Petroleum Club

I’m pleased to upgrade my review to a resounding five stars after attending an event here last week. My late grandfather was the recipient of a posthumous award for his years of service and outreach to Oklahoma prisoners via the Oklahoma Prison Ministry. The award luncheon was here, and I hadn’t been in a couple of years.
I was shocked to find it has been beautifully renovated in the best ways possible. They’ve kept all the really timeless beautiful touches — like hand-​painted wallpaper and murals — and they’ve updated everything that felt dated, like carpets, tapestries, etc.
Gone are all the pieces of flair that made it feel like a Greek cruise ship circa 1995. What remains are all the touches that made it feel like a tasteful oil baron’s home away from home.
I want to throw a party here so bad I can taste it! I can feel the crisp linens, smell the fresh-​cut flowers, hear the tinkle of crystal as it’s being set out. I’m imagining learning all the servers names and going over the details of the menus with our caterers and bartenders. Already making a playlist in my head…

One must remember that this is a private club providing service for members and their guest. Five of us fully enjoyed our evening from beginning drinks thru starters and finally 5 excellent dinners. It was nice to be able to talk to each other and not be bothered by what was on the tv. Actually able to conduct business!

So many things wrong with this meal… We planned ahead and made a reservation for 7 people. Finding parking was difficult (Petroleum Club parking was not clearly marked), and we had to pay $ 8 for parking as the Petroleum Club no longer validates. It was not clear if we should get off the elevator on the 34^th floor or the 35^th floor — nothing was marked. When we arrived, we (and our three underage children) were seated in the BAR. Despite being on the 34^th floor, with a spectacular view of OKC, our table was in a private room with NO WINDOWS — are you fricking kidding me?! The view is the entire reason to eat at the restaurant! My bread plate had a huge chip on it (against health code). There is no kids menu, so my 10-​year old had to order a $ 40 steak. All the steaks are the same price ($ 40 per steak), and come with mashed potatoes and asparagus. 4 out of 7 of us at the table ordered $ 40 steaks — all of the steaks were the same (OVERCOOKED). My $ 40 ribeye was only about ¼-​inch thick and WELL DONE (I ordered it medium rare). The mashed potatoes were so dry, they were not edible. The bill for 7 people (three of whom were children) was over $ 300, and the food was AWFUL!!! Today, I paid $ 12 for a sirloin steak at Outback Steakhouse — it was 30% of the price and 10 times as good as the steak at Petroleum Club. The Outback steak was 2-​inches thick and cooked to perfection (medium rare). If I could rate Petroleum Club as ZERO STARS, I would — but I am forced to give them one star — so I will say that one star is for the 7 family members at my table, who made the awful meal a good one. :)

I will say the construction that was done is beautiful and so is the view. I rate so little because of the staff. These guys are very disrespectful and very hard to deal with. Getting ahold of anyone is pretty difficult and when you do, don’t expect them to be gracious for anything. I looked to possibly have my wedding here and let me just tell you I am glad I decided not to. If you are, 1. make sure you ask your vendor if they will work/​deliver here because MAJORITY in the Oklahoma City Metro area will not, 2. get a planner so you wont have to deal with these guys, the planners have no problem being the bad guys and getting things done.

For someone that doesn’t like elevators (more like terrified), the PC was definitely worth the elevator ride. Anywho, the Missus and I ventured up to the PC for a Chamber event. I absolutely loved the space. It was spacious and accommodating and provided an unbelievable view of the city. The PC had a bit of 70s vibe to it, but was an elegant 70s vibe. (If that makes sense at all.)
In my opinion, the PC would be an excellent space for a wedding or any other special occasion for that matter. I look forward to a return visit whenever I’m given the opportunity.

