Bonnie Jean’s Soul Food Café

The food was amazing! Really nice and crisp chicken and very well seasoned. The sides are perfectly seasoned as well. Its hard getting soul food that tastes just right, anymore, but this place got it! The only thing that was wrong (but not the worst) was the delivery. There was always something missing from my order. And im not saying this in a bad way at all. Ive worked in the food business and it tends to happen here and there so just check the order twice before sending it on its way.
The lady that delivered the food was always really nice and even offered to go out of her way to go buy me a drink from the store. (I didnt accept because i know it happens and it would make it more work for her). Bravo to her!
Over all, i would order again and again and i highly recommend this place if you are in the area.
(P.S: please offer delivery through eat24 again!) lol

Best soul food in San Diego by far. Small, family owned business that offers great authentic food.

Amazing food! Best in San Diego. You’ve got to try the Mac & Cheese balls!

If you want an authentic soul food experience this is the place. Bonnie was like: pick a seat. Be with you in a minute. Watch your step on the carpet. The look and feel is all forgiven because the food is good and Bonnie is personable. I love to support local business! And entrepreneurs and on top of that: black owned businesses. So I left a happy camper.

This was so good. I’m from Tx and I can’t eat everyone’s grits. The cheese grits here though, boy! On point. Daily deals and more items of course to choose from. Made a phone order and the guy was super calm and helpful. Such a plus because I’m indecisive lol. I would recommend this to anyone even the Felix Soulfood lovers. Miss Bonnie Jean is worth the try!

Hallelujah! After hearing Bonnie Jean’s was closed down I was devastated I had to check it out for myself. Be careful of the news you receive. The Café is under construction adding new equipment. Will reopen in a couple weeks! Praise God!!! This is the best Soul food I’ve tasted in a long time. It’s definitely worth the wait.

THE PLACE IS CLOSED DOWN BY HEALTH DEPARTMENT. I went to Bonnie Jean today based on the good Unilocal reviews and had my mouth set on some Soul food, soooo sad.

The food was excellent had the fried chicken, fried okra, Mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, and cornbread. It was a very delicious meal!

This place is AWESOME!!! I love the food… I came in with a huge desire for some «Soul Food», just like what my granny used to make and I got it!!! I just moved to Cali not to long ago and I can for sure say that this is where I will come when I need a good country cooking fix.
Now that was the positives, GREAT FOOD!!! But beware that the parking lot is very small and if you are in a rush you will need to call in ahead of time to get the order in motion because they cook everything FRESH and it may take a while… But if you are dining in just sit back and relax and talk with your friends and WAIT! It may seem like a long time to prepare but trust me when I say it’s worth it!
Also the cooks and owner are all good people! You can’t beat it! Go and check it out now!

This place needs to be shutdown I visited this place during their slowest day slower than a turtle. expecting some great food but as I walked in and was seated at my table I was asked what beverage I would like…35mins later my drink finally arrived and I was thirsty as hell ready to drink away without even waiting for my food. 2 hours later my phone battery died because of the long wait for my food so I started sipping away on the ice that melted in my glass since refills also took a good wait also.3 hours later my food finally arrived and I didn’t even want to sit and eat due to horrible customer service so I carried out. I wouldn’t recommend this place to starving children absolutely horrible.

So it took like 3 days to get our Kool aid. To get out food though was like cast away the movie. Stranded as hell, couldn’t get any service for like 30minutes. FML

We saw the negative reviews about long delivery waits, so we were already expecting that. Delivery through GrubHub took a little over two hours, but they called about an hour into our wait to let us know that there would be a delay, so that’s nice. The delivery driver was very friendly and the food was still warm even though they delivered all the way to Clairemont. We ordered the 3 piece BBQ chicken meal that came with baked beans, cole slaw and 4 rolls, deep fried mac & cheese, french fries, and peach cobbler. We never got the rolls, instead they put two pieces of plain bread in the box (kinda weird.) But otherwise the food was delicious. The chicken was juicy and cooked nicely, the beans were great, and the fried mac & cheese was spicy and came with 3 huge pieces. I would definitely recommend this place, maybe just not for delivery if you’re in a hurry.

OMG the chicken and greens were aMAZIng. Full of flavor.
I had my food delivEred and it was hot and fresh.

