Barksdale Restaurant

Great local hole in the wall country cooking restaurant in the heart of Memphis one and only midtown! The prices you can’t beat! They have some of the best breakfast in town! You may walk in and think it’s rough around the edges but the staff and friendly and the food is good so what more could you ask for? Southern charm is what you’ll find here!

This is one of my go to breakfast spots. I never order lunch. Well, I was in a lunch kind of mood. The service is always awesome. The chicken fried steak, the greens, were awesome. This is an awesome place for lunch and breakfast. cheap and awesome.

Over the past year, my fiancé and I have made it a Sunday morning tradition to eat at Barksdale’s. We love the food — my go-​to will forever be the pancakes and country ham biscuit; my significant other prefers the two eggs over easy with grits and biscuits. We love the staff, who took the time to learn our name and regular order. And I love how comfortable I feel just rolling out of bed, putting on a baseball cap, and walking in the door.

I like this place. The ladies are super sweet to everyone. It doesn’t matter if you come every day or its your first visit.
It’s like time has stood still here. The atmosphere is very much unlike anything else in Midtown. It resembles a place you would find in a rural area where everyone knows each other. There is a slow pace along with genuine friendliness that is just a way of life here. My last visit a man got up and grabbed the check off of a fireman’s table and told him Merry Christmas! How cool is that? Maybe you dig it, maybe you don’t… I do
I’ve only had breakfast here so I can’t comment on anything other than that. It’s not your fast food kind of place so take a minute to reflect and soak up the vibe. Your food will be out in due time.
Bacon is crisp
Eggs are right
Hash browns are good
Biscuits are homemade
Gravy is too!
Get some!

If you drive over 35 MPH on Cooper, you’ll miss the nondescript restaurant at the corner of Cooper and Courtland.
You won’t see tourists in this breakfast/​lunch spot.
The longtime staff treats customers like family. I just overheard one man who works here saying to a customer, «Oh yeah. It IS your turn to pay. He got it the last time.» Love that!
The ambiance is homey and old-​timey. The photos and Memphis memorabilia on the wood panel walls show the restaurant’s long history of truly being part of the fabric of the midtown Memphis community.
Oh yeah, the menu. That is why we’re here.
The restaurant is very flexible about the menu. You can mix and match ingredients with ease.
The eggs are cooked to perfection every time I eat breakfast here and they don’t skimp with the meat and cheese.
The coffee is unusually good. Never burnt.
On any given weekday, you’ll see people hang out long after their meals are over — reading the newspaper. Seriously. Actual «paper» newspapers.
Weekdays, the restaurant has a steady flow. It’s usually pretty packed on weekends. They’re open seven days a week.
If you visit Memphis and want a true Bluff City experience, stop by Barksdale’s for an omelette or a burger served with a smile.

It has been a few years since I visited Barksdale, but it will be a mainstay from now on. It is different to not see Bob there, but the waitstaff and cooks are keeping up the great tradition of friendliness and a welcoming smile for everyone that walks in the door.
Admittedly, we already ate breakfast, ran some errands, and got hungry again, but not hungry enough to order a huge meal. Yes, it’s hard to mess up biscuits, country ham, and oatmeal, but we have been places where it has been done. Not at Barksdale– everything was served hot, tasted great, refills brought without having to be asked, and our server was great.
Did I mention how cheap Barksdale is? Best bang for your buck when it comes to breakfast in Memphis!

Barksdale is my savior. I used to live in Germantown– so driving home after a late night was never an option. Luckily, the best breakfast place in the world awaited me every morning after a long night out!
This place is simple– same breakfast menu every day but they have specials for lunch. The workers are fantastic– my favorite is B. They are very personable, remember your name and are sweet enough to leave you a note on the back of your receipt.
The décor is awesome– looks like you’ve stepped into another era. It takes me back to memories of my childhood.
I have a favorite booth that I always sit in, but I recently sat at the bar for the first time. The experience was nice but I will always love my booth more.
Come here for some delish eggs and other breaky breaky fast foods!

Good food. Looks like a place people visit for generations. Always know what to expect.

