Rock Cafe — Local services in Stroud

Everything one could wish from a genuine Route 66 Cafe. The adjoining Ed Smalley Park memorializing the founder and honoring military service personnel from Chandler was a welcome Siesta from the midday Sun and Heat. Easy parking whether you're headed east or west on Route 66. The Rock Cafe sign stands out clearly and is easy to spot when you're driving up. The native stone-built 1939 cafe is surprisingly roomy on the inside due to a thoughtful floor plan. Includes good wheelchair access. Tables and window booths available. They let me pick. I walked in a side entrance and coming up that short hallway there's a cut out wall which allows good view of the kitchen. Appeared to be clean and well-organized. Service was quick and constant, and I mean that in a good no pressure way. Just making sure I was having a good experience and my needs were well attended. Everyone on the floor managed to stop by and inquire about that at least twice. I had the bunless buffalo burger with sauerkraut. Sweet tea. And hot oatmeal pie with vanilla ice cream. I am not a good cook. But I know good food when I taste it. My friend Dean, a superb Camp cook, has taught me it is easy to mess up game including Buffalo. By trying to cook it as if it were our more familiar domesticated Meats. These folks did not make those errors. And the bits I saved for my dogs almost got my pockets ripped off in their eagerness to get at it when they got a whiff of it! The sauerkraut was also delicious, my German mother would have approved. The sweet tea with crushed ice was served in a souvenir cup with lid. Free refills! The recommended peach pie I'm told is a hand-me-down family recipe; I have never had oatmeal pie so I gave that a try instead and the serving was not just tasty, it was large enough to be a quick breakfast all by itself. While I was there the cafe had a smooth flow of visitors. I believe everyone who came in got the same sort of service I have experienced. And the easy repartee between staff and other customers made it clear that locals were in good attendance of this place as well. While the inside and outside both give a nod to their Route 66 and Cars movie touchpoints, this place does not rely on those to win the hearts, minds and stomachs of their customers. One last surprise to me. I wanted a laminated souvenir table mat. They have the full menu showing their standard items and their unique offerings on one side and a cartoon map of Oklahoma with various points of interest on the other. They sent me next door to the unattended gift shop. Have you ever been in a gift shop where they watch you like a hawk? I repeat this place was unattended. I was expected to shop pick out the things I wanted and bring them back to pay for them in the cafe! Who trusts like that anymore? Give yourself a treat. Stop here for photo op and to eat. If 1939 wasn't like this, it...

Our family saw this restaurant on Triple D and were excited to add the stop to our trip down Route 66. There was some kind of biking event when we stopped in, and it was very busy. It went downhill from there. It was a Wednesday around 10 AM. We were told a 30 to 45 minute wait once we were seated, which we assumed was because the kitchen was busy. Then we watched the bikers coming in and out get their orders taken before ours, including people that came in 15 or 20 minutes after us. The server working our table said someone would be with us soon, and then disappeared for that 15 or 20 minutes; when she finally checked on us and asked if we had been served, she told the other woman we had not had our order taken and we could hear the other woman fussing that she had told us it would be a while and "that's why I told them 30 to 45 minutes". Her attitude about paying customers was lousy in my opinion. Having worked food service before, I've never seen a restaurant that will just ignore some customers and wait on others during an event like that; why there weren't extra hands or more organization is beyond me. Our server was fine, but the other woman was short and unfriendly. Once we did get our food (which was quickly once we ordered), my husband didn't get silverware and the server took several minutes (and got short with me) to get to us after I had to call out for her so he could even eat. Before we left, I watched the teenager at the next table sit there for about 15 minutes, no menu, no service. Just a disappointing experience. The food was good, but the service was seriously lacking. A low point of our 66 adventure.

Edit, as response to the owner: Having that information would have made it a lot easier to understand; no one explained that the bike group had reservations, just that they were behind taking orders, and it just came off as our family being put in a corner and ignored. I do hope you can get the communication/staffing issues settled and that others have a better experience. Being from Indiana, it is unlikely we will come back to OK, but if we do, we'll be sure to give you...

I was so excited to try Rock Cafe and mark another restaurant on my Rt 66 journey! It's even in the "100 Essential Stops on the Mother Road" book (Amy Bizzarri). One of the best features of a Rt 66 stop is engaging with people, both workers and patrons. Rock Cafe, on Dec 29 at 6:30pm, was NOT such a place. The restaurant was dark and we couldn't tell if anyone was there. One car was in the lot, so I went inside to check. The waitress was rude and pointed to another table, saying, "See? There are people here!" That should have been my tip-off. I brought the family (of 6) inside and we got seated. From the moment they got drink orders, the wait staff (2 young ladies) acted as though we were bothering them. Not once did they smile or even talk, except to get our orders. I asked questions about items and the menu and they had no clue what anything was. The flippant and uncaring attitudes continued throughout the meal. I even got the stink-eye when I asked for a final refill. As we ate, I noticed the cook (dishwasher?) taking plates off of people's tables prematurely and did the same to us. Clearly they had somewhere else to be, and wanted us gone. We should have taken our $140 elsewhere.

The food was good and we got free cups. I definitely would not recommend this place to anyone, and the stop should be removed from Ms. Bizzari's otherwise...