Alcenia's — Restaurant in Memphis

I like to support small black owned businesses. I will pull up to a bbq grill on the corner or food truck to support. Yesterday I decided to try Alcenia's. I saw it while working a conference downtown, and when I was looking for fried pork chops to eat, I thought I would try it. I went on the website to check out the menu. WARNING: The prices on the site do not match what you will pay at the restaurant! When I saw fried pork chops, I figured that it came with 2 pork chops, but when I called in my order, I found the dinner came with one. For the price, I would usually get 2 chops at other soul food restaurants, but I guess they charge more since they are downtown. Maybe it should say "pork chop plate" instead of it being plural. So I purchased the pork chop plate with Mac n cheese and yams. I wanted a slice of German chocolate cake, but they didn't have any. So I decided to get something outside my regular and try the bread pudding with the bourbon sauce. When I arrived to pay at the restaurant I wasn't expecting the price hike. I would have gone somewhere else to eat. It said $17.95 for the pork chops on the website, but you see on th receipt it actually says pork chop $19.50. The bread pudding is $5 on the website, but in store, it's $8 plus $0.50 for the bourbon sauce. The container wasn't full for the price. The cashier just said that she doesn't know why they won't update the prices. I did ask about how much an extra pork chop was, and I was told $8.50. Now to the taste. The yams were good. The Mac n cheese lacked cheese, sauce, and flavor and was kind of dry. The flavor of the pork chop is in the batter, but the batter was falling off when I started to eat it. This is a thick pork chop if you like them thick. The chop itself was not seasoned and kind of dry. The bread pudding bread was a little tough at the top but got more moist and soft towards the bottom. Do not eat the bourbon sauce if you are a former alcoholic, can't drink alcohol while on the job, or if you don't want to have a buzz in the middle of the day. This sauce is a straight shot of bourbon. Someone will smell liquor on your breath after eating it. I'm glad I just did a little sip. For the price, it was not worth it to me. I was looking at the pictures of the catfish, and I like the larger fillets, but how much will it cost and what other sides would I try? I'm not sure if I will give them another try. But I just wanted you all to know you need to call and check prices. Do not go by the website. There is plenty of...

There is a review 2/3 reviews down where the people did not enjoy this restaurant. I'll give it to 'em they are honest about the greating by the owner. She is absolutely a gem and gave us a hug. I get it I lived in Oregon and that is not the norm for most people but down here it is. We felt welcomed and so did our kids. Absolutely hands down the most pleasant experience by an owner we have ever had.

We ordered fried chicken, cabbage, green beansmash potatoes with gravy, and Mac and cheese.

They complained about the cups being old. Not sure what they got but it's absolutely not what we got at all. The kids loved their cups and we liked our too. It's nothing we wouldn't use and it's definitely not 27 years old. The utensils were the same story they were absolutely fine. The plates and bowls were the same way perfectly fine and up to date. I'll give it to 'em, yeah the display could definitely use some updating, but really what does that affect the over all experience? Not much in my opinion. It was also not busy when we went but we were not ignored in the least. But after we got our meal a huge group came and filled the restaurant but we still got amazing service.

For a $20 meal it was good! The gravy was fantastic and perfectly seasons, the chicken was so juicy and so crunchy it hit every note except for one. I wish it was seasoned a bit more or at least a little more salt. Outside of that though it was fantastic. Macaroni and cheese we weren't big fans of. I was excited for it but it just didn't hit. The green beans were perfectly cooked and seasoned to perfevtion. The cabbage was on another level camf recommend that one enough. If we got the chance to come back I think we would.

It is a bit more expensive but I'm also under no delusion that getting food in Memphis is cheap by any leap of the imagination.

"Alcenia's is way overhyped. I left still hungry. It wasn't worth it." Definitely not over hyped and we did not leave hungry. We took food to go because we couldn't eat all of it. Absolutely was worth it. Kid approved. Food: 4.5/5 (only because something needed more seasoning)| Service: 5/5 | ...

I had heard of Alcenia's from friends for some time and always wanted to try them out, but it seemed every time that I tried it was too late and they had closed. Staying at a hotel by the convention center, went over for their lunch. It was pouring down rain, but we were seated, given a kiss on the forehead and then brought paper towels to dry our faces and hair.

The waiter came over and went through just about every item on the menu, making them all sound out of this world good. He said his favorites were the meatloaf, smothered pork chops, catfish and more. The green beans he said are beautiful and make everything else on the plate look more beautiful, too. He raved about everything.

We ordered appetizers of fried green tomatoes and sweet potato fries that had cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on the batter. It was like eating cinnamon toast sweet potatoes and oh so good. The tomatoes were melt in your mouth good.

For entrees, I ordered fried chicken with black eyed peas and yams. My fiancé ordered the smothered pork chops with mac & cheese and green beans. Everything made from scratch so it's not quick, but worth every minute of wait. The yams especially were so sweet you'd cry from so much goodness in your mouth.

We ordered unsweetened ice tea, that kept being filled. We wondered about the "ghetto Kool Aid" which was a mix of different Kool Aid flavors, "we can't guarantee what color it'll come out," said the waiter. A bit more sugary than we probably wanted, so stuck to the tea.

So much food that we couldn't eat it all, but no way were we going to leave a single crumb behind and took it with us back to the hotel. This is amazing food. The sign outside says that they were rated the best soul food restaurant in the country. It's easy to see why. This is food so good that every bite feels like it's making love in your mouth. We'll be back, this is food worth hitting up despite a 2000 mile trip to get here and a excellent reason to head...