Hot & Soul

(Recap on visit) little quaint Jem was a great Unilocal find. We got the staple items… an app, 2 entrees and dessert. App: the mushroom manchego toast: creamy and awesome. Entrees: mole (something) hearty with a lot of body to it. And the gnocchi was dynamite! I’m not Italian, but the gnocchi was clearly made from scratch and melted in your mouth. Dessert: dulce de leche… caramel, mousse, crunch, nutty. we spent $ 75 on everything. We went around 8:30pm and it was slow and rather quite, but it was getting busy when we left. In a nutshell: this was one of the better Unilocal finds I have had. Do yourself and your taste buds a favor and check them out. You shouldn’t be disappointed. Happy dining!

Came here do to the high reviews… And sad to say, very disappointed. I know the menu is ever changing? And perhaps this menu wasn’t as great as in the past?
What we ordered, we didn’t finish. Didn’t even eat half of it. The gumbo was the most flavorless I ever had. Could use salt, pepper, paprika? Any seasoning would have been an improvement. Or — how about some hot sauce?! None to be found. The Chicken Adobo? Basically chicken soaked in vinegar. Incredibly sour and just wrong. Also had some sort of gluten free corn bread concoction… Not sure about that…
Service was friendly and attentive, not much for décor but that’s no big deal. It was the food that was the issue. Of all the «Cajun» places I’ve been — this was the worst. I wouldn’t even call it a Cajun/​creole restaurant. Regardless of if its authentic or not — it was just really bad.
May try again — all those reviews can’t be wrong right? Or maybe people here don’t ever travel to the south?

This is one of the best meals I have had in years! The nut crusted cheese ball was so good and served with three different sauces. The ceviche was fresh and a little spicy. Done to perfection. But by far my favorite was the pork shoulder! The sauce was out of this world and the pork melted in my mouth. It was served with pinto beans and rice. I can not wait to have it again. The service was fantastic! Never wanted for anything!

I have a commitment to trying out small, locally owned restaurants. I use Unilocal to find them. Once again, I was not steered wrong by my fellow Unilocalers.
Hot and Soul has a lot of soul. The place is quaint and homey in a relaxed and easy kind of way. Our waitress was spot on, and did not hesitate to give us the pros of her favorite dishes. We happened to get there just before 6 and she suggested we enjoy our sangria (which was the only thing I wouldn’t order again) and wait for the special list to come out. What great advice! While the regular menu was intriguing, the special menu was actually more expansive! I chose the cold beans and squidward. Amazing~ My friend had the pâté and beet salad. Next time, we are going straight entre.
Definitely fun and funky with fantastic food.

