babalu tapas & tacos

date at babalu!

being vegetarians (periodic pescatarians) it’s kind of tough to find out an eating place that caters to our ways in memphis specially since it is known as “the barbecued pork capital of the world!” and hence, we are always coursing around, looking for a joint that suits our taste.

overall, it was an amazing experience with everything from the “made at table side”guacamoleto tacos and tapas – tasting awesome! appetizing, delightful and delish – the food undeniably was scrumptious! located on madison avenue in the very scenic overton square – it is a perfect place to relish good food and have a great time. our server, devin was courteous and pretty knowledgeable about the menu options and attended us adequately. also, we were lucky enough to be seated within 5 minutes of our arrival time! (imagine, on mother’s day!) the music too was upbeat and the ambiance was appealingly amiable and lively!

at a price of $100 (including tip), we were a well-fed couple, appeased with the service, the quality of food and of course the environs! only wish – if the mojitos could be a little more potent!

the food was great. the table sideguacamolewas top notch along with the tasty excellent chips. great crab cakes, the slaw added a great zing. my only complaint would be the loudness and the weak margaritas. would love to return and try some additional menu items!

this was a recommend dine spot and i'm so glad i stopped in. they were packed on a friday noon luncheon but we sat within 5 minutes. wait staff was great, babalu style they called it food was brought as it was ready. we started with the famousguacamoleand was not disappointed, slammed with flavor. the food is tapas style, we order three tacos, a veggie, pork belly and chicken (they all have menu names but that's what they were) also an order of the tamales. pork belly was my favorite i could have eaten more. tamales were outstanding. we told the waitress it was our first time to visit and she brought us a free sample black bean burger patty it to was very tasty. overall great experience, i wish we had one on the coast i would make it a frequent stop.

great overall experience! like other reviewers mentioned, it is a bit more expensive than the likes of this restaurant. i have had the best tex-mex in austin, tx at trudy's and even theirguacamolewasn't $10, however babalu has added their own touch to the guac by replacing regular tomatoes with the sun dried tomatoes which add a world of a difference. happy hour drinks were good but nothing worth boasting about. what i really like about the place is the experience, it's lively, crowded, located at the famous overton square and the staff is excellent. if you don't care about spending money, i would definitely recommend this place for the great experience it offers.

delicious guacamole! firstguacamolei ever ate that i enjoyed! they make it fresh there at the table for you, which makes it more fun. also awesome margaritas and good drink specials through the week. got the assorted tacos on the taco special, and it's fun to pick the different varieties! great place for a big group of people, can't wait to go back

fun place for a nice dinner. a little pricier than i normally spend, but it's worth it every once in a while. theguacamoleis a must, and the experience of having it customised next to your table can't be beat. my favourite mains are the shrimp and grits as well as the lamb tacos. and those truffles are sinfully delicious.

the service here is always amazing and everything i have ever tried from the menu is delicious! i would highly recommend to anyone. bestguacamolei have ever had!

babalu is a great place to go for a date night or with a group of friends. we went with 2 other couples. had a little over an hour wait on a saturday night. all our drinks were good. the tablesideguacamoleis a must. hubby and i got the tamales, shrimp and grits and short rib. the short rib was our favorite but it was all very good, and reasonably priced we thought. everything had some spice to it. will definitely be back!

great service, food came out quickly, waitress kept our glasses full. we had the tablesideguacamole(awesome), tuna tacos (wife liked them, i didn't care for them), shrimp and enchiladas (both awesome). the air conditioning was excellent.

great drinks and great food, though i didn't really care for their blue corn tortilla. tablesideguacamoleso good, i stole their recipe for use at home. the short rib is also very good, but i make better elotes (mexican street corn) at home. for people who are complaining about portion sizes, it's tapas!!!!

good. overall, service was great. i had pork belly tacos, really good but slaw was bland. the table had humus ( excellent), queso with pork belly (awesome) andguacamole(amazing). overall, had a great time for my first dinning experience here a babalus, i will be back to sample the rest of the menu. keep up the great work guys!

absolutely delicious and fun!!!!. my family party of 9 came in on a busy sunday night and were seated quickly. appetizers came out so fast!! the table sideguacamolewas fantastic. however my favorite was the queso... must try!!!!! we all got our food in an appropriate timely manner. no one was dissatisfied with anything and we all ordered different things. between all of we probably ordered everything on the menu!! now the wait staff... simply incredible!!!!!! we all left at least a 40-50% tip. we will most certainly be back many, many times. since it was my brother in law's birthday they do an incredible special presentation with a huge sparkler that's so fun and exciting!!!! i give this place two thumbs up and 5 stars.


-----02 mar, 2015-----

a great time and amazing food!!. my family of 9 went for a birthday. we all thoroughly enjoyed our food! the table sideguacamolewas amazing. i strongly recommend the queso... it was my favorite!! they have an incredible sparkler type candle that they use for the birthday person that is extremely cool. the price was appropriate. we all left stuffed full!!!! we will most definitely be back many, many times.

babalu's. midtown memphis tn great little restaurant -guacamolemade 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!

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 tablesideguacamolewas 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.

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 ofguacamolethat 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.