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Drove by tonight... midtown was buzzing! The Collective was packed. Folks were out and about. I can’t wait to visit

Drove by tonight... midtown was buzzing! The Collective was packed. Folks were out and about. I can’t wait to visit

Little off topic but bricktown was packed also Good to see

very good to hear!!

Haven't had a chance to comment or visit what appears to be a pipe dream for our city.

The Collective, a collection of the best of the chefs serving OKC--long overdue, this will be BIG TIME.

Oklahoma City, here's our opportunity to support something special:


a collection of great chefs
a collection of great quality food recipes
a collection of great food variety

What more can be said. Undoubtedly, The Collective will attract a collection of great people who appreciate great foods. Good concept long overdue---gather support, dine with friends and relatives--impress those out-of-town visitors, this is our chance to support something special.

What are the prices going to be like. I'm sure they will be a little different per store but what are we looking at for a dinner

They will be open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 5-10PM.

May expand their hours after that.


I know they are concerned about being completely overrun as they try to get up and running. Huge amount of interest.

Went and got BBQ from The Flying Pig at lunch today.

The place looks absolutely amazing... My only concern is with only half the places open for lunch today. It was a maze of people trying to find the end of the line for the food they were trying to get and everything was clogged up. I see the potential for the place to be a mad house with all the eateries open at the same time.

I'm sure they'll get it all worked out but don't go right away if you get easily frustrated with lines and confusion.

I talked with the owner of The Flying Pig and there was even confusion on whether they were serving lunch today or not..... See Pete's post above that they weren't Monday to Wednesday.

I would have stopped by for lunch, had I known they were serving today. I trusted you pete!

I just posted what they posted.

It keeps changing and I'm sure it will continue to all week.

It keeps changing and I'm sure it will continue to all week.

The soft open signs were still up on the door but the place was packed inside... No one using the patio... I would have sat out there with an umbrella, if they were available, but it was a little warm today to be in the direct sun.

I'm sure they'll get all the chaos reigned in but as I said above.... Don't go right now if you're the impatient type and take into account that not all the concepts are going to be open..... They may be this evening but they weren't at lunch.

I'm also not 100% certain how the drinks work either... I saw wait staff but none ever came to our table. I just had water and my co-worker said he paid to get a cup somewhere for a soft drink but I don't know where it was.... The drinks are located on the west wall..... Which might also create some confusion for diners because you get your food from each eatery and then have to go get your drink.

On the plus side the ribs at The Flying Pig are still my favorite in OKC.

Do they only serve beef ribs on Wednesday?

I stopped by twice tonight. Tried Cafe de l'asie, dutch baby, shaka, and the bar. Cafe de l'asie will open for lunch tomorrow.

Do they only serve beef ribs on Wednesday?.

That is how the menu board read.... They were also serving bacon burnt ends and burnt ends as specials on other days of the week but I don't remember the days.

I know I'll get roasted for this observation. Keep in mind, I think the Collective will be a huge success and I think it is great for the fabric of the inner city. I think they did a fabulous job on the building.

All that said, after going there, it struck me that this is a millennial's version of food courts at the malls they grew up with. Yes, more upscale food and trendy, but not unlike a food court. It seems like an Austin/Seattle food court.

^

And they have been wildly popular in other cities.

The Parlor opens in a couple of months in Auto Alley and I'm sure it will kill it as well.

All that said, after going there, it struck me that this is a millennial's version of food courts at the malls they grew up with. Yes, more upscale food and trendy, but not unlike a food court. It seems like an Austin/Seattle food court.

You seem to framing this as a criticism, but I couldn't actually figure out what your criticism is. This all sounds fine to me.

You seem to framing this as a criticism, but I couldn't actually figure out what your criticism is. This all sounds fine to me.

Seconded. A food court, without crappy fast-food chains, in a highly walk-able area NOT in a mall. Also with two bars. Wonderful.

