This spot is my Happy Hour and Breakfast/Brunch Jam! Ask Phil (bartender) for the Grandma's Piss cocktail. Ask Dave (bartender) about any new stock of whiskey behind the bar. Get a hug from Kendrick (server), high-five the kitchen crew because they make some good ole crab cakes! WARNING: you will easily consume 12,000 calories... So if you're on a diet- accept that you'll be enjoying ice water as your meal while everyone around you basks in the greatness that is southern food. read more

Took out of town friends for brunch. They loved it! Cappuccino was great. Great server! Made it a really great experience.

Every time I visit Memphis it's one of the best meals I've ever eaten. And the staff is friendly and the atmosphere is funky and faded and wonderful and without pretense till now... Please get rid of the silly valet. There's like 10 parking spots in the whole lot, which anyone could easily walk across in 5 seconds, and you're gonna make us valet park? On a Thursday night? And even though it's complimentary, there's an expectation of a tip, for making us wait to leave. I'll be back, because I'm addicted, but it'll be a pain in the ass, because I won't park there til you get rid of the silliness. read more

called them at 9:58PM and begged them to throw the Meatloaf into a box,..the kitchen closes at 10,..but they agreed. Stopped in, drank a beer, grabbed the food, and was home just in time for AdultSwim. I have eaten there 5 times,..all I have ever had is the Meatloaf,..its all about the Meatloaf. If you get there before 6PM,..have the Meatloaf sandwich appetizer,..its the King. I first walked into the place thinking that the fact that I grew up in Memphis would matter,..sadly,.Memphis is some kind of crazy art movement. Collard Greenz and CornBread,..its still home to me! This place simply has it all, great setting, Murphy's on tap, good lookin ladies, awesome music,..and maybe even something better than the Meatloaf,.but I'll never know,..its better than crack! read more

Not much to complain about in terms of service. They tried to be helpful and it looked like all the servers helped each other out. Food was ordinary but the atmosphere was pleasant. My gumbo was very salty but maybe I should have asked them to put the rice on the side. My fried shrimp po boy sandwich was OK. It was a sandwich with typical toppings like onions, tomato, shredded lettuce, and a pickle. Nothing extraordinary and very much like a typical sandwich than the po boys I've tried in the east coast. Tried their chicken and waffles which was good. Chicken was moist and crispy. Recommend getting the gravy on the side if you want your chicken crispy until the last bite. My friend tried their ahi salad which was very colorful but I forgot to asked how he liked it. read more

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Was going to meet a friend for sushi but on the way over changed my mind and decided to go to Memphis Cafe. It had been 10 years since the last time I had been there and the experience then was good. This place is edgy to put it out there but in a good way. It isn't your typical chain restaurant in fact it is the opposite. Now the meat and potatoes about Memphis. I had the meatloaf with mash potatoes and gravy. The meatloaf was good and the gravy was excellent. I dont know why I went so old school on my choice considering there was a lot of better choices on the menu. My friend had the beef sandwich cooked their way. To bland for me but they got it as ordered. I took a few fries from my friends plate and they were crispy with just enough salt to tempt me to order my own. Portions were generous, service was good and the food tasty. I really enjoy the atmosphere something a chain cant duplicate. read more

Fantastic food. I've been dreaming of their shrimp and grits. The grits were green, infused with green chilies. Amazing. I will be turning more of my friends on to this place. read more

Food is good come here for breakfast tried almost everything and it's not bad. Coffee is good. The water cups tasted like egg juice on my last visit read more

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The food is excellent, service is good and they have daily specials!! Nice trendy place, good for date!

Went in on a Friday for breakfast and was pretty disappointed. I ordered a latte and when I received it there was a short black hair in my foam. Feeling extremely tired I just picked it off without complaint and drank it. We ordered the Benedict and stuffed French toast. The presentation was great but the flavor was lacking. Coming from the airport we were starving so we finished everything but left unsatisfied. Our server was super sweet but I don't think I'll ever want to come back read more

Went here with my friend for Sunday Brunch. The food is literally amazing and the staff is extremely friendly. They have a really nice sheltered patio area where you can dine. The price is pretty reasonable and you'll definitely be full by the end of your experience. The menu has a large variety of items, so there's certainly something for everyone. The only down side to the establishment is the lack of parking spaces to accommodate the high volume of customers. However, it was only $3 to valet. read more

Awesome place for brunch! My husband and I come here often as it is very close to our home. Cool environment, great waitstaff and super delicious food! read more

Finding a table for 17 people for Sunday Brunch in the area is not easy. Memphis made it much easier though by taking a reservation and seating us as soon as we were all there. They even served us drinks while we waited on a few to arrive. Good food, good booze and great service all for reasonable prices. We'll definitely keep Memphis Cafe in mind the next time we're in the area. read more

I love this place. Good southern cooking with a cosy, quirky atmosphere. Great place for date night.

