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    The Southern Kitchen & Bar

    3.6 (663 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

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    THE SOUTHERN KITCHEN & BAR ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Very loud
    Live music
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - The Southern Kitchen & Bar

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    Reviews With Photos - The Southern Kitchen & Bar

    Rachel J.

    Came here to grab a late lunch and I've always had great experiences here, which is why I decided to try the greens and grits on the menu this visit. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. The flavors didn't come together the way I expected, and the dish was a bit underwhelming. The chicken bites were soggy sitting in the Gouda grits and the greens were basic and tasted like they came out a can. My brother got the pesto chicken club which is good choice. He seemed to enjoy it. That said, the service was still friendly, our waiter was great and checked on us frequently. the rest of the experience was just as good as usual. I'll definitely be back--I just know to stick with the menu items I already love next time.

    Gabe P.

    The Southern Kitchen & Bar always seems to do what I need it to do. Sunday Funday landed me here after having brunch & leaving an art exhibit nearby. After I finally got parked, I sat at the bar and Kenley provided me with great service! I ordered a $6 mimosa, listened to some live music and just really enjoyed the moment. I have never had their brunch but I plan to return soon to try it. Southern kitchen was always my Birmingham Stallions pregame spot .... I definitely will have to visit here more often now that the Stallions are no longer a thing.

    Gina H.

    First off the live music on Friday night was amazing!! A one man soloist who played multiple instruments was so good! The only name I got for him was Jerry. I started with a cocktail, strawberry fields which was just ok. It has strawberry vodka, fresh strawberry puree and lemonade. I'm expected more of the lemonade. We only had appetizers for a light meal. We had Cajun angels which was bacon wrapped shrimp, deviled eggs which were topped with candied bacon and fried green tomatoes which were topped with feta and tomato bacon jam. All of the food was great! Our server was sweet and efficient. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The atmosphere here is always laid back and casual and this visit was the same.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]]

    Conecuh crawfish pasta
    Lena N.

    [[HIGHLIGHT]]Nice place for dinner[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]], we also got catering from here for our event another day and it was a very delicious spread!

    Breakfast bowl
    Toyna J.

    I came in here to celebrate my birthday since I was stuck in Birmingham due to work... Christi was my server at the bar. I came in right when brunch was about to be over but she check with the cooks in the back and they allowed me to get a quick order in I ordered the Southern breakfast bowl with medium well steak and an order of fried okra along with a yummy strawberry cocktail. [[HIGHLIGHT]]They also had some live music going and the facility is great for a large party or a sunday Sunday outing.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Thank you Christi for making my special day a lil more special I appreciate everything and the food was very delicious!

    Fried okra
    Dakota G.

    The staff was friendly and the food was amazing. I got the shimp and grits with fried okra. The shrimp and grits was chosen for me (first day in the south and asked the bartender/waitress to choose for me). [[HIGHLIGHT]]The decor is simple yet rustic.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] The okra came in a mini fryer basket. I was expecting whole okra, not cut in half. Definitely would recommend!

    Brunch menu
    Lyn D.

    The steak and eggs and the mahi burger were cooked to perfection, so good! We ended with a blueberry cheesecake for dessert. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The live band was amazing, adding great energy to brunch.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Delicious food and entertainment that won't break the bank. The service was top-tier as well. I'll definitely be back, and you should check them out! I've included a photo of the brunch menu.

    Chicken n dumplings
    Lisa H.

    Service - excellent Apps - BBQ Shrimp amazing and Fried Green Tomatoes - different and yummy Entrees - Nashville Hot Chicken very good, Ribeye Mac n Cheese - great but keep in mind very smoky, Chicken n Dumplings - good but a bit too much sage, and Mahi sandwich - excellent!

    Sadie W.

    The service is great and the food is good. Came here last night and ordered the pesto chicken club sandwich (pesto mayo on the side). The sandwich was good but the chicken was very flat and thin. Almost non existent on the sandwich. I added tomatoes to mine and the tomato slices were thicker than the piece of grilled chicken. I should've added pickles to my sandwich because it needed a little something extra.

    Tenderloin tips, Nashville hot chicken
    Alison L.

