Sean’s Cafe & Smooth Moves

As a recent transplant to the Memphis area I have been searching for the gyro that will make me forget Keifer’s of Jackson, MS. This one didn’t quite make me forget (quite a challenge– maybe unrealistic), but it was the best I have found in Memphis. Nice soft pita, tasty lamb, flavorful tzakiti.
The place also offers some fresh looking vegetarian lunch specials and a juice bar. The owner was present and seems to recognize and enjoy the locals. He even asked after their family and friends. I like that in a place.
They serve a large selection of soft beverages. Anything you could want from sodas to antioxidant infused bottled juice.

I live in the neighbourhood and frequently walk to different places for lunch. I had had the swordfish sandwich at Sean’s before and it was good. I like having a variety of food in my life. I decided to order the platter and I was amazed. I would recommend this place to the food critics of the world because it was out of this world! Prepare for a pleasurable eating experience. The people are also very nice and helpful.

The wait was pretty long, and when you’re on a lunch break, it’s not conducive. With that being said, the food is really good. I had the gyro and fries. The fries have a tasty, crispy batter. They also serve smoothies. .high dollar item @$ 6 a drink. The gyro was made well. tender meat. fresh vegetables. light sauce. .not messy. and a bug enough portion to eat half and save the rest for later

Just passing through on my road trip and took a chance on this place. I had an amazing lunch here! Very fresh and delicious food — try the green garlic sauce! It’s delicious for french fry dipping. I also really enjoyed their falafel sandwich. YUM!

The food was good. I think my giro could have been slightly warmer, but the taste was good. I am giving 5 stars, because the staff was really great (polite and efficient). Highly recommended.

Not horrible, but not great-​very mediocre.
The service was ok, but the same person was answering the phone, serving the food, and making smoothies, which makes the service slower. They had one cook preparing all of the food, one order at a time.
I ordered a veggie wrap with a side of veggies to go. I sat in the café for 30 minutes waiting for my food while smelling everything that hits the grill. There isn’t good ventilation, so you will smell like a grill when you leave this place. The thing that agitated me the most is when, what seemed like a regular, got his food before me, yet ordered a few people after me. In what world is that ok?
Finally getting around to eating the food after waiting 30 minutes, it was SO MESSY!!! The veggies were very plain tasting. The hummus, which was at the bottom of the pita wrap was tasty, but again, it was on the bottom so there was no flavor until you bite the bottom which is super upsetting. If the wrap was prepared a little better, I didn’t stink when I walked out, and orders were served as they were placed, I’d be writing a different review.
I would certainly give them another try, but with calling ahead 30 minutes for my order and quickly running in and out in attempt to not smell like whatever is cooking.

This café used to be called Sean’s Smoothies, with basically the same menu as now. It closed down last year, reopening 7 months ago under a new owner. The ambience is the same ‘50s theme, mellow jazz and pop standards for a soundtrack. I ordered my old favorite: swordfish kabob. What I got was radically different than I expected! The «kabob» is more a generous grilled swordfish steak, way more delicious than the old! It came with a wonderful bowl of grilled zucchini vegetables, some crusty fried sticks and falafel wedges. I highly recommend the new Sean’s Café! j

I am new to Mediterranean Food. If I had known it was this good. I would have been eating it a long time ago.
Tuesday Night: I had Gyro’s platter with hummus and sauteed vegetables. The bomb. Veggies — out standing. Great flavors. Not too spicy. (I like hot food) this wasn’t hot by any means. I had the Piña colada smoothie — It was great.
Wednesday Night: I had the lamb shawarma platter — baba ganush (easy spelling) and again sauteed vegetables.
–baba ganush — Ricky told me this was eggplant with onion and other ingredients — it was great.
I got another Piña colada smoothie with a chocolate peanut butter cup smoothie for dessert. — It was refreshing in that it wasn’t like a shake. You just have to try one.
When I come back to Memphis — I am going to be here.
Lamb kabobs… that’s what’s next.
Refreshing food, Refreshing environment, Nice portions, Not to much. Not to little.

After two trips here the only disappointment I’ve had was that the falafel is not the Iraqi style I am searching for. The food is great though and at a decent price. I’m not a huge tator tot fan but I really enjoyed theirs. In fact I was a little disappointed they were not offered my second trip.
Don’t be scared away if the place is empty, I’ve been the only person in here twice now.

I give Sean’s place for stars Ali and Rick were very friendly. The food was excellent!

Ali is a cool guy. Cooks the food, runs the place. The food is super delicious. He cares more about quality and healthy ingredients than easy cheap food. The smoothies are really good too. Definitely one of those places that should become one of your go-to’s when you’re hungry and want something decent.

