Restaurants
Central Business District
Current

no



Address: 125 Ron Norick Blvd.
Phone: (405) 445-7080
Hours: Mon-Fri, Sun 11 am - 10 pm
Sat 11 am - 11 pm
Development: Myriad Gardens
Status: Opened December 2013
Links:
Official Website (http://parkhouseokc.com/)
Menu (https://www.facebook.com/TheParkHouseOKC/app_187136414669863)
Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/TheParkHouseOKC?fref=ts)
Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/biz/park-house-oklahoma-city-2)
Urban Spoon (http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/46/1782046/restaurant/Downtown/Park-House-Oklahoma-City)
Eat Around OKC


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/parkhousewiki1.jpg


Information & Latest News
7/31/13: Two restaurants announced for Myriad Gardens (http://newsok.com/two-restaurants-announced-for-myriad-botanical-gardens/article/3867603)
Gallery

I-HW9rz1LoQ

Was there a separate thread just for the Park House? If so, I couldn't find it. Anyway....

Grabbed a couple of images from their facebook page:

https://scontent-a-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1175743_668320496530651_1277513221_n.jpg


This from just a couple of days ago -- apparently getting ready to install a new wall.

https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/q84/s720x720/1236596_678141888881845_1532406944_n.jpg


Source: https://www.facebook.com/TheParkHouseOKC

Rendering for The Park House:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1262915_682947545067946_1853038030_o.jpg

Expected to open in November.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/TheParkHouseOKC

Very nice!

This will make such a big difference when open. Breathe so much more life into the park, especially in the evenings.

View from the blinds:

https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1379522_690843457611688_1357620745_n.jpg

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=690843457611688&set=pcb.690843477611686&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf

A few more detailed plans of this project; note the extensive outdoor seating that will be under the canopy:



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/parkhouse101013c.jpg


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According to their Twitter feed, they are now shooting for an early December opening.

I peaked in the window on Sunday before the Thunder game and it appeared as if they had a ways to go getting this place ready to open.

New rendering from the Park House Facebook page (they are also now hiring):

https://scontent-b-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1422599_712588928770474_1515094448_n.jpg

Have they changed the name of the restaurant to Beige?

Have they changed the name of the restaurant to Beige?

I don't think you'll even get in unless you're beige or the Rolling Stones...

Park House is getting close to finishing up and opening (photos from their FB page):



https://scontent-b-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1460145_728523743843659_1378386661_n.jpg


https://scontent-a-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1456049_728523583843675_963826459_n.jpg


https://scontent-b-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1011528_728523657177001_1542553515_n.jpg

Another one:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BbGcBSXCUAA2PXB.jpg:large

Source: https://twitter.com/ParkHouseOKC/status/410280587170029569/photo/1

Got the big screen TVs going.

I think they're shooting to be open for the Sunday Thunder home game (Dec. 15). That's just a guess on my part.

Have they changed the name of the restaurant to Beige?

I hope not.

Talk about "blah". Maybe they aren't aware that ambiance has much to
do with how food tastes.

Blah ambiance equates to a Blah experience.

Another one:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BbGcBSXCUAA2PXB.jpg:large


If Deep Purple was playing here I wouldn't go. I really dig Deep Purple.

Talk about "blah". Maybe they aren't aware that ambiance has much to
do with how food tastes.

Blah ambiance equates to a Blah experience.


Which is probably why you don't think a Big Mac is as good as it used to be. Those McDonalds used to have a great ambiance.

Park House's FB Page (https://www.facebook.com/TheParkHouseOKC?fref=ts) says they open Wednesday!

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ph1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ph2.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ph3.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ph4.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ph5.jpg


https://scontent-b-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1422599_712588928770474_1515094448_n.jpg

I really like the muted decor in the restaurant. It allows the focus to be on the views of the park.

I agree. The interior isn't the point, the point is the view:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ph2.jpg

What a setting! That patio in the Spring/Summer is going to be a wonderful place to grab a drink.

It will be even prettier at night, with the Crystal Bridge lit up...