    Open atmosphere and attentive and fast service. The portions are large. I loved the sauce on the Nashville hot chicken, and the breading stayed crispy. Everything else was pretty good. Brussels could've been more crispy

    Conecuh Gumbo! It's better than any gumbo I've had in New Orleans. Just my opinion!
    Robert E.

    This is an updated review! I love their conecuh gumbo! I can't get enough of this. It's in a rich sauce. I wish it was a lil spicy but I use black pepper & hot sauce! Every time I visit Birmingham; it is on my must have meals list, surprisingly! The service is usually prompt and efficient! They pretty much know the routine with me! My gumbo; toast and a side of rice along with black pepper, hot sauce, water and a beer sometimes and let me be! [[HIGHLIGHT]]It's at a bar which is cool but due to some injuries I can't sit in those high chairs so I prefer a regular seated chair![[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] [[HIGHLIGHT]]I just can't get enough of this place and the ladies may remember me; the quiet guy from Cali that's usually solo with unique manners and etiquette![[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Thanks again as I may not be able to visit as much anymore. I was in the area only because I was married to someone there. I'm f nothing else; at lease I still have my GUMBO!

    Katalina I.

    The service was very good. The bartender/server who took my order was friendly and professional but the food I ordered was very bad. The Mac and cheese was cold and the burger felt like it had been taken out of the freezer and was not very appetizing. The fries were soggy and it was overall just not a very enjoyable meal. The only reason I didn't do one star, is because my server was great. But the food is not worth coming here.

    Shrimp grits conecuh what's better.

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    3 months ago

    Fantastic food. Service was top notch. Drinks were tasty. Cheese grits were on point!

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    Page 1 of 17

    Ask the Community - The Southern Kitchen & Bar

    Do they have a kids menu?

    They do not.

    Best place to park?

    Validated surface parking lot

    Do they offer highchairs? How toddler friendly is this place?

    Very friendly

    View All 5 Questions

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    The Essential was such an unexpected find during our trip through Alabama. We weren't expecting to…read morestumble across such an elegant restaurant serving truly elevated food, but it ended up being one of our favorite meals. I ordered the seafood pasta, and you could immediately tell the pasta was homemade. It was fresh, perfectly cooked, and the seafood was beautifully prepared. My daughter had the spaghetti, and my husband ordered the Waldorf salad, which was just as thoughtfully put together. Our waitress also recommended the hummus and house pickles, and I'm so glad we listened. Both were fresh, unique, and the perfect way to start the meal. From the food to the service, everything felt polished without being pretentious. It was one of those meals where every dish was executed with care and attention to detail. Overall, The Essential was such a pleasant surprise and proof that you can find five star dining experiences in the most unexpected places. If you're anywhere near Birmingham, this place is absolutely worth the stop.

    Really cool place with a quaint atmosphere and great service. My wife and I split the chicken…read moresandwich, grits and a hash brown. All were really good. We got the sauce on the side for the sandwich just in case, but it was really good. Definitely a place I want to revisit. Saw the smash looking burger and pancakes at tables and they both looked amazing!!

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    The Essential
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    Sourdough bread with French butter.

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    Sourdough bread with French butter.
    SoHo Social

    SoHo Social

    4.1
    (405 reviews)
    3.4 mi
    $$

    I really enjoyed my experience at Soho Social! It's a very nice, chill spot with a great…read moreatmosphere. Happy hour is from 3-6 PM, although the menu can be a little confusing at first. Thankfully, our server was able to explain everything and made it easy to understand. I ordered the egg rolls, wings, pretzels, bacon Brussels sprouts, and a margarita. The Brussels sprouts weren't pictured, but they were SO good! Everything came out fresh, hot, and surprisingly quick. The drinks were also perfect and came out quickly. The wings were good, just a little on the thicker side, and the ranch was AMAZING! It had a different flavor than your typical ranch, but it was really good. Even though the restaurant was super crowded and busy, our server did a great job making sure both myself and my guest were taken care of. Overall, I had a great experience and would definitely come back!

    I was originally planning to go elsewhere for lunch but due to a special event ended up here…read moreinstead. I had been before for lunch awhile back and recalled enjoying it. Seated immediately by the Friendly staff. After a bit of trying to decide, I settled on the Basically Famous Fried Chicken Finger Plate with side of Regular Tots (instead of the Parmesan Truffle) and Street Corn. I had intended to save a couple of the chicken pieces and some of the tots for lunch the next day. But it was so good I ate it all! Even though parking can be a little challenging at the SoHo area, I consistently can find an available space in the underground parking garage. While I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch, they need a lunch menu with smaller portions and pricing for me to come back more often.

