New Mexican restaurant opened on the Highway to Hell, I mean NW Expressway a few months ago. I needed to let the new wear off before I visited, but finally stopped in to try them a few weeks ago.
The brightly decorated building sits on the north side of NW Expressway between Meridian and MacArthur. The inside is more colorful than the outside of the building, with flower chairs and bright paintings. We were seated quickly and had a chance to survey the menu. We knew we had to try their queso fundido. It came out quickly with chips and salsa. I loved every bite, the cheese was perfect, melty with lots of peppers and chorizo. I also loved the chips, light and crisp. Our entrees also came out quickly. I ordered cheese steak burritos. This was interesting, just as it says, a cheese steak inside a burrito instead of bread. I really liked it, the beans and rice were also good. Big K ordered the burrito chipotle. This is a huge burrito stuffed with chicken, rice, beans, and corn with a chipotle salsa on top. He loved every bite. I tried it and loved the chipotle salsa on top.
They are well known for their specialty alcoholic drinks but I’m not much of a drinker. So I didn’t try any this time, maybe the next visit. This location has done well enough that a second location is about to be opened on Memorial west of May. It is already getting attention with the bright pink paint that has been added. Overall we had a great visit and looking forward to trying more of their menu. I’ll give them 5 strips of bacon.
Go to El Reno on a Saturday night and the whole town smells like grilled beef, onions, and cheese. That’s because within a 4 block area of downtown there are 3 really good onion burger joints, you just have to choose which one you want to try.
We’ve been to Sid’s in the past (even though I need to go again), so we decided to try Robert’s Grill. This small white building sits right on Route 66 and serves up a good burger. Warning needs to be given, it’s super small, only 13 seats all at the counter. We got lucky when we stopped on a slow Saturday night. The menu is pretty simple, mostly just burgers with a few other items. We both ordered an onion cheeseburger with bacon. While I had plain tator tots Big K got chili cheese tots. With the grill right there, you can see every part of the cooking process. It’s really fun to watch your burger get cooked on the big grill. After watching all the steps of the process, the food was delivered over the counter. I have eaten a lot of good burgers in my lifetime and this rates up there as one of the best. It was big and messy, melted cheese with grilled onions hanging off the edges. The meat was grilled to a perfect char as were the onions that were pressed into it. The buns were toasted and couldn’t come close to covering the meat. The bacon was the perfect crisp, not overcooked but not limp either. Every bite was amazing. The tator tots were also cooked perfectly, crisp. I had a bite of Big K’s chili cheese tots, they were great as well, loved the flavor of the chili.
El Reno is well known as the home of the onion burger with the best in the country. So far with the 2 restaurants I have tried they definitely deserve that reputation. Head out to El Reno and check out Robert’s Grill, I give them 5 strips of bacon.
Every once in a while I like to have a sweet treat, Boom Town Creamery has become a favorite in Edmond. I had heard about their first location in the Uptown district of Oklahoma City but to be honest, I don’t get down there often. They started in 2021 on NW 23rd street to great fanfare and have been very popular. In summer of 2023, they moved to Edmond taking over the former Dolci Paradiso location on 5th Street.
This location is a bit closer to home, so much easier to access. I’ve stopped in several times and always have a great experience. Their ice cream is made in small batches with several flavors available. They can serve the ice cream in a come or cup, or if you are adventurous, a flight. They also have pints to take home. They do have several flavors, I have tried the chocolate tornado, cherry goat, cookies and cream, and cookie butter. They are all smooth and flavorful, you can’t take a bite without tasting the add-ins, which is a good thing when it comes to ice cream. What I have loved the best with every flavor is the consistency of the smoothness, it is more like a frozen custard than ice cream.
Service is great and there is seating outdoors, so you can enjoy the evening if you go at night. It is a bit small inside but it seems most people went outside or just left entirely. There is a park right across the street, so that is an option as well. I give them 5 strips of bacon.
Address: 17 E. 5th St., Edmond; 605 NW 23rd St., Oklahoma City; 10740 S. May Ave. #116, Oklahoma City.
