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| - If this place was in the south, it would be out of business in six months.
Let me start by saying I'm married to a southern boy and I lived in the south for 10 years. With that, when I found Okra's website via a search on Yelp, I thought it was the perfect place to take my visiting mother-in-law (also southern) for dinner. Reservations were for a Friday night.
First, Okra's website REALLY does it justice, more than it deserves. The site makes the restaurant seem warm, urban with a down home spin. The ambiance of Okra is the same as so many other restaurants in Phoenix--trying too hard to be hip with questionable architecture and poor lighting. Not to mention, most of the "standard" tables are right in front of the door, which on a cold and rainy night, sends a draft through the space every time the door is opened.
The service was adequate, but not what you would hope for. Our server was okay, but aloof and extremely inattentive. She never checked on whether we liked our food or if we needed anything else during the meal. We were nothing more than a table and tip. At least try and fake it!
As for the food ... the worst part of the entire Okra experience. I ordered the 2-piece regular fried chicken with hush puppies (you have to pay extra for every side, otherwise, all you get is the chicken), my husband got the chicken sandwich with fries and my mother-in-law got a cabbage salad with a side of corn bread and grits. The fried chicken had absolutely no taste. And what I believe was supposed to be a breast had almost no meat on it at all. I mean, when the leg has more meat than the breast, there's something wrong. Frankly, they should be ashamed to even serve a piece of chicken like that. The hush puppies were okay, but there was absolutely no presentation to the plate--just two pieces of over-fried chicken on one side and three plain hush puppies on the other. The chicken sandwich was okay, but extremely messy. As for the grits and cornbread--come on Okra, really? The grits were waaaaaaay too thick and why is it that you burn the edges of your cornbread? I can assure you that is not how it's done in the south.
The best part of my meal was the Okra Cup drink.
Just because you name yourself after the most famous vegetable served in the south and put some wood up in your restaurant does not mean you can legitimately call yourself a fine purveyor of southern cuisine. Okra, you have a long way to go. I suggest a long trip through the south to learn from those more concerned about quality and taste than trying to be yet another hipster wannabe eatery in Phoenix.
Perhaps my perspective is a bit skewed, but if you are looking for good southern cuisine, Okra is not place.
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