They say you can’t go back. Perhaps you shouldn’t not that it isn’t possible. In the nineties, under different ownership this one one of the areas best restaurants. We went last night and it didn’t live up to expectations. The food was adequate. Nothing was cooked incorrectly or tasted bad, just adequate and therefore a little overpriced.The waiter was pleasant and courteous. It seemed they were short staffed so everything seemed to take extra time.In the end it wasn’t a bad experience but not one I would repeat.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
Caitlin Porter
The food is really good! We went here with our in-laws and weren't sure about this place at first, as it's a bit dated. But the food changed our minds - the chef is excellent. What this place needs is a bit of a capital injection to update the decor to make it more modern and appealing. But if food is your priority, then you won't be disappointed.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 5
Service: 4
Aaron Hoffman
Arrived early for reservation and received drinks an hour later. Food came much later. Veal piccata was bland and lackluster. Salmon was over-spiced with salt and pepper. Didn't stick around for dessert. Place has gone WAY downhill since heyday. I don't recommend eating here!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Stacy Pennington
Outstanding steaks, delicious appetizers, perfect wine pairings, and attention to detail throughout.An Evergreen neighborhood staple for decades, Cafe Society is an institution but one humble enough to always deliver pleasant surprises and thoughtful touches.
Parking: The lot around back is rarely full.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
Alyssa H
Wow. I was expecting a nice meal coming here but I was bamboozled.We had reservations here at 6pm and we were literally the only people in the restaurant from 6-8:30pm. Not a single other soul showed up.Some of the chairs in the restaurant look like they came from a Chinese restaurant. You know the look.They were out of the wine we ordered. The wine list is not that great to begin with. The alternative we were offered was subpar.The French onion soup came out with a slice of melted Swiss cheese (possibly from Kroger) on top and was embarrassing.The veal piccata was, quite possibly, the most flavorless dish I’ve had in Memphis. It’s supposed to come with pappardelle noodles and it most definitely came with fettuccine. So, don’t expect what it says on the menu.Service was subpar.I think it’s glaringly obvious this restaurant is on its way out considering they had ONE table for dinner service on Thursday evening.
Kenny Harrison
Took my girlfriend here out for a date night and it was a surprisingly unpleasant experience. We started out with the French onion soup, dirty martinis and the bacon wrapped shrimp. The bacon wrapped shrimp were pretty good but the French onion soup was very disappointing.The toast on top was burnt and the soup itself was not up to par with soup my girlfriend had gotten from there in the past. We thought to ourselves, “okay hopefully our main courses would be better”. I ordered the chicken alfredo and my girlfriend ordered the veal piccata with a side of crispy brussels. The chicken Alfredo was the worst I believe I’ve ever put in my mouth. Nothing was properly seasoned and the noodles had the consistency of a microwaved instant noodle. The crispy brussels were crispy alright. It was a bowl of burnt mush. Lastly the veal was very soggy on the bottom and the noodles tasted like plain butter noodles with 0 salt or other seasonings. No manager came out to apologize for the terrible meals but I did send a few of the items back and had them removed from our check. There are far better places to go for a date night.I would steer clear of this place.
Parking: Spots are small and most people double parked. We had to park down the street.
Martin Rosenblum
Excellent food as always. It was New Year's Eve and the restaurant only had three servers, including the bartender who pitched in waiting tables.Our original server chose to take orders from another table that was seated 20 minutes after she initially brought our water. Since she didn't return to our table, I reached out to the person who we discovered was the bartender. We asked if we could have a new server and he volunteered to help us. Food was served to the table that was seated 20 minutes after us and before we ever even got appetizers or drinks. Ultimately, our food was served in the order that is was intended and was excellent!A table beside us got their entree after about 30 minutes of being seated but had not been served their apps nor salads!With NYE being mostly through reservations, I was surprised and disappointed that the bartender replied to my inquiry that there was no manager/owner in the restaurant that night!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 2
Tammy Moss
We wanted to do a special night out for the family. I even made reservations after looking at reviews and photos of the food online and expected a fine dining experience. Arriving to the restaurant I was first shocked at how narrow the parking spaces are. You can barely open the door to get out and all for what, one more space for one more car? Really?Our first indication that this might not be an experience up to our expectations was that the restaurant was not very busy at all, even so, we waited at the entrance for an inordinate length of time to be seated, or even acknowledged. There was no increase in attentiveness from the staff once seated.The meal itself was one of the poorest meals I have experienced. We spent a good deal of money on a meal that was mediocre at best, and most accurately described as MEH. The bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer was smothered in a sauce that obliterated the shrimp which could have been bacon wrapped anything, and the seafood bisque was not made of anything of quality. We were told it was mostly crab and shrimp as the seafood, but didn’t see a single shrimp in it, and the crab was not real crab by appearance. The ribbons really gave the impression that it was artificial crab made of white fish that had deconstructed in the cooking. Neither was as expected. Then the entrées… first of all the prime rib was prepared more like an over grilled ribeye and was tough. The veal piccata was rubbery and soggy from sitting on a bed of completely tasteless noodles that were not even hot. Even salt and pepper couldn’t help. nothing plated in front of us even remotely resembled what we saw in photos online. We paid the check and even tipped decently for the service that was somewhere between rude and indifferent but decided to go to a good restaurant for dessert.We are foodies and enjoy a really good meal made from the best ingredients, well prepared and served by friendly and attentive servers for which we are happy to pay and tip extravagantly, but this was not the place for any of that. Will NEVER come again and will share our experience within a very wide circle.
