Paulette's Restaurant — Restaurant in Memphis

This is the first and last time for me at Paulette's. Party of 7, we gathered for a friend's low-key birthday dinner. Arrived on time for the 7PM reservation, all had arrived and were seated by 7:26PM. Our server, Abraham, was genial enough, but on retrospect there were some red flags. I don't think I ever observed him writing orders down, to start. One of us waited a while before having to ask him for water, which had already been served to the rest of the table. Early on, the server asked if we were splitting the check, and we replied yes, and communicated the split to him, as there were 3 couples and one unaccompanied person attending. The meal started well enough, we went ahead and ordered apps and entrees at the same time, to save time. Server was a bit pushy about the table ordering shots to start, as it was a "birthday" but other than that was fine. We started having issues with the app round, again as one of us received a completely incorrect app, but she went ahead and ate it and brushed off the error as no big deal the app was still tasty. Concerning now because she was the same person who had to ask for water earlier. Entrees came out and issues continued. One filet was ordered medium, but it was well done. One filet was ordered medium rare, was so raw that she had to ask for it to be bagged up so she could take it home and attempt to salvage it later. She didn't want to send it back because the medium filet came out well done so faith in that coming back correctly was low. My entree and my girlfriend's entree, breaded chicken and salmon, respectively, were bland. I had to salt and pepper the dish because the "Italian Seasonings" claimed on the menu did not seem to be present. The breading really helped save the chicken, and the side pasta was fine. Everything was warm-ish, food did not come out piping hot. My girlfriend was disappointed that the salmon was just adequate, we had heard so much about Paulette's being a great spot so our expectations were raised, and our meal was just ok. Dessert was also a disaster. One couple ordered Crepes Suzette, which Abraham relished preparing tableside with a spiel on the origins of the dish and a scorching flambee...so scorching that the crepes were inedible due to the over-use of alcohol in preparation. Was an impressive flame-up to be sure, at the expense of taste. Our friend's bread pudding was only warm on one side, cold on the other side. Our K-pie dessert was probably the highlight, it was excellent. But we got it AFTER everyone had gotten their desserts and after the extended prep time of the crepes because the server apparently was in such a hurry to do the crepes and forgot to bring our dessert. By the time dessert was over, the restaurant was past closing time and we were the last table left. Then the checks...smh. The server had to ask a second time how we wanted the checks split. Perhaps he could not remember from earlier, maybe because he didn't write anything down. It took 30-40 minutes for the checks to come out, he explained that the system was down so they were having issues splitting the checks. 1st time the checks came out, they were wrong. Completely incorrect allocations. 15 minutes later, the redone checks...were also wrong. We're so frazzled and desperate to get out of the restaurant that we ended up just paying whatever was on the check, as it seemed that tickets just had menu items assigned almost randomly. This is SUPER awkward because the server is also very defensive about the errors on the checks "whats wrong, tell me tell me" vibes. He refused to let us just write down what we had ordered, so that he could go off our list. Thus, in our haste to end this debacle of a night, we realized later we were significantly overcharged by 45-50$!! We all just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. TBH we would have been ok to put it all on one and split via money apps later, but since we were asked if we'd like to split it, we did. Our mistake. Plus autograt. Normally we're happy to tip 20% or more, but this wasn't the...

First & last time at Paulette’s…The positive is parking is very simple and free and the general area is very nice/cozy with a river view right there. Unfortunately, that is where my positive experience ended. Last night we met up with others for a birthday dinner and our server Abraham was just a mess. We were left for long periods of time to the point, a woman who I assume may have been a mgr of some sort came to check on us and ask if our server had been to the table recently. She had a concerned tone, it was awkward as we didn’t want to “tell” on him and get him in trouble.

I could have dealt with painfully slow service if that were the only issue, esp on a Saturday night-no biggie. Our entrees came out lukewarm. I got the salmon and it was warm enough, the crust was good, but the veggies were cold and nursing home levels of bland. One person’s medium was well done and one person’s medium rare was raw, she had it boxed so she could take it home and cook it bc she saw what their version of medium was and didn’t want it well done. One couple ordered the tableside crepes and Abraham drowned them in liquor, which we made jokes about four free shots bc the crepes just tasted like alcohol. Another person’s bread pudding was warm on one side, cold on the other, and our dessert was totally forgotten. One of our party reminded him after they had all eaten their desserts and our K pie came out 15 min later while everyone was waiting on their checks. It was delicious, but it was so awkward getting our dessert so late and having to eat it when everyone was already finished and over the night. I wish our dinner partner hadn’t reminded him but we probably still would have been charged. Here is where is gets fun—we were significantly overcharged.