I was suuuuuper excited to go to the PC because of its reputation and the great experiences I have had in Tulsa at the PC there.
It being downtown and right next to the Skirvin hotel, parking was a bit of a nightmare. Luckily, we found a spot on the street and were able to make our way up to the club. It’s a little confusing since it is two stories, so we initially went to the wrong floor, but luckily one of the greeters from the lower level event was able to direct us upstairs.
The views from the top of the Chase tower are some of the best in the city. Being able to gaze out over the city at night was awesome and I imagine only surpassed by the views from the Devon tower.
Because I had used Unilocal to get the address, I immediately noticed that many of the decorations featured were ones I had seen in reviews from years ago.
Our meal began with what I was told was the «signature» club salad, which had a southwestern feel and what tasted like green goddess dressing served under the salad. I thought it was delicious and ate every bite.
Our entrée was a chicken breast stuffed with spinach and cheese with asparagus and mashed potatoes. My chicken was legitimately pink on the inside, as was the one served to my neighbor at the table. I was scared to eat it, so I only had one outside bite, and it was OK at best.
The mashed potatoes moved like a puck around my plate and the asparagus was super limp. Bread for the meal was brought around by the waitstaff rather than left on our table, and some members of our table didn’t get any bread.
The dessert was a chocolate flan (I think?) served with fresh berries and was by far the best part of the night. My enjoyment of it was ruined slightly, though, as right after it was served someone had to kill a roach on a chair next to me.
I’m sure this PC was a SUPER nice place once, but with the outstanding options that surround it in downtown, I would not choose to go here or host something here.

If you live in the OKC-​Metro area, you’ve probably heard about the Petroleum Club as the best reception place with a view. I had high expectations because of all the rave reviews.
Walking up to the Chase building, there was a lot of construction. You arrive onto the 35^th floor, oh wait, there’s more construction! Maybe this gave the floor a musty smell, but the paneled off areas where such an eye sore. When we finally made it back to the reception area, there really was a great view. Especially this time of year, one can watch the ice-​skaters, the snow-​tubers and the Christmas lights for as far as the eye can see. And then you see the Devon tower in all it’s sky-​scrapyness, and you can’t help but think that they have the better view.
This event was only a Holiday reception, so only beer and wine was served. The bartender was a gem, she served people really quickly. My complaint is not with her, but with the bar cleaniness. The wine glasses all rest above the bar in plain sight, and each one had water spots all over them. The back area was half-​way cleaned with stuff just lying around everywhere. Some areas just had a white towel covering it. This was also an eye-​sore.
The piano player turned out some holiday and pop song hits as we grabbed some h’orderves of chilled shrimp, cheese ravioli, chicken slices, smoked salmon and cream cheese crostinis, and fruit /​veggie platters. The shrimp was fantastic, but everything else was too salty or just plain weird to serve as h’orderves. Did not like the little desserts at all.
The Petroleum Club does goes out of it’s way to make the space look beautiful, however. The Christmas tree plus all the covered chairs and set up tables (we weren’t even having a plated dinner) was a nice touch. Overall, I find that the PC lacks originality. It just felt like old oil money built it and left it alone for years. The name seems to be rather fitting.

Amazing views, okay food, okay service.

It’s really tricky to judge a club like this when you’re there for an event, because obviously the event organizers themselves have a lot to do with the decisionmaking, and you don’t know if the club or the organizers are to blame for some of the bad decisions. I know people who have had major problems with the staff when it came to event planning, but hearsay is not admissible on Unilocal (hahahahaha, sorry, couldn’t keep a straight face while typing that). So let’s see what we can do with this:
The place itself is lovely; panoramic views of downtown are spectacular, and the décor is exactly what I would expect somewhere called the «Petroleum Club» to be; lots of dark carpeting, subdued atmosphere, and a well-​maintained general aura of the world being dominated from the vicinity. Capitalism!
I found the staff to be generally solid, but with room for improvement. They were excellent about keeping the food available and plates cleared, but I definitely had trouble getting around pockets of them hanging out and chatting as things wound down. Couldn’t help but overhear some … let’s say less than professional discussion, but no big deal.
The food itself was subpar for this level of venue. If that was an event-​planner call vs. their call, I apologize, but I recognize enough food from previous reviews that I don’t think they can escape blame here. Chicken was so heavily spiced it was essentially inedible; I braved it enough to realize it was rubbed with so much spice to hide the fact that it was frozen Wal-​Mart style chicken … egg rolls were similarly pre-​made, the meatballs were dry, dry, dry. There was some BBQ that salvaged most of it, being tolerable. But I did expect more.
So the club is nice and most definitely worth a visit, but I strongly recommend having somebody else hook you up for your trip to the 34^th floor instead of paying your way.

