Cafe Sol and 99 Flavor BBQ & Hotpot at NW 178th & Penn

[corwin1968]

The strip mall at NW 178th & Penn has two new restaurants coming, to replace Leonardos and Mei Shi, which never opened. The Leonardo's location now has a sign for "Cafe Sol Latin Cuisine" and the two units on the East end that would have been Mei shi has had 99 Flavor BBQ & Hotpot on it for several months. We regularly see work trucks backed up to that location, so unlike Mei Shi, they do seem to be actually working toward opening. 405 Pizza is still there, as is Cherry Hill Butcher Shop. Hopefully two new restaurants will bring in more traffic to help out Cherry Hill.

[scottk]

What would really help is better signage for these non-chain places. We drive past this everyday on 178th and it's hard to tell what exactly is packed into this strip mall. The street sign hasn't been updated and the LED light sign is also extremely hard to read.

[corwin1968]

What would really help is better signage for these non-chain places. We drive past this everyday on 178th and it's hard to tell what exactly is packed into this strip mall. The street sign hasn't been updated and the LED light sign is also extremely hard to read.

Agreed. Unfortunately, I have not heard much positive about the landlord of that stripmall, so doubtful anything will change.

[cappa]

just FYI for those of you who may have visited Leonardo's and miss their green salsa -- the previous owners have since moved away, but one of their family members has taken up selling the salsa (and queso) from the parking lot every other week. you can order through the Facebook group "Mia Salsa All Day". HIGHLY recommend!!

[MagzOK]

Went to Cafe Sol last night and this little place was bustling! The food was so very good. I had the super nachos with carne aside steak on it and it was mouthwatering. The steak street tacos were absolutely killer! My kids love the aquas frescos they have there and they are quite tasty! It's family run and they're all there and it's a super friendly atmosphere. The owner has a brother who owns The Little Knights Mexican restaurant at Waterloo and Coltrane so this food is in the family. I recommend Little Kights also.

[corwin1968]

Went to Cafe Sol last night and this little place was bustling! The food was so very good. I had the super nachos with carne aside steak on it and it was mouthwatering. The steak street tacos were absolutely killer! My kids love the aquas frescos they have there and they are quite tasty! It's family run and they're all there and it's a super friendly atmosphere. The owner has a brother who owns The Little Knights Mexican restaurant at Waterloo and Coltrane so this food is in the family. I recommend Little Kights also.

I've been in a couple of times, just to try it out. The owners are very friendly, especially the husband, who tends to run the counter. He recommended the green chili pork and it was excellent. Their Al Pastor is a style I don't prefer and the carne asada was very good. I also like their fried plantains and refried black beans. Their rice, like their Al Pastor, is a style I don't prefer, but I'm used to the Mexican style and I think they are Guatemalan, or at least their signature breakfast is. One thing I really like is that they serve brunch on the weekends, with breakfast items.

We haven't actually gone in to eat a meal, just stopped by twice to grab something just to try it. Will probably do brunch this weekend.

[Thomas Vu]

Is it flavor or favor? I tried looking it up and got favor, and even then no listing on their website for OKC.

[corwin1968]

Is it flavor or favor? I tried looking it up and got favor, and even then no listing on their website for OKC.

I'm pretty sure it's "Flavor". The sign has been up for some time and we see work trucks there on a regular basis, but it seems to be slow going. That location went thru the same progression when the sign said "Mei Shi" and that finally fell through, although the other Mei Shi location did open briefly on Penn, down near Freddies and Whataburger.

The owners of both Sol Cafe and Cherry Hill Meat Market said they've spoken with the owners of the new place and they are still on track to eventually open. I'm pretty sure the owner of Sol Cafe told me this past weekend that the "BBQ" part of 99 Flavor is definately Korean, which has us excited.

[calitook]

The strip mall at NW 178th & Penn has two new restaurants coming, to replace Leonardos and Mei Shi, which never opened. The Leonardo's location now has a sign for ". 405 Pizza is still there, as is Cherry Hill Butcher Shop. Hopefully two new restaurants will bring in more traffic to help out Cherry Hill.

(Former) Cherry Hill now has a sign saying Firebirds Meat Market. A small handwritten sign on the door says they're opening soon. (I think next week.) It looks like they have a current location on Council Rd. so I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a new location or a replacement.

[corwin1968]

We've seen what appears to be work ongoing at the 99 Flavors location and there were several cars parked on that end of the parking lot, which I've never seen before. I'm hoping it means they have a staff and are training.

A search today shows that they formed an LLC on May 23, 2023, so hopefully they are close to opening.