Pollard's Bar-B-Que

Whitehaven family pit, a Restaurant Impossible alum

Pollard's Bar-B-Que is a barbecue restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee.

Pollard's Bar-B-Que began as a catering business in the mid-1990s and became a Whitehaven dine-in fixture on the Elvis Presley strip in 2011. The room got a national spotlight when Food Network's Restaurant Impossible renovated it, but the family kept its homestyle cooking intact through the makeover.

The menu runs authentic South Memphis: pulled pork with a real hickory backbone chopped for the bun, dry-rubbed ribs off the family pit, and Southern plate lunches that lean on the sides as much as the smoke. Fried catfish and slow-cooked collard greens give it a soul-food breadth beyond the barbecue, and the location near Graceland makes it an easy pilgrimage stop. This is a family pit that took a television cash injection and used it to protect the recipes, not replace them, which is why the plates still taste like home.

• Style: Memphis Style
• Price: $$
• Neighborhood: Whitehaven
• Serving since 1995

What to order

• Pulled Pork Sandwich
• Ribs
• Fried Catfish
• Greens

How it scores — 7.9/10 overall

• Smoke: 8.0/10
• Bark: 7.8/10
• Tenderness: 7.9/10
• Consistency: 7.8/10
• Value: 8.2/10
• Atmosphere: 7.4/10

Visiting

• Address: 4560 Elvis Presley Blvd, Memphis, TN 38116
• Phone: (901) 398-2987
• Website: https://pollardsbbq.com/

Hours: Tue–Sat 11am–6pm, Sun 12–5pm, Mon closed

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