Tribute to The Oak Restaurant

[TheLittleFaerie]

I know it doesn't mean much to most people but worth me paying tribute. The Oak Restaurant was unique Greek inspired restaurant/steak house, with that "retro type classiness" to it. It opened in 1984, my grandparents took us to eat there all through childhood. It was a favorite after-church lunch place, where we'd take large groups of visiting family, etc. I loved it because it hadn't changed a bit since 1984, I loved going about once every 2 weeks, it was like a trip back to childhood. The atmosphere was, as I said, CLASSY and upscale, nice service, music, never got anything bad there. The type of place that had a host or hostess to seat you. They were famous for their pizza and fried chicken on the lunch buffet, and their chicken livers always on the salad bar. Very unique set-up. Never really a huge crowd at night, it was always laid-back. Sundays though used to be booming!

When I went the other day, after 40 years, the owners had sold it to another existing diner called Medley's, so now the name is "Medley's at the Oak" I was very sad to see the Oak go. I'm not knocking Medley's but it's not NOT the Oak . Of course it had to be ripped apart and remodeled and given that UPDATED look of TODAY, different class of people there, different music, no one to seat you. Songs playing used to be things like Blue Bayou, Listen to the Music now it's Boot Scootin Boogy and what used to be the peaceful laid-back dining is now lots of ppl yelling, screaming into the cell phone, etc.... It's just a cut BELOW.

Just a small pleasure I used to get out of life, now gone

[Wawwie]

I know just how you feel. I recently lost my favorite Greek diner called The Royal Oak and it was around since 1981. I used to have breakfast there every weekend until covid put the restaurant out of business. The owners went back to Greece. I miss the Royal Oak so much!

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by Wawwie

I know just how you feel. I recently lost my favorite Greek diner called The Royal Oak and it was around since 1981. I used to have breakfast there every weekend until covid put the restaurant out of business. The owners went back to Greece. I miss the Royal Oak so much!

Sorry to hear that. It's set-up looks similar to The Oak I went to. It's interesting yours has Oak in the name also.

We still have a place called J&G and Gondola which are in the same vein. J&G is probably considered a cut above in most people's eyes, but they are more expensive

[Wawwie]

Originally Posted by TheLittleFaerie

Sorry to hear that. It's set-up looks similar to The Oak I went to. It's interesting yours has Oak in the name also.

We still have a place called J&G and Gondola which are in the same vein. J&G is probably considered a cut above in most people's eyes, but they are more expensive

Yes, quite the coincidence that both restaurants have the name Oak in it. Ever since The Royal Oak went out of business, we had to go with a different diner called The Metropolis. Their food is good, but like your J&G replacement, the Metropolis is also a bit pricier. It also takes about 5 minutes to get there. The Royal Oak was right around the corner. It took like 60 seconds to get there.