For some reason I always over look the Bricktown Brewery. Not sure why, there’s a location close and they have good food. So on a quiet Friday night, I gave Big K a list of places I wanted to go try again, he selected Bricktown Brewery.
We were seated quickly even though the restaurant was busy. They have an interesting selection of appetizers, we went with the Watonga cheese curds. Didn’t take long for them to come out and wow, were they good. Lightly battered cheese curds, they had the perfect curd squeak and tasted great. Next up were the entrees, Big K got a Rodeo burger. This massive burger has cheddar cheese, jalapenos, bacon, and onion rings covered with Head Country barbeque sauce. He loved every bite. Said the burger was juicy and flavorful with a bit of a kick. I tried the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and mac and cheese as my sides. I consider myself a bit of a chicken fry steak connoisseur and this quickly became one of my favorites. The breading was light on the steak and the cream gravy complimented it perfectly. The mashed potatoes were good as well, they used real potatoes, not the flakes like some restaurants. As good as the chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes were, the best part was the mac and cheese. This is a baked mac and cheese with a creamy sauce and breadcrumbs on top. This mac and cheese was truly some of the best I have found in Oklahoma City. They also serve it as an entree, I will be ordering it next time.
We had a great experience at the Bricktown Brewery and I really need to remember it is there so I can visit more often. Service was outstanding and the food was incredible. There are lots of locations around the state, so pick one and go. My visit was to the Memorial Road location and it was wonderful.
Address: 505 SE Washington Blvd., Bartlesville; 3301 S. Peoria Ave., Tulsa; 1 N. Oklahoma Ave., Oklahoma City; 1150 E. 2nd St., Edmond; 3616 W. Owen K Garriott Rd., Enid; 45 NW 2nd St., Lawton; 5516 W. Memorial Rd., Oklahoma City; 7301 SE 29th St., Midwest City; 415 W. Shawnee St., Muskogee; 1 Remington Pl., Oklahoma City; 1630 Sw 104th St., Oklahoma City; 4845 N. Kickapoo Ave., Shawnee; 11909 E. 96th St., Owasso; 9409 E. 71st St., Tulsa; 318 Garrison Ave., Fort Smith, AR; 2035 N. Rock Rd., Wichita, KS; 2142 N. Tyler Rd., Wichita, KS; 1221 Branson Landing Blvd., Branson, MO; 3030 S. Rangeline Rd., Joplin, MO; 2040 E. Independence St., Springfield, MO; 3111MIdwestern Parkway, Wichita Falls, TX.
We’ve both heard a lot about Dado’s Pizza over the past few years, it has been called the best pizza in Oklahoma City. I finally got to try them out a few weeks ago and even though I haven’t experienced New York pizza yet, this might be as close as I get in Oklahoma City.
It’s actually hard to find at first, stuffed in the middle of a strip mall. Dado’s Pizza is small, when you walk in you are greeted by a huge case with slices of pizza. You can get the pizza by the slice or a whole pie. Because Big K was hungry, we went with a whole pizza as well as an order of mozzarella sticks. Now the restaurant isn’t very big since many of their customers do take out, there is some outdoor seating, as well as a few spots near the door and in the back. We went to the back and waited for our food to arrive. It didn’t take long for the mozzarella sticks. These were big sticks that were almost a meal by themselves. Really good, lots of cheese pull. Then the pizza arrived. We went with the three meats pizza, loaded with sausage, bacon, and pepperoni. It was huge and meant to be eaten the way they do in New York, by folding it. To be honest, I’ve never eaten a slice of pizza that way but it worked. The crust was light, the crushed tomatoes weren’t overpowering. Loved the flavor of the meats, the only downside was I thought there could have been more cheese.
Overall we both loved it. I think next time, I’ll just get a slice or two and not a whole pizza. Maybe try some of their other varieties. I give them 5 strips of bacon.
I’ve heard the hype about Granny’s Kitchen for a few years. I’ve heard how popular the Stillwater location has been and I have seen the crowds at their second location on Memorial at Penn. Never had the chance to try them out, until recently with the opening of a fourth location on NW Expressway.
