Corky's Ribs & BBQ — Restaurant in Memphis

I was there last week for my birthday and had to try some Memphis BBQ before we left. We were advised to try Central BBQ downtown but decided to try Corky's instead because it was right around the corner from the DXL where we were shopping. I can't say it was a terrible decision but I wished I had tried Central BBQ instead. We went through the drive thru and ordered the Half Slab of rib meal (dry but with bbq sauce on the side). We also ordered the chopped bbq sandwich, two extra rolls, mac and cheese, baked beans, slaw, corn on the cob and a sweet tea. They asked us to pull forward and they would bring the order out. When they guy first came out, we were missing the tea. He went back and got it, then we realized we were missing the coleslaw, so he went back and go that. After we left, we realized we had no bbq sauce on the side. My husband tried to eat the chopped bbq sandwich dry but it wasn't appetizing at all. The ribs were smoked well, but the edges were so hard, I couldn't eat it. We eventually stopped at a McDonald's and got some bbq sauce, which helped a little bit. The coleslaw and baked beans were good, but the star of the show were the rolls and sweet tea. The mac and cheese was straight out of a box and wasn't cooked long enough. The cheese runny and it was cold. This was a big disappointment, as we went for the bbq, not the sides. Also, the atmosphere/customer service could have been better. While we were in the drive thru, there were two men (an older, thinner black guy and a younger, husky black guy with dreads) who were bringing garbage to the trash cans. We spoke to them, as they walked by the car, but they both just looked at us like were speaking French. The lady at the drive thru window was pleasant, though. I do plan to return to Memphis but will try the other bbq spots next time. This spot was somewhat of a...

I cannot give this place enough stars. We visited on Saturday October 12, 2019. We skipped breakfast, so, we showed up for a very early lunch. Google and their website didn't agree on the opening time. So, we were there actually before they opened, but they let us in and seated us. within two minutes, three different people had come to our table for different things. I'm telling you, by the time we were done with our meal, even they guy outside spraying down the parking lot had stopped and talked to us. Once a couple of other tables had filed in we could really see that everyone was getting the same treatment. And the music! Their playlist fit our style to a tee. A little disco, a little Blues, a little southern rock sprinkled in. My wife had mentioned that if we were listening to this on Pandora, not one song would have been skipped. We both ordered ribs "muddy" that's rub and sauce. A regular order, which was twice as much as a regular order anywhere else we go.The sides were delicious, the rolls were definitely home made. About halfway through the meal our server (who took amazing care of us, I wish I remember her name) stops by and says, "Don't forget to save room for Home Made Banana Pudding!" YES PLEASE! We had to get boxes so we could have the pudding, Who has home made banana pudding on the menu? Corky's does! Topped with the best tasting home made whipped cream I have ever tasted... I can't say enough, from the amazing greeting to the server singing along to every song as she strolled through and treating the little girl near us like it was her own grandbaby. This place saved a mediocre trip for sure. Thank You to everyone...

Caveat emptor. To be honest, my last, (i.e., most recent as well as final) dining experience at Corky's, left a lasting back taste in my mouth. I stopped by the Poplar location Thurs evening to ask if the party room could accommodate our group of 25 Saturday night. Although the room seats 20, we were willing for the spillover to be seated outside. The bartender instructed me to call the office the next day. So, we followed protocol and contacted the office the next day, Friday morning, to make and confirm our reservation.

Saturday evening, we arrive, and the staff had our reservation but seemed puzzled that we wanted to be seated together and adamantly refused to serve us in the party room or even pull tables together. Further, absolutely no other party was seated in the party room, but our group was unilaterally scattered throughout the restaurant at several different tables and told to visit the Cordova location, if we wanted a party room. The tidbit of information to redirect our group to a different location would have been helpful at the time we made the reservation versus last minute waiting to be seated.

Obviously, relocating 25 people last minute was logistically impossible, so we stayed. The comment that blew my mind is the manager asking on our way out, if everything was ok, when clearly we were disappointed at the get go losing out not only on the camaraderie expectations of a private room but also denying our guests the occasion to address the whole group in the privacy of the party room. At the time, I was speechless, but now, having processed and published the bait and switch reservation we experienced,...