Not a big fan of this place. Expensive. The food isn't all that great. I had the Soul burger with onion strings. This place (compared to SantAna) was skimpy on the onion strings. The dessert was quite slow, and the apple cobbler thing, wasn't sure if they were really apples. read more

I have been eating here since the beginning. Before it became hipster central. You would be an idiot not to like the gumbo and the daily specials. Hell, I get excited on the corn bread and honey, something I never make at home. The Cobb Sandwich is the superstar hidden in the menu featuring the Holy Trinity: juicy chicken, blue cheese and bacon. So if you are a pork pie hat-topped hipster, say hello to Dave, bartender to the stars, and please pay down my bar tab while you are at it. read more

Plain and simple review.Pretty good cafe! Came in for lunch with a few co-workers. I had the Seared Ahi Tuna sandwich...It was delish! Will come back again. read more

Surprisingly good! I thought we were heading to a greasy hole in the wall when we pulled up, but the food was very good for lunch. The gumbo was excellent, salad was fresh, and the sandwiches my 2 coworkers ordered were huge. read more

Memphis Cafe is a quaint little dive bar in Costa Mesa. The service and drinks were okay. My major issue with the place is the amount of outdoor patio space they have versus the indoors. For people who don't smoke, you are stuck with a smoke cloud outside and suffocating while you are trying to enjoy your drink. read more

I really want to like this place. I have been here few years ago for drinks. But I didn't get a chance to try their food the last time. The past weekend I decided to go there and try their food. We came in around 5 on Sunday. And the happy hour menu was still available. Scored! The food was cold, under seasoning (my po boy sandwich really turned to a poor boy sandwich). Come on, southern food supposed to be very flavorful and bold. And the dishes were all lacking flavors. The gumbo was cold. And it's hard to flag down servers to order or request something. I don't think we will be coming back again. read more

The beef brisket wasn't the best- neither was the Memphis Cobbler drink, but I would recommend this place for a Match date. Just stick to a salad and a drink you're familiar with.. I wish I would have gotten the vodka and blood orange soda. read more

I tried their buffalo burger and I switched it up with another one of their burgers ingredients on it. Very tasty. My one hangup was I requested my burger rare, yet it was over cooked (on the side of medium). I brought my issue to the attention of a server and they offered to bring me a new one, but I didn't want to wait for a new burger. So they nicely comped my burger. That was very cool, and I didn't expect them to do that. They remain 5 stars for that type of customer service. They had Murphy's on draft along with an Anchor IPA. My friends' both ordered the pulled pork sandwiches and enjoyed that. One with extra horseradish sauce. Memphis Cafe` continues to do things the right way as they were packed around noon on a Friday. Besides their indoor area, they have a nice outdoor setting for enjoying your meal under a beautiful southern California sky. read more

Found this little gem for breakfast today. It's tiny. The dining room is the size of an average living room, and the patio is small but comfy. The weather is always nice in Costa Mesa, so just sit outside. The food was really good. This cafe is going for the gourmet touch in the food dept. I had a shrimp and spinach frittata and my daughter had the french toast. The portions are not big, but the flavor is. A full bar made this place just what I needed. read more

The chicken is terrific and the ribs were good too. Menu has some different things on it, but is not extensive. I have enjoyed the meatloaf before. The inside is definitely nothing special. You can enjoy a nice variety of beers. The service is good and the people are very friendly which made it nice. read more