I’ve been meaning to get to Hot & Soul forever. Their menu looks so unique, and caters to a lot of different diets. While they have quite a few meat offerings, they also consider vegetarians and vegans. I give a restaurant a lot of credit when they make an effort to make good vegetarian dishes. Anything is delicious with bacon on top, it takes some more skill to make amazing vegetarian cuisine.
Savanna M made reservations for us for a larger party of about 10 on a Saturday evening. We were seated a long high top table near the back of the restaurant, where we could smell delicious things coming from the kitchen. We had brought a few bottles of wine ($ 15 corkage) which was opened and served to us. Looking over the menu was tough. Of course I had researched online and knew I had to have a few things in particular, but then I see that there is also a pretty impressive list of specials. Luckily the way they do things here there are plenty of chances to make things half portions, and while you can do a full meal with appetizer and entrée, you can also kind of make yourself a tapas style dinner by sharing or doing half portions.
While we were all looking over the menus we started by putting in a few orders of the mushroom toast as this seems to be the must order item here. It did not disappoint. Served four pieces of toast to a full order with tons of delicious mushroom gravy on top, I don’t care if you’re just two people, get the full order. The flavors are rich and you certainly won’t be looking for meat in this amazing veggie dish.
When we started placing our real orders things got a little crazy (I really did want everything). Our end of the table ended up sharing:
*squidward: a perfectly cooked calamari steak topped with a bruschetta type tomato salad, which also had green olives in it. This was so good. I can’t fathom how this restaurant can cook calamari steak so well when all I end up with at home is something similar to rubber. The acid and sweet from the tomato salad complimented very well, and the salty olives were an amazing addition.
*vegan yum bowl: upon first bite I actually wasn’t thrilled with this one, I found the coconut polenta a bit too sweet, but as I tried more I realized you need to combine the elements of the bowl to get the perfect bite. It’s topped with a delcious mushroom gravy, cripsy onions, and sprouts. A little bit of each element in the bite adds some salty and savory elements to the sweeter polenta and this really is a winning dish, I don’t think I’ve experienced a flavor profile quite like this before.
*scoop and smile: curried chickpeas with papadum to eat them on. It amazing me how this restaurant can cook a calamari steak perfectly, while also getting the rich Indian flavor to come out perfectly in their curried chickpeas. Another amazing dish.
Ok so everything I tried I would order again. We had a few meat items on the table I didn’t try, but I should note that my boyfriend raved about the lamb neck special, «neckin». Service was very friendly, perhaps a little slow at some points, but our large party may have been overwhelming as we weren’t very organized in the way we were ordering. It kind of felt like an amazing home cooked meal the way things came out of the kitchen, but the flavors were just so beyond anything I feel like I could achieve on my own. I’m also a big fan of the décor here, with polka dots and hand painted canvases of cats and dogs on the walls. I would suggest to come with more than one other person (maybe a double date?) so you can experience as much of the menu as possible… or just order everything in half portions and you’ll still have leftovers.

I had heard a lot about this restaurant but wasn’t quite sure if it could live up to the hype… well now I want to return for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow — what a culinary treasure trove this little strip mall restaurant serves up!
There’s something about the ambience that reminded me of a small west coast Florida town circa the 90s; just locals, undiscovered, generous portions of food, the kind of small restaurant where you can easily see people leaning over into strangers tables to introduce themselves and share opinions on the night’s supper.
My companion, who has been here many times decided we should share some slices of calamari while I shared my handsome portion of charcuterie pâté. Whatever they put in their salsa (which is quite unique, in addition to tomatoes and onions there appears to be a smattering of jalapeño slivers, capers and olives so you have an Italy meets Mexico mash-​up of topping that really made the grilled fish sing). My pâté came with nice toast points and several condiments — delicious.
For main courses we each opted for the ½ portions; so glad I did — I couldn’t imagine eating more than the generous helping of «naughty gnocchi» (as it’s called on the menu); pillow soft potato gnocchi slathered in a rich ragu of braised oxtails — divine. My companion had a Philippine favorite; chicken adobe over rice — again, another slow cooked rich sauce nuanced with spices.
Full I may have been, but who can say «no» to a peach empanada surrounded by fluffy blueberries and whipped cream light as a cloud? Spectacular, if people weren’t sitting at the next table I would have licked the plate. A decent wine and beer list rounds out the beverages and the staff is super amiable. Guess I gotta wait for the next paycheck to go back because I have to try at least ten more things!

