The Cupboard Restaurant — Restaurant in Memphis

I ordered a ham and fried green tomatoes from them for Thanksgiving. I've never eaten there before. Overall, I was not impressed, and I will not be back.

The place seemed quite segregated. Men were running the host counter and women were running the registers and the orders. While all of the women were wearing uniform t-shirts, the men were in plain clothes. I saw no people of color working anywhere, though I obviously couldn't see in the kitchen.

When I came in, I got in the line for the registers to give my name. In the meantime, the man at the host counter asked a man two people behind me if he'd been helped rather than helping the next in line. When I got to the registers I gave my name and waited over 30 minutes while everyone who had come in before and after me got their orders. Another woman who was waiting a long time went up to check on her takeout lunch, and her order had just been sitting up there. No one had called her name. I finally went to check why my order was taking so long. They wrote my name down again and sent it to the back again. 5 minutes later, still no one had communicated with me, so I found yet another person who took my name and went to check. 5 minutes later, still no one had communicated with me what was going on with my order. By this point I was getting frustrated so I interrupted a woman at the front counter and asked if they could tell me what was going on. She irritatedly told me that they were looking for my paper. Having no clue if that meant that they couldn't find my order or the name was wrong or what was happening, I kept waiting. Finally someone came out with my order. There were no apologies or explanations. No, "Happy Thanksgiving." The woman dropped the order and literally turned immediately and left. Happy Thanksgiving...

I cannot disagree more with the last reviewer of The Cupboard Restaurant. I eat there pretty often, mostly for breakfast and lunch. The food is great and very inexpensive. This is not fine dining we are talking about here, but simple great tasting southern home style eats. I have never left there hungry EVER. The fried catfish is really good and highly recommended. The Cupboard prides itself on it's veggies, for good reason. The veggies are as fresh and are from local sources whenever possible. You will not find a bigger, better selection of fresh veggies anywhere. Oh and the restrooms have been SPOTLESS whenever I have needed to use the facilities. :) In my most recent visit to The Cupboard, after I had read the previous review here. I ran into Charles Cavallo the owner of The Cupboard. I asked him point blank about cleanliness and their health department scores. He told me, they recently hired a retired health inspector to make weekly unannounced visits to the restaurant and rate them, then they sit down with the inspector and discus where they need to improve. This is in addition to their normal required health inspections. Who does that to themselves? I'll tell you, someone that is going over and beyond in regards to cleanliness. Also I informed Mr. Cavallo of the previous review and he said that he was unaware of that person's experience and wishes the reviewer would have raised their concerns with him so he could have rectified them. I hate it when people post negative reviews and never address them with the restaurant. They just blast them all over the internet. Don't let the previous reviewer disuade you from visiting/eating at The Cupboard. It is great, the service is very friendly AND the...

I’m very disappointed in my recent experience with The Cupboard, especially because I am a regular customer and my family has supported this restaurant for years. Unfortunately, after today, I will not be visiting again.

I called before placing my Uber Eats order to ask how to request 12 cornbread muffins, since the option wasn’t in the app. I was told to write it in the comments section — which I did — and I called again after placing the order to confirm. I was told my request would be honored and that there may be an extra charge, which I was more than fine with.

Later, my Uber Eats driver texted me to say there was no cornbread. I asked him to wait while I called the restaurant again. The same kind staff member took accountability and explained she had given me the wrong instructions and that the manager had refused to honor my request. The store manager got on the phone and was no help. I spent over 20 minutes on hold trying to speak with the owner, who never answered or called me back.

Mistakes happen. What is unacceptable is refusing to take accountability and correct a mistake that was entirely on the restaurant’s end. I went out of my way to call ahead and double-check to avoid any confusion. Instead, I was left with an incomplete order, wasted time, and would have had to pay additional Uber fees to try again.

I want to again acknowledge the staff member who apologized because she was kind and professional. Unfortunately, the manager and ownership showed very poor leadership and no accountability.

It’s a shame, because I’ve been a loyal customer, but this experience has completely changed my view of this business. I will not be ordering again or recommending The Cupboard...