Luella’s Southern Kitchen

I am from the South and I am extremely skeptical of any place that claims to have southern cuisine this far north. I have been disappointed many times but for my birthday I just wanted fried chicken and champagne so I decided to give Luella’s a try. This is quite simply THE most authentic southern cuisine I’ve had in Chicago that I haven’t made in my own kitchen.
I had the chicken and collard greens and they were awesome. The breading on the chicken was crispy and quite salty just like it should be. The collards were rich from ham hocks and tasted just like they do down in Louisianna. They did bring out some honey for the fried chicken but I quickly pushed it aside. Chicken isn’t supposed to be sweet! Just hot sauce is all I need and they have plenty to of it. I also got some fried green tomatoes and they were very good. Almost as good as my mom’s but not quite.
They have counter service and the water and silverware is self-​serve but there are waiters who come to check on you. Everyone was very nice and friendly even though I don’t think they were from the South. The only negative thing I will say is that while they take credit cards they only take cash tips. This led to me being forced to leave a much lower tip than I normally would have. Oh well, I’ll just have to go back and leave a great big one for my next meal.

Another one of those Check Please! places that I was determined to check out. This one was a bit of a letdown though. We came for brunch, which means a much smaller menu. Lucky for us, the big 8 person table was unoccupied so we had no wait. Ordered corn bread, chicken & waffles, collard greens & fried green tomatoes. The corn bread was fantastic, made fresh to order so a 20 min wait, but well worth it as it was fluffy and light and delicious. The chicken was fried to perfection, juicy with crispy skin. Unfortunately the waffle were soggy and the whole dish tasted very one note. Also ordered the sweet tea, which was NOT refilled ever, and it was too sweet with hardly any tea flavor. Definitely wasn’t worth a special drive up north for.

This place is always packed on the weekend. You order in the counter and then grab a number and a table.
We ordered the fried chicken and crawfish etoufee and side of corn bread. The fried chicken was really flavorful and I love the crispiness of the breading. The crawfish etoufee was buttery and was just seasoned enough. Not salty at all. The corn bread was very moist. Like I was mention, I love supporting local businesses. My fiancé and I shall be back on a non busy day.
It was fingering-​licking good.

This Chicken is really good
It’s so tasty and juicy
I got so much mad love to give
Started calling it Lucy!
Yeah, I know, I got mad skilllz!
If you don’t know yall better ask somebody!
Now that you are informed let me inform you on this Southern Fried Chicken.
This is damn good chicken. Usually I am very dissapointed by Fried chicken spots. But I really like this spot. The chicken itself was so moist and juicy. When Biggie Smalls came out with his song «Juicy» he had to have been dining at Luellas. You know Big Poppa loved his chicken. Tsunami waves of flavor hijacked my tastebuds. Such a refreshing change. No weird aftertastes like that God awful place Popeyes. The only thing that I wasn’t crazy about was the batter for the chicken. It was weird. Too crumbly, it was coming off and wasn’t seasoned very well. Could have done without it. Then again it would be Fried chicken then I guess. Again the actual meat was so intensely good. They also provide a pot of honey and hot sauce to put on your chicke. Don’t like my chicken sweet, furthermore good chicken doesn’t require any additional condiments. After this Chicken I had to yell Baby Baby baby!
The Braised Collard Greans. That was a revelation. It has been quite some time that I have had greens so good. They are Braised in pork broth so they countered the bitterness impressively well. So Fricken delicious. Little bits of chunky pork waddled in the little pool of broth it was served in. That was a special treat.
Service was friendly with family-​like hospitality. Everyone was smiling and generally seemed to care I was having a good meal. The price is a little steep but everything is prepared so careful and homestyle that it is more than worth it.
Great experience as I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. The batter was weird and wasn’t particularly good so I can’t quite give it 5 stars but I will be back to try their other menu items.

I’ve been to Luella’s several times now, and I have never been disappointed. The first time, I went with a few friends, and ordered the jambalaya (deep flavor, beautiful presentation, I could have had two bowls). A friend I was with, who is from Alabama, was ashamed to tell us that the grits he got at Luella’s were better than his grandma’s :D
The chef himself came out to talk to us and he was so attentive and eager to talk about his vision for the restaurant. Not only was the food amazing, but I’m so happy to have met him and hear firsthand how passionate he is about serving delicious, inventive Southern food. I can’t wait to go back – especially for brunch. I saw bananas foster french toast on the menu and I HAVE to try that!