My husband and I had our wedding here in October, and it was great! I had read some bad reviews about the food, but I don’t know what they were talking about! The food was amazing!!! I kept hearing compliments about it from my 120 guests. People seemed to especially love the brisket, meatballs, eggrolls… and they had an awesome giant block of cheese carved into the shape of a chapel that the kids loved. They really delivered on the ambiance and food. It was so classy and wonderful. It fit in perfectly with our live Jazz band (Heather Nelson Trio).
The only reason they didn’t get 5 stars is because the staff is kind of a buzz-​kill to deal with. They let you in at 2 pm the day of to decorate, transport centerpieces, etc. but you get the general feeling that they really don’t want you there. I would recommend having someone other than the bride and groom deal with them. Also please please get them or someone else to get you and the groom a plate of food! We hardly got to eat. Thank god my maid of honor boxed some stuff up for us (brisket, salmon, meatballs… SO GOOD).
Misc info:
–They provided an easel for my bridal portrait
–they allow sparklers outside the building if you want to do a grand exit (we just ran through bubbles)
–they provide the chair slipcovers
–buffet style was wonderful and included:
ton of food
unlimited beer, wine and champagne
–this costs us $ 51/​pp, which is an amazing deal. Everyone thought it costs an arm and a leg!
They are very reasonable and only charge the price for adults (18+)

I will start off with the good news and the 2 stars that I’ve given. The Petroleum Club is at the very top of the Chase tower in downtown Oklahoma City, and has an absolutely beautiful view of miles of flat Oklahoma to look at from the big windows. They even have the big windows in the bathrooms, so it’s quite an experience. They have big chandeliers, a podium, a bar/​cocktail area, and eating areas on the left and right sides of the room, while the podium/​main area is in the middle. They also have 2 big projection screens on each side of the eating areas for videos/​presentations. Seems great, right?
To reserve the club was about $ 1000. I was attending a special NAVY event, so there were around150−250 of us. There were only 2 bartenders, so I had to wait in line for about 10 minutes until I could get my one not very strong drink. Then it was time to sit down and enjoy what was in plan for the night, which was some funny videos on the projectors, plated dinner, and presentations. The windows are so big that there was a terrible glare on the screens so most of us couldn’t read what was on them. Also the sound system in the place is really bad because it was cutting out, echoing the voices, and was turned up but none of us could barely hear what anyone was saying.
The plated dinner was not that good. The salad was probably the best, with assorted dark greens, tortilla strips, ranch, cucumber, tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles, and apples. Then we were served the main course of mashed potatoes, roasted squash and zucchini, peppered pork with brown gravy, and chicken stuffed with cream cheese and spinach with a yellow gravy on top. The chicken was really terrible because it was just plain cream cheese with spinach, and definitely was not a good combination with the yellow gravy on top. The mashed potatoes tasted fake, the vegetables were edible, and the peppered pork tenderloin was the best thing on the plate. I was hoping to be rid of the plate fast so I could look forward to dessert at least. Nope, spoke too soon. The dessert was some sort of cheesecake with a chocolate crumble crust, chocolate chunks scattered in the dessert, and WAY too much caramel in every bite. It’s hard to make dessert sound terrible, but believe me it was. It was room temperature and way, way too sweet and overloaded with everything. Boo. I hope they don’t throw this traditional NAVY event there again next year.