University of Memphis Guide: Where to Eat, Drink & Stay (2026)

Whether you're a University of Memphis student still working out where to eat, an incoming Tiger learning the city, a parent in town for move-in, an alum back for a game, or a prospective student walking campus for the first time, this guide pulls together the restaurants, bars, hotels, and campus landmarks worth knowing near the University of Memphis.

Here's the thing to understand before you plan anything: the campus and the city are not the same trip. The university's 1,160 acres sit about five miles east of downtown in the University District, bounded by Central Avenue to the north, Southern Avenue to the south, and the Highland Strip along the west edge. That immediate pocket, mostly Highland Street and Walker Avenue, is where the cheap student food and the campus bar are. Everything else is a drive. Midtown sits between campus and downtown and holds most of the character: Overton Square for theaters and rooftops, Cooper-Young for restaurants and pubs, Broad Avenue for the brewery, Crosstown for live music. Downtown carries Beale Street, the South Main Arts District, the National Civil Rights Museum, and FedExForum. East Memphis along the Poplar corridor is where the practical hotels are, and Summer Avenue north of campus is where several of the best cheap meals in the city hide. Neither Tigers football nor Tigers basketball is played on campus, which surprises most first-time visitors.

Memphis food splits by geography, and the split matters more here than in a typical college town. Walker Avenue and the Highland Strip right at the campus edge cover the cheap, walkable student meals. Midtown holds the restaurants with the most personality. Downtown has the barbecue and fried chicken most visitors come for. East Memphis, specifically a quiet circle off Brookhaven, holds the two chef restaurants worth planning a night around. And Summer Avenue, a few minutes north, is where locals go for the food that doesn't photograph well and doesn't need to. One warning that applies to more of this list than you'd expect: several of the best places here are breakfast-only, cash-only, or closed multiple days a week. Check before you drive.

The honest version: the University of Memphis student bar scene is thinner than it was. Newby's, the Highland Strip anchor for 50 years, closed at the end of November 2025, which leaves RP Tracks on Walker Avenue as the campus bar. Everything else worth your evening is in Midtown, and the neighborhoods each have a personality. Cooper-Young is where you go for pubs and small rooms, Overton Square for live music with dinner attached, Broad Avenue for the brewery, and Crosstown for the loud independent venue. Downtown adds the historic dive on South Main. None of this is walkable from campus, so decide where you're ending up before you start.

There is no hotel you can walk to campus from, so this decision is really about which version of Memphis you want between visits. East Memphis along Poplar is the closest and the dullest, and it's the right answer for a move-in weekend where you'll be in the car anyway. Midtown puts you in Overton Square with dinner and a rooftop within a block. Downtown is the choice if the campus visit is half the trip and Beale, the Civil Rights Museum, and a Tigers basketball game are the other half. Graduation weekend and home football Saturdays clear rooms fast in all three, so book something refundable as soon as you have dates.

Two things to know here. First, the University of Memphis is a commuter-leaning urban campus rather than a postcard quad, so the landmarks worth your time are functional buildings more than photo stops. Second, the two athletics entries below aren't on campus at all: both sit at Liberty Park on the old Mid-South Fairgrounds in Midtown, a few minutes' drive away. Tigers basketball, which is the sport this city actually cares about, plays even further off at FedExForum downtown.