Oh the was food was delicious the staff and our waitress was amazingly nice everything is wonderful it was truly was my pleasure to eat at this establishment

This is a review of breakfast only.
Barksdale is a standard example of an inexpensive, down-​home diner style breakfast. The servers treat you like family, and regulars received hugs when they were leaving. The milieu was old, with wood paneled walls and a permanent lingering smell of smoke from decades ago (the place is non-​smoking now).
Overall, the food was just acceptable. Not a lot to draw us back, but we ate most of it.
The hotcakes were excellent and the syrup was very good. Also, the biscuits were exceptionally good.
The bacon is decent – flavorful and cooked well-​done, while still a mass produced diner style. We enjoyed the country ham, but it was not exceptional. Scrambled eggs are cooked American style, in large curds with (very) low moisture. They were fine.
We didn’t like the coffee, toast, or grits.
I don’t expect we will be back for breakfast, but many will enjoy this simple, unpretentious meal.

Went for breakfast on a Saturday morning and wasn’t too crowded. I tried the Greek omelet since that is what everyone on Unilocal seems to recommend. Was not disappointed.
The menu seems to indicate that the omelet contains «gyro», but I don’t think they are using the term correctly. A gyro is a sandwich. Does the omelet contain a sandwich? I wasn’t sure what to expect.
It came quickly and had a strong Mediterranean flavor seasoning that was accented by copious amounts of feta cheese topping everything off. Well done.
In total, great service, good food, and they even had a bucket of toy cars for my 2-​year-​old to play with. A big plus in my book.

This place is great. It has honest food at an honest price. Better than average service with the owner keeping my coffee cup full. Great food, great fast service, great attitude and a great price. What more could you ask for?

I stumbled upon this place searching for a good breakfast/​brunch spot on Unilocal.Some of my fellow Unilocalers’ reviews persuaded me to give this place a try and also I wasn’t far… coming from Massage Envy on Union.
When I pulled up I was kind of hesitate, from the outside looking a bit old and ragedy, but I immediately brushed that worry away because some of the best places to eat are «hole in the wall» spots. I had to park a tad bit down, due to the limited parking. There were many cars, scooters, and bikes parked outside. From all of the bikes, I could tell that they get a bunch of business from people that live close by.
There is no hostess, so you have to seat yourself. I know by the look on my face, I looked lost. I decided to take a seat at the bar, not wanting to take up a complete table since I wasn’t with anybody else. I looked around feeling out a place just because of the country type vibe (I’m definitely a city girl). I was greeted by a friendly face, which made me feel 100% better. Thanks to Cristina H. picture and review I picked the pancakes and bacon. It was pretty good… food came out hot (just how I like it). The syrup was also warm and very good. I think I like the syrup most of all lol.

The atmosphere is like a small town café with very friendly service and a laid back feel. However, I grew up in a small town and I left it as soon as I could. The feel and the service of the place is great, but the food is mediocre. I had pancakes and country ham biscuit. The pancakes were very dense, chewy and lacked any kind of flavor, not the light fluffy, buttermilk vanilla flavor I expected from homemade pancakes. The country ham was fine, but again I was disappointed with the biscuits. They lacked a heft and the buttery flaky flavor that I love in a biscuit. Maybe I will go back and try the lunch, but I was not impressed with the breakfast.

Still the same place! The people really do have a good memory! I still go get my pancakes to go and the other day I went to actually sit in and the lady said aren’t you the young lady who gets the pancakes and bacon to go. Lol, my waiter was so nice and friendly!!! I even witnessed someone celebrating their bday and they put a candle in the pancakes! Just too sweet! I love this place and that syrup!

Our first visit to Baarksdale’s was a Saturday at 10:45 am. (We’ve since been several other times, on our way to the Cooper Young Farmer’s Market).
I ordered the «Good Mornin’ Breakfast» with bacon. My wife ordered a ½ order of French toast with a single biscuit and gravy, just because she could. Actually, our waiter had told her «we don’t have menu rules and you can do what you want, as long as you’re wearing clothes». Ha! We were all smiling at that point — he was great!
I had overheard a regular ordering his biscuits «grilled» and decided to do that as well — you know, when in Rome, do as the Romans do — or something like that. Anyway, this was a great decision and I highly recommend that you do the same.
Overall, the food is good, the staff are friendly, the coffee is smooth and mild. The place is usually packed, but there always seems to be one more table available — the young man bussing the tables makes sure of that, and a great job he does!
If you’ve seen my other reviews, a 3-​star rating for a breakfast menu review, which all I have done so far for Barksdale’s, is good for me. If I ever have a chance to try any of there non-​breakfast items, I’ll update my review.
It was a great little find, just between Cooper Young and Overton Square areas.

