Leonard's BBQ Downtown

103 N. Main Street
Memphis, TN
Phone 901.528.0825
Fax 901.528.0882

In a town full of BBQ, Leonard’s offers a special surprise, a lunchtime BBQ buffet.

And a very good buffet it is.  A yummy selection of meats including smoked chicken, spare ribs,  pork sho

ulder and smoked sausage is augmented by the standard buffet items  -  green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, slaw, etc.  What is not standard to most buffets are the red beans and rice, corn whiskey pudding, BBQ baked beans, turnip greens, cooked cabbage, and maple peaches.

When entering the restaurant, we were greeted by Mrs. Bill Shanle, one of the owners.   Her husband, Bill, ironically, is from our hometown of Jacksonville, Illinois.  They moved to Memphis twenty years ago and have become a fixture in the downtown restaurant scene with the opening of Leonard’s BBQ Buffet.

Leonard’s offers two types of buffets for the downtown business customers that need to get in and out quickly.  The less expensive is the BBQ sandwich and salad bar or what we opted for - the eat everything that’s not tied down buffet.  The full buffet costs about nine dollars with tax included but due to increasing costs expect an increase of about one dollar and fifty cents soon.

Just a few blocks from Beale Street and Auto Zone Park, and a short drive from the Memphis Zoo, Leonard’s makes an ideal lunch stop.  Located on a part of Main Street that is available by foot or trolley only, Leonard’s is well hidden from the normal city traffic.   With luck you will be able to park nearby, but make sure you pay the meter.  We observed lots of cars with parking tickets attached.

The Memphis downtown area has many very good restaurants, but the lunch only Leonard’s BBQ Buffet is a great start to exploring Memphis barbeque.

Update May 2009 - Just as good as on our last trip, but they've added a weekday evening buffet.