Babalu Tacos & Tapas

First time here and it was pretty damn good.
Ordered the table side guacamole and the pico de gallo. *two thumbs up definitely* Guac could have used a little more salt and lime juice, but I do like that they add sun dried tomatoes to it. Liked the random burst of intense flavor every now and then.
The chips are banging! Like seriously, I love chips and these tortilla chips were *insert 100 emoji* We had left overs and I love that they were still very crispy the next day.
I ended up ordering 3 of the mini tacos. I got the blackened red fish, the ostra (fried oysters) and the vegetal (roasted veggies). They came out on a long plate on these pretty and colorful blue corn tortillas. It was so pretty, I took a picture, but then again, I usually take pictures of my food, damn typical Asian…
SO…Surprisingly, my favorite was the Vegetal taco! I really like the peppers, onions and mushrooms mixed with the spices. Usually, I don’t get the vegetarian options, but I was quite pleased with this one. The blackened red fish taco was pretty good, probably would try the fried redfish next time. The Ostra taco was okay… it was a flash fried oyster (two of them) with this radish slaw and comeback sauce on it. I mean, it tasted good, but to me, it was only okay. Probably give it another try though!
Ended up ordering dessert and got the cinnamon bread pudding. I’m pretty critical when it comes to desserts because I have a serious sweet tooth, but this bread pudding was tasty! Although, it wasn’t as hot as I thought it would be (it was only barely warm) I like that it was SUUUUPER soft and not overly powerful with the cinnamon. It would have paired nicely with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Overall, for my first time there, I really liked it! Definitely would return in the future.

I wish there was a 3.5 star.
We visit Memphis often and try to hit new/​different restaurants each visit. Babalu looked interesting, is in the cute, recovering Overton Square ‘hood, and had good reviews. I’m from Nashville and live there in a city with 5,000 Mexican/​TexMex/​Hispanic restaurants and not one good one among them so I’m always excited to try ones in other cities.
The atmosphere is game on. Open, airy, comfortable, a bit loud (but tell me about a restaurant these days that isn’t!), and all the staff we encountered were knowledgeable and friendly.
The tableside guacamole did not disappoint. Didn’t care for having to pay extra for jalapenos, but still worth it. It is a very generous portion that 2 hungry people or 4 average people could enjoy. Comes with enough chips for 2 – 3 people. They’re the harder, puffier chips like Stacy’s and I thought they lacked flavor and were a little over-​cooked, but if you scoop enough guac on, the chip is merely a vessel.
Tacos are served a la carte and you have the option of ordering singles or three and can mix and match. I chose the latter option and enjoyed everything I ordered. My two critiques would be: (1) they overfill, if possible, the small shells, and (2) there’s only one choice and it’s blue corn. If you prefer flour, you’re OOL.
For sides, we shared the Mexican corn, which I could have done without. It’s dressed with a lime aioli and that lime flavor completely took over the party. The «black beans and rice» side item is woefully understated on the menu. I almosty didn’t order it based solely on its name, but it was the highlight of the meal. Bursting with color and flavor.
I’d go back, but not for a while. Feel like I’ve seen it and there are so many cool, cute restaurants in this area, I want to try others before returning.
But way to go, Babalu. Now, come to Nashville and show us Gringos how it’s done.

They have the best SHRIMP AND GRITS.
I didn’t think I’ll like it, because I simply don’t like grits. I like how this place is so different and unique! It’s local and has different organic food. Fresh produce!
Serves are always so nice!
Must give this place a try if you ever stop by overton square! You won’t regret it.

Love it. Especially the guacamole patrol. And our waitress was STELLAR. Dang wish I could remember her name. Anyway, don’t walk RUN to this restaurant. It’s worth the wait. I had the tacos. Mm Mmmm good.

