Dining out sans attitude
Some sound advice from Jessica, who is fed up with restaurants that are so successful they no longer care about their customers:
I urge you all to help support those accomodating restaurants that may not have the most accomodating locations. Step outside of the neighborhoods you generally frequent. There are some gems out there that need the financial support way more than these other places. Do your research on Chowhound, like I do on a daily basis. You will be rewarded with a great meal, and probably at a lower cost. Plus, you can be a tourist in your own town.
A lot of Tulsa diners are stuck in the 71st Street rut, but there are plenty of great locally-owned places that can give you a great meal and great service for a reasonable price. Many of them are off the beaten path because they're new and the owners were looking for the least expensive storefront they could find as a place to get started. Keep an eye peeled for them, and givem them a try.
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We ate at Cardigan's last Saturday evening. They are now located in the old Salad Alley location at 6000 S. Lewis. They where previously located just to the north in London Square. We had great food , great service and no wait!! My wife frequently has lunch there also.
I also want to plug a place that Urban Tulsa recently reviewed. Thai Essence. They are just north of 51st street on memorial. They have GREAT curries. Go and support this locally owned business.
I have to recommend the Cobb Salad and the Beef Stroganoff at Cardigans. Great atmoshpere and prices.
Karl's Famous Burgers at 2828 E. 9lst (across from Peppers) and very close to the walking and bike path on Riverside is a great place to eat the old fashion style onion rings. They hand bread their chicken and onion rings and both are very good. Very friendly where you can go in dressy, casual, or full of sweat from a run or walk on Riverside and still feel very welcome! If you take the time to talk with the cook/owner, he is sure to remember you the next time to come back.
He has a lot of Jenks sports pictures on the walls since they represent a lot of his customers. For just a drink, burger, chicken,
steak sandwich, etc. ....oh...another good thing about this restaurant.....they offer Michael Bates opinion/editorial! Urban Tulsa news is their for all their customers to enjoy while they eat. We recently had their onion rings and they were great. Reminds you of how Pennington's drive-in used to make them! Oh...I just had to bring that up to make everyone hungry! There is everything from the rich to the not so rich and cars from Mercedes, new sports cars to older cars...
Not a fancy place at all..but very friendly.
If you like to try new Mexican food restaurants,
there are a couple of young brothers, one not even out of college yet, majoring in business and found success and he has not even graduated from OSU. This place was reviewed by Scott Cherry from T.W. and the reviewer was WRONG by saying it was out in the middle of nowhere. The business owner has succeeded in knowing that his business is not in the middle of no where but surrounded by people that love to eat and they will eat there because the food is good! Former businesses have failed at this location, but these brothers are doing mighty fine as each time I drive by this busy location it has a bunch of cars, sometimes so many you don't even know if you can find a place to park. It's at 101st and Aspen -- far from 7lst restaurant row.
You wonder why people don't swarm downtown in the same manner? The food needs to be worth the drive, the price needs to be very reasonable where teens - senior citizens feel they can eat on their budget. This place is also come as you are. The service is quick for busy moms and dads. It's also in a safe location where people feel they can park at night and don't have to worry about being confronted by homeless people wandering the streets looking for people to hand them money. Even if you go to the post office downtown, beggers are by the door or sitting outside where customers park for mail service needs.
See what Bartlesville is doing to bring back good strong companies to make their economy strong again. Everybody just has to go to Murphy's. The place is popular.
Blending Great Dining with Route 66 I have to suggest Metro Diner and Tally's. Both locations find the owner readily available and great hostesses always attentive. The food is fantastic and served up quick. No big lines unless you might hit at the same time a bus of foreign tourist are spending their hard earned Euros, Yen, etc. on their Route 66 tour. (Even without an over priced 3-story building on the river, downtown. Imagine that! ;-)
If you have not tried the cheesecake at Macaroni Grill, it's worth ordering. Order it with fresh strawberries! Our family eats at Macaroni Grill quite often. They also have attentive waiter/waitress staff.