Stella Modern Italian Cuisine — Restaurant in Oklahoma City

We made reservations online for the day after Valentines Day 2025, it was the only day available. We did 4 p.m. as it was either that or 9 p.m. which would have been way too late. We were greeted and seated right away, the restaurant was empty at 4 p.m., which I was surprised to see since that was the only time available. We were sat directly by the door and it was snowing outside that afternoon. Needless to say, we caught a major draft sitting there. I almost asked to be moved, but didn't want to start the evening out that way so we stayed where we were. There were plenty of people that came in after 5 that got seated in the room that I wished that we could have been placed in since we did have reservations. Our server (who was also the bartender) asked us what we wanted to drink. I think that she asked if we've ever been before, but not sure on that. It was our first time. I asked her for a red sangria, and she said she doesn't think they can do that as that's not how they come. I've never heard a bartender say that; it's not true. Most sangrias are in fact red. She went to the bar to ask the other bartender, and she came back and said that they could definitely do that. It was in fact delicious. She came back and asked us if we were ready to order and we were not. We also asked her if the brunch menu was all we had to choose from, and she said no and brought us the dinner menu. She stated that brunch goes till 4 and we got there a few minutes early so that's what we received. I'm glad that we asked if there was another menu, because what we reviewed online was not on the brunch menu. Once she came back after we made our decision, she took the order and then went back to the bar to tend. We both ordered a salad before dinner, but we had to ask for that because she didn't ask. We had to ask the server that brought us our appetizer. My meal was very good. I got the Chicken Scallopini. My husband ordered the Spicy Italian Sausage Pizza. He said that the underside was very unevenly cooked. Burnt on parts and soggy on other parts. He was not happy with it at all and didn't even eat half of it where normally he could easily have eaten that whole pizza. One particular part of the evening that stood out to me was not only the GM not greeting anyone or even smiling for that matter, but the fact that the people that were seated directly next to us were told by their server about the specials. We were never told any such thing about there even being specials, never mind what they were. The GM brought us our desert and that would have been a great opportunity to ask us how our experience was, but nothing. We left there approximately at 5:30 and still the rooms had plenty of open tables. Had we known that we could have just walked in at a better time that is suitable for "dinner" we would have totally done that. I have heard many great things about this restaurant, but we were not...

Tonight was the first time to ever dine at Stella's. I will start with the most important aspect of any restaurant, the food.

I was a bit disappointed initially. We ordered two appetizers, which they call "Shared Plates". We had the meatballs and the baked crab dip. The meatballs came out first, and it was extremely underwhelming. Not only is this "shared plate" priced at $13, it only came with three medium sized meatballs in a bowl of ricotta cheese and tomato sauce. It also comes with a lot of bread. They call it toast on the menu, but it is just soft, oily bread with grill marks on it. The baked crab dip on the otherhand was pleasantly surprising. The flavors were good, the lemon in it really made it stand out, however, the fried pasta chips were very brittle and not good for a cheesy dip like this was. Moving on to the main course however, I was surprised in a very good way. I ordered the tomahawk pork chop which came with swiss chard and roasted potatoes. The pork chop itself was delicious. It was topped with bacon jam and pickled onions, and the combination of those flavors were phenomenal. Despite the success that the porkchop brought to the table, the potatoes and chard ruined what this plate had going for it. The potatoes had little to no seasoning whatsoever. Not even salt or pepper. The chard on the other hand had a little too much salt. It felt as though the salt they had meant to put on my potatoes went to the chard instead. Two people in my party ordered the salmon, and they had no complaints whatsoever. The salmon was cooked well and was nice and flaky. The only reason that my rating is not three stars is the porkchop.

Moving on to the general atmosphere and customer service of Stella's, it was relatively average. The decor was very subtle, the front of house was very dim, and it could have been that we were seated under a light bulb, but the lighting felt inconsistent. Table service was slower than I would have liked, but it is a Saturday night, so I can understand. We had two people assist us this evening and they were both very friendly, funny, and helpful.

Overall, I think Stella's is an enjoyable experience. If you have never been and would like to step out of your comfort zone, this would not be a bad place to start. The menu is not too overwhelming and they offer some unique menu items, as well as more traditional foods. I would recommend Stella's if you want a really good...

I chose this restaurant to celebrate my Birthday with family, a party of 6 & must say sorely regret. The chairs were hard plastic & terribly uncomfortable as well as very difficult to move on a concrete floor ( in an upscale restaurant mind you). The owner seated us and she informed us that the 2 special occasion desserts were on them, nice right? Waitress seemed almost indifferent to us as she bounced from table to table, you know the drill, "let me serve you but I expect @ least a 20% tip +. Of the 3 lasagnas ordered, 2 were beyond charred on top. Could not make eye contact with the aloof waitress so flagged down the owner, Ms Burson and expressed my displeasure. The bottom line was continue with dinner, replacement would be 15-20 minutes & "she would make it right". I didn't think it could get worse but it did. There was a table behind us that had 3-4 men seated that their voices got a little loud. I didn't notice that the owner had addressed their loud language already then I heard the loud "F" bomb dropped & I became unhinged. Totally unacceptable anywhere in my book. We had our dessert, the 2 lasagna replacements had been boxed to go and the bill appeared. My husband paid the $271 and my brother left a $60 cash tip to boot. After finding the ticket @ home & scrutinizing it I see red. One special occasion dessert amazingly appeared on the ticket as a charge. Ok, no problem, $10 no sweat. What pissed me off tho is below the item of 3 lasagna x $24 each was a line item " dinner addition $45". Wow, what was that for? So I emailed the owner asking her for clarification, no response. I emailed a second request for a response before I would post my review and no response. Go figure huh? I will never darken their doors nor recommend their establishment to ANYONE. I gave Ms Burson a chance to address all of this before this post...