Leonard’s Pit Barbecue

Here on business. The lunch buffet was pretty good. I didn’t like how the fixins were in a separate room from the meat. I imagine that can get hard to navigate I’d busy. The place was pretty unassuming. The BBQ ribs… dry rub, not so great… wet was much better. The place was pretty dead for lunch. I wouldn’t go out of your way to eat here. Defiantly just a 3 star kinda place.

I really can’t give Leonard’s any stars… good or bad. My Sister and & I went there last night around 6p.m. Got there and they were closed. Don’t know if they are in business or not. Everything was dark. Not a light on in the building. :(

I ate at Leonard’s for the first time on Monday. I got the buffet. It was pretty decent and very filling for the price (about $ 11). The buffet had more Southern home cooking rather than barbecue, but everything I tried was good. The mashed potatoes were good as was the meatloaf. I also enjoyed the rolls. I was too stuffed to get dessert. It’s not my favorite BBQ place in Memphis, but I’ll definitely go back.

Visiting from the Lake St Louis area and was pretty excited to try some Memphis BBQ for the first time, and I hope this place isn’t really what Memphis BBQ is like! To start, my wife is a vegetarian but I still expected there to be more than a simple house salad on the menu. Catfish every single day, except Saturday of coarse… pulled pork was room temperature served with refrigerated bbq sauce, the baked beans were bush’s baked bean quality, the wet ribs were tasteless (dry rub was a good flavor), and two dinner rolls were brought to our table of three when we were nearly done eating. The best thing about this place is the Truck in the front room and their slaw. Only way I would ever consider visiting again is if the owner called and was adamant it was just a really off day for them and they were wanting to offer a gift card for the three of us because I wouldn’t want to spend another penny there without being certain it’ll be a better experience.

I’ve only been here for the buffet lunch on either Tuesday or Thursdays when they serve ribs. I go with my co-​workers every 3 – 4 months or so since it’s an expensive lunch. I love their buffet selection, e.g. rolls, corn-​on-​cob, mac cheese, green beans, turnip greens, ribs, chicken, fried fish, potatoes and the list goes on and on. My favorite dessert is lemon ice box pie. I haven’t been in awhile but after writing this review plan to go soon.

Love their buffet. They probably have the best catfish I have ever eaten. Perfectly cooked, fall apart flaky and not at all greasy. My close second — the pork cutlets with country gravy. On certain days you can get ribs. Love their baked beans, bbq spaghetti and cabbage. How can you possibly go wrong with a $ 13.00 lunch. They used to be open on Saturday nights for dinner, but aren’t any longer. Too bad. We go to Tunica, but all the casino restaurants are awful (when the best meal you had was at a subway in a gas station, that’s saying something) so it is worth the 4 hours of driving we do per day to eat in Memphis. Leonard’s is a favorite.

Leonard’s is a treasure. Yes, it’s looks like a dive. Yes, they have a buffet. Here’s the thing… any place that has been in business since 1922 and can afford to do only lunch five days a week is doing something right. Here is what you need to know:
They have the best Meatloaf I have ever tasted. I have to say it again: They have the best Meatloaf I have ever tasted. I am not a Meatloaf connoisseur by any means. Yet, that is what I crave at Leonard’s. It is most, chock full of goodies, and has a very tasty & tangy sauce that might make you want to slap your Aunt Doris for trying to pass catsup by you back in the day.
They have a nice little selection of sides and deserts. The baked beans have gorgeous little chunks of BBQ swimming in the sauce with the beans. Today, they also have peas, corn, fried okra, potato wedges, and such. There is also a bun warmer with cornbread, little dinner rolls, and hamburger buns.
My second favorite item that appears to be a staple here is the spaghetti & meat sauce. It hits at 8.5 on the OMG-​scale (this also comes as a plate if you prefer to order from the standard menu). They have nice pulled pork, BBQ chicken, and fried catfish. A couple days each week, they also off their ribs on the buffet. I have tried them this way, and found them to be quite good, though the dry ribs were more moist & tender than the wet.
This joint has all kinds of kitschy character. The servers are very friendly & attentive. Think Waffle House waitresses, but with all their teeth.
I have never ordered off the menu, but many patrons do. Why haven’t I done so? The Meatloaf isn’t on the menu. Seriously.

