Soul Fish Cafe

Last week, I put a shout out for guest bloggers to help me add to the frequency of posts on this site since I only have the (strength and) money to dine with my monkeys about once a week.

Within hours, RJA, who authors Urf!, came forward with an entertaining story about ordering pizza for his wife and trio of monkeys. He lamented that the only restaurant he had been to of late was the Soul Fish Cafe, which had already been reviewed here. I told him that I didn't mind getting another perspective, and I'm glad I did.

Here's RJA's review:

Soul Fish Café
862 S. Cooper
725-0722

Soul Fish Café may be the loudest dinner experience I’ve ever had, and I once took a bag full of Taco Bell to a show at The Antenna Club. This restaurant is a concrete bunker on Cooper Avenue in the Cooper-Young neighborhood. We’ve ordered out from here on a couple of occasions but this was my first experience on the inside. We all went—me, Kristy and our three monkeys—with my sister and her husband, so we had a couple of tables pulled together to make one large one near the bar. We got in early enough that the crowd was still sparse, but halfway through the meal it filled up so that there was a wait. And it filled up with kids. It looked like a daycare in there. And it was loud. Did I say it was loud?

I had the Memphis Po Boy which is a pulled pork sandwich with bacon and barbecue sauce. Vegetables were an option for a side, but when you’re eating a sandwich consisting of pork…with more pork on top…why bother? The fries seemed light by comparison. Kristy, Elizabeth and Toby all had something fried between bread, I think. They were at the opposite end of the table and may have told me what they were having, but it was so loud I couldn’t hear them. Did I mention the volume in the place?

From the kids’ menu, C had a basket of fried fish and fries that he refused to eat once he saw JP’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which he coveted as he pouted the rest of the way through dinner. In case you didn’t catch that – JP had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I went to a restaurant and paid over $3 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I will say that he ate all of it, and it was a big sandwich, which is unusual for him. S ignored a ham and cheese sandwich as she tried in vain to trip the waitresses as they scurried by our table to the kitchen. She did manage later to fall off a barstool, though.

The wait staff was good with all of the kids in the place and I saw plenty of cups with lids being carried to and fro. There was also someone walking around who looked like a manager or owner, greeting people and checking on tables, which is a nice touch. Soul Fish seems to have caught on in the neighborhood in a very short period of time and by the looks of it, and the median age of 9-years-old of the patrons, they will enjoy success for a very long time. I said, FOR A VERY LONG TIME!

RJA is the father of three, soon to be four, monkeys. Read his blog!