BJ’s Market & Bakery

Mustard fried catfish was tender and had just the right spiciness. Mac and cheese was creamy and rich. Cafeteria style. Clean, friendly, free parking, WIFI. Takes credit cards. A bright light in the renaissance of the neighborhood

Im not so sure i believe these reviews, some of the food people are describing is not on BJs menu. Ine white lady wrote they should serve tacos and pizza. Another lady said she drove 50 miles and the food was awful. Not buying it. The food is good, as good as any soul food restaurant in the city. They are not perfect but the food is quality and prepared with love. I wish they advertised and it would be great if they had tvs and served beer.

I just love to eat here. i can dine in or take out. not that expensive, but all so good.

Service is horrible, employees behave like they are doing you a favor. The cashier is beyond slow and doesn’t really care about customer service. Food is pricey for the portions involved. The food is palatable and can be tasty but you’ve pay thru the nose for it.

i’ve passed bj’s many many times and never knew it was a soul food restaurant. its freaking got market in the name. however i always thought it stood out from the neighborhood it was in for its clean and modern looking design, but thats where it ended.
well i was hankering for some fried foods and good ol southern sides. i look up soul food in my area, there arent many that are close to me. i live in the hundreds, its sad there arent enough soul food restaurants, or if there are, they have horrible reviews. i dont go by reviews much, but once you start mentioning hair, or i constantly see bad customer service mentioned, i have to travel far and wide.
i order the mustard catfish special (one side for 7.49) and get me a fried chicken entrée. the chicken is not on the menu, and is fried to order. it was not my intention AT ALL to get mustard catfish. even tho many reviews rave about it, it does not sound good. im not big on mustard. who likes mustard like that? not kristina. i was gonna get the southern fried catfish, but this was $ 4 cheaper. i’ve learned my lesson, it may be for you, but its definitely not for me. i get sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes and gravy, one corn bread muffin and one potato roll. i ask the cashier «are your potatoes the boxed kind, or the real potatoes» she answers so cutely «they’re mashed» lmao. ok i guess thats good enough.
now when i get my food i realize i got two starches (i love potatoes very much) and should have gotten the cabbage. oh well. i eat my mashed potatoes and realize i should have gotten the cabbage. not bad, but needs more seasoning. i am bias on sweet potatoes. i think my mom and i make the best and i have perfected my recipe. their sweet potatoes, waaaaay too much nutmeg and taste strongly like eggnog. sweet potatoes… tasting like eggnog. the macaroni and cheese is good. the mustard catfish is not for me, but its a laaaarge piece and its fried almost PERFECTLY, and besides the mustard, good seasoning. the fried chicken is fried very well, and tastes delicious. because of that and other side dishes i would like to try, i will be going back. however, they forgot my potato roll!!! i really wanted to try that :(
customer service was good enough, food was great

I have never had Designer Mac & Cheese, the Honey Catfish is superb, the Blackeyed Peas and rice is outstanding, and the Greens, Divine.
Great value and flavors, can’t wait to explore the menu.

Wow… I’m surprised at the bad reviews. I would have never that had I read the reviews first and I glad I didn’t. I stumbled upon this restaurant after waiting hours to get my hair braided across from the restaurant. The food was DELICIOUS!!! I had the baked chicken, mac and cheese, and string beans and cold pop. I ate until I was stuffed. I even think I made everyone in the braid shop hungry. I had no problem with the service either. The cashier was pleasant as were the cooks in the back. I will definitely be ordering from them again. Next time I think I’m gone have the mustard catfish. There a lot of orders for that when I went back over to the restaurant to get dessert (peach cobbler AND bread pudding) to which I’m eating now. I have no complaints. I highly recommend this restaurant. Until of course, I have a bad experience. Hopefully not!

This place sucked!!! I don’t see how anyone could give anything over 1 star. Everything from the meats 2 the sides were subpar. I know what real good soul food taste like and this place ain’t it. And then they have the nerve 2 be high as (u fill in the blank). Anyway I guess I’ll be sticking to Pricillas in the near west suburbs (on Roosevelt… can’t remember the exact name). This place sucks.

What an awesome find!!! I’ve driven past this establishment MANY MANY times. Never even gave it a thought. Then AGAIN thanks to my Unilocal I found yet ANOTHER really good spot. I didn’t realize they were at the taste of Chicago every year till my cousin mentioned it. Then I was like,“Woooow!!! THATS RIGHT!!!” lol. Reason my cousin knew I had eaten there is because whenever I find a REALLY good spot RIGHT AWAY I’m on FB or text messaging all the foodies in my fanily talking about,“LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!!” Yep. Sending pictures out and EVERYTHING. My two cousins have also been here and right away gave the THUMBS UP. I AGREE!!! Hell yeah I’m coming back. Loooooved their food!!!

