User Reviews

The show is entertaining, but I wish they would make choosing the winner for each challenge less noticeable. I hate the fact that the chefs never compete cooking with the same ingredients but the concept that they have works well by giving them a dish to make. Overall it was enjoyable to watch.

An awkward style of show for a show that has 3 prominent food network chefs and yet reads like they've never seen a well produced cooking show. The judging is very off, seems like they're playing favorites a little bit. The challenges, the time limits, the critiques, the verbiage of "knockout". Everything just lacks identity. Being from the south, we all know that these foods need a lot longer time to develop and render most of these ingredients but then they ding the chefs for not getting things that cannot be done, in a proper time. Assigning everyone different things that cook very differently also shows a real lack of knowledge of the food you're judging. I can't make a slow braised ingredient act the same as a fast acting ingredient.

Out of touch egotistical reviews will skew your view. They're the equivalent of an Amazon products that didn't work for a few who were too slow or incompetent but worked out for the rest.

The judges were excellent and well selected. The challenges were great and the dialogue in between was heart wrenching yet warming. All the contestants were interesting & clearly not pre picked to win/be in the top like master chef. That's the soul part. If you grew up with soul food the dialogue is so intimate and genuine like cooking on Thanksgiving and anyone who didn't "get it" wasn't blessed to enjoy this energy. Highly recommend for anyone.

I thoroughly enjoyed this show. I love how it showed that soul food could be elevated to Michelin star level dishes. Each chef had interesting back stories and were all talented. Although the chef I was rooting for didn't win, I completely understood why that person lost.

As a cooking competition, it was ok. The amount of contestants, judges and challenges were what they needed to be for the relatively short 6 episode run. The contestants were likable and at least one judge was articulate in his critiques in a more technical way. Beyond that, there were issues.

The judging criteria seemed to be made up on the fly. Soon judges were critiquing on the buzzword "innovation," which was frustrating when during the finale they did not mention this criteria at all. So how important was it really?

The episodes were just shy of fifty minutes each, and contained far too much fluff like contestant biographies, exit speeches from both the judges and contestants. And then language about soul food cooking that yes could've on point and educational, but somehow just lacked detail, clarity and impact, to really hold my attention. I also found the host pretentious as she kept asking the contestants why they were there like it was some spiritualist job interview. Isn't wanting $50k grand prize enough?

I skipped to the plating of the food and the judging at times. Some challenges were on theme and had relevance, such as the music theme challenge or the tribute challenge or the grandma dessert challenge, all three of which brought out sides of the contestants I was actually interested in, apart from their main backstory which I was not. But other challenges were not as inspired and also did not give players significant or interesting advantages when they won the mini "starter" challenges (which also didn't come into elimination criteria that much?).

I think overall, the show is far too self-indulgent. Much of the repetitive things the host, judges and contestants say should've been edited out. Probably each episode could be ten or twenty minutes shorter.

I can applaud the show for trying to validate soul food cooking, and raise it up to be as important as other cuisine. But there's other ways of doing that then just talking about it. Show more of the actual cooking.

While controversial, the end result is not contradicting the values of the show. However it was misleading of the judges to consistently ask for innovation when the reality was they valued another criteria more apart from that. Kudos for the runner up to be graceful about it, as it wasn't his fault the judges didn't know what they wanted, and they had actually against their own values some of the time. Which again lent to the sense of pretension I was getting irritated by as the show went on.

Still a unique show, and possibly worth checking out in any next season. If you really want a cooking show though, I think there are more fast paced and exciting options.

New. Food network's cook competitions have been on for years 30+. I know. So it's a hard comparison. Nonetheless, I like the idea and culture enlightening ideas behind it. It was entertaining. I wished it to be longer and more creative in the future. Chopped and Top Chef have me spoiled. 😆

Love this show and love seeing soul food highlighted. Some of their dishes looked so delicious I wished their was a way the general public could taste it!! Maybe they could have a food festival and feature some of the top dishes and we could all buy tickets!!

Nothing was soulful about it. I didn't see any unique dishes. Nothing about this show screams soul food just the name of the show. I just watched the whole show on prime video I was hyped about it but once the show was over I was so upset because none of the dishes that were served was considered soul food. Everything that was prepared wasn't soul food. There are Jamaican, African & African-American as well as any other black culture dishes that are real soul food dishes. But I guessed it's just the name of the show. The show wasn't as good as I expected it to be. Because I grew up eating soul food and was expecting some great dishes but instead nothing........... It's like no one knew how to make soul food dishes correctly.

As a good ole southern boy from New Orleans, I'll take one of everything. But also they do a great job of upping the anti when it comes to old school soul food dishes. They are wonderful in taking the dishes we know and love and amplifying that without losing the dishes character. Also getting to know the chefs and their back stories are beautiful. Man I need to get back down south ASAP. They don't make cooking like they do down there. Also food aside, I binged this in a day. A fun easy watch. DO NOT WATCH WHILE HUNGRY! You'll be salivating the entire time. They also do a great job of giving you a back story on what Soul Food is and where it comes from. 8/10. Would watch next season.

