Johnson Sarr Soul Food - Paterson

I was really reluctant to write this review because despite my experience with the food the owner was very nice and for that I gave an extra star. I’m writing this review in hopes that the owner makes these small changes to improve the quality of food because they definitely have potential. Good customer food can take you a long way.First off let me start of by saying I’m pregnant so my tastebuds are enhanced, I taste ALL ingredients and I notice flavors that otherwise I wouldn’t have thought twice about. So for me if the ingredients are well balanced it could taste really good if there’s too much of one thing or to little not so much.Because of my new pallet I sometimes struggle finding the right meal. So I often find myself ordering a bunch of things. Today I particularly wanted to try the smothered pork chops but they were sold out ?. So I ordered the fried talapia dinner w/rice ziti and the bbq rib dinner w/collard greens Mac n cheese with a side of potatoes salad (don’t judge me I’m feeding for 2).When my order arrived my baby I were so excited because it smelled delicious. Once I opened the bag I immediately noticed my potato salad was missing ?. Then I opened my containers and nearly cried. First off the Talapia was OVER COOKED. You can tell they used dirty oil to fry it. When serving fish it should ALWAYS be fresh. You can tell the Talapia was cooked early in the day and either re-fried before packaged or microwave. In addition, you should never served pre packaged fish in a restaurant. If I wanted farm raised packaged fish I would have went to Walmart got it and cooked it myself. Restaurant should only serve fresh wild caught or farm raised fish brought from a fish market. The flavor in the fish was decent, but I couldn’t eat it because it was too hard.Next the white rice that came with the fish dinner was a little under done and had NO flavor. The menu didn’t specify the type of rice, I completely assumed (my fault) it would be some type of flavored rice. The Ziti was actually the star of the plate, it was a little sweet but it has good flavor.The rib dinner was no good as well. The collard greens had WAY to much pepper in it over powered the other flavors so you couldn’t enjoy it. The Mac n Cheese also had WAY too much pepper in it, it also could use a better variety of cheeses. The ribs were ok, they didn’t properly clean them, they were very fatty and still had the membrane on them. They also had a little quick to them tasted like they might of used hot sauce in the bbq sauce. Because there was too much pepper in the collard Mac it was hard to enjoy the spice in the ribs, overall the flavors of the dish were not well balanced and probably shouldn’t be served together.None of the food was made fresh. You can tell the food was probably made earlier in the day or the previous day. Either way you should NEVER not serve fresh food. I had high expectations for this spot because Paterson has yet to produce a soul food spot that can last, I’m tired of having to drive to Essex County for a decent meal. Stop serving old food, make sure all ingredients are fresh, follow a recipe, you should ALWAYS taste food to make sure ingredients are balanced as planned, and properly plan day to always make sure all menu options are available from the start of the day till the end. If those changes are made I will definitely buy again.

It was

Love there food