The Prohibition Room -Restaurant Review
Location: 1112 NW 23rd Street
Oklahoma City, OK
Phone: 601-0363
Website: prohibitionroom.com
SADLY THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED
The Prohibition Room is housed inside the historical Gold Dome building at 23rd and Classen.
I was excited to see inside the Gold Dome building, as I vaguely remember a lot of fuss over them trying to tear it down a few years back. There was a major push to save it and make it a historical place. For some reason, I thought the entire building housed only the restaurant, so I was a little surprised to see that it only occupies a small portion.
Upon entering, you’ll see a pretty large lobby.
The Prohibition Room will be on your immediate left as you enter. One entire wall of the restaurant is windows and glass doors so you’ll spot it easily.
There were about 30-40 four-seater tables with soft candles glowing on them and some really cool jazz music playing featuring the swank of the 30’s and 40’s. The word Speakeasy comes to mind. Remember that in history?
We noticed that practically all of the tables were vacant, and most customers were seated at the bar.
The reason for that is probably their extensive menu of good stiff drinks served up at the restaurant.
Mr. Wonderful and I aren’t big drinkers, it was date-night, and we were interested in the food, so we took a seat at one of the softly-lit tables. A little bit of our conversation…
Him: “Holy cow! “There’s a lot more drink choices than food choices.”
Me: “There’s a Lobster Medallion sandwich.”
Him: “LOOK! They have a pasta with those prawn thingies. Aren’t they like little lobsters?”
Me: “They’re like long shrimp on steroids. OH, they have Chicago Hotdogs”.
(We had just taken those and fixings for them to a party the other night).
Him: “That couple at the bar needs to get a room”.
Long, uncomfortable pause as I turned around.
Me: “She must have drank that Absinthe stuff they serve.”
Absinthe is a spirit served at The Prohibition Room, that invokes disturbing dreams due to the super-high alcohol content. Absinthe was at one time banned in the United States. It’s dripped over a sugar cube when served and it’s beyond me why someone would want to punish themselves that way.
Our waitress came over and, as always, we befriended her and asked for suggestions. This is always a good idea as the wait-staff have probably tried everything and know what’s really good.
We started out by ordering a ceasar salad (included with meal) for each of us. Mr. Wonderful ordered the Filet Medallions ($18) and I ordered the Roasted Pork Loin ($15). That was easy.
Picking our sides wasn’t.
The sides offered are roasted potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, sweet potato fries, green beans, grilled asparagus, sauteed spinach, broccolini, summer squash, baby beets, baby turnips, and baby carrots.
We sat and stared at the waitress with a look of “how will we ever pick?” in our eyes.
In the end, I got the sweet potato fries and grilled asparagus, and Mr. Wonderful opted for the roasted potatoes and saueteed spinach. All were excellent choices and delicious.
Mr. Wonderful gave me a bite of his steak and it was melt-in-your mouth to die for. My pork loin had an amazing sauce brushed over it of a sweet whole grain mustard. It was fabulous. The salad looked kind of ordinary at first, but further investigation delighted us with many large shavings of fresh parmesan nestled between the salad chunks. However, if you’re looking for a homeade ceaser salad, you should probably order the house salad.
Our food was hot and perfectly cooked. The service was actually really good. Our waitress was informative and came by often.
Our overall experience was great. Next time we’ll try one of their appetizers. I was drooling reading the Brushchetta selection ($12). For $12 you choose 4 of an array of toppings, like fig and prosciutto and brie and fuji apples. Or I am intrigued by the choices, like Mussels and Thai Sausage ($12). Check out the menu and try this place.
Mr. Wonderful is a tough cookie to please. He loved the place and had no complaints, except for that one couple…
Maybe they won’t be there next time.
**Added note – we did visit The Prohibition Room for a 2nd time and had some issues with the food compared to our first time. The owner has contacted me and was very concerned about what troubled us and has offered to check into it. Hopefully, we’ll have a better experience if we try it again.
~Katie