Shirley Mae's Cafe

Best fried chicken ever. My lady loves the water cornbread. Chess pie is delicious. It is just good food. They only have chicken wings on the weekends, but 3 of them per order was plenty. They are large. We also had the meatloaf and it would melt in your mouth. Mmmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it. This was my second time to Loiusville and my second time to eat at Shirley Mae's Cafe. If my travels take me back to Loiusville I will eat there again. It is an interesting experience. You walk up to a door in the side of a brick building. The menu is on the wall. Order your food and they will cook it and bring it out to you, in your vehicle if you like. It may seem strange to some, but believe me, it is some of best southern cooking I have ever had.

The smothered pork chop, sweet potatoes and turnip greens were the closest thing I’ve had to my mom’s cooking since she has been gone. Got in “trouble” and a good laugh for asking for unsweet tea though, so pay attention ;) Sat on the patio while dinner was cooking and had a good time listening to local neighborhood chitchat.

We were in town for a few days and were leaving that day. We wanted to try something local before we flew out later in the afternoon. We drive over to “Smoke Town” a Black neighborhood in Louisville. The cafe is walk up with a few tables in front. It seems most people do take away. The staff of the restaurant were awesome. The younger of the two men had an almost freakish ability to manage names of all the customers …I was sorta jealous. He was cool and busted my chops for not ordering any green vegetables with my lunch special (I'm not sorry though). The other patrons were very cool and we met some of the locals who go there regularly, including an older couple clad in their Sunday church duds. The only downside, the food took forever, We waited an hour or more. The wait got more pleasant when the younger man walked across the street and put on some great music at the bottle shop. We had planned to eat there. The weather was amazing! But, we weren’t anticipating the long wait, so we had to take it to the airport and eat there. Now, for the best part….the food was totally worth the wait. I got the meatloaf with Mac and cheese and sweet potatoes. My wife got the chicken wings with Mac and fried corn. The portions were generous and everything was outstanding. The chicken wings are really fried chicken. They’re huge and some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. The sides were solid and the two fried biscuits were almost like a dessert! The regulars told us the long wait that day was really unusual, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on that. Other than that, it was a cool lunch spot. I’d totally go back or recommend them to friends. Definitely fits the role of what I like to call “a local gem.”

This is a sleeper of a good restaurant. We went there and the outside looked not very good at all. It's cash only, and takeout only. The food was really good though. The portions were more than adequate, the prices were reasonable and the people were super friendly. We had two different dishes and different sides and everything was good, even the peach cobbler dessert. Our plates were wrapped in plastic wrap so nothing would spill. Overall an excellent experience and one of the best meals we had in Louisville including trying a couple of highly rated restaurants from the web. Highly recommend as a to go style restaurant.

This was my first time here. We are visiting from out of town and searched up best soul food place and this popped up at a top 5. We had the meatloaf (delicious ) wings and I don’t even like wings but they were perfect. We had mashed potatoes, Mac and cheese, sweet potato, greens, and banana pudding. Everything was delicious and I will definitely stop by when I’m town again.

This was such an amazing experience. We met the famous, great, Mrs.Shirley Mae, and her sons. Learned about the culture of Louisville ,Kentucky, Smoketown, and the authenticity of this great tasting food. The fried chicken, smothered pork chops, greens, mac& cheese, pinto beans, and hot sauce was sssooo good. Thank you'll for the amazing experience and many blessings to come 🙌🏾