We came for a family dinner the other night after my mom heard the good reviews about this place. I’ll just run down the positive and negatives of my experience at Luellas.
Positives:
–The restaurant allows you to call and reserve a table on the day you are coming (might only be allowed for larger groups, but not sure)
–The cornbread is amazing, and I really mean that since I normally don’t like cornbread that much in general. Even though it takes 20 minutes, it is totally worth the wait.
–The biscuits were the perfect density and were delicious
–For the most part, everyone had positive things to say about their fried chicken (exceptions will be listed in negative section). Fried chicken dish is 4 pieces and comes with greens.
–The mac and cheese had a nice thick cheese sauce that was full of flavor.
–crawfish étouffée was filled with lots of crawfish
–You must try the beignets because they are some of the best in the city and aren’t greasy
–The restaurant is Byob so your bill will be lower, and you can bring one of your favorite wines or beers to drink.
Negatives
–In my opinion, I feel that the restaurant is not a good place for larger groups (We were a group of about 10). It doesn’t seem like the kitchen is equipped to handle a large volume of orders. For example, one of my family members that got fried chicken had a piece that was still partially raw. They did make her a new piece that was fully cooked, but it took another 20 – 25 minutes until that piece came out.
–Service was slow, but I know that has been mentioned before in reviews
–We had some kids with us, and a couple of them got burgers. When ordering, the host didn’t ask how we wanted the burgers cooked, so we assumed that they would be cooked well done (we shouldn’t have assumed this). The burgers were runny pink inside and the kids refused to eat them because of this.
–I really think that the restaurant should consider hiring a couple more waiters/​waitresses so this could be more of a traditional sit down restaurant vs. having to go up to the counter yourself to order.
–The fried green tomatoes were flavorless and not very good.
My take on this restaurant: If you have a very small group and come during a non prime time you may have a pretty good meal. Otherwise, if you have a large group that you want to enjoy a relaxing meal with, it would be best to go somewhere else.

Divine chicken and waffles, and the shrimp and grits was so flavorful. Don’t miss out on the cornbread skillet!

Luella’s is amazing!!! This place is heaven for those looking for good soul food on the north side. Those who live in the Lincoln Square area know how challenging it can be to find decent home cooking! This used to be our favorite dinner spot before movies at the Davis Theater when we lived in Andersonville. The brisket mac and cheese, collard greens and skillet cornbread are my favorites! This was before going vegetarian, of course! I would not recommend taking a vegetarian date here, as they will struggle to find something on the menu that works for them. I think they sometimes have one veggie option, but I can’t vouch for that.
The service *can* be a little hit or miss, but most of the people who work here are really sweet. I get the feeling they sometimes get stressed out by the customers who linger, considering it’s a pretty small place and they have only so many tables. Most people seem to get carry out here so the seating doesn’t become too much of an issue, but please remember to be respectful of those waiting for a table if you’re finished eating. :)

