Lillie Mae’s House of Soul Food

This little Texas looooooves Lillie Mae’s! There is nothing better than country, Southern comfort foods and Soul Food. The friend chicken is to die for! A plate is not complete without sweet tea or grape Kool-​Aid! This is what growing up poor in the south was all about. I’m do eat pork or beef so I cannot comment on that. However, by the looks of my partner’s finger licking after devouring a plate of ribs… I’m sure that’s a good they were the bomb!

We went on a late Saturday afternoon for lunch. It was not a really great experience.
Parking is good, appears to be plenty of space.
Cleanliness is moderate. The bathrooms are outside and so I am guessing subject to random public use. But, they were dirty, graffiti covered, and it was clear not maintained on a regular basis.
People were really nice. No complaints. Very friendly and welcoming. Service was solid. No issues or complaints.
Food was a bit of a disaster. Food appears to not be cooked to order but batch cooked and portioned out at order time on to a plate. None of the food was hot, only barely warm. The hush puppies were oily and rock solid. The fried chicken was just ok, being a bit dry. The hot links were warm– barely. One of our party ordered fried chicken and he got two large wings with hardly any meat on them. Potato salad was ok. None in my party particularly cared for the food.
I am not a fan.

We were just in chicken&waffle branch mood…
The dishes were hhhhhhhhhhuge! Taste are ok. Good enough if you suddenly want to eat chicken, waffle and ribs in a Saturday morning.

Food is amazing… got the combo 11 brisket & chicken… cornbread, potato salad & corn… delish… no complaints…
the restroom, outside the restaurant, is a different story, disgustingly filthy… no tp, no seat covers toilets floor everything filthy… do your business before arriving or hold it til you’re home…

Every time I drive by this place, I have memories of amazing soul food and my mouth starts watering.
Let’s start with the staff. They’re all so friendly and down to earth. I felt so welcomed (perhaps because I’m black but the white people seemed comfortable too). I will say that we waited close to
an hour for our food.
The. Food. Is. To. Die. For. I ordered the BBQ chicken with a side of Mac n cheese and potato salad. My mouth is watering as I write this. Each dinner plate also comes with their amazing corn bread. I can’t even describe how good their food is. Just go.
The atmosphere is super laid back and the place gets packed. While I wouldn’t go on a first date here as it can get messy, I recommend family dinners or a night out with friends.
Don’t forget to grab a wet hand wipe on your way out. Your fingers will be greasy.

Great food but wouldn’t recommend coming on an empty stomach on the weekends. An hr — 1.5 hr wait. 3 stars for the wait, but 5 stars for the food. They need a better method of cooking the food being as busy as they are. Either more workers or a system. Seems like they cook each plate as its ordered and if it’s busy You will be waiting for atleast an hour. Just come BEFORE you get hungry and you’ll be fine.
– update
:(finally got my food an 1.5 hrs later and they shorted me on my food. First time they ever shorted me (by a lot). Gave my sister 2 small strips of catfish, and the cook rolled her eyes at my mom when she asked for tartar sauce. I use to love coming to this place but would come the non busy hours which is totally worth it. But coming on the weekend paying ~$ 20 for a plate, waiting 1.5 hrs, and having the cook give attitude when asked nicely for tartar sauce — is not really worth it. On the weekends I would recommend driving down the road to Backayard and get some excellent Caribbean food.

Went for the chicken n waffles lunch — a little weird how they do they have two different buildings right next each other. For the brunch or chicken and waffles all-​you-​can-​eat thing or whatever they call it, the fried chicken and waffles were on point, the biscuits were on point, everything else — Gma can do much much better, especially the mac n cheese.
All in all, I give it 4 stars on the grounds that it’s all you can eat and they keep the food coming out; also they had football going so you can literally sit there and stuff your face for an entire game. Make of that what you will.

