The Liquor Store — Restaurant in Memphis

I’ve been to the location on broad before and this was my first time at Mendenhall. The parking situation isn’t great. Luckily I came before Torchy’s opened so I could park over there. I love the inside of the place, it’s beautiful and my friend didn’t have to wait long to be seated.

We order breakfast items. I got ube pancakes. The food took a little while. In fact someone seated after us was served before us. We were like what? But we got the food. My ube pancakes were just okay. I expected something rich and sweet but they seemed more like regular pancakes that were streaked with purple. I couldn’t taste anything distinctive not even the condensed milk. Oh well. It wasn’t bad but I wouldn’t order it again. Eggs were unimpressive, lukewarm, scrambled real hard like you’re at Denny’s. Bacon was crunchy and good!

The weird part was the bill. I was charged $16.50 for my pancakes. Now I’m the type of person who remembers the price of my food and I knew on the menu it said $15. Luckily, my friend still had the menu on her so we were able to check. She too had been charged a dollar more than the menu price for her item.

Now what’s a dollar, $1.50 extra right? Nothing but it’s the principal. I should be paying what’s on the menu. We brought it to the server’s attention. It took a weird amount of time to fix it. She went to tell the manager but he didn’t come over to speak to us which I also found strange. After a bit of back and forth I guess the server got the green light to change our checks and she did by subtracting the overcharge. She said they couldn’t explain what happened.

Now this was one of the very rare times I didn’t have a mimosa with brunch so I was extra aware. Imagine all the people sitting with their friends over drinks having a good time and putting down their credit card without a thought. We trust the business to charge us the stated price that we agreed to pay. I don’t know if this is a simple one time thing or something that’s happening across the board. Are they adding a dollar here, a dollar there to everyone’s food item on the check? Think about how quickly that would add up. Think about how it also affects the automatic 20% service charge. It feels like it could be a deceptive practice on their end.

Liquor Store, if you need to increase menu prices please do so. I’m not saying I’m not gonna pay it. I just need it to be stated correctly on the menu, not just slid into the bill. You may need to spend some money to update your nice laminated menus. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this but please double check your bills.

Edit: thanks for the response from The Liquor Store. I appreciate you taking my concerns seriously. The explanation makes sense and I hope you and your staff will work on better communicating the surcharge while...

Not comparable to the original location on Broad, unfortunately. I ordered online - a Classic Plate w/tocino & scrambled cheese eggs, w/a biscuit, and a portion of Cuban pork on the side; order was ready when I arrived. Everybody was real nice, so no points off for service. However, the Liquor Store staples really suffered here.

Cardinal sin: the biscuit was reheated improperly & allowed to cool, and thus, tasted akin to a semolina hockey puck. 😭 If you've ever had a Liquor Store biscuit, you know how remarkably fluffy & near-perfect they are; it's THEIR biscuits I want whenever I crave biscuits. This is stiff & barely even warm; nigh inedible, tbh.

The Cuban pork also barely has any of the trademark flavour you're accustomed to from this junt, and was also reheated improperly & was clumpy & chewy. Typical LS Cuban pork is super soft (but still reasonably textured), and the flavour is absolutely soaked through! There is a SMIDGE of flavour resting at the bottom of the container, but the rest tastes like it could've been made by literally anybody.

The eggs are also below standard & have a grainy texture. I almost wanna give credence to the cheese I ordered on 'em (tastes like a hard, sharp cheddar), but in all of my years frequenting this establishment & ordering my eggs w/cheese, they've never been like this. They honestly taste old, seeing as they became inedible after being in open air for less than 20 minutes; I can't finish them.

This is not to say that my meal is 100% terrible: the hash browns are bang-on & super fresh, the tocino also tastes fresh & had a great flavour and good char; that isn't enough to save this experience, though. It's unfortunate, because this location is much closer to my house than the original, but I'll just keep riding out to The Hamp until/unless this one gets it together....

Don't let the name deceive you! This "liquor store" provides not only a creative spin on your classic morning cocktails, but some of the best breakfast this side of the Mississippi. Aside from plump pancakes worthy of international regard, perfectly done eggs and other breakfast must-haves, The Liquor Store is a great place to try some non-traditional eats- who would have known that a fried egg and grilled Spam bahn mi would be one of the best and most creative sandwich combinations conceptualized lately (and the best sandwich I've had in recent memory). The service is friendly and upbeat across the board, with friendly and involved management quick to make sure everything is going smoothly. The kitchen staff (who are on view from the bar a la Waffle House) and the front of house staff alike seem exceptionally capable, skilled, and well taken care of- which, as a restaurant worker myself, is something I always pay attention to. We didn't try the attached coffee shop, but the hearty, New Orleans chickory-esque coffee was plenty satisfying and didn't leave any need to get fancy with espresso drinks. The Liquor Store definitely has the potential to establish itself as a necessary stop for locals and tourists alike; my only complaint is any jealous wives or company receipt vetters might require some explaining for the "liquor" peppered receipts and some classics, ex. what seemed to be whole wheat biscuits, seem a bit yuppified. Otherwise, follow the darling neon signs visible from the road for an exceptionally creative and...