Bettie Lou's

My girlfriend and I were lucky enough to have dinner at Bettie Lou's tonight. If you've been waiting or simply thinking about trying it out, do your tastebuds a favor and do it! Here's the breakdown:Food: PHENOMENAL! We had the jerk chicken dinner with yams and red beans & rice as well as the fried chicken dinner with cabbage and green beans & potatoes. Each came with a Johnny cake. Topped it off with the warm peach cobbler. Everything was so flavorful! It was soul food but with a healthy twist that didn't leave you feeling heavy afterwards. Lots of food for not a lot of money. And can we talk about the YAMS?! Imagine your favorite thanksgiving dish that you go back for seconds and thirds... that's the level of obsession I have with these yams. People: Chef Kelley herself greeted us, talked us through the menu, delivered a five star meal and truly made us feel welcomed. She even cared for our dog by bringing him a water bowl and helping us get his towel and stuff set up. So friendly and kind!Atmosphere: It was a gorgeous evening to sit on the patio. They have a few tables set up on their patio which make it convenient for people looking to get out of the house and dine al fresco. The street doesn't have a ton of foot traffic compared to Clark St. so it made for a bit more enjoyable evening as there were few distractions for our pup. 10/10 will definitely do this again! They also do take out and delivery orders too so do your tastebuds a favor and dine here. Support local, black owned businesses. We don't only vote when we cast ballots; we vote in favor of businesses and the people behind them when we spend our money there.

The food was really delicious. I'm glad I discovered this place.The Chef was super friendly and the place has an old school throwback vibe like your in your mama's kitchen. The Johnny cakes were so good I ordered a second one. Be prepared to wait because the food is cooked to order and well worth it.

Chef Kelly puts all the love in every dish as anyone could wish. Everything is made to order and with care for slightly healthier versions. It's not quick, so make a night of it. Top picks: soul rolls, Mac and cheese, peach cobbler!

Generous two star review. .. The Fried Chicken was edible, but mediocre at best. ..as were the sweet potatoes and cabbage. The Soul Rolls weren't good at all. I've had much better variations.I'm all for supporting small business, but this was very disappointing and overpriced. The 5 star reviews are either from kind small business supporters, or folks that don't know good soul food. Zero chance this is a 4.5 worthy restaurant :-\

Bettie Lou's is an incredible restaurant. Chef Kelley and the family is amazing and so sweet, and the food is always made fresh and you can tell it's made with love. The jerk chicken falls off the bone and I cannot get enough of the mac and cheese! The sides are so delicious, red beans and rice, cabbage and the yams are my consistent favorites. You will have a happy belly after visiting Bertie Lou's.

When a friend had told me that this restaurant was recommended on her high school page on Facebook, I was game for trying it out. We met on a Saturday afternoon and I understand the recommendation.We had salmon croquettes with scrambled eggs and brown rice. The salmon croquettes put me in mind of Southern breakfasts. The brown rice had been seasoned such that it didn't need gravy.The turkey chops beat any pork chops I've had. Add to that the sides of cabbage and cheese grits and this was all a hit.We finished with perch, collard greens, yams, and johnny cake. The perch was fried in a seasoned flour batter. The greens were the first vegan greens I've tasted that actually had flavor. Lived the yams.My friend and I tasted the peach cobbler. She hot it for takeaway. The only thing missing was a scoop of ice cream. The cobbler was outstanding.Everything is cooked to order so food coming to the table was slow. That didn't matter because food prepared to order means it's not warmed up or microwaved. You get the good stuff. For there to be a focus on vegetarian and vegan options, I appreciate the food having taste to it. And you can't beat the service. I'm a fan.

O'boy! I was looking so forward to my meal. 3 of my fav foods. Soul rolls had no soul. Missing flavor. Bland Mac & cheese inside. Jerk chicken was awful. We couldn't eat it. Fried chicken gets 2 stars Manager did say that if I was not satisfied,they would make it right. I didn't have the heart to deliver the news. Praying it was an off day!