Came here on a Sunday afternoon with my brother for the buffet. Obviously I’m a fried chicken aficionado and lets just say this is up there, crispy flavourful skin and moist delicious chicken I ate about 4 pieces and then the next day I had a salad and went to the gym. Moving on, the biscuits were delicious, but unfortunately the mac & cheese wasn’t really as cheesy as my grandma makes hers is pretty amazing.
In conclusion if you want some pretty amazing fried chicken or are just craving soul food in the south bay then you should come here.

Came here on a Friday at 6:30pm and to my surprise it was pretty dead. The food however was finger licking good. The fried chicken was super crispy on the outside and perfectly moist and juicy on the inside. The cornbread is massive– served to you on a seperate plate like a piece of birthday cake. The ribs were super saucy and good too. The Mac and cheese could use some work and the portion was small for a hearty side.
Reason for the 3 stars is because the wait was FOREVER. Maybe they were short staffed? I can’t imagine coming during a full house.

This is a review of the sit down, Sunday brunch.
First visit. Arrived for brunch @ 1 PM today. Entrance to building was not posted. Found the cashier. Cashier service was advantage. Paid $ 20 per adult
The food was placed in two different areas and the plates were nowhere in sight. Finally located them near the hot food area. Served up items from the other area. The hot trays didn’t have covers. Food was nearly cold and average flavor.
I returned to hot food area. I politely requested just 2 items. Cat fish & BBQ chicken. The female server asked me «If I was angry». I calmly stated «No». There was 5 choices and I didn’t want to waste the time going over every item.
The fish & chicken was cold.
Someone did check on us about 20 minutes into our meals.
Even if they corrected all these mistakes. I will not return to the «Sit Down» area. The food and service is much better in the ‘To Go” area. They have 2 buildings next to each other.
$ 20.00 for meal was robbery. The food & service was subpar. The server comment was uncalled for..
Do try the food at the «To Go’ area on the street. Also the BBQ smokers’ are in the rear of this building.

Absolute garbage:
WARNING: I have eaten there three times now. I kept going back thinking I must just be coming on an off day. Not once have I been satisfied. I ordered BBQ chicken, which was very delicious and juicy. When I asked how they got it so juicy, they told me they fried it. THEIR BBQ CHICKEN IS JUST UNBREADED FRIED CHICKEN. How are you going to call it BBQ chicken. That should give you an idea of what they think the word BBQ means.
Meats: Seems like they buy the cheapest meats they can.
Cook: I sincerely don’t think they own a smoker. I am pretty sure they just try to grill everything as fast as they can. I also don’t think they marinate or rub. They just slather a ton of nasty all-​sugar BBQ sauce on their stuff.
BBQ Sauce: It is closer to sweet and sour. It is a light red/​pink. There was no smoke to their sauce.
Sides: Terrible. Even their mac and cheese was bad.
NOTE: I am not a picky eater. I rarely leave a plate empty. I stopped eating my meal half-​way through the third time I tried this place.

Their fried chicken is SO JUICY and their portions are quite large .
Dinner specials start at 3pm and includes 2 sides + cornbread or hushpuppies. Lunch specials end at 3pm and from what I saw, it’s basically the same as the dinner specials but ~$ 5 cheaper 9and may not include add’l sides??? Don’t quote me on that)
I ordered the fried chicken with brisket combo + steak fries + baked mac & cheese as my sides (~$ 17 during dinner). As mentioned earlier, fried chicken was super juicy and I also really enjoyed the mac & cheese.
I do think the prices are a bit steep, but I’ll most likely be back if I’m craving soul food again.

THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE SIT DOWN RESTAURANT AND NOT THE TO GO, «FASTFOOD STYLE» PLACE BESIDE IT.
DO NOT COME HERE. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. SERVICE IS REALLY BAD. IF I COULD PUT NEGATIVE STARS I WOULD.
Arrived at 5:55, only us and another table who just arrived as well in the main dining. Place was quiet with some other guest in the bar. 15mins after we sat down, finally the waitress sees us and gives us menus.
She puts in our order at 6:22 (she checked when we complained, saying it hasn’t been that long).
At 6:45, still no food. Our server said its still 15mins more. Doubtful.
At 6:55 we left. Waste of $ 10 since we decided to leave money for our drinks.
At 6:55, none of the lone 2 tables in the main dining has food. The servers are just standing around, watching tv.
Food is good but the service is the worse. Not worth the stress especially when its not packed at all. I guess there is a reason why the place was practically empty.

