babalu tapas & tacos

good food this visit, bad service. showed up and ordered some tacos and a side on beans and rice, the tacos showed up. they were fantastic. the waitress refilled by diet coke three times as was good. unfortunately the beans and rice never arrived. i waited, and waited, but in the end we felt like a jilted bride at a redneck wedding. paid the bill and left...without the beans and rice. so disappointing.

where the hell are my beans and rice? what the hell?


-----19 sep, 2013-----

let's talk about this.... i have eaten at babalu many times. i have always loved the food and they have a great bar. the place is pretty cool.

during my last visit however, all of that changed. i went in for a simple lunch. i ordered the cuban sandwich and patatas bravas. they arrived and here is what i got:

sandwich was swimming in mustard. i love mustard (or moutarde, as the french say..but i'm not french, so what does it matter), but this was a dripping, slathered, overdose of mustard. the bread is supposed to have a hard, flaky crust, but this was almost impenetrable by my choppers. oh, and its supposed to be pressed and toasted, not burnt.

patatas bravas were hot, and seemed to be cooked properly. unfortunately they were then drowned in oil/sauce and rendered virtually inedible.

service started well, but then out server took his time in bringing us our check when we requested. it was like we were forgotten once the food was served.

come on babalu, i love ya like a brother, don't blow it now!

expected more; but still recommend for groups of friends. recently went here solo for lunch. fun place; casual, comfortable atmosphere. it is much better suited for groups of friends to share plates; tapas. i ordered the taco lunch ( you get 3) and was disappointed in the size and quality. much smaller than the photo already posted by someone else. really nothing special. it's on a very small blue corn tortilla. more of an appetizer size. on the plus side, waitress was great as was the french pressed coffee.

definitely a good place. cannot say enough about this restaurant, my wife loves it, she has been with all her friends and she love driving around up and down mclean afterwards.. i love the tacos the burgers and the drinks. first of all driving around up and down mclean makes it better. thanks will be back. steve

fun atmosphere, great food!. just a warning- be prepared to wait if you plan on coming at dinner time thur-sun. this place stays busy for a reason, though! the atmosphere is fun and perfect for catching up with friends. the drinks are always good, and perfect to pair with any of their appetizers. and the garlic potatoes with teriyaki glaze is simply amazing! with decent prices, this place is a definite must for anyone visiting overton square.

guac on point

babalu's. midtown memphis tn great little restaurant - guacamole made right at the table for you - fantastic taste!
we tried numerous dishes and shared different items so we could get different taste of numerous items of which we liked everything we tried. really busy and had to wait for a table but well worth it!

disappointed. i have heard so much about babalu since i moved to midtown and was so looking forward to eating there. not impressed at all. first, the ambience is horrible; but i was expecting that. loud and feels like you are in a cafeteria. however, i had heard the food was outstanding. the best thing was the queso dip (very good) and the rose sangria. but i had the three tacos and did not like them at all. might would have liked better if they had been flour tortillas. not sure what they were. anyway, won't need to go back.

really like babalu. fun atmosphere. i love the mexican street corn and pan roasted red fish. drinks are a bit over priced but good. i have had tacos that weren't that great though.

waste of money. we stopped because of the reviews and the menu. we got to the restaurant during normal lunch time on a saturday, maybe 10 tables were full. hosts were friendly, our waitress was horrible, the man that i'm guessing was the manager has a lurch like facial expression on the entire time.
so our waitress, she started out good, until it actually came to ordering anything but drinks. she could only handle one table at a time and then would come back every 10 minutes to help 1 table then disappear and then come back. we were there for probably almost 30 minutes before we even ordered, 15 min was with our menus closed and staring like sad puppies at neighboring tables, our waitress passed numerous times with her head in the clouds helping her 1 table at a time, promising to be right back.
once our food finally gets there, we had 2 kids and 2 adults, side note their kids menu, horrid and a joke, they brought out the adults food first. baffling to me as the adult meals were complicated compared to the joke of a "taco" my daughter received. pretty sad when a kid is complaining about the portion, 1 midget chicken tenderloin on a tortilla, laid out flat on a plate, nothing else... i get it $1, great price, but holy would it hurt to at least put some cheese on it? or maybe an edible garnish type??
so back to ours, crab fritters, most def canned crab, the fishy odor was nauseating. . my tacos, lamb barbecoa, atun, grilled shrimp.. my atun was not edible, the slaw was so obnoxiously flavored and your "tzaziki" type sauce on the lamb one was too much. the shrimp was tasty but the slaw was too watery. my husband had redfish, lamb and carnita.. he enjoyed the carnita and the redfish but felt the same about the lamb, that poor lamb was destroyed by that sauce. like others have complimented, the tableside guacamole was delish, but that was really about it. other items looked interesting but after the waste of our meal, i'm too worried to go back that'll it'll just be another waste.
at the end of eating, it took 15 min to finally get our waitress' attention to get the bill, followed by another 15 min wait to pay, meanwhile she still only had 4 tables. we finally give her our money, after taking it to the bar to cash, she still shorted us cents. i get it, nothing big, $.46 or something like that, but it's the fact of the matter. i hope she enjoyed her sympathy tip of $2, only because my husband felt bad with it being the holidays.. what a joke.. don't waste your time.

fun and delicious. went for the first time last night for a birthday party. ordered a bloody mary that was one of best i've ever had. our party ordered four different appetizers and they were fantastic. i had steak on a stick which was amazing and had the sampler dessert which was delicious. everything comes in small portions except appetizers, i guess thats the tapas part, but we were stuffed when we left and just loved the atmosphere and the server evan was amazing. be sure to sit in his area informs you about the menu and spoils you rotten. i shall be back. delicious and fun.

ridiculously small portions. the service is always very good, and the flavors and quality are consistently above average, the prices are just too high for portion sizes.

ask the waiter/waitress. so, as more and more options are opening in this area, i get tired of trying to figure out what i want to eat. so , i just ask the staff to bring me food until i say stop. each item was fantastic, end result was the potatoes and the fish taco;'s being the winner.

this was the best dining experience i have ever had. the food was delicious, the service was phenomenal, and the overall experience made me feel like i was on vacation!

this place has a nice atmosphere but the food is just ok. everything i have had there is just meh...

everybody's talking. and they're talking really loud! except when they're screaming really loud!

i do not get the trend toward cultivating a loud atmosphere in a restaurant. i was at babalu on a monday and, after an hour, left because the noise made it impossible for me to carry on a conversation with the guy sitting next to me. to be fair, i was only having drinks, so i can't account for the food, but one of the women at our table seemed pleased with the huge crock of guacamole that was brought to the table.

the server seemed overwhelmed by our party of ten. and not pleasantly overwhelmed. in fact, the girl bordered on rude.

if i go back, i will ask for a table on the street.