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Popular East Memphis restaurant Houston’s permanently closes after 40+ years in business

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Popular East Memphis restaurant Houston’s permanently closes after 40+ years in business

Casual fine dining restaurant Houston’s has permanently closed its only Memphis location.

The Phoenix, Arizona-based restaurant chain announced it was closing the location at 5000 Poplar Ave. in a statement on its website. The East Memphis location opened in 1983.

“Regretfully, the operating environment in the vicinity has become increasingly difficult over the years, both with respect to staffing and public safety,” the statement read. “While we know this development will be disappointing to many of our guests, it is a decision that was not made lightly. We would like to thank our guests for their support and we hope to have the opportunity to serve you at another one of our locations.”

Houston’s grew to become a local favorite in the more than 40 years that it operated in the city. Well-known Memphians like former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton were known to regularly dine at the East Memphis restaurant.

“Today my phone has been blowing up with so many people calling me about the closure of Houston’s,” Herenton told The Commercial Appeal on Thursday. “I have been a customer of Houston’s, I guess for almost 30 years… obviously I’m saddened to hear that the restaurant is closing.”

Herenton said the news did not come as a surprise — the closure was something he expected to happen eventually. The former mayor said Houston’s was a “superb” restaurant when it was previously being managed by Jack Mahoney, praising the consistent quality menu, service and ambience. Recent management did not maintain that same quality, according to Herenton.

“For many of us who were regulars at Houston’s, we saw some changes in the management and the menus… we could tell that the restaurant was changing,” he said. “There were many customers that did not like the fact that the menus changed dramatically, the TVs were removed, I mean the atmosphere of Houston’s has changed dramatically.”

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Herenton said he didn’t believe Houston’s claim that crime was a main reason behind the closure, noting it would have been a corporate decision to close the restaurant and not a local one.

“There’s been some incidents, we have incidents everywhere. But I don’t think the incidence of crime reached the level that it would have warranted them closing for that reason only,” he said. “I think there were a combination of reasons… I just hope it does not taint the image of Memphis.”

In recent years, the casual fine dining restaurant drew some criticism for its rules regarding dress code and party size. Houston’s had extensive attire standards that considered “hats, tank tops, flip flops, and team athletic attire too casual” for the restaurant. Parties of two were “preferred” and the maximum party size was four people. Child seating was not offered, and strollers were prohibited.

Houston’s is part of Hillstone Restaurant Group, which operates 38 locations in 10 states. Ten of those locations are branded as Houston’s, but the others still serve very similar cuisine.

Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.

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