The Spudder — Restaurant in Tulsa

I am originally from OKC and have been in Houston for 5 years. I know steak very well and have sought out the "best" steakhouses in the country. In Houston we are well spoiled when it comes to fine beef. It's on every corner. Hell, we get dry-aged wagyu at our local HEB every weekend just like it's prime...but i digress. Just got back from Manhattan where I searched for "the best" in lower Manhattan/midtown by way of local (always the best sources) and websites/reviews. I have been thoroughly disappointed and have come to the realization that nobody outside of Texas & Oklahoma know what real steak is.

While visitiing Tulsa, I had planned on taking one of our branch managers out for some fine cow. Saw there were some local places made famous in OKC midtown and north side as well as other often-mentioned establishments and well-known destinations. I booked one for this evening as a matter of fact. I ended up flying solo but was directed to The Spudder by the employees at our branch. Love the local spots with rich history and local stories so cancelled my reservation and walked right in to The Spudder a little after 5PM. I was warmly greeted, sat at a table near the bar immediately and ordered some bourbon from Kaitlin. Nice selection, although would like to see some of the Buffalo Trace Antique offering with some Old Forestor or maybe some Whistlepig. People that love great beef also love great bourbon and will pay for it. Both are a must for me to walk in to a place if not for locals swearing by it which is how I ended up at The Spudder.

I ordred the Gusher, which is a 22oz cowboy ribeye locally sourced from a well-known Kansas ranch. This is a fresh butchered, prime cut that, as far a beef quality is nothing, special, however, seared over open coals to perfection. First bite I think I even said out loud..."this is cooked over coals". You get that unmistakable char of the coal with a smoky/robust flavor, perfectly seared that you can only achieve over charcoal. You absolutely could not telll in the restaurant that they are cooking over coal. Well vented and sealed off from the main dining area. House salad/dressing was great, did not do the appetizer as I knew I was ordering the cowboy. Fries seemed to be cut in-house...if not I'd be shocked to hear othewise. I'd love to see a parm truffle fry on the menu....would have had me there no question.

Overall, the main course was good/great, cooked perfectly and seasoned just right. I give the food a 5 star for only one reason....the bread pudding. The steak & sides was good/very good. We, along the gulf coast, pride ourselves on southern cuisine, particularly bread pudding. It's a southern staple and for the most part, north of the red river, not done right. Owner Stephen/Kim use a scratch recipe, I'm told, and it is absolutely phenomenal. I ordered to take with me after leaving nothing but rib bone on my main course and didn't make it before my to-go box arrived. I couldn't stop eating it. If they were open for breakfast, I would have stopped back by tomorrow morning for more. Cinammon, brown sugar, vanilla and I assume nutmeg do this dance in your mouth that makes you forget you're actually full at that point. I almost ordered a second to take with me for the morning. Absolute heaven....

Kaitlin was attentive, prompt and knowlegable of not only the menu but the ranch where the beef is sourced as well as the rich history of the place. She knows her whiskey well and did an overall excellent job. I thank her, Stephen/Kim for the hospitality and will absolutley visit again next time I'm in town. Stephen....think about what i said. A good dry-aged wagyu ribeye may not be needed to pack the house Thursday-Sunday but sure as hell gets a business guy like me in on a monday evening and brings the local personnel for the experience. I do it weekly in Houston. Pair it with a good high-end bourbon and you'll get me in Monday-Wednesday and pay the premium. Thank you all and...

Made a reservation for 6:15 Saturday night. We arrived 10 minutes early - 6:05. We were quickly seated and looked over the menu for about 8 minutes. Waitress arrives and takes our drink and meal order. I notice we are the only table she has in this section. Side note: She tells use they have 3 dressings for the salads. Later I heard another waiter mention about 7. 3 of the 4 other dressings mentioned would have been nice to know about since I am not a huge fan of Ranch, Blue Cheese or 1000 Island Dressing (the only three she mentioned to us).

10 minutes later she arrives with our drinks and says she will have rolls and soup out to us shortly. My drink was incorrect. It tasted like she was not paying attention and mixed two different flavors together. I was waiting for her to come back so I could get a different one.

After about 20 minutes of waiting I flag down a different staff member and ask where our waitress is - he says he will find out and apologizes for the wait.