So here’s the thing with Sean’s: the food is good, and fairly consistent. It’s simple, tasty and the quality seems to be there. But even when the place didn’t seem super busy I’ve had to wait a really, really long time to get food — so much so that I’m close to crossing it off my list altogether. It’s clearly set up as a mostly take-​out type of place, so I have trouble wondering how they stay in business when they can’t get their food out in less than a half hour. That all but makes it impossible to hit up on a weekday, because I end up having to take a super long lunch and then staying at work late to compensate. Once I tried to remedy the timing issue by calling and placing my order 45 minutes before I wanted to pick it up. But even with that much notice, it still took an EXTRA half hour to get the food. If you’re not in a crazy hurry, by all means go eat at Sean’s and you probably won’t be disappointed. But with Casablanca opening in midtown soon, I’d rather take my 45 minutes and just eat there.

They say their local beef is hand slaughtered, naturally fed, with no steroids, hormones, or antibiotics. I don’t know if that is really true… but I sure hope so. I’m a bit jaded after talking to a local farmers market official… did you know that you can say things are local when they’re not?! It’s just marketing…
But anyways, I digress… this place is awesome. Nothing fancy, total mom-​and-​pop vibe… but boy do they make some good food. Oh, and there is also a Smooth Moves inside the store next to the Sean’s Deli menu… kinda odd… but mostly awesome. Lamb kabobs are where it is at and you can’t go wrong with that hummus.

Great food. I’m a Vegetarian so I’m very happy to have found good falafel in Memphis.

I had the falafel palter here yesterday. Very good. These are good falafel’s not the rock hard kind you find some places. Really tasty and go well with the tahini and babaganoush.
I’m not too crazy about the bottled drinks? But the food is worth it.
I’m going back.

Sean’s has changed over the years and no longer offers some of the things they once did… For example the cooler is almost bare… save for a few waters and a couple «choice» soft drinks… They no longer boast a vibrant snack selection & even fewer specialty and local vendor snacks… They still have some incense, oils, maybe herbs, and vitamins maybe I didn’t look too closely… Balewa’s Raw and Vegan foods are no longer available here and that is a shame… But what does remain is a decent coffee bar, Smooth Moves (one of Memphis’ original smoothie bars), good Mediterranean food and an expanded seating area, so it’s really more café than deli… I’ve meandered my way through most of the menu… the feta mezzes is a fave of mine because I love cheese. The hummus had been hit or miss… Lately a hit! And today they added a pickle, which I thought was weird but I like savories so I ate the pickle and the kalmata olives and sliced white onion first without hesitation or complaint. I usually get the swordfish but today I tried the lamb shish kabab mostly because I wanted something on a skewer and meaty i.e. comfort food. (they also have swordfish shish) It was pretty good, a little overcooked and underseasoned for my taste (just so you know… you may want to ask for it cooked med) but the creamy horseradish made up for it (i love sauces) (i love horseradish). Oh and they give you lots of food, rice & 2 sides (both of mine were hummus). So yeah sword-​good, gyros-​good, lamb (get it cooked how you like)-good, hummus-​good, spanikopita-​good, dolmas-​good. Like I said I’ve meandered. .You should to. Oh and Smooth Moves Yasss! Still awesome! Haven’t had the coffee. They have San Pellegrino if you don’t care about the sugar or whatever… And looks like they did away with the Halal menu but they have this awesome Pita pizza with this great thyme mix… Jussayin. So in closing… Yes Sean’s. Meander.

The customer service was okay, the food was presentable, but overly spicy. Not sure if they were trying to really satisfy me because I told them this was my first time. I had the falafal platter for $ 9.95. I received four small patties on lettuce, a small Greens and Bulgar salad and hummas with a side of tahini. The hummas had too much tahini, the greens were very spicy strong and the falafal was extremely spiced-​out, so the whole meal was very overpowering. I felt my sinus’ open.
They were very nice people, but I would like to enjoy my food without sniffing it through.

So consistently good. I personally think they put something extra special in their carrot smoothie that makes it so dang addictive. And lord, the baba ganoush is full of smoky eggplant awesomeness. Try the zaytoon platter for a nice sampling, and definitely get the gyro with homemade briami (a nice healthy alternative to fries or rice). Plus, the prices are amazing for the amount of food you get!

About 10 years ago, I used to come here all the time because I worked nearby. Now that I’m back in town, I was really looking forward to dropping by and getting the same salad I remembered liking.
I came in and described the salad to the woman at the counter, and she said they didn’t make anything like that anymore. She seemed really irritated and in a hurry. The store was empty except for me, so I’m not sure what was bothering her.
Anyway, I ordered the small greek salad. It was good, but I was sad about feeling rushed. I might try going back at a different time of day. Maybe other employees are friendlier.

A Mediterranean café AND smoothie place that opens at 7am? Count me in! I’ve been going in everyday for the past couple of weeks just to have a smoothie and some wheatgrass on my daily jog and let me tell you, I will continue to go back. I’ve tried many-​a-​smoothie-​place in my time and the only thing that keeps me from returning to most of them is the attitude from the employees. «I’ll have a small orange smoothie» usually gets you a heavy sigh and an eye roll with some slamming of the blender and such. It makes you feel real welcome!
Every employee I’ve encountered here has been super-​friendly and super helpful and never once even seemed once put off by having to make me anything… and so, even though it’s a little out of my way, I will continue to go back! Yay! Also, the prices are reasonable and the ingredients fresh and deeeeeeeelicious! Sold.