Bistros, trattorias and the everyday rooms where Memphis actually eats.
Bistros, trattorias, taverns and neighbourhood rooms: the mid-tier places where Memphis actually eats.
Speros Zepatos's South Main Memphis diner is the city's oldest restaurant, open since 1919 and once Elvis Presley's regular booth. Breakfast and lunch daily.
Signature: Fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, Sweet potato pancakes
Order: Fried peanut butter and banana sandwich; sit at Elvis's marked booth.
Tip: Counter service from 07:00 to 15:00 daily. Cash and card both fine; no reservations.
Hattie B's Cooper-Young Memphis hot chicken counter, the Nashville import's second outpost, runs heat levels from Southern to Shut the Cluck Up.
Signature: Hot chicken, Pimento mac and cheese
Order: Hot quarter, dark; pimento mac and cheese on the side.
Tip: Counter service, no reservations. Lunch lines move; Saturdays can run thirty minutes after 12:30.
Pete and Sam's East Memphis Park Avenue room has run red-sauce Italian for the Bomarito family since 1948. White tablecloths, vinyl booths and a steady clientele.
Signature: Spaghetti and meatballs, Pizza bianca
Order: Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, a pitcher of house red.
Tip: Open Tuesday to Sunday for dinner; closed Mondays. Reservations advised on Friday and Saturday.
Coletta's is Memphis's oldest restaurant on South Parkway since 1923, Elvis Presley's South Parkway haunt and the home of Memphis BBQ pizza topped with pork.
Signature: BBQ pizza, Spaghetti
Order: BBQ pizza with the side spaghetti.
Tip: Ask for the Elvis Room dining area. Closed Sundays and Mondays. The Appling Road location runs the same menu.
Young Avenue Deli has anchored the Cooper-Young Memphis corner since 1995 with cold beer, deli sandwiches and the city's deepest tap lists, plus live music.
Signature: Deli Club, Philly cheesesteak
Order: Deli Club on sourdough with a cold pint of Wiseacre Tiny Bomb.
Tip: Counter service for food, table service for drinks. The patio fills first on game days.
Babalu in Overton Square Memphis runs Southern cooking with Latin flair from a Madison Avenue patio, with tableside guacamole, tacos and craft cocktails since 2014.
Signature: Tableside guacamole, Tacos
Order: Tableside guacamole, then the carnitas tacos.
Tip: The patio is the seat in spring; Sunday brunch is the easier seat than weekend dinner.
Mosa Asian Bistro on White Station Road in East Memphis runs a Chinese, Thai, Korean and Vietnamese menu from a strip-mall favoured by chefs on their nights off.
Signature: Beef pho, Spicy Korean noodles
Order: Beef pho and spicy Korean noodles.
Tip: Lunch is the easier seat; the room fills with regulars after 18:00. Closed Mondays.
Sage Restaurant is a soul fusion room on South Main in Memphis from Chef Eli Townsend, with globally influenced Southern comfort food and a downtown rooftop bar.
Signature: Chicken and waffles, Catfish
Order: Chicken and waffles; the catfish if it is on the night's menu.
Tip: Wednesday to Sunday dinner; the rooftop opens earlier than the dining room on weekends.
Hen House on South Mendenhall in East Memphis runs country fried chicken, chicken and waffles and Southern comfort dishes from a converted house with a side patio.
Signature: Country fried chicken, Chicken and waffles
Order: Country fried chicken plate with biscuits and gravy.
Tip: Open daily; the small patio fills first on warm days and the wait can be 45 minutes at brunch.
Mahogany Memphis is a Black-owned, women-owned Cajun-Creole room in Chickasaw Oaks Village on Poplar Avenue with crawfish étouffée and blackened catfish.
Signature: Crawfish étouffée, Blackened catfish
Order: Crawfish étouffée and blackened catfish, with a glass of red.
Tip: Reserve on the website for dinner; Sundays book up first for the Cajun brunch.
Memphis Pizza Cafe's Madison Avenue midtown room has run thin-crust by the slice and house specialty pies since 1991, a casual midtown standby with a side patio.
Signature: Pizza by the slice, The Hippie
Order: The Hippie pizza with feta and pesto.
Tip: Open daily for lunch and dinner; the patio is the seat in spring. Multiple locations across Memphis run the same menu.
Central BBQ's Midtown Memphis room on Central Avenue is the chain's original, opened in 2002 with dry-rub ribs, pulled pork sandwiches and BBQ nachos.
Signature: Pulled pork, BBQ nachos
Order: Pulled pork sandwich with BBQ nachos to share.
Tip: The patio is the seat; the dining room fills fast at lunch. Online ordering skips the line.
Germantown Commissary on South Germantown Road has slow-smoked Memphis BBQ from a converted general store east of the city since 1981. A long porch out front.
Signature: Pulled pork plate, Smoked chicken
Order: Pulled pork plate with the smoked chicken and slaw.
Tip: Open daily; the porch fills first. Drive from downtown takes 20 minutes via Poplar Avenue.
A&R Bar-B-Que on Elvis Presley Boulevard in South Memphis has run Black-owned hickory-smoke BBQ from a converted gas station since 1983: pulled pork, ribs, bologna.
Signature: Pulled pork sandwich, Smoked bologna
Order: Pulled pork sandwich with smoked bologna on the side.
Tip: Counter service. The Hickory Hill branch at 3721 Hickory Hill Rd runs the same menu.
Tops Bar-B-Q is a Memphis chain of drive-in BBQ counters since 1952, with chopped pork sandwiches, onion rings and the city's signature cheap drive-thru BBQ option.
Signature: Chopped pork sandwich, Onion rings
Order: Chopped pork sandwich, onion rings, sweet tea.
Tip: Drive-thru and counter only, no dining room. The Summer Avenue branch is one of the oldest still standing.
Pyro's Fire Fresh Pizza in Cordova runs Memphis-born fast-casual pizza, blistered in 90 seconds in a wood-fired oven with build-your-own toppings east of Memphis.
Signature: Build-your-own pizza, Wood-fired Margherita
Order: Wood-fired Margherita with house red sauce and fresh basil.
Tip: Counter service; ready in under five minutes. The Collierville branch on Houston Levee runs the same menu.
Central BBQ's Poplar Avenue East Memphis room runs the same dry-rub ribs and pulled pork as the original Midtown branch in a larger dining room with easy parking.
Signature: Dry ribs, Pulled pork nachos
Order: Half slab of dry ribs and a basket of pulled pork nachos.
Tip: Easier seat than Midtown or Downtown locations; Sunday lunches fill the room first.
Peak food season in Memphis is year-round.
Local dining hours: lunch around 12:30, dinner from 19:30.
service is typically included; small extra is welcome but not expected.
Ask the next local you meet what they would order. Memphis rewards trust.