The food was pretty good as well as the wine and spcial drinks. Â The service was very slow on a friday night. Â The waiter had trouble with everything including printing out the receipts, and the kitchen staff was very slow. Â It took almost 2 hours the get in and out. Â I don't think I will be back.
Review Source:I'll likely echo the previous reviewers. It was just ok. I did only go for lunch, but I was not all that impressed.
First, the atmosphere is stiff. I get they're going for a hipster, modern vibe, but it's incredibly uncomfortable and, well, odd. Perhaps the overwhelming amount of empty space and light beige cheap-looking wood is what makes it seem strange. I felt exposed at our table. I'm not asking for private booths, but the environment did not make me want to stay and have more than one drink.
My cocktail, the Sooner Cobbler, was actually pretty good. I'm not a big adventurer with cocktails, so I had to ask about a few things, namely bitters. My server was not very knowledgeable with my questions, which bothered me a little. If Scratch didn't make cocktails such an integral part of their establishment, I would write off the lack of knowledge. But when that's part of your name, sign, and "thing," and when bitters are in the majority of your specialty cocktails, I expect my server to at least be able to explain what they are. However, the drink was very tasty.
The food was good. The menu is very small, and a limited in its range. It's one menu for both lunch and dinner. But my chicken sandwich and the mac n cheese side were pretty good.
I'll definitely go back and give it another try still. It's new and I'm sure they'll work at least some kinks out.
I would agree with most everything that has already been reviewed. Â As a local establishment, I was excited for another place to have brunch on a Sunday as there are only a few places to choose from in Norman. Â For a place that bares its name from "kitchen and cocktails" the bar was less than stellar. Â They took a horrifically long time to reach the table and when the finally arrived were tepid if not room temperature. Â I personally don't like to drink a warm/tepid mimosa... just doesn't suit my palette.
The food was good, not spectacular, but definitely edible. Â The wait staff seemed to be fairly inexperienced with dealing with a large-ish table and therefore the wheels fell off early in the service. Â All in all, not a great experience and definitely not worth the prices. Â Probably won't return.....
I love a good local restaurant so I was super excited that Scratch was an option for brunch today!
My buddy and I got there just before noon as we were on table lockdown duty.
That was accomplished very easily, since the place was virtually empty (red flag). We were seated next to a beautiful art installation and surrounded by the ugliest faux painted pillars you could imagine.
The chairs were a mismatch of random home dining room styles, it was cute without being kitschy, but the tables look like they were purchased at a fire sale from a Sizzler that had closed its doors. So cheap and boring and ugly. It looked like someone who had been to lots of really beautiful, clean, modern restaurants and tried to recreate it, but lacked the talent and budget to execute.
We ordered drinks promptly, they had my summer crush a Hemingway, and settled in to wait for our friends|drinks.
And then we waited some more.
And then a little while more.
Finally our drinks arrived, and they were wonderful. My drink was excellent, I could have had a thousand, though at $8 a pop I would have gone bankrupt long before then. Personally I wouldn't have served it in a martini glass, but I'm not going to knock them for that. My buddy got the Sooner Cobbler and while he liked it, it wasn't what he expected. It's supposed to have blackberries in it, per the menu description and it didn't. I'm sure they were originally shaken in the drink and then strained out or some such thing, but what they advertised wasn't what was served.
Our friends arrived shortly got settled in with their babies and such and ordered drinks. There were some bellinis, a beer, a couple of mimosas and a few more Sooner Cobblers ordered.
And here is where the wheels fell off. The drinks took so long. We are all great friends and haven't brunched in a while so we were very excited and happy to be with each other and even with the happiness that comes with being with your friends we were all getting agitated with how long it was taking.
The drinks started to trickle in one or two at a time. The excuses for why they weren't coming deluged us. There is only one bartender. He's making the drinks in the order they come in. We make our own puree and we are out.
One of our dining companions waited 30+ minutes for a drink. Another friend actually cancelled the drink as it hadn't come before our plates were cleared.
Yes, you read that right. She ordered a bellini and it didn't come until after we ordered, were served, ate & had our table bussed. Our server actually came by with more excuses late in the meal and our friend told her not to even worry about it anymore. We were almost done eating and there was no point. Whilst waiting for our tabs two bellinis showed up so she and her husband drank them. They were room temperature, texturally off and didn't taste good.
