Southern Fires

Such a shame that this place closed down. It had really great food and a great atmosphere. Most Sundays after church you’d have to wait to get a seat but it was well worth it!

For everyone that might not know southern fires is going to reopen they will post the information on a bulletin outside of the building. They need to hurry up I want some backed chicken and collard green

I enjoyed my meal, the fried chicken was seasoned just right & juicy, the mashed potatoes were delicious. The atmosphere were quiet & calm. I would return.

The meat aka the chicken, country fired steak, and meatloaf is a soild A+ The sides aka the mac and cheese, yams, and veggies are a solid C and the services is a soild D– Bad attitudes reign from the waitresses to the the valet. But with that being said i am in love with the fried chicken!

southern fires food is delicious. they catered my wedding and everyone was happy. fried chicken and greens are the best anywhere. the chicken is so crunchy and good. they also have really, really good catfish and mac n cheese. unfortunately, since everyone ate all the dressing, i’ve never tried it. but, it must be good, cause it was gone.
i will admit the service when eating in is painfully slow. i just come ready for it. as far as the catering went, they were very professional and prompt. i actually chose them because two other soul food restaurants were sketchy and had bad customer service.
if you want a nice, sit down atmosphere for some really good soul food stop in. if you want to throw a party and need some food, order from them.
love, juston

Food is good and 4-​star worthy. Everything else, from the moment you step inside the door and try to get seated to finally getting the bill and pay, is painfully slow and sometimes chaotic. I feel the staff are trying hard enough, perhaps a process review and revision is needed.
The fried chicken is one of the best… crispy skin and tender moist meat, perfectly seasoned to enhance, not over-​kill, the natural chicken flavour. I’ve also enjoyed their mac-​n-​cheese which has a thick cheesy-​bechamel source although no crusty top/​surface.
Overall, it’s a place I’d be happy to go back to purely for the food.

Southern Fires catered a friend’s wedding and it was delicious! Excellent fried chicken, greens, and dressing.

This is a difficult review to write, let me break it down for you…
Service 2 stars — Waited for service, drinks and sides were forgotten, refused to separate checks. Not great.
Ambiance 2 stars — Furniture is beaten up, interior was dated and dirty, overall it’s in serious need of a remodel.
Food 5 stars — Yummmmmmmmmmmm! I had the fried chicken with mac n cheese and collard greens. The chicken was crispy but not greasy, well seasoned, and juicy. The sides were great. The endless supply of piping hot corn bread was delicious. The portions are generous and the prices are good. Their hot sauce was great on the chicken!
I would rather this place was a drive through so you could get the yummy food but you don’t have to go inside or deal with the lack luster service.

Real good soul food. Chicken is some of the best fried chicken I’ve tasted.

Reviewers for Southern Fires seem to all miss the point, which is the chicken and waffles. Awesome and worth a thousand inconveniences.
The only downside was that they don’t split checks, but if this concerns you then you should just let you friends who love good food and won’t be bothered go without your negativity.
My only complaint is that I’m not eating more right now, but that completely my fault. The next time I’m nearby, I’ll go, and so should you.

I must say I’m not a fan of the place… this will be my 3^rd time I do believe.
Made reservations headed but remember if half ur party isn’t visible to be seating then you’ll have to wait until they show.
The cornbread everyone is talking ISN’T that great and is simply OK.

Ok, How do I explain how I loved the food but I don’t want to necessarily go back. LoL
We drove in from Chicago to meet my Detroit family, had reservations still waited 45 minutes. Um, unacceptable. But its soul food – so it is, what it is.
My uncle’s 80^th bday party was here. We waited for-​ev-​er for the food.
Oh! The romper rooms chairs, don’t work for me though.
The fried chicken, fire!

This is one of the better Soul Food restaurants in Michigan. Good food and good prices. I have the fried chicken, baked Chicken, Meatloaf and ribs on various visits. The food was good. Not the best I ever had but good. There is private parking and parking on the street. Private parking is valet. It is worth visiting.

I have been eating at Southern Fires for years. I generally order the same thing as their menu has hardly changed since I’ve been here — but it’s really good (beef ribs with BBQ instead of gravy).
The food is great considering the price and the sides are hearty and tasty. If you and your party are into the side items (and want more than the two standard), I may suggest ordering a side item plate and splitting it between you. I have sampled everything from Mac & chz, dressing, pinto beans, sweet potatoes, greens, and baked beans (the latter being the only I didn’t care for). My ribs always fall off the bone and are prepared just right. For dessert, the chocolate cake is delish!
My main gripe with this place is some of the rather silly «rules». No refills (really?) and they told me they will only prepare steak well-​done (I don’t like my steak any less than medium, but well-​done only just screams dry to me… and, of course, why??? are you limiting my choices). The service is never really all-​that and the hostess are sometimes flat out rude and uninterested (like we are doing them a disservice by showing up that day) but again, the food here is CHEAP so you really don’t give a damn. Also, the valet is kind of silly — it’s valet only if you park in the lot… which is NOT far from the place at all. And you even have to valet for carry-​outs (oh, come on!). I usually choose to walk from the side street unless it’s rainy or something.
If you are looking for great service or a royal treatment, pass but all things considered this place truly has GREAT food at a setting which is unlike most soul food places in the area (which isn’t saying a whole lot — but still greatly appreciated) and your bill is NEVER high (and I can rack up a bill like no other) I still give it 4 stars. There is no bar as well, which does kind of blow — but I don’t think it’s really needed here.

