Germantown Commissary — Restaurant in Germantown

The Commissary is called that because it used to be a small country store. Germantown became a town in 1841, and the Commissary was built in 1891 to serve the public with everything from blue jeans to flour and canned beans. It wasn't large back then, and never really expanded. There is a lot of history here, and the restaurant has survived as long as it has because the food is good and people keep coming back.

Parking is severely limited here. Which isn't really a bad thing, because seating is quite limited too. (10 tables, 40 people) Three tables had large cardboard boxes on them, so those tables were unavailable. Walkways were tight and there's a step up into the eating area. Wheelchairs would not fit through the door.

For atmosphere, the tables are clean and covered with standard red-white-checkered vinyl tablecloths with a laminate topper, with the menus under the clear cover. The walls are huge cedar planks, very rustic and still a bit aromatic even after decades. Covering the walls, as there is in almost every BBQ place I visit, are bric-a-brac, signage, and memorabilia. There's a personalized plaque signed by the entire Blue Angels Squadron in there. White Christmas lights dangle from the ceiling, adding a festive flair. While the things on the wall were great to look at and ponder over, they would have been better if there had been more room, as they contributed to a slight feeling of claustrophobia in there. I rated a four because of the tight space. Not much they can do about that, except clear boxes out, and add an additional great room or patio, if they even can.

SERVICE: Our waitress was not chatty, chummy, or surly. She served us well, with a relatively expressionless face. I'm not sure I ever saw her smile, but she might have been having a terrible day. You never know, do you? Our drinks ran out and we weren't offered a refill, but the glasses are fairly large and if you pace your drink it can last the meal. The food didn't take long to arrive, and I even commented on the fact that it was fast. I averaged service out to a five.

FOOD: I normally get the pulled pork sandwich with fries, which is excellent, and I highly recommend their pork. Their sauce is excellent as well. The Hot is really rather mild, with just a tinge of heat. The mild is sweet and smooth. One thing the Commissary is known for is meat, and they did not disappoint. This time, my wife wanted the brisket. The brisket meat was cooked tender and sliced thin, very nice. The sauce made it perfect.

SIDES: The brisket comes with a deviled egg, slaw, beans and rolls. The beans had a bit of pork or beef meet added in, and had a good flavor. The slaw in a cup was bland, though that same slaw in my previous pork sandwich made it memorably yummy. The bread were small and seemed identical to the 'pan bread' you get in a tray from Kroger. They might have been fresh made, but they weren't much above room temp. I rated the food four stars mainly due to the sides.

DESSERT: I'd never ordered dessert here before, but the menu requested I do so, and we had a little room (besides, it was a date) so we settled on the cake, the caramel for me and the strawberry for her. Both cakes were relatively moist and the buttercream frosting in both was perfectly flavored. The cakes came cold, and had probably been made earlier and kept in a pie cooler for freshness. This doesn't mean I think they were made a previous day; I expect they were made that morning. The food was more than we could finish. I might recommend ordering one slice of cake and sharing, as the slices are very large. The menu declared that the desserts are amazing, and I found this to be true.

COST: The meal, with dessert, came to $25 a plate. Without the cake it would have...

Absolute terrible service. I'll try to narrow this down as quickly as possible, but long story short I stopped by this location in Germantown to pick up an order, and the wait was unsurprisingly very long (it was July 4th, and super busy so that's to be expected). Probably 15 minutes go by and a bag order is sat on the counter but the waitress did not call out a name as they had been doing to alert someone that their order is ready and just walked off. So another waitress was near the counter and I simply asked her what was the name on the bag, to which she replied back in an irritated manner 'what's the name on YOUR order?', I then told her my name, and her actual response was 'Well it ain't yours!'. I was pretty taken back, as I literally just asked a question to see if it was possibly my order. I let her know this was rude, and not to approach me in that way, (you would have really needed to be there/hear the tone, but it definitely gave off racial profiling vibes (as though I was trying to run off with someone elses order) --pretty disgusting implication. Anyhow, once I tell her WHY I asked the question and how disrespectful her response/reaction was, I asked for her name to which she said 'It's' Danielle! laughed in my face, and loudly stated "I AINT GOT TIME FOR THIS!' and walked off. As she walked off it also appeared she uttered some type of slur/profanity under her breath, and then told her manager (coworker?) 'you can deal with that expletive' -- The manager never appeared to address the situation by the way. No surprise. Anyway, at this point she walks back and begins some kind of starring match with me --while laughing, as I'm still waiting for my order. Now, when someone in a professional setting, a service industry, can be THIS disrespectful, nasty, and vile to a customer, and literally LAUGH while doing so, only to imply that their manager actually finds this behavior acceptable...that tells me this is not only a STAFFING and TRAINING issue, but a problem with the 'company culture' within this location. This person behaved like an absolute unhinged pig and had NO qualms about it. I mean seriously, loud, laughing, rude, staring down a customer -- pretty disgusting behavior. I do want to say, I have visited the Collierville location several times and have never had any issues with the service, so it's really going to take ownership, real leadership, to dig deep and find out why 'service' members at the Germantown location feel it's acceptable to disrespect their customers this way, and more importantly how they are so comfortable doing so, and the restaurant manager not addressing this at all. After today, I would NOT recommend any family/friends/colleagues to visit Germantown Commissary, there are much better options with better food/service, and to make matters worse, the ribs were INCREDIBLY salty today. However, bad food happens, but awful service should NEVER be acceptable. I truly hope the owner or perhaps general manager of this location will address this 'Danielle' characters behavior accordingly and instill professionalism into prospective employees and management because this place was awful. There are too many decent humans out there who don't' find it difficult to make a living, in a professional setting, while maintaining integrity and respect (customer service 101). Unfortunately, Danielle is not one of them, and sadly from the looks of it, this behavior at the location is...

If you’ve seen bad reviews for this place - believe them. Myself and two others were excited to try an alleged Memphis staple - we left with a table full of uneaten food, a $90 bill, and zero care from the server or manager. To clarify, the server was nice and attendant, but said nothing when we clearly weren’t willing to eat what we were served.

We saw mixed reviews for the brisket but we rolled the dice and boy was that a mistake - thin, rubbery, and tasteless - it stole the show in this straight to TV film about the worst BBQ I’ve ever had. The pork wasn’t much better - tender enough, but had an off taste to it that made it unappetizing. The bread that came with it must have been left on a shelf since last year’s tournament. The beans and slaw were okay I guess but I’m not sure if the salt from my tears is what actually gave them flavor.

When we brought it up to the manager, we were given the equivalent of a shrug emoji and no refund or discount. I can only think this place was recently sold and they’re just relying on nostalgia from a time when the food they served was better than a cafeteria.

I realize my sarcasm, but I can assure you this review is no joke - we were beyond disappointed. If my warning reaches even one soul, I beg you to take heed.

Go to Corky’s - which I had earlier in the week and was 1000x the quality at a fraction...