I love Soul Food, so much so that almost any Soul Restaurant almost defaults to a 4-​star restaurant! Lillie Mae’s, unfortunately, either had an off-​day, or are far below the par I expect from soul food. I ordered BBQ Chicken dinner, came with Corn Bread and 2 sides. I chose Fried Sweet Potatoes and Baked Beans.
The food was ready very fast! I was pleasantly surprised. The chicken, unfortunately was pretty cold. The baked beans were in a very small container, amounting to about 4 or 5 scoops before tapping out. The fries were good quality, fried well and in good quantity. The chicken really fell off the bone but was just… too cold for me. The BBQ sauce was tasty but not impressively so. And the price was very high for a soul food restaurant. Overall, if a return experience proves better, I will up my review. For now it will sit at a below-​average until it rectifies this experience.

Stopped by for lunch because chicken and waffles came up in a conversation the day before. Not sure if it’s because I’m not a huge fan of fried chicken or if it’s something else, but to me Lillie Mae’s strikes me exactly as what 3 stars is to Unilocal: A-​OK. As you probably guessed I ordered the chicken and waffles. Decently priced, good portions, but besides that not much else stuck out to me. Definitely liked the seasoning on the fried chicken, which would probably be the difference between here and fried chicken at other places. The waffles were pretty good as well, but again nothing too special in my opinion. Of course there are other options here besides chicken and waffles, so don’t base the food here solely on this review.
The service was pretty friendly and they have grape kool-​aid on tap which I personally have never seen before. At the end of the day, there aren’t many soul food places in the Bay Area as far as I know so I would say at least give this place a try. I’d say it’s one of those places that you wouldn’t mind coming back to every now and then, just not very frequently. But who knows maybe you are more of a soul food person than me. So you keep doing you Lillie Mae’s, I’ll see you around.

It was my first time there today and it was pretty interesting. At first, it was relatively empty, but near the end of our meal, it filled up a little bit more, which, honestly, made me feel better.
The food was yummy! I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken, which had a wonderful texture and was prepared in delicious spices. The mac&cheese, cornbread and French fries were also tasty and definitely completed my dish.
The other best thing about this place were the free refills of their homemade creations (there are: Koolaid and tea (sweetened/​unsweetened) and I was all over that grape Koolaid!
All in all, it was a pretty good meal! The proportions were huge –the chicken– but that didn’t bother me! It just meant that I would take home more leftovers!

I gave this place another go. I got the number 11, fried chicken, brisket, baked beans, mac n cheese, and cornbread. whole meal just under $ 20.
The fried chicken seemed like it may have been crispy at one time in its life, but had absorbed too much oil and was way rubbery.
The brisket was litterally swimming in grease. I had to tilt my plate up to let it drain. The remaining meat had a texture similar to ground beef, covered in bbq sauce…
The baked beans were actually pretty good, too bad the serving size was tiny. In fluid ounces, it may have been 5 fl oz, maybe…
The mac n cheese wasn’t too bad either. Needed salt and pepper for sure, but hey, season to taste right? Did have that home made taste to it, which was much appreciated.
And the corn bread, was soft and moist, but it fell apart everywhere. I couldn’t pick it up, had to gather the crumbles with a fork.
The restraunt itself was very dusty and dirty, even given the choice to eat there, I decided against it. Tried outside, but the chairs were so awkward… I just took the food to go.
So that’s a full account of my experience this time. I gave them time, tried a new dish, but still incredibly disappointing. Sorry guys, but definitely not worth the money.