Holy crap that lunch buffet is AWFUL. Not the worst I’ve had, but I’d have hoped for more from a BBQ place. DRY pulled pork… I mean dry and pretty tasteless. Food looked a little tired and it was still around 1230p. The overall look of the place was run down and broken. Just look at the sign out front. But the parking lot was full… but it was a lot of guys looking to load up.
Not for me. That’s for sure.

Our family has eaten at Leonard’s BBQ for many years. Sure the BBQ is good, but today I had some of their meatloaf — Yes Meatloaf — and it was Fantastic! Moist, loaded with many «more-​than-​just-​ground-​beef» ingredients. I had to have 2 helpings.
They have even been featured on «Dinner, Drive-​Ins and Dives» — and for good reason. The food is just that good.
The veggies were full of flavor and well-​seasoned. Oh yeah — and the BBQ was good too. See, they have more than just good BBQ — the whole «all you can eat buffet» is amply stocked with good food.
I didn’t even have room for their lemon icebox pie or hot apples with ice cream. Next time I’ll try to save room for dessert. Enough of reading this review — go try it for yourself. But go hungry — you will leave full and satisfied. Enjoy!

I totally love this place! I’ve been here several times but I have yet to do a review! Leonard BBQ buffet has so much to choose from: chicken, fish, cabbage, greens, corn bread, corn, dressing, peach cobbler, lemon ice box pie, chocolate cake, and any thing that your heart crave. The waiters are right on time for orders! I am full as a tick! Oh and the buffet is only $ 13 bucks for adults! All you can eat!

Amazing BBQ, very friendly customer service. This place has some of the best food in town for sure, for a very reasonable price also. I would highly recommend checking this place out. You will note dissatisfied

Buffet only open for lunch most days. It’s old and plenty of food. Where else can you go for all you can eat ribs for $ 13.

My all time favorite BBQ restaurant in Memphis! I’ve followed Leonards from South Memphis to Mendenhall to its current location. I love the mustard slaw, an all important side dish that seems to be hard to find. The baked beans are the best in town — period. Add in the spaghetti and decadent butter soaked rolls and I almost don’t need the simply outstanding pork.
Understand that I live 30 miles away and drive past dozens of good BBQ places to eat Leonards BBQ. The taste of pork (with just the right amount of bark), spaghetti and beans can’t be beat.
Don’t let the seen-​better-​days neighborhood discourage you, Leonards is the place to eat real BBQ.

Buffet for southern food is probably the best description for this place. It has all food that southern comfort food, from bbq to fried chicken. They are all good, but not amazingly good. Variety in the buffer is also good, but don’t expect vegan/​vegetarian specific food. This is pure southern food.

Having been to this buffet many times I’m sure it’s helped in building my hard won gut. Different days are different prices due to some being rib days and some being shoulder days. Many food items in the buffet like fried catfish, wings, chicken fried steak, veggies, etc. Bread and a selection of desserts also come with the buffet. This is an old Memphis BBQ family restaurant and while it sure isn’t a diet place it sure is good!

The buffet was pricey but with the money. There was a wide variety of food to pick from. The food was really good. They had peach cobbler on the buffet the day I went & it was delicious. The service is good. The parking isn’t the best.

The outside of this place made me think that I wouldn’t be enjoying it. I went with a friend, and he had raved about the buffet. I figured why not.
I was pleasantly surprised. While the country fried steak was soaked in gravy and thus soggy, the rest of the meal held up quite well. I enjoy the butter beans and black eyed peas the most of all. Strange…
It is a relatively cheap filling meal.

