Cal's Chicago Style Eatery — Restaurant in Oklahoma City

After living the first half of my life in Chicago, and moving to OKC in 2019, I have been seeking authentic Chicago cuisine - namely, italian beef, italian sausage, gyros, chicago hot dogs, and even pizza puffs. I was excited to see all of this on the menu at Cal's. I had really high hopes, seeing the descriptions and photos online.

So, we went to Cal's for dinner this evening. First, the positives - their French Fries are outstanding. Chili cheese fries also very good. The Gyros was pretty decent but a little skimpy on the meat, and would be better in my opinion without lettuce (in my 50+ years in Chicago, I have never seen lettuce on a Gyros). The Tzatziki sauce served with the Gyros was also excellent.

Sadly, I was underwhelmed by the beef/sausage combo sandwich. Quality authentic ingredients, but the preparation was lacking something. The sandwich had some tasty giardiniera peppers on top. But the (excellent quality) sausage was not char-grilled like you usually see in Chi-town - almost like it was boiled or microwaved? Not sure of that - but it was not quite right. The roll was great (Turano?) and the beef was actual real beef - but was a little thin in the portion-size and flavor departments. And where you would normally have your sandwich "dipped" in a dark, tasty, seasoned italian beef broth, it was instead soaked in a salty briny broth. Maybe the seasoning was there, but I could not tell - it was hidden behind way-too-much salt. I could not eat it.

Pizza puffs? Not a good measure of culinary expertise - Usually, pizza puffs are a deep fried horribly-bad-for-you culinary delight. The one we shared was a bit underdone and - did I hear a microwave? Did not have that crisp "right out of the fryer" crunch. Not sure how Cal's does their puffs - but it was definitely underdone.

Service? well - it's a hotdog/beef joint right? Even considering that, the young kids at the wheel were very polite, but had no "hustle" - took 25 minutes to put our dinner together. I am sure they were trying to do good - but compared to anywhere you go in Chicago for a similar meal, 5-10 minutes TOPS.

To summarize, so far Cal's has the best "Chicago style" food I have found in OKC so far. I will try it again - mainly to check out their hot dog. Still, not as good as I had hoped. Not bad but not great. Lots of potential here with a...

6.16.2024 - Father’s Day

Coming in this fine Sunday, we expect nearly every location to be hosting a high volume of patrons - with that in mind, we genuinely don’t mind waiting for our food.. however..

we had ordered a philly steak sandwich, chilli cheese dog & the gyro sandwich at approximately 12:01 - all meals totaling nearly $50. We sat down.. waited.. looked around and realized a handful of people were waiting for their food, too - maybe they’re just really popular? 30 minutes go by.. the owner’s daughter had stopped by every table to further confirm everyone’s order then quickly rushed back to the kitchen. A few more minutes go by & a group of people who had ordered after us received their order.. this was when we decided to ask for a refund since we had been waiting nearly 50 minutes for our order.

As we asked for a refund, the daughter communicated that they had lost our order in their queue but that it’s being prepared however, I had work quite soon and we expected to have ate and left by then - she then asked for her mother and intervened stating “we won’t give you a refund for the drinks” okay, that’s fine, we just wanted a refund for the food we never received. The mother was apologetic and did refund us for the full amount and made it right.

We just wish they were properly staffed to relieve stress on their staff and further create a positive experience for...

Cal's Chicago Style Eatery is tucked into the shopping center west of Dental Depot off Hefner Road. The establishment was decorated in a "old style diner fashion". The staff members and owners were very friendly, nice, and genuine people.

We ordered their Gyro Special when it was in action, and was not disappointed! The gyro sandwich by itself cost $6+tax, which is affordable and appropriately priced amongst the gyro competition. The sandwich comes in an abundance of vegetables, along with - of course - the wonderful gyro meat. If you are a Tzatziki sauce fan, you have to ask for the sauce. The gyro sandwich itself was not too oily and with good flavors. And with the special - buy one, get one free - it was even better! Wanting to try out more of their food, we ordered a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich with a side order of fries - and we were not disappointed! The meat was flavored correctly, cheese melting, and the fries in the "fried once" style (basically crispy on the outside, very soft in the inside). All in all, the food was very delicious.

There wasn't a lot of people when we went, but there were a steady stream of people coming in for take outs and dining in alike. Will have to try their Chicago...