At first I enjoyed the show, was interested in seeing some good food put together. Then it turns into a drama, everyone is a victim. Then it turns into a political statement, blew my mind that they compared Stacy Abrams to Martin Luther your King. The show was more about being a victim and pushing a political ideology than it was about the food. They asked one judge " what is the difference between Cajun and Creole? ", he basically said Cajuns are Hillbilly Creole's. Cajuns were French people from Canada, Creole were the original settlers be it foreign or slave born. Who ever produced this show has really shown a lack of logical intelligence.

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!

Everyone is so likable. No drama, just about the food and the actual competition.

Love how they talk about how soul food ties to black culture. I see it no different than how the Latin community ties their food to their culture, or Asian community ties their food to their culture, or the Italian community ties their food to their culture!

Beautiful representation. It will make you hungry and craving some good soul food.

Everyone is so professional but not stuck up. Like so laid back and down to earth but not over the top.

It felt like I was watching my family and friends that know how to COOOOOK, cook.

Great watch, wish there were more seasons, and DEFINITELY recommend to watch!

I have been watching competition shows where I felt the winner was not the most talented, based on judge comments, but the most liked and was happily surprised when I came upon this show that it would appear to be genuine. However, yet again the outcome seemed contrived based off of the judge comments. I do not question that the winner made good food but based off of the complete competition and judge comments I believe that once again the outcome was not based on the actual meals presented but the familiarity or likeability of the winner.

There is no depth to this program. They never went into much detail about flavor combinations and origins of ingredients used for certain dishes, nor preparation techniques. For instance, the judges went crazy over a jerk sauce in Episode 2, but had no explanation for what was in it. The viewer isn't able to taste it, so they should explain what went into the flavors they were tasting; however, other than generalizations of cooking times (doneness) and remininces of their family experiences, they provide nothing for the viewers imagination. Even when the cameras could have shown more of the cooking process, they focused on faces, and the hurriedness of the contestants.

The one area they did spend an egregeous amount of time explaining was the fact that African Americans were forced to "make do" with the lesser parts of animals, as the "white" people were given the best cuts. I don't debate this was true; however first, this is already well known, and secondly, if this is going to brought up repeatedly, at least go into more detail about the origins of the techniques/ingredients. It is my understanding that there is much to tell, but I wouldn't know it from this show. Also, there are many white people's ancesters who were mistreated, displaced, poor, and had to make do, so this is not a completely unique driving factor of family dishes that have been passed down through generations, which makes it that much more important to include details.

Interesting. Not one White contestant or White judge. I'm pretty sure that an all White cooking contest show wouldn't be allowed and I'm sure there hasn't been one in the last 20 years. But of course that is okay.

And with nearly every contestant we got some I was oppressed or I was a victim story. It gets real tiring after awhile. It's never that it might have been based on their cooking skills.

That is one thing I did enjoy watching. When they were told their cooking was bad, some of them got such a look on their face. They knew they had to take responsibility for it and not cry one of the usual reasons.

We got the usual mannerisms and inflections.

The only one I liked was Dorian. She seemed above all that and probably why she was voted out. But that's okay, it appears that she won MasterChef USA Season 10. Good for her.

The show is great and contestants are fun to watch. Now for the judges...I could overlook how annoying their comments were, up until the grandma show. How in the heck are you going to pair these chefs with these grandmas you picked and then kick someone off the show for listening to them. It would have been disrespectful not to listen to the grandmas. This was horrible and you ended someone's dream to win, based on your own decisions. You owe that contestant an Apology and some money! And the saddest part is you did this show right before the finale. That chef looks like a great chef and because his grandma you chose used box pudding... all of the judges should be ashamed of themselves. Can't watch anymore of this.

I felt like the judging was not FAIR and they cheated a great chef out 50,000 thousand dollars. Melba was a sweet judge can't think of the guy judge name but he's Soo mean and find the smallest thing wrong with people food people don't understand everybody pallet is not the same for as taste but I understand overcooked,dry,raw and etc but all that extra bahhh too much oil on the plate but he kept going back for more.

I was so excited to watch this! The judging panel was amazing! All walks and influences. But cooking the same dishes over and over is not very entertaining nor does it make a good soul chef. What is the point of celebrating if you just repeat the same menu? Clearly the judges just wanted nostalgia in a very small box.

Ugh. This show could've showcased so much more. And should have.

The show blended accomplished chefs and mediocre home chefs so it was pretty unfair from the beginning. If there is another season, I really hope the judges actually judge and don't go on and on about boxed jello pudding with extra vanilla extract being "so flavorful".

I have been cooking for many years and don't understand the Soul Food Cooking Styles they had them do... if I was to tell my Grandma to elevate her Collard Greens she would look at me crazy!! I understand the techniques each one brought to the table but the Judges were not good at all and they even cut each others throat at times depending on the plate. Chef Dorian was a BEAST and when I saw her elimination I cut the TV OFF immediately. It's a poor representation of Soul Food and a disgrace to those who were looking for Soul Food Cooking not a pretty plate.. Soul Food is not a pretty plate it's flavor, tenderness, texture , passion and LOVE. They are were good even to the one's who thought they were the best in the country at what they do. When I think of Soul Food I think of getting my stomach full.