Josephine's Soul Food

Josephine's Soul Food is a restaurant in Toledo, Ohio, serving authentic soul food from its home at 902 Lagrange St. The kitchen turns out family recipes made fresh daily, including fried chicken, oxtails, catfish, ribs, smothered pork chops, meatloaf, turkey, chitterlings, and baked chicken, along with sides such as mac and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, potato salad, cabbage, fries, and fried okra. Sunday specials add rice, mashed potatoes, dressing, and black eyed peas. Most orders are ready for pickup in 15 to 20 minutes, and delivery reaches Downtown Toledo, Old West End, West Toledo, and East Toledo. The restaurant holds a rating of 4.50 from the customers who have reviewed it.

Josephine Williams opened a small kitchen in Toledo in 1987 with her grandmother's recipes, starting as a 12-seat diner on Lagrange Street before expanding to its current location. More than 37 years later, her family carries on the same traditions and recipes, now in the third generation of family cooking. Signature dishes include ribs slow-smoked for six hours and glazed with a tangy-sweet barbecue sauce, oxtails slow-braised for eight hours in a peppery gravy, and catfish fried in a cornmeal crust. Dinners come with a choice of two sides and cornbread, and the best sellers are the oxtails, rib, and catfish dinners and the smothered pork chops. Josephine's also caters weddings, corporate events, family reunions, and parties, and sources from Ohio farms whenever possible.

The restaurant sits on Lagrange Street, about a tenth of a mile from Lagrange Street itself and roughly a quarter mile from Greenbelt Parkway. Cherry Street is about three tenths of a mile away, and the Vistula Historic District and the Sixth District Court of Appeals are each about four tenths of a mile from the door.

Josephine's has been named Best Soul Food in Ohio by Ohio Magazine, and it has sponsored local youth sports teams and fed families during the holidays.