of things while waiting and it didn't look good at all. If you are looking for soul food, try another spot. read more

TERRIBLE customer service. I used to love going to the location in Riverside when it was still Messi Soul Food. My first visit with the new location a month ago was less than ideal, but the food and generous portions made up for it. Decided to go ahead and give them another shot last night. Placed my order online before 3 pm for pickup between 6 and 6:10 pm. Arrived exactly at 6:10 pm and, per the instructions in the confirmation email, I called the number provided to alert them of my arrival. Called, no answer. Called, answered and hung up. Called, no answer. Called, answered and hung up. Called, this time it was answered, but I was greeted with, "You called us 3 times and we keep hanging up because we're busy, what do you need?" WOW. I told them I'm picking up my online order. "Ok, either come to the door or we'll call you back." Waited in my car for about 10 minutes and received no callback, so I went to the door and knocked; no answer. After another 7 to 8 minutes, someone comes out and hands a bag of food to another awaiting patron, looks at me, and says NOTHING. Several more minutes pass, someone else comes out with a bag of food for another awaiting customer, but that order ended up being incorrect so they took his food back in and started to go back inside, but this time I had the chance to tell them my name for my pickup order. More time passes. The customer whose food they took back was wondering why it was taking so long just to give him his missing kool-aid. More frustrated customers standing around outside, and we're all scratching our heads, discussing the lack of customer service, and wondering wtf. Finally at about 6:46 pm, someone comes out, and hands me a bag of food, but STILL SAYS NOT ONE WORD TO ME. I got back to my car and at 6:48 pm received a text telling me my food is ready. I'm big on supporting small business, especially Black-owned business...but after this experience, NEVER AGAIN will I waste my time with this place. The food is good, but not good enough to put up with funky attitudes and absolutely ZERO customer service skills. NEVER AGAIN. read more

The Soul Kitchen - Soul Food Near Me - Norco, California

Some of the only Soul food in Corona/Norco area. Tastes great every time and always consistent.

salty . salty . salty . everything tastes like SALT . no thank you . you should really taste what you cook before you put it out .

I am a long time customer from the old locations. Food is still amazing I am just adjusting to the online ordering for pickup only but otherwise everything. Else is still Amazing read more

The food was so delicious they are so helpful they have great service, convenient ordering system, Formaly known as Messi Soul Kitchen