Saj Lebanese (formerly Cultivar)

[TheTravellers]

And in the case of tipping a server, to insure that proper service the next time one frequents the establishment. I'm just not going to play that game with any establishment.

And that's kinda BS, because odds are you will not have the same server, nor will they remember you (if you do happen to get the same one) the next time you go in to a restaurant, unless you're a regular customer.

[Jersey Boss]

nm

[TheTravellers]

Do you know of any tipped employees that have had the balance made up by their employer? While this is the way it is supposed to be I doubt the reality is such.

I don't know anybody that works for tips, so can't answer this, but I'd be surprised if people went home after work and only got paid $2.13/hour, it's against the law (and yes, I know wage theft violations happen all the time, everywhere, but do you think anybody would work for someone for long if all they got was $2.13/hour?).

Any servers here to comment? How do you differentiate the good servers from bad if you are expected to tip before service is rendered?

You really can't differentiate between good and bad before, so ......

Do you endorse the concept of tipping for counter service? What is the justification?

I believe tipping for counter service is silly and generally don't do it (like at Freebird's - I order myself, get my own drink, take my food to my table, and bus my own table - why would I tip?).

[BBatesokc]

Went last night to check out the evening service - with a party of 13.

Got there around 7pm. Pretty much all the tables in the front were taken (the side area down the hall was empty), but there was no line. We lucked out and one of the long taller tables near the street was available so we pulled up another table and it accommodated us well.

The two line theme definitely continues into the evening and once again was unnecessarily confusing. Adding to that the waitress who gave me my drink cup for tea (at the table) charged me for the drink and so did the cashier when I placed my order and she saw me holding a cup (luckily I questioned the total and she changed it).

Again, those who ordered from the make-your-own line got there food well ahead of those who ordered from the off-the-menu line.

That said, the place has even better atmosphere in the evening and everyone loved the layout and the decor.

We had a cocktail waitress who took our initial orders, but we only saw her one or two other times and several people commented that she missed out on several drink orders because she simply never came by.

Speaking of cocktails - we had their margarita and it was excellent. Tasted fresh squeezed with none of that cheap bar sour mix. Keep in mind, the 'pitcher' is really more like a small glass thermos. But excellent nonetheless.

Once again the burritos, quesadilla and bowls were the hit of the night. Tacos looked amazing and fresh, but you had to once again add sauce to moisten them up. My wife tried the shrimp and the veggie tacos. She commented they were okay, but she wouldn't order them again. She much preferred the bowls (when comparing price, size and taste).

While the 'bus your own tables' signs were out, a really nice man kept coming around and taking out empty plates and glasses off the table for us.

Also, there are 5-7 TV's in the place but every single one was on the OU game. We asked to have at least one on the Thunder game, but they wouldn't do it until after the OU game ended - and the owner was there and aware of the request. This, even though one TV was only pointing at our big table.

Most of our group decided to head next door to Red Prime after dinner.

My review may sound negative, but in all fairness they still have some kinks to work out. That said, I like the place and will probably go on my own and would definitely go if others requested.

Keep the counter service (just streamline it better), take away the tip jar at the counter register, stop making customers bus their own tables and train the cocktail waitresses to be more attentive ($$$). Oh, and don't have all the TV's on only one local sporting event when two are playing. As for the tacos, that may just be our personal taste - but there are plenty of other options we liked.

*One other note - the setting sun is a killer coming in the West garage door windows. Literally blinding.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^
There are plans for an adjustable sunshade for the evening glare.

[Pete]

Their A/V system might not be able to accommodate multiple channels at one time, which is perhaps why they couldn't just switch one TV over.


And in addition to the sun shades, they will have a mister for hot days.

[sixkiller]

Went for lunch yesterday...
Why can't there just be one line? I ordered a bowl and my friend ordered tacos in a separate line. We ended up reaching the register simultaneously, except my food was finished and hers had just been sent to the kitchen. If everyone was in one line, they could get taco orders in much earlier. Sure you then have to stay in the build line, but an entire party's food would be ready in time to eat together. Does this make sense??

Another small complaint--I was a little overwhelmed in the burrito/bowl/salad build line. A LOT of ingredients (which is fine), but they weren't well labeled. I'm short, so even seeing some of them was tough. I wish they had some suggested combinations, like the well built tacos. Or perhaps, "With Adobo Lamb, we suggest...."

I know I'll get flack from some, but food is political and not everyone loves these whitewashed fast casual ethnic "concepts". Food for thought from this 15 minute radio story.
Can Food Be Racist? - The Brian Lehrer Show - WNYC

[Pete]

The reason for the two lines is that everything other than bowls, burritos and salads are made back in the kitchen; for the other items, they want you to see the options for building your meal.

It's also faster because you basically have people preparing food in the service line and then the kitchen staff working separately.

