Soulveur Bistro Chesterfield

Stopped by here for lunch today. They are located right off of Hull St next to Sheets. You would miss it if you were not looking for it. I didn't even see the sign until I began walking to the entrance. We were met at the door by the hostess and seated promptly. The dining room was on the small side, but was tastefully decorated with photos of African American musicians. We were presented with the menu, which I was disappointed because it was only the lunch menu. I had perused the dinner menu on the website and was looking forward to trying one of the entrees. Nevertheless, I ordered the Shrimp Po Boy and my companion ordered the vegetable platter, consisting of collard greens, sweet potatoes and mac & cheese. There was a bit of a wait for the food but everything came out fresh and hot. I noticed immediately, however, that my shrimp still had the tails on them. Being that this was a sandwich, I feel the tails should have been removed before they were fried. Despite this oversight, I thought the shrimp were seasoned well and the sandwich was good. It came with sweet potato fries, which were also very good. The mac & cheese and collard greens on the vegetable platter were good, the sweet potatoes, not so much. They could have been sweeter and it just seemed like they were missing something. For dessert, we tried the bread pudding. There was a bit of a wait for the bread pudding (there was only one other party of 3 in the restaurant). The bread pudding came out warm, in a sizeable square shape, big enough to share. It had whipped cream on top, but surprisingly had no raisins in it. While I enjoyed the flavor, I definitely think they could raise it up a notch by adding raisins and serving it with vanilla ice cream instead of whipped cream. Overall, I thought the food was good. The prices, however, were on the high side. At these prices, I would expect that I wouldn't have to peel the tails off my Shrimp Po Boy and that my bread pudding would have some raisins. This is a new restaurant, I think this is their first week, so hopefully these things are corrected.

Food is good old fashioned style soul food but with a great modern artistic vibe. Small and intimate seating with friendly chef. My only issue was that the young waiter didn't know the menu at all. He couldn't recommend anything. He couldn't even tell us about the muffins/bread. Hopefully he will actually try the food himself and get better educated about where he works