I like the clean, simple look. Very interested to see their menu.

I thought there was supposed to be signage on the white wall facing Robinson? When I walked by on Sunday there was no such signage and no sign of one coming. Really think you need that signage...

The food looks amazing! Can't wait to try this place out!

A Myriad of Reasons to Love the New Park House Restaurant | News OK (http://newsok.com/a-myriad-of-reasons-to-love-the-new-park-house-restaurant/article/3915767)

Jonathan Krell is an amazing chef. This place is definitely in good hands!

We need a report!

Come on you downtowners, get over there for lunch or dinner and share your thoughts.

Looks amazing inside! Does anyone have a link to the menu? I trust there would be at least one vegetarian entree? That would be the only limiting factor in us going...

Bad: Pretty pricey ($85 for four sandwiches, three soft drinks, a flight of deviled eggs and tip), and the service was extraordinarily slow. The server was all over us with drink refills, but they couldn't get food out of the kitchen with an almost-empty restaurant, and he abandoned us when the bill arrived (after waiting several minutes we dropped cash and left).

Good: The sandwiches were awesome, with fresh & flavorful garnish & mustard, and great potato chips. The flight of deviled eggs were distinctive and attractive, but I don't think I'd have them again.

The interior is clean and a bit stark, but it doesn't try to distract from the real visual show which is sweeping view north, west and south. The Devon skating rink is adjacent to the north, which makes this a great place to watch skaters. Also, if I worked downtown I would definitely meet friends there for a drink. The only parking is on-street, but yesterday was nice and the brief walk through the gardens was pleasant - on a cold or wet day that might dissuade me to suggest another restaurant if we were driving in from elsewhere.

Go for the food and views, expect commensurate pricing, and give it a couple of days to work out their kinks with slow service.

Here is their full menu:

https://www.facebook.com/TheParkHouseOKC/app_187136414669863

I don't see menu pricing for wine by the glass. Is that not offered?

Bad: Pretty pricey ($85 for four sandwiches, three soft drinks and a flight of deviled eggs), and the service was extraordinarily slow.

Good: The sandwiches were awesome, with fresh & flavorful garnish & mustard, and great potato chips. The flight of deviled eggs were distinctive and attractive, but I don't think I'd have them again.

The interior is clean and a bit stark, but it doesn't try to distract from the real visual show which is sweeping views north, west and south. The Devon skating rink is adjacent to the north, which makes this a great place to watch skaters. Also, if I worked downtown I would definitely meet friends there for a drink. The only parking is on-street, but yesterday was nice and the brief walk through the gardens was pleasant - on a cold or wet day that might dissuade me to suggest another restaurant if we were driving in from elsewhere.

Go for the food and views, expect commensurate pricing, and give it a couple of days to work out their kinks with slow service.


This is not a criticism of your pretty pricey comment, but a comment with regards to the overall growth in dining options. IMO, OKC diners should move away from the historical notion of "cheap eats". Larger more urban cities food costs are not just associated with the meal itself but also the environment in which the resturant exists e.g DT adjacent to vibrant living spaces, convention centers, theatres, museums, libraries etc. As OKC continues to develop DT into a work center for professionals and a destination place before and after work hours, for entertainment, patrons should expect to pay more for meals. This resturant along with the new KD's, Vast and others are raising the culilnary bar in OKC and I for one applaud that improvement.

There was feedback from local restauranteurs that a "white tablecloth" restaurant -- as originally envisioned by the park architects -- would not work in this location.

Then for a couple of years after the construction was complete, the only offer to operate was from a casual, burgers-and-fries place, which was rejected.

Park House seems to split the two nicely down the middle. Slightly upscale but not inaccessible.


Also, keep in mind that the Ice House will provide relatively inexpensive, quick-service food. Looks like the Ice Cube will offer hotdogs and some other things during skating season.


These operations seem to be a compliment each other and provide the gardens with some well-rounded options.

