Oklahoma City Restaurants

For some, City Bites might be a little ordinary and mundane, but for me, growing up just blocks from the original location when it opened in 1986, City Bites represents a lot of what is great about quality, local restaurants.

You cannot find another restaurant in Oklahoma City currently that offers anything remotely close to what 105degrees is offering. It’s worth your attention if for nothing more than giving homage to the bold effort its ownership has made in bringing this concept to our city.

Trendy atmospheres and pun-filled names seem to set suburban Pho places apart from their Asian district counterparts. Pho-Bulous won’t replace Pho Hoa as my favorite Pho joint, but I still found their unique broth and other offerings intriguing enough to warrant your attention.

Though there are some things I’m hoping they will change, Big Truck Tacos is definitely worth your attention. After all, taking something as awesome as a taqueria-style taco and sprucing it up with culinary creativity is very exciting and unique for Oklahoma City.

A quick glance at the slightly run-down exterior of Classen Grill and you won’t be expecting much more than an average greasy-spoon. Try the food, however, and you’ll most likely be impressed.

When Andrew and I visited Rococo, there was one thing that stood out above everything else — east coast style. If you are from the East coast, I’d imagine Rococo would feel a lot like home. If you’re not, Rococo is still worth your attention for its great strength — fresh seafood.

If Chalo’s Tacos were just a taco truck, I’d say go to Taqueria Sanchez. If it were on the south side, I’d say you have lots of other options to try. But as it is, I say if you’re located in northwest Oklahoma City and looking for a true taqueria where you can sit down and eat with friends, give Chalo’s Tacos a try.

I felt that the food here exhibited a bit of extra care and attention that I wouldn’t expect at a concept-driven place. So, I think they’ve got a shot at overcoming the polished, concept stigma and really providing something special.

I’m not sure the value of Bodensee’s $5 lunch combo (which I’m told is available all day) can be beat anywhere, by anyone. The food may not be all that unique, but it is fresh, healthy, tasty, and delivered at prices that beat most fast-food chains. Plus, they have terrific, hand-crafted custard.

Buddha Tao does a lot of things very well, but prices itself at the level where they really need to do everything extremely well. So, while it brings a unique and quality offering to the Oklahoma City restaurant landscape, we’re a little unsure on whether that offering is worth the price tag.

I have to admit, I have a bias against fancy-schmancy hotel restaurants. It just seems like all too often they are trying to be fancy for fancy’s sake. So, it was with low expectations that I gave the Park Avenue Grill a try. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised by the talent of their chef.

Perhaps you remember the Iguana from its old location on Western Avenue. I remember eating there several times and noting its uniqueness. Now it’s back and continuing to provide an interesting alternative to Oklahoma City’s standard Mexican food places.

So, just because I run a website about Oklahoma City restaurants, it doesn’t mean I’m thoroughly versed in every type of cuisine. There’s still much to be tasted. Indian food is one such frontier for me. So, I recently began my journey in earnest into Oklahoma City’s Indian food landscape. I started at Gopuram Taste of India and it made a good impression.

PLEASE NOTE: This restaurant is now closed. The moment I noticed Gaijin Sushi’s bright awnings going up on a storefront downtown, I was intrigued. But being a sushi novice, I invited Andrew and Greg to try it with me and to provide their more experienced sushi insights for this review. Together, we discovered that Gaijin provides a creative and non-traditional sushi experience in an urban atmosphere.

It’s got fantastic lunch specials. It’s got a lovely weekend brunch. It’s affordable, healthy, unique and located in midtown Oklahoma City. If you haven’t been to Cafe Do Brasil, I highly recommend you try it. If you’ve tried it already, leave a comment and let us know what you think.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Mexican restaurant that offers fresh fruit as an alternative to rice and beans. I have to say, I like it. When I saw it on the menu, I knew that Chica’s was unique.

This one’s a “must try.” In fact, you may want to stop reading right now and make your way to Bella Vista. It’s is a small, humble, family-run, home-cooking Italian restaurant where the food is incredibly fresh. I have not experienced anything else like it in Oklahoma City.

I’m surprised, taken aback, shocked … you see, I had several people tell me how good Lotsa Noodles is and I was really looking forward to trying it. The sweet-looking decor and high-end marketing impressed me, but then my food came out and, man oh man, I was disappointed.

Oklahoma City is blessed to have a thriving Vietnamese population and a concentration of Pho restaurants in our Asian district. If you’ve never tried Pho, it’s time to get acquainted with this inexpensive, healthy, hearty, tasty and unique meal. Pho Hoa is a great place to begin.

Deep Fork is highly regarded by most everyone I know as one of Oklahoma City’s best restaurants. Yet, I had never been there until recently. Now that I’ve tried it, I can tell you that Deep Fork fires on all cylinders with great atmosphere, great food, great service, and even something unique — the chance to have a chef choose your meal for you.

