Tops Bar-B-Q

On our way to New Orleans, my fam and I are spending the night in Memphis. Every time I am in the area I like to try a different bbq. This time it is Tops. I had the ½ rack of ribs and it was really good. It is dry rubbed and they give you a small sampling of their sauce. The only downside is no selection of sauces like every other joint has and the sides were ok. Would still recommend if you are in town and want something different.

Every trip back to Memphis includes at least one meal at this BBQ favorite. Always quick and delicious.

First time going here, thought I’d try something new. I truly wish I had gone elsewhere.
Initial impression — it looked like a dive. Rusted window on side, not clean looking. Waited longer than normal in the drive thru.
Ordered 2 pulled pork bbq sandwiches with extra sauce on the side. Was handed the bag, pulled forward to get out of the way, checked the bag and there was no extra sauce. Opened the bag, ate a piece of pork off the sandwich — it was hard to the point that I couldn’t even chew it. Spit it out. Took a bite of the sandwich. Vinegary and meat had hard chunks as if it were leftover from a previous day.
Took the sandwich home, opened the bun to add better sauce. Not a lot of meat from what I’d get at comparable places (Corkys, Toms) — and unfortunately the little bit on there was dry and hard. Each small bite I found myself removing inedible hard chunks. Even the cole slaw on the sandwich tasted like thick raw slices of cabbage.
Sorry, but in my opinion that was the worst pork sandwich I’ve ever eaten.

Good and bad news for this location. The good news is that they have spent some money and redesigned the inside. Much cleaner looking now. They also paved the parking lot and added a drive through. And the food still tastes great.
The bad news is that there is a new crew and they were painfully slow and there were lots of mistakes. My order took a long time, and I never did get my receipt. Then they got the order wrong and I had to wait even longer. While I was there, I would estimate that there were problems with 50% of the orders. One guy cancelled his order and left in frustration.
I’ll be back to add another star if this new crew gets better over time.

Great BBQ sandwiches, great beans and slaw
priced right too. Tangy BBQ ! Tops kills it

nothing worth taking a visit for…
like a reviewer said… why is a BBQ joint known for burgers.
the burger was blah.
the pork was fine.

Very fast and friendly service. Was very impressed. Best BBQ in the world! The place is very clean and well organized. Burgers are made to order.

Very disappointed in the quality of food this time. There was a lot of dark meat that was cooked to the point of being crunchy. Both BBQ sandwiches were also very dry.

‘m a long time customer of this Tops. The bar-​be-​que isnt great but they do have pretty decent fresh grilled burgers. I always get my orders to go because the lobby of this restaurant is always filthy. The grill area which is visible seems clean enough. I called a few nights ago to place an order at 9pm. I am well known there. The person on the other end of the line agreed she knew who I was. I’ve been coming there for years. Yet she refused to accept my phone order because «we dont take phone orders after 8pm because people don’t pick them up.»
Me: but you know who I am
Her: It dont matter who you are. I aint taking your order.
Me: So when did the company implement this rule?
Her: It aint no company rule. It’s just something I do.
Me: So you’d rather lose a long time customer than make me a cheeseburger & fries (thats the entire order-​so not a whole lot of money lost should I NOT pick it up-​which btw would never happen. I always pick up any order I call into anywhere)
Her: It dont matter to me whether you or anyone comes back. It aint my business.
Me: ok, if you feel that way, Tops doesnt need my money. Bye

They have good burgers here. Old school. Cooked on a griddle. Dressed however you want. The combo comes with 2 sides.

Wanted a burger and I got it. Wanted French fries like that style and got it. It was more than enough, and for the low price definitely almost 4 stars.

One of the older bbq joints in Memphis. Great pork sandwich, great burgers too. Haven’t tried their ribs yet. Sauce is unique, but love to put more than they do.

This is a typical BBQ place in Memphis. Food is fairly priced and fairly good. I like their ribs, but their pork sandwiches are also good.

I guess my first clue should have been when the burger was recommended to me. It was nothing special believe me. I don’t know about the BBQ and probably won’t go back to find out.
Like other places in Memphis they haven’t figured out the crowd thing. Don’t go if you’re in a hurry.

This place is a lunch hit at my office. I am remiss to dine in, since I will reek of grease for the next month, but the food is cheap and good. BBQ is classic Memphis — you’ll be frowned at if you don’t want slaw on your pulled pork sandwich. Highly recommend the burgers too — hidden gem if you don’t want a drive-​thru burger. Friendly staff does a great job of serving the crowd that piles in right around 12pm. Sandwich packs are stupid easy when you’re wanting to feed a group.

Tops is a good place for a pulled pork sandwich and fries. I also like their potato salad. I see great compliments given to their burgers and I have given them 2 chances, but always come away underwhelmed.