Part of a 9 stop bbq tour.
1 17^th st grill (IL) Favorite place of the tour.
2 Bar-​B-​Que Shop
3 Central BBQ
4 Rendezvous
5 Blues City Café
6 Double J
7 Leonards
I was excited about this place, maybe I had my hopes too high. They have a buffet but ribs aren’t included and we walked by and looked at the items nothing looked appetizing. They had «Texas» style brisket but in looking at the brisket on the buffet I almost cried. I wouldn’t serve that grey nasty stuff to my worst enemy let alone try and eat it. There is no way the pit master (i use that term loosely) has ever tried Texas brisket.
We talked to the waitress and told her what we were doing. She immediately told us she doesn’t eat here and suggested other places for us to go…
We had the ribs and pulled pork. Ribs were ok but lacked smoke flavor.
Pork was dry and flavorless. I personally didn’t care for their sauce either so we barely ate any of it.
beans were just ok. Slaw was very mustardy which I liked but not enough to return.

Leonard’s has an amazing buffet of southern sides and pork barbeque. The hushpuppies and fried okra are incredibly crunchy. The chopped pork is savory and delicious. Hoppin’ John, collards, etc. were also great. I think this is further evidence that I am a Tennessee/​Kentucky BBQ man rather than a Texas man.
To be sure, not everything was perfect. Much of the plate was too sweet — sweet slaw, sweet BBQ sauce, sweet cornbread, sweet pickles, and I didn’t even try the cobbler. And in a BBQ town as amazing as Memphis, I probably won’t be back as long as there are new places to try. But I left Leonard’s in a much better mood than I entered.

I tell you what, when I heard BBQ and buffet in the same sentence, I was kind of turned off. When I found out that the place has been around since 1922, surely they had to have been doing something right– so I put it on my bucket list. I never really had time to check it out until randomly I woke up at 9AM and told my roomate we should get some food before work.
This place is off the beaten path, I wonder if it is the original location (I should have asked). But if you near the intersection of Mt Moriah and Mendenhall, you are close! This place looks like a cop hangout too, as I saw about 4 of them in the parking lot. So I felt safe to say the least.
Upon entering, we were launched back in time. I can’t pinpoint, but I want to say at least 60 years. We were greeted and seated immediately, and got our drinks. They have a separate menu if you don’t want the buffet. I heard an old guy in the corner say their sandwich is one of the best he has ever had. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.
Now, next to our seat, there was an old school green catering wagon– real old school– I am sure there are plenty of pics on it on Unilocal already. Nice touch! The music playing was all oldies– hell yea! As I said, this place screams old school– my kind of style. Believe it or not, I didn’t check out the restrooms! I will have to next time.
Now, for the buffet– they have 2 areas– the meat line, and the fixins line. We went to the fixins line first– which had rolls, cornbread, okra, green beans, new potatoes, beans, fries, brisket, spaghetti, corn, collards, and I am sure I leaving something out (how dare I, since I was there only a few hours ago!). This was in its own room. Then there was the meat line– which had wet ribs, dry ribs, fried fish, pulled pork, sauce, and again, I think there was something else.
Low and behold, I got 2 full plates sampling everything. All of the fixins were awesome– they sure know how to use a fryer! For the meats, I liked the dry robs and the fish. That fish was moist and seasoned well.
The sauce they had, was unique– but it was decent! It was slightly tangy and slightly smoky. It was a nice combo. I couldn’t have too much of it though.
During my buffet journey, I saw a lady reach into a refrigerator, and I saw it was LOADED with desserts. I mean carrot cake, red velvet, chocolate cake, bread pudding, banana cream pie, and hell I KNOW there was more! That stand alone unit would be worth the cost of the buffet in itself. I ended my meal with a piece of red velvet and slipped into a coma.
The service was stellar and very friendly. You pay up front (and yes they take card) — and this is where I was really happy. I was shocked as I handed the lady my card (and she was older mind you), she asked to see my ID. I was caught off guard as only 3 people have asked to see my ID since I have moved here (my signature line says «CHECK ID» in bold red ink) — so that was pleasant. I thanked her for doing so.
Could I eat here everyday? No, I would probably die. Is it the best BBQ I have had? No not really. But some of the dishes they do have are knockout, the desserts are great, and the service makes this place a home run. Consider it 4 stars and change.