The separation should be good for keeping the smoke out. It might've been intended.

Fine with me.

This will be a completely separate bar. Due to some issues with the ABLE commission and city regarding our original intentions, We have decided to file for a separate ABLE license, therefore not connecting the two spaces.

The new bar will be called Slaughter's Hall. This will be a smoke free craft cocktail bar that will focus on rotating cocktail menus and beer taps on a regular basis.

https://www.facebook.com/Slaughtershall

Great! When do you estimate opening?

Thrilled to hear about the smoke free section. I hope you expand the hours to other days - love the place - just have a hard time with the smoke.

JarrodH, are you applying for an ABC-3 license for Slaughter's Hall? I hope that the Calvary Church proximity isn't an issue, even though it's a law firm now...

It will not be an issue. We had to rezone for WSKY to ABC-3 and had no problems. The application has been submitted, now we just have to go through the proper channels to get it done. We should open early June.

A little shaky in the last week or so. I really enjoy the hand-crafted cocktails, but they seem to have gotten really complicated. The majority of the cocktails had at least a couple of unrecognizable ingredients, which makes it a little difficult to anticipate the taste profile of the drink. When we ordered a couple, the barkeeps had to go to a packet of recipes to figure out how to make the drinks. Understandable, given the number of cocktails and ingredients, but I preferred my prior experiences when the bartenders knew the menu extensively. Just constructive criticism - certainly won't prevent me from going back.

My friend told me that while he was at WSKY the other night some staff there said business isn't as good as it needs to be. Anyone know if there's any truth to that? I haven't been in a while, but I wanted to at least make a push for my friends to go more often if so. We can't lose this place. I'm gonna assume it's not true until someone says otherwise.

Maybe you should ask the owner, who is a regular poster here.

My friend told me that while he was at WSKY the other night some staff there said business isn't as good as it needs to be. Anyone know if there's any truth to that? I haven't been in a while, but I wanted to at least make a push for my friends to go more often if so. We can't lose this place. I'm gonna assume it's not true until someone says otherwise.

All I can say is that the last time I went, it wasn't crowded, there were several servers, and it took a very long time to get a drink, and it wasn't well made. I will make it over there again soon and will post a more updated review.

My friend told me that while he was at WSKY the other night some staff there said business isn't as good as it needs to be. Anyone know if there's any truth to that? I haven't been in a while, but I wanted to at least make a push for my friends to go more often if so. We can't lose this place. I'm gonna assume it's not true until someone says otherwise.

Hopefully this isn't true. WSKY is really one of the nicest bars in OKC and it should become more popular as Deep Deuce continues to grow and become built out. There could also be a temporary drop in business due to all the new places having opened up in the past month or so. Hopefully it is still doing well though. I'll need to hit WSKY up again soon myself.

Yikes, would be terrible to lose WSKY. Having said that, I probably haven't been in 6 months or so - seems like our go-to places in the neighborhood are Johnnie or Slim's. I'm not a fan of the smoke though, so we'll try to make it to slaughter's again and give it another shot. I should probably post in that thread - but sadly we were rather underwhelmed by the food our first visit. Will definitely give it another shot though.

Was in over the weekend. They were very busy - nearly standing room only. It took awhile to get service, but after that it was perfectly fine. They seemed a bit understaffed, but our server was working really hard and did a great job. Cocktails were exceptional and came out much faster than my last visit. Looks like the missteps on my last visit were an anomaly. Great place, and if this weekend was any indication, going to remain successful.

FWIW, we looked into Slaughter's Hall when we left. It was much slower than WSKY, so perhaps hasn't caught on just yet.

Spoke to Jarrod (owner) this weekend and he said their business is great, and has in fact improved year-over-year from last year's numbers.

He'll probably post eventually but did want to clear this up. They are doing great, as is Slaughter's Hall.

Just as a reminder: No restaurant in this city is going to be "on" every single night. By "on" I mean, busy, great service, great atmosphere, great mix of people. Every restaurant has an off night, or has a slow night, or has a night with a disproportionate amount of disagreeable customers (who affect the staff/atmosphere). People really need to quit making assumptions about any restaurant anywhere based on one visit (whether that visit is the 1st, the 3rd, the 16th or the 100th). Some nights you're going to pick the wrong night at the wrong establishment.

That is great to hear. Definitely a favorite.

^
I was in town this weekend and also visited WSKY Saturday night (How funny if we crossed paths!)

I can second it was very busy. I haven't been since I moved several months ago and I was a bit disappointed they didn't offer Kobe Beef Sliders anymore. But other than that, still the same cool place I remember. Great cocktails (LOVED the Hemingway), friendly wait staff, good cigar selection. Even if one didn't smoke cigars, its still a good place to go based off the atmosphere and upscale, diverse clientele. You really don't see OKC bars pull off both without being overly douchey, so hats off to the WSKY crew.

