whiskey cake kitchen & bar

absolutely adore everything about this place! great new addition to okc. i was lucky enough to be invited to the soft opening and everything was excellent! i'm a vegetarian and so they offered to let me switch to the edamame and mushroom burger. my girlfriendsordereda pork dinner and turkey sandwich and they loved their meals. i couldn't say enough positive things about my veg burger! it was delicious! the atmosphere is very earthy, kitschy, farmhouse, even down to the bartenders who wear suspenders and newsboy hats. ;) the whiskey cake was just sinful...sooooooo delicious!! homemade whipped cream and the most decadent cake i've ever tasted! this is definitely our new favorite spot! chef kenneth kills it here! keep it up whiskey cake! :)

saturday brunch - 5-25. four women went to the new restaurant to celebrate a birthday and were sad to see the elephant bar all gone. still, we were pleased with the new ambience and were seated immediatley, although the place was crowded. we thought the menu was all about alcoholic drinks with four pages of drinks and only one with the brunch offerings. we started to leave but then decided why not stay and try it, a new restaurant at least deserves one try. weordereda variety of eats, including the home made tomato soup. upon tasting our entrees and soup we quickly changed our minds about the place and decided it would be one of our regular eateries now. the manager, who recognized our little group from his last restaurant job, was most pleasant, welcoming and informative. the foods are prepared from fresh foods daily and were extremely tasty. one of the things i found really wonderful was the bread. i haven't had bread like that since i was in new england. thin, crisp exterior with a warm, ever so soft center. the soups change daily and are also made from scratch. someone in the kitchen really knows how to "scratch"! it was unbelievebly good and not acidy like most tomato soups are. mmmmmm, we'll be back again very soon.

be prepared for drink up charge. went to check the place out on may 10th. good ambience, interesting decor. food was eclectic and reasonably good. prices were average to a bit high, but the whiskey cake was excellent. complaint is to warn fine whiskey drinkers to be aware of the up charge when ordering your drinks on the rocks. iorderedthe tom handy rye at $25 a pop, on the rocks, and was surprised to see the bill for $27. upon inquiring, i was told by the manager that this is the "up charge" for the larger pour furnished on the rocks and quote "every bar does the same thing". sorry to say, but the manager, who looked 1/2 my age admitted that he had not been to a number of restaurants i named in la, nyc, boston, vancouver, san francisco, london, frankfurt, seattle, vegas, phoenix, dallas and all of the more upscale places in okc, which have never charged me more for a drink poured over ice. the issue wasn't the 5 - 6 dollars that he eventually refunded, it was the underhanded way they tried to squeeze a few extra bucks onto the tab and the condescending manner in which they tried to "educate" me as to the finer points of bar tending finesse. even though you can find this practice by googling it, i have never, ever, ever, been charged more than the price listed just because iorderedice with my drink, anywhere in the world. so go, enjoy the average food at slightly higher than average prices and hope you don't have to deal with anyone other than your server.

i went in for dinner last friday night and then again this last week. second time, not by choice (co-workers wanted to try it out). the place looked pretty cool when i drove by so we decided to stop in. walking in, there was a wait. no problem. it's friday night. when we were seated, we sat in an almost dark part of the restaurant. i couldn't even read the menu. our waitress taylor, came about 5 minutes after we were seated. she hardly spoke to us the entire time and came off a bit snooty and cold. which must be the theme of this place since it was about 40 degrees in the restaurant. the menu was different, which i liked since my wife and i are pretty adventurous eaters. weordereda couple drinks from the bar, which were delecious but not worth the 20 minute wait to actually get them. our waitress took our order (i had the omg burger and my wife got the lamb dip). food was actually really tasty and came out in a timely manner. thank goodness, because my wife was frigid cold. also, the floors were wet throughout the place. it made it look dirty, and i even saw a waitress nearly fall. anyway, we didn't see our waitress for a while, i guess she was too busy with the table of young men she was constantly hovering over. all together, that visit was about a c average. food was pretty, but service was sub-par.

