Swadley’s Bar-B-Q

We love this place although the cashiers and waitresses tend to the dingy side (so does my Mom. She requested this place for Mothers’ Day. They are no longer open on Sunday so we had to come on Saturday). It just makes things fun.
We always order the Oklahoma Sampler. I sub the rib for smoked turkey. Their smoked turkey rocks. The ribs are tough. You have a choice of sauces. Get the sweet and juicy and the jalapeño one and mix them. My fave sides are spicy beans and fried okra. I only order fried okra at Swadley’s. They cook them crispy and I love that.
You get an ice cream cone for dessert. This place is fun and delicious.

Great BBQ, probably the best I’ve had in OKC! The customer service was also great. I wasn’t aware that you were also served, so make sure you bring cash for a tip. I tried the sampler, and also the chicken sandwich with potato salad and fried okra. I don’t have any complaints at all about this place! Everything was flavorful and juicy, and they give you a lot! You also get free ice cream at the end. I really loved this place!

I’m from Indiana, I travel a lot and eat BBQ all over the country. Stopped here on a Thursday adopt 12:30 place was busy service was fast and friendly. Had pulled pork & sliced brisket Cole slaw & potato salad if the sides weren’t home made they were definitely better than the average boxed sides. The brisket was perfect the pulled pork could of had some bark it it to suit my taste. All said and done good portion & price. Would recommend.

Since I moved to OKC my sister has been telling me that her favorite BBQ place is Swadley’s, but we have never made it there to try it. So when she had my nephew last week, I took the week off to help and I wanted to pick them up Linner (lunch/​dinner) once they got home. I selfishly decided it would be Swadley’s…but let’s be honest, they definitely didn’t mind!
I called around 11:00 am for a 2:00 pm pick up. Instead of ordering individual meals, I did the Build Your Own Picnic for $ 40.99, it includes: 2 lbs of any meat, 2 pints of any sides, 4 pieces of BBQ bread and half pints of BBQ sauce. I chose to to split the meat and do 1 lb of brisket and 1 lb of pulled pork, for the sides I did Mac & Cheese, Campfire Tators and added an additional pint side of onion straws for $ 4.99. They also offered plates, silverware and serving utensils for the order which was nice.
I got there about 10 minutes early and used the special parking and entrance for pick up orders only which was nice. The order was all ready to go! When I got it in my car, my mouth was watering with how delicious it smelled. I don’t know if I have ever had BBQ that smelled that good, it was that crispy, smoky flavor all around me!
I took it back and we feasted on all the food we had! There were 3 adults and 1 child, they say this pack feeds around 4 people, but you could probably feed at least 6 comfortably with the meat, the sides were right on with the extra one we added on. If I had to pick one thing it was the BBQ bread, we could have done without that, nothing special about plain toast.
It’s not the most convenient location from my home, but I will definitely be making the effort to go here again whether to dine in or carry out. That loaded baked potato on their menu has a spot on my plate in the near future!

Great place! We got the sampler. Which was plenty for two people. The service is out of this world!

This was our first visit to this location, but we have been to the NW OKC location several times. We went around noon on a Saturday and there were maybe 6 or so other tables with customers, not very busy. There were 4 people in our party and the food arrived within 10 minutes after we sat down. The food was really good, but the meat on my Firehouse sandwich was lukewarm at best. I chose the sweet creamed corn as a side and it was really, really, really awesome.
Overall it was a good experience, but as another reviewed stated, it does seem a bit pricey. Lunch for 4 people at $ 55, not including tip. The food is good, but cost may be something to consider for most.

I always enjoy a business that’s closed on Sundays. I feel it shows good management and priories. With that said, the two meat dinners are a little pricey without even including a drink. (Dinner + cobbler=$ 21) This location has great interior and exterior design too, really nice.
I ordered the two meat dinner w/​smoked chicken and ribs. For sides… They offered so many, but I chose the spicy beans and green beans. The dinner also came with toast. The chicken was flavored well but was room temperature which took away from its allure. I thought the ribs were cooked very well and tastes great, especially with the spicy BBQ sauce I got on the side. I highly recommend the spicy beans too, on point and spicy! Green beans, were… Meh, green beans.
I also ordered a dessert peach cobbler, but noticed when I got home it was apple, (fail) but still was decent.
Would i go back… Yeah, but goinh to test out other BBQ venues in my area, wasn’t completely sold.

This restaurant has really improved since the new manager (Don) has been there also a Retired Navy Veteran, me and my granddaughter go there all the time and eat and it is very peaceful also great food and salad bar, Brent Swadley hope you keep him. Also please get Fox News back on the TV for us. Thank you very much

Love this place. Great bbq and great service. My favorite bbq restaurant in Oklahoma.