Just a few days after they opened, we decided to stop in. The restaurant was busy but there were a few seats. We placed our order quickly, I went with the Oklahoma Omelet with hashbrowns and pancakes. Big K went all out and got the Nasty Granny. We really didn’t wait too long before the food came out. Wow, was it a lot of food. I knew the Nasty Granny was big but it took up the whole large plate. If you aren’t familiar with the Nasty Granny, it’s a huge chicken fried steak served over a halved biscuit with tater tots, bacon bits, ham pieces, crumbled sausage, onions, bell peppers, and cheddar cheese with cream gravy over all of it. No way I could have tackled this dish but it was perfect for Big K. He loved every bite. I did try a small bite, loved the chicken fry, was lighter than I expected. My Oklahoma Omelet was almost too much for me as well. This three-egg omelet was stuffed with beef, ham, sausage, and bacon with Monterey Jack cheese mixed in as well. It was so good, the egg brought the flavor of the meats together. It’s my new favorite omelet. The hashbrowns were good as well, they were just standard shredded potatoes fried to a golden brown. As much as I loved the omelet, the pancakes were amazing. The were so light and tasted just like the fair (if you know, you know). I really want to try more of the pancakes as well.
Just based on one visit I am totally impressed with Granny’s Kitchen. The service was great as well, no issues at any point. I’m actually ready to go back again, soon. I give them 5 strips of bacon, with a pancake of course.
Address: 7206 NW Expressway; 9101 S Pennsylvania Ave., Suite A; 2121 W. Memorial Rd., Oklahoma City; 701 S Main St., Stillwater.
I never want to write a bad review, I always go into a restaurant with high expectations. 95% of the time everything goes great. Then there are times it doesn’t and this seems to happen to me every time I go to Charleston’s. My extended family is obsessed with Charleston’s, almost any time we get together, this is where we meet. Every time we gather there are problems, wrong orders, waitstaff ignoring the table, things like that. I actually stopped going to the gatherings because I was just tired of the drama plus the food is never good. What gets me is every time I pass a Charleston’s, they’re packed. Why? Has the food and service gotten better? I have been meaning to go back for quite a while now and guess what, an opportunity came up, another family gathering of course.
We all met on a Thursday right before the lunch crowd arrived, there were 9 in the party but they sat us in a corner that could only comfortably seat 6. That became a huge problem when the food came out, everyone had to pass plates down to the person who ordered. Our orders were taken and then we waited. I should have timed it but honestly it took forever. Not so bad since we were all catching up but still a bit ridiculous. Finally the orders came out, of the 9 people, 5 had their orders wrong. I wasn’t surprised. At least my order was correct, a hickory burger. Can’t get this wrong, right? It came open faced with burger and Canadian bacon on one side, shredded cheese on the other. The trick was to put the two sides together without making a mess. First bite revealed that the burger was dry. It came with barbeque sauce but it was still dry. The meat was dry, almost like a hockey puck. The cheese and barbeque sauce didn’t add to the burger at all. I also wasn’t impressed with the fries that came with it, just had no flavor even after being salted.
In the past on different visits over the years, I had tried their chicken fried steak, chicken strips, and pasta. I was never impressed with anything. Overall, once again it was a horrible experience. What got me is that as we were leaving, the place was packed. I wanted to go to each table and ask why were they there. Does anyone really like their food or do you just go there from habit? So many other places to eat that are better and cheaper. I’m giving them 1 strip of bacon.
Miss Mae is back for a review of the coffee shops around campus. Since the newest coffee shop on campus, Cup of Jones in the Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art, just opened this week, she hasn’t had a chance to visit. Hope to get an update from her soon.
Campus Coffee Shops
At the University of Oklahoma, there are a number of coffee shops both on and off campus that offer a morning pick-me-up to the students. No matter where you enter the campus, or where your class or other activity is located, you are never far from a caffeine fix. This is a comprehensive list of every place at and around the University of Oklahoma that sells coffee, whether that be their primary product or part of a larger menu.
