Fine Dining in Memphis

For a long time, fine dining in Memphis meant two or three white-tablecloth rooms and a lot of very good barbecue. That's changed. In November 2025 the first Michelin Guide to the American South put five Memphis-area restaurants on the map (no stars yet — but five rooms recognized), and the James Beard Foundation keeps naming Memphis chefs among its semifinalists. The special-occasion table in this city has never been deeper.

This is the upscale end of my full best-of-Memphis list — the rooms for an anniversary, a closed deal, a visiting parent you want to impress. The picks are mine and the facts underneath are verified the way we verify everything: at each restaurant's own page, in July 2026, with the honest note when a place is more about the room than the plate. — Josh

What the critics crowned

The rooms carrying a real credential — Forbes, AAA, Michelin, or James Beard. Every one confirmed in July 2026.

• Chez PhilippeDowntown · The Peabody

  The splurge you send out-of-towners to. Inside the Peabody, this is the only Forbes Four-Star and AAA Five-Diamond restaurant in Memphis — a multi-course, special-occasion room with a coat-and-tie hush and an afternoon tea. Dinner Thursday–Sunday from 5; book on OpenTable. (I'll be honest: this is the one on the list I haven't personally sat down at — but nothing else in the city holds both of those ratings.)

• The LobbyistDowntown · South Main

  Just order the tomahawk — you know you want to, and the presentation is out of this world. Chef Jimmy Gentry's room in the restored Hotel Chisca is in the Michelin Guide and Gentry is a 2026 James Beard semifinalist (Best Chef: Southeast). The dry-aged tomahawk ribeye for two is right there on the menu. Tuesday–Saturday from 5; Resy. Its patio hour also made our happy hour guide.

• Andrew Michael Italian KitchenBrookhaven

  The room that built Memphis's most-decorated kitchen. Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman opened this Brookhaven Circle Italian in 2008; it's in the Michelin Guide and still the handmade-pasta benchmark the rest of their empire spun out of. Monday–Saturday from 4:30; Resy.

• Felicia Suzanne'sDowntown · South Main

  Newly reopened, and better for it. Felicia Willett — who trained under Emeril Lagasse — moved her elevated Southern room into a restored 1926 building on South Main, and it's in the Michelin Guide. Tuesday–Saturday from 4; Resy.

• Hog & HominyBrookhaven

  Save room — the lemon icebox pie is a must. Ticer and Hudman's wood-fired Italian-Southern spot is the metro's only Michelin Bib Gourmand (their nod to great food at a gentler check), and the pizzas hide serious technique. The lemon icebox pie with candied pecan and meringue is on the dessert menu. Closed Mondays.

• Petals of a PeonyCordova

  Michelin recognition at weeknight prices. The founder trained three years in Chengdu, and it shows — real Sichuan heat, dan dan noodles, the Peony fried chicken. The Cordova flagship is the one in the Michelin Guide. It's on my best-of list too; more a fiery family-style feast than a hushed tasting room, but the Michelin selection earns its place here. (Hours vary by location — call ahead.)

• AcreEast Memphis

  Criminally overlooked — and my quiet-favorite pick. Set in a converted house at Perkins and Perkins Extended, chef Andrew Adams cooks a menu that changes with the season, which is exactly why it's worth going back. Adams is a 2025 James Beard semifinalist (Best Chef: Southeast). Tuesday–Saturday from 5; reservations by phone.

• Blue Honey BistroGermantown

  My 'trust me' pick. A tiny husband-and-wife bistro on Poplar in Germantown where chef Drew Bryan — a 2025 James Beard semifinalist — cooks a menu that turns over every few weeks. Small room, so book ahead; dinner Tuesday–Saturday, closed Sunday–Monday.

• Catherine & Mary'sDowntown · South Main

  Ticer and Hudman's Tuscan-Sicilian room, a few doors from the Chisca on South Main — grandmother-style pastas and a deep Italian wine list. Nightly from 4; Resy.

The steakhouses and modern splurges

Prime beef and the ambitious new rooms — the big-night workhorses. (Every steak room in the metro, chains included, is mapped in our steakhouse guide.)

• Folk's FollyEast Memphis

  Memphis's original prime steakhouse, since 1977. The one I book for a milestone: USDA Prime, the downstairs Cellar Lounge piano bar, and a room built for occasions. Nightly from 5:30 (5 on Sundays); OpenTable.