J Jordan
A nice quiet place. Table cloths and soft lights. Wasn't too impressed with the food.
greasemonkey71
The food was incredible. I highly recommend getting their brussels sprouts. The salmon is also really good and highly recommend. the service was good. i will return.
Very disappointed given the four star rating. Service very slow with only one server. Water not refilled and we returned two wines which arrived at the table after we were finished with entrees. We had veal piccata that was tough and a mound of plain noodles. Salmon was overdone at one end and undercooked at the other. Even pre-dinner drinks from bar were not mixed as requested. Perhaps a bad night. We might try again...maybe
Amber Terry
Slow service, lukewarm food, burnt pizza that tasted like a frozen Totino’s pizza, overpriced for terrible food. Won’t be back
Olivia Orsak
Disappointed! Food was cold, they were out of items on the menu, didn’t celebrate a birthday for our guest that was requested online.
Jan S
The food was very tasty. I especially liked the wedge salad and the grilled salmon - delicious! The best thing was dessert. Everyone had the crème brûlée. It far exceeded my expectations. It was creamy and room temperature ( not out of refrigerator). It was perfectly done.
Krista Wright Thayer
The bisque, the fish, the creme brulee. A fabulous meal. Stumbled upon it and will return:)
They say you can’t go back. Perhaps you shouldn’t not that it isn’t possible. In the nineties, under different ownership this one one of the areas best restaurants. We went last night and it didn’t live up to expectations. The food was adequate. Nothing was cooked incorrectly or tasted bad, just adequate and therefore a little overpriced.The waiter was pleasant and courteous. It seemed they were short staffed so everything seemed to take extra time.In the end it wasn’t a bad experience but not one I would repeat.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
The food is really good! We went here with our in-laws and weren't sure about this place at first, as it's a bit dated. But the food changed our minds - the chef is excellent. What this place needs is a bit of a capital injection to update the decor to make it more modern and appealing. But if food is your priority, then you won't be disappointed.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 5
Service: 4
Arrived early for reservation and received drinks an hour later. Food came much later. Veal piccata was bland and lackluster. Salmon was over-spiced with salt and pepper. Didn't stick around for dessert. Place has gone WAY downhill since heyday. I don't recommend eating here!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Outstanding steaks, delicious appetizers, perfect wine pairings, and attention to detail throughout.An Evergreen neighborhood staple for decades, Cafe Society is an institution but one humble enough to always deliver pleasant surprises and thoughtful touches.
Parking: The lot around back is rarely full.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
Wow. I was expecting a nice meal coming here but I was bamboozled.We had reservations here at 6pm and we were literally the only people in the restaurant from 6-8:30pm. Not a single other soul showed up.Some of the chairs in the restaurant look like they came from a Chinese restaurant. You know the look.They were out of the wine we ordered. The wine list is not that great to begin with. The alternative we were offered was subpar.The French onion soup came out with a slice of melted Swiss cheese (possibly from Kroger) on top and was embarrassing.The veal piccata was, quite possibly, the most flavorless dish I’ve had in Memphis. It’s supposed to come with pappardelle noodles and it most definitely came with fettuccine. So, don’t expect what it says on the menu.Service was subpar.I think it’s glaringly obvious this restaurant is on its way out considering they had ONE table for dinner service on Thursday evening.