Let me write this while it’s still fresh in my mind.
So I ordered a 3 piece chicken plate via Unilocal’s Eat 24 app this afternoon, and I can honestly say that it was one of my best decisions this week. I come from a large family with southern roots and my meal reminded me of something one of my aunties would serve up. The chicken was crispy, juicy and delicious, the greens were amazing (I got them with pork, but you can get them without) and the yams were perfect. Cornbread had that perfect sweet/​salty balance and the sweet potato pie was tasty.
I’ve seen some negative review re: delivery/​service. I can only speak for myself, but my delivery window was 60 minutes and I received my food within that hour and the lady who delivered my food was nice.
I’ll be ordering from Bonnie Jean’s again. My compliments to the chef.

This review isn’t really even about the food. It is about the service. I used the Eat24 App, to order food from the restaurant, two times in the past week. The first time, Wednesday, I was given a 45 minute to 1 hour timetable for my food to arrive. It arrived 45 minutes, past the one hour timetable. In other words, it arrived 1:45 minutes from the time that I placed the order. I was a little upset, at this, but the food was decent so I let it go.
I decided to try them again, today, on New Year’s Day. I was surprised that they were open, but I was in the mood for soul food. I placed the order, using the Eat24 App, at 1:24 PM. I was given a timetable of 45 minutes to 1 hour for the food to arrive. At 1 hour 45 minutes later, my food had not yet arrived, and the restaurant was not picking up their phone. That app, itself, stated that the restaurant was closed today due to the holiday. So, I canceled the order with Eat24. They assumed, and I assumed, that the restaurant just was never open today. 2 ½ hours, after I had placed the order, I received a text from the driver saying they were bringing my food to my door. That is not OK. Nobody should have to wait 2 ½ hours for food to arrive at your door. I am not saying that the food wasn’t hot, or that the food wasn’t good, I am just saying 2 ½ hours after placing an order, is too long to have to wait for food to arrive from this restaurant. And, because I add canceled the order at it one hour 45 minutes late. I, van, ordered food from another restaurant. So, I have to pay for food from two different restaurants because Bonnie Jean soul food restaurant decided to deliver food to go and a half hours after the order was placed. I will never order food from this restaurant again, I don’t care how good the food is.

Finally decided to dine in after ordering take-​out for the longest time. I’m definitely a fan of their Fried Mac N Cheese balls. It does take a very long time for your food to come out so I’ll probably just stick to take-​out again. Tried their honey pecan chicken and wished I got the regular instead.

Visited 12/​15/​2015 Lunch.
Wow
I don’t give five stars very often to anyone very often.
This place is a super hidden Treasure hidden here in San Diego.
It’s not fancy, It’s not Super Classy, It’s Oldschool Southern Cooking.
It’s Just Fantastic Fried Chicken.
I’ve Searched for great fried chicken for many years here in SD and haven’t found any that matched my southern roots Sense The Chicken Shack Closed Many Years Ago In Julian Ca.
Jan and I have tried many many places, all with disappointment over the years. We had given up hope of finding such a place till I found this place on Unilocal With a 4 Star Rating.
My Rating is for our Overall experience for lunch with Miss Bonnie Jean. She took the time to sit and talk with us and Share her story.
What a charming, sweet Lady.
The setting is in a run down part of town, doesn’t have much parking, and needs a face lift and better sign out front so people could find it easier. But once you walk through the front door you go back in time to the old south. Could be in Georgia, or Alabama. Has plenty of family style seating inside.
Now For The Food.
Jan Had The Fried Chicken & Waffles. 5 Stars. The Chicken was cooked to perfection with a nice crispy coating and a seasoned juicy inside. The pieces are nice and large. (Unlike most places)
The Waffle was as good as we have ever had. Large, fluffy and delicious.
I had The 3 Piece Fried Chicken Dinner with two sides of your choice.
I had the garlic mashed potatoes and sweet yams. Both had good flavor but could have been a bit warmer.
The Cornbread was a bit dry. Again The Fried Chicken Was The Super Star.
If You Want Great Food and don’t care about being out of the main stream part of town give this place and Great Lady Bonnie Jean a Try.
Enjoy. Best Fried Chicken Around.

I ordered a delivery off grub hub way before you closed. Waited 2hrs and you never came now I’m getting KFC. At least their drive-​thru won’t let me down like you did.

Ligit fried chicken, but the catfish is not catfish, it’s tilapia.
Call investigators with the City Attorney’s consumer and environmental protection unit to check this out.

I had the 10 piece chicken meal, and we had enough food for lunch on the following day. I have never seen such large pieces! It was a very satisfying meal, and the collards & black-​eyed peas were delicious.

