The following are short reviews of the restaurants my mother and I ate at during the first part of our road trip, through Oklahoma and Kansas.

Golden Saddle, Tulsa OK:

Despite having a less than desirable location, this place is a real gem. With a menu full of comfort food (I had the chicken pot pie along with a side salad and my mother had a chicken salad), the drinks are a surprising strong point. The restaurant not only has a great sweet iced tea, but also has a tasty Persian hot tea as well to go along with a menu of American food that focuses on BBQ and steaks as well as the aforementioned comfort food. With friendly and attentive service and good prices, this is a place worth trying if you are looking for a good lunch or dinner near the airport. They used to have a salad buffet before covid and hopefully they will be able to open it up again.

Dennys @ Sheridan/Archer, Tulsa OK:

The menu at Denny’s is pretty obvious and not something that needs to be discussed, but there are some aspects of this particular restaurant that are still worth being appreciated all the same. With an undesirable location, this restaurant is open only from 7AM to 4PM to keep their restaurant full of satisfied customers, and in the two times we went there (as it was next door to the hotel, which had no breakfast available), they managed to succeed well at their task. Servers are friendly and attentive, and management keeps a close eye to make sure that customers are being served well. This is a restaurant location that manages to do good business despite an undesirable location in a very rundown neighborhood and deserves praise for it.

Sam & Ella’s Chicken Palace, Tahleuah, OK

One of the few places in the area to be open on Sunday, this place currently offers only take-out and delivery, although one can eat at one of the two tables outside of the restaurant under cover that are in high demand. Despite the name of the company, this is a pizza place that also offers subs. Their inside remains closed and their menu is extremely restricted from the on-going covid issues, but such food as they had is good–I had a yard bird sub, which was a sub with chicken and cheese with lettuce and spinach as well as oregano on top. This place will be even better to go to when it opens up inside and can seat more customers and have its larger pre-covid menu. In the meantime, don’t pass this up if you’re looking for food on a Sunday, when options are extremely limited in the capital of the Cherokee Nation.

Vora Restaurant European, Wichita, KS

This restaurant is a remarkably upscale place on the east side of Wichita that offers a menu full of surprises. I had the duck frites, which was superb, along with some grilled asparagus, and my mother had a salmon Greek salad with Italian vinaigrette. The service is extremely attentive and responsive, and provided an excellent eating experience to my mother and I as well as the other customers at the restaurant, many of whom dressed up quite nicely for the experience. The food is not cheap, but the experience is definitely worthwhile, with everything from the service to the dance music to the general ambiance to the extensive wine list making for a pleasing fine dining experience if you are ever in Wichita, Kansas.