Soul Fish Cafe — Restaurant in Memphis

Our much-anticipated celebration at Soul Fish Cafe for a small birthday dinner turned out to be a major disappointment. Our evening began with a lackluster greeting from the hostess, who didn't seem enthusiastic about seating us. We shrugged off this initial impression and hoped for a better experience. However, our hopes were quickly dashed when our server seemed unsure about the menu items, providing inaccurate information about the contents of our chosen dish.

To add to our dismay, when our food finally arrived, it was disappointingly cold, and the portions were not as described. Despite our polite request for a replacement, the server hesitated as if inconvenienced by the error. It was so disheartening that I had to physically hand her the plate back.

In an attempt to address our concerns, we spoke with a manager named Ryan. Instead of demonstrating empathy or a willingness to rectify the situation, Ryan dismissively responded with an indifferent "okay, whatever, she's new, forget your complaint, deal with it." This dismissive and unprofessional attitude left us feeling undervalued and unappreciated as customers.

Having been loyal patrons of Soul Fish Cafe due to the exceptional service we had previously received at other locations, this experience was a shockingly stark contrast. The lack of attention to detail, poor communication, and overall disregard for customer satisfaction displayed during our visit were unacceptable.

Our evening was marred by this disappointing experience, and we left feeling deeply dissatisfied. We had hoped for a memorable birthday celebration, but instead, we were met with subpar service and a lack of care. Regrettably, we will not be returning to Soul Fish Cafe and will be sharing our negative experience...

This was my 4th visit since they opened years ago. Our first visit, my husband ordered a whole catfish (and it was not cheap, so he expected a big fish). He was served a fish about the size of a large catfish fillet. He had no desire to return after that. I visited a few times after that for lunch with a co-worker, but we stuck to the Cuban and Memphis sandwiches, which were both very good and plenty of food to eat. Then kind of forgot about them. Fast forward to this visit, I was seriously craving some catfish (a first for me...I'm a northerner and it has taken 16 years for me to love this particular fish). We listed off a bunch of possibilities, but they were all a long drive or not exactly what I was looking for. I suggested Soul Fish...it had been YEARS since we visited and surely they wouldn't still be around and have multiple restaurants if they were still serving fillet-sized whole catfish. Well, the whole catfish isn't huge (like at Flying Fish), but it was certainly larger than that first one he ordered. And it came with two! A huge improvement. It tasted amazing and really hit the spot. This visit redeemed the first one. We won't hesitate to return...

Randomly discovered this place on the maps as a pit stop on our way from Texas because of the great reviews. This place did not disappoint! As mainly halal eaters, the menu was clearly marked as to which sides and entrees had meat/pork in it which helped us a lot.

We ordered the fried pickles for the appetizer and they were great. Really hard to mess up this southern classic!

1 person ordered the shrimp po boy which was great!

3 of us ordered the fried catfish platter + 2 sides from their menu. The fried catfish was fried to perfection, was perfectly seasoned and was not greasy at all.

The mac and cheese was great, while the mashed potatoes were good but basic, nothing extra ordinary which was fine as well. The fried okra was a bit slimier than i’m used to, and the steamed broccoli had a slight weird smell to it of its own steam if that makes sense, maybe left in the steamer too long.

I highly recommend the hushpuppies over the cornbread as the cornbread was slightly dry.

Customer service was great, everyone was nice and friendly and took care of us in a prompt manner despite how busy they were.

Overall 8.5/10...