It was WONDERFUL! I had delivery to my apartment. They arrived right on time. I cannot tell you how tender and delicious the smothered pork chops, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, and fried okra were. And the cornbread was a big ol’ slice of heaven. I felt like I was back home enjoying my grandma’s cooking! Love, love, love it! And the price was unbelievably reasonable, with enough food for leftovers tonight! I cannot speak highly enough of this great place, and would recommend it to anyone who really loves and misses southern soul food. I’m hooked! Thank you, Bonnie Jean’s. :)

Had it today and the chicken wasn’t all that great kinda tasted like it was fried in old grease. The waffle was decent and the mac & cheese was pretty bland. Probably want be coming back here but it’s good for California «soul food».

Located in what looks like a super sketchy area, but came here twice and lived to write this review… No really, My hubby was So mad as we watched some random group of dudes hanging around by our vehicle, LEANING on our vehicle, arm wrapped around our side view, resting their beer can on our vehicle… Right outside of Bonnie’s…
No obvious sign, this place can be sneaky to find, it’s next to a convenient store. The place itself looks a bit old and rundown… Different tables and chairs in the dining area… But it still has somewhat of a homey feel. There were several people coming in for pick up throughout our time here, but we were the only dine-​in except for one other person.
Service is okay. Not super attentive, there were periods of time when we were left alone, but they did check up on us here and there, and our drinks were refilled. We didn’t really need anything else.
their fried chicken though… If you order it, expect to wait a while. Seriously, it’ll take a while… But when it comes out, it’s super fresh out of the fryer, breaded and crispy. So crispy. So juicy. You must add their pecan glaze. So good. I had it with their waffle, slight crisp but with a soft interior. My kid ended up eating most of the waffle, I actually enjoyed the chicken with their corn bread. It’s a tiny bit dry, but a good combination with butter and the glazed chicken. The chicken didn’t have a huge amount of flavor to it, but the crispy breaded skin, juiciness, fresh out of the fryer taste and glaze masked that…
My kids and hubby liked the hush puppies… I honestly didn’t pay much attention to the sides.
Sooooo hubby definitely wants to come back for their chicken. I don’t care much to dine in again, but to be honest, you’ll probably get the best experience eating the chicken right away…

YES… this café is in a SKETCHY location. I think that’s quite obvious.
Throwing all of that aside, they serve really good soul food. Like «mouth drooling, I didn’t even know this existed because I have never tried real soul food until NOW». Yes, it’s that good. They give you HUGE portions when it comes to their fried chicken. I’m also going to point out that you should definitely order the pecan glazed, because it’s frucking worth it. Please keep in mind though, that the food is cooked to order. It’s fresh and hot as fruck when it get’s out. Now that you are aware, with hot food also comes the wait. It’s worth the wait, but yes there is a loooong wait. Or maybe I’m just an impatient starving child. I don’t know. Once, I ordered a waffle to go and it took them like 15 minutes. I was upset, but I let it slide because I love their chicken. Plus, they have games to play. I mean, not that all of the games have all the pieces and everything… but it’s still pretty suh-​weeeet. So take that trip into what looks like the hood, and try that damn good soul food. Just make sure you lock your doors.

Don’t let the location (or the bars on the windows) make you nervous! The food here is always amazing and plentiful and definitely worth it in the end.
You don’t really need to look at the menu – always get the fried chicken. The 3 piece dinner comes it two sides. The fried chicken is so flaky on the outside, and the inside is so moist and juicy.
We asked for the Mac and cheese sides. That was pretty good. And the fried okra sides were bomb! This was the first time I’ve ever had fried okra. Aside from everything else, the corn bread was not my favorite. It was a tad bit dry and not moist enough.
Side note, give yourself plenty of time when you go to Bonnie jeans. They take a while to make the fried chicken!

Hate to do it, but it’s a 2 star. I was so excited to try Bonnie’s from the reviews, personal recommendations and my love for Southern food. I was very disappointed. Walk in to a pretty old and run down place. I’m a big fan of these spots, but you have to keep the table tops clean. Mine was grimey and sticky and I watched them clean one after a family left and I could see crumbs and puddles left on the table.
Sit down order a sweet tea as I look over the menu. I wanted to be able to sample a la cart so I could try as much as possible. Not an option here. You have to order the dinner meals to get sides included with your meal, or order them as an extra side. Most dishes are served in baskets with fries and coleslaw. I ordered the 4 piece catfish, collards and black eye peas.
The sweet tea is watered down. Tastes more like sugar water and they don’t like to fill them up. Plate comes out and looks good, but those are the 4 skimpiest pieces of catfish I’ve ever been served and the sides are small for what they’re charging. Collards are excellent here. Very good for the South and probably the best I’ve had on the west coast. I love collards and understand the art of making them. These were dead on, exactly the way I like. So fresh and refreshing. Black eye peas were under cooked. A little hard, but nice water consistency. They microwaved the cornbread so it was hot in temperature and had zero flavor. The catfish was OK. Expected better. Got that gaminess and earthy flavor, but the fried casing wasn’t happening.
Never had anyone check up on me or offer a refill when I needed it. There was hardly anyone in here and at least 3 women working. I wanted to get out and got up and went to the counter. They actually bumped up the price of the dish that’s on the menu. The bill was $ 19.65 for an average sized catfish plate and a watered down tea. I didn’t squawk and just paid it. They didn’t have a spot on the receipt for a tip. This place is a major let down. I could of gotten a larger plate of fresher food that tastes better in a much nicer atmosphere at Felix’s for less. Bonnie needs to step her game up. Either this place has been going down over the years or SD folks don’t know Southern food. The only thing going on the up here are the prices.

