Jamil's Steakhouse — Restaurant in Tulsa

Our first experience at Jamil's was surprisingly awful. We were warned it wasn't what it used to be since the owner died, but had mostly heard great things about the restaurant. So, we made plans to have a nice dinner there with a friend for my fiance's birthday.

Upon entering the establishment, a child... probably age 6 or 7... greeted us and sat us at our table. The carpet was very worn and torn up in various areas. Once seated, the waiter came to take our drink orders. He was slightly arrogant, and anytime we'd begin to raise a question, he'd reply "Oooh nooooo" and was seemingly annoyed.

Our first "hors d'oeuvres" came out and was very underwhelming. There was a small plate, what was intended to be a relish tray, of maybe 7ish dried-looking, small, baby carrots, 2 radishes, 2 pieces of celery and 3 dill pickle chips to feed 4 people. Very poor presentation. We weren't offered any other items, such as salad, pita bread, etc at this point. We then asked for some pita bread, to which the waiter replied "I guess" in, again, an annoyed tone.

Once finished with that, we asked what's next since we'd heard there was more. The waiter told us he'd bring us some ribs, bologna, and cabbage rolls. The waiter returned with very cold ribs and bologna. When asked about the cabbage rolls, he said "sorry, the cabbage roll man didn't show up today." We then asked for salads, instead. The salads were delivered and I have honestly never had a worse tasting salad in my life. The lettuce was wilted and tasted dirty, and the dressing was just awful. We sent them back.

Our meals then came... 2 Jamil's club cuts, a children's steak, and salmon with again, very poor presentation.

We were then told that we would be not getting any potatoes with the meats and my son wouldn't be getting the french fries he ordered because "there were no potatoes in the building".

Luckily, the taste of the steaks were the only decent part of this meal. The unseasoned salmon was dry.

Towards the end of our meal, we were casually chatting with a friend who had joined us for dinner, 45 minutes before closing time, and the waiter came to our table to let us know we needed to leave because he needed to clean off the table.

All in all, we were very disappointed in our experience after hearing such great things...

When I called to make reservations, the woman who answered told me a reservation wouldn't be necessary, so it irritated me when there was a 15 minute wait. Fifteen minutes isn't bad, but it's longer than it would have been if staff had reserved a table like I'd asked. If they hadn't taken reservations because of policy, they should have explained that instead of telling me incorrectly that I didn't need one.

To its credit, the staff worked through the line efficiently.

Our waiter greeted us politely, seated us promptly, then vanished - never to be seen again. Someone else poured our water and dropped off laminated mini-menus listing steaks without descriptions. No bread, no appetizers. After our waiter was gone longer than we'd waited in line, we left.

The first time I ate at Jamil's was 20 years ago and a good experience. The second time was disappointing because of rude service. This was the third time and there was no service. That's not a good trend.

I'm not alone. Jamil's was considered an institution. There's a picture on the wall of Ray Charles eating there. Now, it's lucky to get 3/5 ratings in any restaurant guide. Over the years, management has lost control. Incompetent hands have seen this once proud operation sink to providing worse service than chains like Chili's or TGI Friday's. Chili's and TGI Friday's aren't bad places, but you expect a locally owned restaurant to outshine chain franchises with service. At Jamil's, you would be mistaken. Development is thriving downtown, in Utica Square, Brookside, Cherry Street, on 71st Street, and Jenks Riverwalk. Jamil's is not the only game on town. As of 2015, you can get more for your money...

7:00 pm, couldn't tell if it was open. No cars in the parking lot. Not a soul in the restaurant. We have not been in a while, so wasn't sure what had happened to the place. My wife only wanted a baked potato, cabbage roll, hummus & tabouli. All were listed on the menu with individual prices. It would've been $11. They wanted to charge $22 for a "Shared Plate". I asked "what shared Plate, she's ordering Ala cart". "$22 because she's sharing the hors d'oeuvres" they said. I said, "we're not sharing anything, she's getting her own & they're all priced on the menu". "Sorry, we have to charge $22 for a shared plate"

We said "Sorry, we'll go somewhere else to not share anything & not pay an upcharge", then left

Now we know why there's no one there.

If we only ate the hors d'oeuvres, it would've cost us $44 for 2 cabbage rolls, 2 small bowls of tabouli, 1 small bowl of hummus to share between both of us. 1 green onion, 1 carrot, a few radishes, a piece of celery, a couple of pieces of pita bread a couple of tiny ribs & a few thinly sliced bologna cover in the worst bbq ever. I don't think so!

We'll never go back.

BTW..... we really miss Eddy's!

**updated review to the response. We drove by earlier, we questioned if you were open. There were no cars earlier either. If you can serve 20 people in an hour's time where they all came & went & had the tables bused? That's amazing service. Why then was your restaurant completely empty after that party was served? Please don't make things up. Jamil's has suffered. It's not the same as in its glory days. Making people pay twice as much for items listed on your menu is not...