side street grill

food's great. bartender and servers suck.

best place in midtown. sidestreet is by far the best all around place in midtown. i have been a regular for years, food is always phenomenal, servers/bartenders are always friendly and personable, the place is cozy with an awesome patio- and the drinks- well lets just say i always leave happy:-) not sure whats up with the people complaining on this blog but i have never had a bad experience. always my first pick

food was top notch!!!! service was great but brunette female bartender was horrible. i ordered simple drinks and they tasted like my 8yr old kid made them. i will be back to eat but not to drink. sorry!!!!! get some exp. behind the bar....


-----09 apr, 2013-----

ok, i was there saturday night and first off i would like to say the food and drinks were amazing! the kitchen over did themselves with my pasta and the young short guy behind the bar was highly recommended by some of my co-workers , and let me tell you his drinks were amazing and his imagination is what sold me on sidestreet. he was creating drinks and shots and they were bottom line some of the best in midtown. the only problem i have is the female cocktailer that has a dull personality andseemed like she hated being at work. she tried talking to us and the conversation was very dull and not smart at all. her service was horrible and that maybe due to the fact that she spent more time on the phone than she did paying attn. to her customers. besides that this place was amazing. just a tip if you go on a saturday sit in the red bar and let the short bartender serve you and your sidestreet experience will be great.

service was excellent. i had a steak salad (the black and blue), and the steak was well seasoned and cooked correctly to order (medium rare). prices were great; i basically got a steak with a side salad for $12.95.

i've been to side street a few times for day parties and thought they had good bar food so i took my wife and neice for dinner. didn't start off well because our artichoke dip was cold but the manager fast tracked our entrees so we wouldn't have to wait. wife and neice had the shrimp alfredo and cleaned the plate. i had the snapper orleans which was equally as satisfying. great restaurant food in this small little bar.

i've been a somewhat regular customer of side street grill for about three years now. i think i first tried it when a nearby midtown restaurant had a long wait time one evening. i loved the experience, and i've been back many times.

the food has always been good, the service has always been friendly, and they usually have some fairly good drink specials. i like the laid back atmosphere around the bar. the restaurant is naturally divided into sections, so it feels more intimate than many bar and grill spots. when the weather is cooperative, the outdoor dining area is pleasant. some reviews here have mentioned smoking in the restaurant. that might have been something that's changed in the more recent years, because i've never observed indoor smoking over the course of my visits. i think of ssg as a great choice for a wide variety menu options and an overall good dinner experience.

great appetizer. the appetizer was great. philly chicken and steak need a little more season but overall it was a good restaurant..

great experience. stopped in on way from iowa. enjoyed the buffalo chicken egg rolls and the experience.

very pleased. my wife and i went to side street for our "date night" this past weekend. we have been trying to hit all the joints in memphis every saturday night. i have to say, this place is currently one of the top on my list! we both had the sirloin and it was absolutely awesome! the seasoning on the steak was super delicious and the meat was cooked perfect. the staff was ridiculously great. this is definitely a go-to place for us in the future. you should definitely give this one a shot!

-- side note -- they are vape friendly!

follow up. tried brunch. front of house had similar issues as before. no wonder the place was empty. asked to see the manager. guess what. not in. little wonder the staff could care less. (rolling silverware in the dining room while watching tv and chatting during brunch service is a good example of the level of professionalism).

back of the house had issues as well. dishes crawled out of the back. worse yet they were not fired in the correct order so some dishes arrived cool.

again if management could care less why should the staff. moreso why should we.


-----28 sep, 2014-----

strike one. had submitted a glowing review for brunch a couple years ago. dropped in for dinner and it was tragic how far the staff had fallen. the food was fine. staff was horrid. if the front of the house is an epic fail then the rest will follow. instead of backing up the entire truck of stupid things going on (yes stupid enough to cost your establishment money) i will simply say that that losing control of the front of your buisiness is nothing short of inexcusable laziness. in a year you will notice your costs are inexplicably rising and your profits a dropping. with three you will be in a hole. within five it will all have fallen apart. a good staff will make you and a bad staff will break you. aloha side street grill. enjoy the drunken stupor because the hangover is a doozy.


-----01 jan, 2012-----

was suprised. i have driven by this place more times than i can count and never gave it a second thought...

finally we stopped brunch. definitely one of the strongest brunch offerings in the city. first of all our waitress was one of the best in this city. she attended to our every need perfectly. since we had never been before she (on her own volition) brought us the dinner menus after she took our brunch order and really sold her restaurant. can not say enough positives about laura!

the food was solid. i got the blt with a side of cheese grits and my partner got a vegetarian omelet. the omelet was perfectly cooked and definitely well filled. the cheese grits were creamy and well seasoned. the blt was perfect. sometimes it is the simplest sandwich that trips a cook up. not in this case. also the fact it was topped by two giant crisp and cold pickle spears is a small touch that shows the love that the cook has for his food.

finally i can say the mimosa was first rate and we watched a bloody mary being mixed for another table and can say that it was one of the best bloody marys i have ever witnessed.

i was nothing short of surprised by the positives. definitely on the list of awesome places to eat.

carding old ladies. four senior ladies went here for dinner after the theatre sunday afternoon and ordered wine and cocktails first. the waiter carded us, which was ridiculous and when one of the ladies, over 70, had an expired license he refused to serve her wine. of course we left! i called the tennessee board of alcohol to complain about the law and they said it was not a law. i recommend gray hairs avoid this place!

have seen better days. i usually enjoy eating here but today was a little disappointing. i ordered the mother load chicken sandwich with italian spinach for the side item. the sandwich was fine but the spinach was way too salty. my mom had the salmon club with spinach. the salmon was overcooked, and she also commented on how salty the spinach was. the service was great as always but everyone has a bad day in the kitchen. it won't affect me coming back but today's quality was a let down.

i had legitimately the worst meal i've ever eaten in memphis at side street grill. my friends and i ordered a red wine per the suggestion of the waiter - it had to have gone bad because it tasted rotten. i ordered the steak which came 20 minutes after everyone else's meal and was both severely oversalted and tasted like shoe leather. i consider myself to be a potatoe aficionado - their mashed potatoes were so over salted that they were inedible on everyone's plate. similarly my friends chicken on her aldredo pasta was oversalted and the talopia was oversalted. worst meal in memphis. over rated, unimpressive and over salts everything.

luuuv this spot! my friends and i hang out several days w/i a month and it's extremely people friendly!!! especially during warm months!!!!

i went there for dinner last night with my two friends and i really enjoyed it. i hadn't been in a long time, and the quality of food was great. they make their own salad dressings and i had a salad with their vodka balsamic vinegar dressing and it was delightful. lots of different veggies in there--great quality and size for a side salad. i then had the salmon piccata which was a great dish. a little parmesan crisp on top of a bed of mashed potatoes with little mini capers and a great lemon sauce. my friend had the fish tacos and raved about those and how tangy they were. they also had the chicken cordon bleu, the only disappointment of the evening. while the taste was great, the portion size was pathetic and it's one of the more expensive items on the menu. sweet potato fries were great, a little sweet but in a maple flavored way rather than a suffocating white sugar flavor. overall, it was a great experience. looking around it seemed that the cocktails were a little small for their prices and maybe drinking there isn't the best value. i didn't try their drinks though so i probably shouldn't say too much.