Being on Beale Street we had to sample some of the restaurants. Stopped here for lunch one day and were not impressed at all. The service is extremely slow and the waitress was always confused on her orders.

Once we got our food it was cold after one of the other employees saw us looking at our order setting on the counter to be picked up. The waitress was too busy visiting with the other employees at the time.

I would never go back.

I had only two nights in Memphis, and one dinner was taken up by Gus's Hot and Spicy (see that review). Had several preplanned BBQ options before arrival, including Neely's, the Interstate, Leonards, and the Rendevoux. Staff at our hotel serviously reccomended the Blues City Cafe, so we decided to give it try. Wish I had at least another night to try one of the others so I could write a comparison. I was just a little disappointed to find that the ONLY BBQ they served were ribs, I would have liked to try some chopped pork, chicken or sausage. Between the three of us, we had the fried catfish, and ribs. I did a combo catfish and ribs, both of which were very good. In fact the catfish was right at the top of the best I have ever had. Ribs were "fall off the bone" but the sauce was nothing special. Sides pretty good, baked beans clearly slow cooked and flavorful. Good service, our server could have been the twin sister of Mary Alice from the TV show the Ace of Cakes and was a lot of fun to talk to. With so many BBQ options in Memphis, I probably wouldn't go back on a return visit, but that's just so I can give another place a try.

I've sampled lots of BBQ in the area and this one was pretty darn tastey. Not the greatest BBQ I've ever had but definetly a nice place to have dinner. I ordered the pork ribs and the sauce on them was great. The portions were generous. The service was pretty horrible but the food was worth eating.

Was there on a Sat nite late (after 11pm) and hungry. walked up & down before deciding on this. We were seated quickly (probably b/c so late), and ordered quickly. Waiter was friendly but perhaps working it too hard. There are a couple of tables in the south east corner (right by the door) which we chose to be able to hear the band while eating.

I had a cup of gumbo and "chopped' salad w/ bbq pork, which the waiter tried to talk me out of ordering. Dressing on the side (I ended up not using any). Hubbie got cup of gumbo and tamales and the seafood dip. to drink I had a Patron margarita (was really really bad and $8.50); hubbie had beer (smart man).

The gumbo was very very good. Salad was good, but not fantastic (the meat was good, but I didn't realize they'd slather it in BBQ sauce - I'd do it again, but with the sauce on the side - it was good, but too much of it). The dip was good - very reach/creamy, but not too much seafood taste (I would have liked more crab or whatever). The tamales had good crust, but inside was nothing fantastic.

The bite was that even after paying for dinner, we were still asked to pay a cover charge to get into the room with the band (and they monitor this - you cannot get into the restaurant door w/o getting a table). And, they would not even let us walk through the bar area to get back onto the main drag - so we had to go back out the front door and BACK THROUGH SECURITY to get into Beale St - which was a bunch of BS as far as I'm concerned (we are in our 40s/50s, & had not been drinking [wanted to eat first] , so it's not like they needed to ID/card us...)

Bottom line - it was all ok, but I the only reason, IMO, to return would be for a bowl of the gumbo; otherwise, I'd make sure I'd eaten before getting to Beale St.