later in the week when my co-workers and i went for lunch it was a different atmosphere. no wait, lots of employees helping each other out, and everything was efficient and delicious. our waitress tamara was so sweet and knowledgeable. she seemed passionate about the place and told us what the place was about, unlike out waitress from friday night. i loved hearing about all the local oklahoma products they use. even the fountian drinks! pretty cool. the lunch menu is just about the same as the dinner menu. i must say, the bredding on the fried green tomatoes is amazing. i tried the bahn mi, which was pretty good. not sure its worth the price, but very tasty. also, i cant forget about how amazing the whiskey cake is! its to die for. id come back just for that heavenly whiskey cake! this may sound odd, but the only thing to really complain about was how many people, managers and wait staff kept bothering us. it was a working lunch, so it would have been nice to not have a different person coming up to the table every 4 minutes asking how things were. a manager (i think and hope it was a manger, management apparently do not wear name tags or uniforms) asked us 3 times how we were. we kind of joked about this woman, who looked about 21 in wrinkled clothes who kept coming by as if she forgot she talked to us every 10 minutes. maybe there's a lack of communication, i don't know.

so all in all, i'd recommend everyone try this place at least once. it's nice to have a different and new restaurant here in okc. but be prepared for an expensive experience! it is a little overpriced but a refreshingly different expirence.

**updated** total turn-around!. after i wrote my initial review (below), i received a call from the manager, apologizing and asking us to call ahead next time, so he could guarantee us a fantastic experience. my husband and i decided to go in tonight on a whim, and it was a night-and-day experience! excellent service, outstanding food (i had the chicken melt and my husband had the smoked duck), climate control issues fixed. we were seated within the promised wait time, and offered drinks while we waited. darnell, our server, was very attentive. overall, it was a great experience -- no call-ahead to the manager necessary! i guarantee we'll be back!

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we went with some family members -- party was 9 people total. the restaurant was freezing cold, and our server told us the thermostat was not working properly and they couldn't adjust the temperature up. a member of our partyordereda mixed drink, the rest of usordered"standard" beverages. our beverages came fairly quickly (with the exception of the drink), but we sat for 20 minutes before our server took our order.

after another 20 minutes, the kids' meals came out. when the member of our party who hadorderedthe drink asked about it, our server told her she "would have to check on it" with the bartender. when our party member said she'd rather cancel it, the story instantly changed to "oh, the bartender is mixing it now. it'll be right out". fascinating, since you never left our table -- but suddenly you know exactly where the drink is in the bartender's queue. the drink then arrived in 5 minutes (it's magic!).

15 minutes after the kids' meals were served, most of the rest of the table's food arrived -- in stages. different members of the three tickets received their food at different times, and three items were left off entirely. the food was very good, but frankly overpriced. after another 15 minutes, when our server reappeared, we asked about the items missing (2 salads and a side of green beans). we were told (again) that she would check on it. we asked to cancel the items, since we were done eating and beyond ready to go. our server left our table -- 5 minutes later, a runner with a salad appeared at our table and was insistent that we take it. we told him "no, we asked our server to cancel it." after we argued with him and repeatedly refused the salad, he left. our server came back -- we reiterated to her that we no longer wanted the items, we just wanted our checks. another 10 minutes went by -- and another runner showed up with a salad, insisting it was ours. we declined it, but he set it down on the table next to one of the kids (who isn't going to argue with him about it because she's 7!) and walked away without a word. closer inspection of the salad revealed it wasn't even one of the salads we had ordered.

it took another 30 minutes to wrap up the checks and get out. we were offed free dessert (no thanks, we don't want to wait another 45 minutes), and we were not charged for the items the kitchen left off our order (i don't even want to think about how long that would have taken to sort out). our server was very attentive, when she was present. but she was mia for some fairly long stretches, and we never saw anyone who resembled a manager on the floor, checking on service or guests.

