Rendezvous

Reviews 4

SA

Samantha Berg

The Rendezvous is a must visit spot for BBQ in Memphis. I must have heard about this place from a half dozen different people and it completely lived up to expectation. First off, from how it was described (down a random alley, unmarked door) I was expecting some tiny little dive, but walking in, the place is actually huge and clearly an established joint as opposed to some back alley place. Dont get me wrong, its definitely in a random alley, but I was shocked by the fact that at 1:30pm on a Friday, our group of five didnt have to wait for a table. I was told to try the brisket, while my mom was told to try the ribs. Me, my brothers, and dad all opted for rib/brisket combos, while my mom was stubborn and stuck to just her ribs. Boy am I glad we got the brisket! It was OUTRAGEOUSLY good. The meat was super tender, falling apart, and had nice flavor coming from a rub as well as some kind of sauce. You could tell the meat was sauced because you could see it on the plate, but were not talking the kind of meat thats slathered in BBQ sauce. It was mainly just the meat itself and the rub that were lending flavor, and the flavor was smoky and meaty and delicious. The ribs were great too, done true-to-style with a dry rub and no sauce. Some pieces were more tender than others, falling right off the bone, while others were a little tough, but overall, really fantastically done. I couldnt stop eating them! The beans and slaw on the side added nicely to the meat, the beans were sweet (though a bit too watery for my taste) and the slaw had a nice tang to it. There were also jars of dry rub on the table, which was fantastic on everything, but in particular on the beans. Also, pro tip from the waiter, throw some of that rub on your pickles! Yum! The waiter also brought some kind of rice and sausage dish to start us with, which was absolutely bomb. I was actually wondering if I had been too quick to NOT order sausage, but our waiter must have heard my concerns when he brought that over! The sausage was incredibly tender and while I normally hate rice, the tomato sauce was so delicious that I ate it all up. Next time Im back Ill definitely be ordering more sausage. For five of us, we ordered three brisket/rib combos and a large rib order and we struggled to finish it all. Definitely a ton of food. Ill be sending all my Memphis-visiting friends here!

NI

Nick Gover

Im not sure if they are paying for all of the press they get at this place or what. We went on a Saturday night and it was busy, way busy, at about 8:30 we waited about an hour, good thing they were open late, or maybe not. We were led downstairs to the dining area, it was a cool looking place, lots of memorabilia and such, it was still really busy. We sat down at our table and our server came over, he wasnt a bad server, but not great either, seemed like he was in a hurry to get out for the night though. We ordered some more drinks and I decided to order the "World Famous Pork Ribs"($14.25) and my fiance ordered the Pork Shoulder Sandwich ($7.50). When the food came, my ribs were small but looked good enough, my fiances sandwich, also small and looked kind mangled, even for a pulled pork sandwich. Ok, I realize the Rendezvous ribs are dry ribs, meaning that they are smoked with a dry rub and no sauce, I didnt realize that when they mean dry they also mean the meat is really dry. I hate to repeat what everyone else is saying but it was true. These were the driest ribs I have ever had, and TOUGH! And before anyone says anything about not liking dry ribs, I say this. The only good thing about the ribs were the rub, it was good, and different. You could taste the different spices, and the Greek influence, the chili powder and oregano and garlic, I really liked it. Its just to bad that it was clinging onto those really horrible ribs. Likewise, my fiances sandwich arrived cold, and it was probably more fat than actual meat. Usually you can make it better with dumping some sauce on there, but there sauce was also not very good, very thin, too much vinegar, not very good at all. The beans that came were also not good, just tasted like they put a bunch of sugar in with a can of baked beans. I may be biased here because I am from Kansas City and have never had good BBQ beans outside of my hometown. I do not recommend this restaurant, Memphis has far better. I would instead head over to Interstate BBQ, Corkys or Marlowes.

JA

Jason Whisenant

Ate there on July 3, 2014 with my family. I hadnt been there in 21 years. I couldnt remember how the ribs were but looked forward to it with my family on our Tennessee vacation. They would have been tasteless had I not dipped them in BBQ sauce. This was the one place (of the 12 restaurants we went to on our trip) that I was most looking forward to experiencing with my family. To be as honest, I was thoroughly disappointed in the ribs. They were completely dry, tough and there was not much meat. We ate the day before at Marlowes and the ribs were surprisingly delicious, they were moist, tasty and fell off the bone. Plus, they made us feel completely at home and as if our business was the most important thing to them that day. The other thing that didnt help was the service. I dont know if we caught our server on the wrong day, but he just refused to make eye contact with me and we waited for 15 minutes just to get our ticket after our plates had been picked up. The section wasnt even busy, he was just hanging out by the juke box. The bus boys were actually the ones that helped us most and I wish our tip would have gone to them. However! the one thing I never thought to order was the brisket. My Son got the brisket sandwich and it was OUTSTANDING!!! Not sure what is going on, but when youre paying almost $100 to treat your family to dinner, youd like every bite to be worth it and our trip here did not end in that result.

A

A Private User

I hate the fact that everybody that comes from out of town goes to Rendezvous to experience what all the hype of Memphis BBQ is. The fact is its an incredibly hit or miss experience. Ive probably been 10 times and about 4 or 5 of them the ribs ranged from poor to acceptable and the other 5 or 6 times they ranged from pretty good to amazing. Im mostly talking about how dry and overcooked they sometimes come out. I dont understand how a place that is as consistently busy at Rendezvous and has been cooking the exact same rib recipe with mostly exact same cooks for so many decades can be so inconsistent. What makes things worse is that their wait staff usually has an attitude like its a privilege for you to eat there so if you mention the fact that the ribs are overcooked youll usually get a reply that adds up to "better luck next time". I guess who can blame them for being so uncaring about their ribs... they always have a huge waiting list so if you wont come back, somebody else will... especially out of towners expecting this to be the holy meca of ribs. Im not saying dont go, Im just saying youre playing russian roulette with your ribs experience. If they come out dry, good luck complaining. Try Neelys instead, or Corkys if you like (though Neelys is better for ribs IMO).