Junior's — Restaurant in Oklahoma City

I've heard about Junior's for quite some time living in the OKC metro. It was never explicitly recommended, per se, but people have said that it was good. Needless to say, I had reasonable expectations.

We had booked a large party of 27 there and had done the usual pantomimery that one does at a restaurant of ordering food and drinks etc. The wait staff seemed suitable and attentive. Everything seemed to be going well so far. However, little did I know that this is where things were going to take a bit of a turn.

There is no delicate way of putting this other than simply stating that our main server, whom I had not interacted with yet, was stone cold drunk. I became aware of this after my meal, among others, had taken an unceremonious tumble to the ground. Normally, it would be fine. Accidents happen. He blamed it on physics. However, in my case there was no alacrity in having another steak prepared for me. Much of my large party had finished eating by the time I received my meal. It was 15-20 mins. That's a little excessive by anyone's standards.

On the topic of food, much can be said. My prime ribeye steak was good. It wasn't amazing. It wasn't great. It was good. There was no seasoning at all on it, but after some salt the steak was good. I've had better at cheaper places. Others in my party had similar complaints and feedback. There were some issues with the doneness requests being incorrect, however. The biggest and most glaring issue for me was the plating and sides. Honest to God I was served canned green beans and cold mashed potatoes. They were supposed to be garlic flavored but they had a distinct "band-aid" taste. Needless to say, I stuck with my "good" steak.

Our starters ranged from good to hilarious. There are mozzarella sticks on the menu. On a lark, I ordered them to see if they were special. Nope, I got room temperature, TGIF-level mozzarella sticks with honey mustard. It was more funny than bad. Other people enjoyed the escargot without complaints. The much famed Caesar salad was good, but sadly it wasn't prepared tableside. I assume this is because of COVID.

The drinks were good and strong, and the lady who handled our orders and billing did a fantastic job.

Our night had only just begun you see. After we had finished and were awaiting our checks, time just kept ticking by. Ten minutes. Thirty minutes. One hour. In the interim, a cook from the back loudly announced his impending retirement...colorfully...stripping his clothes as he made his way to the door. We found out later that two other servers, including the drunk one, were fired during our hour-long wait for our check. We were getting dinner and a show it seemed.

The mix up was them having charged the entire room to one person's card, and they didn't know how to ring it up again. Now you might be thinking that we all ordered on one check. You would be wrong, however. They just decided to ring it up that way. I suspect the drunk waiter had a hand in this debacle. From that point on, it was a complete comedy of errors. Eventually, one of our party members was a restaurant manager and had to go and help them sort out their point of sale and billing for our table. To Junior's great credit, they decided to just comp our entire party's meal. I appreciated that and it is the reason I added a star to the review.

If I were to try to sum up Junior's, I would put it somewhere below Cattleman's in terms of meat quality. I would put it below IHOP in terms of sides quality. The decor and menu are definitely designed to appeal to a clientele that is from a by-gone era. I would go back only if I wasn't...

I really dont understand the reviews this place receives.. Where to start.. maybe it was just the evening, but my date and I were the youngest people there by far. I'm 40 if that says anything. I also have many tattoos, so I got gawked at by the majority of the patrons that look like they've enjoyed this place since the 60s. This place is dank and dark. Looks like someone found a restaurant from that Era that use to be classy and flipped on the lights and dusted it off and opened the doors. It looks like Gordon Ramsey needs to come through and renovate. When I left I was seeing red, and it wasn't because I was mad, that's all there was to look at. Now besides the musty out dated look, the place smelled horribly like an old bar because their is a smoking section. All you can do is imagine the people cooking the food to have a cigarette in their mouth. Seriously, we left sneezing. It was disgusting. Now for the food. My date got the ribeye. When she was asking the sides it came with she mentioned a pork allergy, and so the waiter recommended the asparagus. Which was a whopping $9 dollar up charge...broccoli was $8 dollars and so on. I'm sorry, but 55 for a steak, then I should get broccoli and tators. Not the corn it comes with. I'm not a horse. The asparagus was prepared and steamed perfectly, but that's all they were. The steak came out blue and very rare. Half the steak was pure fat and sinew and couldn't be cut up. Not a proper cut of 16oz steak. She ate the rare half that was edible. I tried a bite, and it was just raw, also flavorless. Just tasted like a bite of raw bloody steak. Mashed tators needed a lot of salt. I take it salt isn't used to cater to the tge majority of customers?.. I had the Orange Roughy. The filet was definitely previously frozen. Had that slyexyure and flavor fish takes on when you freeze it. The flavor was that of snowcrab meat. The meat hanging out of the knuckle where the flavor gets boiled out. On top was some Cajon seasoning. The fish was one very flat skinny filet. It was very disappointing. The rice was unexpected and very sweet and tangy. Almost Iike an entire bottle of Orange asian sauce was poured on it and cooked. I expected a plain pilaf to help with flavorful bites of fish. We had waters and still spent over 104 before tip. It was a very regrettably experience. The waiter was nice, but not mentioning the upcharge for the side it should've came with wasn't nice. Over all, this place reminded me a lot of Jamie's Steakhouse. Another place I avoid. Should've spent the little extra and went somewhere else. If they get rid of the smoking, and update the inside and their menu, I might try it again, but until that, this place is on the F...

Junior's used to be a beloved staple in the Oklahoma City community. However, in recent years, the quality has decreased. I personally only go during their lunch service, so please keep that in mind while reading, as their dinner service could vary greatly.

Service: Because Junior's believes in the art of conversation, you'll find that the waitstaff tend to pull back and give you space. You will take your full hour sitting in the restaurant. This isn't too much of an issue if you know what to expect. However, the issues actually start at the door. When you first come in, there is no one to greet you or seat you. And they won't see you. In the past year, I've had to actually walk around to find a staff member. Today, I actually had to call the restaurant after waiting for 15 minutes. Once they see you, they'll seat you. After seating, service is acceptable.

Food: I personally enjoy the food there. It is basic and relatively inexpensive during the lunch hour (with the exception of the $8 slice of pie!). However, their online prices aren't right and you'll have to fight with them to honor it (even though they've literally been wrong for months). The infamous Caesar salad isn't anything to die for, it's a bit more acidic than your normal grocery store Caesar. It fits with their menu, average. My only complaint really is that I found a hair in my salad today.

Atmosphere: Junior's has two main sections for seating: the bar and the dining room. You'll notice that the bar is friendly to smokers, since the smell will hit you when you first walk in. It seems less intense in the dining area, I assume because the smokers don't have to walk through the dining area to leave (thank goodness). Both areas are carpeted and decorated appropriately for the rich folk in the 70's. Decor and color scheme could definitely use an update. The smoking policy could use an update, too, but hey, they know their customer base.

All in all, I won't be visiting Junior's anymore. After giving them multiple chances to get things right, they just continue to show they can't. The hair in my salad today just tops it off. I'd like to think others would follow suit and spend their hard-earned money elsewhere, but to...