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    Bar
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    Shrimp tacos
    Shrimp tacos
    SoHo Social

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    Current Charcoal Grill

    Current Charcoal Grill

    4.4
    (124 reviews)
    1.2 mi
    $$$

    My God, I thought fine dining had finally died, especially after covid. Current Charcoal Grill is…read morethe first restaurant I've been to in years that still understands and executes on everything that makes eating out enjoyable. The service is *excellent* with a capital "E." We ate at the bar, and the staff were friendly, attentive, and extremely knowledgeable about every single aspect of the restaurant. They have tried everything on the menu themselves. They can describe any one of the imported liquors up on the wall. These are real deal professionals who illustrate just how important the people in a restaurant's front truly are. The food? Delicious. It's a wild grab bag of East Asian fare - Chinese, Japanese, Thai - and it's all done extremely well. The portions are small, which is good, since you'll want to try half a dozen things on Current's very deliberately thought-out menu. The Peking Duck is some of the best I've had. The cocktails are also excellent, with my favorite being a delicious, earthy combination of coconut, lime, and pandan. It's like an extremely upscale tiki drink. I cannot recommend this place enough. Absolutely perfect. 5 stars.

    My friend, Julia, and I tried current the other night! We walked in and immediately loved the vibes…read moreand upscale, quirky, modern feel of it all. High ceilings and exposed brick are a few of the ways to my heart. If you've seen a post about this place, you've probably seen a picture of the crackly round, artistic dish and wondered what it was. There are dumplings on the underside of it and you break each one off of the crackly part to enjoy. We did enjoy these but I would've loved a soy sauce to dip them in. They came with chili crunch, peanuts, and green onions but I wanted an actual sauce. They were very standard tasting dumplings and there was nothing extraordinary about them unfortunately. As always, we'd looked at the menu beforehand and decided what we wanted. It does state on their website that their menus can change due to freshness and availability. But we'd both decided on an app and entree we wanted only to get there and have none of them on the menu. I do appreciate a rotating menu to accommodate local items, but I would also love for those to be updated on a regular basis. So after rerouting, we decided on the chicken skewers as another app with the dumplings. These were chargrilled, flavorful, and had a nice crust on them. I got shrimp fried rice and Julia got spicy beef noodles. It was fine but I wish the shrimp wouldn't have been cut up. It felt like they chopped them up in order to not put as many in the dish. At $25 for this, I'd like whole shrimp please. There were a few pieces of raw spinach with pepper on the top. I would've loved a sauce of some kind. I would've preferred shrimp hibachi with fried rice from a Japanese place that included vegetables and sauces. This was not *bad* there was just SO much room for improvement. We both agreed that nothing was awful, but for these prices and the hype, we expected more. Our waitress was super friendly. Bonus points because they had match boxes at the host stand! There was a paid parking lot diagonal from the restaurant, so we had to walk through an intersection to get there. There are some spots up front if you can snag one. Overall, we enjoyed our time here but won't be sprinting back.

    Photos
    Bar view
    Bar view
    Skewers
    Skewers
    Awesome. Just awesome atmosphere

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    Awesome. Just awesome atmosphere
    Urban Cookhouse

    Urban Cookhouse

    4.2
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    3.4 mi
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    Thanks, ChatGPT. I put in "help me think of healthy restaurants", and Urban Cookhouse came up. It…read morewas a nice reminder. I went there years ago, but totally forgot about it. Once a drank the strawberry lemonade I remembered how much I liked this place. This time we went for dinner and I was impressed with the number of plates they offered. I ended up choosing The Down Home which comes with smoked turkey and pineapple ham, hot cheddar pasta, broccoli salad, and a warm orange roll. It was really good. It didn't look like a lot on the plate at first, but I ended up having leftovers.