They have a lot more offerings than Chipotle or another burrito place and that's why the ordering is more complicated.


There is certainly room for improvement and they know that better than anyone. I'm very sure they'll work things out. They've only been open less than 2 weeks.

[BBatesokc]

Their A/V system might not be able to accommodate multiple channels at one time, which is perhaps why they couldn't just switch one TV over.


And in addition to the sun shades, they will have a mister for hot days.

That was not the issue. Each TV can be changed independently. Once the OU game ended they changed some of the TV's over to the Thunder game. There was ZERO reason not to change the TV that only faced our table (literally almost directly above our table and facing West).

[Urbanized]

Even if they choose to stick with the basic ordering concept, it would be far more easy to understand if they put a stanchion divider (or a rail, or whatever) between the tho lines and hung a sign over each, one saying "orders with burritos" and the other saying "orders without burritos." Agree about labeling the burrito ingredients too. Not everyone can name those ingredients by just looking at them, and nobody wants to feel like an idiot and blurt out the wrong thing. While I agree that the timing thing is also an issue, the main issue is that the lines are not intuitive. If you have to put a person out there explaining how to do it, you still have design work to do.

[no1cub17]

Well so my wife and I finally made it here for lunch recently - and I hate to say it but we were seriously underwhelmed, if not flat out disappointed - in every aspect of our experience. First - the ordering: we'll let it slide. The two-line concept is confusing and unnecessary IMO. If you go to the burrito/bowl line you then have to get back in line behind all the taco/quesadilla people to pay? Weird, but at least there was someone directing us, so we'll let that go. Menu seemed to be decent enough with lots of options that at least sounded delicious. Credit where it's due - pretty impressed to see a vegan option which actually contained protein - way to go! Very please to see such an option - really truly revolutionary for Oklahoma! That's about where the positives end though. While we're ordering we ask if we can get some jalapenos on the side (not knowing if the tacos would have any flavor or spice and also not having tried the hot sauces). No jalapenos - I'm sorry but what kind of "Mexican Kitchen" doesn't have fresh jalapenos? This is truly a first. We place our food order and try to find a table. It's a beautiful day so we find one of the patio tables, well try to find one which has been cleaned - none of them have been cleaned off. There were at least two empty tables (empty of people at least), but everyone had left their bowls/trays/cups, and there was no sign of anyone who even gave half a behind about cleaning them up. I never saw a single "bus your own table" sign anywhere. Fine, no big deal, we'll move the bowls to the edge of the table. Maybe someone will pick them up while we're eating? Nope. So apparently you're supposed to bus not just your own table, but someone else's too? Bizarre.

Ok then the food. Everything - I'm sorry to say this - was unbelievably bland. The guac looked great but had zero flavor and was way undersalted and underlimed. The thick chips had a nice texture but were also undersalted. The tacos - everything we had (we tried four - two veggie, one shrimp, one duck confit) - incredibly flavorless with absolutely zero spice. I was so looking forward to the hot sauces - unfortunately they seemed more consistent with colored water rather than actual sauce. For every 15-20 drops of habanero "sauce" we got one with any actual kick. Multiple employees came by - a few actually asked if we wanted anything from the bar - which we didn't - but what we were actually interested to see was if they would bus the tables - nope. We ended up dousing our tacos in sriracha to give them at least some flavor - but that sort of defeats the purpose of going to a "Mexican Kitchen," doesn't it?

It really pains me to say this as Mexican food is pretty much my next favorite after Indian/Thai/Asian - and it would've been oh-so-amazing to have a walkable version of BTT right in our backyard. But this place isn't gonna cut it. I'm glad though that many of you like it though. Clearly their food and taste is catered to the market they're serving - nothing wrong with that! And the patio seems pleasant enough - definitely would stop by for a drink at some point. But we won't be back here to eat anytime soon. Not when BTT, chipotle, and qdoba are 100 times as flavorful and half the price, not to mention all the truly authentic taquerias dotted all over the city. And I'll be the first to say that I absolutely cannot stand it when people come downtown and complain about $6 beers or $5 tacos, but the complaints about the prices here are somewhat justified - just my 2 cents though.

Really they need to figure out an identity though - do they want to be truly fast casual like BTT and chipotle? Or do they want to be truly sit-down? Right now they're neither, and it leads to an overall very confusing experience for the customer.

[dankrutka]

I hope that everyone who is posting negative reviews about Cultivar and other new, local restaurants online were courteous enough to share their complaints (in person or via e-mail) with the manager also. Everyone knows that most new restaurants have to iron out the wrinkles over the first few months. It happens so regularly that people generally anticipate it even before new restaurants open. Sharing your complaints with a manager helps a new, local concept like Cultivar improve. Just posting negative reviews online hurts their reputation, and if the no one checks OKCTalk for restaurant reviews (which seems likely), then it does so without providing the feedback needed to improve. Constructive feedback is only constructive if it gets back to the right people. And I think it's important and beneficial for OKC when customers provide such feedback to the local businesses that are so important to the community.