You seem to framing this as a criticism, but I couldn't actually figure out what your criticism is. This all sounds fine to me.
It wasn't meant as criticism, only as an observation. Was just afraid it would be taken wrong. There are a lot of sensitive people on this board.

Seconded. A food court, without crappy fast-food chains, in a highly walk-able area NOT in a mall. Also with two bars. Wonderful.

In addition, I suspect it will be cleaner than a run of the mill food court too.

In addition, I suspect it will be cleaner than a run of the mill food court too.

Yes, but will they hand out free samples like at the food court. :)

Went today about mid-afternoon and was busy, but not crazy.

They now have valet parking along Harvey but there is plenty of parking around if you don't mind walking a block.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/collective073019a.jpg


Pretty much everything was open and I talked to most the proprietors. They are all learning and trying to figure out the optimum hours, etc.

Because it's been so hot, the rooftop doesn't open until 5PM. Their longer-term plan is to make the entire place 21+ after 10PM when the music will get turned up and the vibe will change.

Due to the heat, the biggest problem is having a place to sit for people once they get their food. Said they had to limit the number of people inside so this could level out but once it the weather is better there is tons of seating outside.

Also, there was one waitress going around taking drink orders on a tablet. But she said they won't be doing that much during the day, but there will have a whole team doing so in the evenings. And of course, you can always just go to the bar. They have a ton of great beers on draft and in bottles and a big cocktail menu with some wine.

And the coffee service is all done through one of the kitchens, not the main bar.

I had the BBQ chicken plate from Shaka. Absolutely delicious; chicken and pineapple were grilled over a flame and came with a bit of avacado, mac salad and mango (I think).

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/shaka073019a.jpg


They are still tweaking things and the kitchens are all trying to find their rhythm, but it's a super cool place that is going to see tons of business all day long.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/shakamenu.jpg
SHAKA

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/flyingpigmenu.jpg
FLYING PIG

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/localhomamenu.jpg
LOCALHOMA

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/friedtacomenu.jpg
FRIED TACO

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pressmenu.jpg
PRESS WAFFLE CO.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/cafemenu.jpg
CAFE

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ohbabymenu.jpg
OH BABY!

It wasn't meant as criticism, only as an observation. Was just afraid it would be taken wrong. There are a lot of sensitive people on this board.
#suburbanmallfoodcourtlivesmatter

A friend recently described this as a mall food court in skinny jeans. So there you go.

The bar program and its prominence makes that very different, though.

I look forward to going in the evening and I'm sure it will be much more of a social scene.

Yes, but will they hand out free samples like at the food court. :)

Asking the really important questions!! :D

A friend recently described this as a mall food court in skinny jeans. So there you go.

Is it okay if I show up in my Mom jeans?

I know I'll get roasted for this observation. Keep in mind, I think the Collective will be a huge success and I think it is great for the fabric of the inner city. I think they did a fabulous job on the building.

All that said, after going there, it struck me that this is a millennial's version of food courts at the malls they grew up with. Yes, more upscale food and trendy, but not unlike a food court. It seems like an Austin/Seattle food court.

You were accurate on all 3 opinions. Sage.

I drove by last night around 7PM and there was a line out the door.

I have been twice now. The only thing I don't like is the seating is scarce even when people are outside. Also the upstairs seems very inefficient with the booth-style tables on the south, it also seems weird to even have those angled seats as the backside blocks any use of the railing that overlooks the seating down below. From downstairs, you can't even see people up there.

Also there is a section of sidewalk on Harvey that remains gravel, I am not sure why this is not finished like the rest of the sidewalk, but my fear is some sort of valet lane reasoning.

I have been twice now. The only thing I don't like is the seating is scarce even when people are outside. Also the upstairs seems very inefficient with the booth-style tables on the south, it also seems weird to even have those angled seats as the backside blocks any use of the railing that overlooks the seating down below. From downstairs, you can't even see people up there.