I would like to rate this place as 4 stars but it wouldn’t be fair since the food is so good. I usually get a BBQ chopped beef sandwich, baked beans (sweet), okra and drink.
This is a new location, about a mile north of their old location. I suspect this is the new look of Swadley’s and well done. I’ve only been through the drive-​through, but the inside looked nice from the outside, as well.
I have one complaint… the «temperature» of the baked beans are way too hot. This is true about their other locations also. They are only cool enough to eat by the time you get home and you’re almost done with the sandwich. I would guess the guy that decided on the temperature was one of those guys that have to have the hottest coffee in the morning to burn his taste buds numb so he can’t taste anything until lunch.
BTW, this is a perfect place for lunch takeout and bring back to work since they give you plenty of napkins, plasticware and wet wipes.
If I were Swadley’s King, here is what I would do:
Cut the BBQ sandwich to ¾ the size. Cut the okra to half the size. Lower the temp of the BBQ beans, or serve it in a cardboard cup instead of a Styrofoam cup. And then cut the price a little, or use the profits to help pay for the new locations.
Get the recipe for Bread Pudding from Famous Dave’s website (they gave their recipe freely online). Famous Dave’s was a fantastic BBQ joint in Tulsa that is now closed and only open in a couple of other states, but has by far the best bread pudding that is a perfect fit for BBQ. I think Famous Dave’s failure was a very upscale BBQ place that didn’t fit well with the greasy spoon clientele, however, they blamed it on their CEO they hired from McDonalds that started making too many changes.
Then for this new location I would add lights to the parking lot… or at least have them on until closing (I got there late). Yeah, the sign is bright but for this location the parking lot needs to be lit up to draw some attention to it, in an otherwise dark next-​door closed businesses.

This was my first visit to swadley’s and I enjoyed it. It was nice to have a variety of sauces to try, our food arrived quickly and was fresh, and the service was great. Alex was friendly and professional, and made us feel welcome while she made sure we had everything we needed to enjoy our meal.

Had an above average dinner at Swadley’s on a Thursday night. We arrived around 6:00 and placed our order. When we were leaving at 6:45, the parking lot was nearly full and the line was out the door. So, this place apparently is popular and fills up quick.
You order at a counter and are given a number. Then, you choose your seat and a server comes over to get your drink order. The server gets everything: drinks, sauce, pickles/​onions/​peppers, additional silverware. Our server was Morgan and she was great. She frequently checked on us and was very quick with refills. Additionally, we noticed there was always a server cleaning some part of the restaurant. Excellent service, a clean facility, and very friendly employees. High marks for service.
Our food was delivered to our table in under 10 minutes. To eat, I went with the Ultimate BBQ sandwich, which is $ 11.99 and comes with your choice of side and drink. The sandwich is large, and comes with: brisket, bacon, cheese, pulled pork, polish sausage, pickles, and «ultimate sauce,» which basically tastes like the sauce that would be created if ranch and BBQ sauce had a baby. I am sure I am forgetting some meat on this sandwich, but needless to say, it’s massive. As overwhelming as this behemoth is, the meats go well together. The bun is a hoagie bun, it was soft, but too dense for me. A little lighter bun would have worked well. The mac n cheese was the worst part of the meal for me. It reminded me of a higher class of Stouffer’s mac n cheese microwave meals I was given as a child. The cheese had a very artificial flavor to it. I’m not saying it was artificial, I am just saying that’s how it tasted to me.
I was able to sample from the other plates at our table. My son had the turkey, which was moist and smoky. He got a «light» meal and it still came with 5 good size slices, 2 sides, a piece of bread, and a drink. The sweet beans were most definitely that, but they were made with some meat that gave them some savoriness. No heat, so if that’s what you’re looking for I’d go with the spicier offering. The green beans are served with brisket, which was nice and tender. The beans are soft, but haven’t been destroyed, so they’ve got some bite to them. I’d order them again. Solid fried okra, the breading isn’t too thick, it’s seasoned well, and you get a large order for $ 2.49.
I also tried the ribs, which are LARGE. The 4 rib meal was significant, we took some home. The rubs have a good dry rub on them, a nice crust, and were tender but not too tender. They had some pull away from the bone. I did not care for the french fries. No seasoning and the majority were soggy and limp. Some were quite soggy. The onion straws, on the other hand, were fantastic. They were crispy, but slightly thicker than I usually see onion straws. The batter was seasoned, and they were fried very well. If Swadley’s could makes its fries like the onion straws, they’d be onto something. I will absolutely get the onion straws again.
The sauces were typical. They have 4 styles: sweet, hot, a thicker sauce which is called «grumpy,» and a tomato based sauce that we didn’t try. I liked the grumpy sauce, it was thicker and had a better depth than the other 2. But, it lacked heat. A hot version of the grumpy sauce would be my preference. In addition, they have sliced onions, jalapenos, and pickles available.
Very pleased with our meal at Swadley’s, and we’ll absolutely return.

This place is amazing! Great service, good-​sized servings and great atmosphere. I recommend the brisket and sausage special with their spicy beans and baked beans. Their hot BBQ is the perfect amount of spicy for those spice lovers out there. The honey BBQ sauce is also a delicious. Everything was under $ 15 to include drink and sides. And free ice cream!!! Levi was a great host as well, very kind, considerate and attentive. I would recommend this place to anyone in the mood for good BBQ!!!

For starters, I have always enjoyed the BBQ at Swadley’s, but I will never dine at any of their locations again. Though you order at a counter, it is a bit misleading whether you should tip or not because it is not a full service restaurant. With that being said, after dining at their newest location off S. Western for some time now, I have learned these wonderful waitresses are only making $ 2.13 an hour. Yet nearly every time I am there no one tips! They should at least post a sign that says otherwise so we will know we need to! Yesterday, the sweet old woman who always greeted customers left in tears crying because she was fired (or that’s what one of the staff members said). They couldn’t even have the decency to let this woman go at a time when there wasn’t a high volume of customers sitting in the dining area? How unprofessional! Not to mention, she served her purpose there, because it made it easy to become a repeat customer with such a kind atmosphere. My heart breaks for these young women waiting tables and going home to their families with only dollars in their pockets, and for Swadley’s not to even compensate on their paychecks! I love their brisket, and I’ll miss their fries dipped in their spicy BBQ sauce, but out of principle I will never give them another dime of my money.