IMHO, within the current culinary offerings of the Metro, there is something quite wrong with $19 rotisserie chicken and $11 BLT's. Also, there was something quite wrong about foregoing the cafe that should have been affordable to almost anyone visiting the taxpayer funded park with this facility that is out of reach for a young family of four on a weekend visit to the gardens. Even if they can eat burgers at the park for $40 a meal part of the year.

Went there today with a group of four. I'll cut to the chase and tell you, it was unanimous - we all hated it. Which is a shame because 501 and Boulevard are two of our favorite restaurants on our regular rotation.

We decided to go today because we figured with the county employees off and just two days before Christmas this might be our best time to get a parking spot nearby and not have a big crowd --- which was the reality on both counts.

When we got inside we were greeted promptly and pretty much had our choice of seating - We picked a spot in front of the ice rink.

The waitress was friendly and quickly took our drink orders (tropical tea for all of us).

We were initially taken back by the pricing - and this from a group of professionals that eat $100 dinners on a regular basis - but the $12 burgers and $23 fish and chips seemed excessive to all of us.

But, we figured if the food was as good as the view then it would probably be worth it.

It literally took an hour to get our food and half of our food arrived 13 minutes after the first half of our table was served.

We ordered a combination of the bacon cheeseburger, soup and salad and the chicken and chips.

Literally we each took 2-3 bites and decided we were done and left (went and ate at Empire Pizza).

The burgers were really bad. The best description I can come up with is ...... have you ever showed up at picnic late and been forced to eat a patty that's been sitting in the grill for about 45 minutes too long? If so, then you know what these burgers tasted like - dry, barely room temperature and zero juice. The bacon on them was disgusting - and I didn't think it was possible to have bad bacon. The chips? Thick, chewy and tough. The lettuce and tomato on the side was yellowed and worse than Wal Mart produce leftovers.

The person having the rotisserie chicken soup said they've had better from a can, but that the house salad was okay.

The chicken and chips were lackluster, room temperature at best and not worth a third bite (according to the person who ordered them).

So, and hour and fifteen minutes later and we were out of there with a $70+ tab and headed to Empire Pizza and had some delicious pepperoni slices.

Maybe we hit them on a bad day..... but the prices were high enough and the food bad enough that I seriously doubt I'll try it again any time soon.

Went there today with a group of four. I'll cut to the chase and tell you, it was
unanimous - we all hated it...
Sad to hear. Seems that Burger King or a Roach Coach would have been a
better experience.


Maybe we hit them on a bad day... but the prices were high enough
and the food bad enough that I seriously doubt I'll try it again any
time soon.
I won't give a bad experience a second chance. The first impression
is good enough for me. Just like the much raved about Hereford
House in Kansas City. I won't waste my money a second time.

I won't give a bad experience a second chance. The first impression
is good enough for me. Just like the much raved about Hereford
House in Kansas City. I won't waste my money a second time.

Just depends for me. Some places I can just tell its 'opening pains' and will give them another shot months later - while others you can tell it goes much deeper. Not really sure with this place since the owners apparently do know how to run a restaurant - just not this one.

For reference, the last time I had a burger at Flint, it was $11 and very delicious. I would expect a similar experience at this place. I feel these are supposed to be comparable places, am I wrong about that?

Bad over priced food and taking forever to deliver it when the place is half empty is a pretty bad sign.

How do you screw up a hamburger, chicken, and soup so much that your customers just leave and go somewhere else?

We had a group of 4 on sat night and found the food to be wonderful

Went there last Monday for a private party. First of all the space is awesome and the views are great, especially when people are skating outside on the ice rink. There was around 100 people at the party I'd guess, and the food was setup buffet style. Sometimes I feel like a buffet setup can lower the quality of the food sometimes, but this was not the case at all. We had beef short rib sandwiches, meatballs, smoked salmon, crab cakes, a cheese platter, and a selection of deserts as well. Everything was outstanding, I had 4 of the sandwiches, the crab cakes were incredible and so were the meatballs. The salmon was a little too smokey in my opinion but everyone else at the table loved it. One of the best party meals I've ever had. The party was also an open bar, service was outstanding and drinks were well made. Can't wait to try it for actual dinner soon.

