The Local Bison — Restaurant in Tulsa

I've been to this restaurant a number of times since I discovered it this past August, and, for the most part, I've had a pleasant experience every time. The food is good, the selection of local beers is large enough that I still get to try something new each time I'm in, and the wait staff are so friendly and easygoing that I always feel like I'm just chatting with a friend. However, there is an ongoing problem that becomes increasingly apparent each time I go.

Now, to clarify, I know nothing about restaurants or food, so feel free to take this review with a grain of salt. I do, however, know business, and, when running a business, perception, especially the customer's perception, is reality. This is how I, as well as other people I've spoken to, perceive this restaurant.

There seems to be a disconnect between the front of house and the kitchen. Allow me to explain. The atmosphere of the front of house is very casual: Local beers, high top tables, TVs playing a multitude of different channels, Christmas lights hanging from the windows, and the staff are all dressed casually and don't seem to have a set uniform. Not to mention that the bar takes up almost half of the restaurant. It almost feels like it was created to be a bar and the food came as an afterthought. It all around seems like an easy place to have a beer or two and a quick bite to eat at before moving on to the night's main event. Almost like a pre-game, if you will.

The food, however, tells a different story. It reads as more of a sit-down, finer dining experience. The menu is clearly hand selected, the food parings are amazing, and the presentation is very clean and consistent. One time I was in, the feature dish for the night wasn't even listed on the menu. The menu also changes every so often.

Neither of these images are bad; the problem is that they don't work together. People walk in expecting an easy, quick, relatively inexpensive meal and end up paying high tabs for food that they had to wait 40 minutes to an hour for. I have seen countless people either get tired of waiting and cancel their food or get upset and take it out on the poor servers who have no control over anything in this situation.

My advice to anyone reading this review is to manage your expectations and act accordingly. If you have a night to waste and aren't in any rush or are simply looking to have a beer and maybe an appetizer, I recommend trying this place. To anyone in any other situation, this probably isn't the restaurant for you.

My advice to the owners: if you are reading this, I highly, highly, recommend you have a talk with your head chef and really lock down what image you're trying to create. If you already have a plan in place, good. I really like this restaurant and want it to succeed, which is why I'm writing this review, but, at the rate I've witnessed customers leave unsatisfied every time I'm in there, I don't know whether the Local Bison will be here in a...

TL;DR, OK but pricey food. Plenty of drink options. Some people will love this place, some won't. Gluten free and Vegan options are mutually exclusive (if you want both, get a salad).

I'm editing an older review where I was disappointed with a previous visit. The food was OK but the service was poor. I was looking for places in town that I could sit for awhile and enjoy a meal, maybe work on my laptop, not be rushed in and out so I never went back. However, people kept telling me that I needed to try it again because the menu changes often and because my wife is vegan and gluten free, they had a ton of options for her. So we went on a recent Friday night and even though we were immediately hit with the rudeness I experienced before upon entering, we stayed to look at the menu. Yes, they do have "Vegan and Gluten Free" options on the menu but if you are one of the many people in this world that need both, you are out of luck. The vegan burgers have gluten, and the gluten free items have dairy. To find that out, we had to keep questioning the server who kept saying we could get a vegan patty on any of the burgers, or that one of the dishes was gluten free, but couldn't name anything that was both until she went to the kitchen to ask and them came out and said that if we needed vegan AND gluten free we'd have to get a salad with no protein. So we left. I stated in an earlier review that I'm clearly not their target demographic and I stand by that statement. I'm NOT vegan and gluten free and honestly, my wife rarely goes out to eat with me unless we're going someplace that can serve her (generally, any restaurant serving American food can't do vegan and gluten free. Asian, Indian, Mediterranean, and some Italian restaurants are no problem). I eat at restaurants all week in downtown Tulsa at least once, sometimes twice a day. But in my two visits to this restaurant, I haven't felt the...

I had a poor lunch experience here a few weeks back. The Local Bison created this new menu with a variety of fun items with a Mexican/tropical twist. I was really excited to dig in. We tried the special fries, (can't remember the menu item name), and when it came out, I was actually shocked - it was a bowl of soggy waffle fries covered in a pile of what looked like old taco bueno toppings (lettuce, pico de gallo, queso, guac). No offense guys. This was actually horrible.

For my entrée, I had the Cauliflower Bahn Mi. I was super stoked on this one because I love Bahn Mi, especially at non-traditional Vietnamese restaurants because I admire the chef's often-unique approaches. Instead what I was served was a non-toasted, old piece of bread with 5 tiny pieces of cauliflower and a few onions. For $14.00 for the sandwich and something like $8.00 for the fries, after tip my bill was $30+. I was really disappointed with both menu items I tried.

To make matters even worse, there is a distastefully grotesque display of printed Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT monkeys on the wall. Not only are they absolutely ridiculous looking while staring at patrons, but by nature, they are a scam and pyramid scheme. I was not pleased with that.

I appreciate the kind service I received from our waitress, but I was overall really not happy with my experience at your restaurant, and I hope you can read this comment and understand my perspective. I am giving this review two stars because of the 1. price to portion ratio, 2. taste and execution 3. I don't think a tropical theme belongs at a burger restaurant. Correct me if I'm wrong. Cheers, and I wish you success...