Des Des Soul Food Cafe & Bar
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MY REVIEW: I was in the area and while waiting for some friends in the same shopping strip to get their hair done, I wondered to this place in the middle of Chinatown off of Bellaire and Mary Bates with neighboring restaurants like Pho T*au Bay and Thai S*pice Express. What attracted my attention was their outside sign saying "SOUL FOOD." It was surprising to even find such a restaurant on the predominate area of Bellaire. My company consisted of four diners.
I walked in it was dimly litted for around 3pm. Looking from the outside, not much to see because the glass windows are darkly tinted and there is blinds that are closed. I was taken back on the first impression that this place is definitely a club and bar. The floors were black and white tiles, very clean. Square black tables and red chairs were scattered around. There was a projection screen in one corner, a small stage at the opposite corner with a mural of musicians playing overhead, a lounge area consisting of one sofa and a cofee table parallel to the door. On the west wall, a Ethiopia painting of a village consumes the majority of the side.
We were the only diners and the a man took our orders, brought our drinks, while another woman came out and set up our silverware. I believe he was the cook, there only seemed to be two of them there. The TV was on the do-it-yourself channel, while oldies music vibrated off the walls singing "She's a brick house."
Meatloaf Dinner: 2 slices meatloaf with peas, ground beef, tomato past on top. Side orders were real mashed potatos, white rice and brown gravy, and the cornbread is really good.
Oxtails: They are really tender and spicy with a side of greens also really good, and mediocre black beans.
Spaghetti Dinner: the noodles seemed to come from the grocery topped with tomato sauce from a can, no meat at all, served with a ice berg lettuce/tomatos/onions with your choice of ranch or thousand island dressing.
The food came out hot, not to the point of tongue burning, but enough, the service was very hospitable and the waiter/cook/host came by to ask about how the food was. The service was kind of slow around 30 minutes for everything to be brought out, but there was a lot of food to be served. Most of the dinners range around $7, not a bad price for some soul food. Everyone was stuffed and my verdict is this is a hole-in-the wall joint that does give an original taste to home cooking and they take pride in their food. Although, I have never smelled smoke, but I saw both the workers smoking from the bar. Its laid back, friendly, and a good meal for a place in the Chinatown.
NAME: Stunna
SUBMITTED: 5/18/2005 LAST VISIT WAS: 5/2005
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times
MY REVIEW: I love the atmosphere of the place, the lighting was a bit dim but just right. I ordered some oxtails and boy was it good, nice and spicy just like i like it. I actually spoke to the cook (Andy) who is from the caribbean, I had to compliment him on his dish. All i can say is that i have been back there more than once and love it. Try it and ask for the cook.
NAME: jzillah
SUBMITTED: 5/7/2005 LAST VISIT WAS: 5/2005
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times
MY REVIEW: First of all, this restaurant SHOULD NOT BE listed on this web site UNLESS you don't mind eating at the club. (Club foods are usually bad...)
I wanted to leave a review sooner but it took me sometimes to recover from this horrible experience.
Well, I love soul food and I've been wanting to try their food for the longest time. One day I called this place to check their business hours. The guy who answered the phone was very helpful and friendly which made me decide to finally check it out. I asked him if it's "kid-friendly" place because I wanted to bring my kid with me and he told me that customers bring their kids all the time.
When we got there I immediately gasped for fresh air. That place was so smoky, it was 100 worse than some old casino in Las Vegas. And the worst part was that we were the only customers and no one in the room was actaully smoking. Anyway we sat down and a lady brought us a menu. We asked for a high chair but there was NONE. We decided to take the food to go and ordered some food. We ordered ox tail, smuthered pork chops, macaroni & cheese, cabbage, beans and so on. You know, the basics of soul food. We had to wait forever for the food while gasping for fresh air. It was like nothing was ready in the kitchen and they had to prepare everything from the scratch... We finally came home after a long wait, sat down and started eating... It was very bad. Everything about their food was bad. My pork chops had some water-down CURRY sauce over them (who use curry in smuthered pork chop anyway?!), macaroni & cheese tasted just like KRAFT macafoni & cheese (that cheap kind with dinosaur on the box) and cabbage was SOUR like "rotten sour"! I had to dump the whole thing in the trash can because my body told me I'd get sick if I continue. I learned my lesson that day. Don't go to soul food restaurant if it's in the middle of China town. If I was one of those cartoon characters I'd definitely flip the table after the first bite. A few days later I had to go to the REAL soul food restaurant to refresh my palate. If you enjoy live jazz maybe you should try it but I don't recommend anyone to eat there.
NAME: Table Flipper
SUBMITTED: 2/18/2005 LAST VISIT WAS: Feb / 2005
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: Several friends recommended the restaurant for it's electic live music and excellent ethnic food. I was more than pleased with the evening of jazz and Soul Food--oxtails and greens to be exact. I can still taste them. The owner, A. Lee Harvey, even stopped by the table to make sure we were thoroughly enjoying everything.
NAME: Robert J.
SUBMITTED: 6/10/2004 LAST VISIT WAS: 6/2004
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times
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