Automatic Slim's Tonga Club

83 2nd St., Memphis, TN - (901) 525-7948

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Posted By Michael Stern on February 16, 2004 5:12 PM

After a week of barbecue at least three times a day, we arrived in Memphis craving something modern to eat. Staying at the Peabody Hotel, our choice was easy, and was just across the street: Automatic Slim's Tonga Club.

Named for a Beale Street bluesman and a teen hangout popular in the rockabilly era, this tongue-in-cheeky tiki bar is not at all silly when it comes to food. Combining Caribbean and Southwestern spice with the soul of the South, it creates such luscious meals as coconut mango shrimp with orange pico de gallo, adobo-rubbed double pork loin chop, and voodoo seafood stew.

The wide ranging menu always includes a jerk of the day, a pasta, and a greenmarket-inspired vegetarian dinner. Worthwhile side dishes include tobacco onion rings and a twice-baked smoked pasilla potato.

Tables and banquettes downstairs provide a good view of the long bar, where fashionable Memphians come to smoke, flirt, and drink Tonga martinis. Upstairs is a series of studio portraits that Memphis photographer made of Elvis, shirtless, when he was nineteen years old and very sultry.

Overall Rating

Screaming Mimi Salad

Sate Shrimp a la Plancha

Pasta with Shrimp & Mussels

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Posted By Anne Ritchings on May 19, 2009 3:47 PM

I think this is the only time that a recommendation from the Sterns has failed me. This was absolutely some of the worst food I have ever tried to eat. We quizzed our waiter, who was the only bright spot in this dismal place, and found out that Automatic Slim's had changed owners and chefs in the past year. What a difference a year can make.

Kay ordered a seafood pasta. It was like trying to eat one of those plastic models of food that the Japanese use to advertise sushi. The shrimp were rubbery; the scallops had a texture similar to a hockey puck and the sauce tasted like a congealed lump of wallpaper paste. I ordered duck breast, which was almost inedible: greasy and undercooked. The only good thing we had was a wedge of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing.

Normally, if you get stung on a Roadfood adventure, you aren't out a lot of money. This was the worst of all possible combinations: bad food and a hefty price tag.

Overall Rating

Pasta with Seafood

Duck Breast

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