Mr. A Ok's Kitchen — Restaurant in San Antonio

Keep in mind this was a dine in experience during Stage 3 of CoVid19. There was mostly a steady stream of lunchtime folks for take out. There were two tables available. Someone who was waiting for her takeout order was sitting at the open table. She saw we were going to stay & she nicely got up. The waitstaff didn't wipe the table down or do anything to attempt to sanitize...luckily we carried our own. Since we were the only ones sitting down, it took a while for the server to come back, she told us where to sit and left. It was our first visit and there was no direction. Just as I was going to ask for assistance, she appeared and took our drink order of tea, water & two koolaids. She disappeared and someone wondered if she was making each cup from scratch. It is the tail end of a pandemic, so we knew it was going to be slow going...but for a drink order? Someone suggested we leave & she popped up with our drinks. It's a cozy area so not sure what took so long..no explanation was ever given. She asked what we wanted. We didn't get a menu, someone said. "Oh..its on the wall" she said, pointing to a green posterboard, "we not giving out menus" I stated that would have been nice to know when we arrived... she stared at me without commenting. We ordered two chicken & waffles, one fried porkchop plate with cabbage & blackeyed peas & a fried chicken plate with yams & mac. Baaaabeeeeee, when that food came out... all of the earlier issues just dissolved!!! Everything looked great! Like we had just crossed into the promised land after a 40 year wait!!! The wafles were fluffy & the right golden brown... All chicken had a jacket of crispiness fried around it that I hadn't seen since my Grandma fried chicken... pork chops were encased in a crisp-ity golden brown crust too! We barely got grace out before we dove in!

Everything was good...there was a bit of heavy handed salt usage on the fried chicken but the way it crunched and filled my mouth with goodness... I could deal with the swollen ankles that was sure to come. We came fir the fish, but at 1:45pm, they had sold out - so get there earlier. We all took leftovers home, the yams were cut into little cubes in a little cup..so it wasn't as if it was a good portion of sides like Mrs Kitchens or Mr & Ms G's... I believe that we filled up on our drinks... because the food is cooked to order, per our waitstaff. We returned the cabbage as it had a fishy taste. I liked most of the food..but the wait time did not make me want to come back anytime soon. Maybe they were short staffed? They did have a good amount of take out traffic so that might have been it. I say go, but NOT on your lunch hour unless you call it in.... ahhhh... now I get it! That's why there was so much take out traffic... they knew it takes a long time for dine in and none told me the scoop.... so I'm giving you the scoop...call in early and...

I stopped in for lunch today. The atmosphere was pretty chill, and the food was very good. I ordered the fried chicken and two sides. Just as I was getting into enjoying this juicy, piping hot chicken, a group of women walked in with table cloths and decorations. I thought nothing of it, and continued eating my meal, and reading my book. I started to get nervous when they started re-arranging all of the tables, and setting them up to be decorated with table cloths, decorations, plates and silverware. Clearly, they were setting up for an event....while there is a customer in the dining room eating. They continued to set up while I was eating, and I realized that it would make no sense for me to continue sitting there eating, when the women were clearly waiting for me to move so they could finish. The staff was very apologetic, but the damage was already done. I gathered up the remainder of my lunch, paid, and left. There was no notice on the front door indicating to customers that a gathering was taking place, and that the restaurant would be closing early. The staff was aware that the gathering was going to be taking place, and that set-up time would need to be set aside. Instead of them turning me away with the option of take-out, knowing that they would be setting up for something in the less than 30 minutes that I was there, they allowed me to dine in, and rudely allowed those people to continue setting up for the event while I was still eating. That was incredibly rude, it was unprofessional, and made me feel very uncomfortable. This was definitely the most bizarre, disappointing dining experience I've ever had, and I hope this never happens to...

Update: We dined in here for lunch last Sunday with friends. I had an order of liver and onions, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra and cornbread. Hubby had Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, cabbage and cornbread. Our friends had the Fried Catfish Platter with cabbage, yams and cornbread and the Fried Pork Chop entree with macaroni and cheese, cabbage and cornbread. For appetizers, we had four orders of the Soul Rolls! Food was excellent! Ample food portions with great value for the money. Great customer service. Yes! We will definitely return again and would highly recommend you stop in and dine at Mr. A-OK’s Restaurant! They have some of the best homemade meatloaf, liver and onions with gravy and cornbread around!!! UPDATE: Visited here again a few days ago with a friend for a lunch dine-in. The customer service and food here is excellent!!!

This is our favorite place for down home tasting cooking like Grandma used to make! We tried the Rib plate from here and it was excellent. The sides we got were greens and fries. Our go to favorite is the tender grilled liver and onions with gravy, fried okra and greens. The cornbread is moist, sweet and very tasty. We order from here often and have never been disappointed. The food is always freshly made, well seasoned and very tasty. Would definitely recommend and will certainly...