earl's rib palace

the bbq formula. this trip to earl's rib palace in bricktown was a lunch stop for me and a group of co-workers. located just above the canal, it has a nice atmosphere and good view, especially on a beautiful spring day like today was.
the line to order was moderate, reaching out the door and twenty feet down the sidewalk. there is a lunch special board inside you can peruse as you wait in line. today's special (thursday), was the "tcb burger". as i was told by an employee, "tcb" stands for "taking care of business". i'm guessing the fact that it comes with "tomato, cheese and bacon" is lost on no one. however, i'm visiting oklahoma, and i'm at a bbq place, so i gotta do some bbq. the cashier said that the burgers are considered to be better than the bbq by a lot of people and that i should that go with. i told her "next time".
i ordered the sliced beef brisket sandwich, with fried okra. i also ordered a generic large drink, and was given a monster cup to take to the self-service machine. i chose unsweetened tea, and partook of the lemon and lime wedges available at the drink bar. there is a number on your receipt to identify your particular order. we chose to sit outside where there are a dozen or so round tables. most of the tables had umbrellas for shade. the servers roam around the restaurant hollering numbers when an order is ready. not random numbers of course, but the number for the order in there hand. this is mildly annoying when you have a server coming by every thirty seconds hollering. a chip or tag placed on the table would be much better, as the constant shouting would not be required. after a five or six minute wait, my number was called.
the beef brisket was served on a grill-toasted white bun (wheat bun on request). it was a healthy portion; five nice sized chunks arranged on the bun, and came only with a few slices of red onion. a few dill pickle chips would be nice, but you do get a pickle spear. the brisket was flavorful, but surprisingly dry. a liberal amount of mild andhotbbq sauce (available at each table), did the trick. the sauces were good, and the meat had a nice, smoky flavor. it was ok, but it was nothing spectacular owing to the dryness. the okra, however, was excellent. it was hot, fresh, crisp and flavorful. the golden brown little nuggets were crunchy on the outside, and moist on the inside. throw a little bbq sauce in the mix, and "oh, heaven". perfect. the portion size was very generous, so no complaint there.
two co-workers had the "tcb burger". they both loved them. one finished his, barely, but couldn't make it through his side of okra. the other could finish neither the burger nor the huge side of fries that accompanied the burger (there way too many). he said that if he were there with his wife, they could split this order and both walk away stuffed.
overall it was just ok at best. the wait was moderate, both to order and for the food. the brisket was dry, the okra was good. only two sauces (i am used to four or five at most bbq joints), kind of surprised me. no mustard, no sweet, no "hellfire" or "devil spit" sauces. i would come back here if i was in the neighborhood, but it's not someplace i would go out of my way to come back to. next time, i'll skip the bbq and have the burger. oh yeah, and the okra (mmmmm. perfect okra. okra. okrahoma? coincidence? i think not ).

watch your drinks. ribs were fair - very fatty, lukewarm, and not much flavor. the sauce did help. spouse hadhotlinks - good. beans very good, other sides of green beans, potato salad and corn were just ok. very concerned that when our server took our drinks away to refill, our drink cups were switched with another table, discovered after i had taken a drink of 'my' tea. hey, i don't mind sharing on a lot of things, but i draw the line at drinking after total strangers. didn't blame the young server - obviously poorly trained. but i did address the drink-switch with the manager, and he offered excuses and made no aplolgies. i'll take my business elsewhere.

the atmosphere was good.  the employees were friendly and more helpful than what i expected.  my major disappointment was the bbq sauce and the ribs.  the bbq sauce was not bbq sauce, it was just a brown sauce with nothing but sugar.  i don't who would call that stuff bbq sauce..., maybe somebody from siberia..., anyway.  the ribs were dry and had very little seasoning.  i can handle dry meat as long as it is seasoned well.  they also had somehotsauce on the table with the bbq sauce. . ., not sure what that stuff was either, but it had literally no flavor.  i had to try it a second time to make sure, it was weird.  i had some coleslaw..., i've had better coleslaw at long john silvers.  i'm used to there being some juice in it.  really the best thing here was the okra.  i love okra.  seemed like i got a pretty good deal for $3.99, so i'll be back for the okra.