Also there is a section of sidewalk on Harvey that remains gravel, I am not sure why this is not finished like the rest of the sidewalk, but my fear is some sort of valet lane reasoning.

i agree with all of this... i was there last night (and might have been one of the people Pete saw in line around 7). and the only negative my group had was finding a place to sit. and that some of the seating was weirdly arranged, and made it a maze to navigate with so many people.

Hopefully they'll address the gravel area where sidewalk should be. Between that, patrons of the food hall coming and going, people trying to power up their Lime rentals, and the valet stand, it was necessary for us as pedestrians last night to take a detour into the street to get past everything. In an area with that much congestion, and with the way people sometimes drive, I'm not too comfortable straying from the sidewalk, especially when I've got my kid with me. Of course we could've stayed on the other side of the street, but we wanted to get a look at the crowd. :)

+1 for seating issues. This is probably a general issue with food halls in general. I checked out mother road today, and goodness it was the most open area food hall I've been to. Granted I haven't been to many halls.

Collective, the one in plano, mother road, and foodhallen. Does 8th street market place count?

Kinda sorta maybe.

Also Parlor OKC

The seating situation has a lot to do with repurposing those old structures but that is also part of the strong charm.

I know they are really working hard to learn and adjust but at least for now, all of this is completely new to everyone and they are being overwhelmed with business.

A friend recently described this as a mall food court in skinny jeans. So there you go.

This is correct but not a bad thing. Most of the "improvements" we are seeing is just the relocation of small stores from large central locations surrounded by parking lots to smaller more organic locations that fit in the surrounding neighborhood. I dont think the ideas of the past were bad, just designed for cars. That works for some people but some prefer something else and this is a great opportunity for smaller places to get a start whole sharing expenses and customers.

A couple of other things to consider:

1. In a more dense Midtown, this is laid out really well for a quick walk through to pick up some food on your way to another destination.

2. If seating is truly an issue, the restaurants will not have the performance everyone within the collective is looking for, in that case, they can just remove a restaurant space and re-purpose it for seating. I don't know enough about the layout behind each restaurant "portal" but even recapturing just the front of house portion of any of those could yield minimum of 15 additional seats and help the competitive balance.

Had brunch at the new Ludivine location (first time we've had brunch there - don't bother, go for dinner instead, we've been there many times for dinner, way better than brunch :)), and decided to walk over and see what kind of donuts Theo's had that we could take home. Walked in around 2:00 and they're the first kitchen there, but they had *nothing* out. So we walked around just to look and it seems pretty cool and weekend nights are going to be hellacious, but they could use more signage (telling where the bar and patio is, where specific kitchens are, etc.) since it's laid out with cubbyholes, stairs, and dead-ends and places might get missed just because they're sort of hidden. When we were leaving, Theo's had put out a tray with 4 plain donuts on it, but we just left.

Went by Sunday around 3 and Theo's only had the chocolate with sprinkles and the brown butter vanilla glaze. We tried both on the way out and they were very good - nothing crazy but still good. The brioche donut is such a significantly different donut than the standard yeast at every other donut shop. Definitely would recommend giving it a whirl just to try something different.

Went on Tuesday at noon last week.
It is hassle. After you find the food you want to eat (cafe de l asie which was good), find a seat, then go get your drink... It take 25 minutes just to get settled... and you can eat with your disposable silverware while 50 people are cruising right by you.
Not really how i want to spend my lunch break.

Asking because I don't know: If placing an order Uber Eats or Postmates order at a very busy restaurant such as one in the Collective, does the driver skip the line, know when the order is ready, etc? Or does it just not work for a place like this?

So what are the hours. Would like to try it tomorrow Wednesday or Thursday will they be open? Where is a good place to park for free

Wednesday they'll be open. I want to say at 10, but I'm stopping by at 11 or so. Parking is free just about anywhere in the area.

They were closed Monday and Tuesday to regroup a bit. They have been completely overrun.

They are open at 7AM, at least some of the kitchens. All are open by 11AM and the place stays open until midnight but the kitchens close earlier than that.

