Pops

[bandnerd]

Okay, so they goofed on the whole "middle of nowhere" thing. But c'mon, people! Look on the bright side--Oklahoma was represented in a nice way!

[jsibelius]

Sorry - you make a good point. I had something really bad happen yesterday and I'm raining on your parade, bandnerd.

[John]

They could have easily said 'just north of Oklahoma city, 5 miles off of I-35'.

Middle of nowhere is a stretch.

[bandnerd]

They weren't very specific with anything. They said it was on Route 66, and that a lot of people go that way.

Buncha Debbie Downers today!

[edcrunk]

what i thought was funny is when he said OKLAHOMA and she threw her arms up like ... "i dunno"

[RabidRed]

If you haven't tried Pops for breakfast you are missing something. Also the milk shakes are way above average.

[mmonroe]

i was told they rotate thier products. If you don't see it one day, that does not necessarily mean they don't carry it at some time.

I think he was more or less talking about how this person said they've never been to it, then saying they had seen it in POPS a month ago.

To my knowledge, Crystal Pepsi has been off the market since 1993. I see where an unopened bottle sells for $30 on eBay.

Crystal Pepsi has been off the market for 15 years, I feel old, and i'm only 21.

But for those who want to petition Pepsi... Sign the Bring Back Crystal Pepsi Campaign Petition

Also, remember other flavors, like Pepsi Spice or Pepsi Blue?

[LIL_WAYNE_4_PREZIDENT08]

Pepsi blue sucked

[mmonroe]

Thank you for your review.

[andy157]

Thank you for your review.

mmonroe you jumped the gun. Why? Because in his next post Wayne will tell you about the great taste of Pepsi Blue, and oh how he loved it.

[LIL_WAYNE_4_PREZIDENT08]

LOL no it really did suck

[andy157]

LOL no it really did suck

I stand corrected.

[mmonroe]

right over his head, i mean, even i got it this time.

pmsl.

[metro]

New operator plots no overhaul for Pops
Journal Record
July 15, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – Although the ownership group of several upscale Oklahoma City eateries has taken over operation of the restaurant at Pops, don’t expect aged steaks and seven-layer dip on the menu anytime soon.

Keith Paul’s company, A Good Egg Dining Group, last month took over the restaurant at Pops, an iconic soda-pop-themed restaurant, convenience store and gas station on Route 66 in Arcadia.nPaul’s other restaurants – Cheever’s Café, Red Prime Steak and Iron Starr Urban BBQ – cater to the gourmet, but Pops will continue to offer hamburgers, chicken fried steak and fried egg sandwiches.

Pops opened in August and was immediately crowded with tourists, Route 66 connoisseurs and many curious to check out the LED-lit, 66-foot pop bottle in front and sample hundreds of varieties of bottled soda. The full-service restaurant was also a hit, frequently attracting 1,000 diners per day. While the staff of 80 at Pops worked to ensure burgers were cooked, gas was pumped and souvenirs were sold, it became apparent that help might be needed to keep the restaurant running efficiently.

Through acquaintance with Aubrey McClendon, who owns Pops and is the CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp., Paul and his group came on board.“It’s been pretty overwhelming,” said Marty Doepke, general manager of Pops. “It’s been nice to bring in their expertise.”

There will be slight changes, like the addition of Patrick Munnerlyn, formerly the manager at Cheever’s, as manager of the Pops restaurant, and some menu additions such as salads. Doepke said there are no plans to tamper with several key menu items.“Burgers are the biggest draw,” he said. “The menu is still very similar; there are no drastic changes.”Paul said changes will complement the existing menu, while still focusing on the quality of the ingredients and pricing most meals under $10.“We’ve streamlined the menu without sacrificing quality,” he said.Doepke said he does not know how many people have passed through Pops, but knows that it has sold about 700,000 bottles of soda pop so far.

“We’ve seen so many people come through here,” he said. “It’s exceeded any expectations we had.”Doepke said it was nice to have an operator who knows how to run a successful restaurant so that he can step back a little, take a deep breath and get ready for Pops’ second year.“It’s like we got hit by a freight train over the last year and now we’re just standing up and brushing off and taking a look at everything,” he said.

[LakeEffect]

I searched the threads and couldn't find one on Pops, which surprised me. Maybe I missed it - tell me if I did.

Anyway - I've been to Pops for at least 5 meals, 3 before the big menu change and 2 after. After today's visit for lunch, my wife and I decided we'll have to stop going for meals, we'll just go to pick up a t-shirt or some pop.

We loved the original menu, the named burgers and the big breakfast menu. My parents, in from Michigan, really enjoyed the old breakfast menu. When they were here in November 2008 we took them for breakfast and were really unhappy with the new, much smaller, breakfast menu. The service that day was also very helpless - the waitress acted (and practically stated) as if she had been up all night partying - she screwed up two of the four orders and ended up spilling my dad's coffee over the whole table. That said, the food was ok, but nowhere near what it was.

