Best soul food ever! Sherrie is the owner and chef. Her cousin Benita a sweetheart. I had…read moreoxtails, candied yams and rice, husband had fried chicken, collard greens and mac and cheese. The food was authentic and so delicious. Sherrie and Benita will make you feel welcomed the minute you step into the place. I love small businesses and they have a fan in me and my husband. If you are ever on Staten Island by Empire Outlets or taking a ferry ride, it's only a 10 minute walk, which will be so worth it.

Great food but shady neighborhood. I got the ox tail with sweet potatoes Mac and cheese and collard…read moregreens she gave me a free slice of cake! I will be back! I'm just now a fan of the neighborhood

Glad when there's a new Uber Eats listing that isn't a liquor store. I got the turkey wings. Though…read moreI generally applaud efforts to move turkey beyond the realm of inoffensive lunch meat, this was too bony and small, but I enjoyed the sauce. Mac and cheese was enjoyable. The standout item was collard greens, with smoked turkey enhancing but not dominating the proceedings.

We stopped by here for lunch after taking the ferry. The lady at the counter was very professional…read more When we said it was our first time here, she gave us a generous sample plate of literally everything they had that day. The oxtail, chicken curry and jerk chicken were really good. Veggies and mac were solid, but didn't love the rice. I got the large oxtail plate ($25) which normally comes with rice and 2 more sides, but they let me pick any 3 sides so I got cabbage, green beans, and mac n cheese. The plate was served in a large takeout container and it was stuffed to the brim with everything. They don't skimp on the oxtail. It was tender, juicy, and had a good flavor. My partner ordered the chicken and waffles ($14) which unfortunately he didn't like as much. He said the chicken was tough and the waffle was just ok. But he liked the mac n cheese. But just FYI, the block is seedy, and there was a seedy character hanging out inside that the employee kicked out.

I was in the mood for curry chicken do. I came here. I was hungry and excited to eat. I ordered the…read morerice with peas and the curry chicken. It came to $12 and change for the smallest styrofoam container which are illegal in NYC . I got home and had a big bite with old rice. The rice was hard as if it was days old and the peas, the beans were all dried out and I had to remove them from my mouth. The chicken was ok but I got a piece of the chicken leg and it was just the bone with the cartilage at the top. Gross that she could even put that in my small container. The food i got was old. I will not be returning there. I will go to Golden crust in Brooklyn next time.

The customer service here. WOW. While I wanted to ignore some of the explicit reviews, everyone…read morecannot be lying after trying this place. While the food was decent, the service was pretty bad. When a customer enters your establishment, say hi and be friendly, it takes nothing. So while the food was OK, I would pass on another visit because of the service alone.

Amazing food, family owned, service was great! Highly recommend for delicious southern food. Greens…read moreare a must!

This is an absolute no for me, very disappointed to say. Besides the fact that they closed randomly…read morefor 2 weeks and never said a word or posted that they would be closed anywhere is questionable to say the least... This was my first impression of the restaurant, but I still wanted to give the food a chance as I was able to try my mom's left overs previously and I thought it was good! After 2 weeks of calling to see if they were open, someone finally answered the phone. They were sold out of certain items, which isn't the worst thing in the world but definitely disappointing if your favorite items are missing. (Keep in mind, I came only 3 hours after they opened. It's not like it was just before closing.) I was also overcharged for my food based on the menu prices that were posted...I'm not even sure what math was going on behind the counter. After all this, to finally try the food was so unfortunate. This is a business I would have LOVED to support, but all these red flags and on top of that this is the worst soul food I've ever had. I hate to write this. The fish was full of cornmeal and grainy with every bite. I've never had fried fish like this before! I could've been eating a spoonful of microwaved cornmeal, seriously I'm so disappointed!! The mac n cheese was okay, it was way better the first time I tried it. The collard greens had so much sugar, again it tasted better the first time I tried it. Also, I'm unsure why I was made to have rice as a side. They will offer you 3 sides, but one of them has to be rice. I don't want rice with soul food, especially when it's undercooked. I really don't know what to say other than I'm truly saddened by my experience. It would've been great to have another soul food restaurant that's local. The customer service was nice enough, but that doesn't make up for the terrible quality of the food. So sad

Very Disappointed... week after week they are closed! Got to taste the food once or twice but it…read morewas a tease, it was the scrapes, they say they sell out very quick but In my opinion I don't think they prep enough or do any cooking throughout the day, this is my 7th time trying to feed my family from Manleys! I have 5 grown gran babies living with me.. You drive all the way there only for them to be closed 12pm closed 3pm closed 6pm almost nothing left! I should be able to order what I want and if not prep enough for throughout the day - sad that they couldn't make it we needed a soul food spot here MLK weekend this place should have been alive!