Actually all of Deep Deuce was pretty crowded in general. I'm thinking Urban Roots was having live music. We actually had trouble finding parking. And just based on my drive through, Bricktown was equally busy. It was nice to see.

One thing I will add: WSKY is definitely a late night kinda place. We got there at 9 and it was considerably more crowded when we left at 11:30. I don't know if that made a difference for the last post.

Sorry I haven't been on lately, I've been traveling. WSKY is doing great, we are progressively moving in the right direction and our sales are up over last year.

January is always a bit slow for us and the opening of other great establishments (pump, broadway 10, etc) had an impact on us as well.

People don't factor these things in or other huge things like weather when they say we are slow or aren't doing well. WSKY has become a late night destination over the time it's been open and we are regularly busy from 10 pm - close nightly and usually have to turn people away on the weekends.

We have had to train some new staff since the opening of slaughters as we promoted some to manage next door. I'm sorry if you had a bad night of service or it was a bit slow, you can imagine how daunting it is to learn the extensive menu at WSKY. We believe we have everything back to normal if not better at this point.

Maybe the staffers overheard about business being low were equating their tips to the owner's business volume. Though that can be a truly poor metric more often than not, they wouldn't be the first if that were the case.

Sorry I haven't been on lately, I've been traveling. WSKY is doing great, we are progressively moving in the right direction and our sales are up over last year.

January is always a bit slow for us and the opening of other great establishments (pump, broadway 10, etc) had an impact on us as well.

People don't factor these things in or other huge things like weather when they say we are slow or aren't doing well. WSKY has become a late night destination over the time it's been open and we are regularly busy from 10 pm - close nightly and usually have to turn people away on the weekends.

We have had to train some new staff since the opening of slaughters as we promoted some to manage next door. I'm sorry if you had a bad night of service or it was a bit slow, you can imagine how daunting it is to learn the extensive menu at WSKY. We believe we have everything back to normal if not better at this point.

Thanks for the update, Jarrod. Totally understand staffing issues, particularly with a menu like yours, but it is totally worth the trouble. Keep it up!

^
Seconded. FWIW our party had no problem with the wait staff.

But seriously Jarrod, there's no way you can bring back those beef sliders?

:D

At WSKY lounge with Bchris and this place is such a super awesome feel and a great a vibe. Awesome people, awesome scene, Deep Deuce is such an awesome district.

It exceeds Bchris's Charlotte standards.

At WSKY lounge with Bchris and this place is such a super awesome feel and a great a vibe. Awesome people, awesome scene, Deep Deuce is such an awesome district.

It exceeds Bchris's Charlotte standards.

You're wrong. If this were Charlotte we would be sitting on chairs made of gold and peasants would be licking our feet. And every car outside would be a Bentley, Bugatti, or Rolls Royce. :D

So what was your stick of choice from their humidor? Or did you BYOC?

You're wrong. If this were Charlotte we would be sitting on chairs made of gold and peasants would be licking our feet. And every car outside would be a Bentley, Bugatti, or Rolls Royce. :D

You win this round...

So what was your stick of choice from their humidor? Or did you BYOC?I have temporarily misplaced my phone, however, here is a screenshot from my Instagram upload and it was a great night. I went with the Vanilla flavored Taliana.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8629/16575098359_99a4b2ab2c_z.jpg

Really nice cigar and since I don't smoke much and am a noob when it comes to cigars, it was pretty smooth and nice. I really enjoyed it. As I was walking out, a super beautiful cougar walked in, so I think I'm going to make this place a regular deal for the next month until my move to Cali. ;)

Nice article in Forbes on WSKY. Been several times and have enjoyed it each time

Forbes Life (http://www.forbes.com/sites/hunteratkins/2015/04/09/where-kevin-durant-and-carmelo-anthony-go-for-whisky-in-oklahoma-city/)

Nice article in Forbes on WSKY. Been several times and have enjoyed it each time

Forbes Life (http://www.forbes.com/sites/hunteratkins/2015/04/09/where-kevin-durant-and-carmelo-anthony-go-for-whisky-in-oklahoma-city/)

Nice.

I concur that WSKY is one of if not the best bar in OKC.

Nice article in Forbes on WSKY. Been several times and have enjoyed it each time

Forbes Life (http://www.forbes.com/sites/hunteratkins/2015/04/09/where-kevin-durant-and-carmelo-anthony-go-for-whisky-in-oklahoma-city/)

Wow ... That is big time! Can't say I go that often (maybe time to change that), but it's still awesome to know that I live just a block away.

Wow ... That is big time! Can't say I go that often (maybe time to change that), but it's still awesome to know that I live just a block away.


