I walked by this (new) place sometime last week on a Thursday or Friday night and there was literally no one inside. How's it doing? Is it going to survive? It at least looks nice....

I'd imagine it would do well this week.

Yeah this week it should do really well. I'm thinking Al's business might pick up once it warms up a bit and there's more traffic along the canal. It's been open for about a month or so and not alot of people even know it's there yet. It could be a really good atmosphere for the Big XII Tournament.

Where is it located and what is it? I've been out of town for over a week. Or are you referring to Al Eichbach's Sports Grill which has been opened for quite a while now.

http://www.okctalk.com/bricktown-wired/7920-othellos-al-eschbachs-what-else-does-bricktown-need.html

Yeah, Al's (aka Al Eschbach's Hall of Fame Sports Bar & Grill).

My husband and I have been 3 times now and really enjoy it. There are some different items on the menu that you don't see at a typical sports bar. We especially enjoy the asiago cheese bites. The first time we went Al was there and went to every table and introduced himself to everybody.

We like the place, but every time we go, nobody is there. We went in one night to watch a Hornets game, thinking several people would be there, and it was us and like 2 other groups of people. We have been 3 times, and experienced that every time. I don't know why it isn't busy? Do people not know about it being there yet?

If anyone had an experience similar to mine, that might explain why it's so empty all of the time.

I went to Al's with a couple of friends about a week or two after it opened. It was around 9:00pm on a Friday night, and the place was mostly empty. We sat down at a table and was greeted by the waitress after a few minutes. I ordered a Boulevard draft as did one of my buddies. My other friend looked at the bar and noticed beer bottles displayed on the wall. He spotted a Sam Adams bottle, and so he decided to order a Sam Adams. The waitress goes to the bar to put in our order, and after a minute, she comes back and says that they don't serve Sam Adams. We found it rather odd that they would display the bottle but not actually carry the beer. We decided not to question it though. My buddy ordered a Boulevard instead, and so she went back to the bar to put that drink order in. She comes back with one Boulevard and gives it to the guy who just ordered it! Meanwhile, me and the other guy are still waiting for the Boulevards that we ordered several minutes earlier. We finally get our beers after a several more minutes.

We came to the place with the intention of eating, so we ask the waitress for menus. She proceeds to tell us that the cook is running pretty far behind, so if we want anything it'll probably take 45 minutes or so. She says this in a tone that implied that she was discouraging us from ordering food at all. I'll remind everyone that the place is mostly empty at this time! Since we were hungry, we decided to order anyways and ordered chips and queso as an appetizer in addition to our entrees. We figured it shouldn't take that long to put together chips and queso. It ended up coming out after a few minutes, and then our meals came out maybe 10 minutes later! Makes me wonder if the waitress lied to us earlier so she could leave early. Needless to say, I haven't been back since.

That's a shame. Al's was such a great place when it was in Norman.

It wouldn't hurt Al if he'd do some advertising.

I went to Al's last night to have a few drinks and watch the OU women play their first game of the tourney. It wasn't all that busy at first, then about 8pm more people started coming in. Al Eichbach himself showed up and was walking around all night talking to everyone like someone mentioned earlier in a post, even Bob Stoops and his wife came to have a few drinks and a bite to eat... I was really surprised when i saw him walk through the door! Needless to say, it looks like Al Eichbach's may be the place to be for the Big XII Tournament.

Trying out Al's tonight for happy hour...Hoping with the rain and all there will be more than just my group present

Know this is exciting news, but you will likely have to wait til tomorrow to hear my review...Please try and contain yourselves

Know this is exciting news, but you will likely have to wait til tomorrow to hear my review...Please try and contain yourselves


C'mon, Easy180... we're waiting! How was Al's doing on a Friday night?

Crap....Forgot I said that...Ended up at Belle Isle Brewery cause there were wrecks on I-44 Southbound and I-44 Eastbound when we tried to get over to 235...So we told our buddy who was already downtown to come up North

So Al's was cancelled due to weather :fighting3

I read on another board Al's closed up shop in Bricktown...is that true?

Found the source....it's on the daily oklahoman website! 2 bad for him but I agree that place seemed doomed from day 1.

Glad the weather saved me a trip...Said it had closed down last week

Not sure what their intentions were when they relocated there, but with zero effort and advertising I guess they got what they wanted

They made a mistake that assumed a second-rate watering hole would survive as an ongoing interest an area that at least aspires to something more than being a watering hole.

I had the misfortune of going in Al's place once, and then just for a minute or two - and it seemed like a total dive to me.... I mean, yeah, I could see how it might develop some sort of collegiate following, but as a general restaurant with year-round appeal? Don't think so.

-soonerdave

I'm sad to hear that it didn't survive. To me, the things that I didn't care for that I could see causing a problem were the generally unhappy attitudes many of the waitresses there had, and what I perceived to be bad management. For example, I went in there the week of the Arts Festival and they had 4-5 people working counting the bartender and cooks. The waitress said they had been slammed all day and couldn't figure out why... I told them it was probably the Arts Festival and they said they had no idea it was going on. It's just bad management when the folks setting the weekly schedule have no idea what else is going on around Bricktown and don't plan accordingly.

That place was a dive, the food sucked and the service was worse. I bet Othellos is next. I said this before, and I know some of you hate chains, but I always thought a Fridays would do good on that corner.

There's no doubt a Friday's would survive in Bricktown

It may need a chain in that spot to survive....Nothing like Friday's down in bricktown so I don't see the harm in that

Unfortunately at this point I think it's going to take more chains in Bricktown to survive for the long-term at this point. The locals either A.) don't plan accordingly, or B.) are being gouged on exorbant rent prices. or C.) both D.) didn't have the money in the first place to open a Bricktown restaurant

Think you are right metro....Gotta have some deep pockets to survive long term unless your concept is excellent and always tweaking

Spaghetti Warehouse (Not sure how it's survived this long)
Zio's
Crabtown
Bourbon Street

All have deep pockets and other locations to lean on

Think you are right metro....Gotta have some deep pockets to survive long term unless your concept is excellent and always tweaking

Spaghetti Warehouse (Not sure how it's survived this long)
Zio's
Crabtown
Bourbon Street

All have deep pockets and other locations to lean on

You know, I am suprised how busy the Spaghetti Warehouse stays. Kids seem to dig the atmosphere.

My guess for the next casualty would be Othello's. Went in a couple of Saturdays ago about 8:30. We were the only people dining and there might have been 1 other person at the bar. One other couple came in to eat while we were there.

Food was fine. Just to many italian choices and some that are more suited for families.

Good call on the Fridays concept. I do think it is going to take a chain type to survive down there (for the most part)

I'm sad to hear that it didn't survive. To me, the things that I didn't care for that I could see causing a problem were the generally unhappy attitudes many of the waitresses there had, and what I perceived to be bad management. For example, I went in there the week of the Arts Festival and they had 4-5 people working counting the bartender and cooks. The waitress said they had been slammed all day and couldn't figure out why... I told them it was probably the Arts Festival and they said they had no idea it was going on. It's just bad management when the folks setting the weekly schedule have no idea what else is going on around Bricktown and don't plan accordingly.

Wow. How do you not know the Arts Festival is going on a couple blocks away. Shouldn't that have been a major topic at the latest Bricktown Assn. meeting?

But that's the thing jbrown as someone mentioned, Al's probably wasn't attending the association meetings or if they were, management was doing a poor job at relaying the info to their employees.

True.