61. Dyers Burgers
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 527-3937
Address: 205 Beale Street
Description: Dyers is a kid-friendly place to eat on Beale Street, with shiny, 1950s diner decor and hamburgers fried in Memphis’s most famous grease. It’s open all afternoon, so take a rest from sightseeing. Try an old-fashioned milkshake or a Coke float, or if you’re hungry, have a burger, fries, or chili.
62. Garibaldi’S
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 327-6111
Address: 3530 Walker Avenue
Description: Garibaldi’s is a little on the grungy side, but kids love the combination of pizza and game arcade. It’s located in the University of Memphis area between midtown and East Memphis.
63. Hard Rock Cafe
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 529-0007
Address: 315 Beale Street
Description: If your kids are clamoring for Hard Rock Cafe, you’ll find it at Beale and Fourth, with the usual menu, rock memorabilia, and merchandise shop. Incidentally, the chain was started by a Memphis native, Isaac Tigrett, but a Hard Rock didn’t open up here until the 1990s.
64. Huey’S Downtown
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 527-2700
Address: 77 South Second Street
Description: Look up when you enter. Yes, those are toothpicks in the ceiling. Each has been spit there through a straw—a challenge that appeals to adults and kids alike. Also bring a Sharpie marker to write on the walls, another Huey’s tradition. The menu includes great burgers, sandwiches, salads, and a kids’ menu that features the ever-popular chicken on a stick. There’s also a midtown location, as well as several in the suburbs.
65. Memphis Pizza Cafe
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 726-5343
Address: 2087 Madison Avenue
Description: Young sports teams and families with children all flock to this casual pizza joint, which serves up thin-crust pizza with the toppings of your choice. This is the midtown location closest to downtown Memphis, which has a pleasant back deck in addition to its dining rooms, but there are other Pizza Cafes in East Memphis, Cordova, and Bartlett, too.
66. The Peanut Shoppe
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 525-1115
Address: 24 South Main Street
Description: OK you probably couldn’t make a meal here, but hot roasted peanuts, snow cones, and candy are a great treat after riding the trolley or taking in the sights.
67. Smooth Moves
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 529-1000
Address: 75 South Main Street
Description: For a perfect stop for the whole family while touring downtown, try Smooth Moves for a refreshing fruit smoothie.
68. Sekisui Downtown
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 523-0001
Address: 160 Union Avenue
Description: This sushi bar, located in the Holiday Inn Select, is a good compromise play because it has a sushi menu, a Japanese menu, and an American menu. Sushi lovers will be happy, and nonsushi eaters can choose from a menu of great burgers, fries, grilled cheese, and clam chowder. Other Sekisui locations, while they don’t have an American menu, are reasonably child-friendly.
69. Spaghetti Warehouse
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 521-0907
Address: 40 West Huling Street
Description: The atmosphere of this family-oriented restaurant, where you can eat in a trolley car or a king-size bed/booth, is big excitement for kids, even if adults may find the food a little dull. You can take the trolley to get here, as it’s located next to the tracks.
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 1934 Poplar Ave.
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 3734 Elvis Presley Blvd.
72. Lichterman Nature Center
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 767-7322
Address: 5992 Quince Rd.
Description: Once the suburban estate of a wealthy Memphis family, this 65-acre property was donated to the city for the purposes of a nature center, becoming the first accredited nature center in the United States. Lichterman has been dubbed “Memphis’s Central Park.” Nature trails wind through the grounds, and a boardwalk surrounds a 10-acre lake, making this a scenic and peaceful retreat in the midst of urban sprawl. A $7.5-million renovation and expansion included a bright and airy 16,000-square-foot visitor center, a special-events pavilion, and a greenhouse. There’s also a small amphitheater where special events and nature talks are held. Plant sales, guided nature walks, and kids’ events are among the activities you can take part in. Lichterman is open Tues through Sat.
73. The Memphis Zoo
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 725-3400, (800) 288-8763
Address: 2000 Galloway St.
Description: The Memphis Zoo, considered by many one of the best in the country, is in Overton Park. Favorite exhibits include the China Exhibit (home to giant pandas Ya Ya and Le Le), Cat Country, Primate Canyon, an aquarium, and a tropical birdhouse. The zoo is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 125 N. Front St.
75. The Peabody Memphis Ducks
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (901) 529-4000, (800) PEABODY
Address: 149 Union Ave.
Description: The Peabody, a luxury hotel, is famous for its ducks, a pampered quintet who twice a day march through the lobby amid great ceremony. At 11 a.m. the ducks leave their hotel room, take an elevator ride to the main floor, then march across the red carpet, rolled out just for them, to the lobby fountain. There they frolic until 5 p.m., when they reverse the process. It’s a great photo opportunity, especially for the little ones, and it’s free.