Couch Restaurants: Sooner Sweet Shop – Couch Cafeteria has a number small restaurants within it and one of these is Sooner Sweet Shop, which primarily provides bakery style treats and a small selection of hand scooped ice creams. However, this is also the only place in Couch where you can get a coffee, both drip and espresso. This, like every other coffee option on the campus, is a branch of Starbucks, making it the cheapest Starbucks drink you will ever get, as it comes with the price of admission to the cafeteria. Though they do not offer most of the menu, or even iced drinks, it is a good place to get a mocha or hot chocolate on a snowy day. However, with the brewed coffee, the only creamer option is half and half. If you are not a fan of bitter brewed coffee, I recommend getting it somewhere else, or using one of the hot chocolate packets to sweeten it up.
Residential Colleges Dining Hall – The Residential Colleges Dining Hall, though it does not have an independent coffee shop within it, does offer drip coffee throughout the day. They often offer two flavors, regular and roasted hazelnut, with the roasted hazelnut having a pleasantly sweet taste. Like Couch, the options for cream and sugar are limited, with those limitations expanding even further due to the crimes of the Coffee Creamer Bandit, whose actions, though irrelevant to this review, caused all liquid creamer to be kept in a secure location and only available upon request. However, just like Couch, it is always an option to pour a hot chocolate packet into the cup if you need something a little sweeter.
The Hive – The Hive is the newest coffee shop on campus, having opened with the rest of the restaurants in Cross Village just a few years ago. It is a small, unofficial Starbucks with the theme of a beehive. The best thing about this place is its atmosphere. If I was asked to draw a picture of what a coffee shop would look like, this would most likely be my answer, with dim lighting and warm wood covering most of the walls and furniture. The coffee itself is good, as are the pastries and sandwiches that are also offered. It is one of the best managed places in Cross Village, so it is kept clean and the employees are kept orderly. The only thing that interrupts its atmosphere is the chaos of Basic Knead, which shares a building, as it tends to get very busy and very noisy, which makes it difficult to concentrate if you are studying or doing homework.
Bookmark – Bookmark is a small coffee shop nestled in the basement of the Bizzell Memorial Library. It is incredibly similar to The Hive in terms of its menu, as it is also an unofficial Starbucks, and therefore has many of the same products. It is the best managed restaurant on the entire campus and is kept very clean with very friendly employees. Just like The Hive, the best thing about this shop is the atmosphere, not just in its dining room, but in its entire location. There are seating options throughout the entire basement, with a dining room, an area with study pods and group study rooms, and long couches overlooking the gardens in the library courtyard, where there are regularly blooming flowers and baby ducks in a little pond. It is always a good place to stop and get some homework done before or in between classes. They also offer Cow on the Fly sandwiches, in which there is no bad flavor.
Starbucks – Despite the many other places that offer Starbucks products throughout campus, there is only one official Starbucks, and that is the one in the student union. At this location, they offer the entire menu, as well as a collection of cups and ground coffee bags, which can also be purchased with student meal points. It is a neat and tidy location, with the same warm atmosphere as The Hive. Although the seating is limited, getting there at the right time of day offers a quiet place to study, as well as having the dining room of The Union Market available for overflow if it gets busy. It is always a good end of the week treat on a Friday morning.
Einstein Brothers Bagel Company – Einstein Brothers Bagel Company is one of the best coffee shops on campus, the only one not sponsored by Starbucks, and the only one that is regularly open on weekends. Offering an assortment of bagel flavors, as well as cream cheese toppings, sandwich toppings, and wraps, it is always a good place to grab breakfast. Their coffee is good for any season, offering both hot and iced drinks, although their espresso machine is comparable to the ice cream machine at McDonald’s in its inconsistency. However, their chocolate cream cold brew is incredibly good, and is very sweet for cold brew. I would compare it more closely to chocolate milk with a lot of caffeine. I personally always enjoy a six-cheese bagel with onion and chive cream cheese, of which they provide plenty.
Haystack Coffee – Haystack Coffee is the only coffee shop on this list that is not on campus and does not accept student meal points or exchanges. It is a shop run by a local church but is so close to campus that it is only a brief ten-minute walk from most dorm buildings. Despite not being a campus specific spot, it is very friendly to students and every experience I have had there has been a good one. Their biggest flaw is an inconsistent menu. My favorite thing there, the cheddar roll, has not been available in a year, and my second favorite thing, the caramel apple pecan scone, has only been available on select days. Their baked goods are minimal, but are always good, especially after being warmed up. I also recommend any of their seasonal drinks.