Just thinking about Hot & Soul makes my tastebuds tingle! Hot & Soul had been on my radar for quite some time. However, I knew Husband and 12 year old might not be a fan of the place’s bold flavors. So the restaurant stayed tucked away in my bookmarks. A couple of weeks ago though, after reading Michael C.‘s review I knew I just had to get there… soon! So with half of the family at a movie we did not want to see, 11 year old (my foodie partner in crime) and I ventured up to Oakland Park!
Hot $ Soul is perfectly understated and casual. It is a place where you can wear shorts, a t-​shirt, and flip-​flops and feel perfectly at home. Our server was courteous and all of our food came out promptly. When we arrived at 6:30pm on a Saturday night only a few tables were occupied.
11 year old and I pondered a tasting menu. After all, there was so much we wanted to try! The tasting menu does not guarantee that you will receive specific dishes and there were too many dishes we were interested in trying that night. So we created our own «tasting menu» by ordering four appetizers and two entrees between the two of us. Yes, I know that sounds like a lot of food for two people! What is nice about Hot & Soul is that many of the items can be ordered in half portions. It was still a lot of food and much if it went home with us! Items we ordered:
Mushroom Manchego Toast (small): as scrumptious as other Unilocalers raved! It is a dish that seems so simple but is so good! Cheese toast is smothered in a rich mushroom sherry cream sauce. Even my son who does not like mushrooms loved this dish. You will want to lick the plate!
Squidward: grilled squid steak with tomatoes, olives, capers, sherry vintages, & EVOO. My son described this as bruschetta with squid instead of bread! I can just describe the flavor here as tangy and bright. Excellent! One of my favorites!
Gumbo with Shrimp & House Andoullie: very good gumbo with nice plump shrimp and the perfect amount of spice.
Gnaughty Gnocchi (½ portion): with oxtail meat and san marzano tomatoes, these homemade gnocchi are a little soft for my taste but still delicious. I prefer my gnocchi with a bit more texture but this was a great brunch the next morning!
Strokin’ to the Left: a special that night, this dish was a short rib stroganoff with homemade egg noodles. The short rib was so tasty and soft as butter. The noodles were excellent. What brought the whole dish together though, was the fabulous sauce. More like a broth, one could slurp this sauce with a spoon and be content. If this is a special when you are at Hot & Soul, order it!
Et Tu Fay: another special, just a great crawfish étouffée with long grain rice. It had plenty of crawfish… probably the best étouffée I have had out of NOLA.
On our way out we had a chance to chat with Christy, one of the owners. She was absolutely lovely! You can tell that making unique dishes with bold flavors and pleasing customers is a passion for her and her husband Mike. Can’t wait for a chance to get back here!

The food was good but nothing really mind blowing. I would give it 4 stars but the service could really use some help. I felt like our server wasn’t very attentive. He was friendly but took very long to come to our table each time he went away even though there was only 1 other couple in the restaurant. Also, there was another female server who did quite a bit of complaining about things going on outside of the restaurant that we had to listen to. It didn’t make for the most pleasant dining experience.

After hearing so much about this place and bookmarking it months ago, I was finally reminded by one of my associates at work that there was a great spot in Ft. Lauderdale called Hot & Soul that I had to try, so I figured I better not wait any longer and all I had to do was just find it. This gem, and I mean real gem of a spot, is tucked away in a small shopping center on the west side of Federal Highway near the corner of Oakland Park Blvd. I recommend using the GPS to find it, but once you do, you are in for a real treat.
We walked in here and the décor was «simple», dark wood tables and chairs with bright colors that accented the two bars with a purple archway that surrounds the large opening into this «magic» kitchen, where the flavors of so many different dishes are created. The name Hot & Soul, created by a husband and wife team, was opened 3 years ago. I know that after reading the reviews and hearing about all the recommendations, that this simple dining spot is ALL ABOUT THE FOOD. And SOUL it has. It is not the soul food we are used to hearing about that comes from one single culture, but this is Soul Food from many cultures. The diversity of their menu and the flavors that create these dishes are quite impressive, so impressive that I had to ask our server Christine, how did these owners come up with this, and so many combinations of ingredients and so many dishes.
Let me get to the dishes we had to narrow our choice’s down to with much help from Christine. Speaking of Christine, she has worked here for 2 years and really can help you sort through all these fabulous menu items. The
The dish that everyone has been talking about and confirmed as a MUST by Christine is the Mushroom Manchego Toast. The smaller portion (not so small) is recommended for two people to share. Two pieces of toast covered with mushrooms, Sherry Sauce and Manchego cheese. I must concur, this IS a must «first bite» and a great dish to share. My wife ordered the Just Beet salad. I tried it as well and this did not just have beets, but roasted beets and toasted almonds. Delicious. Getting down to business now, we had to figure out our main dishes to order. She Squidward, which was on their daily special menu was really a different way of trying squid. It was a squid steak, flat but sliced up in strips with tomatoes, olives, capers with a Sherry Vinegar marinade.
The real Soul Food of choice tonight was ordered off their Night Brunch Menu, which is called their Monday bloody Monday menu. Once a month, on any given Monday they offer their brunch menu. We just happened to pick the right Monday because the Philippine Breakfast, recommended by Christine, of course, was on this menu. It was soul food and comfort food all in one dish. What a creation this was. Philippine pork (from pork belly), over vegetable fried rice and topped with a fried egg, medium. Let’s put it this way: if I ever had an urge to have the ultimate comfort dish, I’d have to call ahead to get this again.
Actually, between their regular menu, their special menu and the brunch menu whether you come here for brunch or the Monday night brunch, there are so many dishes to try. I am convinced that this place would be best for a group of people to try so many more of their dishes to share.
Finishing off the night, here is a creation that was a must, whether we finished it or not, the dessert; Dark Bark. Chocolate bark with pistachios caked in, sprinkled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. An absolute must if they have this special dessert.
They have a special dish on the menu that allows for tasting different dishes as they chose for you, 6 courses for $ 45.00 or 8 courses for $ 55.00 per person, and as they say, everyone in the party must be «open minded» because it is not the customer’s choice, but their choice of dishes.
Hot and Soul does serve some good choices of Craft Beers and Wines, Sangria and some of their wines change from time to time.
Christine, thank you for your splendid involvement in our experience and hope to see you next time.
I highly recommend letting Hot and Soul «take the lead» and let them show off their International Soul. Just sit back, ask questions and enjoy. I can’t wait to go back and hope we can get a few people to go in together and share more of their menu items.
Don’t miss this one!!!