while the food is tasty, the service is abysmal. the kitchen seems to have some serious organization issues, and i have to assume that servers have been instructed to do whatever it takes to prevent guests from cancelling items because they're tired of waiting -- which is sad in and of itself. i lost count of the number of times i saw kitchen runners go to a table with hot food, have the table tell them that's not what we ordered, and then wander until they found a server who could point them in the right direction -- as the food rapidly cools in the frigid restaurant.

for the price ($15-25 per entree), it's just not worth it. the food is very good, no question -- but the restaurant is incredibly loud, compounding the ridiculously slow service.

very good restaurant with a unique aesthetic. the service was prompt and accurate, and i really enjoyed my meal. iordereddeviled eggs (very good with unique additions), a burger, and a whiskey cake. the burger was amazing, but also fairly steep (13.50). the whiskey cakes are awesome, and a great way to finish a meal. they offer bottled jams and condiments from the local area, and the bar should impress most who drink as well.

somewhat steep, but a great spot for a treat every now and then. great food, atmosphere, and service.

husband and i thoroughly enjoyed our first time here. it went on valentine's day and waited about 15-20 mins.

the lighting is very dark inside. i don't know if they dub it "mood lighting" but i don't like it. we sat at a higher table with metal chairs. i found the "plates" odd because they weren't plates! our deviled eggs appetizer with smoked short ribs and a horseradish cream was served on a dark wood stained 2x4 with little grooves to hold the eggs. husbandorderedthe omg burger and i had the thai pork sandwich, both with kettle chips which were delicious but i wouldn't call them kettle chips because they weren't super crunchy. our meals were served on ceramic tiles! i don't understand... i just want a plate!

besides that, our food was so delicious! weorderedthe whiskey cake and wow! nice and soft, with the nice homemade whipped cream! definitely worth getting again.

what's nice about this place is almost everything on their menu is local. they work with the locals to keep their menu fresh and in season. and their menu changes with the season. also cool!

we will definitely come back.

the whiskey cake did not live up to its name. weorderedit and waited for 15 minutes to receive it and it seemed dried out and old. the restaurant wasn't crowded, so i'm not sure what the problem was. maybe we'll try again in a few weeks, maybe not.

very good whiskey cake dessert is to die for wait service very attentive love freshness of menuordered4 different entrees and shared great experience

not at all what i expected. the food was not good at all. first weorderedbarbecue duck wings which did not come from a duck. not good flavor whatever kind of meat it was, maybe pork, couldn't tell, but i know what duck tastes like. then our meals were very substandard. so disappointing.

excellent pub type food. i'd been to whiskey cake before, but just for appetizers at a work related function. my wife and i finally got in for lunch a few days ago. we both left thinking perhaps the "omg burger" is perhaps the best burger we've ever had. i actually had a different sandwich, which was also superb, but we each only had half of what weorderedand traded so we could both try different dishes. the service was excellent and the ambiance is as good as any around. we'll certainly be back, no doubt fairly soon.

disappointing. my book group went for a holiday dinner. i was looking forward since i love the concept. unfortunately the restaurant does not live up to it's hype. i understand why the restaurant was less than half full.

i wanted an aged bourbon but the menu gives you no clue to how old the bourbons are. don't bother to ask the waitress because she has no idea how old any are or anything about any of the listed ones. i picked one that she thought was 12 years old. they were out but the bartender recommended one that was 11 years old; they had nothing older. it was at best adequate and greatly overpriced at $11 for a minimal amount.

at the waitress's recommendation iorderedthe lamb stack. i guess it is called that because they cut the sandwich in half and put the second half on top of the first half. the sandwich had overcooked very thin slices of lamb with a miniscule amount of sauce and a very poor quality slice of tomato. again greatly overpriced.

there are only two desserts on the menu - whiskey cake (only one kind) and the dessert of the day (which was caramel chip ice cream). i got the whiskey cake and could not taste the whiskey. the one redeeming thing was that they left the bowl with the whipped cream (although it was not great; tasted like it was out of a can).

