Tulsa Travel Guide - 2023 NCAAs

[Warm Up Champ]

Alright, all you "Rick Steeves" of the South Central USA.....

What should we know about Tulsa?  Places to hit, places to avoid, food, bars, transportation, neighborhoods, suggestions, weather in March etc, etc.

What do ya got for us who will be coming into town in March?

[Spladle08]

Alright, all you "Rick Steeves" of the South Central USA.....
What should we know about Tulsa?  Places to hit, places to avoid, food, bars, transportation, neighborhoods, suggestions, weather in March etc, etc.
What do ya got for us who will be coming into town in March?

Depending on how close your hotel is to the arena. It's littered with "walking distance" good times. Eats, drinks, etc. I mean it's a little big city so it's not far to anything your heart desires.
But also not really overwhelming with unique "fun".
If you're a history buff and into racial massacres or oil/gas based things you might go explore but as far as pubs and cigar bars and delicious eats. You'll be in a solid area.

[Natty Boh Army]

I think this is a no-brainer

 

https://www.theoutsidershouse.com/

[ionel]

11 minutes ago, Natty Boh Army said:

I think this is a no-brainer

 

https://www.theoutsidershouse.com/

It being wrestling, will Tom Cruise be there?

[bnwtwg]

Be sure to check out Chuy’s and On The Border for some authentic TexMex! 

[TonyClifton]

Pizza fans need to go to Andolini's.

[Idaho]

11 hours ago, Natty Boh Army said:

I think this is a no-brainer

 

https://www.theoutsidershouse.com/

Absolutely!

[Natty Boh Army]

18 hours ago, ionel said:

It being wrestling, will Tom Cruise be there?

 

[gimpeltf]

1 hour ago, Natty Boh Army said:

 

He wrestled in a jacket?

[Natty Boh Army]

8 hours ago, gimpeltf said:

He wrestled in a jacket?

He did in this movie. Still more convincing than Matthew Modine.

[Powershouse]

Jamil’s Steakhouse
https://www.jamilsrestaurant.com/

[alex1fly]

I visited Tulsa this summer for a couple days and did touristey things. Pinned (hehe) a bunch of things to a Google Map after talking to some locals for recommendations. Here it is in case anybody wants to take a look:

https://goo.gl/maps/L9RYbcnQEvrBuWdy7

My favorite spots were The Gathering Place (a world class park that you could spend an entire day in) and walking around Downtown. There's a lot of cool architecture downtown and it's a fun walk after 5 PM when the offices empty out. Good restaurants, bars, music venues. Velvet Taco was my favorite place to eat, went there twice, they have a bunch of fun fusion tacos. The Philbrook Museum and Woodward Park have really nice gardens that you can walk around w/o paying admission and are both next to each other and close to The Gathering Place. The Philbrook was closed when I was there, but its supposed to be quite an attraction. There's a couple hip neighborhoods if you want to cruise, Brookside and Cherry St. If the weather is crap you can go down to the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks which is decently fun. Apart from those highlights feel free to take a look at my map above! Hope this helps anybody!

[Red]

17 hours ago, Natty Boh Army said:

He did in this movie. Still more convincing than Matthew Modine.

What movie is this?

[ionel]

On 11/19/2022 at 3:16 PM, gimpeltf said:

He wrestled in a jacket?

Maybe he always wears a jacket:

[Fletcher]

Let me know when the brand name hotels release their rooms. I didn't go to three years of law school to stay at a La Quinta Inn.

[Sheerstress]

On 11/20/2022 at 3:39 PM, Red said:

What movie is this?

Born on the 4th of July (?)

[insidecradle]

On 11/20/2022 at 7:24 PM, ionel said:

Maybe he always wears a jacket:

Looks like young Sheldon on the juice!

[Natty Boh Army]

17 hours ago, Sheerstress said:

Born on the 4th of July (?)

Correct. I haven't watched that in 20+ years, but I remembered something about a wrestling scene. I tried to find a clip of it, but no luck. 

[82bordeaux]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:55 PM, Natty Boh Army said:

I think this is a no-brainer

 

https://www.theoutsidershouse.com/

I thought this was going to be a cool gastropub.

 

 

 

 

[H82Lose]

Tons of cool stuff to do down by the BOK.  Lots of places to have a beer, and good places to eat. I am not sure on the dates, I believe it is the Wednesday before NCAA's, they will be having some high school all star matches. They will be held across the street from BOK at the Cox Center. Again, not sure on the date or who will be wrestling in it, but this is what I was told. When I get more details, I will post them. 