Without a doubt one of the best breakfast/lunch/brunch places in OC. I would say go for the food (which is amazingly good), but in a weird sort of way the atmosphere totally works for this place, too. We went there with family who used to live in Memphis (a long time ago) and thought it would be a fun place to take them partly for that reason, and partly because we had heard (on Yelp and elsewhere) that the food was really good). It felt like we were in a divey little Southern food shack where you'd get greasy but tasty food and maybe some local music. The music was recorded, but the rockabilly, country & blues sort of mix they were playing when we were there really added to the vibe. Our waitress was helpful, friendly and efficient. But let's get to the heart of what makes this place killer -- food that feels authentically southern-style, but isn't greasy and tastes like nothing else you'll find in Orange County. Where else can you get a blackened shrimp po'boy? It was fantastic. The shrimp were blackened to where they were spicy, but the spicing didn't overwhelm. You could taste that they were shrimp, which were rendered a little crunchy, with just the right balance of spice. The baguette was also nice and crunchy, even with the addition of the spicy red mayonnaise all along the inside. Tomatoes, lettuce, red onions and I think maybe some kind of pickle relish maybe were also layered in with the shrimp. It was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. If this is what a po'boy is, then I'm a fan. The portion was ample for the price. I got the side of shoestring potatoes -- basically a small serving of thin-cut fries. They were good, too, and the fact they were clearly a side didn't bother me at all. The po'boy really didn't even need anything else. The other choices were regular salad or caesar romaine salad. Others in our party had pancakes (very light and fluffy) and chicken and waffles. The chicken breast was tender and juicy inside with a crisp breading on the outside and covered with a tasty white country gravy. The waffle was crisp and cooked just right. Eggs accompanied the dish as well. One member of our party pointed out that in the South, the chicken (gravy and all) would probably have been served over the waffle, which would have had syrup on it already. Whether that's more authentic or not, I can imagine that many people want to put their own syrup own and mix the chicken with the waffles as much or as little as they want. Two other things I liked: good basic coffee and the smell coming from the cooking of the food from the open kitchen at the other end of the restaurant. Even when I was full, it still smelled great. Parking is limited, the tables are close together and there was one guy hanging around who had been at the bar far too long already at lunch (and I hope he was NOT driving anywhere for a long time), but other than that, truly not much on the downside. I suggest on the weekends that you make reservations (you can do that directly from their website, which uses Yelp's SeatMe system -- very easy to use). Despite being busy, we didn't feel rushed to leave and the service was efficient -- clearly they are used to it. And for good reason -- they have good food that people clearly like to eat. read more

Great place with good breakfast/brunch menu. Had the frittata-sat outside. Small place but good service with full bar read more

We showed up on a Saturday night about 10:30pm, had the late night menu. Waitress was very nice and helpful but unfortunately the food was seriously mediocre, chicken quesadilla was nothing special, pulled pork sliders were dry and bland, crab cakes were good and the fried chicken was to thin- not enough chicken. Beers on tap, should have had more local craft brews!! read more

Cool vibe, always a relaxing fun place. It's our Go-to place these days. Amazing food, especially the buttermilk fried chicken, and the meatloaf!. Dave the bartender is the best in OC (imho).. it can get crowded on a Friday or Saturday night though!. So is the yummy Sunday Brunch!. I don't think you'll be disappointed. read more

Memphis Cafe - Southern Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

For our first time great experience with Awesome service delicious food tasty drinks. Definitely recommend this place. Thanks Concho

I felt kinda let down by Memphis. And i guess it's my fault. As a vegetarian, there wasn't a whole lot i could order. When i got my plate, everything was swimming in a mass of salty sauce and the food itself was pretty bland. The presentations were great, though! I went with my roommate and he ordered the Porterhouse. It came with all sort of fancy fixin's like cherries on top and mashed potatoes and cabbage on the side. He said it was good but it had a lot of bones. In my opinion, the fancy fixer-uppers like the cherries and sauce seem to cover up the average-flavored meals that are overpriced to begin with. I don't think i'd eat there again, but the ambience of the restaurant is cool enough that i might stop by once in a blue moon for a couple drinks during happy hour. read more

First, let me preface this by saying that the place is always busy. ALWAYS busy. Last time I went, the wait time for a table was almost an hour, so if you're unsure about it, or you want to get in and get seated, try to call for a reservation. That being said, the food here is pretty darn good. So much so that I try to drop in when I'm in the area and want some good soul food that fills you with out leaving you going "oh dear lord, I'm going to have to run around Newport Back bay TWICE now..." Meatloaf is good, the fish/catch of the day is also usually pretty good. The deserts are Alright, was expecting more from them, but it's desert. You're not there for the desert. You're there for the soul food. You want real desert, go to Baskin-Robbins or someplace else. It's stuck near the Anti-mall, but it's far enough away not to mistake it as being a part of the anti-mall. Which I guess is good for business - it gets the flavor, while bridging the gap between it and the local office buildings right across the small access street. It's enough to feel different, but not enough to alienate too many people. Also, you can't go wrong with either sitting inside or outside - Last time I was here was with a party out in the Patio, and we had fun there, despite it being a cooler than normal January day/night. read more

I can really only vouch for the nightlife at this place. It's a little hipster, without all the pretentiousness, but the crowd is still pretty diverse. I thought it would at least be consistent on the same night of the week, but nope! No worries, the crowd is always friendly and not meat-market-y, it's busy but not insane, the bartenders/bouncers are great, and the DJ spins fun and funky music. There's a nice outdoor area for smoking or just getting away, and there's a parking lot and decent street parking. If you've ever been to the Arsenal in Los Angeles (on Pico, in WLA), it's very similar in size, feel, layout, acoustics, and even style. read more