The best place to park is in the lot one block to the east, on the southwest corner of 10th & Robinson. Large, free lot. If that is full, there is a bunch of gravel parking north of 10th near Blue Garten.

2. If seating is truly an issue, the restaurants will not have the performance everyone within the collective is looking for, in that case, they can just remove a restaurant space and re-purpose it for seating. I don't know enough about the layout behind each restaurant "portal" but even recapturing just the front of house portion of any of those could yield minimum of 15 additional seats and help the competitive balance.

I doubt they would want to lose rentable square footage to add seating. This is a problem in a lot of food halls for this reason. The developer needs to pack in so many concepts (rentable sq ft) that they neglect the seating and "common" areas. Or, as is the case here, you have additional seating outside but it's too hot to sit there this time of year.

I doubt they would want to lose rentable square footage to add seating. This is a problem in a lot of food halls for this reason. The developer needs to pack in so many concepts (rentable sq ft) that they neglect the seating and "common" areas. Or, as is the case here, you have additional seating outside but it's too hot to sit there this time of year.

What you want to do and what you have to do for maximum success may not always be the same thing. I'm good with whatever is best for the long-term viability. OKC could use some places that are overcrowded.

I went last night, packed, but fun. It’s very clear it’s new from a service angle, which is fine. I don’t get too upset about new places still working out service kinks.

That upstairs balcony is so so so so so well done. Okc is quietly becoming a culinary hotspot and this will only add to that.

Went on Tuesday at noon last week.
It is hassle. After you find the food you want to eat (cafe de l asie which was good), find a seat, then go get your drink... It take 25 minutes just to get settled... and you can eat with your disposable silverware while 50 people are cruising right by you.
Not really how i want to spend my lunch break.

So it's like eating at the airport, awesome. I'm still looking forward to trying the place out.

I assume the line that is out the door on the east side of the building most nights is a line for 1 or 2 of the restaurants inside? Or is it a line to just get inside to then wait in another line at your given eatery?

I assume the line that is out the door on the east side of the building most nights is a line for 1 or 2 of the restaurants inside? Or is it a line to just get inside to then wait in another line at your given eatery?

I believe they hold people outside until inside tables clear.

Otherwise, people get their food with nowhere to sit.

It hasn't helped the temp has been unbearably hot so no one can really sit outside.

I believe they hold people outside until inside tables clear.

Otherwise, people get their food with nowhere to sit.

It hasn't helped the temp has been unbearably hot so no one can really sit outside.

What if you want to take it to go? Or it is a fire regulation?

Capacity is Capacity to the Fire Marshall, there's little to no grey area. Otherwise, everyone would make excuses for why they go over capacity. The fine for going over capacity has also increased and you can now get ticketed for being just 1 person over the same as you would if you were 50 people over.

We had to get our donut fix at the office first thing this morning..... The Donut Man truck was nowhere to be found (usually hangs out on the West side of Devon on Hudson or on north side of Leadership Square). So, I said I'd drive down to the Collective and get donuts at Theo's.

Man, we collectively decided this type of donut is not for us. First, nowhere convenient to park. I'm fine with that, but we all know that's a perceived and real issue in OKC. I parked (illegally) by Hall's Pizza and ran in. Not much in the way of variety. I counted 4 flavors of glazed donuts and 4 flavors of filled. At $3 a donut, it was almost $20 for 6. Oh, and I apparently missed the memo that everything at The Collective is NO CASH. Fortunately I had a card on me.

Brought the donuts back and we proceeded to cut them up so we could give each a taste.

All I can say is that I don't have to worry about the parking, lack of variety, no cash policy or calories - because we all decided these are almost as bad as Brown's Bakery's donuts (but, if you like Brown's then maybe you'll like these).

We cut the donuts up into fourths and literally nobody would eat a second one.

Temperature was cold, dough was dense, glaze was thin, filling was not indulgent in flavor and they are expensive.

