The Collective

[gopokes88]

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.

[thunderbird]

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.

[anb]

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?

[Pete]

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.

[Plutonic Panda]

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?

[JRod1980]

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.

[BBatesokc]

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.

[Thomas Vu]

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

[BBatesokc]

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.

[HangryHippo]

Brown's donuts are terrible.

[shawnw]

(unpopular opinion)

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

[MikeLucky]

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.

[John]

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

[soonerguru]

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

[soonermike81]

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.

[Soonerinfiniti]

I've been to the Milwaukee Public Market as well as the Napa Oxbow Public Market and both have the same good design: large rectangular building with perimeter food stalls as well as center food stalls and dining areas on both ends, allowing for good pedestrian traffic flow. It seems like OKC developers try to reinvent the wheel. Keep it simple with easy access. Poor design can doom a project.

[GoldFire]

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.

So since my favorite donuts in the city are Belle Kitchen and Hurts I'll probably like these too?

[Pete]

The Milwaukee Public Market was/is highly publicly subsidized.

[Thomas Vu]

I've been to the Milwaukee Public Market as well as the Napa Oxbow Public Market and both have the same good design: large rectangular building with perimeter food stalls as well as center food stalls and dining areas on both ends, allowing for good pedestrian traffic flow. It seems like OKC developers try to reinvent the wheel. Keep it simple with easy access. Poor design can doom a project.

Now that I think about it. It kind of resembles that of chelsea market and eataly in NYC, most of grand central market in LA, and foodhallen in amsterdam in terms of stuff like walking widths and people flow.

[WhoRepsTheLurker]

I'd like to hear about the rest of the food served here and not a bitch fest about what donuts are better and who's are horrible

[Pete]

I really like Okie Poke, although it's harder for me to get to now that they have relocated from the 23rd Street Courts. Healthy and fresh... More or less deconstructed sushi served in a bowl.

Shaka was very good and the complex has a very strong beer and cocktail selection with table service in the evenings.

I look forward to trying the rest of the kitchens, which all look interesting.


Parlor will be opening in about a month, so it will be interesting to see how the 2 food halls stack up against each other.

[soonermike81]

I'd like to hear about the rest of the food served here and not a bitch fest about what donuts are better and who's are horrible

Okie Pokie is good. Satisfied?

[sooner88]

I'd like to hear about the rest of the food served here and not a bitch fest about what donuts are better and who's are horrible

I went for dinner Thursday night and tried the following: Shaka - Hawaiian BBQ Chicken, Flying Pig - Mac and Cheese with brisket, The Fried Taco - Pulled Pork and Chicken Bacon Ranch tacos. For two of us, we ordered way too much food but we wanted to try as many things as we could. My favorite so far was Shaka. The marinated chicken thighs were great and I can't wait to try more there. Mac and cheese was pretty good, but I didn't give the BBQ a fair shot - we'll try a meat platter next time as all the orders before us looked great. The Fried Taco was interesting, they fill the taco and then fry it with the meat inside. They have some interesting options, and surprisingly the chicken bacon ranch was our favorite.

Every seat in the building was filled around 7, but from what we've heard it wasn't near as bad as it was when it first opened. The Weekend Allstars were playing on the patio, so we stuck around and had a couple drinks outside. They had a few servers walking around taking orders and we never had to wait. Once people figure out how the concept works I think there will be less complaints, but we had a great time and were impressed by the build-out.

[Pete]

And once the weather moves off broil the patio should be a great spot.

[Rover]

And once the weather moves off broil the patio should be a great spot.

It looked pretty full when I drove by about 1:30 yesterday.... even with the heat.