I have three words for this BJ’s Market & Bakery soul food restaurant, and I am African American. HORRIBLE… HORRIBLE…HORRIBLE! We purchased the pre-​cooked suppose to be cornbread dressing, greens, candied yams and greens! I live near O’Hare so I had to drive a bit to this location. The staff was rude and unprofessional, there was long line, the cashier didn’t even know what type of greens that were prepackaged to take home to cook in their advertised upfront refrigerated section. I knew the supposed to be cornbread stuffing looked a little weird, but I purchased it anyway out of desperation and frustration. When I arrived home and heated the prepackaged items — I said to myself, «What the heck is this mess?» After one taste of each of the items — I had to spit it out and then I threw all of the dishes I had ordered in the garbage! I was so sadly disappointed that I had wasted my precious gas, time and more importantly, my money buying this horrific tasting food! There are African Americans working in the restaurant — but that food for sure IS NOT prepared by an African American, I can guarantee you that! If it is, she or he CAN NOT COOK! BJ’S Market Food is ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY, YOU WILL BE SADLY, VERY VERY SADLY DISAPPOINTED. TRUST ME! How can they get away with selling such horrible tasting food? Yuk! NO SOUL in the food AT ALL, believe me! NONE!

The service was so bad I thought there was a hidden camera! The cashier was beyond rude and unapologetic! She even suggested I take my food to go so she could finish cleaning because they closed at 6PM. Nearly 30 minutes has passed and they’re still open (630PM)!
I loved BJ’s when it was on Western, had a craving and drove over 50 miles… NEVER again!!!

I ate here twice a week for two years and I never had a problem with service or cleanliness. Matter of fact most days I was in and out quicker than I would have been at McDonald’s. The food is is good and I would recommend the smoked chicken. For sides I enjoyed the greens and black eye peas. My only complaint is they offer great dishes like creole turkey but it is only for a limited time.

Delicious. We had catering from here. The catfish nuggets were crispy, and the honey mustard sauce was excellent. We also ordered Mac and cheese and sweet potatoes, which were good too. The turkey wings were just okay. The ones in store were browned after cooking, but the ones we received weren’t.

Its not good but its probably the best store bought soul food u can buy. Its far from moms home cooking but it might do the trick. The customer service is always nice and its very clean. The peach cobbler is off the chain for real. I gave them 3 stars because i would only eat here once a year, if i had to eat here weekly i would give them 1 star.

Great restaurant when it first opened. People would come here in droves for lunch and dinner. The food was superb, and the prices were respectable. They mostly serve soul food and breakfast specials. Recently, I discovered they were offering seafood dishes, usually at a discount. I don’t eat seafood, and I think their prices have gotten ridiculous over the years. They once charged about $ 6.99 or $ 7.99 per meal. Now the average cost is about $ 9.99 or $ 10.99. A grilled chicken salad that once cost $ 4.99 is now $ 6.99. The food, however, is not bad. It is usually well-​prepared and served hot. I would like to see them add more variety though, like tacos, enchiladas or pizza. It wouldn’t hurt to offer hamburgers or cheeseburgers too. This would appeal to a younger group of people who would want to have lunch there. It would probably improve business.

Loved this place. Everything I had was delicious. The peach cobbler was great, wish I had bought some to go. The staff was very friendly, promp and answered all of my questions. I will stop back in the next time I’m in Chicago.

This location is between mine and my mother’s home. Stop in to get a quick pancake and egg breakfast… nothing special. Took 40 minutes! Even worse the pancake was burnt and flipped bad side down so that it wasn’t seen until my mother began eating it at home. The eggs were very dry. Since the pancake was cold I could only assume that it was pre-​cooked.
I called the restaurant and talked to the manager. She was very polite, apologized and offered a refund or replacement. No thank you. I told her I didn’t believe that a manager was on duty because the cashier was overwhelmed and the cook was doing more lunch prep instead of cooking. The manager was in back cooking, cleaning, prepping… I don’t know. Everything but her manager duties. This establishment is severely under staffed. BAD EXPERIENCE!

I had forgotten all about this place. I decided to stop by Monday and grab dinner. I ended up getting mustard fried catfish, macaroni, cabbage, caramel cake and peach cobbler. I enjoyed everything but the cabbage. They make theirs with banana peppers and carrots which doesn’t have to be a problem but the taste was just off for me. I ate it but I would never order it from there again. I was happy with the cake because many people don’t know how to do caramel frosting properly. This one was damn near perfect. The cobbler was damn good too.

Haven’t been to the location, but BJ’s was set up at the 2011 Chicago Blues Festival and I had a chance to sample their peach cobbler…
Sweet mercy it was good. I wanted to run home and start slapping people in the face for not telling me to get it before. But since home was 2,000 miles away, it would have been a bit far to run. So instead I am here on Unilocal slapping my friends and telling them they need to try it too.

Although I’m not a fan of soul food, I love many of the dishes cooked up at BJ’s on 79^th and Racine, such as the peach cobbler and the great breakfast specials. The prices are great, the food is great, the atmosphere is great albeit the much-​changed fortunes of the neighborhood where this place is located, the interior and exterior of the place is beautiful and lovely, and the customer service is great. And this place is open at very convenient hours.
BJ gets five stars from me, all around.