5 minutes later she shows up with the rolls and soup. She doesn’t even address the time we have waited and says she will have our salads out shortly. I don’t even bother mentioning the drink at this point because I am sure if I asked for a replacement - I would have to wait 20 minutes to get it.

20 minutes later we are still waiting for our salads. I look around and see that every table that arrived within the last 30 minutes has already received rolls, soup and salads and they are starting on their entrees. We have been here about 55 minutes at this point. If the kitchen was behind - I could understand that - but this was obviously not the case. I could see our waitress running around in the other dining section taking care of those tables - but apparently we are just not that important to her to even bother displaying the bare minimum of effort in her job.

I wait until 7:15 - an hour from the moment we placed our order and decide we are just going to leave. I stop at the hostess as we are leaving and explain that we are done waiting since in an hour we have only seen our waitress 3 times and haven’t even received our salads yet, that we had to flag down a different staff member to get anything other than our drinks, and that tables who arrived a half hour after us are already finishing their dinners. She seemed completely out of it; bewildered at the fact a customer is leaving because they haven’t received service that comes anywhere near bare minimum. She double checks what table we were at and honestly that was probably more so she could get it cleared for the long line of waiting guests and less to do with knowing which wait staff member was responsible for the mess up. She asks if I want to talk to the manager. I said no. There was a huge line of people waiting to be seated and I wasn’t going to interrupt their chance at having a decent dinner just because of a dud waitress and poor oversight by shift leaders. I don’t work in the restuarant industry anymore, but as someone who is waited tables, ran kitchens and acted as a manager in my youth; When I flagged the other staff member down and explained that we had not received anything but drinks after 30 minutes of waiting he should have began making sure that our waitress could handle doing her job and/or possibly handed us over to a different member of the wait staff. Instead she was told to bring us rolls and soup and then she ghosted on us again. I told them they had my contact info from when I made the reservation if the manager really wants to talk to me. Still haven’t heard from them

We left - extremely agitated at the experience and began our 40 minute drive home. We called into a different steak house and picked up a completed order from friendly and punctual staff members - something The Spudder seems to be lacking at the moment.

I will not be going back to this place ever again and that is sad since it used to be a good place. I will stick with Mahogany if I have a desire to spend $100 on...

I took my husband out to celebrate his work accomplishments. We'd been wanting to go to The Spudder for some time and I called to make reservations. When I called to make our reservation, I was warmly greeted by a very sweet woman, (I believe she is the owner), who truly made me feel excited to eat at her establishment! I told her about celebrating my husband and shared the fact that we'd never eaten at The Spudder before and by the time I hung up the phone, I felt I'd made a new friend! We got there promptly and was enthusiastically greeted by Steve, (her husband & the owner). There was one table open but it was very small. Steve offered that we make ourselves comfortable, order a drink and when the next booth became available, he promised to re-seat us at the booth. What a terrific suggestion! We ordered drinks, they were outstanding. By the time we had our second sips, the booth had been cleaned and Denise, our server, had come to escort us to the booth. Our dinner experience was about to begin! Denise, (who had been mentioned MANY times in raving reviews), greeted us again and took our appetizer order and brought us a wine menu. Very shortly afterward, Steve came over to ensure that the booth was to our liking--impressive follow up! We ordered the stuffed mushrooms and our salads came with the homemade yeast rolls in the quaint lunch box. My husband ordered the 9 oz fillet and I ordered the ribeye. Both cuts of meat were superbly tender and very well flavored. The steaks were, well.....outstandingly cooked and both could be cut with a fork. The energy in our part of the dining room was lively and fun and our server, Denise, did an outstanding job of anticipating any need we might have and made sure that no drink, wine or water levels ever ran low. This level of service is so hard to come by and to have the food match it in quality and quantity, it was such a rare, fun and surprisingly crazy GREAT dining experience! We found out that night that Denise was working her last night, that she'd been there for over 15 years, leaving only to tend to family obligations. She was a true gem, as was Steve, (who came by again once we received our food and had had a chance to try it), as was the lovely lady who answered the phone and took our reservation. Both my husband and I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant and are really looking forward to going back for another exceptional dining experience. Lastly, Steve, thank you for the hug when we were leaving and thank you and your team for having the level of pride to offer such an exceptional dining experience and for creating really special memories for us--we'll see you again very soon! (This review is 2...