not the best bbq place. first, i have to say that the service was excellent and the fried okra was the best i've ever had anywhere! however, i can't say much for the rest of the meal. thehotsauce and the mild sauce tasted almost identical. there was no heat to thehotat all. we thought mild sauce was accidentally put in thehotcontainer and asked the waitress about it. she said that's just how it tastes and gave us another bottle so we could see for ourselves. the brisket was so dry i could barely choke it down. the ribs weren't too bad, but they were a little greasy. i got a loaded baked potato, but it wasn't even warm enough to melt the cheese. and when i took my first bite of the potato, i got a mouthful of unmelted butter -- yuck! they may have been having a bad night there, but i would never go back to a rib place that doesn't have at least a medium sauce, much less ahotsauce. mild sauce, to me, is too bland.

always delicious!. earl's is always my go to if the family cant decide where they want to eat. you can depend on the food to behotand tasty and service to be friendly. i recommend the cheddar burger with two sides of grilled jalapenos! one of the best burgers in town (even though its @ a bbq place) and probably the most reasonably priced burger at any restaurant without a drive thru!

earl's is okay. first the location is excellent. they have options for indoor and outdoor seating. we were seated and served quickly. i had the pulled pork dinner with fried okra and baked beans. it was nice andhotupon arrival. the pulled pork was cooked perfectly just lacked flavor. the fried okra was nice and crispy; the breading was not too salty. as for the baked beans... the flavor was not the way i prefer them but that is just my personal preference. i intend on returning and giving the ribs a try. overall, a decent experience. i would rate it 7 out of 10.

pissed off customer. me and my family went in for ahotmeal and was served cold food and burned buns. the server was the worst ever. i had to repeat myself several times. by the time i was able to talk to a manager i was ready to leave. the manager offered to replace our food but the entire experience sucked. so this was a waist of $48.00 so needless to say we wont ever be back. however earls over all is a great place to eat just not the bricktown location. sad part is because of this experience i will not waist my time at any of their locations.

pretty terrible. the worst bbq i've ever eaten. the place looked really cool to eat at before the thunder game, but the food was pretty bad, to say the least. ribs were the only thing that was decent. the bologna andhotlinks were not worthy of being served at a bbq buffet. thehotlinks were so greasy, they left your teeth orange colored. i'm not kidding, this place was pretty bad. i hope for their sake, they had an off night.

decent bbq, great service. i am new in town and always on the lookout for new bbq joints. i read many mixed reviews about earl's before heading down to bricktown to check it out myself. here's another one:
earl's in bricktown is a fabulous location, right on the river and across from the stadium. very fun to visit in that regard. the staff are friendly and the service was prompt. on a busy saturday night we were seated within about ten minutes. i asked the server for a beer recommendation and he did not disappoint!
my husband and i both ordered the big earl (two meat choices plus two sides) and fried okra to start. he ordered sliced brisket andhotlinks with a side of curly fries and coleslaw, i ordered turkey and chopped brisket with the baked beans and potato salad. the okra portion was huge and tasted great, served up pipinghotwith a nice ranch dipping sauce. less than five minutes later, our food arrived.
the sliced brisket was fabulous- super tender and flavorful. my husband enjoyed hishotlinks but they weren't my thing. my turkey was a bit of a letdown- sort of like thick sliced deli turkey, nothing special. the chopped brisket was fine, if a little fatty (my husband loved it though). all in all the meat was good.
the sides were where it all went wrong. the potato salad was decent but i don't think i'd order it again. the beans were just wrong, kind of sweet. and the coleslaw had giant chunks of red onion and green bell pepper amongst small chopped cabbage. not sure what that was all about, but it wasn't very good.
there were two bbq sauce option + ketchup at the table:hotand mild. the two mixed together made a pretty tasty sauce, but i wish there had been more choices.
the ambiance of this place was a bit like a bootleg famous dave's (i believe there is one in tulsa) without the blues, but the food doesn't live up to theirs.
i will continue my quest for great bbq in okc!

i liked it. ribs are good...wings...i think they gave me thehotones by mistake...made me sweat buckets in public once then were mild the next time. they don't want to sell beer tho...walked from the residence yet i was never offered a second beer? maybe they don't make money on beer?