Real deal soul food. Chill music as you enjoy your Mac and cheese. Service was on it and more then…read morehappy to serve.

A quaint restaurant in Union, NJ that has some staple soul food items. I have gone for the baked…read moreturkey wings, Mac n cheese, cabbage and string beans, cornbread. The food is good, service is friendly. I tried the fried and the baked wings, I'd love to know what the other crowds favorite outside of the wings are.

We wanted authentic Caribbean & we got it!!! We had the Mac and cheese, jerk chicken with rice &…read moreoxtail gravy. SO SO SO DELICIOUS with a pineapple Jamaican sof drink! Walking in the environment was already so welcoming and homey. 10/10

Amazing service and the food was stupendous! 10 out of 10. I will be back when I come to Philly…read moreagain.

I bumped into this spot on a whim cuz the wife was in the mood for yams after scrolling and seeing…read morea few soul food posts. So I decided to venture here since it was closest in the area at the time. The inside was cozy and quaint, I took my food to go but had to wait a bit even though I ordered ahead, but dude DID say it would take 25-30 min for my order. Polite young man I should add. I don't mind the wait cause I could hear the fryer heavy at work in the back, and I've learned not to rush the process. I will say for it to be a soul food spot, I would've expected a bit more of variety besides fish and wings. I also hate that they were out of a lot of stuff, from whiting to collard greens, and while I'm waiting I overheard dude tell another customer they were out of Mac & cheese. Soooo.. fingers crossed on how this meal goes.. Sure enough... They messed up the order... I ordered double mac and unfortunately, since they're out of it, there's nothing that can be done ... Not to mention, they forgot to give me my shrimp so I had to turn around for that .. hopefully the food is good, again fingers crossed.. I'll update shortly when I get back to the crib Ok, let's get to the food, cause that's the main reason we're here... Yams - 10.. These were clearly the star of the meal!! they were cooked down to perfection, with a beautiful sweet glaze, and I have zero complaints at all!! Wings - 8.. I got the Thai chili wings, which were good and fried well, and nice size wings, I just expected a little bit of spice. But again no complaints. I'd order them again. I had one of My Son's honey barbecue wings, and those were pretty good too. Mac - best of MID! The Mac wasn't bad. The problem is, there was no successful marriage between the macaroni noodles and the cheese itself. There were several times where I would have a fork full of cheese and two noodles, which was a pretty unpleasant bite. Yes I love cheesy mac & cheese for sure, but I like it to be GELLED together in Harmony This seemed like they took chunks of cheese and mixed it into the boiled macaroni and baked it. Again, it didn't taste bad, the ingredients just didn't merge. Shrimp - 9. I'm glad I turned around to get these shrimp that they initially forgot. But shrimp were very nice sized, plump, seasoned very well and crisp but not over fried. Great job here, no complaints at all. I actually am looking forward to having their shrimp again next time I come. Overall, I enjoyed the food. And unfortunately, Yelp doesn't give half stars. But I would be remiss to give them a three, being that these were just human errors and that's OK in my opinion. As I said, the young man was very polite that helped me with my order, and again the food was very good. So yes, I hated that my order wasn't accurate, but they did their best to rectify it and served good food. That said, I'll definitely come back and suggest this spot to others.

I give Monai's Soul Food 3.5 stars, but rounded up to 4. Considering black-owned businesses are few…read morea far between in the Central NJ area, I made it a point to go support one for Juneteenth. After trying to decide between a handful of places, I decided on Monai's mostly because I saw they have a parking lot and I just simply wasn't in the mood to be searching around for street parking that day. When I arrived, I asked for a menu and after looking it over, I decided on the sweet chili wings with mac & cheese and green beans. I was told the wait would be 20-25 minutes. It did take a little bit longer than that. It was probably more like 30-35 minutes. I sat at one of the empty tables while I waited. They had a good playlist of r&b music playing which made the wait a little more favorable. Once my food was ready, I took my food to go. My favorite part of my meal was the chicken wings. They were cooked and seasoned well. The sweet chili sauce was the icing on the cake. The sides were just okay to me. The mac & cheese could use a little more of something...maybe a little touch of salt or seasoning. The green beans were nothing special and tasted like they came from a can. The sides weren't terrible or inedible, but could use a little more of something. With that being said, it was good enough that I'd return. I would like try some of their other entrees.