Sylvia’s Queen of Soul Food

After several visits to this great soul food restaurant I have to give it a five star rating! We’ve tried various things on the menu and everything is great! The staff is professional and friendly and they make you feel welcome. You can’t go wrong! I encourage anyone reading this review to take the time to go have the best soul food in town!

Simply amazing !!! We had awesome service by Annette, she was really nice and made sure everything was perfect for us, we had fried chicken, eggs & grits for brunch. Sweet tea was super refreshing not too sweet but perfect for a hot Florida day. We ordered a side of fries salmon patties yummy! She even gave us corn bread as a treat. It was good had a hint of cinnamon in it! Overall a excellent Experience and awesome food! Best soul food in town for sure!

TASTY! Nothing too fancy or overworked just plain good comfort food full of flavor. The 2 sides I got were so good I’m coming back later this week and getting a plate of sides only. The service if friendly and efficient. This will be a regular spot.

This restaurant has authentic, delicious food. It is made with a lot of care and intention. Now get yourself to this place!
Straight up the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. Crispy juicy fresh. Wonderful coating that breaks off with each bite, not hard and tough. So much flavor. Get it regular or smothered, which is a delicious brown gravy. Put that gravy on the mash too. You can get it on the side if you want.
Thursday is all you can eat fried chicken. But the two pieces I had with two sides filled me up. Big pieces. And I didn’t get the body beautiful eating celery sticks either so I’m saying these are large portions and so good.
Mashed potatoes are real. Mac and cheese legit. They were out of candied yams, but I don’t hold it against them. They run out unexpectedly because they don’t want to make too much and not sell it and then it’s not fresh. They want to serve fresh food and it’s to their credit. So if more people consistently come here, they will know how much to prepare and they wont run out of something early like that.
Peach cobbler full of fruit and bright and sweet. Great fried shrimp and pork chops.
Corn bread is very good. How about some biscuits?
I will return for their Sunday brunch buffet. Can’t wait.
****Update****
I’m here for Sunday brunch and it’s amazing! Yams three kinds of chicken meatloaf collards Mac and cheese the best thick bacon grits mashed potatoes. Peach cobbler is smooth and sweet as heaven and sin. For heavens sake get in here!!!
Please come and patronize this fine business. Come often. The owners came over to see how we were doing. How often does that happen these days?
Long live Sylvia’s. This is the real deal.
PS. Great music in the dining room. You’ll sing between every bite.

I’ve tried this place 3 times hoping it would get better. Sadly each time was a bigger disappointment. The food was less than average.
smothered pork chops — dry
Mac and cheese — needed salt
Buffet — cold food
Servers — nice

I visited this restaurant with my family on Mother’s Day. This place was the best by far. The buffet was fresh and clean. This taste just like your mothers kitchen !

My hubs and I went to Sylvias on a Groupon with our minds set on some fried chicken. We were seated quickly, and found the atmosphere pleasant — spacious and clean with large windows. But when we went to order, we were told they were out of half the items we wanted. Thankfully they still had chicken, but they had had nothing that included potatoes — no mashed potatoes or potato salad. Of their list of like a dozen side items, they had maybe 8, and nothing even remotely approaching a salad or anything somewhat healthy on their menu, which I was hoping for just to balance out the fried foods I was going to consume. It was disappointing also to not to get any mashed potatoes and gravy like I’d been hoping for, but we made our substitutions and were fairly happy with our fried chicken. It was juicy and flavorful, with a nice breading that wasn’t too thick or too salty. The mac and cheese was tasty, but also a heart-​attack inducing dish of cheese and butter grease. Man did I feel like I was clogging all my arteries eating it. The gravy they put on the rice was fantastic and I ended up dipping my chicken in it and leaving the rice behind.
But shortly after we got our food, another table was seated right beside us, a party of about 8 or so people including a couple outspoken old ladies. When they went to order, asking for a much bigger variety of items than me and my husband did, it became clear just how much of Sylvia’s menu was unavailable. Every person at the table was told there was something — or multiple things — they couldn’t order, so they started discussing just going somewhere else since none of them were really able to get anything they wanted. One of the old ladies got really annoyed and practically tossed the menu aside, demanding that the waitress just list what they DID have available. The list was alarmingly short. How does a restaurant expect to operate and keep their customers happy when they are out of half the items they serve? This was a pretty early dinner too, at like 5:30 pm on a Thursday, so it wasn’t busy. There were maybe 4 or 5 other tables there. The table made their substitutions (with the angry old lady at first saying she didn’t want anything, and eventually settling on a side of rice and beans), but once the waitress was gone they continued to grumble amongst themselves about how they should have gone somewhere else, and they won’t bother to ever go back.
We ate our food and then ordered a chocolate cake for desert, which we ended up leaving most of behind. The ice cream scoop that came with it was freezer burnt, and the cake itself tasted old and dry — it was definitely a prepackaged cake and not a high quality one at that. Two days later I saw on the news that Sylvias might have to close, and I have to say, I am not surprised at all.

