Max’s Sports Bar

Cold beer, one waitress working like crazy, and during the final four… FULL of Wisconsin fans when they beat Kentucky! Lol

If you like small, smoky bars with poor ventilation and bad food, this place is for you. I’ve been here a few times to meet friends who like Max’s, and I’m remain totally unimpressed. Sure, the beer is cheep and they do have plenty of TVs but it takes a lot more than that to win me over.
Max’s does not have a kitchen, all of the «food» is prepared using a toaster oven. The wings were highly recommend by someone whose opinion I trust, but they were not good at all.
On my last visit, the cigarette smoke was so bad that my eyes started to burn immediately. Someone opened the door to help circulate the cloud out of the bar, but it didn’t help much.
Max’s does have quite a few regulars, and some of them are friends of mine. I just don’t get it…

Sweet spot, super friendly crowd, and Max the owner is awesome. Me and my friends from West Virginia came in to watch the game today. They turned the volume on the game for us and put it on several screens. Everyone made us feel right at home, I’m going there anytime I come to Memphis now. Look for the WVU tee shirt hanging on the wall I left them to hang up, and tell Max I sent you. Cheers.

Hubby and I stopped into Max’s tonight for a drink before heading home. We have been in this bar several time and enjoyed ourselves. We live in South Main and like to contribute to our neighborhood by favoriting local businesses. Well… Tonight at Max’s was our last. We walked in and hubby sat at a table while I visited the little girl’s room. He ordered drinks and was asked for ID; no problem except for I had his ID in my purse in the restroom, which he explained to the waitress, and I would be back shortly. When I sat down the waitress came over and the first sentence out of her mouth was «You need to leave.» «Why» we both asked at the same time. She stated very snotty «If you have no ID there’s the door (and pointed). Which hubby replied «I told you my wife (pointed to me) has my ID and she was in the restroom». I told the waitress never mind we would get a drink across the street (Double J) at which point she followed us out yelling and cursing. She called me a B$&@!. I have never been curse at before and will never set foot in this establishment again. I understand that servers must see ID and have no problem producing it. I do have a problem with rude service.
Good bye Max’s

Max’s Sports Bar is a local bar in South Main. I had seen it for several years, but I had yet to try it. Well, the other day, I went downtown to meet friends at another restaurant. Well, I got there early (or maybe they were late or some combination), so I decided to hop in for a beer.
They have local beers like Ghost River, as well as beers like Guinness and Newcastle.
I didn’t try their food, since I already had dinner plans. However, on their menu they have an item entitled «School pizza.» I have to try it to see if it really does taste like I remember it in the lunchroom. On my next visit, I will make it happen.
Since they have a full bar, I need to try a liquor drink instead of just beer. :)

Love this place. Great Food, great prices, great place to watch the game on Sunday. Wish I lived in Memphis! I’d be a regular every Sunday!
The one minor con is the place is a bit small, so get there a little early to catch the right TV and spot you want.

Big Ten Network is available here. Good service, beer and food. Nice old sports bar feel.

Sometimes you just need one of those bars where you can just sit and ponder… This place is a mix between grungy and adorable… I’m not really sure how to exactly describe it.
The place is tiny so if there is a game on, get there early! They actually have a patio too! The bar itself is really nice. It even has hooks for your purse on the bar (my obsession). They used to only serve beer and now have a FULL bar, which is great. The bartenders are always hilarious and entertaining. Michelle will keep you laughing the entire time.
I really, really love this bar because they are one of the few which is completely covered with Memphis swag. From Memphis State posters to the University of Memphis flags… its covering many decades of history!
I will definitely be hanging out here on game days!

You don’t come to Max’s for the food, people. They don’t even have a kitchen. You come to drink, perch at the bar and enjoy amazing bar service from Michelle, or the eponymous Max himself. I don’t watch sports, but it doesn’t matter. There’s always a good conversation I can intrude on someplace. The patio is sweet too.

A nice place for a drink before a day long-​ass train ride back to Chicago. The bartender and regulars are welcoming. The high ceilings give an airy, comfortable feeling.
Good beers on tap. I would definitely return.

Great local sports bar! Has ALL the games on Sunday (NFL Sunday Ticket), so if you’re a Skins fan like me who’s driving around the 901 trying to find the game, come to this bar. It’s a branded as a local dive bar, but it’s definitely not grungy. May get crowded, but it’s definitely much better than going to B dubs or something.
Drinks: Premium drafts are 5 bucks, domestic bottles are 3.25, and premium bottles are 4 something. Pretty cheap. PBR on draft for 2.50 if you’re on a budget.
Service: Barstaff is friendly and attentive; I actually sat next to the owner Max by chance and we struck up a conversation. He was an extremely nice guy who’s pretty knowledgeable about sports. I didn’t know he was the owner until I thought, «Hey, I’m talking to Max @ Max’s Sports Bar, is this dude the owner?» and proceeded to ask him.
Food: Didn’t get any, but it appears they have a very limited menu.
Overall I would say Max’s is great for catching the game without being packed in like a sardine!

