Nic's Grill — Restaurant in Oklahoma City

We went to try out Nic's in Midtown. We were told by the hostess we could eat in the bar area downstairs as there was no wait. We were impressed with the decor. Our waitress quickly came over and took our order. We ordered a Reuben, two of us ordered the fork and knife burrito and our fourth person ordered the prime rib. The waitress told us the prime rib was excellent, Nic had marinated them himself that morning. We waited for 50 minutes. Our waitress never came to check on us. At this point we flagged someone down and asked where the salad was that was ordered with the steak. No apologies or reason given. She brought the salad followed shortly with the two burritos. They were room temp and missing some ingredients. We had completed our meal when they brought out the Reuben. No steak. We asked what the hold up was and she said they were backed up in the kitchen and said that they were bar staff and their job was to serve drinks, not meals. After an hour and 15 minutes they brought out the prime rib with no sides. It looked like it had been flipped over on the grill... maybe. The fat looked like fat on raw meat. It was disgusting. We called the waitress over and told her to take it back, that it could not be eaten. The bar manager brought the head kitchen manager to our table. He looked sloppy and his shirt was dirty. He asked, "Oh, is this the table I forgot the prime rib?" He apologized profusely, comped the meal, and asked us to give them another try. After he had left and we were about to leave, our waitress brought another salad to our table. I'm not sure why. We also observed two patrons at the bar that were not pleased with the service and their meal and stated they would never be back. A booth of six sitting next to us received one of their entrees (tacos) and no one else got theirs until much later. I over heard the bar manager state to a couple of people that the owner and manager were aware and were upstairs. It would have been nice had they come down to the bar area and explained what was going on and apologized. Oh, well, guess that's a restaurant we can mark off our list of local go-to places. What a shame. Love...

I drive for Uber and Lyft part-time, and the most frequent question I'm asked by people visiting OKC is where to eat. You would be surprised how hard it is to answer when you're trying to navigate, merge and not talk so much that you miss your exit. So I decided to create a little brochure of the sights to see and places to eat. And then I became very ashamed that while I'd been to Nic's Place, I had never actually been to Nic's Grill.

Wanting nothing less than the full experience, I found myself standing in line outside in the rain. The smell of onions caramelizing was so enticing. Once they opened, everyone grabbed one of the few seats available. The first set of patties were already on the grill, so you just have to say what toppings, if you want fries and what you want to drink. Oh, and this is cash only. I had forgotten my 17-year-old needed money that morning, so I had to run back to my car to scrape up some quarters and steal the dollar I keep to tip Sonic carhops.

There is a reason Nic gets a head start on his burgers. It's really more of a hamburger steak on a bun. He starts with a half pound of beef and sears it on both sides, then lets it slow-cook to perfection. Most places just do a hard sear on the outside, leaving the middle raw. Nic's are cooked to a consistent, tender medium through and through.

Once done, it's served with everything except the bottom bun split mostly in half. I thought this a bit strange, but it gives you the choice of eating it whole or to easily halve it. My gosh, that first taste of meat and onions will take your breath away. There's no big smokey flavor - they are cooked on a grill - or unique ingredients. It's just done exactly as it should be. The homemade fries have a natural curl to them, and taste as fresh as they are.

So now that I've experienced Nic's Grill, you need to as well. Or you need to go back. Nic's Place is much larger, they take plastic, their hours are more convenient and the burgers are nearly as good (the handmade shakes are great), but the stories of poor service and long waits after you order continue. So go to the...

Burgers or Cheeseburgers, and fries. I got a burger with mayo, ketchup, cheese and onions.

The food was good, but nothing super special. The fries are skinny curly fries and bland at first but I added salt and the creole seasoning and they were very good!

The staff was short a staff member so it was a one man show, and he did an incredible job with his assembly line style grilling. But, he didn't wear any plastic gloves and was hand touching lettuce, tomatoes, buns, etc and then touching the calculator to add up the food since it's cash only, and then taking the cash without washing his hands in between so... there's that.

There are about 10 (maybe fewer), bar stools at the counter, 2 - 2 person tables, and like 4 or 5 stools to sit on. We got there 10minutes before 11am and they opened around 11:10am (again, they said someone didn't show who was supposed to be there, but after reading other reviews the opening late seems to be more than just once).

You do want to get there early if you go because there were 2 people ahead of us, and another 5 behind us before 11am. By the time we left there was a line out the door and the place was jammed.

CASH ONLY. $15 for a combo with fries, cheeseburger and a drink, so for a family of 4 (2 adults 2 kids) we were in $70+ with tip for a burger.

Fun to stay we've been there, it's a fun place to go to once or if you're a regular and grab something with 1 or 2 people, but not something we'd do as a family...