I was looking for a place to have dinner a few Sundays back, along with a friend. We both love Southern cooking and found an ad for this place in The Metro Times. Naturally, we checked it out on Unilocal first. Most of the reviews said «good food, poor service.» So I figured service can change and we gave it a try.
Well, Unilocalers were ½ right. The service was pretty bad.
Unfortunately, the food was TERRIBLE. How there were any good comments about it, I do not understand. My partner ordered the meatloaf. It was cold. The gravy on it was congealed. She had a side of mac and cheese. Cold. It was like pasta suspended in Cheeze Whiz.
I had fried chicken. It was cold. And tasteless. I have had better from KFC. The collard greens were cold. And again, tasteless. It was like they just boiled them down in water.
And the cornbread tasted like it was from a box mix. And to top it off, they only served margarine with it. No butter! Margarine with cornbread? My heart sank.
The slow service made it a fairly miserable experience. Certainly, a forgettable one.
I hate to say this about any restaurant, especially one in the city struggling to stay alive, but avoid at all costs.

The food is so good. We have come here with friends on several occasions and everyone loved the food! The fried chicken and baby back ribs are my favorites. Great selection of side dishes also, the corn and baked beans are awesome.
The only reason I can’t give 5 stars is the service. Some servers are excellent, others somewhat disgruntled. Food takes about 30min to arrive on most evenings, that just seems a little long.

Me and my friends used to go here ALL the time. The food is so good! Fried chicken dark, mac & cheese, candy yams, mashed potatoes no gravy with a side of bbq sauce… YES! The prices are really reasonable. But they dont serve alcohol and you have to pay for refills. Yes, pay for refills.
On the weekends the wait can be at least an hour. Especially on Sundays. If you dont beat the church rush then be prepared to wait. You can always order your food to go, but good luck with trying to get them to answer the phone. Trying to find parking on the street is a task or you could do valet.
Overall I recommend Southern Fires & that will definitely be one of my stops when I get back to Detroit.

The food is to die for!
What’s the expression… so good it’ll make you want to slap your mama? Yeah, that’s exactly what comes to mind when I think about Southern Fires. From the mashed potatoes and meatloaf, to the chicken and waffles, back around to the catfish, greens, and mac & cheese. If you are a soul food connoisseur, or you want to be, then come to Southern Fires.
What I also enjoy is that the place is huge and the prices are right!
You pay around 10 bucks for a full meal with two sides. They also offer Nantucket Nectar drinks in addition to regular soft drinks.
Why didn’t I give this place a ⁵⁄₅? In two words, the wait.
Don’t come on a Sunday afternoon. You’ll wait for at least an hour. If you’re craving it on a Sunday, it’s best to call ahead and carry out, otherwise go right in at noon when they open. Also, they won’t give you cornbread until your meal arrives, so don’t come when you’re too hungry, and be prepared to wait.

mmm, FOOD COMA…
Anytime I pass through Detroit, I make sure to stop at Southern Fires for some comfort food. For just under $ 10, I got 4 pieces of fried chicken, 2 sides, cornbread and a drink (although I think they forgot to charge me for the drink ;). It was the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. Even the white meat was super juicy.
On my most recent visit, I opted for mac-​n-​cheese and collard greens as sides. The mac-​n-​cheese was perfect, the collard greens were disappointing. They were bland and watery. There was no smokey ham flavor. The cornbread was great. I also got a chance to taste the black-​eyed peas and mashed potatoes w/​gravy. The peas had a great smokey flavor and the potatoes were perfect. On previous occasions, I got the fried as well as broiled pork chops and country fried steak. All were delish!
I have seen a lot of remarks about the poor service. I most recently arrived right when they opened so service was ok. It did take long to get our drinks though. As far as I’m concerned, the food is so yummy that I don’t mind waiting anyway.

Visiting Detroit from Los Angeles, my friend told me we had to stop here and I’m glad we did.
There were two of us and we both ordered the fried chicken (she got dark/​white and I got dark meat only). Our sides were: mac-​n-​cheese (x2), collard greens, and dressing.
The fried chicken is the best I’ve ever had. The portions are huge (4 pieces per order) and the batter is just right. I HATE dry foods and the chicken couldn’t have been any juicier without being oily (or maybe it was oil that made it juicy and I didn’t know). Either way, it didn’t feel greasy to me. The sides are awesome, the mac-​n-​cheese is a must order. I liked the dressing (which comes with cranberry sauce). They also gave us really good buttery cornbread that wasn’t dry (once again, dry foods are my enemy) with more butter. Definitely not a place for health nuts.
The collard greens were okay. I don’t think it was the way they prepared the vegetables as much as me not liking veggies in general.
I also tried the diabetic seizure inducing sweet tea and it was REALLY GOOD. But no free refills? Not so much.
I don’t know what people are talking about in terms of slow service because our server was really nice, prompt, and attentive. Maybe it was because we came for lunch on Saturday and not dinner on Sunday. Being the only Asian person in the building, I also felt extra special and a unique butterfly.
For the two of us, the tab hovered around $ 30 with tax and tip. It wasn’t bad considering we had plenty of leftovers for another meal.
Either way, I loved my one and only visit. I don’t frequent Michigan so I doubt I’ll be back, but this is the standard in which I will hold all other fried chicken places. I wish LA had more soul.