Back to our friends settling in: We ordered, a not so painless process. Someone wanted to sub bacon for sausage and was told Scratch doesn't do substitutions, le sigh.
I'm not sure if the food came out in a timely manner, at that point we were all so bothered by the drink situation, as some people still hadn't gotten theirs, that we had lost any sense of what was an appropriate wait time. It didn't seem too long for the food, but we may have just been desensitized at that point.
I ordered the migas. It was a lovely portion, looked pretty on the plate and tasted great!
My buddy got the cinnamon toast and really liked it.
My neighbor got the eggs benedict, which I had seen a picture of. I thought it was odd that the picture showed a trio of bennies and she was only served two, but I was deeply disturbed by how brown her potatoes were. Not like they had been overcooked, rather that someone had peeled and grated this potato yesterday and it had browned overnight. Extremely unappealing. She liked hers save for the pounds of arugula she had to wade through.
Someone made the mistake of ordering the quinoa crabcakes. Which should be called cold quinoa cakes. Â
Another tablemate ordered the 3 egg plate the eggs were poached pretty nicely, a hair over, but 99% well cooked, so bravo to that! It came with a protein and a side of toast that didn't actually make it to the table until it was requested.
Our service was abominable. Having spent far too many years on 2.13 + tips I totally get what the job is. Our server didn't. She continually made excuses for how long the drinks were taking. Don't make excuses, don't place blame; just apologize and fix it. If you can't fix it get your manager on it. She actually went from being inept to rude by the end of the meal, which is inexcusable.
She also charged my friend for the bellini that she canceled and the Sooner Cobbler that took 30+ minutes to make. We never got a table visit from management despite the issues we were having. It was a sour experience.
I hope they get an experienced manager in there to work these issues out.
Ordered blue corn migas, got scrambled eggs wrapped in a tortilla with bizarre blue-ish stuff (the corn?) inside. Tasted fine, not blown away, but it wasn't migas - they should just call it a breakfast burrito. Eggs benedict not bad, but not worth $15. Didn't get to try the cocktails which are supposedly the main attraction so maybe that woulda changed my mood.
Inside decor is too weird, too "Norman"...I don't need the logo plastered over everything, I already know what restaurant I'm in. Syrup and Local (two other Norman restaurants) are guilty of this too I'm afraid.
Not tryin' to be harsh but the hype is a bit much for the restaurant. Granted they just opened so maybe it gets better.
Yes. It was A-OK restaurant. The cocktails was good, but nothing was like "WOW".
I like the idea of the restaurant to cook everything from scracth. But overall, I think they do need to work a lot harder with the details of the food.
Let's start with the appetizers:
I like crab and quinoa. But the quinoa crab cake was not a good combo. It was pretty dry. There was not a lot of crab and I couldn't taste the crab. The spinach and arugula was actually better than the crab cake.
Chicken legs were OK...like Buffalo Wild Wings
Smoke salmon cups was again: too dry...It needs some kick out of it. The creme cheese was good. Other than that, it didn't leave me any memories.
OK....quite a disappointing start...honestly...
However, The entree was better with a rack of lamb and the grass-feed flank steak. Anyway, if you have a good fresh cut of meat...just some sea salt and pepper...you can make a fabulous dinner already...So I have to admit the the flank steak cut was fresh. The lamb was pretty good but their tomato sauce was A-OK....It does need some kick with some wine, spices, garlic, butter (in my opinion). It was not that polished.
The sides was decent, especially with the roasted broccolini. Â Herbed potato au gratin was basically baked harsh-brown...
Anyway, I enjoyed the dinner with good company...and any A-OK good can taste better with a glass of wine...
I'm so glad that Scratch is on the Norman restaurant scene. Â I think the more places like this that open up will just elevate our whole dining world in Norman beyond the chains of I-35.
They've got a little work to do on the food, which is totally respectable for a brand-new restaurant. Â I'm sure they will work out the kinks. Â They are really working on being a force in the cocktail world, and I hope that their list grows beyond the 6-8 drinks currently listed. Â I tried the Sooner Cobbler which was very refreshing. Â The Whiskey Sour on the other hand, is the greatest Whiskey Sour you will ever have. Â I will be returning for that drink soon.
Good luck Scratch!
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