We got the chocolate with sprinkles (could barely taste the chocolate), strawberry with sprinklers (favorite with everyone, but not enough to desire them again), brown butter vanilla glaze (okay, but not memorable), chocolate hazelnut (we just realized we can't stand the aftertaste of hazelnuts), and strawberry jam (again, not bad, but the jelly tasted like cheap Great Value jelly filling).

I was shocked nobody in the office liked any of them. Usually there is always someone (or two or three) who has a totally opposite food opinion than myself at that moment. But not so with these. We all agreed we will stick to either The Donut Man truck or Missy's when it comes to donuts.

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Shame. I was optimistic based on how generous the fillings appeared to be. I'll still have one to give a go though.

Shame. I was optimistic based on how generous the fillings appeared to be. I'll still have one to give a go though.

I'd certainly still try them. I'm pretty picky about my donuts. I couldn't care less about the fufu crap Theo's touts about their donuts. It's a donut. It's 100% indulgent with zero health qualities. To me, if you like Missy's, The Donut Man or even a Daylight Donut FRESH out of the fryer, then this is not anywhere close to those.

But, I can't stand Hurt's or Brown's Bakery and plenty of people love those places. I was just shocked nobody in the office liked Theo's at all. One of the suit and tie professionals in the office literally spit it out (which was a bit dramatic). I just consider them extremely weak - especially for the price and high brow approach.

Brown's donuts are terrible.

:iagree: (unpopular opinion)

[though I'm not as pick about donuts and pizza so would still eat them]

I'd certainly still try them. I'm pretty picky about my donuts. I couldn't care less about the fufu crap Theo's touts about their donuts. It's a donut. It's 100% indulgent with zero health qualities. To me, if you like Missy's, The Donut Man or even a Daylight Donut FRESH out of the fryer, then this is not anywhere close to those.

But, I can't stand Hurt's or Brown's Bakery and plenty of people love those places. I was just shocked nobody in the office liked Theo's at all. One of the suit and tie professionals in the office literally spit it out (which was a bit dramatic). I just consider them extremely weak - especially for the price and high brow approach.

The sour cream donuts at Brown's are probably the best donut ever made and if you don't like it then I am forced to ignore all your other words.

The 'bagel' from Theo's is where it's at. Easily my favorite of their offerings.

After all of this donut talk I had to visit Polar Donuts today. Mmm...

Gotta chime in on Theo's since I was in the area Friday morning and got to try a donut. First off, for a Friday morning at 8am, they seemed to have very little selection as well as very little quantity on hand. Now, I'm assuming that they're not targeting the typical donut customer since their pricing and style of donut doesn't line up with a typical donut shop. They don't have any donut "rings," so I just got a chocolate donut with sprinkles. Don't care for sprinkles, but it was the only chocolate donut they had. No filling inside either. So the donut itself was average, not bad but nothing spectacular. And for $3, I really needed it to be spectacular. It was much denser than your normal mom and pop shop donut. I consider myself somewhat of a donut connoisseur, as I've probably eaten more donuts than anyone on this forum. I've eaten at many "gourmet" donut shops around the country, and there's been a few places that I could justify $3 donuts. Not here though, not even close. Like I said, it wasn't bad. Just nothing special. To compare it to Brown's would be completely unfair, though. I haven't had a yeast raised Brown's donut in 5-6 years, but I remember it being one of the worst donuts I've ever had. I felt like they attempted to deep fry their bread dough, glazed it, and tried to pass it off as a donut. The ring wasn't even a continuously connected ring. It was bread dough that they formed into a ring, They pressed the two ends together to form a circle, then deep fried to keep it connected. Not sure if that makes sense, but it wasn't a donut from what I recall. Have no idea what they do today for their donuts. I doubt I'll give Theo's another shot, considering how underwhelmed I was. Hope they get really good business throughout the day, because if not, I can't imagine their morning customers being enough to keep them alive. It was Friday morning and the place was dead.