I got high on umami with the first bite.
I’m referring of course to a special called Shankenstein, which was a lamb shank braised in Asian 5-​spice and served with jasmine rice. I was not expecting to be blown away by the taste of this dish.
My friend and I also ordered the Holay Mole pork shoulder, which was cooked to perfection, not dry at all, and also had a great mouth-​feel thanks to the crunchy jalapeño slaw.
The regular menu may seem small, but the list of specials was even longer — I suggest ordering off of that (the Shankenstein was a special).
Hot & Soul is hard to find, even though it’s located in a shopping center at the very busy intersection of Oakland Park and Federal Highway — but you’ll be glad you did.

I just love this place so much. I can’t get enough of it. One day I swear I’m going to go in and just make a full order of mushroom toast my entrée. Do not miss out on that appetizer.
The food is always delicious. But above all else I want to give the most credit to their service. They seriously know how to treat you. My first time in I took my dad for his leap year birthday. The amount of attention they showed us was incredible and then they went out of their way to get dressed up and come out and sing happy birthday to him. Even the chef and owner was involved. It was over the top and made him feel so special. We will go back again and again just for that treatment. It’s hard to find genuine service these days, but hot & soul has mastered it. I’m such a fan!

Hidden gem ! Off Federal in a nondiscript plaza, food was phenomenal. Decent prices for dinner considering the quality off the food. The atmosphere is ok… a little small, maybe 10– 12 tables cozy bar area… but come for the food !!! Manchego toast delicious –lic your plate– the chicken adobo didn’t sound like something I order out (I can make chicken at home — right?) NOT like this — flavor packed and awesome flavor packed a punch ! I’d go back just for that and they have ½ and full order sizes… which I liked cuz it allowed us to try another dish and was still a good size. Unilocalers were right — great spot for 5 star food at only 3 star prices — be back soon.

A few of my girlfriends and I have had Hot and Soul on our lists to try for a while, and we were so excited to finally try it out! We started with jello shots (sake, blood orange, and strawberry), which was such a fun way to start the night. I also got a sake grapefruit and ginger cocktail, which was also fabulous and fresh.
For our appetizer, we shared the sweetbreads. Perhaps I am way out of the loop on this, but I had never heard of sweetbreads before. I thought they were just like the name described — sweet, well, breads. But I was certainly enlightened– sweetbreads are fried thymus! Turns out, they just taste like fried chicken thighs and were quite tasty. I had to get past the whole eating-​an-​organ thing but once I was able to do that, I really found them enjoyable. The sweet breads were served with buttery mashed potatoes and gravy– and the whole thing was delicious. Can’t say I would have ordered this without the encouragement of my girlfriends, but we were not disappointed!
For my entrée, I ordered the Island Pig, which was fantastic. It was cooked perfectly and served with coconut collard greens and jasmine rice.
Since we were celebrating my birthday, we all shared the «naners pudding» for dessert. To my surprise, the wait staff dressed up in costume (a lobster, fish, shark, and mariachi player) for the birthday serenade. It was hilarious and so fun.
Definitely give Hot and Soul a try! Its unique menu and inviting atmosphere will not disappoint.