***Luella’s serves satisfying Southern /​Cajun dishes like shrimp and grits and beignets; I did not love it as much as I wanted to so this might be a restaurant to seek out if you live in Chicago but not necessarily a must experience for visitors who have limited time and thus only a few places to experience in the city***
Luella’s is a Southern /​Cajun restaurant that is just outside of Downtown Chicago. It has a friendly vibe, reasonable prices and an order-​at-​the-​counter approach that makes it the kind of restaurant you can come back to again and again. They have a lunch menu, a brunch menu and a dinner menu, and while some dishes overlap, the menus allow for relatively different experiences. I opted for a dish that seems to be featured on all of their menus, which was the shrimp and grits.
This was a classic preparation with a generous heaping of creamy and cheesy grits topped with boiled shrimp and a lightly spicy Cajun BBQ sauce. The highlight was the grits. While I would have liked a stronger flavor, it did provide a great base for the dish. The sauce was also good and provided noticeable pops in flavor to a dish that did border on the under-​seasoned side.
There was a very generous serving of shrimp though I felt the shrimp was okay but not great. I would have preferred a more seared shrimp to give it a more contrasting texture as well as a stronger flavor.
I also opted for beignets, and these were definitely a very classic and authentic preparation. That being said, with authentic beignets, all the flavor is in the powdered sugar while the fried pastry is more on the bland side with a great pillowy lightness and airiness to separate it from most fried dough. Personally, I would have preferred more sweetness in the dough to make it the kind of dessert where every bite is delicious and consistent, but I think beignet purists will be perfectly satisfied with the beignets here (while the beignets were mostly light, there were a few dense spots).
Service was friendly and quick (a good neighborhood restaurant vibe).
Prices are not too bad. While Luella’s might cost more than your typical order-​at-​the-​counter restaurant, it does not take too much money to get a generous and filling lunch or brunch here.
There were elements of Luella’s I really liked and everything was at least in the okay to satisfying range. I think some of their other dishes might be more to my liking, but even considering that, if you enjoy Southern food and live in Chicago, I think Luella’s is definitely worth checking out.
I am not sure what the parking situation is. The CTA train station is very close and just a few blocks away. The CTA station stop is Western on the Brown Line.

WONDERFUL fried southern goodness with butter and honey! That is how I would describe the food here at Luella’s
We visited tonight for a friend’s birthday dinner. The four of us didn’t need to wait in any lines or for any tables at around 6:00 on a Monday.
To start off, I think the ambiance achieves exactly what it intends to. It’s very casual, «hole-​in-​the-​wall», cozy style is done in a clean and well put together way. It’s no-​frills counter service, but great service all the same. Very different from a lot of restaurants in this category nearby.
I could not decide what to get because everything sounded amazing. Between us two couples, we ordered fried chicken with collards, brisket mac n cheese, the shrimp poboy, the fried green tomatoes, and corn bread (and sweet tea! much to my husband’s delight). The prices were definitely higher than I expected with the more fast-​casual style, but after experiencing the amazing food, it seemed more reasonable.
As soon as we sat down to wait for our food, we noticed a BYOB sign, and two of us ran to the nearby liquor store off western to get some drinks to enjoy with our meals. We will remember that next time!
THEY SERVED A HONEY POT WITH THE FRIED CHICKEN. The breading was seasoned deliciously, and the chicken was sooo juicy. The po boy & fried green tomatoes were good. The cornbread was amazing. I loved everything and was just so happy in southern heaven.
I will definitely be back, and can’t wait to try the brunch!

I’m leaning towards a five star joint here, the food was just phenomenal! We tried the Cornbread Skillet (Must Have): perfectly cooked, right consistency and great flavor profile. with plenty of butta dripping off your hot knife. Next up was the famed Shrimp & Grits as well as the Southern Benedict. Both dishes were amazing especially in flavor. The grits are outstanding with plenty of good sized skrimps to be found! The pork belly on the Southern Benedict was of great quality and really enhanced the flavor profile. Great collard greens side cooked in pork fat as well. Service was great & we were greeted by a very nice lady who explained how the ordering process/​tables worked. The only thing I didn’t like was that it’s BYOB but that may be a good thing and can be overlooked with food of this quality! Must try joint

Fried Chicken dinner, comes with greens. Yum, Yum, Yum!!! Perfectly crispy, tender and juicy (even the white meat). You can opt to add a drizzle of honey and/​or hot sauce, I topped it with a little of both and made it taste even better! The greens were also good, a little smoky, not salty, not mushy either. Added some hot sauce to it too and it was delish.
Fried Green Tomatoes – would take a pass next time. The cornmeal crust slid off of every slice. Ick. It wasn’t very flavorful and I’ve had better elsewhere.
Beignets – Although they looked very pretty, I also didn’t think they were that great either. I have fond memories of Beignets in New Orleans and these didn’t cut it. They were nice and airy, but no kind of flavor, even the powdered sugar seemed bland.
Service. Very friendly and smiley but it took soooooo long for our food to come out. This was midweek, early dinner and there were only a few other patrons. I did see a few folks come in for delivery, but otherwise no other signs why it should take so long. So be prepared to wait. BYOB – that should you enjoy your wait a bit.