I had good but not outstanding food, a waitress who was fairly clueless and moderately slow service. I might go back but I'm not dying to.

I honestly don't know how all these new restaurants and bars are finding competent wait staff, chefs, prep cooks, managers, bar tenders, etc.

Just in the last year OKC has added tons of new, mostly higher-end places and the unemployment rate was already very low. Vast alone -- with it's massive private dining and meeting rooms -- is two full floors of people eating and drinking almost all the time. When I had my class reunion there this summer, they had a whole army working just our event.


The establishments themselves would never say this but they have to be really scraping to find good people with any sort of meaningful experience.

I'm still connected with a lot of servers I used to work with who are still servers around the metro. Pretty much all restaurants are understaffed with very high turnover right now.

I honestly don't know how all these new restaurants and bars are finding competent wait staff, chefs, prep cooks, managers, bar tenders, etc.

Just in the last year OKC has added tons of new, mostly higher-end places and the unemployment rate was already very low. Vast alone -- with it's massive private dining and meeting rooms -- is two full floors of people eating and drinking almost all the time. When I had my class reunion there this summer, they had a whole army working just our event.


The establishments themselves would never say this but they have to be really scraping to find good people with any sort of meaningful experience.

You make a really good point... one that I hadn't contemplated much.

Checked in this past weekend. I too am turned off by the pricing, but the crab cake was first rate. Mostly flavorful crabmeat, very little filler.

I honestly don't know how all these new restaurants and bars are finding competent wait staff, chefs, prep cooks, managers, bar tenders, etc.

Just in the last year OKC has added tons of new, mostly higher-end places and the unemployment rate was already very low. Vast alone -- with it's massive private dining and meeting rooms -- is two full floors of people eating and drinking almost all the time. When I had my class reunion there this summer, they had a whole army working just our event.


The establishments themselves would never say this but they have to be really scraping to find good people with any sort of meaningful experience.

For sure filling the back of house staffs will likely never be an issue...

As for the front of house staffs, hopefully what is happening is that the chains are losing their good staff to all the new local places. And in general, it doesn't seem as though many chains are opening up here compared to local places, which is good to see. If new local concepts are having difficulty finding people, it would not be hard to poach "veteran" servers from chain restaurants.

Also, I think people are staying in the industry longer or using it as supplemental income, and I think more people are working through college than even 5 years ago (someone made a point the other day that more recent incoming freshman classes are more likely to be aware of financial issues because they saw their parents' wealth take such huge hits in 2008…I'd imagine that holds true to some extent).

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/restaurants-bars/6168d1389878067-park-house-ph11314a.jpg


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Does anyone know if you just walk onto the patio and sit down you will be served without going through the front entrance first?

^ For now, they ask that everyone enter through the front door, off of Robinson. That may/may not change during the better weather months.

I-HW9rz1LoQ

This answers the question as to why they have yet to install the sign facing Robinson...

Instead, they will be building a trellis over the entry and adding a monument sign:



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ph021414a.jpg


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There's an entry there? That entire side of the building is so plain I totally missed it.

There's an entry there? That entire side of the building is so plain I totally missed it.

Yes, I think they realized that was a problem and thus decided to add some greenery as well as a semi-covered entry.

There is a really nice circle drive as well.

Stopped for drinks after the Thunder game a week or so ago. Very nice interior. Unintended consequence of the curved glass: you can't really see the gardens at night because it reflects and refocuses the interior light back at you. All glare. If the MBG was more brightly lit it would cut through. But I know from previous events I have attended in the building that the daytime view is fantastic.

^

However, the views from the patio on nice days should be awesome.

And, I bet there is far less reflection if you are sitting closer to the glass.

Good point. You're probably right. I was sotting it up at the bar.

Park House just tweeted that starting next weekend they will be offering Saturday & Sunday brunch.

Excellent. Surprised it took so long. Demand is definitely there for it.

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

Great news. Maybe having another nice brunch spot within viewing distance will shame Flint into pulling it together.