Out of their happy hour food selection I got the pulled pork sliders(2 pieces), quite delicious but no where near filling. Friend got the crab cake(2 pieces) it looked good but small. Happy hour price for beers is only a $1 off so it didn't make too much of a difference but was glad to see boont amber ale on tap, if you haven't had it before it's full of flavor and delicious! While I was drinking on my boont, one of the people I was with told me the fried chicken was "the thing" to get. Lucky for me thursday is half off day, so i ordered it. It was good but wasn't WOW'ing. Waitress added extra drinks on the bill so be careful if you have a semi big party and double check your bill. This place is more like 3.5 stars to me. read more

Happy Hour Review Thank you, Memphis, for introducing me to the Greyhound cocktail which combines into all things sour and salty in my mouth. I also love your mac 'n cheese and other delicious happy hour savory cuisine. You are almost perfect, "cue Black Velvet", but it was a tad bit warm, but you have earned a place in my happy hour repertoire. read more

Agreeable food if you like southern food (gumbo, fried catfish, bbq sauce, etc). Overall, food is so-so, but it's a good environment for young coworkers to gather after work. Came here for Restaurant Week and ordered the pork sliders, which were tender and flavored with their house bbq sauce. Memphis has a good happy hour, too-- I can only vouch for the tequila buck and a ginger cocktail, enjoying the latter more. And please save room for dessert. The bread pudding is divine. read more

very impressed with breakfast! being from the south we find it difficult to find well done southern cooking, this is it! the biscuits and gravy were great, homemade and very flavorful. we will be back soon! read more

This was an amazing experience! The food was fresh, flavorful and the presentation was solid. Our server was awesome and super polite. I highly recommend the chicken and waffles.... read more

Personally I like the other Memphis better, the one in Santa Ana. It's a diff kind of feel and this one is smaller and darker inside. However, food is just as amazing and even though your first thought of soul food is probably greasy, triple-fried chicken and cheesy grits or something, the food here will definitely have you rethinking your next trip to Roscoe's. Buttermilk fried chicken. What can I say, best fried chicken i've EVER had. Meatloaf and hush puppies - great comfort food Ribeye - delicious medium rare Overall, everything was good enough that a table full of asians had a great time. With no ramen! read more

I can't tell you how many times I wanted to say "yabba dabba doo" sitting in this restaurant. Not because I was ecstatic about the food but because this place looks like it came right out of a flinstones episode. I've been wanting to try Memphis for ages because of all the hype about the ambiance and the happy hour - both of which, fell short for me. The service was barely mediocre, the classic drinks were not done well and much MUCH too strong, and the happy hour food was MEH. Here's the break down: -Crab cakes: two tiny crab cakes laid atop a chili aioli. No lumps of crab, flavor was just OK and the aioli was a bit overpowering. -Pulled pork sliders: it tasted like dry pork drenched in an average bbq sauce. -Pizza: Odd combo of ingredients..andouille sausage, tomato, and okra? Hm, I was hoping it would come together somehow but sadly enough, it didn't. -Shrimp & Chicken Gumbo: Mushy rice and strong flavors. OK at best, -Mussels & Clams: Best thing we had hands down. Cooked in a saffron sauce with andouille sausage and garlic bread! I can't speak for the main entrees but as far as the appetizers I tried for happy hour, Memphis' menu appears to be filled with fancy descriptions but does not have the food to back it up. Sorry Memphis, I really wanted to like you but I just couldn't. read more

What's oOooh!: - complimentary valet parking....nice but doesn't look like it's really all that necessary unless it's really really busy, which by the looks of it on a Saturday evening - it wasn't that busy - maybe during happy hour? What is ehhh: - atmosphere...dimly lit and super cozy however the tables are just too close for my own comfort. I really don't need to hear my fellow diner's conversation throughout my meal. - the food: we ordered the Cajun trio appetizer - consist of two fried shrimp, one big scallop and three slices of hot sausage - oi pricey for just a few morsels of "cajun" flavored bites. My Southern style meatloaf wasn't any much better....I'm not sure what's so Southern about it. However the Cajun cream of corn I ordered in place of the mashed potatoes was pretty good. My bf's BBQ pork ribs was nothing special - bland in taste, only redeeming fact was it's at least very tender. - service: waitress was nice. So overall I didn't find this place very Southern like at all. The food was a poor imitation of Southern flare - actually it didn't have any Southern soul food flare at all and the place was more like a hipster lounge and super overpriced. read more