There’s lots of parking and it’s an order-​at-​the-​front and then sit down and eat kinda joint. They have an easy picture combo menu when you first walk in and then a full menu by the front counter. The dinner price is around $ 3 more than lunch.
My friend got the fried chicken w/​brisket and sweet potato fries. I got the fried chicken w/​hot links and coleslaw. We also shared a ribs plate w/​fries. (We eat a lot and like to try different foods!!) I’m not a big fan of pulled pork or brisket so that was okay. The fried chicken was SUPER oil so it had a good crisp on the skin. The seasoning also had a hint of sweetness in it. The hot links were okay too. I needed to use the hot sauce packets that were there to flavor the food more to my liking. The ribs were somewhat dry and fatty and the BBQ sauce wasn’t that spectacular.
I came in on a Sunday afternoon and it was hot AND humid inside so it wasn’t pleasant. All in all, the food was nothing amazing and I don’t think I’ll be coming back.

There comes a time in one’s life when the craving for artery clogging, deep fried, oily goodness is too much to bear that no burger, pizza, or burrito can satisfy such a need. Now where can I get some glorious fried chicken without resorting to the the soggy KFC and dry Popeye’s down the street? Lillie Mae’s House of Soul Food is exactly what it sounds like, comfort food that consumes you like a big warm hug as you eat and tucks you into bed after when you food coma.
Came on a fried chicken craving and left completely satisfied. The choices of meats were all so mouth watering making it hard to choose (brisket, pork ribs, fried catfish, fried chicken, sausage links, bbq chicken). Also how was I only supposed to just pick 2 sides! Sides included baked mac n cheese, baked beans, potato salad, collard greens, cole slaw, hush puppies, and fried okra just to name a few. I chose to go with a combo which was 2 choice of meats and 2 sides.
The fried chicken was sooo crunchy and juicy. Juicy fried chicken is the best kind! The juices provided a lot of good flavor to it. The pork ribs were a bit dry, though very big. The servings were huge — 2 large pieces of fried chicken and about 3 – 4 pork ribs. The mac n cheese wasn’t super cheesy and heavy and I loved that their baked beans had meat in it and it was a bit sweet, like chilli! The hush puppies were a bit dry to me and seemed kind of cold.
I definitely want to come back on a Sunday brunch for their buffet so I can try a bit of everything and of course their Ghetto Grape Kool Aid mimosas, yes you read that correctly.

I came here for lunch with 2 coworkers on a weekday. Luckily, it wasn’t crowded at all. It was our first time trying this place. Someone had suggested it, so we decided to give it a try.
The décor is cool. It’s very rustic and homely, since it’s a wooden structure.
I ordered the southern fried chicken. My coworkers ordered ribs & fried chicken, sweet potato fries as a side, and a salad with fried chicken.
Southern fried chicken: I requested white meat, which was an extra $ 2 and 20 – 25 minute estimated wait. My side was fries, and wheat for the type of bread. They weren’t playing around when they said it was an extra wait time… when I got my food, my coworkers were halfway done with theirs. Luckily, it was fresh & piping hot. There were 2 wings and 1 breast. 2 small pieces of bread… it looked like it came out of an orrowheat bag. The wings barely had meat on them… disappointing. The breast had juicy white meat, but it was small & wasn’t filling.
Ribs and fried chicken: my coworker thought her order was BOMB. I looked over at her grubbing away; she had 2 sides of coleslaw and potato salad, and some cornbread. Since I was still hungry, thankfully, she let me have her cornbread. It was decent.
Salad: my coworker didn’t seem satisfied with her order. Granted, it was mostly due to dietary restrictions. However, she enjoyed the salad dressing the most.
I left the place still hungry. My order sucked and I felt bamboozled /​scammed. Wasn’t worth the wait nor the ~$ 13 I paid. I’ve had better fried chicken at Disneyland, than this place. I might come back here, but only because my boyfriend may want to try it.