A soft opening is one where you really, really want to keep Metro away until you have your act together (no offense - but you must admit you are a brutally honest tough critic Metro).
After thought. Metro is someone who really has done a good job sampling LOCALLY owned restaurants. That's a good thing in my book. So here's a serious question that threatens to hijack this thread - Metro, are there any restaurants that disappointed you during the initial break-in period but later left you impressed?


Fair enough but as you stated, I call them like I see them. Yes usually service improves at most restaurants after awhile, but I've never found food to get better (at least that I can remember). I usually try to visit them a few more times if they were bad to see if things had improved.

In all fairness I have given plenty of good reviews, more than the average poster, in the food & restaurant section of this website. There have plenty of restaurants from Day 1 that were operating well on all ends ( I believe Hobby's Hoagies downtown and El Pollo Chulo's new location) were my most recent reviews.

I see nothing wrong calling a place like I see it, why lie? Food critics have the word critic in there for a reason. You should know that coming from NYC of all places. Heck all my reviews look great compared to most NYC critics reviews. If we're going to be a "Big League City", we need to act like it, we need to accept and welcome constructive criticism, and the Oklahoman needs a daily food section with plenty of food reviews. I volunteer to do some for free!:bright_id

Fair enough but as you stated, I call them like I see them. Yes usually service improves at most restaurants after awhile, but I've never found food to get better (at least that I can remember). I usually try to visit them a few more times if they were bad to see if things had improved.

In all fairness I have given plenty of good reviews, more than the average poster, in the food & restaurant section of this website. There have plenty of restaurants from Day 1 that were operating well on all ends ( I believe Hobby's Hoagies downtown and El Pollo Chulo's new location) were my most recent reviews.

I see nothing wrong calling a place like I see it, why lie? Food critics have the word critic in there for a reason. You should know that coming from NYC of all places. Heck all my reviews look great compared to most NYC critics reviews. If we're going to be a "Big League City", we need to act like it, we need to accept and welcome constructive criticism, and the Oklahoman needs a daily food section with plenty of food reviews. I volunteer to do some for free!:bright_id

A couple places come to mind where I was disappointed when I visited after they first opened up but was greatly impressed when I visited later on: Prarie Thunder Baking Company and 1492.

Some friends and I ate there for dinner last night, awesome shrimp and grits!! The crowd was good, servers informative, overall a nice place to dine. The wine selection was good and the place had a great ambiance...I'm a sucker for fresh flowers :)

Here are a few pics I took this afternoon:

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/sage_4_14_2009_01.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/sage_4_14_2009_01s.jpg

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/sage_4_14_2009_02.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/sage_4_14_2009_02s.jpg

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/sage_4_14_2009_03.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/sage_4_14_2009_03s.jpg

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/sage_4_14_2009_04.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/sage_4_14_2009_04s.jpg

Wow! What a great interior. Hip, but with a real neighborhood feel and look to it. Love the murals of OKC. Can't wait to get down there.

The wallpaper is taken from an aerial photo probably taken in the early 1930s looking from downtown toward NE 1st and NE 2nd. I think that it enlarged very nicely and I like the sepia tone which has been added. Walnut-now-Finley Bridge is plainly visible as is Calvary Baptist Church:

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/maps/vintage/deepdeuce_aerial_c1930_1.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/maps/vintage/deepdeuce_aerial_c1930_1s.jpg

The other buildings are harder to make out but here are a few after enlarging a cropped area from the photo:

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/maps/vintage/ne2_aerial.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/maps/vintage/ne2_aerials.jpg

Sage is located in the Littlepage Building at the right side of the above picture.

Thanks for the pics Doug, based on your pics, it appears the "market" part of the store still isn't quite ready. Noticed the refrigerated food case still empty? I know they had whole grains and pastas on the shelf last week. What else food in the market (yellow part of store for those who haven't been yet) did they have when you went?

The market is open, I bought some lavender syrup and pickled okra, good stuff! I saw a woman buying multicolored pasta. They said there was organic steak and ground beef sold in the market, but it wasn't out when I was there.

i hope theres more to come downtown. and if they do get a big supermarket downtown i hope theres no surface parking its ugly .and it be great if it was local owned we dont need theses big chain stores they got no flavor there stores all look the same lol.

Made it over for lunch. Loved the ambiance and layout. Everyone was friendly and knowledgeable. The food was awesome... had the Chef Salad, probably one of the best salads I've had. It's a little pricey ($11), but the quality is hard to beat; free range chicken/turkey, organic everything, dressings made from scratch, and homemade turkey bacon. Will definitely go back and try some of their amazing looking Mac N Cheese.

What a wonderful place. It will seriously improve the lives of Deep Deuce residents.

I'm looking forward to them getting it together a bit better, however. Completely disorganized today.

I'm sure they'll iron things out.

13 for a sammywich? 11 for a salad? Ok, the place is attractive, and it seems the food is more than merely edible based on the posts above. All the same, sheesh. Maybe I'm just cheap, I dunno.

Great article and video in the Oklahoman today! Congrats to the owners!

http://www.newsok.com/design-sage-for-new-deep-deuce-market/article/3364055#comments?custom_click=lead_story_comment

I hope they get in a wide selection of artisanal cheeses and chocolates! It's great to see OKC grow every year into a more trendy city!

I thought it was very good, I had the club and the fiance had the blue cheese mac and cheese with shrimp added and said it was very good. The orzo salad was awesome for something you cannot find often in OKC. Fiance got the signature sage cocktail and said it was amazing. Really pricewise with the entrees being all around $13 it was not bad at all.

I had the club and the orzo salad as well. Service was great, atmosphere was good. I thought it was one of the better clubs I've had. Ingredients were obviously of a very high quality. I just have to question the prices. They were about 1/3 higher than they probably should be. Unfortunately, because of this and because of the fact that I can go across the street to the Deep Deuce and get similar quality food for about 1/3 less money, I probably won't be back. Nice place though.

I do think that Sage obviously went the extra mile to have top-flight ingredients. I just don't make a top-flight income at the moment.

I had the club and the orzo salad as well. Service was great, atmosphere was good. I thought it was one of the better clubs I've had. Ingredients were obviously of a very high quality. I just have to question the prices. They were about 1/3 higher than they probably should be. Unfortunately, because of this and because of the fact that I can go across the street to the Deep Deuce and get similar quality food for about 1/3 less money, I probably won't be back. Nice place though.

I do think that Sage obviously went the extra mile to have top-flight ingredients. I just don't make a top-flight income at the moment.

Yea the prices are just too high for me. $13 for a club sandwich with a side of chips is what I had...I looked at their market and noticed the prices are equally as high. I'm sure the quality is great, but it won't be a regular stop for me.

Stopped in today to get a look at the menu, but mostly to check out the "market." It's a long way from my idea of a market. There was basically a shelf of novelty / gourmet condiments (salts, mustards, spices, etc.), a really small area of produce, an equally small cooler of some cheeses and other items, and a few other miscellaneous items scattered throughout. It's the kind of place where you might pick up an ingredient that catches your eye while you're eating lunch there, but don't expect to find enough to prepare a meal. For purposes of comparison, I would venture to say it is substantially less stocked than Market C - nowhere near Forward Foods.

I haven't seen much detail anywhere about what the ultimate plan for the market is, but hopefully I just caught it too early. I'll certainly keep visiting - looking forward to trying the cafe.