    My friend invited me to a fundraiser they were having last night at Urban Cookhouse. This was the…read moreperfect opportunity for me to revisit UC after about 10 years. The location is easy to find in homewood square, plenty of parking (they have a lot or park in any of the surrounding areas), there is a drive thru as well. The restaurant itself was spacious and clean, however, the women's restroom needed attention. Staff smiled and work diligently. The gentleman with the locs was the main one I saw interacting with individuals. Very professional and had a warm personality. My order consisted of half a BALT (bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, aioli toasted sandwich) with a half mandarin crunch salad (lettuce, cabbage, green onion, mandarin oranges, chow mein noodles, honey sesame dressing). Both items were fresh and straight to the point. I enjoy having a meal that isn't overly complex every now and then. A light dinner while supporting a friend.

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    Farm to fire to table
    Farm to fire to table
    BALT w/ Turkey
    BALT w/ Turkey
    Urban Cookhouse

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    Culinary Dropout

    Culinary Dropout

    4.0
    (300 reviews)
    7.0 mi
    $$
    Full bar
    Happy hour specials

    Since I had been here a few times, I wanted to introduce this restaurant to my brother since he had…read morenot been yet. We decided to come on a Friday night I did make reservations beforehand and I highly suggest making them especially on the weekend and you can make them online through their website. On this evening, they had Tyler Giddens playing his keyboard and singing along. He was very good and I was able to chat with his wife and she told me that he plays around town so I definitely look forward to hearing his music again. Fowler was our server and he was very attentive. We started off with the brussels sprouts and the pork belly nachos. They were both equally delicious. Last time I was here I got the chicken tacos and I was so impressed. I got them again. My son got the Mac burger, which he completely devoured. My brother got the short ribs which he enjoyed. He also got a to go Mac burger as well. This time instead of Mississippi mud pie I got the monkey bread which was very delicious and it had apples in it as well. I love how the staff gets to wear whatever they want, and they can express their style. I did visit the restrooms and they were very clean. The only negative is sometimes the parking lot is real busy and if it is, you kinda have to park across the street. It's not a far walk but a lot of the drivers at the Summit area. They tend to drive crazy. I will definitely be back. I haven't had a bad meal here since I've been coming. Not sure why, but it wouldn't let me post any more pictures.

    I would comment on the food, but I wish I knew. I went in by myself and sat at the bar. It was…read moredirty, and I asked for a wipe down, and the bartender left it sopping wet. Rather than complain, I asked for a water and placed my order with the second bartender to approach me. A third one asked if I had been taken care of, and I said yes. They clearly lack communication. I asked where the bathroom was and after being told said I would be right back. when I returned, someone else was at my seat, my drink was cleared, and when I asked what happened, they said they thought I had left. That's not service. That's chaos. Apparently the culinary dropout also dropped out of hospitality. They need to learn how to communicate with one another. I will not be back.

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    Culinary Dropout
    Culinary Dropout
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    Wooden City

    Wooden City

    4.7
    (134 reviews)
    0.8 mi

    Dude the food was amazing. The server was awesome; shes…read morefrom the bay like me! The ambiance was just a chill vibe. If I ever am in town again, I am coming back for more.

    First, know that there is parking behind the building. We didn't know and apparently for the number…read moreof cars trying to squeeze into nonexistent spaces, many others didn't either. We walked up the street with a half dozen other diners. Wooden City is definitely not in the best part of BHM. Walking to the restaurant was a little sketchy, no need for a detailed description. Although we had reservations, the hostess looked at us like we had three eyes. She found a small table for us in the far back of the restaurant. No problem, at least we were seated. Our server greeted us quickly and went over the menu. We ordered drinks, blistered Hungarian peppers and a sausage and mushroom pizza. We told him that we were going to a concert and were on a little bit of a tight schedule. By the time our server checked on our food, the second time, we went from a little bit tight to full "gotta get out of here" mode. I guess the delay in getting our food was to give the kitchen time to burn our pizza. Over half of the thick, chewy crust was inedible. The bottom of the pie didn't fare much better. The peppers, on the other hand, were amazing. (not so much so at 2 am but that's just me!) They are a do not miss. We were at least able to settle our bill quickly and made it to the concert with time to spare. Overall, would we go back? Only if in the area - those peppers were amazing. Still, I definitely would not make a special trip.

    Photos
    Wooden City
    Tavern Burger - american cheese, iceberg, grilled onion, dill pickle, bacon
    Tavern Burger - american cheese, iceberg, grilled onion, dill pickle, bacon
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    The Southern Kitchen & Bar - southern - Updated August 2026

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