i managed to find a free space when someone was leaving; otherwise it would have cost me 5$ for valet parking.

overpriced, underseasoned, bad service. went to whiskey cake for a reunion with some friends. we allordereddrinks. i had the tennessee stud. awful. my friendorderedthe great escape. she hated it as well. we were all jealous of our smart friend whoordereda draft beer. we told our server we weren't big fans of our drinks when he asked how they were, and his response was "oh, that's too bad." then he darted off. we did order our fried green tomatoes appetizer, which consisted of 5 slices. delicious!! well worth it, but i've had better portions for the same price at other places. one friend had the turkey burger, and the menu said they would "serve up a few kettle chips with them." boy, they weren't kidding. she had 3 tiny kettle chips with her tiny sky-high burger. she alsoorderedit without the cranberry, and it came with cranberry. it came back to her with cranberry raked off, but you could still see little remnants all over it. i had the farm bird. first, it was tiny. second, it was bland. i really wish i would haveordereda side, but my friendordereda side of "parmesean" fries that made mcdonald's fries look awesome. the only difference is that i would have actually put parm on them, because they didn't. my extremely non-picky friend hated her duck. the service was slow, poor and the place looked like a club. this was my second time there. hated it the first time, hated it this time. i will never go back.

three strikes - you're out. this was our third visit to the okc whiskey cake. since we like it so much the first two times, we thought it would be a great place to celebrate a birthday. although it is better than the plano location (by far), this visit didn't live up to our last two experiences. we visited mid-afternoon on sunday, after the after church rush. there were only a few tables, so being busy wasn't an issue. it didn't seem to help the quality of the service though. the music was ridiculously loud, and was quite obnoxious. as we sat down, it actually sounded like alarms were going off, but no, it was just horrible music. the drinks weorderedwere okay, but not nearly as good as the first two times. as we were waiting for our food, a couple was seated right next to us (about a foot away in the almost empty restaurant). she like talked loudly, like, the entire time, like we were there and we like got to hear like everything that was like happening in her really stressful life. weorderedthe goat cheese fondue appetizer ($10 - worth $7), which is our favorite, but this time the middle of the cheese was still refrigerator cold. cold goat cheese isn't bad, but it certainly isn't fondue. (strike one) one of our partyorderedthe rotisserie farm bird ($16 - worth $10 max). the chicken, a rather small breast and wing, were moist, but didn't have much flavor. the wilted spinach was watered down with the mustard onion jus that had even less flavor (strike two). he was still so hungry that heorderedthe hand cut parmesan fries. they were hot, and crispy (for the first five minutes), but were incredibly under seasoned and had no parmesan sprinkled on them. we had to ask for hot sauce twice before we got some so they would have any flavor at all (strike three). the next individual in our partyorderedthe bbq banh mi ($13 - worth $8). it was served on a nice baguette, with flavorful pulled pork, fresh veggies and cilantro. it was served with homemade chips. about six of them. the last dishorderedwas the omg burger ($13 - worth $10). we were asked if we wanted it cooked medium, medium well or well. we requested medium at most. it was well. very well done. unfortunately, by the time it came, we were so hungry we just ate it. it was also quite salty. the mushrooms were fine, and the onion ring on the burger was good, but the leaf lettuce they used was completely wilted and slimy by the time it was served (strike three). what was becoming one of our favorites is now on our disappointment list

love!. atmosphere was more relaxed than i was expecting which was perfect. we relunctantlyorderedthe deviled eggs since i can make deviled eggs any night of the week. they were excellent - almost too pretty to touch. iorderedthe three little pigs which were three pulled pork sliders served on a brick. when it says served with coleslaw and fried onions, it means on the sandwhich. no sides. still they were great. iorderedthe texas blueberry drink - don't let the egg white deter you, it was a delicious drink. as we were leaving a lady was taking care of the garden outside so we stopped to ask her a question and as she was answering our questions, she handed us two cherry tomatoes off the vine. a great ending to a great dining experience.