By A friend asked me to meet her for lunch and we decided to try out SAGE Restaurant in Downtown Memphis. SAGE is a soul food fusion restaurant located on 94 S. Main Street in the bustle of downtown. There’s a parking garage nearby which is necessary if you plan to visit any restaurants or buildings on Main Street. I didn’t mind. It was a beautiful day to stroll and after all the cold, dreary weather, a nice Spring-like day was welcomed.
SAGE Restaurant is spearheaded by Eli Townsend, a talented chef whose journey has taken him from working with others in the food industry to realizing his own dreams. This alone made us eager to sample what the restaurant had to offer.
The inside of this restaurant is quite cozy, and certainly had a welcoming vibe to it upon walking in. The decor is a perfect mix of modern mixed with pieces of downtown Memphis in the ceilings and walls. My friend and I chose a seat against the wall, which allowed us to really view the whole restaurant as well as passerbys going to and fro down Main Street.
I am usually a bit indecisive about ordering, but the idea of salmon sliders sounded delicious so I opted for those with a side of fries ($12). My friend ordered the SAGE hamburger, topped with fried egg and a dollop of guacamole and a side of cauliflower rice ($10). I couldn’t resist tasting the rice and it was delicious. A little heavy on the soy sauce, but otherwise it gave me a great idea for a recipe in the future. The cauliflower rice definitely incorporated an Asian flavor. The salmon sliders included a lemon chive mayo. My friend was pleased with the rice, but not enthused at all about the burger. In fact, she described it as void of flavor and as plain as a burger one would make at home (shrugs).
From what I could see, there were around two servers, but one was more visible than the other. At the time we arrived, there were only around 8 people there, yet it took 40 minutes to receive our meal. On a weekend, we wouldn’t have minded the wait, but this was lunch hour on a weekday. No bueno.
The server also forgot that we existed for awhile and had to be reminded about our requests. This is also not good, especially if there aren’t many people in the restaurant. The server was very nice, which was why she received a good tip.
We determined that SAGE Restaurant would definitely be more suited as a place to stop for drinks during a girls night out or to meet for a cute chat. I plan to visit again and try one or two other dishes on the menu, but this first visit didn’t leave me satisfied.
The Good: SAGE Restaurant gets an thumbs up for the ambiance – the decor, the cleanliness, and overall the vibes are great. The website is lovely and the menu is very eclectic.
The Bad: There were not enough servers and quite possibly not enough chefs/cooks in the back. The food was also rushed and bland. Great ideas. Poor execution.
Recommendations: SAGE Restaurant should hire more cooks and servers. Pay attention to the time and the overall process. The potential is there, just the overall application of running the restaurant needs work.
What do you think?