Billy Sims BBQ — Restaurant in Tulsa

I am posting an email I sent to ownership after my experience tonight.

I’m not a person that complains virtually ever but I couldn’t keep myself from letting you know of my experience today. First let me say I owned 5 hamburger restaurants in Tulsa in the 1980s and know that I would want to know if customers were not being taken care of to the highest level at all times during the hours your restaurant advertises it’s open for business. I called your location 3 times beginning at 8:20 to confirm the hours listed on the website and to place a go order. The phone wasn’t answered all 3 times. I decided to drive to the restaurant anyway. I arrived there at 8:35. The entire seating area had all chairs stacked on top of tables. Part of the lights were lowered. I entered and asked if the location was closed and was met by an employee with a mop who told me I could place a go order but couldn’t eat inside because they had cleaned the dining area. I asked the 2 employees out front why they start shutting down over a half hour before advertised closing time. When I placed my order it included 2 chopped brisket sandwiches. I told them my wife and I love their sandwiches especially because we have them toast the buns twice with the clarified butter. The person that was dressed like he may have been a manager told me they had cleaned and shut down the toaster. I said, isn’t the toaster a simple on/off switch and he didn’t even answer me. Instead he turned his back on me and walked back into the kitchen. I was blown away. I continued my order anyway and told the person helping me we like the sauces so please give me 6 mild and 2 hot and to charge me if necessary for the extra. I couldn’t order drinks because the tea containers were emptied and soda dispenser nozzles were cleaned and disassembled. When I got home I had 2 mild and 2 hot sauces so we were shorted 4 mild sauces. Surely this can’t be the way your restaurant employees are trained! When I owned and ran the 5 restaurants I had in the 1980s, we were ready to serve our entire menu until the final minute we advertised our operating hours. We were happy if groups came in during the final half hour we were open because that’s the only reason we were there, to sell our delicious food. That’s how we paid our employees and how I supported my wife and children. I went to college with Billy Sims and we know each other. My guess is he would be hugely disappointed with the way customers were taken care of by the establishment that carries his name. I don’t know what else to say. I will say this establishment is not the only restaurant that has instituted this way of operating. Owners/franchisees of restaurants that train their employees to work this way are only contributing to a generation of people that have little work ethic, take virtually no pride in their vocation and probably will not achieve any high level of success in a business sense. By the way, I called the other Billy Sims locations that close at 9pm and they all answered their phones. As a retired, successful business owner in Tulsa, I would suggest if you are the franchise owner of this location, you should do a reset on how you operate your business and retrain your employees in the old school art of customer service and providing fantastic food, consistently prepared day after day……and do it all until 9:00pm if 9:00pm is your advertised...

I ordered a sandwich and 2 baked potatoes for dinner to go. The potatoes had a lot of rotten spots and several large gashes with dirt inside. These potatoes should not have been used. Half of the potatoes had to be trashed. Teach employees to have some common sense and don't serve rotten food to customers.

The bbq sauce containers were empty because they had leaked so we only had 1 HOT container that did not leak. We don't eat HOT bbq sauce.

The butter, sour cream and cheese was put on top of the hot potato, so the cheese was one large melted blob and the sour cream had curdled into lumps. For some reason, the brisket was put in a container. The butter, cheese and sour cream should have been in separate containers instead. The potatoes have to reheated a longer time than the cheese, and the sour cream should not be reheated at all.

The food tasted good, but we lost half of the potatoes. However, no matter how good the food tastes, the packaging is extremely important for to go orders. NEVER put butter, cheese, and sour cream on the hot potatoes.

The bag leaked, and now I have melted butter and bbq sauce on my car's cloth seats. It is very difficult to get oily butter out of cloth, and bbq sauce leaves a red stain. This stop at Billy Sim's has cost me a lot of money to get my car seats cleaned. I hope the car detail company can get the sauce and...

I want to encourage this location to bring the love back. In the restaurant in the food in the service. The place was dead. I use to be an Assistant manager at McAlester Oklahoma Billy Sims. And you can tell if there is love in the atmosphere and in the food. The place would stay full even when we didn't have customers. We treated everyone the same no matter what they ordered. We made listened to whatever feedback they had to improve the quality. Not all advice was taken but we listened if it applied. We gave out one free side to customers who were faithful. And a small discount to those who were senior citizens and military or medics or police. I know everything is high in price but why lose business over a few dollars. When it's the ppl or customers who make the establishment. I encourage all restaurants to look a strong look at this. So they can pay the employees what they deserve. So many young people don't know how to clean properly. Wash dishes or follow recipes. That's why you should value older employees. Make it fun for all while you work. After all your job is your second home. Ps. I would gladly come back and give you all 5's if this advice reaches your heart and...