We came here with high hopes and left with them dashed. The spotless and well ventilated restaurant has nice modern décor and plenty of room. The food, on the other hand, left us wanting more as in more flavor and more imagination. The chicken wings, for example, were served 100% plain with a side of ketchup. I kid you not. Avoid even if they are free. The final nail in the coffin was the mac and cheese. It wasn’t interesting, flavorful, gooey, cheesy, or any of the adjectives I had hoped for.
In conclusion, thank gosh for the syrup and hot sauce which, when combined, turn out to make anything edible!

Great food and great staff! New favorite spot and a must try! Waitress was super sweet and very attentive! Space is so much bigger than it looks but quiet and comfortable. The food was perfectly seasoned and did not disappoint

Must say that this is the best soul food I’ve had in a long time. I wouldn’t call it a hidden gem for the amount of people that are here but it is a really really really great place to eat. The chicken and ribs go very well with the collard greens and Mac n Cheese. Will definitely come again. Met Ms. Betty and she was very welcoming. Amazing place and will keep coming.

First off, the service is horrendous and unacceptable. Second, everything we ordered was insipid in flavor, and a poor representation of soul food.
We will not be returning, and it’s a shame that St. Petersburg’s restaurant model continues to be followed, which is poor service and mediocre food.
Please do yourself a favor and go somewhere else where quality, customer service, and culinary expertise are observed. Best of luck to this establishment, but maybe they should think about heading back north, and concentrating on their flagship store. Never again will we return, or recommend this place to anyone. Regards.

This was my first visit to Sylvia’s and I was so pleased that I purchased the Groupon! If you are looking for tasty southern comfort food, then Sylvia’s is where you will find it. The mac& cheese is cheesy, the yams were sweet, and the chicken was fried perfectly (not greasy!). The greens had a great smokey flavor, but were much too salty for my taste. Although the portions are large, I felt the lunch prices were a bit high.
That being said, it was pretty good and I’d recommend it.

After the great experience a couple of weeks ago, I had been craving Southern food and couldn’t wait to return to Sylvia’s for more food. I even invited another friend to try the amazing meatloaf here.
Unfortunately, I was let down second time around.
First off, the fried green tomatoes were delicious. They were hot and juicy and plentiful to share among 3 hungry people.
Now the bad part. Pork chop was too salty. Collard greens were EXTREMELY salty and borderline inedible. Did they dump an entire bag of salt in there? Food was definitely lacking soul tonight.
Great service and freakishly clean dining area as usual. I hope the salt issue was an isolated one.