Very cool place! Outstanding Service! Chill Vibe!
I’m not sure why I haven’t been here before now. I’ve heard great things but I never seem to make it by here. That will change now!
First off, the hostesses were great. The one that greeted me was very pleasant and all smiles. The lady that sat me took the time to go over her favorite things on the menu. This was started with «I know this is a taco place but, the BaBa burger is my favorite thing here». Sweet, that’s what I’m here for.
My server promptly arrives, greets me by my first name, and introduces herself as Kalin. She gets my drink and comes back and tells me all about the specials. Honestly, I didn’t hear a word of it. I was getting the burger, nothing could stop me. Wait, did she say enchilada?
I ordered my burger. It arrives in no time, (while waiting, I realized that she didn’t ask me how I wanted it cooked, I’m thinking oh shit, it’s gonna suck) I cut it in half and am pleasantly surprised it was still cooked pretty close to medium. I left off the avocado and got the chipotle aioli onside. I don’t dig Mayo but like to try the sauce anyway. All in all it was a very good burger. The cheese disappeared in the bun or the onions but it was still good. The meat could have used a bit more salt but still really good. The bacon was just ok and wasn’t crispy at all.
What made this visit a solid 4 star visit was Kalin. She is the best server that I can remember having. She was genuinely friendly and super attentive without bothering me. Babalu is lucky to have her! If fact, they’ll be lucky if I don’t come back and steal her away. With such a great attitude she would shine anywhere! Hell, she even sprinted to the door to beat me so she could hold it for me! Top notch!

Another bookmarked restaurant gets removed from my list. I drive by this place almost every other day. I went for the baba burger and my lady got the grilled chicken satay.
First of all, I know my hamburgers pretty well. The baba burger now takes a spot on my best burger in Memphis list. I’ll be honest, once they said they liked for stuff to be shared here, I was expecting a small burger. These burgers are huge and oh so delicious. Everything on it was good. I was in heaven with every bite I took. Also got an order of fries. Probably the only fries I’ve ever ate that I didn’t need ketchup with them.
The chicken grilled satay wasn’t really that good. If I was judging the review on it alone, 3 stars tops. It didn’t really have a taste. I felt like I cooked it myself and that’s saying something cause my cooking sucks.
On the plus side, I’ve found myself a new burger to try again when I come back.

Their red sangria is amazing. Their little fried chopped potatoes r amazing. Burger was delicious! Their cheese dip w pork belly was good too. Service was a bit slow.

I might be slightly obsessed with the camarones (shrimp) tacos here. Unfortunately, I’m about 6 hrs. away from Memphis so I can’t easily indulge.
At any rate, I loved the grilled shrimp and fresh-​made blue corn masa tortillas that made up my meal. So good and filling…
The service was great. And although it was a packed Saturday night, it didn’t take us long to be seated.
My only issue? The floors were super slippery for some reason, and I almost busted my butt a few times (I wasn’t the only one either).
Can’t wait to make my way back to Memphis to enjoy this restaurant again!

