The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Location(s) Being Reviewed: Brookside
Date/Time of Visit: Sunday 11am
Quality of Food (1-5): 3
Menu/Food Options (1-5): 1
Quality of Service (1-5): 1
Atmosphere (1-5): 1
Overall Rating (1-5): 2
Price ($-$$$$$):$$
What makes this restaurant unique: They advertise as being a family restaurant and hired a fancy chef from The Alley, but really it's just a sports bar.

Tell us about your experience: Since they have two locations, and do a decent job of self-promotion I thought I should give it a shot. Their website was advertising a Sunday brunch so we decided to give it a try. The hosted seated us with lunch/dinner menu and a completely different lunch/dinner menu on a sheet of 8.5x11 with no explanation. On the back of the paper menu was a letter from the owner talking about history of the restaurant, focus on quality, yadda yadda. It sounded like a normal history of the restaurant story and I lost interest on paragraph 2.

When our waitress came by (which became increasingly rare) we asked about the Brunch since it wasn't on any of the menu pages in front of us and she said "not until next month, I mean, we have a couple ...<trails off>" We then tried to order off the paper menu, and our waitress got agitated and flipped it over. She poked at paragraph four or five of the letter saying "that's not until next month, that's what it says right here"

So since there was no brunch menu, and half the menus they gave you were invalid, we finally decided. I ordered the KC burger which is basically a peanut butter bacon burger. We were the 6th table in the restaurant but it took almost half an hour to get our food. Mine came with one piece of bacon and slightly less peanut butter than you get on a Lance snack cracker. Our waitress hung out in the kitchen. She would go back with nothing and come out with nothing 15 minutes later. The non-wait staff spent lots of time discussing which channel should be on which TV, and didn't step in to help at any point. One waitress from another table did finally come over and pick up our empty plates and tracked down our waitress to get our check. Total time was about 90 minutes for basically two mediocre hamburgers. While we were there, I observed several other tables looking at the double menus with the same look I sometimes give Ikea directions. I also observed some tables getting brunch items.

Because these seemed to be simple issues that management could address with their staff I emailed Leon's the same day with my story to inform them that they need to tell their wait staff to explain the menu changes and not get irritated at people who can't navigate the mess. I have also contacted both of their facebook pages. It's been over a week and no response to anything.

Brookside is the only location.  The Broken Arrow store is closed.

It is?

Two restaurants in that place in a couple of years.

I was rather puzzled when Mitch left The Alley and went to Leon's.  I know he likes working in a fast-paced environment, the Alley isn't real fast-paced.  A sports bar doesn't seem to suit his food stylings though.

Meanwhile, The Alley hasn't skipped a beat.  Chef Brandon is doing a great job so far.

Did they just close recently? I was just there 2 weeks ago..  ???

Maybe made a poor assumption.  A few weeks ago was in the area.  Drove by and the landscape beds were overgrown and a "For Lease" sign was on the property.  Figured that meant closed.

Website and facebook list only brookside location.

B.A. is closed and should have never been opened....Brookside location has suffered because of it....It would not shock me to see the Brookside closed soon as well.....

They had some good sandwiches, but otherwise the place was unremarkable.

Can't stand the Brookside location. It's a terrible use of the space and it's cold and uncomfortable.

Overpriced.

They also don't get on a bike and bring you a new sandwich when they mess up the first one.

Did we seriously mess up your sandwich?

 >:(

#7
EZ tomatoes
XTRA hot peppers
Add bacon

Came with none of the above.
They pedaled a new one over here, so we're good.

Update from Leon's

After my email and 3 facebook messages I got a "thank you for your feedback" on Facebook.

Problem solved.

For me, how your management deals with problems is every bit or more important than the food and service.

Big problem but handled well? I'll come back.
Small problem handled poorly? Nope.

Awful.

Call up to the store next time your hungry and I'll comp your meal.

Location(s) Being Reviewed: Brookside
Date/Time of Visit: Sunday 1pm
Quality of Food (1-5): 3.5
Menu/Food Options (1-5): 5
Quality of Service (1-5): 2
Atmosphere (1-5): 2
Overall Rating (1-5): 3
Price ($-$$$$$):$$

What makes this restaurant unique: Nice sports bar with Direct TV.

Tell us about your experience: On Sundays, we make the trek to one of the locations around town with Direct TV so that my husband and I can simultaneously watch our respective NFL teams and perhaps meet some friends who wish to do the same. Not many local joints have this option. Leon's is one of them, so we decided to give it a try this week. We hadn't been there in awhile because the last time we went there for Sunday brunch, it was lackluster at best. We decided to give it another try after hearing they had brought in the chef from The Alley.

When we first walked in, we immediately requested to sit near two TVs showing our games. One was being shown locally, so we (wrongly) assumed it would be on the majority of TVs. The other team, we generally have to request unless we go to a Buffalo Wild Wings kind of place. Not a big deal since there were multitudes of TVs in the bar and dining area. No one in the dining area appeared to be paying attention to the games, so we requested a spot in which we could see two TVs and asked that one be changed as we were expecting a large group to join us for that game. The employee politely informed us that many of the TVs were on the same box, so they couldn't change that particular one. We then requested to sit near a TV that could be changed. ....ten to fifteen minutes later, we were able to get a table across the room from the TV they had changed for us.

We advised the rest of the group coming of the situation, and they opted not to join us. It is confounding to me why a restaurant/bar would spend the money to get NFL Sunday Ticket then not use it to their advantage. It can be a huge draw when used correctly. After we had been there thirty minutes, there were no less than ten people trying to watch the same small TV in the dining room to see one of the more local NFL teams.

That being said, our food was good. We had The Ribbon, the new breakfast sandwich on the brunch menu. Very tasty and inventive - goat cheese, ham, and fried egg on French Toast with a side of maple syrup. We also had our standard club with buffalo fries, which was very good. Our server was decent overall. Nothing special. Perhaps we will return once the NFL season is over to enjoy brunch and lunch.

Watched football at Leon's Saturday evening.  One of the gentleman in our party ordered nachos.  They were delivered with ranch dressing in lieu of cheese.  No cheese to be found in the entire bowl, but lots and lots of ranch.  He sent them back with no request for a corrected order.

Them's Oklahoma nachos.

Must have been out of gravy!

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the failed expansion into BA is now strangling this once successful location, as cash flow issues cause it to lose quality staff and management, which results in deteriorating food/service and puts it further into the death spiral.  The continuing lack of a really good sports bar in this sports obsessed town is a mystery.

Charlie Mitchell's Outback used to be the place!

But that was all soccer stuff, and the sissy pants they wear....

Anyone been to "The Hen" which is K Bondi's (owner of the French Hen) most recent foray into Brookside? Her former Brookside Restaurant was Table Ten. I've heard similar growing pains comments but have not tried personally.

Place was packed last weekend when we walked by.

No kidding!

Mmmmmm....grilled duck!!

Hear, hear. It's shocking that there's not a good non-chain sports bar somewhere in the midtown/downtown area. I have fond memories of my time in larger cities skipping out from work for a few hours in the afternoon to catch some of the NCAA tournament or some EPL soccer.