I do not know Mr. Poor but I have been to his whisky vault and it is very spectacular. (He offices with a friend of mine)

I really think I need to ask about the vault next time I'm there, which is admittedly not enough with how much I've been traveling lately.

Jarrod Holley of WSKY and Slaughter's Hall fame is opening a cigar store at 7700 S. Western:

https://scontent-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11026293_434335560074068_6165345631642445002_n.jpg ?oh=44f8ad5c9d671e9ddda04b3d0692d858&oe=5599B255

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Omerta-Cigar-Co/434334846740806

This makes me incredibly happy:


OKCTalk - WSKY Lounge in Deep Deuce going non-smoking (http://www.okctalk.com/content/257-wsky-lounge-deep-deuce-going-non-smoking.html)

That's great and I'm all in favor of non-smoking places, but I hope it doesn't struggle with its identity/draw. I would guess a decent amount of people made their way to WSKY because of the cigars. The last few times I've been in Deep Deuce later in the night the area was surprisingly quiet, but maybe I just was there on an off-night. It's a really cool place though.

The cigar thing was going okay but OKC has a big shortage of NICE bars; a place to get a good drink and have conversation. There are very few places like that downtown and many people will not set foot in a place that allows smoking, me and most my friends included. I know lots and lots of people who went in there once.

I tried to have a business meeting at the Red Piano Lounge at the Skrivin last week and it was so loud and boisterous I would have left had I not been meeting someone.

O Bar is the one place that comes to mind but there isn't much else. Lots of places I love but not where I would want to meet with someone and have a serious conversation.

Their name is WSKY…at the end of the day, they are a bar that should be specializing in whiskey. So with or without Cigars, it should be fine.

In a perfect world they would have a cigar room that is separate from everything else, but they will be more than fine without cigars…in fact, they may see an increase in business because of it.

Total bummer. :p

Not the best thread for this per se, but could a cigar shop have a lounge where they sell their own cigars and have a legal BYOB policy?

This means I will be returning to WSKY. Loved everything about the place, but the smoke was too much.

This means I will be returning to WSKY. Loved everything about the place, but the smoke was too much.

I am with you on this. That place was unbearable, even the air cleaners were struggling. I bet everything inside is stained now, though.

This will make a lot of downtown service industry workers sad, though. That was like the 'industry spot'.

Although I don't like the decision to go smokeless, I can't really complain because I didn't go to this bar as much as I would have liked.

I can see us there a lot more with this change. Looking forward to going back!

Thought I would pop in and update everyone on the changes.

WSKY will indeed be going smoke free in the coming weeks. We will be closing Today, 3/20 and reopening on Saturday, 3/26.

The reason for this change is simple economics. We have paid close attention to our sales since opening and its pretty evident this is the right move. Our sales have increased by double digits year over year whereas our cigar sales have decreased enough to now be in the single digits.

We have talked to many people around the city as well as consultants and all pointed us in this direction.

We are working hand in hand with Robothouse Creative to assist us in the rebranding. The main focus here is to not change the concept but public perception. We have always been WSKY Lounge, not WSKY Cigar bar. This was designed from the start to have a way away from cigars, especially with the coming legislations.

Our "remodel" will consist of cleaning the space, new paint, chairs, upholstery, and artwork. We will not be changing the bar other than eliminating draft beer in order to place a custom ice freezer behing the bar to ramp up our ice program.

I appreciate everyone who's supported us in the past and im excited to see many more of you in the future.

12380

I refuse to go to establishments that allow smoking, so I'm glad to hear about this change. I'm constantly in the area, so I'll be stopping by WSKY often now. Thanks, Jarrod.

Jarrod, good luck with the changes; sorry that regular and occasional cigar smokers (myself included) didn't offer enough support to keep the place going as the original - and fantastic - cigar-friendly bar it was when it first sprang to life. It's also regrettable that the otherwise-good changes in society's acceptance of smoking drove cigarette smokers to WSKY, where they predictably (and quite literally) poisoned the atmosphere.

Thanks for fighting the good fight, and bringing a disappearing piece of civility that few appreciate or even attempt to understand. The changes were inevitable, especially in this entitled era when people think that EVERY. SINGLE. ESTABLISHMENT. absolutely MUST cater to their own preferences and tastes, and cannot STAND the thought that a place might actually be allowed exist that caters to someone with OTHER tastes.

Again, I'm certainly part of the problem, in that I myself didn't darken the door as much as I should have. That is partially because there is one other cigar-friendly place that is even more convenient for me when I get the bug, but that's no excuse. I promise to make it in more often, because I know I'll still love WSKY even with the changes, and because I realize I should have made it in more all along. Hopefully the pitchfork-bearers also frequent the place as much as they promised over and over to do "if only..."