We decided to head out today to get a burger and a shake and try out the non-breakfast portion of the new menu. We both ordered a Pops burger due to the inclusion of No-Name beef, but that was about the only plus of the new menu. Each burger, despite being medium-well or well, leaked red fatty juice into the bun. My favorite burger, I believe it was called the Edmond, is no longer an options (bleu cheese and hot sauce). The old, beer battered fries are no longer an option, replaced with french-cut crinkle fries, which were fried hard and were cold fast. Finally, the shakes we ordered, both junior size, were delivered after our burgers and both had an extremely metal-type taste in them.

I hate to push off Pops because we loved it so much when it first started out, and I really expect nothing but greatness from A Good Egg Group... maybe I'm missing something as to why the menu changed. Did it change so that more people could be served faster?

I'll leave you with a picture of my old favorite burger:
NoName Burger on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[CuatrodeMayo]

I agree here. I went a few months back and noticed the drastically small menu and was not impressed like I was last year.

[jsibelius]

Oh that's sad. A product of the "new" economy?

[LakeEffect]

Not the economy - the menu changed quite a while ago, as far as I know. We were there in November and it had already changed. I believe it changed a few months before that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[CuatrodeMayo]

I'm pretty sure I was there in september or so.

[OKC4me]

OK, where do I start? Haha.

I live in Edmond, so we have gone there probably close to 10 times over the last couple of years. We love going there, and my son loves the burgers and drinks, as well as my wife and I.

BUT,

we have never, never had good service there at all. It has been downright non-existant. Everytime we have eaten there, we have told each other it was the last, but then we end up going again because its a really cool place, only to be extremely dissapointed again!

My wife, son, and I walked in one day during last summer about 3:30. There was nobody else even in the place eating. We asked for a booth, and we were told we had to have at least 4 people to get a booth. Wife and I just looked at each other, and shrugged our shoulders, OK, whatever. We sat down and told the waitress we understood their rule, but there wasn't anybody in there eating. She just blew us off. Even after eating, there was nobody sitting in any of the booths at all when we left. So, that kind of ticked us off.

Another time, we were eating, the waitress took our order never to be seen again. Guess she got off work and left. We sat there for 30 minutes before the wife got another waiter to ask what was going on. It ended up being about 50 minutes before we got our food. The food was really good though. Needless to say, nobody got more than a 1 penny tip.

Another time, waitress took our order, gave us our food, and never saw her again either. When it was time to pay, I went to the front to pay and the young high school girl wanted my ticket. I told her I never got one, and never saw our waitress after she took us our food. She had to get a manager over there to ring up what we had ordered. After I got my ticket, I put a big 0 for the tip, and she actually asked if I was going to leave a tip. I told her, uh no, we never saw our waitress after getting our food!

The last time we ate there, I got my burger and fries, and the burger was very small and nothing like it used to be. The fries were bad. And, I think it was more expensive. The manager actually came over and asked us how everything was, and my wife asked about the food. She said they changed their food because "the older people there were complaining about the burgers being too big." So, that is the excuse I was given. She said that most of their customers are older, and they were catering to them.

Rant over.

[OKC4me]

My dad refuses to go eat there because of the horrible service also. He won't go in there for anything. We drove by and he wouldn't stop!

[tuck]

WOW...where do I start? We took over cafe operations in July with a menu change and the beginnings of a concept change. The original vision, which was diner, burger and fries, was being abandoned. The menu had gotten too complicated and really had no identity. The menu now refelcts what Route 66cafes were built on...Gourmet Road Food w/the comfort of the familiar crinkle cut FF and simple, high quality burgers and hot dogs. POPS new breakfast menu started yesterday with most of the favorites returning...I heard nothing but positive comments. POPS should never had been the place for the "Cheesecake Factory" style menu.

The service issues have been a challenge. This aspect of any restaurant just cannot happen overnight; we are working on it daily. Poor service is never tolerated in our restaurants!!! The labor pool for Arcadia, Oklahoma is pretty slim to say the least and quite different from OKC.

I'm not going to get into the economics of the restaurant business; but, I want you all to know that there are reasons behind these changes.

I ask that you give POPS one more chance...just one will make us happy. We always welcome any and all comments.

[LakeEffect]

Tuck, I'd knew you'd have a good response. I have to admit, since we were there for lunch, I really didn't take a moment to look over the new breakfast menu. We'll have to do it mainly because we trust you and your group.

About the burgers - are they cooked on a typical griddle? Would that be why so much of the juice stayed in the burgers we had? The beef itself (since it was NoName) was great, just juicy.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Please bring back the burgers named after nearby towns.

[tuck]

You can order burgers with a variety of ingredients...build your own. So, all burgers on the previous menu can be prepared if you just ask.