I'm not trying to take a shot at anyone who has posted negative content online because I had never really thought about the effects of a negative review before Urbanized posted something similar on a previous thread.

[AP]

I went friday and really enjoyed the food. My only complaint would be the drink service. Never had anyone come to our table so we had to go to the bar and order. I mostly think that is due to waitresses figuring out sections and things like that. Expect that to be fine in the next couple of weeks. I'll be back for sure.

[Pryor Tiger]

My wife and I spent Saturday afternoon kayaking the Oklahoma River, and then headed over to Auto Alley to try Cultivar. It was 3:30 in the afternoon, but our experience was perfect. The owners mom spent about 10 minutes talking to us about the concept, truly a labor of love for their whole family. Nothing was confusing to us, and the setup was out of this world. I felt like the team was very strong on customer service, and everyone asked us how it was going.

We had chips/salsa (phenomenal), a couple $5.00 salads that were fresh and very tasty (agave lime dressing... mmm), catfish taco, and a chicken quesadilla. The sign for bussing our own table was very clear and didn't cause a huge hassle for us.

Consistency customer to customer, and time frame to time frame is vital in any service industry. That will iron itself out as time goes on I believe. However the atmosphere, design, freshness of the menu items, house made salsas and dressings, interaction with Broadway, and the passion of the ownership will take Cultivar to the top of many OKC locals' lists. I will post a few pics next!

[Pryor Tiger]

[Pete]

^

Nice of you to take the time to write all that up, as it's human nature to only post comments when there is something less than positive to talk about.

Also... *drool*... Their food really is great and there are still lots of things I want to try.

[soonerguru]

Their ingredients really are top notch. It's a great concept. Hope they iron out the service issues.

[BBatesokc]

I hope that everyone who is posting negative reviews about Cultivar and other new, local restaurants online were courteous enough to share their complaints (in person or via e-mail) with the manager also. Everyone knows that most new restaurants have to iron out the wrinkles over the first few months. It happens so regularly that people generally anticipate it even before new restaurants open. Sharing your complaints with a manager helps a new, local concept like Cultivar improve. Just posting negative reviews online hurts their reputation, and if the no one checks OKCTalk for restaurant reviews (which seems likely), then it does so without providing the feedback needed to improve. Constructive feedback is only constructive if it gets back to the right people. And I think it's important and beneficial for OKC when customers provide such feedback to the local businesses that are so important to the community.

I'm not trying to take a shot at anyone who has posted negative content online because I had never really thought about the effects of a negative review before Urbanized posted something similar on a previous thread.

If the owner of any local restaurant isn't checking for reviews themselves and specifically reading this website, then they are out of touch IMO.

[no1cub17]

Their food really is great and there are still lots of things I want to try.

Pete, can you recommend something for next time I go? I really want to like it - as much as I love mexican food and drinking, doesn't make sense that I didn't like this place, so I'll give them a few more chances at least!

[Pete]

Moved a ton of posts here:

http://www.okctalk.com/general-food-...6-tipping.html

[Pete]

Pete, can you recommend something for next time I go? I really want to like it - as much as I love mexican food and drinking, doesn't make sense that I didn't like this place, so I'll give them a few more chances at least!

There is much I have left to try but so far I really like:

- chips and queso
- chips and salsa
- catfish tacos
- Mexican street corn
- house margarita
- habanero sauce on the table

[AP]

I loved the chorizo and potatoes burrito bowl. It was so delicious and great now I'm really craving it.

[Pete]

Don't know if it's on the menu but at the soft opening they served this desert quesadilla that was chocolate and banana and it was absolutely delicious.

[TheTravellers]

If the owner of any local restaurant isn't checking for reviews themselves and specifically reading this website, then they are out of touch IMO.

Yes, a thousand times, this! Or any local business, not just a restaurant, actually. It's the 21st century, has been for a while, get up to speed on this new-fangled interwebs thingimajig - constantly amazed at how many places have websites that suck, are nonexistent, don't answer emails, etc. etc. etc. Tokyo says to make reservations for weekends and groups > 6, yet they give *no* link to do that, nor an email address, and not even a freaking phone number on their website.

And how hard would it be for someone who knows the owner of Cultivar to say "Hey, check out okctalk.com, your restaurant is getting bashed all over the place for the bizarre way your ordering system is set up, might want to address that"? It's just part of running a restaurant nowadays, it's not the 70s any longer, we have technology...

[Pete]

The owner and operator of Cultivar is very aware of the issues being made public here and on social media in general.