I’m a sampler by nature, so this restaurant is right up my alley. TAPAS FOR LIFE! You can get a bunch of small plates and they’re pretty reasonably priced for what you get.
This review is long overdue.
When I first came to Babalu, I was super excited that a restaurant group would bring a Latin fusion flair to Overton Square, but I worried the restaurant was too big to maintain.
I’m so happy that the consistently great food and service continue to draw a full restaurant. Yay!
If you like any version of avocado or guacamole, even if you don’t, ya gotta get the guacamole appetizer — it is out of this world! You can add or subtract ingredients and it’s super filling. I almost think you can’t go to Babalu without getting this once.
The chopped salad is divine! The way they mix all of their flavors just makes their dishes dance in your mouth. You don’t even need to request salad dressing. It’s mixed in.
I often get the brisket, which never lets me down. The meat just falls apart in your mouth and it’s seasoned to perfection.
My go-​to meal is the chicken tacos. You can get one, two, three tacos. The strange thing for me here is that I don’t like smokey meat, but this is what I get every time I visit Babalu. The chicken is smoked, but they finely chop up onions, corn, salsa and a special sauce that come together so well.
Old «I Love Lucy» shows are projected onto a wall in the restaurant. You might recall Lucille Ball’s husband, Ricky Ricardo, sang the popular Cuban song «Babalu» on their show, which became his signature song and gave the restaurant its name. The comedic segments played silently throughout your dining experience add a nice touch to the backdrop.
I must commend the people who run the restaurant. They have the operation down pat. You get one of those buzzy things to alert you, when your table is ready.
The staff is super seasoned. Some of the best in town. You can tell management chooses discerningly. The staff moves fast and your food comes out as it’s cooked as opposed to coming out to the whole table in courses.
There’s a full bar, if you want a cocktail.
This restaurant has a great patio. On the patio to the front of the restaurant, you can people watch along Madison Avenue, and on the patio to the other side of the restaurant, you can lounge. There’s even an area where bar stools outside face into the restaurant through a window.
Babalu is great for any occasion. The lounge patio can be a hip spot to mingle. The restaurant as a whole handles big groups with ease. Birthdays are great here. It’s also great to grab a bite here with one pal.
I also recommend this restaurant as a great to-​go lunch option. You order by phone and head to the bar for pickup. The bartenders are receptive and you can get in and out in minutes. Parking to pick up your to-​go order can be an issue though.
This restaurant is definitely worth a try for any occasion, even if you have to drive in to midtown from the burbs.
In my best Ricky Ricardo voice «Ah, great Babalu!»

This was our second visit to Babalu and I have to say that it’s just — OK, not bad not great… ok. We started with the table side guacamole which had a nice chunky consistency but was otherwise bland to tasteless. The Mexican street corn was soupy and again bland. Both the guac and corn tasted fresh but had little spice.
Our group of four all ordered tacos. All in all we had six different varieties, from carnitas, shrimp, chicken, beef and pork belly. While these were all good the taste seemed to run together and like the rest of the meal… bland. My wife enjoys this restaurant and that is the only reason I see myself going out of my way to eat here.

I had been wanting to try this restaurant for a while. Gluten free options are clearly marked. The tortilla chips are great — not greasy and nice and crispy. The tableside made guac was delicious as was the street style corn. My pork belly tacos had a nice flavor, but they were dripping with oil, so I didn’t finish them. I know pork belly is not a lean cut of meat, but there was still way too much oil. If I go back, I would order something else. Someone in my group loved the black bean burger, and the other tacos on the table looked good. Also, our waitress was impatient/​grumpy. Chip and drink refills were slow, but the food came out at a reasonable time. It was loud with the music and acoustics, so might not be the best choice if something in your group is hearing impaired/​hard of hearing. I think I just ordered the wrong thing, so I’d say it’s worth a try.

Excellent place! The atmosphere is casual yet sophisticated at the same time! It’s a great place to meet up with friends etc and there’s a patio as well. Morgan our server was very knowledgable and sincere-​way to go! We got the oyster, salmon, redfish, and tuna taco. They were all great! Lemonade tasted like powdered countryside but all in all it was a nice visit.

Babalu is one of my favorite places to eat in Memphis.
The happy hour price on the tacos is unbelievable for the quality.
The ingredients are fresh, the service is great and they fuse flavors intelligently.
Tuna taco with jicama and a ginger glaze? It’s there
Pork with citrus infused flavors? You’ll eat right up.
There burger is also surprisingly good. I’m a fan

I love this place! Servers and bartenders know the menu and offer very helpful food and beverage suggestions.
$ 2 happy hour tacos are a steal! I had one grilled shrimp and one pork belly w my Monday margarita special and was a very happy camper.
My previous visit was for lunch, sans tequila. Even without the booze it was great! The kitchen does a fantastic job and the wait staff is among Memphis’ best.
Food is my primary focus, but the ambience here is great and worth mentioning. Indoor, outdoor and bar (open to the outside, weather permitting) options are available.
All in all, this place is worth making a trip midtown…