This place is amazing. The interior is so nice and cozy, I could have stayed for hours. The man and woman working the counter were both so sweet and accommodating! I would go back for the service alone.
Go to Luella’s, order the beignets for dessert, come back on here and thank me. Dead serious. They’re out of this world. Your stomach will thank you.

I wasn’t that impressed with Luella’s.
This place is counter service and has a really simple menu of southern food. Most things are a la carte, or rather, there aren’t many dishes where you get a protein + starch + veggies, which is rather annoying since most everything on the menu is $ 10 — $ 15.
My wife and I had the fried chicken w/​collard greens + chicken and dumplings. The fried chicken was incredibly greasy and even though it was tasty, it was so greasy and heavy that it wasn’t the most enjoyable thing to eat. I must admit the collard greens were great. As for the chicken and dumplings they were nice and peppery (like really peppery) but were good rather than great.
I’m tempted to go back again to try some of the other dishes, but I’m not in a rush. This place seems better for lunch than dinner, and I was a little turned off by the price for counter food, and not really getting a full, balanced meal.

Dahm! Buttermilk Fried Chicken with spicy gravy and collard greens are a must for your first visit. Add biscuits to the order and you’re set for lunch and dinner. Fast casual works well, but don’t take a table until you order. They celebrated their one year anniversary 2÷03÷16. Certainly need a revisit for their shrimp and grits.
Friendly owners, Kim is granddaughter and Chef Darnell is the great grandson of the beloved Luella Funches. Love supporting a generation honoring their family and her recipes. I could only do a ¼ dark and I dumped the gravy over one of the two biscuits. I’m looking forward to leftovers! The skin and its texture is amazing. You could put the skin on a bun and make it a meal. The collard greens are fantastic and I found myself slurping up the juices. Fresh made raspberry preserves accompany the fresh made biscuits. Catfish tacos are on my radar too.

My visits have been limited to Sunday brunchin’ and each time, we have loved it. If you plan to dine with those loving Southern cooking, this will be a treat.
Their shrimp and grits is seriously one of the best offered in all of Chicago. Since the first time I tried it at Luella’s (⁹⁄₂₀₁₅) I’ve been ordering it around town. I’d found some interesting additions to it, but nothing that compared or came close in texture /​flavor.
While I’ve been able to dig their food /​brunch. I’m not so crazy about the «a la carte» dining experience. It’s a self service kind of place. Orders are placed and then you navigate to a table. Every new order must be paid for before it hits the table. Depending on the time, customers may have to grab their own water, condiments, flatware, etc. I think they once said, doing that helps keep operating costs down. If they operated like a traditional sit-​down, I’d probably try them out for other meals or more often.

I should start by saying that my wife and I grew up in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. That means that we can be a little more critical of «southern eats» than the average Joe – but we’re also a little more enthusiastic about them.
So, we were excited to try Luella’s. We went for a late lunch on a Friday and were surprised that there were 6 – 7 tables of diners at an off-​time. Must be good! We were also surprised by the fact that it was approx. 97 degrees inside. I mean, we were sweating!
The place seemed casual – wood paneling, kitschy southern charm, etc. The waitress brought us menus and came to take our order about 5 minutes later. She didn’t mention any specials or anything off-​menu, but we later found out that the menu posted above the cash register had different stuff than the menus we’d been handed, and we missed some things as a result.
We ordered fried chicken, shrimp & grits, and beignets. Oh, and we got sweet tea, of course!
The service was nice, but it was very, very, verrrrrrrrrry slow. From what we could tell, there was only 1 waitress working, but there were 3 – 4 other employees in the back. I’m not really sure what they did the whole time we were there – bus tables? Plate stuff? Expedite? It didn’t seem as efficient as it should be.
We saw a lot of people asking about their food, and stuff seemed to be coming out at a snail’s pace. It took a good 30 minutes for us to get ours.
The shrimp & grits was pretty good, if not a little aggressive with the rosemary. The fried chicken was a solid «C.» It was greasy and the batter fell right off. It came with a smoked gravy, which was delicious, but the bowl literally had like 2 tbsp of gravy in it. The greens lacked flavor.
We’d ordered the beignets with the rest of our food, hoping to avoid a long wait after our meal, but it took another 20 minutes after we’d eaten for them to come. They were good – a little dense – but good.
Our bill was $ 38 for lunch, which I thought was a lot for small-​ish portions and such a casual vibe.
I’m always happy to see a southern restaurant open in Chicago, as it reminds us of home. But I’m not sure we’ll give Luella’s another try.

