10 editor picks in Memphis.
10 soul food places in Memphis we have eaten in, sorted by editor score. All cuisines in Memphis | Soul Food across every city.
Soul food is foundational to how Memphis eats, plating fried chicken, greens, cornbread and daily meat-and-three specials. The Four Way in South Memphis is the historic anchor, a long-running room tied to the civil-rights era, while Alcenia's in the Pinch District and Itta Bena downtown carry the tradition in their own registers. Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken downtown and Soul Fish Cafe in Cooper-Young extend the category into its fried and Gulf-leaning corners.
The Four Way is Memphis's defining Black-owned soul food room on Mississippi Boulevard since 1946. Martin Luther King Jr. ate here; the walls show the guests.
OrderSmothered turkey wings, collard greens, mac and cheese, sweet potato pie.
TipOpen Wednesday to Saturday for lunch only, 11:00-17:00. Cash and card both fine.
Betty Joyce Chester-Tamayo's Pinch District Memphis soul food room has run fried chicken, collards and a hug at the door since 1997. Priced at $$.
OrderFried chicken plate with greens and yams; ask for a Ghetto Aid.
TipCounter service, cash preferred. B.J. greets every table; the experience is half the meal.
The Memphis flagship of Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken on South Front Street downtown runs spicy crisp birds from a tin-roof shack, the chain's 2001.
OrderThree-piece dark meat plate with fried pickles and slaw.
TipCounter service, no reservations. Lunch line moves; dinner can run an hour during weekends.
Soul Fish Cafe's Cooper-Young Memphis original on South Cooper runs fried Mississippi catfish, hush puppies and Gambino-bread po'boys daily.
OrderCatfish basket with hush puppies and turnip greens.
TipCounter service. The shrimp po'boy is the second-best order; sit on the patio when it cools.
Itta Bena is a hidden upstairs Memphis dining room above B.B. King's on Beale Street, named for the Mississippi town King was born in. Southern.
OrderMississippi catfish with shrimp and grits.
TipEnter through the unmarked Second Street door or a private hall inside B.B. King's. Reservations open on OpenTable.
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.
OrderChicken and waffles; the catfish if it is on the night's menu.
TipWednesday to Sunday dinner; the rooftop opens earlier than the dining room on weekends.
Char Restaurant in East Memphis on Highland Street runs USDA prime steaks, fresh Gulf seafood and crab cakes in a modern Southern steakhouse with nightly.
OrderPrime filet with the crab cake starter.
TipSaturday and Sunday brunch from 10:30; the piano bar runs on most weeknight evenings.
Alcenia's in the Pinch District north of downtown Memphis runs Betty Joyce Chester-Tamayo's soul food and her famous door-greeting hug since 2002.
TipCounter service, cash preferred. Closed Sundays and Mondays. B.J. greets every diner.
The Four Way on Mississippi Boulevard in South Memphis is the city's defining Black-owned soul food room since 1946, where MLK ate but most tourists never go.
TipLunch only Wednesday to Saturday. Save room for sweet potato pie.
The Four Way on Mississippi Boulevard in South Memphis runs a soul food lunch plate around $15 with two sides, the Black-owned Memphis room that fed MLK.
OrderSmothered turkey wings, collards, mac and cheese, sweet potato pie.
TipLunch only Wednesday to Saturday, 11:00-17:00. Cash and card both fine; sit at a counter.
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