• Flight Restaurant & Wine BarDowntown · South Main

  Don't skip the gumbo — even just a cup. Nobody orders it, and it's the best I've ever had. The gimmick that works: everything comes in flights of three, from the beef to the wine to dessert, so a big meal becomes a dozen small discoveries. The seafood gumbo is right there under soups. Nightly from 4:30; OpenTable.

• Porch & ParlorOverton Square

  A prime steakhouse with a library's hush, on Madison in Overton Square — white linen, a serious bar, dry-aged cuts. Nightly, later on weekends; reserve ahead.

• Amelia Gene'sDowntown

  Don't skip the buttermilk biscuits. One of the city's most ambitious newer rooms, in the restored William C. Ellis & Sons ironworks building downtown — a globally-minded menu, a cheese cart, and a wine list to match. The biscuits with hot honey butter are the sleeper order. Tuesday–Saturday from 4:30; OpenTable.

• Fuego VivoEast Memphis

  Live-fire drama on Poplar — Wagyu, tapas, and steaks off an open flame, one of the metro's splashier recent openings. Reservations on OpenTable.

• BrizaCrosstown Concourse

  The newest room on this list (it cut the ribbon in late 2025) — wood-fired steak, sushi, and seafood under one roof inside Crosstown Concourse. Resy.

The special-occasion classics

The rooms Memphis has trusted for years — plus the two that are honestly more about the experience than the plate (and I'll tell you which).

• Erling Jensen, The RestaurantEast Memphis

  The chef's-name fine-dining room on Yates — Danish-born Erling Jensen's French-grounded, globally-inspired plates and the rack of lamb that keeps a shelf of 'best restaurant' trophies company. Nightly from 5; reserve on Tock.

• Restaurant IrisEast Memphis · Laurelwood

  Kelly English's French-Creole flagship, now moved east to Laurelwood after fifteen years in Midtown. English is a Food & Wine Best New Chef and past James Beard semifinalist; the veal chop is the order. Open daily; Resy.

• River OaksEast Memphis

  Chef José Gutierrez's French-American bistro on Poplar — a former Chez Philippe chef running crab cakes and seasonal classics for decades. Tuesday–Saturday; closed Mondays; reserve by phone.

• McEwen'sDowntown

  Downtown's dependable upscale-Southern room on Monroe — European technique on Southern staples, a strong bar, lunch and dinner. Closed Sundays.

• Napa CaféEast Memphis

  A wine lover's dinner, quietly pouring on Sanderlin since 1998 — an award-length list and a bistro menu built to match it. Wednesday–Saturday evenings.

• Paulette'sHarbor Town

  A Memphis institution since 1974, now at the River Inn of Harbor Town — French-Hungarian continental cooking and the popovers with strawberry butter people have chased for fifty years. Dinner nightly, weekend brunch; Resy.

• Bari Ristorante e EnotecaMidtown

  Hyper-regional Puglian Italian on Cooper — housemade pasta, 50-plus Italian cheeses, and a wine list that treats southern Italy seriously. Monday–Saturday from 5; Resy.

• The Beauty ShopCooper-Young

  Memphis's most only-in-Memphis dining room — Karen Carrier's ambitious New American inside Priscilla Presley's former hair salon, dryer chairs and all. Not white-tablecloth so much as unforgettable. Lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch; OpenTable.

• Itta BenaDowntown · Beale Street

  Worth it if you're dancing at B.B. King's after. I'll be straight with you: this speakeasy-style room tucked above B.B. King's on Beale is more about the atmosphere than the plate — but as a whole Beale Street night out, contemporary-Southern dinner and blues downstairs, it delivers. Nightly from 5; OpenTable.

Worth the drive to Germantown

The suburbs punch above their weight — and nobody else's fine-dining list covers them. (Blue Honey, above, is out here too.)

• LimelightGermantown

  An intimate, tasting-forward room on Poplar Pike — a seasonal chef's menu and a craft-cocktail program in a small dining room that books up. Monday–Saturday; closed Sundays.

• Southern SocialGermantown

  Southern steak and seafood by the historic Germantown Depot — a polished, wine-forward room that's become the suburb's go-to for a nice night. Dinner nightly. More Germantown ideas are in our suburb guide.

One we still miss

Pour one out for The Gray Canary — Ticer and Hudman's room inside the Old Dominick Distillery downtown, gone since early 2023. It was the one that got away. Andy and Michael, if you're reading this: bring it back.

The honest answers