Jarrod, good luck with the changes; sorry that regular and occasional cigar smokers (myself included) didn't offer enough support to keep the place going as the original - and fantastic - cigar-friendly bar it was when it first sprang to life. It's also regrettable that the otherwise-good changes in society's acceptance of smoking drove cigarette smokers to WSKY, where they predictably (and quite literally) poisoned the atmosphere.

Thanks for fighting the good fight, and bringing a disappearing piece of civility that few appreciate or even attempt to understand. The changes were inevitable, especially in this entitled era when people think that EVERY. SINGLE. ESTABLISHMENT. absolutely MUST cater to their own preferences and tastes, and cannot STAND the thought that a place might actually be allowed exist that caters to someone with OTHER tastes.

Again, I'm certainly part of the problem, in that I myself didn't darken the door as much as I should have. That is partially because there is one other cigar-friendly place that is even more convenient for me when I get the bug, but that's no excuse. I promise to make it in more often, because I know I'll still love WSKY even with the changes, and because I realize I should have made it in more all along. Hopefully the pitchfork-bearers also frequent the place as much as they promised over and over to do "if only..."

My sentiments exactly

Urbanized said it best.

especially in this entitled era when people think that EVERY. SINGLE. ESTABLISHMENT. absolutely MUST cater to their own preferences and tastes, and cannot STAND the thought that a place might actually be allowed exist that caters to someone with OTHER tastes.

So you're mad that the people that realized that this establishment was meant for their preferences decided to not partake which lead to lost sales for the owner. What did you want to happen?

edit: This is not a personal attack. I am really trying to understand the complaint.

Not at all. Only that they complained so loudly about it, here and elsewhere. This includes people who knowingly walk into A CIGAR LOUNGE and complain to everyone within earshot THAT SOMEBODY IS SMOKING A CIGAR. I've sat in cigar-friendly or even cigar-oriented place and had people sneer at me, wave their hands, hold their noses, and passive-aggressively try to make ME uncomfortable in a place that is trying to actively cater to ME, rather than them, and a place where I had gone out of my way to visit, owing to their acceptance of cigars. This is a pretty regular occurrence these days in the few remaining cigar-friendly places

Also, I'm sure that many pitchfork-bearers actively steered friends and acquaintances away from the place by saying "don't go there; it's smoky," even if their friends and acquaintances had different tolerances for such things. Doubtless Jarrod will politely decline to say that this type of behavior played a role in the changes, but I'm sure that fielding complaints like that takes its toll on staff and management, and at some point it became too much of an uphill battle. And again, cigarette smokers taking over cigar-friendly places as their last refuge also ads to the challenge of operating one.

Again, my position is that so long as the activity is legal, it should not be an unacceptable thing that there be a place in which practitioners may enjoy it.

Completely agree. There are also so many other bars to go to besides this one if you don't like smoking.

During my more recent visits to WSKY, there were far more cigarette smokers there than cigar smokers. Cigarette smoke and cigar smoke are completely different animals, with cigar smoke being much more tolerable for many than cigarette smoke. For better or worse, cigarettes are seen as the tobacco equivalent of Natty Light while cigars and pipes are more like a fine wine.

Anyways, I look forward to going back to WSKY after the changes. Regardless of what led to it, this was going to be something that would have had to be done eventually because its just a matter of time before Oklahoma finally changes its smoking laws.

^^^^^^^^
Indeed, cigarette smokers have definitely ruined many a great cigar place, and as they are driven out of other establishments, the cigar bar becomes their last refuge. Unfortunate.

Clearing out the bar as the renovation begins...

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/wsky032116.jpg

^^^^^^^^
Indeed, cigarette smokers have definitely ruined many a great cigar place, and as they are driven out of other establishments, the cigar bar becomes their last refuge. Unfortunate.

Damn shame. At least I have an awesome cigar bar in Pasadena to go to. ;)

^^^^^^^^
Indeed, cigarette smokers have definitely ruined many a great cigar place, and as they are driven out of other establishments, the cigar bar becomes their last refuge. Unfortunate.

Is there anything keeping an establishment from banning cigarettes but allowing cigars, or is it an all or nothing for some reason?

Not that I know of, but it is probably just too fatiguing of a hill to die on.

Queue in Belushi from Animal House "They took the BAR!!! The whole f***ing BAR!!!"


Clearing out the bar as the renovation begins...

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/wsky032116.jpg

It was a very odd feeling clearing out the back bar today. The final count after we removed them all was 527. It's amazing to have that many spirits on a single back bar.

Not the best thread for this per se, but could a cigar shop have a lounge where they sell their own cigars and have a legal BYOB policy?

Yes. They also own Omerta which is a cigar shop with a private lounge. BYOB is encouraged...especially if good scotch and sharing.