Took my girlfriend here out for a date night and it was a surprisingly unpleasant experience. We started out with the French onion soup, dirty martinis and the bacon wrapped shrimp. The bacon wrapped shrimp were pretty good but the French onion soup was very disappointing.The toast on top was burnt and the soup itself was not up to par with soup my girlfriend had gotten from there in the past. We thought to ourselves, “okay hopefully our main courses would be better”. I ordered the chicken alfredo and my girlfriend ordered the veal piccata with a side of crispy brussels. The chicken Alfredo was the worst I believe I’ve ever put in my mouth. Nothing was properly seasoned and the noodles had the consistency of a microwaved instant noodle. The crispy brussels were crispy alright. It was a bowl of burnt mush. Lastly the veal was very soggy on the bottom and the noodles tasted like plain butter noodles with 0 salt or other seasonings. No manager came out to apologize for the terrible meals but I did send a few of the items back and had them removed from our check. There are far better places to go for a date night.I would steer clear of this place.
Parking: Spots are small and most people double parked. We had to park down the street.
Excellent food as always. It was New Year's Eve and the restaurant only had three servers, including the bartender who pitched in waiting tables.Our original server chose to take orders from another table that was seated 20 minutes after she initially brought our water. Since she didn't return to our table, I reached out to the person who we discovered was the bartender. We asked if we could have a new server and he volunteered to help us. Food was served to the table that was seated 20 minutes after us and before we ever even got appetizers or drinks. Ultimately, our food was served in the order that is was intended and was excellent!A table beside us got their entree after about 30 minutes of being seated but had not been served their apps nor salads!With NYE being mostly through reservations, I was surprised and disappointed that the bartender replied to my inquiry that there was no manager/owner in the restaurant that night!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 2
We wanted to do a special night out for the family. I even made reservations after looking at reviews and photos of the food online and expected a fine dining experience. Arriving to the restaurant I was first shocked at how narrow the parking spaces are. You can barely open the door to get out and all for what, one more space for one more car? Really?Our first indication that this might not be an experience up to our expectations was that the restaurant was not very busy at all, even so, we waited at the entrance for an inordinate length of time to be seated, or even acknowledged. There was no increase in attentiveness from the staff once seated.The meal itself was one of the poorest meals I have experienced. We spent a good deal of money on a meal that was mediocre at best, and most accurately described as MEH. The bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer was smothered in a sauce that obliterated the shrimp which could have been bacon wrapped anything, and the seafood bisque was not made of anything of quality. We were told it was mostly crab and shrimp as the seafood, but didn’t see a single shrimp in it, and the crab was not real crab by appearance. The ribbons really gave the impression that it was artificial crab made of white fish that had deconstructed in the cooking. Neither was as expected. Then the entrées… first of all the prime rib was prepared more like an over grilled ribeye and was tough. The veal piccata was rubbery and soggy from sitting on a bed of completely tasteless noodles that were not even hot. Even salt and pepper couldn’t help. nothing plated in front of us even remotely resembled what we saw in photos online. We paid the check and even tipped decently for the service that was somewhere between rude and indifferent but decided to go to a good restaurant for dessert.We are foodies and enjoy a really good meal made from the best ingredients, well prepared and served by friendly and attentive servers for which we are happy to pay and tip extravagantly, but this was not the place for any of that. Will NEVER come again and will share our experience within a very wide circle.
A nice quiet place. Table cloths and soft lights. Wasn't too impressed with the food.
The food was incredible. I highly recommend getting their brussels sprouts. The salmon is also really good and highly recommend. the service was good. i will return.
Restaurantji Recommends
Very disappointed given the four star rating. Service very slow with only one server. Water not refilled and we returned two wines which arrived at the table after we were finished with entrees. We had veal piccata that was tough and a mound of plain noodles. Salmon was overdone at one end and undercooked at the other. Even pre-dinner drinks from bar were not mixed as requested. Perhaps a bad night. We might try again...maybe
Slow service, lukewarm food, burnt pizza that tasted like a frozen Totino’s pizza, overpriced for terrible food. Won’t be back
Disappointed! Food was cold, they were out of items on the menu, didn’t celebrate a birthday for our guest that was requested online.
The food was very tasty. I especially liked the wedge salad and the grilled salmon - delicious! The best thing was dessert. Everyone had the crème brûlée. It far exceeded my expectations. It was creamy and room temperature ( not out of refrigerator). It was perfectly done.
The bisque, the fish, the creme brulee. A fabulous meal. Stumbled upon it and will return:)
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