With school about to start in Norman at The University of Oklahoma, I have let Miss Mae, a senior at that fine school, take over. She knows this campus pretty well and loves talking about the restaurants. So if you visit the campus or if you have students there, check out this review. Enjoy and Boomer Sooner.
Cafeterias
Couch Cafeteria – Couch Cafeteria is the largest and the oldest of the cafeterias on campus. It features an assortment of small restaurants offering a variety of dining options, including barbecue, Asian, Mexican, American comfort food, Italian, Greek, and the world’s only all-you-can-eat Chick Fil A. There are also two dessert options: Sooner Sweets, which offers bakery-style desserts, and a small ice cream booth. Each restaurant is unique and offers its own standout dishes. I personally enjoy the beef and cheese burritos from the Mexican booth, which also has good beef empanadas. I also enjoy the buffet style American section, which offers a build-your-own hot dog station and mac and cheese that always makes a bad day better. Couch Cafeteria – 9/10
Residential Colleges Dining Hall – The Residential Colleges Dining Hall, as the name implies, is connected to the Residential Colleges, Dunham College and Headington College. Though much smaller than Couch, this cafeteria is able to make use of its small space to give diners plenty of options. These include two made-to-order grills, where burgers and hot dogs can be ordered, a personal pizza station, a pasta bake station, a burrito station, and a panini station. Outside of this is the buffet style section, which includes a menu that rotates daily. I personally recommend the chicken enchiladas and the orange chicken, which are some of my favorites to get on a weekend visit. The atmosphere is flawless, often considered similar to Hogwarts. Residential Colleges Dining Hall – 9.5/10
Cross Village
Credo Kitchen – Credo Kitchen is a restaurant that offers basic American comfort food, with an emphasis on the word “basic”. As a person that once worked there, I can tell you that the kitchens are not the cleanest place in the world, and the food tends to taste like broken dreams and sadness. In the past few years, their menu has dropped to very few things (mostly due to their inability to keep the place staffed), leaving diners with very few options. The burgers taste like cardboard, partially due to the lack of spices kept in the kitchens, and partially due to the unbuttered, grocery store brand toasted buns. The chicken strips and the corn dogs begin their lives in the frozen food aisle before they are dumped in a deep fryer and paired with a side of unsalted fries or a tiny cup of mac and cheese that tastes like undercooked noodles dumped in a pot of melted Kraft singles. I have heard reports of people that enjoy this place but I am unable to understand the appeal. However, as long as the kitchen is not on fire and the ticket printer is actually working, they will be quick with your order. Credo Kitchen – 2/10
Glow Kitchen – Glow Kitchen is Cross’ version of the American health food restaurant, offering salads, wraps, and smoothies. Most of the wraps consist of chicken and lettuce, with varying toppings to give different flavors. However, Glow Kitchen’s biggest wrap flaw is lack of any form of customization. The workers are not allowed to add anything or to substitute anything which, according to the management, is due to the high price of the ingredients. The salads, on the other hand, are fully customizable, only for the smoothies to be subjected to the same policy. If you are planning to grab lunch from Glow Kitchen, make sure you are a fan of lettuce, as there is a very high lettuce ratio in everything but the smoothies. I recommend the chicken bacon ranch wrap. Glow Kitchen – 4/10
Milkflower Gelateria – There is not much to say about Milkflower Gelateria. It is a small gelato place and is immensely popular amongst the student body. Its weakness: it is almost never open. It is often teased at the beginning of the year, remaining open for the camps and trainings that go on before classes start, but once everything stabilizes into the school year, we are lucky if it is open once a week. Whether this is due to supply issues, maintenance issues, lack of profitability, or some other factor, it is an event when it is open. If you catch it at one of these times, I recommend the espresso mocha flavor. Milkflower Gelateria – 7/10
