A new year brings a fresh slate of buzzy restaurant openings across Oklahoma City. In 2024, the local dining scene reached new heights with splashy openings from award-winning chefs, a wine bar renaissance, restaurant expansions and more. Along the way, neighborhoods evolved, and new ones emerged. Now, just a couple months into 2025, that momentum is only growing. From highly anticipated new concepts from local stars to arrivals from out-of-town brands, here’s what’s new in OKC’s restaurant scene.
What's Open
After months of anticipation, AKAI is finally here. The Japanese restaurant and izakaya, from owner Viet Pham, made its long-awaited debut in the ever-growing Wheeler District. Among the most authentic Japanese restaurants in OKC, this sprawling gem is the only place in town where whole tuna is broken down behind the sushi bar. Along with other prized seafood, it features in dishes like tuna tartare with caviar and lotus chips, meltingly tender tuna nigiri and show-stopping maki rolls, like the aptly named Best Thing Ever Roll, made with A5 Wagyu, toro tuna, shrimp tempura, asparagus, avocado, spicy ponzu and 24-karat gold flakes.
In other Japanese news, Takaramono is another newcomer—this time in the Plaza District’s former Oak & Ore space. The dark, cozy spot serves raw bar items such as spicy salmon carpaccio and tuna sashimi, along with sushi, grilled skewers, Korean fried cauliflower and entrées like seafood yaki soba, prime steak with onion dressing and fried rice.
Brand new to the dining scene, Vecina is a Latin American concept out of Phoenix. It’s a passion project for chef James Fox, who sources locally with baked goods from The Harvey Bakery and Lupita’s Taqueria to round out a menu of modern fare—think white bean purée with crispy short ribs, elotes with chorizo butter, salmon tacos with yuzu kosho aïoli and smoked half chicken with tomatillo nam prik and peanut mole. The drink list spotlights both domestic and Mexican beers, a Spanish-leaning wine selection and crisp cocktails.
One of the year’s most anticipated openings comes courtesy of Jeff Chanchaleune, the chef-owner behind the Plaza District’s acclaimed Ma Der Lao Kitchen. Branching out next door, BAR SEN is a Laotian noodle bar focusing on gluten-free noodles and rotating rice bowls, including a nostalgic specialty of Chanchaleune’s: his mom’s Lao chicken noodle soup, khao piek sen. Drinks include Asian beer, sake and craft cocktails, along with late-night hours for slurping and sipping.
Near Lake Hefner, The Crain Lounge & Kitchen is a cozy new neighborhood spot from Ross Crain, a longtime alum of Hal Smith Restaurants. It’s a welcoming crowd-pleaser offering options for every occasion—whether a decadent date night, a group outing to watch a game or a leisurely evening in the lounge with Manhattans and espresso martinis. The food skews contemporary American, with comforting dishes like prime rib sliders, thick-cut pork chops and half-pound burgers. Lighter items, such as slow-smoked salmon and flash-fried shishito peppers, are just as rich.
Following a recent transformation at the Fordson Hotel, Mary Eddy’s Dining Room has re-emerged as Mary Eddy’s Italian Grill. The swanky decor and signature ice-cold martinis remain, but the menu has undergone a makeover. An Italian-American chophouse, the food focuses on steaks and pastas, including an 8-ounce prime beef filet with sautéed spinach and red wine beef au jus, rigatoni with veal ragout and charred broccolini and classic spaghetti and meatballs. Other standouts include smashed burrata toast, chicken Parmesan, and, for dessert, tiramisu parfait.
From the team behind Palo Santo, one of OKC’s most beloved cocktail bars, comes a new mixology hotspot in Midtown. Later Bye, from Brian and Bailey Butler, is a narrow nook of a bar located directly behind The Harvey Bakery, featuring some of the city’s most ambitious cocktails. Alongside an eclectic menu—from zucchini noodles to boquerones—the deep drink list includes everything from a fizzy Tomato Tonic with tomato oleo to a French 75 riff enriched with green tea shochu, lemon, fermented honey, limoncello, sparkling wine and an herbal liqueur called Centerbe. Don’t miss the martinis, such as the bracing Surf Club, made with Argentinian gin, agricole rhum, vermouth, génépy, lime leaf and absinthe.
In a revolving door of coffee news, HQ Coffee has come to the Asian District, offering Asian-inspired drinks like gochujang de leche lattes, ube matchas and red miso mochas. Meanwhile, back in Midtown, Clarity Coffee is cementing its status as a citywide icon with a third location.
Perhaps the most ambitious new opening in OKC, by sheer size alone, is OAK OKC. This massive development, essentially a micro-neighborhood across from Penn Square Mall, is rolling out an array of bars and restaurants. Among them is Oklahoma’s first Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar, serving up tropical flavors and juicy mai tais, and Cloud Puncher, a chic restaurant and lounge inside the Lively Hotel. Here, executive chef Nate Frejo crafts menus with Southwestern sizzle and an homage to Oklahoma cuisine, with dishes like elote ribs, cowboy meatballs with ranchero sauce, sloppy Joe sliders with fried okra and coffee- and coriander-dusted pork loin with sweet tea brine and onion-apple jam. Next door, The Capital Grille marked its Oklahoma debut, while future concepts at OAK OKC include Dallas-based Mesero and a rooftop restaurant at RH Design Gallery.
Coming Soon
In case that wasn’t enough, there’s even more on the horizon.
One of the most glamorous openings yet from Rachel Cope and 84 Hospitality is Elisabetta, a suave Italian venture with a strong focus on wine. After building a loyal following with spots like Empire Slice House and Goro Ramen, the team is expanding northward with a February opening near Nichols Hills. Social media teases dishes like ricotta-stuffed mezzaluna pasta with oyster mushrooms, toasted hazelnuts and brown butter.
Further cementing Midtown as a dining destination, restaurateur Lori Burson, owner of Stella Modern Italian Cuisine, is launching Lorena, a modern Southern concept named after her grandmother. Like Stella, it will spotlight comfort food with contemporary twists in a sophisticated setting, complete with a bar area and a private dining space called The Gridiron. The projected opening is in the first quarter of 2025.
One of the most anticipated openings of the year is actually a reopening. After temporarily closing last year, Thirty Nine is set for a grand return at the First Americans Museum in early 2025. Led by chef Loretta Barrett Oden, a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, the restaurant will delve deeper into Indigenous foodways with fresh, garden-grown ingredients. The reopening will introduce an outdoor kitchen, an expanded garden and hands-on educational opportunities for guests to learn about Indigenous ingredients, harvesting and cooking. It’s just one of many eagerly awaited openings in the Horizons District alongside OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark, debuting this year with an 11-story hotel and a dozen dining outlets, including a gastropub and a taqueria.