The Red Brick Restaurant brings southern-style country cooking to downtown Oklahoma City. Although the food is decent, I was a little disappointed with the limited menu options and the fact that I couldn’t seem to find anything healthy to try.

I’ve been watching them build out Taqueria Los Carbones and I was excited to try it. The “taqueria” designation gave me visions of a menu full of interesting taco combinations, tasty salsas, and unique flavors. But alas, when I got to the place, I found nothing more than another Okla-mex restaurant, and a sub-standard, fairly bland one at that.

The very first time I dined at Cheever’s, I knew I had found something special. After stepping inside and getting my first taste, I was hooked. Cheever’s really delivers on everything I love about local dining.

The Red Pin Restaurant and Bowling Lounge opened recently in Bricktown, bringing an upscale spin on the traditional bowling alley. I was intrigued by the Red Pin’s claims to offer gourmet food alongside the bowling experience, so I had to check it out. When I did, I found a unique and interesting experience, but one that is more about concept than it is about cuisine.

It’s finally here! Now, I know Chipotle is a chain and this site is about local Oklahoma City restaurants, but I make a very emphatic exception to my “no chain” rule when it comes to Chipotle. Read on to find out why. Plus, I offer you my guide for experiencing the best Chipotle has to offer.

The CousCous Cafe is a pretty new place and just getting up and going. I finally got over to try it and I have to say, I haven’t been this excited about finding a new place in a while. I highly recommend you check it out.

The thing I like most about it is that it’s different from most other Mediterranean or Greek places in Oklahoma City. Mediterranean Deli goes well beyond the standard “gyro and fries.” The menu is small, but it offers a chance to sample a great number of simple Mediterranean specialties.

Zorba’s has recently made a big splash by opening a new location on North May. I tried out this new location and discovered that their recent move has resulted in a severe case of schizophrenia. Zorba’s can’t decide if it wants to retain the small, fast food, rough-around-the-edges feel of its roots, or morph into a modern, full service restaurant. The problem is that this indecision results in a sub-par experience all around.

On first glance, Snow Pea appears pretty sub-standard. Even in the realm of cheap, fast Chinese restaurants in OKC, Snow Pea comes off a little less interesting than most. Yet, I still recommend that you try Snow Pea for two very good reasons.

When I first saw Iron Starr’s outdoor sign declaring it was an urban barbeque restaurant, I was immediately intrigued. It’s the only place I know where you can experience the unique taste of urban barbeque in Oklahoma City. Of course, this causes me to ask, “what exactly is urban barbeque?”

It’s not that the food is bad, it’s just that everything they do makes me think they don’t really even care about the food. The focus seems to be on other things. Disagree? I’d love to hear your perspective.

Irma’s is a fairly well-known restaurant around the Oklahoma City metro. On this trip, I visited their new OKC Midtown location to take on a special mission. I wanted to find out if their famed “no name” beef is really better than the rest.

The Grand House is a large, well established restaurant in the Asian district of Oklahoma City, and it provides just about the “nicest” Asian dining experience I’ve found in the city. I highly recommend it any time, but in this post, I want to focus on their most unique niche offering, dim sum.

I recently got to check out one of Oklahoma City’s newest restaurants. Red Prime Steak is a new upscale steakhouse brought to you by the folks behind Cheever’s and Iron Starr. I love their first two restaurants so expectations for this new place were high.

I’m sure BrewHaHa is a nice place at other times of day, but in the morning, it’s crazy boring. I got here at 6am and I was the only one here. It’s now about 6:45am and I’m still the only one here. The selection of food items is extremely minimal.

How do you know if you’re eating at an Okla-mex restaurant? Here’s my simple test. Do they include chips, salsa, cheese sauce, flour tortillas, corn tortillas, and sopappias as a part of every meal at no extra charge? If so, it’s Okla-mex.

As I’ve said before, I much prefer local restaurants. But I’ve got to give credit when a chain restaurant really goes above and beyond. In the case of Panera Bread, I feel like I pretty much owe them some recognition considering that they’ve given me thousands of hours of great office space, virtually rent free.

I always love a good surprise, especially when that surprise is extremely tasty. Saturn Grill was just such a surprise for me. A friend of mine invited me to lunch there. I had never heard of the place before, but now it’s at the top of my list.

Just about everyone around here has heard of the Cattlemen’s Restaurant and it’s widely known as one of Oklahoma City’s best local dining experiences. But maybe not everyone has tried it for breakfast. And if you haven’t, you should.

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? For me, it’s Pad Thai. Of all the Asian food varieties, Thai is my favorite, so you can understand why I have spent a good amount of time trying many of Oklahoma City’s Thai restaurants. So far, Thai Kitchen is winning.