Basic Knead – Basic Knead is, in the opinion of this exhausted college student, the best place to eat on the entire campus. It is a restaurant offering personal pizzas, pasta bakes, calzones, and wings, with the pasta bakes taking the crown as the best food available at the school and, quite possibly, the best food available at any school all around the country. What makes these dishes so wonderful is the layer of cheese that is baked over the top, as well as full customization options. You can pick your pasta, sauce, and three toppings, and every dish comes with a healthy serving of that wonderful mozzarella. Basic Knead – 1000/10
Chick Fil A – Offers limited Chick Fil A menu. Quick Service. Chick Fil A – 10/10
Baja Fresh – Offers full Baja Fresh menu. Quick Service – Baja Fresh – 10/10
Crossroads – Crossroads is a burger restaurant and one of the oldest surviving food locations on campus. Offering a full range of food from burgers to steak fingers, Philly cheese steaks to grilled cheeses, Crossroads is a quick and easy place to get a good lunch in-between classes. I have many go-to meals here, with my personal favorite being the mushroom Swiss burger. There are so many mushrooms on this burger that it is almost impossible to see the meat beneath them. My other favorite meal from here is the steak finger basket. It comes with five juicy steak fingers, a pile of curly fries (the restaurant’s staple), and a choice of sauce. I usually choose the barbecue sauce, but I have been told that the honey mustard is also very good. Most meals here come with a drink, but a substitution for a milkshake is also very good. Crossroads – 11/10
For quite a while there’s been a commercial on local tv that is featuring different businesses in The Shoppes at Northpark (Northpark Mall for all of us old-timers). In that commercial they show some of the items on the menu for Ron’s Hamburger and Chili. Front and center is one of the best looking footlong hot dogs I’ve ever seen. I decided it was time for us to visit again.
All 3 of us got to go on a Saturday afternoon. Since you can get to the restaurant from the parking lot, you don’t have to walk through the mall to find it. As good as that hot dog looked, I decided to order a basic bacon cheeseburger. Miss Mae got the footlong hot dog without chili and Big K got the Polish special. We also got mozzarella sticks and onion rings to share. Everything came out pretty quickly and it all looked just as good in real life as it did on tv. First up were the baskets of onion rings and mozzarella sticks. The rings were great, the breading had a great taste as did the sweet onions inside. The sticks were the same way, bigger than most, they were good to share. My bacon cheeseburger was good. Nice solid burger with lots of veggies, cheese, and bacon bits all stacked on a toasted bun. Nothing fancy about this burger, just what you want out of a bacon cheeseburger. Now for that footlong hot dog, I had a bite, next time I’ll be ordering it only with chili. The bun was toasted, the dog itself had that good snap with a great flavor. Big K’s Polish special was interesting, spaghetti with chili and Polish sausage on top. It’s an interesting mix but we actually tried this dish in Ohio this past May. He really loved it, thought everything was cooked perfectly from the pasta to the chili.
We had been to Ron’s several times in the past, the most memorable visit was in 2010. We took my husband’s uncle to their former Edmond location to thank him for donating bone marrow to my father-in-law. The Edmond location is closed and this new location has been in Northpark Mall for about 2 years. The employees were really nice, even complimenting my daughter on her newly colored purple hair. If you are looking for a good burger, hot dog, or even something different like chili over spaghetti, check Ron’s out. They have lots of locations around the state. I give them 5 strips of bacon, preferably wrapped around that hot dog.
Address: 11956 N. May Ave., Oklahoma City; 1913 S Elm Place, Broken Arrow; 1220 S. Lynn Riggs Blvd., Claremore; 351 N. Air Depot, Midwest City; 130 W. 141st. St., Glenpool; 505 W. Main St., Jenks; 233 S. Adams Rd., Sand Springs; 9100 N. Garnett Rd., Owasso; 1440 S. Denver, Tulsa; 7119 S. Mingo Rd., Tulsa; 6548 E. 51st St., Tulsa; 8201 S. Harvard, Tulsa; 804 W. Rogers, Skiatook; 811 E. 6th St., Stillwater; 1105 W. Cherokee St., Wagoner; 18415 FM 1488 Magnolia, TX; 14257 FM 2920, Suite 210, Tomball, TX; 1702 S. Walton Blvd., Bentonville, AR.
The Fat Okie 