Belmont Grill — Restaurant in Memphis

What I experienced January 27, 2016 at the Belmont Grill was extremely unfortunate.

My friend and I met there around 6:15 pm to eat, drink and talk. Our waitress was very pleasant and funny. The food was ok; my beef kabob wasn't well done as requested and after asking for it to be recooked, it came back extremely charred (burned). Our gracious waitress took it off of my ticket and I enjoyed my potato skins. Life was good.

A little after 8pm, an older male worker in the restaurant approached us and said, "Ladies, there are people waiting to be seated. Do you have anywhere else to go? Seriously! I'm trying to run a business here." My friend and I were shocked that he addressed us in such a disrespectful manner. After he noticed our silent reaction and firm facial expressions, he replied, "I'm not trying to be rude." We remained silent and he walked away. To provide context, the Belmont was at capacity and there was one couple waiting to be seated. We were the only African-Americans in the restaurant.

Moments after the worker (possibly a manager or owner due to his comments) left our table, two police officers (an Asian and African-American) entered. My friend and I looked at each other, wondering if the worker called them in, but we later discovered that they came in to eat. After we paid for our meals and left, the worker's demeanor drastically changed. As he was serving the table next to us, he said aloud, "Have a good night, ladies." We did not respond.

I've always been a patron of the Belmont Grill. I've sat at the bar and eaten with my husband numerous times prior without being forced out of the door. To make matters worse, I recommended this restaurant to my friend, a first time patron. Needless to say, we will not support this...

We are lifelong Memphians, having just recently moved to East Memphis, so we decided to go to Belmont because we loved the one in Germantown. When we arrived there there were bar side two tops available. However the bartender, Jeff said we couldn’t sit there. They were labeled with signage that said “Not available for seating”. So we understood and we were seated by the restrooms & kitchen...our server said “I’m sorry, I will move y’all as soon as a table opens up”, which she did. 5 minutes after we were seated in the middle of the restaurant a single guy came in and the bartender told him he could sit at the same table he had just told us we couldn’t sit. We enjoyed our meal; our server was great and the food was good. When we got ready to leave my husband went to the bar and asked Jeff why we were told we couldn’t sit there but you let this guy. His response was “we save these for our frequent customers/happy hour customers”. My husband said, but that is not what the sign said, he said “well sorry”. We all understand catering to your “frequent flyers” and observing the COVID rules, but Jeff should have not done it right in front of us....Jeff could have made us regulars, but instead he made us feel unwelcome and unappreciated. We will spend our money down the street at Brookhaven from now on. FYI, the guy nursed 1 drink...

First: yes, parking is very limited. One handicapped spot is reserved, literally at the front door; everything else on prem is pretty tricky. Just park in the (free) large shared lot across Mendenhall to the east and use the crosswalk, or find a spot at a nearby shopping strip just to the west on Poplar, on the same side of the street, if you're there after hours.

Second: this is not a fancy place by nature, but you can wear flipflops or heels if you want. Regardless, you'll get the same attentive and helpful service, with the same Christmas lights and old-school bar that's been there for my entire adult life. (They've surely replaced the lights a couple of times by now, tho, now that I count the years! Ha!)

Third: generous pours on adult beverages mean that the value is there, with even top shelf not enough to cause sticker shock. Decent well brands and all the good stuff is there too.

Fourth: y'all, do not sleep on this food! Very tasty, not overseasoned (a trick some places use to hide a lack of prep or real recipes), good fresh ingredients, and pretty reasonably priced. Not complicated, but plenty of variety. Goes from basic fried stuff / bar foods to a very, very good cheeseburger to some damn tasty seafood gumbo, with decadent homestyle desserts to finish (if you...