Billie's Black

I wouldn't say the service is "poor", just "slow". The two are not necessarily the same. I will say everyone is nice and smiles while you try to get their attention. I know that I should not go when I'm pressed for time. Ive been here 3 times absolutely love, love, love the food and the small ambience. When you do get the waiter's attention they're SO friendly. LOL. I will be going back tomorrow when I have lots of time on hand!

The food is pretty good, I only go for the catfish. The service is poor! I went with a party of 5, the servers never asked if we wanted anything to drink! They brought us water, there's a bar in the place, don't they want to make money from the bar? asked for a gingerale, it never came to the table. Then the tip was already included. Bum deal. Will never go back unless I'm desperate for some of their catfish.

The thing that kept this place from getting 4 stars or more is the lackluster mac & cheese(which was definitely oversold), but enough about the disappointing. The fried catfish, salmon cakes, shrimp n grits, baked catfish stuffed with crab and the Jojitos(mojitos with pineapple juice) were all GREAT. The sautéed spinach was pretty great also. Service was slow, but it seemed like the waiter had multiple jobs in the restaurant. I'd check it out again. Had a poetry vibe to it. I'd give the place a few snaps.

A group of friends and I went here for dinner. Service is virtually non-existent. One friend had the shrimp/grits which was AWESOME. A little heavy on the gravy for the turkey wings dinner. Fish was not overcooked which is always a plus. It seems that they use an extreme amount of anchiote (yellowish spanish flavoring) in most of their food including mac n cheese, huh??? That kinda takes away from being authentic "soul food."

We decided to try it because of the nice ambiance. However, The food was disappointing and the drinks just plain poor. On top of that they add an automatic gratuity at 4pm equal to 18% for 2 people on a bill that was already overpriced.. Dont waste your money!

The nicest thing about this place was the ambiance (aside from the erotic pictures in the bathroom which took away from the decor and were not suitable for children). That's about the only positive thing I can say about the place. The food was not great and the service was worse.

Billie's Black is one of those Love-Hate joints. THe food- OH MY GOODNESS. I don't normally eat catfish but theirs is PERFECT, crispy, juicy, and seasoned to mouth-watering perfection. The mac n' cheese is AMAZING - I can't even describe it. Crab Cakes are cool. Not crazy about the salmon cakes or the salmon dish. The SERVICE, however, is just egregious. You ask for water they bring it about 20 minutes later. You say "Give me about 5 minutes to look over the menu" they give you 15 and forget that you're even there. This is after I've been there a few times that I realized it's not just one server- it's ALL of them. They are very laid back - wearing jeans and caps - and their service is reflected in that. As someone that runs a restaurant, I have to say that I am always even more amazed by how inattentive they are, given that the place seats about 20-30 at most. All in all, I recommend that you go for the food - southern perfection. Don't expect good service because you'll only be peeved. If you drink a lot of water, ask for a carafe ahead of time, because after the first glass you are LUCKY if you get a refill.