I just didn’t like it. I picked this place using the Unilocal feature to see what was nearby and found this with 286 reviews and 4 stars. I thought wow this must be good and my friend and I decided we could really go for some tacos. When I walked in and saw so many white people working, I knew I’d been let down.
I love the building and the atmosphere. The waitresses were great and asked us if it was our first time there, and did an excellent job trying to make sure we understood the menu. The more she talked though the more disappointed I was. Also her presence kind of prevented us from reading the menu. She told us all of the plates were small and would not make up a full lunch. The problem is that each plate is priced as a full lunch. She said the plates are made for sharing. I just don’t get the concept of sharing a plate that didn’t have enough food for one person. We asked her what we could order to make a full lunch and she suggested the baba burger. We came to eat tacos not burgers. Since she said the tacos are tiny and they can’t do the ground beef tacos that I like, so here is another taco restaurant incapable of making tacos. The Mexicans just get it right every time but white people just can’t seem to.
Baba burger: my friend ordered the baba burger and fries because he was told it would fill him up. He said the only thing he could taste was the bread. The meat has no flavor whatsoever. The fries are thin cut right from the potato. They were very good but the price for one order will buy ten pounds of potatoes.
I ordered cheese steak enchiladas and queso Blanca cheese dip. The chips were really good, probably made in house and seasoned well. The cheese dip was not what I wanted. Instead of a creamy style cheese, this was like a block of cheese melted. We just couldn’t eat that much cheese. And then when it cools back down, it breaks your chips. And why do they put BBQ sauce on the cheese dip?
The enchiladas had no resemblance to a cheese steak but it was kind of good, just not great. It was just barely warm. The Mexicans serve it on a hot plate. It was covered in a runny cheese dip that resembled rotel in every way. This cheese dip would have been more suitable to serve with chips and the block melted cheese would have been more suitable to serve on the enchilada.
2.95 for fountain coke? Talk about price gouging. There is no reason to charge more than two bucks which is still too much. I can get a small meal for 2.95! When my drink got low, instead of the waitress taking my drink away from me, she simply brought me another one. I do appreciate that.
The table next to us got all kinds of food that looked so good. Fresh avocados and fruits. Their budget must be more than mine. We spent too much money, didn’t get the tacos we wanted, and got disappointed. We won’t be back. The reason for three stars instead of one or two was the excellent service.
I wrote all of the above without having read any other reviews to get other opinions. I feel this makes my opinions genuine instead of emphasizing something someone else said. After now reading reviews, the common theme I hear is too much money for just a snack size portion. I see that Elizabeth likes responding to negative feedback and does so in a professional manner, she has not addressed the issue of expense. Why do you think your business deserves so much ($ 2.95 for fountain coke) for its service when other restaurants are competitive and charge the going rate.
Also other issues I saw recurring was improperly timing the delivery. Friday afternoon lunch, our food was served separately, but close together. No complaints here from me. Also, inattentive and lousy service. Our waitresses and service was outstanding. Wonder if some things are just hit and miss.

Babalu’s is AWESOME. Pretty much everything I’ve tried there has been great. Typically I’ll order three tacos but on my most recent foray I decided to try the Torta Cubana. If you’ve ever seen the movie «Chef», this is what they’re making in their food truck. It was amazing. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to enjoy it completely because my wife and I totally underestimated the Guacamole we ordered. It was ENORMOUS. And the chips… oh man, so good! I pride myself on being able to down a lot of food without feeling stuffed, but I came away feeling like the blueberry girl in the old Willy Wonka movie. My wife went for the tacos and was feeling similar.
My advice is that if there are only two of you and you order the Guac, take into account the possibility that you might not be able to eat a huge entrée afterwards.
Oh, and the small side order of fries was great too! And so was our server, Lorraine!

Woohoo! I loved pretty much everything I saw at Babalu when I went for my black bean burger. The atmosphere is pretty much gorgeous. Everything is all sparkly and new. The patio is nice. The bar is fancy and spacious.
The black bean burger was great! It got a little mushy towards the end, but the flavor was to die for. Loved the toasty bun and fresh, ripe avocado slices. The patty had a wonderful mix of black bean, spices, and garlic. My breath was pretty atomic afterward, but who cares!!! Also the sweet tea was in my top ten sweet teas of Memphis. I’m weird about tea… I know.