Tops is good for what it is — a fast food BBQ joint. It’s a place Memphians go when we need a quick and cheap BBQ fix. It’s quick and dirty, just the way we like it.
If you’re a tourist, go somewhere else — Central BBQ, BBQ Shop, Corkys, etc.
But if you simply must go here, just stick with the basics — pulled pork sandwich with slaw. Don’t get the ribs or brisket. (seriously, why on earth do they sell brisket at Tops?)

On a recent trip to Memphis, I ate ribs at four well known destinations: Tops, Central, Rendezvous, and Blues City Café. Although this was the lowest brow of the four locations, I liked the Memphis dry rub ribs here the best. Compared to the other three places, the ribs here were the most aggressively seasoned. In fact, at Central and Rendezvous I couldn’t taste any discernible seasoning beyond what I would expect from some salt and pepper and some time in the smoker.
My rating is based on the ribs only, since that was the focus of my culinary tour. I could knock a star or two off for the small sides and the flavorless chopped BBQ pork. But I would also add a star or two back for the ladies working behind the counter who took the orders and just cranked out the food.
I can understand why Memphis is one of the fattest cities in the country. If I lived near Tops Bar-​B-​Q I would be even more overweight than I already am.

I was from out of town and Tops was convenient. This was some low-​end bbq. The meat was dry and the sides were pretty pathetic in flavor. It’s cheap, so it had that going for it. If you want good bbq, go somewhere else… there are plenty of locations in Memphis!

First, let me say that this is a review strictly on the hamburgers as I have not had the BBQ yet. I am typically very critical of hamburgers; but this one falls into the very good category. I have found that there are many, many types of burgers available to the consumer, and I tend to gravitate towards the ‘greasier’ ones. I prefer the ‘hot mess’ burgers that are NOT made with ⁹³⁄₇ beef or higher. They just taste better. Tops hits the nail right on the head with a great combination of flavors that contribute to the overall taste and quality of their burger.
My in-​laws are in town, and all of us unanimously wanted a burger. Being that my wife and I had some recent and unfortunate service at Huey’s, we decided to go ahead and try a new place. One of my co-​managers mentioned it, and I have heard multiple other sources mention Tops as the ‘best burger in town’. Being that I have not found my ‘go-​to’ burger place yet, I decided to give it a shot.
Food: We all ordered burgers, and changed up the sides a bit in each order. I think all of us got the double cheeseburger — some with no onions, some with extra pickles. The burger was awesome. A solid ⁴⁄₅ burger. It was on the greasy side, but the meat was seasoned perfectly… and, probably from someone making minimum wage at that. Surprising to say the least… As I have mentioned in other reviews, a burger is should not have one superstar item, it is a combination of many different flavors, and how those flavors work together in order to create the ‘perfect bite’. between the cheese, the veggies, and the well-​seasoned meat… this burger is pretty close to a 5. The only thing I would want improved, would be the bun. If they could jump that bun up a notch, it would be a 5. I like a soft bun on the top, and a toasted (crispy) buttery interior.
The sides ranged from ‘OK” to Good. I liked the potato salad (³⁄₅) cole slaw (³⁄₅) Beans (³⁄₅) and the French fries were damn perfect (⁵⁄₅). Exterior was crispy, interior hot and steamy, while also being seasoned perfectly. I couldn’t ask for a better fry. In fact, those fries were the perfect fries to make ‘loaded’ as well — if that were an option.
Food: ⁴⁄₅ (burger weighted more heavily)
Service: Sigh… Unfortunately, there was no shining star moment in the service, but honestly, I got the level of service I would expect from an establishment such as this. No one was rude (yay!), but no one was happy or interested in being there either. Despite that, I can’t really blame them. They are not working on tips, this is not a ‘sit down’ restaurant, and it is really a ‘fast-​food-​type’ place. So, going into this, I assumed this is about the level of service I would get… and I did.
Service: ³⁄₅
Atmosphere: It was a little grungier than I would have liked. All of the people cooking and serving our food were using proper food handling techniques, so I wasn’t particularly in fear for my food; but it just seemed like it might need a fresh coat of paint, a deep cleaning in some areas, and just some sprucing-​up. It felt very retro-​diner-​y, but not necessarily in a good way.
Atmosphere: ²⁄₅
Price: For the price I paid, I think I got a great value. In my opinion, I had a delicious burger, amazing fries, and decent potato salad for about 8 bucks. That, in my opinion, is damn good. Oh yea, and add a medium drink to that as well. Now that I think of it, that is an even bigger win. I could get something of equivalent price range at a legitimate fast food restaurant (McDonald’s, BK, Wendy’s, etc.) for the same price… but NOT NEARLY THE SAME QUALITY.
Price 4.5 /​5 rounded-​up to ⁵⁄₅ (I reserve the right to round up or down… this deserves and ‘up’)
Final Thoughts: Thus far in the Memphis market, I cannot think of another place I would go for a burger. I personally believe that Tops genuinely melds a lot of great flavors together in order to create an absolutely delicious burger. Add to that the perfect French fry, and that is a real ‘win’ for the consumer. I will be back to Tops, and as of now, I definitively have a burger place to call my own when the craving comes.