I recently bought a house within walking distance of Barksdale Restaurant and decided to give it a try one Sunday morning. There really isn’t much to say about this place. It’s not very exciting but the food is decent and cheap.
I ordered a bacon and cheese omelet with hash browns and a biscuit. The omelet was okay. The coffee wasn’t the worst I’ve ever had but it could have been better. Good coffee is some thing I appreciate especially with breakfast. Grand total for the meal with coffee came to under seven dollars. Pretty darn cheap if you ask me.
Breakfast isn’t the only meal offered. They also serve sandwiches and plate lunches. My server was really nice. He gave me a menu to take home and suggested that I also give lunch a try. He also mentioned that I could give them a call and place on order for pick-​up. I think I may try lunch in the future but I haven’t had the urge to return for breakfast.

You can find tens of thousands Barksdale clones throughout the South, with many small towns having no less than 4 of these for every 1,000 people in population — I am making that last part up, but it seems pretty true to my experience.
What makes Barksdale unique is that this small community country-​fare diner is located in Mid-​Town Memphis. It appears that when Mid-​Town was considered to be East Memphis (the outskirts of town) some 40 – 50 years ago, Barksdale could have been there with the same furniture and décor. It is as if the town just grew up around it. I also don’t know how much of that’s true, but this place has a small-​town feel in a fairly busy and popular section of Memphis.
The food is what and small-​town ex-​pat would expect in the country dinner: a daily special meat-​and-​two with cornbread and a regular unchanging menu of the standards which include cheese burgers and the like. The food is good (though not memorable), expedient, as consistent as the day is long and the prices are very reasonable. This a great place to grab an unassuming lunch of comfort food.

The last 7 years of my life (minus the past month), I would get off of work when most people wake up. I would leave work filthy, dizzy, and always hungry. I couldn’t eat before work, or I would get sick. So finding places that served hearty breakfasts was always on my mind.
With that being said, I still crave a hearty breakfast every once in a while. Last week, I had the chance to dine out for a late breakfast with the lovely Memphis Belle, and we had agreed on eating here. She told me she had never been, so this was a treat for both of us!
When I realized it was in the same strip as Café 1912, this was cool– I am slowly finding my way around town! You can tell this place has been around for a while, and this is good news, because they must be doing something right (I know selling Coke is one of those things!).
When I walked in, I felt like I was warped to 1975. It was awesome! I looked like I just got the crap kicked out of me, and they didn’t mind that either! The server (can’t remember his name, sorry!) was prompt and courteous. The menu was a decent size, serving breakfast all day and also having lunch.
Honestly, I was so engrossed in conversation, I didn’t even read the menu– so I couldn’t even tell you what they offered! She ordered a grilled cheese, that sounded yum, so I did the same (plus bacon). How original, Tom!
As we were waiting on the food (which came out fairly quickly), we were surprised at all of the pictures of Elvis that were on the wall– not pics you see every day! They even had an autographed Bob Feller (MLB HOFer) up there too– very cool.
The food arrived, and when it did, I became not hungry. WTH. I was starving! I hadn’t eaten in almost 15 hours and when the time comes, ahhh whatev. But what I could eat, it was great– just a good ol greasy GCB. I got hash browns too, and they were good, but I couldn’t eat all of them. I know, this is coming from the same person who can eat 2 racks of ribs and nachos in the same sitting…
When it was time to pay, it did take a few for the cashier to come up (felt kinda bad), but she finally did, and all was settled. All in all, it was a wonderful time, and I am glad I got to go! I am sure to go back, maybe I will actually read the menu next time :)

Part of the reason I love going to my lake house so much is because it is the middle of nowhere and everyone in town knows one another. There is nothing I love more than sitting at the local diner (The Catfish Place) and hearing the local gossip.
Well, I guess I don’t need to drive 2 hours anymore because I felt the exact replica here in town — even the wood paneling and fries are an exact match!
I had heard of Barksdale and it has been on my bookmark list forever. (Much thanks to Tom E this morning for suggesting that we meet there for lunch.) I don’t know what I expected but I can’t believe this place is on Cooper.
Everyone knows each other (people from different tables were saying «hi») and the waiter knew everyone’s name. And they were so friendly! I guess this is a place made up 99% of locals — I love it… And I want to be a local bad.
The food is what you expect from this type of place… not good for you but really delicious. I devoured my grilled cheese in 2 minutes flat. And the fries only took about 5.
I was here for lunch but the breakfast menu looked pretty amazing. I will definitely be back to try it!