Max’s (formerly Calhoun’s) Sports Bar cooks up some of best wings in Downtown Memphis, which is remarkable given the meager resources it has. Because of its limited space, the bar doesn’t have enough room to install a grill, so most of it’s food is prepared by either a small, counter-​top oven or a microwave oven. Therefore, in order to incorporate chicken wings into the menu, Max’s uses frozen, pre-​cooked wings. Now usually I would frown on this because I believe that a local restaurant that uses frozen, pre-​cooked foods either lacks originality or is just lazy, however this is not the case with Max’s. Even though it uses frozen, seasoned wings, the bar can add sauces to the wings if the customer desires. The choices of sauces are sweet or spicy barbecue and habanero (WARNING: the habanero wings are extremely hot; I tried to eat eight of them, but wimped with only a half a wing left). Regardless of the sauce chosen, it is applied halfway into the cooking process, allowing it to blend in with the seasoning which in turn produces a very nice product. Compared to other places in Downtown Memphis (including Hooters) that have better cooking equipment, Max’s wings are among the best in the area.
As for Max’s other menu items, such as the cafeteria pizza, are so-​so, but other than the wings, the best part about the bar is the social atmosphere. It is pretty much a neighborhood bar where nearly all the patrons know each other and socialize while watching games on the many flat-​screen TVs that adorn most of the bar’s walls.
The only alcohol served at Max’s is beer, however many patrons go BYOB with wine and liquor without having to pay a corking fee. Among the beer choices, my favorite is Pabst Blue Ribbon because at $ 2 a glass, it is a bargain.
Overall, Max’s Sports Bar is a great place to hang out and meet people and watch sporting events. The food, other than wings, is «OK,» but Max’s is more about having a good time than anything else, which this bar is perfectly suited for.

Your perfect neighborhood sports bar. Ample big screens, cheap beer, and friendly staff. Max and his folks (namely Lauren and Michelle) know just about everyone by name and usually have your beer ready before you order it. It is a beer only establishment, but patrons can brown bag it for a set up fee.
Nice beer selection, including several on tap, that includes your standard sports bar variety. Food is limited, but tastey. My favorites are the chicken tenders as well as the chicken wings.
It is on the small side, and seating is definitely limited, but if you need more space, you should probably stay home or go to buffalo wild wings.

This is a great neighborhood bar for those living in the area. The beer selection is pretty stellar (hello, Fat Tire on tap) for such a small place, but that’s all that Calhoun’s serves.
There are plenty of big screens so it’s a great place to stop in and chill with a few buddies. If there’s a huge game on, say Tiger basketball, the SuperBowl or World Cup, I might pick a larger venue for my outing, since the place can get cramped pretty quickly.
This place is awesome, though, for a low-​key evening on a slow sports night.

If you are a downtown-​er– as myself– this is a cool dare I say «dive» bar to hang in. I hesitate to say dive as it really doesn’t look like a dive– it’s actually quite cute. Not that any man likes hearing that his local sports bar is cute– but you get my drift. It’s about a block away from me, and in a city without an abundance of cabs– you can’t beat that location. The bartenders are always friendly– but not too friendly in a «shut up I wanna drink my beer in peace» sorta way. They usually have games on, and I haven’t picked up on the «frat boy vibe» everyone’s laying down in the other reviews. I am definitely not a frat-​guy fan and wouldn’t enter this establishment if it was something I picked up on.
My only complaint is the juke box– I wish it had a better selection of tunes, or perhaps I wish the folks who frequented this place had better music selection skills, cuz 95% of the time I ain’t smelling what their cooking up in the way of tunage.

I’m not a big sports bar fan. Not my thing. However, Calhoun’s is different. It’s small, dare I write somewhat… cute, in that it’s tucked away on a side street with a slightly retro/​old-​school feel and it’s very tidy. A nice little low-​key getaway for men and women alike when they want a brew (beer only, but many on tap) and to chat, play a serious or light-​hearted game of darts, or catch a game on one of several new-​looking plasma t.v.s. I believe it was Mary who was bartending, and she’s friendly. If I lived closer, I’d definitely pop in more frequently. I felt right at home on my barstool, drinking my Heineken.

I’ve been a couple of times to watch some sort of sporting event here. The place is pretty small and there are always more people than seats it seems like. Everyone is sort of crammed together. The beer always seems luke warm to me also. I don’t mind a nice stout luke warm but if I’m guzzling PBR please sub zero that! Once again, this place has an internet juke box. There is nothing worse in a bar than an internet juke box. Why do places insist on having one? This one is full of «southern rock» standards (think less Black Oak Arkansas, more Allman Brothers). Don’t try the food. It’s so bad airplane food refuses to eat it.
All that being said, it’s still got the game on and I’m a sucker for a good sporting event.

I’m probably not the best person to rate this place, since I think yo have to be a local downtowner to appreciate this place who also only likes beer. This place is small, only serves beer, and I guess it’s good for just chill’n and watching sports.

Very much a local’s hangout and sports bar.
Eight large televisions scattered around an otherwise small place, bartenders and owner that knows the name and drink preferences of everybody who walks through the door, and PBR on sale all the time.
If you want to meet people who live in the South Main District and who don’t mind telling you anything you want to know, this is the place. Expect a lot of cheering during Tigers games.
Food: It’s bar food. Snacks at best. Although the hot wings are fantastic.
12 beers on tap, several more in bottles, no liquor, no wine.

Small little place with fratty guys picking crappy music on the e-​jukebox, but you can’t beat $ 6 pitchers of PBR. ‘Nuff said.