I’ve heard a lot about Babalu and finally had an opportunity to check it out. It was a Saturday at 7:00 and the place was absolutely slammed. We had about an hour wait in a very small waiting area. Most chose to wait outside since they couldn’t fit inside. It’s a good problem for them! If you can take the wait or go during a slower time, the food is delicious and the service is prompt!
Since I began this review, I’ve gone back for an early afternoon lunch with no wait. The service was still great with the lunch crew. I do recommend getting a few items for everyone to share to try different dishes!
The guacamole and black-​eyed pea hummus are fantastic! The chef’s special enchilada was really good, as well. I wish I could recall what was in it! The fiery shrimp got to me a bit. They were a little greasy… Everything else I’ve tried has made that a vague memory, though!

Oh no 3 stars!!! Why not 5???
So of course I just had to check out the hot and new place!!! With over 200 Unilocal and 4 stars the place has to be amazing!!! Right?!! Well…
Yes and No
Service — excellent –5
Ambiance– excellent –5
Food 3
Price for type of food — 2
Calamari is great — light batter with a tasty sauce.
Queso– too thick and was bland (disclaimer– my opinion– it was not «dippy» more like spooning it on the chips. But maybe my palette is simple because I prefer the basic queso at every other Mexican place in town… Shoot even Pancho’s dip at kroger“
Taco’s — we ordered 3 ($ 9) for just the tacos that are the size of a drink coaster. The tortilla was cold — I prefer warm. And the flavors just weren’t there. I’ve had much better for ¼ of the price and a lot more food. No slaw on the tacos and the sauce was– hmmm– meh.
Overall it was cool to go and check it out to see what all the hype was about. Can’t say I would go back but would recommend people go at least once to check it out for yourself. I’m thinking this is more about going for a drink — hanging with friends and snacking on a bite size chip taco. And not about having an amazing food experience.
**and yes I get Tapas. But if it’s bite sized with a big price tag the flavors need to match that. And on my opinion it fell short. Not bad. Just not memorable.

My friend and I came here for dinner because I wanted to eat somewhere in Midtown– for the adventure! I was really craving asian food (and totally missed the sign for the ramen place) but had wanted to come try this place anyway so we came on in! My friend and I both studied Spanish in college and already understood the concept behind tapas and were excited to see how it would work out here.
This place has an outside seating area but we chose to eat inside, which is very huge and open. The ceilings are high and they have some decorations on shelves high up as well as all of the alcohol they offer here (I presume). Our waitress, Desiree, was awesome as well and very attentive. She came to our table often, always had a moment to actually chat with us.
Since my friend is vegetarian we decided to get some vegetarian dishes. We chose the guacamole with jalapenos and fresh veggies and the Vegetal Tacos. The guacamole was awesome. They made it at the table for us, which was great because my friend didn’t want all the onions and I did. So I kept the little bowl of onions and added it to the portion I scooped out into my tapas plate. I enjoyed eating it with the fresh veggies, which were green, yellow, and red bell peppers. But the chips were so awesome that I think I’ll stick with the chips next time.
Their vegetarian options were minimal, which I guess isn’t surprising considering how their menu was rather sparse itself. Still, for a place focused on small items to share, I anticipated a lot more options.
I loved the guac, but was not at all impressed with the tacos. I even got myself a single Pollo Taco so we could each eat two and because it was $ 2 Taco Thursday. However, I couldn’t finish it. The mole sauce was not what I expected and I just didn’t like it. I didn’t really see anything else on the menu that really appealed to me, either, so I don’t really think I’ll be back.
Loved:
— Guacamole
Disliked:
— Vegetal Tacos
— Pollo Taco

Excellent patio. Excellent quac. Excellent marg. Excellent burger. Excellent service. I recommend it.