I was going through my bookmarks one day and saw that we still haven’t tried Bonnie Jeans yet. So right when I got off work, we headed into the hood of San Diego. I mean, come on… wouldn’t you risk your life for some good food too? Haha, just kidding, it’s not that bad actually.
When we got there, we saw there was just a hand full of parking spots right in front of the restaurant. This place is easy to miss so keep your eyes peeled! When we walked up to the door on the right side of the building, it was locked. I was in disbelief! The hours on Unilocal says they’re open, so open up, dammit! I wants me some fried chicken! I pulled it a couple times and then walked back to the car feeling hungry and sad. We drove out here for nothing. Then all of a sudden the waiter opens the door to our left as to signal to us, this is the door, you noobs! We were happy again, I’m getting my fried chicken! Later, we were told that there was an arrow posted on that door, but it flew off. So remember to go to the door to the left!
We were seated on the right side of the restaurant near the locked door we were pulling at earlier. I couldn’t help, but giggled. I ordered the pecan glazed chicken and waffles with a side of collard greens. The chicken and waffles were so good, but I think next time, I’ll just get it without the glaze. It was a little too sweet for me. The collard greens were the BOMB!!! I felt so full but couldn’t stop until all the greens were gone. They were that good. I also got their sweet tea. It was one of the best sweet teas I’ve had in California.
I agree with the others, the service is a bit slow. But since we already braced ourselves for that, it didn’t bother us as much. Next time, we might just order it to go. We never got our drinks refilled either. Kind of a bummer, since the sweet tea was so yummy.
Will we be back? More than likely!

«And there was this toy, this snowstorm ball, with a tiny castle inside, except it was like a whole world, a world inside the ball…
It was like a little glass bubble of somewhere else.
I lifted it, starting a blizzard. I knew it wasn’t real snow, but I couldn’t understand how it fell so slowly.
I figured inside the ball was some different sort of time.
Slow time.
…And inside there was only water.»
Alan Moore — The Watchmen
This place isn’t Ruth Chris Steak House. Time moves slower here. I suggest bringing something to read if you order the fried chicken. Couldn’t use my Iphone/AT&T with barely 1 bar of signal. I’m estimating a half hour wait for my fried chicken. It’s worth the wait. I come here when I’m burned out on Popeyes fried chicken. I found the service to be fine but I’m low maintenance. This place isn’t Ruth Chris Steak House.
Crinkle cut fries are interesting. Good crunchy outside. Soft inside. I like them.
I ordered a thigh, drumstick, and a wing. I admire the beautiful battered pieces and the scent of hot freshly fried chicken and take a photograph before digging in. Excellent flavor from the crunchy batter and the chicken. The fried chicken reminds me of homemade but better than the fried chicken from the homes I’ve been to.
On a previous visit I ordered the 3 piece fried catfish. The pieces were kinda like fish sticks. They were coated in corn meal. Tasted really good. I think Felix’s BBQ version is a bit better as the fish retains it’s juices better being filleted rather than formed into sticks.
The food is very good here and I like the bars on the window and the security door. It’s nice they care about security here as I wouldn’t want criminals stealing the cool games inside either.

Yum yum soul food! Bonnie Jean’s was one of my Unilocal bookmarks ever since I moved to SD in 2010. My bf and I came here for dinner one night and we were very happy with our fried chicken meal! It’s a little hard to find when it’s dark but when you walk in, you step into a happy place of chicken yumminess.
We came in around 6ish pm. No one was in the restaurant and the staff looked like they were preparing to clean up. However, the sign says open till 7pm so they seated us and took our order. Even though we were the only ones there, service never made us feel rushed and our food came out at a reasonable time.
The chicken and waffles were tasty and we liked all the sides we ordered. Def recommend this place for affordable and great fried chicken in SD!