Dee’s Place

The Food was overly seasoned and tasted as though it was all seasoned with Adobo Mexican seasoning.
The sides were cold. The ribs were dry and cold. The prices were very expensive compared to the choices in the area.
They serve no wine or beer. How do you have a live band and no drinks !
We were expecting so much more, especially after reading all the rave reviews that were posted in the entry way in.
I would have made a comment to the manager, but he was not on site as he was out buying something from the hardware store as told to me by the waitress.
I would not recommend this place to anybody looking for soul-​food!

Professional time wasters. When we saw this place open last year, it actually closed again before we could visit. They posted a sign early this year that it would reopen late February. Tonight, we drive up, the doors were open, hours posted on the door. We went inside, the whole place smelled of strong cigarette smoke, and they said they’re not open until the end of April. I have no idea what this businesses problem is but its disturbing. Good luck Dees Place.

The food is excellent. Authentic Soul Food. They cook everything fresh to each order so it takes longer than we are typically accustomed too. Staff is courteous. They are still a little wet behind the ears, but I hope they are supported and stay in business. The jambalaya twice is the bomb! There potato salad is top rate. Serving sizes are large.

We went there on a Saturday around 530ish and ended up walking out before finishing our dinner. First we waited for 40 minutes for our basic order of chicken (waitress blamed a coworker for «stealing g her order» and they had to remake our order. When the food finally came out the chicken looked shribbled (nothing like the menu described) and our sides where all cold! Apparently the sides where left out sitting when the chicken was being remade. Service was horrible and food did not match description on menu. Never going back. Sorry
#wannahelpsmallbusinessbutdamn

Food was really good — I would put it on par or even a little better than heaven on 7,
However! It took over 40min for lunch to come out. Server never said anything, drinks sat without being refilled. Lame–

Really want to try but they were closed and don’t have their hours posted What are their hours???

I wish I could just not assign a rating to this review, as Dee’s Place is totally suffering from being a newly restaurant that hasn’t reached its stride yet. The food was incredible, which really makes the rest of the experience rather unfortunate. Fried chicken was amazing, as advertised. The catfish was seasoned well and cooked to perfection. Historically, I don’t really like cornbread, but the cornbread they serve here was so insanely good I was cleaning the crumbs off my plate. Oh, the side salads we got beforehand were great too, which was sort of surprising as salads that are included with meals are typically just unremarkable things you eat while waiting for your actual entrée. Not the case here.
So, Dee’s Place has the food, but what about the rest of it? First off, menu prices seem *really* high for the area. Maybe Dee’s Place is the start of the revitalization of the Aurora fine dining scene, but it feels really strange going to a restaurant where dinner for two sets you back $ 50 (without drinks!). It’s next to a Dollar General, across the street from a Dollar Tree, a pizza place selling pies for $ 5, and down the street from a Chinese place that sells food for $ 1.25 a scoop along with so many burrito places that offer an absurd amount of food for less than $ 10 it’s hard to list them all. The only place nearby that compares would be the Two Brothers’ Roundhouse, and we can get dinner for two *and* drinks and often be out for less than what we spent at Dee’s Place. It’s too bad too, as I could see us eating there a ton (or at least getting takeout often), but at those kind of prices it’s bordering on a special occasion restaurant versus somewhere I’d visit regularly.
The menu is super simple, much to its detriment. It’s basically just a list, without any photos or anything. With prices on the high side, I’m hesitant to get adventurous. Smothered pork chops sounded interesting, but without a photo, description, or anything I just played it safe. Also, the coleslaw is this awesome raisin-​packed thing, but that isn’t mentioned on the menu AT ALL. This makes me wonder what other sides have a unique spin that you’d never know because it’s just listed as «coleslaw» or similar. Also, with additional sides at $ 4 a pop, I’m not super into ordering extras just for the sake of experimentation.
Again, just to reiterate, the food was fantastic, but the service was bordering on feeling like you’re on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. We were there for well over an hour, ordering food which you’d think would be supremely simple for them to make served in a restaurant that was mostly empty. The table sitting next to us sat for so long they had to go up and ask if they could place their orders. The amount of time between sitting down, to getting our appetizer, to finally getting our food was crazy. And again, it’s not like we ordered anything extravagant or every table was full. Once we started getting our food, the timing was bad too. We got cornbread, then seconds later we got salads, and I hadn’t even finished pouring dressing on mine before our entrees came. The hour-​plus wait wouldn’t have been so bad had that all been spaced out. You could tell it was making the wait staff feel super awkward too as they came around for the fifth time to refill our waters and continue to apologize for the wait before any food hit the table.
Last, but by no mean least, I love the idea that they have live music there. Live music can add a ton of ambiance to a restaurant. The problem here is the live music is so obscenely loud that as soon as the band started playing, it was impossible to hold a conversation. Our waiter couldn’t even hear us asking for the check without leaning in. I feel like a band at a restaurant should come with the subtle vibe of «Oh, neat, there’s a band playing in the background, that’s cool.» Instead, once the band went on, it felt like Dee’s Place transformed from a restaurant to a concert venue that also happened to serve soul food. It felt like an extreme mismatch for the setting. If Dee’s Place was a bar or club or whatever this would make sense, but it’s very much positioned as a comfort food family restaurant. They don’t even serve alcohol there, so if you wanted to go for a drink and a show, again, it’s the wrong place to go.
The food was so great that the rest of this stuff, while annoying, felt less significant than it would have otherwise. I’ll definitely be back, but I think we’re going to give Dee’s Place a while to figure out all these new restaurant growing pains first. And despite all this, I’d still recommend trying it out, particularly if you like soul food. It’s supremely unique for the area, and I just really hope that’s enough to keep people coming through the doors long enough for the whole restaurant to get into its groove.