My boyfriend and I came here because we had a Groupon. Usually places that I’ve gone to that had a Groupon were disappointments, but Sylvia’s definitely was not one of them. The restaurant is extremely clean and spacious. Our waitress did a great job; she was friendly and attentive.
We had actually dropped by on a Sunday but was told that it was a buffet styled brunch. We decided to skip that and come back for dinner on a weeknight. I’m glad I did. I ordered Sylvia’s Down Home Fried Chicken with Macaroni & Cheese and Collard Greens. The fried chicken breading was so crispy and tasty. The sides were good too but I really liked the cornbread they served. My boyfriend ordered the Meat Loaf which I liked even more than my own meal. The food came out timely even though they had a large party in there at the same time as us.

Pros: The ambiance is nice and comfortable there’s a lot of history on the walls.
Cons: It took 30 minutes to get a waiter to take our order. Another 15 minutes for our sweet tea. One of the waiter was new and no one was assisting him. I re-​call only 2 waiters including the new hire… another customer waited 45 minutes for waiter and I felt bad for him. The entire staff needs to take Good Business Management onboarding classes to see what makes a good business run efficiently and properly. No one was on one accord. There was a disconnection between the staff, the cooks, the manager and the customers. It was very obvious and uncomfortable (on a positive note the workers were still friendly, the lack of communication did not make them bad people).
The food was okay. I got the smothered ox-​tails, mac and cheese /​collard greens.
The oxtails consists mostly of the smothered gravy and bones so I would to suggest to get the gravy on the side. The mac and cheese was pretty good… but I don’t re-​call the taste of the greens. I was just too distracted and ready to go. Not to mention it took forever to get re-​fills. I had high expectation and was disappointed but this was my first visit (everyone deserves a second chance) and I’ll maybe re-​try in the future and re-​view.

There is a reason they are on GROUPON!!! Just had to pay $ 16.00 for a brunch that did not have fresh food nor did it include EGGS! You needed to order eggs off the menu at an additional cost because as the waitress stated «it’s not included» in the BRUNCH BUFFET! We had to ask repeatedly for them to bring out items empty at the buffet and it was not done. Cold grits and sausage, no bacon and everyone standing around. Mangers response for our observations and complaint? …“I’ve been in management for 20 years and never ‘comped’ a meal… you better go eat that buffet!” Mind you we had the bare plates we went to the buffet with right in front if of us… oh and we were there for a good 3 minutes. Cool… I’m not the one to argue, I know that I will never bring my hard earned money to be spoken to like that again. We were amazed that this experience because we have been here before and enjoyed it. WE WILL NEVER RETURN HERE! Please go somewhere else as you enter at your own risk! NEVER AGAIN!!!
PS– We went to Kissin Cuzzins up the road; pretty amazing… make sure to check out my review on Unilocal ;-)

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but after we were finished, I knew I loved every bite of what we had. This place is on point!
This place was suggested by a buddy, so when we saw a cl deals offer, I snagged one. We used it with our meal today.
We found the location without issue, right under 275. The place looks interesting and is in a historic building, the Manhattan Casino building. We walked in and were greeted quickly by the friendly hostess. The space is a wide open dining room. It is very open and has a small bar and takeout area at the front of the restaurant.
We were greeted by our server quickly and he suggested we get the buffet as it had most of the menu available on it. We checked it out and decided to sample through the buffet.
We tried just about everything on the buffet and did not find an item that wasn’t very flavorful and we’ll cooked. The sides alone you could make a meal from. From the black-​eyed peas, white beans, yellow rice, collards, and the mac & cheese, all of it was amazing. We also tried the meatloaf, baked chicken, and fried chicken which were all perfectly seasoned and full of flavor. Towards the end, we sampled the peach cobbler, which was tasty, but we wished it was over ice cream. In the end, we werr happy with everything we tried. The buffet was $ 15 per person, and we’ll worth it. We used our cl deals coupon, which rung up wrong, but was quickly corrected. The one thing you have to watch for is the 18% gratuity that is automatically added, but we had no issue with this as our server was great. I really look forward to returning.

