The Vortex Craft Burgers & BBQ — Restaurant in Midwest City

First off, for those that don't know why a BBQ place is called The Vortex, it's because the owners are storm chasers, and the entire menu is Tornado/Storm Themed. And, you should probably like and follow their socials, not just for the food, but also because their storm chaser side shows up with alerts, info, and even storm prep classes, so it's a TWO FER. Or maybe a EF-TWO fer...

They also have a 4.9 Google rating from 70 reviews...solidly outranking several places that have made 'Best of' lists and brackets, and placing them well within the Top 100 Oklahoma BBQ Places You Must Try Before You Die (from our TOP 1000 list). Maybe it's their relative newness compared to other, established BBQ joints as to why they aren't as well known--but there is definitely something in the smokers out here in the EOC...

Since I hadn't had any of the EF burgers AND I wanted to try the brisket, I decided on the obvious choice for lunch -- The Debris Ball. This is a huge, hand formed MOAB topped with sliced brisket, cheese, and onion strings, served on a large buttered and toasted bun. It's an $18 burger...for a reason. I'm not sure how much meat was on it, but it requires two people to haul the tray to the table. Seriously, there was a mound of meat on this thing! Could easily be two meals, it's that big.

The burger was served a nice medium, and while I prefer mine on the medium rare side, it was juicy and delicious. The brisket was moist and tender, with really good flavor -- I was pleasantly surprised since my first brisket experience wasn't as enjoyable. (I chalked it up to just opened hiccups and trying to get all the things figured out, and as such didn't hold it against them--and definitely didn't blast them on the socials :) )

The fried onions and the sauce make for a great combo and is everything a burger that eats like a meal should be!

They offer a variety of sides, but I went for the sidewinder fries, which are a nice take on fried potato side dishes, and there were plenty of them, thin, crispy and delicious.

What is also great about The Vortex is they have lunch specials ($12 meat, side and drink combo), a kids eat free night (Thursday), various meat coma platters, and they do catering as well.

So the next time you're hungry for a burger or BBQ and you just watched Twisters, head over to The Vortex in Spencer/Nicoma Park/Midwest City/The EOC and settle in for a flavor storm that will rain down deliciousness (see what I did there :) )

Side note: the other picture is of their $12 chopped brisket sandwich lunch special that #theunkownguy had. As you can see, there was a mound of meat piled on that sandwich as well. And it must have been good, because he hardly said a word as he...

We have to give a big fat NO to this place. We went here last night. They were out of ribs, brisket and chicken, and they were also out of carbonation for the soda machine. This SHOULD have been our cue to leave, but we didn't. I had the hot link, pulled pork and bbq beans (which ended up NOT being bbq beans) and a sweet tea. My wife had the jalepeno sausage, pulled pork, and potato salad and a sweat tea. For this, we were charged $51. WOW. Way over priced!!! It took about 10 to 15 minutes to come out, and I'm not really sure why because the food was luke warm, not hot. As far as flavor and everything, the food was fine other than the weird not-bbq beans. I really don't know what kind of beans they were, but yeah, definitely not bbq. I took one bite of them and was like "nope!", so my wife tried them and then looked at me and said "ok, those are gross". How do you screw up bbq beans???? I'm thinking they would be better served to use canned bbq beans from a store. Then to top it all off, both of our meals came with an itty-bitty cup of bbq sauce. Chincy! Both of our meals were more like lunch specials rather than dinners, and again, at the amazingly low price of $51! Nope, not worth it! Apparently, no one else thinks it is worth it either, because there was only one other table occupied in the place. The staff was 3 or 4 teenagers; I never did see an actual adult. Naturally, no one ever bothered to come by and check on us. And then, to top it all off, they played religious music the entire time we were there. NO THANK YOU! Not what I want to hear while eating "dinner". So, yeah, this is an absolute one and done for us. We...

Y'all this is the best pulled pork W of the Mississippi River! (and I'm a Memphis girl so I know all about good 'Q!) If you are craving BBQ, you will not leave The Vortex disappointed OR hungry! Owners, Jason & Darnell will fill you up with some mighty fine eatin'. Anytime I don't feel like cooking, all I have to do is mention The Vortex to my husband he's out the door! My go-to is always a pulled pork sammich with a little of their homemade cole slaw on it, with crispy fried okra (ask for well done) - and do NOT sleep on those turnip greens! Jason cooks those up himself and adds love or magic or some dang thing, but he definitely 'sticks his foot in it!' My husband loves the ribs, smoked sausage & chicken leg quarters equally, so usually gets all three - with potato salad and beans, although the seasoned sidewinder fries are pretty tasty too. Even the bread for the Texas toast is special! They serve craft burgers too, but I'm there for the BBQ. The service is fast & friendly and kids eat free on Thursday evenings - they also have daily lunch specials. There's a nice separate dining area for family gatherings, meetings or celebrations that you can reserve. They sell family packs to-go or will cater your event. Jason is also a certified stormchaser so when he's not cooking he's out chasing supercells and keeping us safe! Stop by for a meal soon or pickup up some takeout to eat at home - you'll thank me later! Checkout their Facebook page or website for more info, specials and food photos - I'm always too busy eatin' mine to take a...