[TobusRex]

On 11/19/2022 at 8:12 PM, Natty Boh Army said:

 

SO they wrestled in their warmup suits back then? 

[TobusRex]

On 11/24/2022 at 2:56 PM, Justin Acklin said:

Tons of cool stuff to do down by the BOK.  Lots of places to have a beer, and good places to eat. I am not sure on the dates, I believe it is the Wednesday before NCAA's, they will be having some high school all star matches. They will be held across the street from BOK at the Cox Center. Again, not sure on the date or who will be wrestling in it, but this is what I was told. When I get more details, I will post them. 

Wasn't there a Justin Acklin who won a state title? Damned if I can remember the year. 

[TobusRex]

On 11/21/2022 at 12:24 AM, ionel said:

Maybe he always wears a jacket:

Look at those teeth! That boy could eat corn through a picket fence!

[TobusRex]

On 11/18/2022 at 7:24 PM, Warm Up Champ said:

Alright, all you "Rick Steeves" of the South Central USA.....

What should we know about Tulsa?  Places to hit, places to avoid, food, bars, transportation, neighborhoods, suggestions, weather in March etc, etc.

What do ya got for us who will be coming into town in March?

Try to avoid North Tulsa. That's where most, not all, of the gang activity and murders occur. Oklahoma has the 11th highest gun homicide rate in the USA, so be careful. The weather in March is pretty mild, mostly. Occasionally you'll have fluke cold snaps in March, but by late February winter is pretty much over in Oklahoma. Be sure to pack a decent sweater and gloves and you'll be prepared just in case a fluke snowstorm or something hits. 

Public transportation...lol. Oklahoma is a very backwards state beholden to the oil industry. You won't find any convenient buses to ride to sessions, so be prepared to pay for taxis, uber, or to drive yourself. 

Food wise Oklahoma has the same fast food places as any other American state. There are some regional brands you won't find anywhere else. I highly recommend Hideaway Pizza. They make the best pizza in the state by a country mile. One time I was in Stillwater and saw Dieringer walking out of the Hideaway over there. I said "Hey Ringer", and when he looked at me I said "What would coach Smith think if he saw you walking out of there?", and I "tut-tutted" him. He laughed. If Hideaway is good enough for a 3 time NCAA champion, it's good enough for you! Supposedly the fish restaurant "Molly's Landing" is one of the top 10 seafood restaurants in the USA. Don't ask me how a landlocked state has a top fish restaurant, I've never eaten there. There are many steakhouses in town. My favorite (The Fatted Calf) went tits up years ago, but there are many more and they are all pretty much the same. Avoid Mexican food in Tulsa, it's almost uniformly bad. I'm talking "EL Presidente" TV dinner bad. Maybe you'll get lucky and find someplace with good Mexican food, but it's pretty unlikely. 

If you are bringing the entire family to Tulsa, Mohawk Zoo is a great zoo in Tulsa. Seriously, best zoo in the state.  

If you are hankering for a (cough) "Gentleman's club" then I'd recommend Lady Godiva's. I've been there a couple times, most recently about 30 years ago. On the other hand I just read a Yelp review about Lady Godivas and from the reviews it sounds like the same girls that were dancing there 30 years ago are still there! 

 

[TobusRex]

On 11/20/2022 at 11:23 PM, alex1fly said:

I visited Tulsa this summer for a couple days and did touristey things. Pinned (hehe) a bunch of things to a Google Map after talking to some locals for recommendations. Here it is in case anybody wants to take a look:

https://goo.gl/maps/L9RYbcnQEvrBuWdy7

My favorite spots were The Gathering Place (a world class park that you could spend an entire day in) and walking around Downtown. There's a lot of cool architecture downtown and it's a fun walk after 5 PM when the offices empty out. Good restaurants, bars, music venues. Velvet Taco was my favorite place to eat, went there twice, they have a bunch of fun fusion tacos. The Philbrook Museum and Woodward Park have really nice gardens that you can walk around w/o paying admission and are both next to each other and close to The Gathering Place. The Philbrook was closed when I was there, but its supposed to be quite an attraction. There's a couple hip neighborhoods if you want to cruise, Brookside and Cherry St. If the weather is crap you can go down to the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks which is decently fun. Apart from those highlights feel free to take a look at my map above! Hope this helps anybody!

The Philbrook is pretty small. It won't take more than an hour to take it all in. I was disappointed when I finally made it there after all the talk I'd heard for years. There's some cool stuff, but not a whole lot of it.