Seafood towers, shimmering with fresh oysters and Kaluga caviar. Bison bolognese with mezcal tomato sauce. Beef Wellington bites with creamy peppercorn sauce. What do these dishes all have in common, aside from the obvious craveability? You’ll find them all inside some of Oklahoma City’s top hotels.
Long gone are the days when hotel dining was reserved for hotel guests. Nowadays, these restaurants are destinations in their own right, serving standout food for travelers and locals alike. From a James Beard Award-winning chef to handmade pastas and prime steaks, here’s a taste of the best hotel restaurants in OKC.
Downtown
In OKC’s first skyscraper, built in 1910, the Colcord Hotel is a beacon of terra cotta, marble and bronze. It’s also home to Flint, a recently renovated all-day restaurant that hits all the contemporary American high notes. By day, that might mean bacon-infused cinnamon rolls and fried green tomato caprese salad, followed by dinner dishes like blackened redfish, braised short ribs and Black Angus rib-eye.
Regional Italian cuisine reaches new heights at Teller’s, located in the soaring Great Hall of The National, an Art Deco skyscraper originally constructed in 1931. Today, where bank tellers once stood, diners share plates of charred eggplant dip, creamy Burrata flatbreads and pork Milanese.
Fresh off winning the 2023 James Beard Award win for Best Chef: Southwest, chef Andrew Black checked in at the legendary Skirvin hotel. Open since 1911, the timeless icon was once frequented by Perle Mesta, the daughter of the hotel’s founder, W.B. Skirvin. A century later, and one of OKC’s top chefs is serving eclectic upscale dishes — think seafood towers, brick-roasted scallops and lavender duck — in a chic restaurant named in her honor.
Rising 17 stories over Scissortail Park, the Omni Oklahoma City is the largest hotel in town, with bold-flavored restaurants to fit the bill. OKC Tap House is a two-story sports bar, known for its expansive craft beer selection, patio, inventive pub grub and multiple TVs for cheering on the OKC Thunder. Down the hall, Bob’s Steak & Chop House serves up Midwestern Prime cuts in a swanky space decorated with chandeliers, guitars and longhorn cattle artwork.
Tucked off the lobby of Bricktown’s newest hotel, Culprits is a contemporary steakhouse with a penchant for surf & turf. From James Beard Foundation semifinalist chef James Fox, you’ll find meaty standouts, like a dry-aged porterhouse, alongside halibut piccata, raw oysters and jewel-toned sushi rolls.
Another historic property, in a 1916 building that initially operated as a Ford Motor Company assembly plant, the art-filled Fordson Hotel puts pastas, steaks and ice-cold martinis in the spotlight at Mary Eddy’s Italian Grill. The restaurant offers a fresh, welcoming take on Italian comfort food, served in a lively dining room with a relaxed atmosphere that pairs well with everything on the menu.
Beyond Downtown
Located next to the library-filled lobby in The Ellison lifestyle hotel, Milo showcases contemporary Oklahoman cuisine morning, noon and night. Named after a heritage sorghum grain native to Oklahoma, the restaurant dazzles with dishes like black-eyed pea falafel, pimento cheese tots and bison bolognese with mezcal tomato sauce.
Anchoring the sleek OAK OKC development, The Lively Hotel is home turf for Cloud Puncher, a modern Southwestern restaurant and lounge that feels like OKC’s sophisticated living room. Look for novelties like bison sliders, cowboy caviar and ancho honey-glazed salmon, along with a top-shelf cocktail program.
Located in a turn-of-the-century Victorian mansion, Bradford House is a 36-room boutique hotel (and restaurant of the same name) dolled up in vibrant tapestries, animal prints and vintage furnishings. To eat and drink, there’s a charming cocktail bar, a bakery doling out cardamom-scented pastries and its namesake restaurant, offering daily brunch and continental comfort food, including steak frites and rigatoni with wild mushrooms.
Beef Wellington is a rare classic these days. Beef Wellington bites? That’s even rarer. It’s a signature item at The Chalkboard Kitchen + Bar, the bistro-style spot inside Midtown’s Ambassador Hotel. Mosey up to the central bar and eat your way through the eclectic menu featuring fried green tomatoes, lamb lollipops with mint yogurt and an impressive array of fresh sushi rolls. Whatever you do, don’t miss the Wellington.