Restaurant closings

[HangryHippo]

Johnnie's Express in Norman is now closed. They were open last week, and this morning have a notice saying the shop is closed and to visit the closest location in Moore.

This doesn't surprise me. That location was kind of weird to access and the service (and usually the food) absolutely sucked every time we visited.

[mattjank]

This doesn't surprise me. That location was kind of weird to access and the service (and usually the food) absolutely sucked every time we visited.

Only went for breakfast, and the crew that worked the morning shift was very friendly, and the food was always good.

[HangryHippo]

Only went for breakfast, and the crew that worked the morning shift was very friendly, and the food was always good.

I only ever visited for lunch and dinner.

[PaddyShack]

Interesting, they still have their food trailer set up in Yukon as of two days ago.

I want to give an update and say that the food trailer is no longer in Yukon.

[BoulderSooner]

Johnnie's Express in Norman is now closed. They were open last week, and this morning have a notice saying the shop is closed and to visit the closest location in Moore.

that is sad i bet that location had been open for 20 years or so

[thunderbird]

West has closed.

The Provision Concepts guys had taken it over but their deal only ran through the fall, and they decided to pull the plug.

The Johnnies group (Rick Haynes & Co.) still have a lease and made a big investment, so they may eventually try to restart something there.

I had not noticed this closing but not surprised in the least. I drive by that location 20x a day and it was clear it was doing worse than ever. I wondered why they didn't setup a Hatch there - learning now that they were just leasing makes sense.

I loved the Urban Jonnies concept, I assume they just spent too much to keep it profitable - perhaps a version of that concept would work there. I know I would go a few times a week at least. That area of town could use another casual bar space similar to the deep deuce location. Everything around it too upscale for most occasions aside from Republic.

[mugofbeer]

Ouch! My OU son loves Johnnies. This will make a mark on him.

[Harbinger]

The Oklahoman reporting that Kwan's Kitchen has closed...
https://oklahoman.com/article/563313...-first-vendors

[Pete]

^

They made a MASSIVE investment in that space.

Tons of expensive, custom woodwork in a very large building.

[corwin1968]

The Oklahoman reporting that Kwan's Kitchen has closed...
https://oklahoman.com/article/563313...-first-vendors

They just introduced a new brunch menu and chef this past weekend!

They need to forget the fancy fusion crap and focus on good Chinese food. If they would serve a menu like Fungs, we'd be there quite often. We are already there several times a month for dim sum, which is excellent.

[sooner88]

We went once for Dim Sum and it was great and packed, but I never went outside of that. It was hard for me to drive up to Memorial with so many options on Classen.

[aDark]

That building is so doomed. It's on Memorial but sits far from the road. It looks like a "big box" chain restaurant from the exterior. That place had no chance to succeed despite the admirable efforts to make it a nice space.

Memorial sucks. Driving on Memorial and waiting two green-light cycles before getting through an intersection sucks. Chisholm Creek will keep soaking up the patrons to the detriment of every other restaurant along Memorial.

[chuck5815]

That building is so doomed. It's on Memorial but sits far from the road. It looks like a "big box" chain restaurant from the exterior. That place had no chance to succeed despite the admirable efforts to make it a nice space.

Memorial sucks. Driving on Memorial and waiting two green-light cycles before getting through an intersection sucks. Chisholm Creek will keep soaking up the patrons to the detriment of every other restaurant along Memorial.

They ain't getting any of my money.

[rte66man]

That building is so doomed. It's on Memorial but sits far from the road. It looks like a "big box" chain restaurant from the exterior. That place had no chance to succeed despite the admirable efforts to make it a nice space.

Memorial sucks. Driving on Memorial and waiting two green-light cycles before getting through an intersection sucks. Chisholm Creek will keep soaking up the patrons to the detriment of every other restaurant along Memorial.

Agreed. If I can't get there from the backside mall drive then I don't bother because Memorial is such a cluster.

[SoonerDave]

^

They made a MASSIVE investment in that space.

Tons of expensive, custom woodwork in a very large building.

Given how rapidly OKC's restaurant landscape has expanded and changed in the last year or two, it would seem to me a lot more of these kinds of shakeouts are just about inevitable. Think we're just starting to see the leading edge of it. I have no knowledge of anything, but I think it will be interesting to see where things stand in, say, another year. Hard not to imagine a few high profile places probably going out before things settle down.

[Pete]

^

The shakeout has been happening for a while and the pace is accelerating.

Apart from the additional and more sophisticated competition, it is still very hard to find and keep good employees. The bigger boys have much better training programs and offer more opportunities to move up and to different concepts.

It's the nature of food service that staff are always going to be jumping to the new and hot places, but at least the bigger hospitality companies have a deep bench when that does happen. If the little guys lose a key chef, bartender or waiter you start seeing the "it's gone downhill lately" posts.

And I have to say, given the way things are now it can be really refreshing to go into a Good Egg or Hal Smith concept and get good, consistent service and food. Seems like things are becoming more hit-and-miss by the day.


By the way, keep your eye on Fox Concepts out of Phoenix. Will be entering OKC with Flower Child at 63rd & Grand and have been scouting locations for some of their other concepts. Fox is universally revered and will put even more pressure on the local competition.

[HangryHippo]

By the way, keep your eye on Fox Concepts out of Phoenix. Will be entering OKC with Flower Child at 63rd & Grand and have been scouting locations for some of their other concepts. Fox is universally revered and will put even more pressure on the local competition.

Music to my ears! I love Fox's restaurants!

[Irishman23]

Fox must have 7 or 8 concepts. Ate at North Italia in Plano and loved it.

[Mantison]

Auroura posted that this weekend will be their last service.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMTtXRFRjZ/

[Thomas Vu]

That's odd. I've never seen Aurora not busy.

*edit*
rumored that they had trouble keeping a chef.

[Pete]

^

I said this in the Aurora thread but they had been trying to find a seasoned operator for some time.

The Strubles owned Aurora and they are developers without much (any?) restaurant experience.

But it's very hard for someone else to take over an existing operation. What makes more sense is to close down completely and let the next group in change things to make it their own. Hope that happens here.

[Libbymin]

They seemed to indicate that they had other plans in store for the Plaza so I'm curious to see what that is. Sad and very surprising for them to close though, especially so suddenly.

[jccouger]

Looks like The Zu sports grill in Edmond will be closing.

[thunderbird]

That place was gross, IMO - Looks like the Mule is going in that spot now.

[mgharfeh]

That place was gross, IMO - Looks like the Mule is going in that spot now.

Can’t tell if that’s just a joke or is The Mule really going in that spot? Hope it’s real!