You MUST try Hot & Soul! Your eyes will be like WOW! Your nose will be like OH HEY! And your mouth will be like OMG!
My personal recommendations:
BBQ Shrimp NOLA Style
Gnaughty Gnocchi
Chicken Adobo

I was in town for a work conference and decided to try this place out after reading some Unilocal reviews. Thank you, fellow Unilocalers!
Everyone seemed to rave about the mushroom manchego bread, so I ordered that. And they had a special that evening for a crawfish pasta dish, so I ordered that was well. Somehow, I was able to finish MOST of the dishes. The manchego toast is quite heavy and filling, so try to go with someone else so that you can share this. The crawfish pasta was so fresh and delicious — I LOVE crawfish and I LOVE pasta, so it was a win win for me!

Very tasty return to Hot & Soul. Ordered for take out and it was ready as promised. The BBQ Shrimp NOLA contained 5 large prawns in a creamy sauce that was cooked to perfection. Holay Mole was moist and succulent pork shoulder Mole Colorado with red rice, pinto beans, and Jalapeño slaw. All items were well packaged for take out and the order was complete. Overall very satisfied.

I’ve been wanting to check out Hot & Soul for a long time now, just never got around to it. So when I started planning my mom’s birthday dinner, I thought this place would be right up her alley.
Honestly, I left thinking to myself «wow, that was a solid meal, 4 or 4.5 stars», but the more I look back, the more I realize just how in love with Hot & Soul I am, and I definitely need to up it to 5 stars. I seriously can’t wait to come back! And it’s true, sometimes I want to keep these little gems a secret, but not in this case. Go here ASAP, I want them to get more business! Look out for a UYE coming soon!
We arrived slightly after 7pm on a Friday night to a fairly empty restaurant. Our server came over and brought over the regular menu (which is quite small) and their list of specials. Despite not being all that hungry we inquired about the 6 course tasting menu. I did ask if the manchego/​mushroom toast wasn’t a part of the tasting, for us to please add it on, but he said he was happy to make it one of the courses! Again, the courses change based on chef selection and daily specials, so no guarantee you’ll get these.
We happily sipped on some wine (bottles here are cheap at ~$ 30) while we waited for the first course to come out. Once the bottle ran out we switched over to red sangria which was one of the best I’ve ever had!
Course 1 — Beet Salad with a horseradish dressing. — We weren’t quite sure if we really liked this dish at first, but once the sweetness of the beets combined with the horseradish we loved it.
Course 2 — Manchego/​Mushroom toast — I could eat 500 of these. Order this!
Course 3 — Spanish Style seafood soup — absolutely AMAZING. With a saffron aioli on the side, yummmmm. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.
Course 4 — Skirt Steak with rice — not my favorite, and I found the steak to be a bit chewy. Flavor was on point though.
Course 5 — Lamb Vindaloo — My brother was super excited this was one of the courses, and I think the chef/​server must have heard him talking about it when he saw it on the menu. I was pretty full when this came out (tasting menu was huge portions) but I managed to scarf down most of it. Delicious!
Course 6 — Desserts. Since this was a special occasion, they brought us out almost every single dessert to try! Woohoo! The strawberry/​avocado cheesecake wasn’t our favorite. Banana pudding was divine, sea salt chocolate bark was perfect for a chocolate lover, but the Dulce de leche mousse was life changing! Almost had to lick the plate!
Overall, this was a phenomenal meal, and super cheap (6 courses was $ 45pp). Food was delicious, wine menu was also cheap, service was fantastic, really I can’t say enough good things about this place!

Recomendaciónes: Manchego Toast, y el Holay Mole… El servicio es muy bueno y la comida es excelente !