Oh man, I really wanted to like this place. It is a new business and the staff were so friendly but so many things turned me off during my visit. I found this place on Yelp while searching for a soul food restaurant on the North Side. I should've taken the reviews of this restaurant with a grain of salt because I came in with too many expectations of great soul food and got soul food lite. Don't get me wrong, I can imagine the food being phenomenal to someone that may not have grown up eating the type of food that makes your mouth water during Thanksgiving. When I first walked in I thought I had walked into the past to the days of 100 plus degree weather. It was unbelievably hot inside... I think the AC was broken but they had one fan that I am not sure was even on. I was sweating just thinking about how much cooler it was outside than it was inside. Nonetheless, I decided to brave the heat and order this food that was so highly ranked. The waiter told us that the food was made to order so I knew it would be piping hot, not that it would take 30+ mins to make. Normally if a dish takes over 30+ mins to make I always assume it should be worth the wait and when the food finally came I was underwhelmed. I ordered the fried chicken dish with a side of collard greens and cabbage. I was surprised they did not offer mac-n-cheese as a side dish. They only sale it as a main dish which is insane for a soul food restaurant not to even offer a small sampling of a dish that is a staple in any soul food joint. That should have been my first and only red flag that I needed to get up and run away. The fried chicken was so light that I could see the meat inside. For some reason they put some type of horseradish mustard in the collard greens that instantly turned me off. The cabbage was bland but the hot sauce made it tolerable. For some reason I ordered the peach cobbler, I ignored the fact that it looked so watery that I assumed it was peach cobbler soup. On my gosh, it was pure water. I do not know how they did it but it was hot and cold at the same time. I really hope this restaurant takes off because the staff was so friendly but the food was too gross to claim soul food. I will not return and highly recommend not wasting your money unless someone else is paying!

I really enjoyed Bettie Lou's. I am excited to see this place develop and become the owners vision. The food is there already and very good. The style is lacking and very similar to the previous Ethiopian place but the owner is aware and focusing on the health department, getting lisences. Andersonville loves Taste of Lebanon and her decor is on par there. She is food focused and decor and stuff that really matters less, are on her back burner. Chef Kelly does catering and wants a place to have people in and have a place for regulars. I totally see how catering could be lucrative but not as fun as having a place where you get to know people. I really enjoyed the Fried Chicken. It was lightly battered and would love to see white meat as an option as I like breasts. The greens were very clean tasting. Not super fatty or seasoned but very good my 2 and 4 year old kids ate all of them. The cabbage was very good too. I would like to make a meal out of this! It was not something I have had before exactly but she explained it to me and I loved it. Kelley also explained to me how she was a vegetarian and really focuses on what goes into each dish. I try and do the exact same thing at home and I am confident easy dish here is items the owner would serve her grandchildren. All in all I am so excited to see this place open on Olive, Clark and Ashland because the food is good, the food is not wildly bad for you and the woman who owns it is so genuine and interested in the business and essentially having you into her place for dinner. If you love Andersonville and local get over here and support Kelly because it is good, local and they will appreciate your support. If you are Andersonville fancy... for now... order the food for delivery for like a year and support this place. You will love it and then next year you will be able to enjoy a fun meal and cocktail on her super cute patio!

As a southerner transplanted in Chicago, I'm always on the hunt for good soul food. So, when this place opened a couple of blocks away, I had to try it. The good news is that the food is excellent--pretty much exactly what a Mississippi grandma would serve up. The fried chicken was some of the best I've had in the city, and the sides were packed with salt, heat, and the delicious smoke of fatty pork. The downside is that service is painfully slow, like someone's actual grandmother is in the kitchen. It took us an hour to get our food, and we were the only ones in the restaurant. I'm really hoping they can get the management side of the business on par with the cooking, otherwise I fear this place won't last. What about a buffet-life meat and three approach?