TigerPat Wrote:No question...........Erling Jensen's place on South on Yates near 240 & Poplar
Terrific.................and very $$$$$
without a doubt the best. yes it is expensive, but only marginally more. and you get your money's worth. split an appetizer and a salad if you are inclined to order them and you'll will get more than enough and then the cost will about break even with some of the other restaurants mentioned above. And by far the best service in Memphis.
as to some of the others:
LoLos is pretty good. Good fish selections. Haven't gotten a steak, but there are very few places out I'll get a steak--i can almost always do better at home with a Fresh Market filet that I cook. Ruth's Chris maybe.
Yes, Mac sold the building that McEwens is in, but at this point I don't think there are plans to sell/close the restaurant. I ate a LoLos a couple of weeks ago, after Mac sold the building, and he was still walking around through the dining room in his sweater vest.
It has been a while since I've been to Cafe Society, but I've never been disappointed there.
a suggestion to anyone planning on dining downtown. check sites like
http://www.memphisforless.com or
http://www.restaurant.com or simliar. the combination of the large number of new downtown restaurants combined with the slowing of the economy and the lack of crowds for Grizzlies game (not to mention the slower than hoped for residential growth downtown) has lead to some very hard times for a lot of downtown restaurants. so you'll tend to find more discount deals down there.
Also, use
http://www.opentable.com and you can book your reservations online well in advance at many places.