The first attempt Abraham made at giving us each the correct check took 40 minutes to receive. He said the system was down…I knew he forgot what each person ordered even though we had told him who was on what check from the beginning of the night. He brought wrong tickets. We sent back the checks and luckily my partner and I were still eating our late dessert so we kind of laughed it off. Second attempt on the checks came 15 min later and we’d all joked that we would accept anything we got. Unfortunately, that was the situation. It was 9:45, we arrived at 6:55 for a 7PM reservation, the restaurant was technically closed by this point and we wanted to leave. I didn’t want to upset my party, so I paid $166. I initially did mention it to Abraham but he was starting to come off as defensive about his mistakes and I offered to write down what we had ordered but he adamantly refused so we just accepted our fate. The only thing on that ticket I actually ordered was the K pie. Abraham will steal from you so check your tickets!

We had 2 waters 0.00 Watermelon Caprese 10.00-14.00? Price may vary 🤷‍♀️ Salmon 34.00 Chicken Sicilian 26.00 K pie 17.00 (really big and shareable so this is a good value)

We paid $166 and even with auto grat, that is over paying by a minimum of 30, probably closer to 40.00.

This was the worst experience I’ve had in Memphis and that is saying a lot. Apparently it’s usually a great spot, but I...

Worst Eating experience I have ever had! I made reservation for the New Years Evening at Paulette’s the day before New Years Eve because I wanted to share a good dining experience with a Memphis visiting friend, a Sicilian with impeccable credentials and fine dining experiences back home. We arrived precisely on time, because they had collected my telephone number, credit card number and other pertinent data, so we wanted to be promptly on time, as any airline because I am also a pilot. The two of us were asked to sit at a 6 top table, and I, knowing the restaurant business, felt that was a waste of space. (See I had once worked as night manager at Paulette’s when I was in school at Memphis State University many years ago, actually we (my Dutch wife and I were both friends of Paulette and Laszlo Fono back then when it was a real restaurant). So I asked for a “2 top“ so we would not use the valuable space during what I thought would be a nice dinner for New Years Eve with my Sicilian friend in town for only a couple days, his family name is Sieli (famous Sicilian mafia name, and that’s important, please read on). Now when we were confronted with Ryan, the waiter, he furnished us the wine when we had ordered, and asked if we were ready to order. We obliged: when we ordered the first of the 4 courses, he advised us “that we had better order all the 4 courses now, because it takes a long time in the kitchen”. I politely said “no thanks, you might just send all 4 courses out within 15 minutes”. He looked frustrated and left. We drank the first glass of wine, and ate a cold first course which was not supposed to be cold. We ordered the 2nd course. Ryan asked again if we would order all of then courses now. I said no thanks, and proceeded to chit chat with Signor Seili. Then abruptly the night manager arrived and said she did not have time for us to sit and chitchat all evening, they were expecting other guest for that table. Her name was Brianna and said she was from Poland. Her severe under-bite and NATZI, Gestapo tactics flabbergasted us. GOD, was that Bxxch Ugly, and rude. She left, and thinking back, it was Ryan who told her that we were not obliging him to order every course now. I tried to forget her attitude and rudeness, while we completed the New Years Eve meal. I apologized to Signor Seili. (Others in the restaurant did too.) He looked at me as said I have never heard of such a thing or such rudeness. And, he politely, casually said: If that would have happened me or any of this family back home, “Paulette’s Restaurant would be a parking lot tomorrow morning”. Need I say more? The food was cold, when it should be hot, my filet and his fish were cold when it was served, and I was afraid I would get sick from eating cold food sitting “almost-nearly under the heat lamp” in the kitchen for hours. This means that the food was cooked hours earlier. I should have gotten up and gone to the kitchen; but, then, I didn’t know the layout in this “new restaurant” This was the most horrible eating experience I have ever had in my life. The manager Brianna and Ryan will remember us. I...