Jordyn's Soul Cafe
Jordyn’s Soul Cafe serves flavorful, traditional soul food in a lively Hyde Park setting, with guests praising the hot, satisfying dishes and standout hospitality from servers like Skylar, Chucky, and Tish. It’s a welcoming choice for celebrations, groups, or a fun night with music and drinks, but prepare for an occasionally loud, club-like atmosphere, long kitchen delays, and automatic 20% gratuity for larger parties.
What 771 diners keep saying
verbatim, from Google
“Had a great time! All our food was hot and amazing, no wait, and great music. Skylar’s service was amazing, great vibe. Love her!”
“The food and atmosphere were exceptional! Skylar is the most pleasant waitress I have met since visiting Chicago. Thank you for the hospitable service. Extra special shoutout to the chef who put his ENTIRE heart and soul into creating dishes that truly spoke to my soul.”
“Baaaaaby! If you want good food and excellent service this is the place to be. Skylar our waitress was amazing and the food matched. This is a hidden gem for those like myself visiting for out of town. Will definitely be back in the future”
“We had a party of 4 and had a reservation for 8:30pm. We did not receive our food until 10:30pm. I had the mama's mojito which was 17 dollars- while it was refreshing I don't think it was worth the price at all. For my appetizer I had the pot roast empanadas and they were so good it almost overshadowed the wait time for my entree. For my entree I had the catfish with Mac and cheese and collard greens because the kitchen ran out of green beans. the catfish was good at a 7/10, same with the Mac and cheese. The collard greens were more salty than I prefer so id rate them at a 5/10. I wanted to order a desert but the way my table had to wait for just our appetizers and entree I just decided it would be easier not to get it. NOW let's talk about the service. Our waitress Keirra was a 10/10 server, unfortunately her management team set her up for failure by her being the only actual server Saturday night along with her manager and the bartender FOR A FULL HOUSE. When she was at your table she made you feel like you were the only ones in the room however that was short lived due to the wait time from the kitchen and her being stretched thin with 7 other tables. I am very pleased with how she handled each table's wait time by keeping up with communication the best she could and trying to appease everyone to the best of her ability. Unfortunately that is not enough and management or upper management should have stepped in to address the patrons. It got to the point were the kitchen had run out of items and she had to be the barrier of bad news and you could feel the tension from patrons which soured the evening. In addition the ladies bathroom was atrocious! I used the bathroom when I took my seat at the beginning of my reservation at 8:30pm and again at 11pm and there was no change to the bathroom's condition - the trash was overflowing, the toilet paper was on its LAST leg and the floor was not clean.This is a reflection of poor management on the establishment's part. My party came from out of town and had high hopes for this restaurant and while the food was good the atmosphere and wait time left much to be desired. Thank you Keirra for your service our party saw your hard work it was appreciated, my hope is that management does better to improve the weekend flow for this restaurant.”
“It was a busy Saturday staffing was not adequate they only had 2 servers for a full restaurant. Our server Ke was amazing but management definitely failed her. We were seated at 8:30pm we didn’t get our food until 10:30pm and right before the food was suppose to arrive the manager came and told us that they had ran out of several items including a entree that had been order at 9:00pm. Ke was great she made a terrible experience better. But this was not a display of excellence by any means.”
“The food was phenomenal. Our server was wonderful however the kitchen was extremely slow. It took 2 hours to get our food. Our server was in tears and apologized. They had only two servers on a busy Saturday night which was unacceptable”
“Tish a wonderful, professional, great attitude server who made our anniversary that much better.”
“The food was AMAZING. We initially thought ihour server was being biased because he worked there but EVERYTHING was so flavorful. I will definitely come back here when I come back to Chicago. I highly recommend this black owned restaurant.”
“Chucky was a phenomenal waiter and was very swift with our order. The food was appealing and tasted good. The only thing I would comment on was the greens were slightly salty. Otherwise, they were tasty. I recommend this spot to anyone who enjoys some good, traditional soul food.”
Sounds like your kind of place?
Star it — your hit list is where dinner decisions get made.
One email a month — new openings, hidden gems, and where locals are actually eating.
More good rooms in Hyde Park, minutes away.