Hones review: good not great though like I wouldn’t come again or recommend to anybody the service is awk u order n grab ur own utensils. They ran out of Mac n cheese how u gonna run out of what ur known for that’s like if kfc ran out of chicken no Bueno what I really didn’t like is that they were rushing us to finish like I get it that it’s closing soon but that’s rude as fuck like I’m not sleeping over like they would take dishes away without us being finished really ruined my experience. Wheres the southern hospitality good service is what brings customers back n there still alot of people there too not like we were the only ones there. Wish there was she crab soup i saw it on check please n they dont have it. All in all if ur gonna come get the shrimp n grits. Still on the look out for the best southern restaurant if u want the best fried chicken go to longman and eagle
Gumbo: really good was mostly soup though like gumbo should be really full with meat. It was flavorful but nothing like omg this is the best soup I’ve ever had. There was no depth of flavor. I like that they pour it in the bowl that’s cool
Cat fish tacos: it looked amazing but didn’t taste the way it looked. They were good tacos too dont get me wrong, just the cat fish wasnt seasoned good. The condiments werent that great either it could have been an amaizin taco if it was executed properly the slaw should either be heavenly vinegared or mayonnaise based n the sauce should be an amaizin aioli adding heat would be a good idea. Glad they added lemon though
Biscuits and jam: i was so surprised cause usually there dry n flavorless it was so warm and buttery perfect texture wasnt hard like a rock or crumbling if u touch it. I wish there was an additional flavor. The jam was amaizing like i was licking the jar that it comes in. It was the perfect combination of sweet and sour. The sauce went perfect with the butteriness the biscuits. I wish there was more sauce given
Fried chicken and collard greens: it was so moist. I never had chicken breast this moist. I didnt need a knife at all. The issues were the actual fried chicken wasnt that flavorful like it was good but like not as great as long man and eagles fried chicken. It was crispy but was really greasy to the point where there was a plateful of grease on the plate. The collard greens were really good not bitter at all. The gravy was the actual problem. It was all lumpy n the flour wasnt cooked long enough so all u could taste was uncooked flour. if chicken and waffles are ur best seller then sell it all throughout the day not jus at brunch
Shrimp and grits: i never had good shrimp and grits untill now wow they were spectacular. The grits were so good not hard not to runny, perfect. The flavor of them were sooooooo fucking good i cant describe it jus order it and be amazed. The shrimp were also good but i wish the shrimp were seasoned better they were just plain shrimp. Also one wasnt cleaned. The sauce was to die for all in all i would come back here just for this. The issue was there was so much rosemary. Like all u could taste is rosemary n it wasnt chopped properly so u would be pulling out big chunks of rosemary out of ur mouth no bueno lol
Peacan pie with sweatpotatoe pie: must order delish. So rich omg i was in heaven while eating this. Best peacan pie i ever had really wass great. The issues were the pie crust was falling apart like really having difficulty staying together n wasnt that flavorful. The ice cream was way to frozen i hate frozen desserts they dont taste as good as they could when that happens. It was really good ice cream though just dont over freeze it
Beignets: we didnt get to eat these because they were kicking us out. When we got home they were already to soggy due to all the grease reAlly was bummed out

Great, quick spot for Southern food cravings. I stopped here over the weekend for brunch and enjoyed the Southern Benedict and my husband had the Chicken and Waffles. We had great service and cleared our plates! The place was packed with locals by the time we finished up so it’s not a spot to linger and catch up with friends. It’s a small spot so after eating we got up and gave our table to a couple waiting.
We’ll be back! Yum!

Food was good, but service was weird/​uncomfortable .
We ordered the coffee, andouille sausage quiche and chicken & waffles.
As we sat down and the server/​buser delivered the coffee. Instead of just saying the good olé «hello» or «good morning «, he said «ni hao » ??? Just because we’re Asian he started greeting us in messed up Chinese.
It made the rest of the meal very uncomfortable.
Food was decent but damn, I definitely won’t be back again