I think we’ve found our new favorite restaurant. Came here for dinner after work on a Friday night and it was one of the best meals and experiences we’ve had in a while. From the ambiance, the awesome staff, the FOOD and meeting Chef Mike — we were just blown away.
Came around happy hour so we decided to try all the specials on the board and we ordered a couple items from the regular menu. I can’t even start with how much we ended up eating because this review would be ten pages long, but let’s just say that the quality and the intense flavors of each and every dish we had were totally next level. Combinations and flavor profiles that were so exotic and just took us to another planet.
I really want to emphasize how well thought out and executed the food was. We were just wowed at the way each dish came together so right — even the ones we were scratching our heads about at first. The service was also super awesome, we felt so at home and welcomed… and then came out Chef Mike to introduce himself to us… what an honor!
I don’t know of a better way to celebrate the end of a long work week than coming here again. Or any other day of the week for that matter — bravo HOT & SOUL you guys rock!

Hot and Soul is one of those divey-​hip restaurants that serves up unique crazy good dishes! I absolutely love the vibe of their restaurant. With it split into two different sections they have a bar, small intimate tables, and a large community table! This is such a great spot for really any kind of dinner gathering!
The location is in an unexpected strip mall near the Culture Room right next to Beijing Chinese with plenty of parking between all the businesses. Look in the far middle for the Purple Steaming Hot & Soul Cauldron!
The service always comes with an upbeat smile and fun personalities! Everyone working always seems to be having a good time which customers feed off of and makes for a pleasurable experience.
Unique crazy good dishes coming right out to you with love! Their menu changes daily but they have a base menu with all of their favorite dishes! A lot of the dishes you can order a half or full portion which is awesome! Sharing is always entertaining and you can try so many different food flavors!
On the first time visiting my husband and I wanted to try a couple of entrees so we decided to split the Jamaican Me Hungry and Down the Bayou! Both were amazing, full of flavor, and bountiful even with just ordering two halves we were overly satisfied!
On our most recent trip in we had some friends with us and could not have had a better dining experience! First off, their beer selection is really good with a nice selection of local brews! They have about 6 draft selections and also serve a lot of cans/​bottles along with wine! Their Sunny Hour is Tuesday-​Friday 4−7pm including $ 4 Drafts/​$ 5 Wine/​$ 6 Sangria with a couple of bites on special too!
Everything that came out of that kitchen awoke our taste buds again and again! Each item had a completely different taste that was overly fresh and delicious! For starters we went with the Soba Noodle Salad– Mushroom Manchego Toast– Cheesy Nutball! The absolute MUST is the Mushroom Manchego Toast; this is two pieces of toast drenched in Shrooms and Sherry Sauce! Next, our entrees arrived and our mouths started to water! I could smell the amazing aroma of mine before it was even placed in front of me! I ordered the Seoul Bowl consisting of Clams, Korean Tofu, Kimchee, and more– this was spot on! My husband ate and loved every bite of his Catch An Ox By Its Tail! Their dishes are as unique as their names making a flavor bomb of excellence in your mouth!

I didn’t have the best experience coming here to say the least. It was a tuesday night and it was VERY busy and made me really excited to try the food! But as soon as I walked in there was no one there to greet us or to seat us. We were standing for a while just looking around waiting for someone to acknowledge us but despite all the waiters walking by us no one said anything. I was getting pretty annoyed so I walked up to the bartender and asked if there was a host/​hostess to seat us. She simply replied «put your name on the blackboard» (referring to a chalkboard on the side of the wall. I was not told how long the wait was or anything. Still really feeling excited I put my name on the board and went outside to wait. We ended up waiting about 30 minutes before we went inside to ask about the table and then seated us.
We ordered 3 dishes: a shrimp dish, the burmese chicken and my friend ordered a pork dish. My shrimp dish was super over powering and extremely saucy. Now dont get me wrong I love saucy foods but this dish had too much going on and not enough rice to compensate. I could only take a few bites :(
The burmese chicken tasted like a common thai coconut curry dish and was nothing special.
I definitely did not have a memorable time here and I wont be back.