5 stars because I can’t give 6. So, I went to this restaurant with a large group of friends and the staff was absolutely outstanding! Everyone was treated individually and got their orders, no fuss and no muss. There was a nice little old lady playing the piano and a gentleman accompanying her on the drums, nice touch for Saturday lunch.
Now for the food, I’m a southern boy from birth and we didn’t call this style of food «Soul Food» it was just dinner or supper (there is a difference). That being said, since my Grandmother is no longer with us, I have not had better southern cooking than what Silva’s is putting out. I ordered a combination of fried chicken gizzards and livers, awesome! With a large party there was plenty of other things ordered, they all looked great, and the reports were equally as good. Apparently the fried chicken is the «bomb» IDK because I got my hand slapped when I reached for a piece. The peach cobbler appeared to be equally delicious! The meatloaf was a monster and the report was excellent, demonstrated by the fellow scrapping the plate.
I plan on returning again with my wife, who is a southern food expert, if she is equally impressed this will become a must stop for us in St. Pete.

Came today for the gospel brunch with family from out of town. We walked in there wasn’t really a greeter there so we had to look for someone to seat us. They were friendly about it but I recommend that they have someone at the door to seat people. For a gospel brunch there was no gospel music. They should rename it to something else when they do not have the live gospel. The food was good. My favorite thing was the mac and cheese because it reminded me of my grandmothers! It was really good. I was disappointed they did not have an omelet station like it was advertised on their website. Also if you want a waffle to make «Chicken and Waffles» you have to ask for it in the back. It was not an issue though.
Here are my other food ratings based off the buffet:
Candied yams: Very good nice and sweet but not too sweet.
Biscuits: Kind of dry would have liked more butteriness
Grits: OK 3 out of 5
Corn bread: Good moist and flavorful 4
Fish: A little salty 2.5
Baked chicken: Nice and tender with good seasoning 4
Friend chicken: Melt in your mouth good i would give that a 5 with the waffle even better
Greens: Not my favorite would have liked more favor 3
Green beans: Good 4
My family in town said they thought the black eye peas needed more seasoning/​flavor and they liked the turkey it was tender with flavor. They also liked the yellow rice. They also ordered sides of chitterlings (yuck not for me) if your not familiar its pig intestines. They said they didn’t like how there was hog mog mixed in. Not sure what that means but if you eat that be aware of that when you order lol
Peach cobbler was very good it wasn’t too sweet at all.
I peeked at other items on their menu and would like to try those salmon cakes.
The one thing I enjoyed about the buffet was that the food was not overly greasy or greasy at all which is hard to find with other soul food restaurants. Our server was very sweet and attentive I will definitely come back for one of my cheat days.

Good meal overall at a great price.
We got a Creative Loafing. I have never had a hard time using up a deal before, but I felt like we kept ordering food and it still came under $ 30!
They brought corn bread to the table. It was a little tasteless to me, but I didn’t add butter. It wasn’t bad, just not something I wanted to use my stomach space on.
I got the meatloaf. There is a red gravy and a brown gravy. I asked which one was better and the waiter said they could bring one of both. Fantastic! I like the red gravy better, it has a tomato taste that really complements the meatloaf well. I really liked the meatloaf. It was very filling and I ended up taking home half.
For sides I got the collard greens and mashed potatoes. My friend got the mac and cheese to try.
Everyone, do yourself a favor and get the mac and cheese. It was delicious! It is made with sharp cheddar and boy is it good! I scarfed it down and I usually try hard not to eat carbs! The collard greens were also very good. It was on the salty side, but had a great texture and taste. I was disappointed by the mashed potatoes. They were pretty bland to me. I should have just poured my gravy on it.
We got the peach cobbler for dessert. It was ok, but I probably wouldn’t get it again. I wish it came with ice cream. That would have been really good.
Although there is really nothing directly around it, it still feels like a safe area. The parking lot is nice and big so for dinner we had no problem parking. Inside it is nice and big. I definitely want to come back for a Sunday brunch!