Blues City Cafe — Restaurant in Memphis

Food was enjoyable, there was a very short wait (Tuesday night), and the overall vibe was really great.

We were sat in the bar area and served by the bartender. He was working his @$$ off, so I feel bad for him, but having a busy bartender serve tables is less than ideal. He was constantly behind on drink refills to the tables in the bar area (ironic, right?!), and missed some of our simple requests like extra BBQ sauce, extra bowls for sharing the gumbo, etc.

Putting my food critic hat on:

Ribs: the ribs were so tender I would call them overdone, though the overall flavor profile was what I would expect from Memphis BBQ. 7/10

Catfish: The fried catfish was on the dry side and the tartar sauce was quite bland (tasted like straight up mayo). I recommend using the provided hot sauce instead of the tartar sauce. 4/10

Baked beans: The beans lacked flavor and personality, but some of my co-workers enjoyed them. 5/10

Green beans: The waiter told me the green beans were cooked in chicken broth, so I decided to try them out. I was not disappointed, the flavor was excellent (as good as green beans at a BBQ restaurant get, lol), although the green beans were far too soft and most likely from a can. 8/10

Hush puppies: these came with the meal, but they were nicely cooked (crispy on the outside, moist on the inside), and had a little bit of corn inside of them which was a pleasant surprise.

Seafood gumbo: having spent a couple years in Louisiana, I have a good idea of what authentic gumbo tastes like. I can't say this gumbo was perfect, but it was flavorful and it had good spice. Actual protein was lacking, and the pieces of protein were quite small. If you are craving a decent bowl of gumbo, this one will definitely help. 7/10

Sausage and cheese platter: I quite enjoyed the sausage, which was nice and caramelized with the perfect amount of warm sauce. I enjoyed the sliced pickles, cubes of cheddar & pepper jack cheese, and pepperoncini peppers. My favorite was to stack up one of each on my toothpick, dip it in the barbecue sauce, and enjoy the party on my palate! 10/10

BBQ pork fries: Y'all, the fries at this place are impressive. Perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside, soft and pillowy on the inside. Throw some pulled pork on the top and you've got something special. 10/10 (but this is something you'll probably want to share in my not-so-professional opinion 😜)

Southern pecan pie & ice cream: this was certainly pecan pie, but quite possibly the most boring, uninteresting pecan pie I have ever had. I personally do not recommend this dessert unless you really don't like the other dessert options. 3/10 (didn't taste BAD, just didn't taste GOOD, iykyk)

Hot fudge brownie & ice cream: this was exactly what you think of as a classic hot fudge brownie with ice cream, not super exciting in my opinion, but definitely hit the spot and was well done. 8/10

Apple dumpling & ice cream: Ladies and gentlemen, I bring to you the best dessert at Blues City Cafe, by far. It came out bubbling in the mini cast iron pan. Flavor was on point, and really hit the spot. Warm gooey spiced apple flavor, slices of apple (might have been canned but I didn't care), irresistible dumplings, topped with vanilla ice cream that instantly starts melting into the rest of the dish. If you like up that sort of thing, I highly recommend this...

I visited Blues City Cafe in June of 2023 for the 1st time. The food was good, but the service was PHENOMENAL because of our server, Christian. My family and I visited last Thursday, December 21st, after the basketball game. We were celebrating my aunt's birthday. We called to see if they could accommodate 15 people. They told us yes. We got there and was seated right away. However, shortly after we were seated, everything started going wrong. The server was an older black gentleman with a HORRIBLE attitude and an extremely smart mouth. He was just plain RUDE! Two (2) of our family members left right away because of him. The remaining 13 of us stayed in hopes that things would get better. It did NOT! He spilled tea on 2 of our family members. He kept reaching across people and their food every time he brought something to the table. He was rude when people asked him questions about the menu. My husband mentioned something to the manager after he had had enough. We were told by the server that everyone's bill in our party would be discounted. The bills were NOT discounted when we received our bills. We inquired to our server. He then took $2 to $3 off everyone's bill. That is NOT a discount!!!!! After the HORRIBLE service we received and the money that we spent there, we should have been compensated. This was my aunt's actual birthday and dinner with our family that had come to Memphis from VA and MD to celebrate. I was EXTREMELY...

The food was really good despite the looks of the place, the ribs were really good. We enjoyed the ribs did not taste the sides really. The fries were ok. But great ribs.

The male servers could really use some make overs. 1 server had on pink underwear with tight skinny jeans that were under his behind with his whole buttocks showing, and an extra medium shirt plus a bandage hand, really! and you serving food. Another had full bushy untamed beard and a skull cap with long untamed hair sticking out just waiting to get in someone's food. I prayed neither of them serve us. My Prayers were answer (God is Good), we had a really sweet well dressed young pleasant woman hair pull back and clothes that fit she was wonderful. Also the female greeters had untamed extra long flowing wild hair and they were serving drinks, that's nasty and not right with uncovered food being serve too. Come on blues cafe get some hair nets please. If they clean up the staff it would be all stars. Please do better. Have hair nets and male servers pull up their pants and wear the correct size...